The Watsons by Jane Austen

PREFACE

This work was left by its author, a fragment without a name, in so elementary a state as not even to be divided into chapters, and some obscurities and inaccuracies of expression may be observed in it which the author would probably have corrected. The original manuscript is the property of my sister, Miss Austen, by whose permission it is now published. I have called it _The Watsons_, for the sake of having a title by which to designate it. Two questions may be asked concerning it. When was it written? And, why was it never finished?