B. His wife, Eliza Barron, was the youngest daughter of Mr. E.
Barron, a gentleman of Norwich, the son of a rich saddler, or leather-
seller, in the Borough, who, when a child, had been patted on the head,
in his father's shop, by Dr. Johnson, while canvassing for Mr. Thrale.
Jenkin had been introduced to the Austins by a letter from Mrs. Gaskell,
and was charmed with the atmosphere of their choice home, where
intellectual conversation was happily united with kind and courteous
manners, without any pretence or affectation. 'Each of the Austins,'
says Mr. Stevenson, in his memoir of Jenkin, to which we are much
indebted, 'was full of high spirits; each practised something of the
same repression; no sharp word was uttered in the house. The same point
of honour ruled them: a guest was sacred, and stood within the pale
from criticism.' In short, the Austins were truly hospitable and
cultured, not merely so in form and appearance. It was a rare privilege
and preservative for a solitary young man in Jenkin's position to have
the entry into such elevating society, and he appreciated his good
fortune.
Annie Austin, their only child, had been highly educated, and knew Greek
among other things. Though Jenkin loved and admired her parents, he did
not at first care for Annie, who, on her part, thought him vain, and by
no means good-looking.
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