The Jane Austen Society of Australia

<< Back to Book Reviews: Contents

Book review
Jane Austen’s ‘Outlandish Cousin’: The Life and Letters of Eliza de Feuillide

by Deirdre Le Faye

The British Library, London, 2002
£18.95

Eliza de Feuillide (1761-1813) was Jane’s first cousin. She was born Eliza Hancock: her mother was sister to Jane Austen’s father. 

This book helps us travel through time with Eliza’s many letters, all carefully hand written, read and kept (fortunately) for us now to read, though not by Eliza. This was a time when letter writing was almost an art form, and the only way of communication other than face to face – sometimes it would take six months, or heaven forbid a whole year for a letter to reach its destination. In an era of phones, faxes and email it is hard to comprehend! 

Eliza’s life starts in Calcutta, born 22 December 1761. We travel with Betsy (Eliza’s childhood nickname) to England with her mother, whilst her father remains in India. 

Le Faye dismisses the idea of Warren Hastings’ fatherhood of Eliza as being based only on one malicious, gossipy letter. 

The letters of her father, Tysoe Hancock, show him as a sad figure, resigned to having to stay in India away from his wife and beloved Betsy, to be able to finance their lifestyle. 

When Hancock dies (in 1775), her mother takes Eliza to live in Paris, as it is cheaper than England. Here is where she grows up and marries French Army Captain Jean-François Capot de Feuillide in 1781, who becomes a ‘Comte’ [or self- styled Count] but is guillotined in 1794. They have only one child, Hastings de Feuillide, a very fragile boy. Due to the war between France and England, Eliza, her mother and Hastings travel back to England to live. After her sick mother dies, Eliza is alone with Hastings, and they travel frequently between London to Bath on account of Hastings’ health. She eventually settles down and marries her cousin Henry Austen (Jane’s brother) in 1797. Hastings, who she believed suffered from epilepsy, died in 1801. We continue to follow Eliza’s life until she dies in 1813 after a long and severe illness. 

Eliza was very descriptive in her letters, with statements about fashion and her outlook on the world and its people. I could see glimpses of Jane in Eliza’s letters – they both had a great ability to observe people and playfully mock the ridiculous. 

I couldn’t decide when reading this book whether I liked or disliked Eliza. In some of her letters she seems very selfish and self-centred, but when you read on she surprises you by being compassionate and caring for others. Eliza led a very different life to Jane. As well as being a mother and a wife, she was also more worldly, well travelled and sophisticated. You can certainly see some of Jane’s characters and ideas originating from Eliza’s letters. As there is an age difference, Jane only appears in Eliza’s letters half way into the book, but as time continues Jane becomes a more prominent person in Eliza’s life, caring for her during illness in her twilight years. 

The notes, references, bibliography and further reading sections were interesting. They detail how the letters were found and who holds them now, together with a list of publications regarding family members. 

I really enjoyed reading this book. These personal letters, not written for publication, give us a further insight into the life of Jane, her family and acquaintances.

14 January 2003

HOME | What's New | About Jane | About JASA | JASA News | Sensibilities | Calendar | Conference | Book Reviews | JASA Library | Writing Competition | Mrs Goddard's School | Regency Fair | LINKS