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LETTERS 



OF 



JANE AUSTEN 



EDITED 
V/1TH AN INTRODUCTION AND CRITICAL REMARKS 

HY 

EDWARD, LORD BRABOURNE 



IN TWO VOLUMES 
VOL. I. 




LONDON 
RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET 

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JANE AUSTEN'S 
L E T T E K S 



VOL. I. 



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TO 

THE QUEERS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. 

MADAM, 

It was the knowledge that your Majesty so highly 
appreciated the works of Jane Austen which embold- 
ened me to ask permission to dedicate to your Majesty 
these volumes, containing as they do numerous letters 
of that authoress, of which, as her great-nephew, I have 
recently become possessed. These letters are printed, 
with the exception of a very few omissions which ap- 
peared obviously desirable, just as they were written, and 
if there should be found in them, or in the chapters 
which accompany them, anything which may interest 
or amuse your Majesty, I shall esteem myself doubly 
fortunate in having been the means of bringing them 
under your Majesty's notice. 

I am, Madam, 

Your Majesty's very humble 

and obedient subject, 

BRABOURNE. 



I 






CONTENTS 

OF 

THE FIRST VOLUME. 

CHAPTER 

INTRODUCTION 

I. GODMERSHAM AND GOODNESTONE 

II. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS ... 
III. STEVENTON AND CHAWTON, WINCHESTER 
IV. THE NOVELS ...... 

V. THE NOVELS . . . . . . . . 8t 

LETTERS 1 IS 






INTEODUCTION 



IT is right that some explanation should be 
given of the manner in which the letters now 
published came into my possession. 

The Eev. J. E. Austen Leigh, nephew to Jane 
Austen, and first cousin to my mother Lady 
Knatchbull, published in 1869 ' a Memoir ' of 
his aunt, and supplemented it by a second and 
enlarged edition in the following year, to which 
lie added the hitherto unpublished tale, ' Lady 
Susan,' for the publication of which he states in 
his preface that he had ' lately received permission 
from the author's niece, Lady Knatchbull, of 
Provender, in Kent, to whom the autograph copy 
was given.' It seems that the autograph copy 
of another unpublished tale, ' The Watsons,' had 
been given to Mr. Austen Leigh's half-sister, Mrs. 
Lefroy, and that each recipient took a copy of 



x INTRODUCTION. 

what was jrivon to tlie other, by which 
Mr. Austen Leigh became acquainted with the 
i'.\i>tcnce and contents of 'Lady Susan,' and 
knowing that it was the property of my mother, 
wrote to ask her permission to attach it to, and 
publish it with, the second edition of his ' Memoir.' 
My mother was at that time unable to attend to 
business, and my youngest sister, who lived %\;t!: 
IKT, replied to the request, giving the desired per- 
mission on her behalf, but stating at the same 
time that the autograph copy had been lost for the 
last six years, that any letters which existed could 
not be found, and that my mother was not in a fit 
state to allow of any search being made. It so 
happened that no reference was made to me, and I 
only knew of the request having been made and 
granted when I saw the tale in print. But on my 
mother's death, in December 1882, all her papers 
came into my possession, and I not only found the 
original copy of ' Lady Susan ' in Jane Austen's 
own handwriting among the other books in the 
Provender library, but a square box full of letters, 
fastened up carefully in separate packets, each 
f which was endorsed 'For Lady Knatchbull,' 
MI the handwriting of my great-aunt, Cassandra 



INTRODUCTION: 

i 

Austen, and with which was a paper endors 
in my mother's handwriting, 'Letters from mV 
dear Aunt Jane Austen, and two from Aunt Cas- 
sandra after her decease,' which paper contained 
the letters written to my mother herself. The box 
itself had been endorsed by my mother as follows : 

' Letters from Aunt Jane to Aunt Cassandra at 
different periods of her life a few to me and 
some from Aunt Cass. to me after At. Jane's 
death.' 

This endorsement bears the date August, 1856, 
and was probably made the last time my mother 
looked at the letters. At all events, a comparison 
of these letters with some quoted by Mr. Austen 
Leigh makes it abundantly clear that they have 
never been in his hands, and that they are now 
presented to the public for the first time. Indeed, 
it is much to be regretted that the ' Memoir ' 
should have been published without the additional 
light which many of these letters throw upon the 
Life, though of course no blame attaches to Mr. 
Austen Leigh in the matter. 

The opportunity, however, having been lost, 
and 'Lady Susan' already published, it remained 
for me to consider whether the letters which had 



-\il INTRODUCTION. 

come into my possession were of sufficient public 
interest to justify me in giving them to the world. 
They had evidently, for the most part, been left 
to my mother by her Aunt Cassandra Austen; 
they contain the confidential outpourings of Jane 
Austen's soul to her beloved sister, interspersed 
with many family and personal details which, 
doubtless, she would have told to no other human 
being. But to-day, more than seventy long years 
have rolled away since the greater part of them 
WITC written ; no one now living can, I think, have 
any possible just cause of annoyance at their 
publication, whilst, if I judge rightly, the public 
never took a deeper or more lively interest in all 
that concerns Jane Austen than at the present 
moment. Her works, slow in their progress 
towards popularity, have achieved it with the 
greater certainty, and have made an impression 
the more permanent from its gradual advance. 
The popularity continues, although the customs 
and manners which Jane Austen describes have 
changed and varied so much as to belong in a 
great measure to another age. But the reason of 
it- continuance is not far to seek. Human nature 
is the same in all ages of the world, and ' the 



INTRODUCTION. xiii 

inimitable Jane ' (as an old friend of mine used 
always to call her) is true to Nature from first to 
last. She does not attract our imagination by 
sensational descriptions or marvellous plots ; but, 
with so little ' plot ' at all as to offend those who read 
only for excitement, she describes men and women 
exactly as men and women really are, and tells her 
tale of ordinary, everyday life with such truthful 
delineation, such bewitching simplicity, and, more- 
over, with such purity of style and language, as 
have rarely been equalled, and perhaps never 
surpassed. 

This being the case, it has seemed to me that 
the letters which show what her own ' ordinary, 

/ * 

everyday life ' was, and which afford a picture 
of her such as no history written by another 
person could give so well, are likely to interest a 
public which, botli in Great Britain and America, 
has learned to appreciate Jane Austen. It will 
be seen that they are ninety-four in number, 
ranging in date from 1796 to 1816 that is to say, 
over the last twenty years of her life. Some other 
letters, written to her sister Cassandra, appear 
in Mr. Austen Leigh's book, and it would seem 
that at Cassandra's death, in 1845, the correspond- 



xiv INTRODUCTION. 

ence must have been divided, and whilst the bulk 
of it came to my mother, a number of letters 
passed into the possession of Mr. Austen Leigh's 
sisters, from whom he obtained them. These he 
made use of without being aware of the existence 
of the rest. 

However this may be, it is certain that I 
am now able to present to the public entirely new 
matter, from which may be gathered a fuller and 
more complete knowledge of Jane Austen and 
her 4 belongings ' than could otherwise have been 
obtained. Miss Tytler, indeed, has made a praise- 
worthy effort to impart to the world information 
respecting the life and works of her favourite 
authoress, but her ' Life ' is little more than a 
copy of Mr. Austen Leigh's Memoir. I attempt 
no 4 Memoir ' that can properly be so called, but 
I give the letters as they were written, with such 
comments and explanations as I think may add 
to their interest. I am aware that in some of the 
latter I have wandered somewhat far away from 
Jane Austen, having been led aside by allusions 
which awaken old memories and recal old stories. 
Hut whilst my 'addenda' may be read or skipped 
as the reader pleases, they do not detract from 



LETTEES 



OP 



JANE AUSTEN. 

CHAPTER I. 

GODMERSHAM AXD GOODNESTOXE. 

MY great-aunt, Jane Austen, died on July 18, 1817. 
As circumstances over which I had no control 
prevented my appearance in the world until 
twelve years later, I was unfortunately debarred 
from that personal acquaintance with her and 
her surroundings which would have enabled me 
to describe both with greater accuracy of detail 
than I can at present hope to attain. I feel, 
however, that I have some claim to undertake 
the task which I am about to commence, from 
the fact that my mother, the eldest daughter of 
the Edward Austen so often alluded to in the 
accompanying letters, was the favourite niece of 
VOL. i. B 



2 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. i. 

Aunt Jane, and that the latter's na"me has been 
a household word in my family from the earliest 
period of my recollection. It is of my mother 
that Jane Austen writes to her sister Cassandra 
(October 7, 1808), I am greatly pleased with 
your account of Fanny ; I found her in the summer 
just what you describe, almost another sister, and 
could not have supposed that a neice 1 would ever 
have been so much to me. She is quite after one's 
own heart.' And it is to my mother that her Aunt 
Cassandra writes in 1817, after her sister's death : 
*I believe she was better known to you than to 
any human being besides myself.' The memory 
of ' Aunt Jane ' was so constantly and so tenderly 
cherished by my mother, and I have always heard 
her spoken of in such terms of affection, that 
I feel very much as if I must have known her 
myself, and I am not content to let these letters 
go forth to the world without such additional 
information as I am able to impart with respect 
to the people and things of whom and of which 
they treat. 

In order to be properly interested in a bio- 
graphy or in biographical letters, it is necessary 

1 Always so spelt in her letters. 



en. i. GODMERSHAM AND GOODNESTONE. 3 

that the reader should know something of the 
' dramatis person^,' so as to feel as nearly as 
possible as if they were personal acquaintances ; 
and if this desirable point is once reached, the 
amusement to be found in the narrative is sensibly 
increased. Of course it is very possible to fall 
into the error of going too much into detail, and 
provoking the exclamation, ' What has this got 
to do with Jane Austen ? ' I think that this is an 
exclamation very likely to be made by some of 
those who may peruse these volumes ; but, on the 
other hand, I am inclined to believe that, upon 
the whole, it is better to give too much than too 
little information. For my own part, I confess 
that, if I read letters of this kind at all, I like 
to know as much as is to be known about the 
people and places mentioned. To leave me at 
the end of my perusal uncertain as to the fate of 
some of the people, or as to the present condition 
of the places, is to my mind a distinct fraud upon 
the good nature which has induced me to take 
sufficient interest in them to read the book. I like 
to know whom John married, what became of 
Mary, who lives at A , and whether B is . 

B2 



4 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. i. 

still in the possession of the same family ; and, such 
being my view of the case, I have endeavoured 
to give as much information as I could about 
everybody and everything. At the distance of 
time from which these letters were written, it is 
next to impossible not to miss, and perhaps occa- 
sionally misunderstand, some of the allusions ; but, 
for the most part, I hope and think this has been 
avoided. 

To a considerable extent, the letters tell their 
own story, the first being written in 1796, when the 
writer was not yet twenty-one the last in 1816, 
the year before she died. The ' Memoir ' published 
by Mr. Austen Leigh gives an outline of Jane 
Austen's history which these letters will do much 
to fill up and complete ; but there are some points 
which he has left untouched, and others upon 
which he was not in possession of the information 
which 1 am now able to impart. For instance, Mr. 
Austen Leigh speaks of letters written in November, 
1800, as * the earliest letters ' he has seen, whereas 
the present collection comprises more than twenty 
which were written before that time. Again, he 
quotes a sentence written in April, 1805, as ' evi- 
dence that Jane Austen was acquainted with Bath 



CH. i. GODMERSHAM AND GOODNESTONE. 5 

before it became her residence in 1801,' the fact 
of which acquaintance, the reason for it and the 
manner in which it came about, will all be found 
in these letters. 

It is not my desire or intention to attempt a 
regular biography of Jane Austen, by which I 
mean an account of the events of her life set down 
in chronological order and verified with historical 
precision. In truth, the chief beauty of Jane 
Austen's life really consisted in its being unevent- 
ful : it was emphatically a home life, and she the 
licrht and blessing of a home circle. When it has 

m o 

been said that she was born at Steventon Eectory 
on December 16, 1775, that the family moved to 
Bath in 1801, that her father died there in January, 
1805, that she subsequently went with her mother 
to Southampton, in 1809 settled at Chawton, and 
went in 1817 to die at Winchester, the whole record 
of the life has been nearly completed ; its beauty 
is to be found in the illustrations which these 
letters afford, revealing to us as they do more of 
the character and inner life of the writer than 
could be discovered by the mere dry recital of 
events. 

To judge the letters fairly, however, and to 



3 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. on. i. 

understand them as they ought to be understood 
:o make them interesting, I think it is very 
lesirable to arrive at a more complete knowledge 
ihan has hitherto been possible for the general 
public, of the circumstances under which they 
vere written, and the places to and from which 
-hey were addressed. 

Of Steventon, where the first half of Jane 
Austen's life was passed, there is little to be said 
)eyond what has been already told by Mr. Austen 
Jeigh. But it is interesting to enquire how it was 
hat Steventon became Jane Austen's home, and 
he more so since it was through the same channel 
hat her family became interested in Godmersham 
3 ark and Chawton House, from or to the former 
)f which many of her letters were addressed, and 
icar to the latter of which was the home where 
he passed the later period of her life. In fact, 
)efore one can thoroughly understand and feel at 
lome with the people of whom Jane Austen writes, 
md who were the friends and companions of her 
ife, one should know something of the history of 
Godmersham and Goodnestone, in Kent, as well as 
>f Steventon and Chawton, in Hampshire ; and I 
im bound to say, speaking from personal expe- 



CH. i. GODMERSIIAM AND GOODNESTONE. 7 

rience, that the more we know about them, the 
better we shall like them. 

I will take Godmersham first, partly because I 
know it best, and partly because it obliges me to 
enter upon a genealogical sketcli which is required 
in order to trace the way in which this place 
became connected with Jane Austen and Jane 
Austen with the place. Godmersham Park is 
situated in one of the most beautiful parts of 
Kent, namely, in the Valley of the Stour, which 
lies between Ashford and Canterbury. Soon after 
you pass the Wye Station of the railway from the 
former to the latter place, you see Godmersham 
Church on your left hand, and just beyond it comes 
into view the wall which shuts off the shrubberies 
and pleasure grounds of the great house from the 
road ; close to the church nestles the home farm, 
and beyond it the rectory, with lawn sloping down 
to the Eiver Stour, which, for a distance of nearly 
a mile, runs through the east end of the park. A 
little beyond the church you see the mansion, 
between which and the railroad lies the village, 
divided by the old high road from Ashford to 
Canterbury, nearly opposite Godmersham. The 
Valley of the Stour makes a break in that ridge of 



LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CJT. i. 

ialk hills (the proper name of which is the 
ackbone of Kent) which runs from Dover to 
olkestone, and from Folkestone by Lyininge, 
orton, Stowting, Brabourne, and Brook to Wye, 
here the break occurs, and on the other side of 
ic valley the hills appear again, running down 
om Chilham, past Godmersham to Challock and 
lastwell, and away behind Charing and Lenham. 
o that Godmersham Park, beyond the house, is 
pon the chalk downs, and on its further side is 
ounded by King's Wood, a large tract of wood- 
ind containing many hundred acres and possessed 
y several different owners. It is a healthy as well 
s a lovely situation, with Chilham Park to the 
orth and Eastwell Park to the south, 6.j> miles from 
Lshford and 8 miles from Canterbury, and within 
n easy drive from the quaint little town of Wye. 

Godmersham formerly belonged to the ancient 
imily of Brodnax, one of whom lived in the reign 
f Henry V., and married Alicie Scappe, from 
r hom descended various generations of the name, 
r ho seem to have lived either at Hythe, Burmarsh, 
r Cheriton all places in Kent adjoining each 
tlier until we come to Thomas Brodnax, of 
rodmersham, who, having married, first a Gilbert, 



CH. i. GODMEKSHAM AND GOODNESTONE. 9 

and then a Brockman, of Beacliborough, died in 
1602. His great-grandson William, having married 
the daughter of Thomas Digges, of Chilham, was 
knighted, either for that reason or a better, in 
1664, and left a son William, who married, first a 
Coppin and then a May, and died in 1726. 

It is through Thomas Brodnax, the son of this 
last-named William, that the Austen family became 
connected with Godmersham. He changed his 
name, doubtless for very good cause, first in 1727 
to May (his mother's name), and then, in 1738, to 
Knight. As Thomas May Knight he ended his 
life, in 1781, aged eighty years, and of him Hasted, 
the Kentish historian, says that ' he was a gentle- 
man whose eminent worth ought not here to pass 
unnoticed ; whose high character for upright 
conduct and integrity stamped a universal con- 
fidence and authority on all he said and did, which 
rendered his life as honourable as it was good, and 
caused his death to be lamented by everyone as a 
public loss.' 

It was this Thomas May Knight's marriage 
with which we have now to deal, and to do so in 
a satisfactory manner we must turn to the genea- 
logical tree of the Austens, who are, according to 



LO LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. i. 

lasted, ' a family of ancient standing in Kent,' and 
me of whom, John Austen, of Broadford, not only 
lied there, in 1620, but was comfortably buried 
n the parish church, where are or were Inn iir 
lis coat of arms in commemoration of the event. 
?rom him descended John Austen, of Gravehurst 
md Broadford, who died in 1705, aged seventy-six, 
laving had a son John and a daughter Jane by 
lis wife Jane Atkins. The son married Elizabeth 
teller, had a son William, and then died the year 
>efore his father. The daughter married Stephen 
Stringer, and had a daughter named Hannah. 
fVilliani Austen and Hannah Stringer being thus 
irst cousins, the former married Eebecca Hampson, 
md had a son George, who was Jane Austen's 
ather ; the latter married William Monk, and had 
L daughter Jane, who married Thomas May Knight, 
>f Godniersham Park and Chawton House. This 
atter couple had one son, Thomas Knight, who 
uarried Catherine, daughter of Wadhain Knatch- 
>ull, Canon and Prebendary of Durham, and, 
laving no children, Mr. Knight adopted Edward 
Lusten, George Austen's second son, arid, dying in 
794, left him all his property, subject to his 
widow's life interest 



en. i. GOIB1ERSIIAM AND GOODNESTONE. 1] 

It will be seen by the foregoing account how 
it was that the Austens became concerned with 
Godmersham, and it will also be seen that the 
various county histories which Mr. Austen Leigh 
follows, in saying that Mr. Thomas Knight left 
his property to ' his cousin Edward Austen,' cer- 
tainly make the most of the relationship. All that 
the two could fairly say was that their great-grand- 
father and great-grandmother were brother and 
sister, and their grandfather and grandmother first 
cousins ; but, according to the present ideas of the 
world, it is somewhat straining a point to claim the 
relationship of ' cousin ' for the second generation 
after the indisputable first-cousinship. I believe, 
however, that, as a matter of fact, Mr. Knight had 
no nearer relations than this branch of the family, 
and personally I have no objection to the relationship 
having been established and accepted in this case, 
since thereby Edward Austen, who was my much- 
respected grandfather, became possessed of large 
property, which enabled him, by an early marriage, 
to bring about that satisfactory relationship with 
my unworthy self. When Mr. Knight (who was 
member for Kent for a short time [1774] during 
his father's lifetime) died in 1794, being then 



LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CF. T. 

ider sixty years of age, his widow, as will appear 
)iu the letters, gave up the property to Edward 
listen, to whom it would otherwise have come 
ily at her decease. She reserved a certain in- 
une for herself, retired to Canterbury, and settled 
)wn in a house known as ' White Friars,' so called 
om the Augustine or ' White Friars ' (though the 
)pellation more properly belonged to the Car- 
elites), who formerly possessed it, and from whom 

passed through various hands till it came by 
arriage into the possession of the Papillons of 
crise, from whom Mr. W. 0. Hammond, of 
;. Albans Court, bought it, lived there for a time, 
id then sold it to Mrs. Knight, who inhabited 

until her death in October 1812. In November 
312 Edward Austen and his family took the 
line of Knight. 

Mrs. Knight (nee Catherine Knatchbull) lived 
n the best of terms with those who succeeded her 
b Godmersham. She was a very superior woman, 
1th a good understanding and highly cultivated 
dnd ; she was my mother's godmother, and I shall 
ild to the present collection of letters two of hers, 
ue to my mother and the other to my father, Sir 
Id ward Knatchbull, which I think are of some 



CH. i. GODMERSHAM AND GOODNESTONE. 13 

interest. Mrs. Knight was not only a very su- 
perior, but a very beautiful woman, if we may 
judge from her picture, by Eomney, which now 
hangs in the dining-room at Chawton House, and 
is enough to make anyone proud of being related 
to her. It was, as I have said, the adoption 
of my maternal grandfather Edward Austen, by 
Mr. Knight, which enabled the former to marry ; 
and this brings me to the connection of Jane 
Austen and her family with Goodnestone, which 
shall duly be set forth in a manner which will 
throw light upon many of the characters in our 
play. For the 'Elizabeth' to whom frequent 
reference is made throughout these letters, beiner 

O O 

the wife chosen by my revered grandfather, and 
consequently occupying the undoubted position 
of my maternal grandmother, was a daughter 
of the family of Sir Brook Bridges, of Good- 
nestone, which family requires immediate and 
careful attention. 

Now there are two Goodnestones in Kent 
(pronounced ' Gunstone '), between which let the 
unwary reader fall into no error. Goodnestone 
' next Favershain ' is a different place altogether 
from our Goodnestone, which is ' next Wingham,' 



LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. T. 

nd is iii old records written Godwinceston, ' which 
ame,' says Hasted, 'it took from Earl Godwin, 
nee owner of it.' Goodnestone was not the ori- 
inal seat of the Bridges race. Collins tells us 
lat ' this family has been of good antiquity in 
reland, where several of the branches thereof have 
ow considerable estates ; but the first that settled 
i England was John Bridges of South Littleton, in 
Worcestershire, who, on November 14, 1578, pur- 
siased an house and lands at Alcester, in War- 
ickshire. His grandson, John Bridges, settled at 
'ackney, and was the father of Col. John Bridges, 
hose second son, Brooke, was the first Bridges who 
ossessed Goodnestone. For we find from Hasted 
lat in the reign of Queen Anne one Sir Thos. 
ngham sold it to Brook Bridges, of Grove, auditor 
f the imprest, who new built the mansion, and 
ied possessed of it in 1717. 'He built,' says 
ollins, ' a very handsome house, and very much 
nprov'd the gardens, and along the side of the 
rras walks, stand the busts of the twelve Caesars, 
L marble, larger than the life ; they were brought 
om Eome, and cost about 600/.' His son, who 
as created a baronet in 1718, married, first, Mar- 
iret Marsham, daughter of Sir Eobt. Marsham and 



CH. i. GODMERSHAM AND GOODNESTONE. 15 

sister of the first Lord Komney ; secondly, Mary, 
daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, of Bekesbourne. 

It is necessary to go back as far as this, in 
order to show the connection and kinship of 
various persons to whom allusion is made in some 
of the Godmersham and Goodnestone letters. Sir 
Brook left two children by his first wife : Margaret, 
who married John Plump tre, Esq., of Fredville 
near Wingham, M.P. for Nottingham in 1750, and 
died without children (with which a second wife 
amply supplied him), and Brook, who succeeded 
him as second baronet in March, 1728. This Sir 
Brook married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas 
Palmer, of Wingham (of whom more anon), but 
died during his shrievalty (May 28, 1733), after 
which a posthumous child was born to him, who 
is a person of great consequence to my history, 
as will be presently seen when I come to speak of 
his children. He, being the third Sir Brook, 
married Fanny Fowler, daughter of Christopher 
Fowler, Esq., of Graces, Essex, who, to judge by 
her picture, of which there are several copies in 
the family, did credit to his taste. It may be 
properly here remarked that through this lady's 
mother, Frances Mildmay, came the claim to the 



16 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. i. 

Fit /waiter peerage, which the fifth Sir Brook so 
nearly sustained before the Committee of Privi- 
leges of the House of Lords in later years, that 
no one ever quite knew how he failed to get it, 
any more than they understood the species of wild 
justice by which a peerage of the same name, 
but not the same peerage, was eventually given to, 
and died with him. The third Sir Brook and 
Fanny Fowler (who died March 15, 1825) had 
ten children, all of whom are mentioned, some of 
them frequently, in these letters. There were four 
sons, of whom William, the eldest, became the 
fourth baronet upon the death of his father in 
1791, took the name of Brook by Act of Parlia- 
ment, married Eleanor Foote, the daughter of 
John Foote, Esq., banker, of London, and by her 
(who died in 1806) had two sons, Sir Brook (who 
succeeded him, married his first cousin Fanny 
Cage, was created Lord Fitzwalter, of Woodham 
Walter, Sussex, in 1868, and died without issue in 
1875) and George, who married Louisa, daughter 
of Chas. Chaplin, Esq., M.P., of Blankney, Lincoln- 
shire, and succeeded his brother as sixth baronet. 
The fourth Sir Brook also left a daughter Eleanor, 
who married in 1828 the llev. Henry Western 



CH. r. GODMERSHAM AND GOODNESTONE. 17 

Plumptre, third son of Mr. Plumptre, of Fredville, 
and had a large family. 

But I am descending into modern times far too 
rapidly, having yet to deal with the seven younger 
children of the third Sir Brook and Fanny Fowler. 
The second son was Henry, who also took the 
name of Brook, married in 1795 Jane, daughter 
of Sir Thos. Pym Hales, and had sundry children 
who need not here be specified. The other two 
sons were Brook Edward and Brook John, who 
also married, but who do not signify to us at 
present. It is with the daughters that we are 
more concerned, for four of the six married three 
of them in the same year and to them or their 
children we have constant references in the letters 
before us. Fanny married Lewis Cage, of Milgate, 
the family place, 2^ miles from Maidstone, and 
was the mother of Fanny Cage, who, as has been 
already mentioned, married her cousin Sir Brook, 
and as Lady Fitzwalter died without issue in 
1874. Sophia married William Deedes, Esq., of 
Sandling, near Hythe, became the mother of no 
less than twenty children, and died in 1844. Eliza- 
beth married Edward Austen, and had eleven 
children, of whom my mother was the eldest, and 

VOL. i. C 



.8 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. i. 

ifteen years later, in 1806, Harriet Mary married 
he Eev. Geo. Moore, Rector of Canterbury, and 
>ldest son of the then Archbishop of Canterbury, 
)y whom she also had a numerous family. 

I cannot forbear interrupting my genealogical 
larrative here, in the hope that my lady readers 
,vill be interested in the matter which causes the 
nterruption, inasmuch as it relates to the manners 
ind customs of just a hundred years ago with 
*egard to matrimonial engagements. I have the 
.etters in which Fanny Fowler, Lady Bridges, 
innounces the coming marriages of her three elder 
laughters ; they were written to her husband's 
lalf-brother's (Chas. Fielding) wife, and being in- 
teresting, although very remotely connected with 
Jane Austen,' if I may not properly insert them, 
is I shall venture to do, in the appendix to these 
volumes, what is the use of having an appendix at 
all? I shall certainly do so, for the benefit of all 
those mothers who have daughters, married or to 
be married, in order that they may see and appre- 
ciate the manner in which my beloved great- 
[jrandmother bore the loss (by marriage) of three 
daughters in one year. Besides these three and 
Mrs. Moore, however, she had two daughters to 



CH. i. GODMERSHAM AND GOODNESTONE. 19 

console her, neither of whom was married. 
Marianne (mentioned in the thirty-fifth letter, 
who was a confirmed invalid all her life, and 
died in 1811) and Louisa. The latter, who is 
mentioned in letter sixty-six as having gone with 
her mother to Bath in 1813, lived many years, 
much loved and respected by all my generation, 
who knew her as ' Great- Aunt Louisa,' and often 
saw her at Godmersham and Goodnestone, at the 
latter of which she died in June 1856. When 
Sir Brook, the third baronet, died in 1791, his 
widow retired to Goodnestone Farm, and lived 
there with these two unmarried daughters and 
the two Miss Cages, Fanny and Sophia, who 
came to her after the death of their parents, the 
latter having died within a few months of each 
other. 

I have now shown, as I hope with sufficient 
clearness, how the two Kentish places, God- 
mersham and Goodnestone, became connected 
with the life of Jane Austen ; Godmersham, as the 
home of her brother Edward ; Goodnestone, as the 
home of his wife Elizabeth ; and, in the genea- 
logical sketches which I have given, I have shown 
something of those interweaving and interwoven 

c2 



20 LETTEES OF JANE AUSTEX. en. r. 

relationships of the eastern part of Kent which, 
have given rise to the saying that ' in Kent they 
are all first cousins.' But I cannot forbear saying 
a few more words in this place upon Kentish 
relationships, which will assist in explaining some 
other allusions in our letters, and without which 
I should really feel as if I had been guilty of an 
inexcusable omission. 

My mother, who took a deep interest in all 
family matters, and was an infallible authority 
upon questions connected with county genealogy, 
always began her elucidation of any point relating 
to her mother's family with the following words : 
' Once upon a time there were three Miss Palmers.' 
As nobody is at all likely to dispute this fact at 
the present day, I pause to remark that the 
Palmers were an old Kentish family, of Wingham, 
and the first baronet, Sir Thomas, was raised to 
that dignity in 1621. Of him says Hasted, * He so 
constantly resided at Wingham that he is said 
to have kept sixty Christmases without intermis- 
sion in this mansion with great hospitality.' Sir 
Thomas had three sons, each of whom was 
knighted, and from him descended the father 
of the three ladies whose doings I am about to 



OH. r. GODMERSIIAM AND GOODNESTONE. 21 

commemorate. Their names were Mary, Elizabeth, 
and Anne. Mary became the second wife of 
Daniel, seventh Earl of Winchilsea, by whom she 
had four daughters, of whom only one, Heneage, 
married, her husband being Sir George Osborn, 
of Chicksands Priory, Bedfordshire. Elizabeth 
Palmer married Edward Finch, fifth brother of 
the said Daniel, seventh Earl of Winchilsea, who 
took the name of Hatton under the will of his 
aunt, the widow of Viscount Hatton, and died 
in 1771, leaving a son George. Meanwhile, the 
second, third, and fourth brothers lived and died, 
and only the second brother, William, left a son. 
He accomplished this by marrying twice : first, 
Lady Anne Douglas, who had no children ; secondly, 
Lady Charlotte Fermor, whose son George suc- 
ceeded his uncle Daniel as eighth Earl of Win- 
chilsea, but died unmarried in 1826. 

Meanwhile, George Finch-Hatton, the son of 
Edward, and therefore first cousin to George, the 
eighth earl, had died, after having married Lady 
Elizabeth Mary Murray, daughter of the Earl of 
Mansfield, and left three children, of whom the 
eldest, George William, succeeded as ninth Earl 
of Winchilsea, in 1826. This is the ' George 



22 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. r. 

Hatton ' several times mentioned in the letters 
from Godmersham. 

But, in following up the Finches and Hattons, 
I have^eft Anne, the third Miss Palmer, too long 
alone, and must hasten back to her, with many 
apologies. She was the lady who, as has been 
already mentioned, married the second Sir Brook 
Bridges ; but, whether the honour of the alliance, 
or the responsibilities of the office of High Sheriff 
of the county, or some other cause, brought about 
the catastrophe, certain it is that Sir Brook left 
her a widow, as has already been stated, in 1733 ; 
and, in 1737, she took to herself a second husband, 
in the person of Charles Fielding, second son of 
Basil, fourth Earl of Denbigh, by whom she had 
two sons and two daughters before her death 
in 1743. This lady's second son Charles was a 
commodore in the navy ; he married Sophia Finch, 
sister of George Finch, eighth Earl of Winchilsea, 
and daughter of William and Lady Charlotte 
Finch (nee Fermor). Lady Charlotte was governess 
to the children of King George III., and her 
daughter, Mrs. Charles Fielding, lived with her 
at Windsor and St. James', so her children were 
brought up with the Eoyal Family. This will 



CH. i. .GODMERSHAM AND GOODNESTONE. 23 

explain the various references to members of the 
Fielding family which will be found in Jane 
Austen's letters ; and, though I feel rather ashamed 
of having inflicted upon my readers suck a dull 
chapter of genealogy, those who care to do so 
will be able to identify by its aid many of the 
people who were her contemporaries, friends, and 
relations. 



LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. ir. 



CHAPTER H. 

AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 

N the preceding chapter I have dealt pretty fully 
nth the relationships which accrued to Jane 
Lusten through the marriage of her brother 
Edward to Elizabeth Bridges, and her consequent 
onnection with Godmershara and Goodnestone. 

Before, however, I come to speak of her non- 
Centish relations, it may- be as well to specify the 
liildren of that marriage, the elder of whom are 
;onstantly mentioned in the letters. The ' Fanny ' 
vhose name occurs so often, and to whom some of 
he later letters are addressed, is Fanny Catherine, 
he eldest child of the marriage, who was born on 
"anuary 23, 1793. A son may be pardoned for 
laying (especially when it is simply and literally 
rue) that never was a more exemplary life passed 
ban that of his mother. Upon October 10, 1808, 
ust before she had completed her sixteenth year, 



CH. ir. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 25 

her mother (the ' Elizabeth ' of the letters) died 
very suddenly, leaving ten children besides herself, 
the youngest quite a baby. From that moment my 
mother took charge of the family, watched over 
her brothers and sisters, was her father's right 
hand and mainstay, and proved herself as admirable 
in that position as afterwards in her married life. 
She married my father, Sir Edward Knatchbull, as 
his second wife, on October 24, 1820, when she had 
nearly completed her twenty-eighth year, and died 
on Christmas morning, 1882, being within four 
weeks of completing her ninetieth year. Besides 
her, the children of my grandfather and grand- 
mother consisted of six boys and four girls. 

Edward, the eldest son, married r twice, and 
left several children by both marriages. He lived 
at Chawton House during his father's lifetime, and 
after the latter's death, in November 1852, he 
spent a large sum in repairing and remodelling 
Godmersham, intending to live there, but never 
did so, sold a large portion of the property to 
Lord Sondes (whose Kentish estate of Lees Court 
was and is adjoining), and finally disposed of the 
rest, with the house, to Mr. Lister Kaye ; and, at 
his death in 1878, left Chawton House and property 



26 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. n. 

to his eldest son by his second wife, Adela, daughter 
of John Portal, Esq., of Freefolk, in the county of 
Hants. The second son, George Thomas, is the 
' ittle Dordy ' of the letters, and seems to have 
been a particular pet of Jane's. He was one of 
those men who are clever enough to do almost 
anything, but live to their lives' end very comfort- 
ably doing nothing. The most remarkable achieve- 
ment of his which I am able to record was his 
winning a 50/. prize in the lottery in 1804, when 
quite a child, an event duly chronicled in her 
pocket-book of that year by my mother, who kept 
a regular journal of family events from very early 
childhood. Subsequently, my respected uncle was 
mighty at cricket, and one of the first, if not the 
first, who introduced the practice of ' round ' 
bowling instead of the old-fashioned ' underhand.' 
He was very well informed, agreeable, a pleasant 
companion, and always popular with his nephews 
and nieces ; but I know of nothing else which he 
did worthy of mention, except marry in 1837 as 
kind-hearted a woman as ever lived in the person 
of Hilare, daughter of Admiral Sir Eobt. Barlow, 
and widow of the second Lord Nelson. They had 
fco children, and passed a great deal of their time 



CH. ir. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 27 

on the Continent. She died in 1857, and he sur- 
vived her ten years, dying in August 1867. 

The next brother, Henry, married his first 
cousin, Sophia Cage, sister of Lady Bridges, and 
afterwards the daughter of the Eev. E. Northey, 
and died in 1843. He left two children, one by 
each wife, and the fourth brother, William, left 
several also, having married three times, and held 
the rectory of Steventon until his death in 1873. 

But as he, together with the two younger sons, 
Charles Bridges and Brook John (the former of 
whom died unmarried in October 1867, and the 
latter left no children, and died in 1878), were too 
young to be more than casually mentioned in 
' At. Jane's ' correspondence, it is needless to give fur- 
ther particulars about them. All the sons of the 
marriage of Edward Austen and Elizabeth Bridges 
have passed away at the present time of writing, 
but two of the four younger daughters are still 
with us. I had written ' three,' but alas ! even 
while these pages are passing through my hands, 
another has been taken namely, Elizabeth, the 
' Lizzie ' of the letters, who married, in 1818, 
Edward Eoyd Eice, Esq., of Dane Court, near 
Sandwich, Kent, had a numerous family, and died 



28 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. IT. 

in April of the present year. Those who are left 
are Marianne, still unmarried, and Louisa, who 
married Lord George Hill, as his second wife, the 
first having been her sister Cassandra, who died 
in 1842. 

This record will serve to explain many allusions 
in the letters, but I have still to deal with the 
' inimitable Jane's ' kith and kin in Hampshire and 
further abroad. Her own immediate family con- 
sisted of five brothers and the one sister, Cassandra, 
some three years older than herself, to whom most 
of ' the letters ' are addressed. 

I remember ' Great-Aunt Cassandra ' very well, 
which is not extraordinary, considering that she 
only died in the spring of 1845, when I was nearly 
sixteen years old. All through her life she was a 
constant visitor at her brother's house at God- 
mersham, and it was to this circumstance, and to 
the consequent separation of the sisters, that we 
owe most of our letters. As the penny post had 
not been invented in those good old times, people 
wrote less frequently and took more pains with 
their letters than is now the general habit, and we 
shall find several allusions to the ' franks ' which 
could at that time (and indeed up to 1840) be 



CH. ii. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 29 

given by members of Parliament, who were thus 
enabled to oblige their friends bv saving them the 

/ o 

heavy postage of their letters. 

However, franks or no franks, it is very certain 
that the two sisters wrote to each other letters 
which may fairly be called voluminous, and my 
great regret is that, in presenting to the public so 
many of Jane's letters to Cassandra, I cannot add 
to their value by producing any of Cassandra's to 
Jane, of which the latter gives us sufficient hints 
to make us feel that they must have been of an 
amusing and interesting character. In all proba- 
bility, however, when Jane Austen died in 1817, 
and all her papers and letters came into her sister's 
possession, the latter did not think her own letters 
worth preserving, and they were accordingly de- 
stroyed. 

From my recollection of ' Great- Aunt Cas- 
sandra ' in her latter days she must have been a 
very sensible, charming, and agreeable person. 
Of her earlier life I cannot tell more than is told 
in Mr. Austen Leigh's Memoir and may be gathered 
from her sister's letters. If the engagement to a 
young clergyman, who died in the West Indies 
before it could be fulfilled, was to her a lasting 



30 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. ir. 

sorrow, it was not one which interfered with her 
cheerful disposition and temperament, so far at 
least as we younger people could tell, and all my 
recollections of her are pleasant. The warmest 
affection doubtless existed between the two sisters; 
but indeed, so far as my experience goes of Austens 
and Knights, I should say that there has seldom 
been a family in which family affection and unity 
has existed in a stronger degree. 

Jane Austen's eldest brother was James, the 
husband of the ' Mary ' to whom such frequent 
allusions are made, who was Mary Lloyd before 
she married, the mother of Mr. Austen Leigh, the 
writer of the Memoir, and the sister of Elizabeth, 
who was Mrs. Fowle of Kintbury, and of Martha, 
who is so often mentioned, and who eventually 
married Sir Francis Austen, one of Jane's younger 
brothers, and died in 1843. Neither she, however, 
nor her sister Mary was the first wife of their 
respective husbands. James Austen first married 
Anne, daughter of General Mathew, who presented 
him with one only daughter before she shuffled off 
this mortal coil. This daughter, however, is of some 
importance to our present purpose, partly because, 
her name being Jane Anna Elizabeth, she is the 



CH. it. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 31 

' Anna ' frequently referred to in our letters, and 
partly because, in November 1814, she thought fit 
to marry the Eev. Benjamin Lefroy, afterwards 
Eector of Ashe (the ' Ben ' of the letters, who died 
in 1829), and thus gives me a peg upon which to 
hang a few other Lefroys, and show how they 
come to be so often mentioned by c At. Jane.' Mrs. 
B. Lefroy had one son and six daughters, and died 
in 1872. 

Once upon a time there was a Thomas Lefroy, 
of Canterbury, who married a Phoebe Thomson 
of Kenfield (an estate not far from that cathedral 
city), and had a son Anthony, who lived some time 
at Leghorn, married Elizabeth Langlois, and begat 
two sons, the one of whom was named Anthony, 
while the other rejoiced in the appellation of Isaac 
Peter George. Now, Anthony attained to the posi- 
tion of Lieutenant-Colonel of the 9th Dragoons, 
which fully justified him in marrying Anne Gar- 
diner in 1769, and subsequently dying in 1819. 
Before achieving the latter feat, however, he be- 
came the father of the ' Tom Lefroy ' of our 
letters, who was eventually known to the world 
as the Eight Hon. Thos. Lefroy, Lord Chief Justice 
of Ireland, and one of the ablest lawyers of his day. 



LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. on. n. 

Meanwhile Isaac Peter George Lefroy became 
Fellow of All Souls, Rector of Ashe, near Ste- 
venton, and Compton, in Surrey, husband of Anne 
Brydges, of Wotton, Kent (sister of Sir Egerton 
Brydges), and father of two sons, the younger of 
whom was the Benjamin who married our ' Anna,' 
whilst the elder was John Henry George, of 
Ewshott House, Farnham, who also became Eector 
of Ashe and Compton, married a Cottrell, and 
died in 1823, when his brother Benjamin suc- 
ceeded him in the living of Ashe, the three pre- 
sentations to which had been purchased by Mr. 
Langlois. He must have been immediately pre- 
ceded in the rectory by Dr. Russell, the grand- 
father of Mary Russell Mitford, to whose family 
we shall also find allusions in the earlier letters. 
There was a great intimacy between the rectories 
of Ashe and Steventon, and Mrs. Lefroy was a 
valued friend of Jane's up to the time of her 
death, in 1804, which was occasioned by a fall 
from her horse. 

After this little Lefroy interlude I must return 
to James Austen, who is keeping all the rest of 
his family waiting in the most unconscionable 
manner. 



en. ii. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 33 

I have already said that his second wife was 
Mary Lloyd, who bare him two children, ' James 
Edward ' and ' Caroline Mary Craven,' and died in 
1843, having survived her husband twenty-four 
years. He only survived his sister Jane two years, 
and died at Steventon in December 1819. James 
Edward, the writer of the Memoir, married Emma, 
daughter of Charles Smith, Esq., of Buttons, and 
died in 1874, leaving a numerous family. He took 
the name of Leigh in addition to that of Austen, 
having inherited Scarlets, in Berkshire, under the 
will of the widow of his maternal uncle James Leigh 
Perrot, * of whom more anon,' as the old chroniclers 
say. His widow died in 1876, and his sister 
Caroline, who never married, died in 1880. 

