to introduce the novel of domestic life, "and her writings are still the best specimens of that class of fiction. It could hardly be expected that such works would become immediately popular ; the characters, the motives of action, and the plot itself were too ordinary, one may say too common place, to appeal strongly to the sympathies of the general mass of readers. Her colours were not showy enough to strike the vulgar eye. It is probable, indeed, that her admirers will always be few in number j for not only does it require a somewhat cultivated taste to appreciate the rare skill with which the scanty materials of her tales are handled, but the author s experience of life was so limited that her works are entirely wanting in certain elements such as depth of feeling and breadth of sympathy which are indispensable before a work of fiction can exercise any considerable influence on the public mind. The framework in nearly all Miss Austen's novels is the same, taken as they are from ordinary English middle-class life; her characters are in no way distinguished by any remarkable qualities, they are such persons as one would readily expect to meet in every-day life ; the plot is exceedingly simple, and the incidents, never rising above the level of the most common-place occurrences, flow naturally from the characters of the actors. In the hands of most writers such materials would infallibly become monotonous and tiresome ; but from any danger of this Miss Austen is completely freed by her wonderful power of exciting interest in the "involvements and feelings of ordinary life," and the skill with which, by a series of imperceptible but effective touches, she discriminates her characters, rounds them off, and makes them stand out from the canvas real and living personages, Her gallery of portraits is certainly small, and the same character appears over and over again, but each figure is so distinctly drawn, and has such marked individuality, that one is never struck with a sense of repetition. A warm admirer of her works, Archbishop Whately, has compared them to the carefully-executed pictures of the Dutch school; perhaps the analogy of miniature painting, suggested by the author herself, is more happy and expressive. Miss Austen s life has been written by her nephew, Rev. J. Austen-Leigh (1870, 2d ed., 1871), who has also published some extracts from her papers, including a short tale, Lady Susan, written in the form of letters; a fragment of a larger work called The Watsons; the first draft of a chapter in Persuasion; and the beginning of a novel, on which she was engaged at the time of her death.
AUSTERLITZ, a small town of Moravia, 12 miles E.S.E. of Brünn, containing a magnificent palace belonging to the prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, and a beautiful church. It has been rendered memorable by the great victory obtained in its vicinity, on the 2d December 1805, by the French under Napoleon, over the united forces of Austria and Russia under their emperors. Population, 3450.
AUSTIN, John, one of the ablest English writers on
jurisprudence, was born on the 3d March 1790. At an
early age he entered the army, and passed five years in
military service. He then retired, applied himself to the
study of law, and was called to the bar in 1814. His
powers, though admirably adapted for grasping the fundamental principles of law, were not of a nature to render
him successful in legal practice. His health, too, was
delicate, and in 1825 he resigned active employment at the
bar. In the following year, however, he was appointed to
the chair of jurisprudence in the newly-founded London
university. He immediately crossed over to Germany to
prepare himself for his new duties, and at Bonn became
acquainted with some of the most eminent German jurists.
His lectures were at first attended by a number and a class
of students quite beyond his anticipations. Among his
hearers were such men as Lord Romilly, Sir G. C. Lewis,
and J. S. Mill. From Mill s notes some of the lectures
were afterwards published, and he has given an admirable
account of Austin in his Dissertations (vol. iii.) But it
soon became apparent that there would be no steady demand
for training in the science of law, which, though useful, was
not of immediate utility in practice. Under these circumstances Austin, who was almost too conscientious in regard
to his own work, thought it right to resign the chair in
1832. An attempt to institute lectures at the Inner
Temple also failed, and, as his health was delicate, he retired to Boulogne, where he remained for nearly two
years. In 1837 he acted as royal commissioner in Malta,
and discharged the duties of that office most efficiently.
The next ten years were spent in travelling on the Continent, as the state of his health hardly permitted him to
reside in England. The Revolution of 1848 drove him
from Paris, and on his return to England he settled at
"Weybridge, in Surrey, where he remained till his death in
December 1859. Austin wrote one or two pamphlets, but
the chief work he published was his Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832), a treatise on the relation between
ethics and law, which gives a clear analysis of the notion
of obligation, and an admirable statement of utilitarianism,
the ethical theory adopted by the author. After his death, his
widow, Mrs Sarah Austin, published his Lectures on Jurisprudence; or, The Philosophy of Positive Law. These, combined with the Province, have been edited, under the same title, by Mr R. Campbell, and reached in 1875 a fifth edition.
AUSTIN, Sarah Taylor, translator and miscellaneous
writer, was born in 1793. She was one of the Taylor
family of Norwich, several of whose members had distinguished themselves in the fields of literature and science. She was the youngest child of her family, received a liberal and solid education at home, chiefly from her mother, and had the advantage, too, of enjoying in her father's house much intellectual society. She grew up a beautiful and cultivated woman, and in 1820 became the wife of John Austin, noticed above. They settled in London, and among the familiar visitors of their house were Bentham,
the Mills (father and son), the Grotes, Romilly, Buller, Sydney Smith, and other eminent men. She accompanied her husband in 1827 to Bonn, where they spent some months, and made acquaintance with Niebuhr, Schlegel, Arndt, and other distinguished Germans. She afterwards lived some years in Germany and France, and was left a widow in December 1859. Mrs Austin is best known as a singularly skilful translator of German and French
works. In 1832 appeared her version of the Travels of Prince Puckler Muskau. This was followed by Characteristics of Goethe from the German of Falk, History of the Reformation in Germany and History of the Popes from the German of Ranke, and Dr Carove's Story without an End. She contributed "Travelling Letters" and critical and obituary notices to the Athenæum, edited the Memoir of Sydney Smith and her daughter Lady Duff Gordon's Letters from Egypt, and for some years of her widowhood was occupied in arranging for publication her husband's Lectures on Jurisprudence. She was also author of Germany from 176O to 1814, National Education, and Letters on Girls' Schools. Mrs Austin died at Weybridge in Surrey, 8th August 1867.
AUSTRALASIA, one of the six great geographical
divisions of the globe, is situated, as its name indicates,
south of Asia, between the equator and 50 S. lat., and 110 3
and 180 E. long. It comprises the island-continents of
New Guinea, Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and
the conterminous archipelagoes of New Britannia, Solomon
Islands, New Hebrides, Loyalty Islands, and New Caledonia which will be treated of under special headings.
