Quick Answers to my Post-Christmas Quiz

"I just sleuthed out something interesting yesterday about the literary lineage leading to, and the literary lineage leading away from, Jane Austen---connections that, in hindsight, it amazes me that I seem to be the first to notice, because this one has really been hiding in plain sight for over a century and a half!

I will reveal exactly what I found by tomorrow morning 10 am EST, but as this find seems to be particularly suited to a quiz for those so inclined, I will give five hints which, for a Janeite reasonably knowledgeable in Austen studies, should make this quiz quite solvable in an enjoyable way:

Hint #1: There is a work published during JA's lifetime but prior to JA's reaching adulthood, written by a person who was fairly famous then, but who rapidly faded to obscurity during JA's adulthood, and is only known today to academic scholars of a particular ideological slant (which I share).

CATHERINE SAWBRIDGE MACAULAY: THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND


Hint#2: There is a work published within a half century _after_ JA's death, written by a person who was very famous, and who has remained well known, and who was famously very positive toward JA's writing, in a way that is known to a fair # of Janeites today.


THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY: THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND


Hint#3: There is a work written by JA herself which has virtually the same title, and the same general subject matter, as those other two works.

JANE AUSTEN: THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND


Hint #4: The author of the work from JA's youth, and the author of the work published long after JA's death, both have _exactly_ the same last name.


MACAULAY


Hint #5: That shared last name of those other two authors is not a coincidence, but reflects that they were--apparently unknown to scholars working in regard to either of them--related by marriage!

THOMAS BABINGTON'S FATHER WAS A COUSIN OF, AND IN CONTACT WITH, CATHERINE SAWBRIDGE MACAULAY'S FIRST HUSBAND (AND FATHER OF HER ONLY CHILD)


I have no time right now, but will suggest those intriguing implications later.

Cheers, ARNIE