Of Edward Austen I have told in the account 
of Godmersham, so I come next to Henry, of 
whom his nephew, Mr. Austen Leigh, tells us that 
he ' had great conversational powers, and inherited 
from his father an eager and sanguine disposition. 
He was a very entertaining companion, but had 
perhaps less steadiness of purpose, certainly less 
success in life, than his brothers.' This picture 
is doubtless drawn with fidelity, and the facts 

VOL. i. D 



34 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. CH. n. 

seem to be, as far as I can discover them, that 
my worthy great-uncle's want of ' steadiness of 
purpose ' was evinced by his trying various pro- 
fessions, one after the other, without achieving any 
particular success in any. I gather from the letters- 
before us that his sister gauged his character pretty 
well, and did not anticipate much success for his 
career. He seems to have had a hankering after 
a soldier's life for some time ; then he went into 
a bank in Alton. He afterwards became Eeceiver- 
General for Oxfordshire, and also a banker in 
London ; and, whilst he lived there, helped his 
sister Jane with her publishing business. In 1816 
his bank broke, upon which he became a clergy- 
man, and went out as chaplain to Berlin in 1818. 
He married twice, which seems to have been the 
general habit of the family, his first wife being 
his first cousin Madame de Feuillade, nee Eliza 
Hancock. Mr. Austen Leigh is mistaken in saying 
tli at his grandfather, George Austen, had only one 
sister. He had two, who rejoiced in the eupho- 
nious names of ' Philadelphia ' and ' Leonora.' The 
latter died single, the former married Mr. Hancock, 
and her daughter married the Comte de Feuillade, 
and when he had been unlucky enough to be 



CH. u. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 35 

guillotined in the French Eevolution, took her 
cousin Henry en secondes noces, died in 1813, and 
left him inconsolable until 1820, when he consoled 
himself with Eleanor, daughter of Henry Jackson, 
of London, by his wife, who was one of the 
Papillons of Acrise. He had no children, and died 
in 1850 at Tunbridge Wells, having, I believe, had 
no preferment except the living of Steventon, 
which, on the death of his brother James in 1819, 
he held for a short time, until his nephew, William 
Knight, was old enough to take it a comfortable 
family arrangement. 

I cannot leave Henry Austen without giving to 
my readers the only example of his ' conversational 
powers ' with which I am acquainted, and which 
illustrates the dry, quaint humour which was a 
characteristic of some of the family. He is said to 
have been driving on one occasion with a relation 
in one of the rough country lanes near Steventon, 
when the pace at which the postchaise was advanc- 
ing did not satisfy his eager temperament. Putting' 
his head out of the window, he cried out to the 
postillion, ' Get on, boy ! get on, will you ? ' The 
* boy ' turned round in his saddle, and replied : ' I 

D2 



36 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. n. 

do get on, sir, where I can ! ' * You stupid fellow ! ' 
was the rejoinder. ' Any fool can do that. I 
want you to get on where you cant ! ' 

Of the two sailor brothers of Jane Austen 
Francis and Charles Mr. Austen Leigh gives a 
fuller history than of the others, because he thinks 
that ' their honourable career accounts for Jane 
Austen's partiality for the navy, as well as for the 
readiness and accuracy with which she wrote 
about it.' However this may be, there can be no 
doubt that their career was most honourable, and 
that they were both of them as good examples of 
British sailors as could well be furnished. I believe 
that both of them were much loved in their pro- 
fession, as they certainly were by their relations, 
old and young. The ' Memoir ' tells us that Francis 
Austen was upon one occasion spoken of as < the 
officer who kneeled at church,' which reminds me 
of an anecdote which my mother used to tell 
of one admiral having whispered to the other at 
the commencement of Divine Service, ' Brother, 
what do you think it is that people mostly say into 
their hats when they come into church ? For my 
part, I always say, "For what I am going to 
receive the Lord make me truly thankful." ' And 



CH. n. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 37 

I am not prepared to say that he could have 
improved on the petition. 

As I am upon anecdotes, let me tell one also 
of Sir Francis Austen, since it shall never be said 
that I omitted that which I have heard of him all 
my life as one of the things most like himself that 
he ever did. He was exceedingly precise, and 
spoke always with due deliberation, let the occasion 
be what it might, never having been known to hurry 
himself in his speech for any conceivable reason. 
It so fell out, then, that whilst in some foreign 
seas where sharks and similar unpleasant creatures 
abound, a friend, or sub-officer of his (I know not 
which), was bathing from the ship. Presently Sir 
Francis called out to him in his usual tone and 
manner, * Mr. Pakenham, you are in danger of 
a shark a shark of the blue species ! You had 
better return to the ship.' ' Oh ! Sir Francis ; you 
are joking, are you not ? ' ' Mr. Pakenham, I am 
not given to joking. If you do not immediately 
return, soon will the shark eat you.' Whereupon 
Pakenham, becoming alive to his danger, acted 
upon the advice thus deliberately given, and, says 
the story, saved himself ' by the skin of his teeth ? 
from the shark. 



38 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. n. 

Another anecdote of ' Uncle Frank ' occurs to 
me, bearing upon the exact precision which was 
one of his characteristics. On one occasion he is 
said to have visited a well-known watchmaker, one 
of whose chronometers he had taken with him 
during an absence of five years, and which was 
still in excellent order. After looking carefully 
at it, the watchmaker remarked, with conscious 
pride, ' Well, Sir Francis, it seems to have varied 
none at all.' Very slowly, and very gravely, came 
the answer : ' Yes, it has varied eight seconds ! ' 

Sir Francis lived to be nearly ninety-three, 
and died at his house, Portsdown Lodge, in 1865, 
just twenty years after his sister Cassandra had 
died at the same place. He also was twice mar- 
ried, first to Mary Gibson, of Eamsgate, who died 
in 1823, and then to the Martha Lloyd of our 
letters. At the time of his death he was a G.C.B., 
and Senior Admiral of the Fleet, just before his 
attainment to which dignity he thus wrote to one 
of his nieces, in 1862 : 

' And now with reference to my nomination 
as Eear Admiral of the United Kingdom. It is 
an appointment held by patent under the Great 
Seal ; and, though honourable, is certainly in my 



CH. ii. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 39 

case not a lucrative office, as I am compelled, to 

qualify for holding it, to resign my good-service 

pension of 300/. a year. The salary is, I believe, 

<ibout the same, but there are very heavy fees of 

office to be paid, which will absorb at least one 

quarter of the salary. This ought not to be so. 

It is a national reproach that an officer should 

have to pay for honours conferred on him by 

his sovereign, and which we may presume were 

fairly earned. It is true I had the opportunity of 

retaining the pension, and refusing the other ; but 

Avho, after reaching nearly the top of the list (I 

liave only two above me), would like to refuse so 

distinguished an honour ? ' 

This private little expression of discontent, from 
a man of a contented and happy disposition, seems 
.so just that I could not refrain from inserting it 
.here, but will say no more of ' Uncle Prank,' save 
that he had twelve children by his first wife, and 
that his eldest son married his first cousin, the 
daughter of his brother Charles, Fanny by name. 

The said Charles also served with distinction, 
and died of cholera in 1852, in a steam sloop on 
the Irrawaddy, literally at the post of duty. He, 
too, followed the family custom of marrying twice, 



40 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. n. 

his first wife being Miss Fanny Palmer, of Bermuda, 
who had three daughters, and died young ; and his- 
second, her sister Harriet, by whom he had two- 
boys. He was a man of a singularly sweet temper 
and disposition, and I cannot help quoting from 
Mr. Austen Leigh the record left of him by ' one 
who was with him at his death.' ' Our good 
admiral won the hearts of all by his gentleness- 
and kindness while he was struggling with disease, 
and endeavouring to do his duty as Commander- 
in-Chief of the British naval forces in these waters. 
His death was a great grief to the whole fleet. I 
know that I cried bitterly when I found he was 
dead.' 

A great many allusions to her sailor brothers 
will be found in Jane's letters, and in her delight 
at their promotion and interest in their profession, 
one is forcibly reminded of ' Fanny Price ' and her 
beloved brother William, although in the latter 
case the intervention of an ardent lover procured 
for young Price that which a proper family pride 
induces me to believe was obtained by my great- 
uncles by their own merits. 

These, then, were the members of the family of 
Steventon Eectory ; and between them all, as indeed 



CH. IT. AUSTENS AND KNIGHTS. 41 

may be gathered from the letters before us, the 
warmest affection always existed. If proof of this 
were needed, it is afforded by the numerous and 
affectionate references to her brothers to which 
I have alluded, and by the sympathy for each 
other which crops up whenever we have an oppor- 
tunity of observing it. How anxiously l Frank's * 
promotion is expected ; how welcome is the presence 
of ' our own particular little brother ' Charles ; how 
assiduous is Jane in her attendance upon Henry in 
his illness, and how promptly his brother Edward 
hurries to London when he is informed of it ! All 
these are signs and tokens of the warmth of family 
feeling, the brotherly and sisterly affection, which, 
in the case of the Austens, certainly went to show 
that ' blood is thicker than water,' in some races at 
least ; and which bound together the members of 
this family by bonds which time could never sever, 
distance never lessen, prosperity never diminish, 
and sorrow only tend to strengthen and cement. 

Besides the brothers and sisters of whom we 
hear so much in her letters, Jane Austen had 
uncles and aunts whose individuality one must get 
well into one's head in order to understand her 
allusions. 



42 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. 11. 

I have already mentioned her father's two 
sisters, and her mother's brother, Mr. Leigh Perrot, 
who inherited from a great-uncle his additional 
name and a small property to justify the addition. 
He married a Lincolnshire Cholmeley (Jane by 
name she died in 1836), and lived sometimes at 
Bath and sometimes at Scarlets. Bath was also 
patronised by Dr. Cooper, the Incumbent of Son- 
ning, near Reading, which was very unkind of 
him, because, as he married Jane Austen's aunt 
her mother's eldest sister, Jane Leigh he could 
have taken no surer means to confuse a biographer 
who seeks to identify the 'Uncle' and 'Aunt' to 
whom Jane constantly alludes in her Bath letters. 
Had he foreseen the difficulty no doubt he would 
have lived somewhere else ; but, as matters stand 
at present, it is just possible that (although I have 
made every enquiry in order to prevent it) I may 
occasionally have mistaken the avuncular allusions 
in some of the letters, in which case I beg to 
apologize to the wronged uncle, and am thankful 
to reflect that it makes no great difference to 
anybody. 



43 



CHAPTER in. 

f 

STEVENTON AND CHAWTON, WINCHESTER. 

SINCE it may very likely happen that these volumes 
may fall into the hands of persons who have not 
read Mr. Austen Leigh's ' Memoir,' it is but right 
that, with the assistance which it affords me, I 
should, without attempting a regular biography, 
give some brief account of an existence to which, 
in my humble judgment, the world is so much 
indebted. I have already described the relations 
by whom Jane was surrounded, and given such an 
account of her family as it seemed necessary to 
attach to her letters. I have not as yet, however, 
spoken of the home in which she was born or of 
the county in which the greater part of her life 
was passed. 

