Although Jane Austen had never married, she loved writing about weddings. All six of her novels ended with couples tying the knot, from Colonel Brandon and Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.
And it’s a passion that extends to the real world. A handwritten comic poem by Austen about a couple whose engagement announcement she read in a newspaper was about to be auctioned off.
Austen wrote in February 1811 shortly before the publication of her first novel “Sense and Sensibility” On the Marriage of Mr. Gell of Eastbourne to Miss Gill. It is believed that she was inspired to write the ditty after enjoying the oddity of their names.
The poem begins: