Mrs. Mitford was the daughter of Dr. Russell, Rector of Ashe, a parish
adjoining Steventon, so that the families of Austen and Russell must at
that time have been known to each other. But the date assigned by Miss
Mitford for the termination of the acquaintance is the time of her
mother's marriage. This took place in October 1785, when Jane, who had
been born in December 1775, was not quite ten years old. In point of
fact, however, Miss Russell's opportunities of observing Jane Austen must
have come to an end still earlier: for upon Dr. Russell's death, in
January 1783, his widow and daughter removed from the neighbourhood, so
that all intercourse between the families ceased when Jane was little
more than seven years old.
All persons who undertake to narrate from hearsay things which are
supposed to have taken place before they were born are liable to error,
and are apt to call in imagination to the aid of memory: and hence it
arises that many a fancy piece has been substituted for genuine history.
I do not care to correct the inaccurate account of Jane Austen's manners
in after life: because Miss Mitford candidly expresses a doubt whether
she had not been misinformed on that point.
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