Syrie James
The idea for JANE AUSTEN'S FIRST LOVE came to me when I re-read this sentence in a letter Jane Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra in September 1796, when Jane was twenty years old and visiting in Kent:
“We went by Bifrons, & I contemplated with a melancholy pleasure, the abode of Him, on whom I once fondly doated.”
Who, I wondered, was Jane talking about? I learned that the "Him" upon whom she "fondly doated" (ie. cherished and adored) was Edward Taylor, heir to Bifrons, a grand, ancestral estate in Kent. Jane Austen mentioned Edward Taylor in two other letters, always with the same degree of fondness, affectionately referring to his “beautiful dark eyes.”
Very little was known about Edward Taylor for two hundred years--but after many months of research, I discovered a rare and invaluable resource that told me more about him: The Taylor Papers, the memoirs of Edward’s brother Lieutenant General Sir Herbert Taylor. They reveal Edward Taylor to be a member of a highly accomplished, extremely well-educated family who were all fluent in five languages and lived and traveled extensively abroad. When Jane Austen met Edward Taylor as a teenager, he'd already lived a fascinating life—it is no wonder she fell head over heels in love with him!
It was thrilling to make these discoveries, and to know that Edward Taylor had held an important place in Jane Austen’s heart. I had such fun speculating as to how Edward and Jane met, and bringing their relationship to life over one very special summer in my novel, Jane Austen's First Love!
“We went by Bifrons, & I contemplated with a melancholy pleasure, the abode of Him, on whom I once fondly doated.”
Who, I wondered, was Jane talking about? I learned that the "Him" upon whom she "fondly doated" (ie. cherished and adored) was Edward Taylor, heir to Bifrons, a grand, ancestral estate in Kent. Jane Austen mentioned Edward Taylor in two other letters, always with the same degree of fondness, affectionately referring to his “beautiful dark eyes.”
Very little was known about Edward Taylor for two hundred years--but after many months of research, I discovered a rare and invaluable resource that told me more about him: The Taylor Papers, the memoirs of Edward’s brother Lieutenant General Sir Herbert Taylor. They reveal Edward Taylor to be a member of a highly accomplished, extremely well-educated family who were all fluent in five languages and lived and traveled extensively abroad. When Jane Austen met Edward Taylor as a teenager, he'd already lived a fascinating life—it is no wonder she fell head over heels in love with him!
It was thrilling to make these discoveries, and to know that Edward Taylor had held an important place in Jane Austen’s heart. I had such fun speculating as to how Edward and Jane met, and bringing their relationship to life over one very special summer in my novel, Jane Austen's First Love!
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