
Janeites, Austen Enthusiasts, and those who are new to the sport of analyzing Austen’s great works, welcome to a series devoted entirely to the writing Jane Austen produced when she was in her youth. The fragments, short stories, poems, and letters have been cobbled together over the years and in most circles are commonly referred to as Austen’s Juvenilia. In a quick, snappy piece entitled The Adventures of Mr. Harley, Austen introduces a character who has great promise and, had his tale been explored further, might’ve provided many great hours of enjoyment for millions of readers. But as is, we are stuck wondering what to make of this forgetful creature.
The Adventures of Mr. Harley: A Synopsis
Because Mr. Harley is a man who wishes to please those he cares about most, he satisfies both his mother and father by securing a position aboard a ship serving as the resident chaplain. He sails with the crew for six months, then returns to land and boards a stagecoach heading for Hogsworth Green. His lady love, a woman named Emma, lives there, and he is eager to see her once more. When he looks about the coach, surveying his fellow travelers, he encounters a young lady who is vaguely familiar. It takes him a minute, but he eventually realizes this is his Emma and, with some gentle prompting, he remembers that he married her a few weeks before he left England to sail the seas.

The Adventures of Mr. Harley: An Analysis
What to say about the flexible Mr. Harley? Is he a man with a carefree and capricious spirit who makes commitments then forgets the details of his adventures? Did he endure a dreadful time at sea and therefore has blocked out most of his recent memories? Or is Mr. Harley a loveable chap who only fails to remember his wedding to Emma because the whole affair was thrown together in a slapdash manner? The reader is not led to believe that Mr. Harley has a roguish nature, because he thinks of Emma from the moment he arrives back in England. And yet, one cannot help but wonder how he is unable to recognize a lady he married but six months prior.
In her later works, Austen created rakish scoundrels who charmed many of the main female characters in her works. George Wickham simpered and smiled at the Misses Bennets throughout Pride and Prejudice. Willoughby wooed Marianne Dashwood upon meeting her in Sense and Sensibility. And, even in Austen’s unfinished novel, Sanditon, she crafted a gentleman who thrived on seducing women in the personage of Sir Edward Denham.
So, is Mr. Harley a quaint portrait of a silly, slightly forgetful young man? Or is this a shout at the male rakes of the day from a young Austen, telling them that she knows what they are about and to be forewarned that she will not succumb to their charms? For any man who can forget his wife, after only being separated from his beloved for such a short time, is someone who would not have been worthy of Austen or any of her heroines.
Download a PDF copy of this text and read along, discovering and analyzing Mr. Harley’s actions for yourself. And perhaps, try to envision what Austen meant to convey within this short text.
Images:
Sir Home Riggs Popham, by unknown artist, circa 1783. National Portrait Gallery.
A lady and her carriage; detail from “The Milbanke and Melbourne Families”, ca 1769, by George Stubbs. Image from Regency Explorer.
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