Celebrating Jane Austen on the Trail of the Author in Her 250th Anniversary Year尋蹤憶人：簡·奧斯汀誕辰250周年

Ever since it was saved from wrack and ruin by a heroic philanthropist in the 1940s， the pretty red-brick cottage in Chawton where Jane Austen spent the last eight years of her life has been a place of pilgrimage for her devoted readers. For within its modest walls she wrote or revised all six of her published novels， working on the tiny， 12-sided walnut table in the dining room， reading the finished products aloud to family and neighbours in the drawing room， and revelling in being a ‘Hampshire-born Austen’ come home to the countryside after years hopping between city lodgings.

20世紀40年代，一位英勇的慈善家將喬頓一座紅磚小屋從殘垣斷壁中挽救了下來。從此，簡·奧斯汀度過生命中最后八年的這座小屋便成為了她那些忠實讀者的一方圣地。在這座樸素的房子里，她創作或修訂了那六部終獲出版的小說。她在餐廳里那張小小的十二邊形胡桃木桌上伏案寫作，在客廳里向家人和鄰居朗讀寫就的作品，并為重返鄉村而欣喜若狂——此前，這位“漢普郡出生的奧斯汀”曾在市區變換住所，輾轉多年。

The spirit of the author resounds as you tread its creaking floorboards， taking in the string of her treasured possessions and surviving letters now in the hands of the house museum， making it the ideal starting point for anyone embarking on an Austen tour to celebrate the 250th anniversary of her birth.

當你踏上吱吱作響的地板，感受她珍愛的物品和現存信件——如今由這座故居博物館保管，作者的精神仿佛在此回蕩。若要踏上奧斯汀之旅，慶祝她誕辰250周年，這里是理想的起點。

In fact， there is really no better place to find Jane than her beloved home county. Many who wend their way to the leafy lanes of Chawton take the opportunity to tread the path to the Elizabethan ‘great house’ at the other end of the village， where she went to ‘dawdle away an hour or two’ with her brother Edward， who， thanks to his adoption by wealthy， childless relatives， owned the entire Chawton estate. Plenty， too， make the hop of just 16 miles to Steventon， her birthplace. The rectory that was her first home is long gone， demolished in the 1820s by a nephew who inherited the parish and fancied something smarter; a lone lime tree marks the site. But the village’s medieval church， where her father， the Reverend George Austen， preached， looks much as it did when the author regularly passed through the oak door for his Sunday services.

事實上，要尋訪奧斯汀，她深愛的故鄉漢普郡最為合適。許多游客前往喬頓綠樹成蔭的村巷，都會順道前往村莊另一端的伊麗莎白時代“大宅”，簡曾在那里與哥哥愛德華“消磨一兩個小時”。愛德華由于被富而無子的親戚收養，擁有整個喬頓莊園。許多游客也會前往僅16英里外的奧斯汀的出生地史蒂文頓，但那所牧師住宅已不復存在，19世紀20年代，繼承該教區的一位侄子為建新宅將其拆除。如今，那片遺址上孤零零地立著一棵椴樹。但村莊的那座中世紀教堂依然如故，她的父親喬治·奧斯汀牧師曾經在那里布道，作者曾經穿過橡木門到那里參加周日禮拜。

But while Hampshire may be ‘Austen country’， it is far from the only place in England to claim an acquaintance with the author， and if you are prepared to call for the carriage to take you further afield， there are a host of other places to follow in her footsteps.

盡管漢普郡可能是“奧斯汀之鄉”，但它絕非這位作者在英格蘭唯一熟絡之地。如果你愿意乘馬車繼續探索，還有許多地方可以追尋她的足跡。

Top of the list is Bath. Family legend may say that Jane was less than happy to move to the spa city upon Mr Austen’s retirement in 1801， but as the best-preserved Georgian city in Britain， with a starring role in both Persuasion and Northanger Abbey， there is lots to delight her fans. On a tour of the Assembly Rooms on Bennett Street （faithfully reconstructed after suffering bomb damage in the Second World War） you can take a turn around the ballroom where Jane and her characters danced.

這其中首推巴斯。據家族傳說，1801年奧斯汀先生退休后搬到這座溫泉城市時，簡并不十分高興。但是，巴斯是英國保存最完好的喬治時代風格的城市，并在《勸導》和《諾桑覺寺》中扮演重要角色，它有許多讓奧斯汀的粉絲欣喜的地方。貝內特街的議會廳在二戰中遭炸毀，后依原樣重建，游客可以在簡及其書中人物曾經跳舞的舞廳中徜徉。

Take tea in the Pump Room， where they promenaded up and down of a morning， and trace the author’s steps through the lush， green surroundings of Sydney Gardens， where she enjoyed long walks， the challenge of its labyrinth， and firework displays. And you can even stay at No. 4 Sydney Place， the elegant， three-storey townhouse across the road that was the Austens’ home until 1804， offering them a lovely， level walk into the centre of a city famed for its hills. After that， their residences got successively less desirable; Trim Street was the location of their very last Bath rental， taken after the death of Mr Austen forced his widow to economise， and is still easily imaginable as the noisy commercial area it was then.

在泵房品茶——這里曾是她們清晨漫步的地方；在綠意盎然的悉尼花園追尋作者的足跡——她喜歡在這里長時間地散步、挑戰迷宮、欣賞煙花。你甚至可以入住悉尼廣場4號，這座優雅的三層別墅位于馬路對面，奧斯汀在這里一直住到1804年。這座城市以起起伏伏的丘陵著稱，然而，這所別墅卻有一步道通往市中心，平坦宜人。此后，他們的住所越來越寒磣；特里姆街是他們在巴斯的最后一處住所，奧斯汀先生去世后，其遺孀不得不節儉度日，而這里至今仍能讓人輕易想見當年繁華的商業景象。

The promise of yearly jaunts to the seaside had softened the blow of the relocation to Bath， and consequently a series of southern England’s coastal resorts can also claim an Austen connection—from Sidmouth and Dawlish to Ramsgate and Worthing.