Steventon which is also written ' Stephington * 
in Warner's ' History of Hampshire,' and ' Stive- 
tune' in Domesday Book had the honour of 
being her birthplace ; for in the rectory of that 



44 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. cu. in. 

quiet village she came into the world on Decem- 
ber 16, 1775. Steventon, as Mr. Austen Leigh 
tells us, is situated ' upon the chalk hills of North 
Hants, in a winding valley about seven miles from 
Basingstoke.' The house, standing in the valley, 
was somewhat better than the ordinary parsonage- 
houses of the day ; the old-fashioned hedgerows 
were beautiful, and the country around sufficiently 
picturesque for those who have the good taste to 
admire country scenery. As, however, the house 
has been pulled down for some sixty years, a new 
one built on the other side of the valley, and the 
church ; restored ' (a word of somewhat equivocal 
meaning), it is useless to attempt a description of 
things which exist no longer. The living was in the 
gift of Mr. Knight, of Chawton (and Godmersham), 
to whom also nearly the whole parish belonged, 
and hence it was that Jane's father, the Eev. Geo. 
Austen, obtained the preferment, whilst the living 
of the adjacent parish of Deane came to him as 
the gift of his uncle, Francis Austen, his father's 
brother, who married a Motley, went to Sevenoaks, 
had a son Francis, who took his mother's name, 
bought Kippington, and established a branch of 
the Austens there. Mr. George Austen held these 



CH. m. STEVENTON AND CHAWTON, WINCHESTER. 45 

two livings in 1764, and moved from Deane to 
Steventon in 1771, four years before the birth of 
his daughter Jane. In speaking of his marriage 
with Cassandra Leigh, Mr. Austen Leigh mentions 
her uncle, Dr. Theophilus Leigh, who lived to be 
ninety, and was Master of Balliol College for above 
half a century. The story is told of him that 
he was elected being a ' Corpus ' man ' under 
the idea that he was in weak health and likely 
soon to cause another vacancy.' This was the 
story always told of the venerable President of 
Magdalen, Dr. Routh, who died in his hundredth 
year, having, according to tradition, outlived 
several generations of men who, during their life 
times, were considered to be certain to succeed 
him. But whilst, as an old Magdalen man, I 
cannot allow Dr. Theophilus Leigh to monopolise 
the position with which he is credited by this story, 
I am quite ready to believe that it has been told of 
him as well as of Dr. Routh, and probably also of 
every other head of a college who has attained to 
patriarchal age. 

All the early part of Jane Austen's life was 
passed at Steventon, save and except the .time 
occupied in those visits of some of which our 



46 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. in. 

letters speak. How it was passed, what were her 
habits and what her occupations, will be better 
gathered from the letters themselves than from any 
description which I could collect from the imper- 
fect data before me or invent for myself. It is 
very clear, however, that Jane Austen was by no 
means averse to amusement, appreciated a ball as 
much as anybody, and got all the enjoyment she 
could out of life, as a sensible young woman might 
have been expected to do. I have been told that 
I might very well have left out all those parts of 
her letters which refer to the details of dress and 
the descriptions of her gowns and other raiment 
which she gives to her sister. I am, however, of 
a contrary opinion ; that which does not interest 
one person may be precisely that which pleases 
another, and to alter or omit the apparently insig- 
nificant parts of a large picture may have a 
prejudicial effect upon the whole. Besides, it is 
something in the nature of a comfort to ordinary 
persons to find that so superior a being as Jane 
Austen concerned herself about such trifles as the 
4 fit ' of a gown or the colour of a stocking, and I 
am glad to be in a position to afford the slightest 
comfort to anybody. Of the sweetness of her 



CH. in. STEVENTON AND CHAWTON, WINCHESTER. 47 

temper, and the bright, ' sunshiny ' character of 
her disposition, no one can doubt who has heard 
her spoken of by those who personally knew her, 
and I do not think these letters will alter the 
general opinion. Here and there, it is true, there 
may be sentences which hardly seem to be written 
in a kindly vein towards those to whom they refer ; 
but it must never be forgotten that these sentences 
were written only for the eyes of a sister who 
thoroughly knew and appreciated the spirit of 
fun in which they flowed from Jane's pen, and in 
which they were meant to be taken, and that they 
never would have been written or spoken so as 
to give pain to the people mentioned. Indeed, it 
should always be borne in mind during the perusal 
of these letters that, although, as I have before 
pointed out, a vein of good-natured satire might 
generally be found, alike in the letters and con- 
versations of many of the Austen family, it always 
was good-natured, and no malice ever lurked 
beneath. No one, I imagine, was in reality ever 
more kind-hearted and considerate of the feelings 
of others than Jane Austen, and certainly no one 
was ever better loved or more sorrowfully lamented 
by the relations whom she left behind her. 



48 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. in. 

Apart from the visits which I have mentioned, 
Jane's existence seems to have glided on in unin- 
terrupted tranquillity in that old parsonage-house 
at Steventon, until the year 1800, when her father 
made up his mind to give up the active duties of 
his parish and retire to Bath, for which, as he was 
then some seventy years of age, he can scarcely 
be blamed. He accomplished his purpose in the 
following year, when he did not, as has been stated, 
resign his living to his son, but placed him in the 
house and parish as his locum tenens, in which 
capacity he continued to act during the rest of his 
father's lifetime. 

There is little more to say about Steventon, 
save that one anecdote occurs to me which may be 
as well recorded. At one time the Rev. George 
Austen took pupils. It seems that a word which 
is pronounced ' rice ' (though I will not vouch for 
the spelling) was formerly used in Hampshire to 
signify ' faggots ' or ' underwood,' and upon one 
occasion a pupil was heard to observe to another, 
with a deep sigh, that he was afraid they would 
have nothing but rice puddings for some time to 
come, for he had heard Mrs. Austen say that ' a 
waggon-load of rice' had come in that morning. 



CH. nr. STEVENTON AND CHAWTON, WINCHESTER. 49 

When the death of Mr. Austen occurred early 
in 1805, the widow and daughters moved into 
lodgings in Gay Street, and remained in Bath for 
some months, and Mr. Austen Leigh gives us a 
letter of Jane's from Gay Street, written in April, 
in which occurs the following characteristic remark 
about an individual into whose identity I have 
not thought it necessary to enquire : ' Poor Mrs. 
Stent ! it has been her lot to be always in the way ; 
but we must be merciful, for perhaps in time we 
may come to be Mrs. Stents ourselves, unequal to 
anything, and unwelcome to everybody.' 

I do not know why the family chose South- 
ampton as their next residence, but so it was, 
and there they lived for the next four years, in 
a house with a pleasant garden attached, close to 
the old city walls, and in a locality which took 
its name, ' Castle Square,' from, or, at all events, 
was ' occupied by, a fantastic edifice,' says Mr. 
Austen Leigh, which was of a ' castellated style,' 
and had been built by the second Marquis of Lans- 
downe. Of Jane's life at Southampton there is 
little more to be learned than can be gathered 
from the letters written from Castle Square, and 
most of these are so occupied with family affairs, 

VOL. i. E 



50 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. in. 

and the death of her brother's wife at Godmer- 
sham, that they tell us less of her own doings than 
might otherwise have been the case. So far as we 
can judge, she seems to have had a certain amount 
of society at Southampton, and to have liked her 
life there as well as could have been expected. 
The change to Chawton in 1809, however, could 
not have been unwelcome. Mr. Knight was 
then able to offer to his mother and sisters the 
choice between a house on his Hampshire pro- 
perty and one upon his estate in Kent. The 
latter must have been either Eggarton or Bilting, 
both within easy distance of Godmersham ; but 
I suppose that the associations connected with 
Hampshire caused the selection of Chawton Cot- 
tage, and there was passed the remainder of Jane's 
life ; there were composed or completed most of 
her novels. ' Chawton Cottage ' had formerly been 
the steward's house, enlarged and improved by 
Mr. Knight ; there was nothing particular about 
it ; the vicinity to the high road was somewhat 
inconvenient, but balanced by its proximity to the 
' great house,' and it seems to have answered very 
well the purpose for which Mr. Knight had con- 
verted it into a habitable residence. 



CH. in. STEVENTON AND GIIAWTON, WINCHESTER. 51 

Mr. Austen Leigh gives a kindly warning to 
admirers of Jane Austen who might take it into 
their heads to make a pilgrimage to the place. 
There is nothing in it either beautiful or romantic, 
nothing to associate it with the memory of the 
immortal Jane. When Cassandra Austen died in 
1845, it was turned into dwellings for labourers, 
and so altered that it cannot now be seen as it was 
in Jane's days. Very recently I paid a visit to it, 
whilst staying at Chawton House, in order that 
I might satisfy myself with my own eyes as to 
its present condition. As you come through the 
village of Chawton, along the road from Alton, the 
cottage is the last building upon your right hand, at 
the turning where the Winchester road branches off 
to the right, just before you reach the park in which 
stands Chawton House. It is built in rather a 
straggling, irregular style, and as you stand oppo- 
site it in the road, the first thing that strikes you 
is, that a large window between the door and the 
end of the cottage furthest from Alton has at 
some time or other been bricked up. This was, 
I believe, the window of the drawing-room of the 
house when Jane's family lived there, and this part 

E2 



52 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. en. in. 

of the place has now been converted into a 
labourers' club an excellent institution, of which 
it would be well if there were more in England. 
I entered this club, the windows of which look 
away from the road, and there, perhaps upon the 
very spot where Jane had often sat in old days, 
was a young labourer diligently perusing the 
4 Standard,' whilst opposite to him another was 
engaged on the ' Graphic,' and a third was con- 
templating with evident satisfaction the arrival of 
a foaming glass of beer, having, to judge from his 
appearance, just come from a hard day's work. 
There are three dwellings in the building besides 
the club ; a low range of out-buildings, probably 
little touched since Jane's days, flanks the cottage 
on the Alton side, and behind it is a large garden, 
now divided among the cottagers, extending be- 
yond the building, also on the further side, and 
altogether of sufficient size to have afforded plenty 
of space for the former occupants to indulge 
their taste for flowers and shrubs, and to have 
quiet walks therein when they wished for privacy. 
I pictured to myself the figure of Jane Austen 
walking up and down, intent upon deciding the 
fate of one of her heroes or heroines, or maturing 



CH. in. STEVENTON AND CHAWTOX, WINCHESTER. 53 

the plot of her next book. This, however, required 
a somewhat strong effort of imagination, inasmuch 
as no signs of shrubs or walks remain, the ground 
is all under cultivation, and the only living crea- 
tures which met my view were two worthy rustics 
engaged in ordinary agricultural work. After you 
pass the cottage, a few hundred yards further 
along the road, you arrive at a gate on your left, 
on entering which you face Chawton House, an 
old Elizabethan-mansion built on rising ground, 
which is about two hundred yards from the gate, 
the beautiful little church standing upon your 
right hand when you have advanced about half- 
way from tlie gate to the house. This place has 
long been the seat of the Knight family, one of 
whom (William) had a lease of it in 1525 from Sir 
Thomas West, Lord Delawarr, who had acquired 
it through his wife, Elizabeth, one of the three 
daughters and co-heiresses of Sir John Bonvile. 
This William Knight's son John bought the house, 
and left a son Nicholas, who purchased the manor, 
advowson, and other lands, since which time it has 
remained in the family. The present house was 
mostly built by John Knight, in 1588, but it seems 
to have been originally a much larger building, 



