Jane Austen and Confinement

Jane Austen was never confined – at least, not in the sense of experiencing pregnancy, childbirth, and “lying-in.” She had plenty of opportunity to see other women  undergoing confinements, at close quarters, as  several of her sisters-in-law had large families. Both Edward Austen Knight’s wife Elizabeth and Frank Austen’s wife Mary died after having eleven children each, and Jane Austen had reason to be thoroughly well acquainted with the process, and its outcomes both happy and tragic. In a le...