“She then proceeded to a Pastry-cooks where she devoured six ices, refused to pay for them, knocked down the Pastry Cook and walked away.”
The Beautifull Cassandra
Volume the First of Jane’s Juvenilia
Jane must have been very young when she wrote this! Actually, what I love about these stories (though I haven’t read many of them) is her already obvious enthusiasm for the ridiculous. There’s more slapstick humor here than silly school-girl romance.
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Filed under Juvenilia, The Beautifull Cassandra
Yesterday was Labor Day here in the States — a day in which, in honor of work (or, rather, in honor of the common laborer), everyone takes the day off. 😉
More from Jane’s Juvenilia today. This is her introduction to her sister for the story “The Beautifull Cassandra.” This is from Volume the First (there are three in all), so Jane was somewhere between 12 and 15 when she wrote this.
“Madam
You are a Phoenix. Your taste is refined, your Sentiments are noble, and your Virtues innumerable. Your Person is lovely, your Figure, elegant, and your Form, magestic. Your Manners are polished, your Conversation is rational and your appearance singular. If therefore the following Tale will afford one moment’s amusement to you, every wish will be gratified of
Your most obedient
humble servant
The Author”
I love this — “Madam You are a Phoenix.” Is that really a compliment? You certainly see Jane’s spirit here.
Thanks to Pemberley.com for the silhouette of Cassandra Austen.
The Jane Austen Guide to Life: Thoughtful Lessons for the Modern Woman (May, 2012)
A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith