CHAPTER II.


_Description of Steventon--Life at Steventon--Changes of Habits and
Customs in the last Century_.

As the first twenty-five years, more than half of the brief life of Jane
Austen, were spent in the parsonage of Steventon, some description of
that place ought to be given. Steventon is a small rural village upon
the chalk hills of north Hants, situated in a winding valley about seven
miles from Basingstoke. The South-Western railway crosses it by a short
embankment, and, as it curves round, presents a good view of it on the
left hand to those who are travelling down the line, about three miles
before entering the tunnel under Popham Beacon. It may be known to some
sportsmen, as lying in one of the best portions of the Vine Hunt. It is
certainly not a picturesque country; it presents no grand or extensive
views; but the features are small rather than plain. The surface
continually swells and sinks, but the hills are not bold, nor the valleys
deep; and though it is sufficiently well clothed with woods and
hedgerows, yet the poverty of the soil in most places prevents the timber
from attaining a large size. Still it has its beauties. The lanes wind
along in a natural curve, continually fringed with irregular borders of
native turf, and lead to pleasant nooks and corners. One who knew and
loved it well very happily expressed its quiet charms, when he wrote

True taste is not fastidious, nor rejects,
Because they may not come within the rule