Northanger Abbey, which had then undergone careful revision, to a local publisher, who actually accepted it and gave her—ten pounds! On second thoughts the worthy man seems to have repented of his bargain, for he never brought it out, and the MS. remained in oblivion for thirteen years longer. By that time Jane Austen had begun to recognise her position as a successful authoress, and thought with justice that if she could recover the MS. it might be published without detracting from her fame. Henry Austen, her third brother, who often helped her in her intercourse with publishers and printers, undertook the errand, and found no difficulty whatever in regaining the work, copyright and all, by repaying the original ten pounds. On this occasion the publisher learnt his error (which Mr. Cadell probably never did); for as soon as Henry Austen had safely concluded the bargain, and gained possession of the MS., he quietly informed the unlucky man that it was by the author of Pride and Prejudice, and left him, we may hope, raging at himself over the opportunity which he had missed of making so good a stroke of business.
In 1801 the state of her father's health brought about the first important change in Jane's life, for the old home was given up, and she was destined never to spend so much of her life in any other. The change was a great sorrow to her, but she was allowed very little time to dwell upon it, for Mr. George Austen was a man of prompt decision and rapid action, and having made up his mind, while Jane was away on a visit, that he would leave Steventon, she found, when she returned, that the preparations for departure were being carried on. Mr. Austen was then upwards of seventy, and felt himself no longer fit for the active