所幸，這里可以保證他們每年都去海邊度假，遷居巴斯帶來的落差得以緩解。因而，英格蘭南部海濱一連串的度假勝地也可謂與奧斯汀有所關聯，包括錫德茅斯、道利什、拉姆斯蓋特和沃辛。

But it is the Jurassic coast resort of Lyme Regis， where she stayed in 1803 and 1804， that was Jane’s favourite. It is well worth a visit to walk down the wave-lashed stone breakwater known as the Cobb， which she chose as the setting for one of the critical scenes in Persuasion—a novel in which she famously extols the virtues of the Dorset town and its environs， from the bay bustling with “bathing machines and company” to the “very beautiful line of cliffs” that stretch out to the east. Pyne House is thought to have been where the Austens lodged.

然而，簡最喜歡的莫過于侏羅紀海岸的萊姆里吉斯，她于1803年和1804年到此地度假。這里值得一游，尤其是沿著被海浪拍打的石頭防波堤“科布”漫步。她選擇這里作為《勸導》中關鍵情節的場景。在這部小說中，她盛贊了多塞特鎮及其周邊地區的魅力，從“移動更衣室和人群”密布的海灣，到向東延伸的“非常美麗的懸崖岸線”。據說，奧斯汀一家曾住在派恩別墅。

Jane is also known to have made regular stays with her brother Henry in London and extended visits to Kent， where the luckiest Austen sibling， Edward， had his family home. With two country estates and around ￡10，000 a year at his disposal， he was more than a match for Pride and Prejudice’s Mr Darcy， and Godmersham Park， nestled in the Stour Valley， eight miles outside Canterbury， offered a slice of “elegance amp; ease amp; luxury” to his sister. Follow Jane there to wander through the parkland （and on certain days， the gardens） as she liked to do， and get a glimpse of the handsome manor house that some say was the true inspiration for Darcy’s Derbyshire seat， Pemberley—now， rather unromantically， a training college for opticians！

簡還經常造訪并逗留于其兄長亨利在倫敦的住所，甚至會多次前往肯特郡長住，在那里，她最幸運的兄長愛德華擁有家族宅邸。愛德華擁有兩處鄉村莊園和每年約一萬英鎊的收入，遠非《傲慢與偏見》中的達西先生所能媲美；而坐落于坎特伯雷八英里開外的斯托爾山谷中的戈德默舍姆公園，則為其妹提供了片刻的“優雅、安逸與奢華”。跟隨簡的腳步，像她喜歡的那樣漫步于這片莊園（在特定日子還可以參觀花園），一瞥那座華麗的莊園宅邸。據說，這里才是達西先生德比郡宅邸的真正靈感來源——如今，這里卻淪落為一所驗光師的培訓學院，實在是令人大跌眼鏡。

To find another stately pile that sparked the author’s imagination head to Warwickshire， where Mrs Austen took her daughters Jane and Cassandra in the summer of 1806. Her cousin， the Reverend Thomas Leigh， was about to inherit the vast Stoneleigh Abbey， with its sweeping views over the river Avon， its imposing facade （Mrs Austen counted 45 windows）， and its impressive history （it had once sheltered a beleaguered Charles I）.

若要尋找另一座激發作者靈感的宏偉建筑，不妨前往沃里克郡。1806年夏天，奧斯汀夫人曾攜女兒簡和卡桑德拉來此。那時，她的表親托馬斯·利牧師即將繼承那座宏偉的斯通利修道院——修道院俯瞰埃文河的美景，建筑立面氣勢恢弘（奧斯汀夫人數過，共有45扇窗戶），更承載著輝煌歷史（曾庇護查理一世躲過劫難）。

As Janeites who take the tour today discover， it also bears a remarkable resemblance to Sotherton， the fictional home of the foolish but stupendously rich Mr Rushworth in Mansfield Park—most especially its chapel， which Austen replicated in print， right down to the crimson velvet cushions in the family gallery.

如今，前來參觀的奧斯汀書迷們會發現，這座修道院與《曼斯菲爾德莊園》中那位愚笨的大富豪拉什沃思先生的宅邸索瑟頓極為相似——尤其是其小教堂，奧斯汀在書中幾乎原封不動地復制了它，甚至連家族畫廊里的深紅色天鵝絨坐墊都一一還原。

We can be less sure about whether the historic village of Great Bookham in Surrey， where Jane stayed with her godfather， the vicar of the parish， was a model for Highbury， home of the eponymous Emma. But it is certainly near enough the same distance from Box Hill， a beauty spot still prompting a “burst of admiration” from those who encounter it for the first time， 200 years after the heroine and her companions went there on their disastrous day trip. Very likely， it will be doing so for a couple of centuries more yet—just like Jane Austen’s novels.

薩里郡的歷史村落大布克姆是否是《愛瑪》主人公居所海伯里的原型，我們則無從知曉。簡曾與其教父、也是當地的牧師在此暫居。不過，這里距離博克斯山確實也很近，這座風景勝地至今仍能讓人“一見傾心”，正如兩百年前女主角和她的同伴們在那次災難性的一日游中所感受到的那樣。很可能，再過幾百年，它們會魅力不減，一如簡·奧斯汀的小說。