Wentworth Woodhouse a claim that the property had been Jane Austen's inspiration for Pemberley in her novel "Pride and Prejudice". It was thought that there might have been a connection to the house because Austen uses the name Fitzwilliam in her novel, but following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement the Jane Austen Society dismissed the likelihood that Austen had had the house in mind, given the absence of any evidence that she had visited the estate. Austen does, however, name a character Frederick Wentworth in "Persuasion", and the eponymous heroine of "Emma" has the surname Woodhouse. The series from BBC titled "The Country
Jane Austen referred to Austen several times with approval and on one occasion ranked her with Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Henry Fielding as among "the fine painters of life". The publication of James Edward Austen-Leigh's "A Memoir of Jane Austen" in 1869 introduced Austen to a wider public as "dear aunt Jane", the respectable maiden aunt. Publication of the "Memoir" spurred the reissue of Austen's novels – the first popular editions were released in 1883 and fancy illustrated editions and collectors' sets quickly followed. Author and critic Leslie Stephen described the popular mania that started to develop for Austen in the 1880s as