54 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. m. 

although now quite large enough, and certainly 
comfortable enough, for any reasonable mortals. 
This John Knight appears as a subscriber of fifty 
pounds on the 27th May, 1588, among the ' names 
of persons in Hampshire who contributed to the 
funds raised by Queen Elizabeth to defray the 
expenses in resisting the Spanish Armada.' His 
descendants were devoted Eoyalists in the Civil 
Wars, and there is now at Chawton, among other 
interesting relics, a small ornament in the shape of 
a head of King Charles the First, said to have been 
given to his friends on the scaffold, which has come 
down from Sir Eichard Knight, who was knighted 
for his services rendered to the Eoyal cause. This 
gentleman's name also appears among the list of 
those chosen by King Charles the Second at the 
restoration to be invested with the Order of the 
Eoyal Oak, which order was, after all, never es- 
tablished, the project being abandoned under the 
apprehension that it might perpetuate dissensions" 
which were better consigned to oblivion. There 
is a handsome monument of white and black 
marble in a recess on the south side of the chancel 
in Chawton Church, whereon this Sir Eichard 
Knight is represented by a full-length cumbent 



en. nr. STEVENTON AND CHAWTON, WINCHESTER. 55 

figure of white marble, in armour, holding a staff 
of office in his right hand. 

The near neighbourhood of Chawton House 
must have been a great advantage and pleasure to 
Jane during her life at the cottage from 1809 until 
1817. About half a mile from her old home there 
is a very large beech wood, ' Chawton Park ' by 
name, in which the trees are magnificent, and there 
is no underwood to prevent those who are privi- 
leged to do so from walking beneath their shade. 
The wood belongs to the owner of Chawton House, 
and one can imagine it to have been a favourite 
haunt of Jane's. Whether she indulged herself in 
roaming there or not, however, I imagine her life 
to have been altogether very happy, because she 
was all the time with her own people, occupied in 
the home pursuits in which she delighted, having 
always her literary resources to fall back upon, 
and being cheered from time to time by visits to 
and from the relations she loved. There are no 
strange or exciting events to relate, no adventures 
to chronicle ; the even tenor of her life affords no 
materials from which a romantic story could be 
woven, and I can only once again refer to the 
letters to tell their own tale. Alas ! it is not a lonir 



56 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. in. 

one. Her health was evidently failing in the 
latter part of the year 1816, and in May of the 
following year the two sisters went together to 
Winchester, from which Jane was never to return. 
They took lodgings in the corner house of College 
Street, of which Jane writes that 'they are very 
comfortable. We have a neat little drawing- 
room, with a bow-window overlooking Dr. Gabell's 
garden.' During the next two months Cassandra 
nursed her beloved sister with unfailing tenderness 
and assiduity. She was assisted from time to time 
by her sister-in-law, Mrs. James Austen (the ' Mary * 
of the letters), and her brothers James and Henry 
were able to be frequently with her. Cassandra's 
letters, herewith published, tell all that is to be 
told of Jane Austen's last days on earth, and tell it 
in language at once simple and pathetic. On July 
18th she died, and on the 24th she was buried 
in Winchester Cathedral, ' near the centre of the 
north aisle, almost opposite to the beautiful chantry 
tomb of William of Wykeham,' the place of burial 
being marked by a large slab of black marble in 
the pavement, bearing the following inscription : 
' In memory of JANE AUSTEN, youngest daughter 
of the late Eevd. George Austen, formerly Eector 



CE. in. STEVENTON AND CHAWTON, WINCHESTER. 57 

of Steventon, in this County. She departed this 
life on July 18, 1817, aged 41, after a long illness, 
supported with the patience and hope of a Christian. 
The benevolence of her heart, the sweetness of her 
temper, and the extraordinary endowments of her 
mind, obtained the regard of all who knew her, 
and the warmest love of her immediate connexions. 
Their grief is in proportion to their affection ; they 
know their loss to be irreparable, but in their 
deepest affliction they are consoled by a firm, 
though humble, hope that her charity, devotion, 
faith, and purity have rendered her soul accept- 
able in the sight of her Eedeemer.' 

Mr. Austen Leigh, the writer of the memoir, 
subsequently inserted a brass in the north wall, 
near the grave, with an inscription denoting that 
it was to ' JAXE AUSTEN, known to many by her 
writings, endeared to her family by the varied 
charms of her character, and ennobled by Christian 
faith and piety.' This appropriate text is added 
' She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her 
tongue is the law of kindness.' Prov. xxxi. 26. 

Such are the memorials which the pious affection 
of relatives has erected over the last resting-place 
of Jane Austen, but a memorial more enduring has 



58 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. in. 

been created by her own hand. It is something to 
be able to say of any author or authoress that their 
works may be read without fear of harm ; it is 
something more to be able to say, as we can truly 
say in this case, that, whilst in Jane Austen's books 
instruction and amusement are happily blended, 
the innate purity of her soul shines throughout 
each story and upon every page, and the mind of 
the reader is insensibly led to a love of all that is 
moral and virtuous and a distaste for anything that 
is the reverse. Jane did not live to enjoy the full 
knowledge of the popularity which was destined to 
be hers, but of it and of her it may be permitted 
to her relatives to be proud ; and proud they are 
to believe that wherever the English language is 
read and spoken her works stand and will remain 
an everlasting memorial of genius turned to good 
account and talents exercised for the benefit and 
improvement of mankind. 



59 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE NOVELS. 

I WAS going to devote my next chapter entirely to 
Jane Austen's novels, when I recollected that such 
a chapter could by no means be made complete 
without referring to other novels and novelists 
at the same time. Such a chapter may be at 
once discarded by those who do not care for the 
subject, or who are satisfied to read and enjoy 
their novels without being troubled with my 
criticisms. But the theme is one too enticing for 
me to leave untouched, especially as I belong to 
the family which Jane Austen tells us were in her 
day ' great novel-readers,' and am not ashamed to 
confess that I have, read as many as most people, 
and shall probably read a great many more. Novels 
are the sugar-plums of literature, and a library 
without novels would be as deficient as a childhood 
without sugar-plums, although neither the one nor 



60 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. cu. iv, 

the other would be satisfactory if unsupplied with 
something of a more substantial character. 

I think it is immensely interesting to read side 
by side and compare the different styles of the 
novels which have charmed successive generations^ 
and, in discussing Jane Austen's works, to contrast 
those of other writers who wrote practically for 
the same generation. 

Several passages in our letters show us that 
Jane Austen was well acquainted with some at 
least of Eichardson's novels. Of the general popu- 
larity of these works at the time of their publi- 
cation I imagine there can be no doubt ; and, 
indeed, this need cause one no surprise, if one 
supposes the British public to have accepted as 
an accurate estimate of them all, that which their 
talented author gives of ' Pamela ' in his preface 
to the edition of 1742, which is so deliciously 
modest that I cannot forbear to transcribe it : 

' If to Divert and Entertain, and at the same 
time to Instruct and Improve, the Minds of the 
Youth of both sexes : 

' If to inculcate Eeligion and Morality in so 
easy and agreeable a manner, as shall render them 
equally delightful and profitable : 



<3H. iv. THE NOVELS. 61 

' If to set forth, in the most exemplary lights, 
the Parental, the Filial, and the Social Duties : 

' If to paint Vice in its proper Colours, to make 
it deservedly Odious ; and to set Virtue in its own 
amiable Light, and to make it look Lovely : 

' If to draw characters with Justness, and to 
support them distinctly : ' 
And, after a few more ' ifs ' of the same sort 

' If to effect all these good Ends, in so pro- 
bable, so natural, so lively a manner, as shall 
engage the Passions of every sensible Eeader, and 
attach their regard to the story : 

' If these be laudable or worthy recommen- 
dations, the Editor of the following Letters ven- 
tures to assert that all these ends are obtained here, 
together.' 

No doubt if all these desirable ends were thus 
secured, the popularity which the works of Samuel 
Richardson enjoyed, both at home and abroad, is 
accounted for without further trouble ; and, even 
if the panegyric be deemed somewhat too highly 
drawn for acceptance in its entirety, the fact that 
the novels have been translated and published in 
most other countries must be accepted as evidence 
of their intrinsic merit. 



62 LETTEKS OF JANE AUSTEN. OH. iv. 

Nevertheless, whatever attractions English 
society once found in ' Pamela/ ' Clarissa,' and ' Sir 
Charles Grandison,' I fancy that in the present day 
there are few people who would not find them 
insufferably dull, and still fewer who would not 
raise more serious objections both to the matters 
of which they treat and to the manner of their 
treatment. Certainly there is in these books a 
great deal of plain-speaking ; a spade is called a 
spade, and there is much from which that which 
we now call good taste and delicacy would recoil. 

One must make allowance, I suppose, for the 
advance of time and improvement of manners ; 
and as ' Sir Charles Grandison ' (the last of the 
three) was published some fifty years before Jane 
Austen wrote, these works must be considered as 
belonging altogether to another generation. More- 
over, if we allow that their general tendency, at 
least, was to decry vice and exalt virtue, I am 
afraid that this is more than we can say of many 
of the ' sensational ' novels which are so largely 
read in the present day. Take any one of these, 
and you will find that, if crime is not actually made 
attractive, it is generally excused or extenuated ; 
sympathy for the criminal is created or suggested, 



CH. iv. THE NOVELS. 63 

the story teems with startling incidents, and the 
best praise which can probably be accorded to the 
book is the somewhat negative recommendation 
that it has no particular tendency at all. 

It certainly was not books of such a character 
and complexion which Jane Austen had in view 
in that spirited defence of novels and novel-readers 
which we find at the end of the fifth chapter of 
' Northanger Abbey,' where, after describing it as 
the habit of Catherine Morland and Isabella Thorpe 
upon a rainy morning ' to shut themselves up, 
and read novels together,' she goes on ' Yes, novels ; 
for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic 
custom so common with novel-writers, of degrading 
by their contemptuous censure the very perform- 
ances to the number of which they are themselves 

adding,' ' there seems almost a general 

wish of decrying the capacity and undervaluing 
the labour of the novelist, and of slighting the per- 
formances which have only genius, wit, and taste 
to recommend them. " I am no novel-reader," 
such is the common cant. " And what are you 
reading, Miss ? " " Oh, it is only a novel," replies 
the young lady ; while she lays down her book with 
affected indifference or momentary shame. " It 



(34 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. iv. 

is only 'Cecilia,' or ' Camilla,' or ' Belinda,' " or, in 
short, only some work in which the greatest powers 
of the mind are displayed, in which the most 
thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest 
delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of 
wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the 
best chosen language.' 

