Jane Austen

[emalee]

Why did Jane Austen turn down a proposal from Harris Big-Wither?

[DSJ]

At the end of november 1802, the Austen sisters began a visit, planned for the last several weeks, to their old friends catherine & Alethea Bigg at Manydown, near Steventon. But after only a few days all four girls arrived in tears at Steventon Rectory, Cassandra & Jane refusing to explain themselves, but insisting that their brother James should take them back to Bath immediately, abandoning his Sunday duties. it later transpired that Harris Bigg Wither, the son of the house, had proposed tp Jane AND BEEN ACCEPTED; but by the next morning she had changed her mind. Perhaps the contrast with her ead love was too much to bear or perhaps the temptation of what amounted to a most desirable match, both from a wordly point of view and also from the promised joy of a return to her friends and to the Steventon neighbourhood, proved insufficient when set against the prospect of a loveless marriage.