Jane Austen, the English novelist, presents a witty and penetrating portrayal of provincial middle-class life which closely involves the reader in the portrayal of her characters. Both the people and the settings of her novels are clearly based on careful observation of the society she knew and her own experiences within it. She was born in a village in Hampshire, daughter of a country clergyman, and lived for a time in the fashionable spa of Bath, before returning to Hampshire; but her presence was not limited to these places for she made many visits to stay with friends and family, often to places of some grandeur and these are drawn upon in her writing...