The mention of Miss Burney's novels in this 
passage reminds me of the frequent comparisons 
which have been instituted between her works and 
those of Jane Austen, and as I like to be in the 
fashion, I will add one more to the number of 
those who have compared the two. 

My own taste for novel-reading commenced at 
a very early age ; strange to say, such works of 
fiction had a greater attraction for me than the 
Latin grammar or even the Greek Testament, and 
having access to my father's library, which con- 
tained, amid a multitude of other literature, most 
of the best novels which had been published for 
many years past, I was enabled to indulge my taste 
to the full, and probably read a great deal more 
than was good for me. I well remember how in 
those days I delighted in ' Evelina,' ' Cecilia,' and 
1 Camilla,' and I have little doubt that my verdict 



CH. iv. THE NOVELS. G5 

would have then been given in favour of Miss 
Burney, if I had been obliged to give a preference 
to one authoress over the other. But, on looking 
back to-day, I can fairly say that, if I have read 
these three novels three times over since those 
clays (which I rather doubt), I have certainly 
perused Jane Austen's books five or six times 
as often, and much more frequently my special 
favourites, which I give here in their order of 
merit: 'Pride and Prejudice,' 'Mansfield Park,' 
and ' Emma.' These rank, to my mind, among the 
few books which one can take up again and again, 
and recur to particular passages and scenes which 
never seem to tire one in the reading. Miss Bronte's 
* Jane Eyre ' and ' Villette ' are of the same class ; 
Charles Eeade's ' It is Never too Late to Mend,' 
Blackmore's ' Lorna Doone,' and Henry Kingsley's 
'Kavenshoe' also maybe admitted, but I do not 
remember any more, excepting always those mas- 
terpieces with which Dickens and Thackeray have 
adorned English literature, and some of those 
works which have made the names of Walter Scott 
and Bulwer household words among their country- 
men. 

I own that I cannot place in the same rank any 
VOL. i. F 



66 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN*. CH iv, 

one of Miss Burney's novels. As far as plot and 
incident are concerned, there is perhaps something 
more of both to be discovered than in Jane Austen's 
works ; but one of the principal merits of the latter 
is, that they excite a continuous interest in the 
mind of the reader, in spite of that absence of plot 
and incident which is really conspicuous on looking 
back at the conclusion of the book. Take, for 
instance, ' Sense and Sensibility ' : the whole story 
may be compressed into half-a-dozen sentences, 
and there is nothing exciting or sensational about 
it. But the characters of the two sisters, Elinor 
and Marianne, are sustained with wonderful fidelity 
throughout, and the reader is captivated by delinea- 
tions of everyday life so simple and so true to 
nature as amply to supply the want of ' plot.' To 
this standard Miss Burney never seems to me to 
approach, or to come within a mile of Jane Austen, 
whilst in some instances she approximates both 
to the vulgar and the horrible, neither of which 
is to be found in the pages of the immortal Jane. 
The scenes in ' Evelina ' in which the unfortunate 
Madame Duval is victimised by the French- hating 
Captain Mirvan (a character to read of* which 
makes an Englishman blush for his nationality), 



CH. IY. THE NOVELS. 67 

the courtship of Mr. Dubster, and the whole 
character of Mrs. Mittin in ' Camilla,' as well as the 
eccentricities of Mr. Briggs in ' Cecilia,' certainly 
savour of vulgarity, whilst the ' horrible ' is ex- 
emplified by the suicide of Mr. Harrell in ' Cecilia/ 
the death of Bellamy in ' Camilla,' and sundry other 
harrowing passages which season Miss Burney's 
performances. It may be said, perhaps, that she 
w r rote for an earlier generation than Jane Austen, 
but the novels of both were published within the 
same forty years i.e. between 1778 and 1 818 a 
proximity of publication which seems to render 
legitimate the comparison between the two. ' Eve- 
lina ' was published in 1778, 'Cecilia' in 1782 r 
' Camilla ' in 1796, and the ' Wanderer ' in 1813 ; 
whilst Jane Austen's ' Sense and Sensibility ' and 
' Pride and Prejudice ' were written, as we know,, 
in 1796, although not published until 1811 and 
1813; ' North anger Abbey' was written in 1798. 
though not published until after the death of the 
authoress, in 1817; and 'Mansfield Park' and 
'Emma' were published in 1814 and 1815. 

I mention the c Wanderer ' with some hesitation, 
because I think it must be admitted to be so sadly 
inferior to Miss Burney's earlier novels, that her 

F2 



68 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. iv. 

reputation must stand upon those first three, with- 
out the ' prestige ' of which I cannot think that 
the 'Wanderer' would ever have met' with any 
public fame. But, even with regard to these three, 
there is another remark which occurs to me as 
being one justified by the facts of the case, and 
which appears to establish the superiority of the 
one writer over the other. There must be ad- 
mitted to be originality in some of Miss Barney's 
characters, as well as skill in the manner of their 
introduction and the description of their conduct. 
But what one character can we fix upon to re- 
member, as we cannot help remembering the 
creations of Jane Austen ; who, throughout all 
Miss Burney's novels, can be held to rival the pro- 
Tokingly silly Mrs. Bennet, so delightful in her 
folly, the insufferable Mr. Collins, the detestable 
Mrs. Norris, the inimitable Miss Bates, and a score 
more of the figures which Miss Austen places upon 
the canvas, in such a manner as to make us all 
feel that they are not only real living people, but 
personal acquaintances of our own ? 

It must certainly be conceded that there is 
much more of excitement to be found in the novels 
of Miss Barney than in those of Jane Austen ; her 



CH. iv. THE NOVELS. 69 

heroines are placed in much more extraordinary 
situations ; like loadstones, wherever they appear, 
they attract lovers ; and the conduct of some of 
the latter is so violently extravagant as to have an 
appearance of unreality, which detracts from the 
interest of the story. Still it must be confessed that 
' Evelina,' ' Cecilia,' and ' Camilla ' are all pleasant 
reading, and in each novel the heroine always satis- 
factorily escapes from her troubles and trials, and 
marries the right person in the most desirable and 
orthodox manner. This is only right and proper. 
I have no patience with authors who excite in our 
hearts an interest, more or less kind, for their 
heroes and heroines, and then harrow our feelings 
by either killing them or leaving them in a state 
of misfortune and misery. That is the sole fault 
I find with Charlotte Bronte's ' Villette,' wherein 
her ' Professor ' is left in such a condition that we 
may suppose him either drowned in the Atlantic 
during a particularly stormy autumn, or happily 
rescued from that terrible fate, the probabilities 
all pointing to the catastrophe, and the possibility 
of the reverse being only insinuated in a gentle 
manner, which leads us to suppose that such good 
fortune can scarcely have occurred. It is said 



70 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. iv. 

that Miss Bronte had meant to have killed her 
hero without doubt, but, deterred by the remon- 
strances of her father, conceded so much as to 
leave his fate in uncertainty ; but, for my own part, 
I would rather have known the worst, and have 
read that last page again and again, with a feeling 
of disappointment and regret that there should 
have been any doubt left about the matter. 

I have lately been reading the ' Diary and 
Letters ' of Madame D'Arblay (Miss Burney), and 
cannot help saying that I find as great a contrast 
between the letters of the two authoresses as 
between their novels. It may be said that it is 
hardly fair to compare the private letters of one 
sister to another, such as those which I now give 
to the world, with those which were probably 
written, if not with a view to publication, at least 
witli an idea that they might some day be pub- 
lished. I cannot, however, admit the unfairness, 
and, if I did, I feel that I should be bringing a 
graver charge against Miss Burney than I intend to 
do namely, the charge of having habitually ' made 
up ' her letters for the public eye. Such letters 
are not really letters, in the sense in which we use 
the word as ordinarily applied to the written com- 



CH. IV. 



THE NOVELS. 71 



munications between relations and friends, wherein 
they express to each other their thoughts and 
describe their actions, with no intention that these 
should be known beyond the immediate circle in 
which the person moves to whom the letters are 
written. I assume Miss Barney's letters to be 
genuine, according to this view, and I say that 
neither they nor her Diary could ever have been 
written by Jane Austen. They are the records of 
a life which was lived much more before the world 
than the life of Jane ; and, without wishing in 
any degree to disparage the writer, I must say that 
they chronicle the praise and approval which she 
received both in public and in private, after a 
fashion, and to an extent from which the more 
.sensitive and delicate nature of Jane Austen would 
have instinctively shrunk. It would have been 
impossible for her to have written even for 
her own private perusal the flattering words 
which it delighted Miss Burney to inscribe in her 
Diary as having been spoken of or to herself, and 
these letters are remarkable rather for the paucity 
than the frequency of allusions to her own 
writings. In fact, whilst Madame D'Arblay's 
* Diary and Letters ' tell us all about herself, who 



72 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. cu. iv. 

and what she was, how she lived, and with whom 
she passed her time all, in short, that we can 
possibly desire to know about her and her pro- 
ceedings Jane Austen's letters, on the contrary, 
leave us to find out all these things for ourselves, 
and to regret that no further or more minute 
record is in existence. Of course I may be accused 
of partiality for my own relative in arriving at this 
result of a comparison between two authoresses 
both of whom have deserved well of the public, 
and each of whom may be appreciated and admired 
without decrying the other. Still, considering that, 
as far as concerns education outside her own home, 
general intercourse with the world and oppor- 
tunities of observation, the advantage was certainly 
rather on the side of Miss Burney, I think it is but 
due to Jane Austen to maintain, as I confidently 
do, the great superiority of her writings in point 
of correctness of tone and taste, purity of style and 
language, and fidelity of description. 

It is a less easy matter to compare her, as she 
has been compared, with Charlotte Bronte, or with 
our still more modern novelists, George Eliot and 
Charlotte Yonge. All these three have achieved for 
themselves the honour of elevating and purifying 



CH. iv. THE NOVELS. < 3 

the aspirations of mankind, at the same time that 
in their several styles of fiction they have afforded 
to the world an infinite variety of intellectual 

/ 

amusement. 

Of George Eliot and Charlotte Yonge I do not 
desire to write to-day. The one has been too- 
recently taken from us to allow of the impartial 
discussion of her works, which, however meri- 
torious, cannot be accurately gauged until further 
time has elapsed ; for a book is, in this respect, like 
a beautiful landscape, and requires distance to 
develope it in its greater or smaller perfection. 
The other still lives to delight a large number of 
admiring readers, and, therefore, I prefer to say 
no more of her writings, except that I am quite 
sure that no one has ever been the worse, while 
very many have been greatly the better, for reading 
them. 

With regard to Charlotte Bronte, who, like 
Jane Austen, was a clergyman's daughter, I would 
observe that her writings resemble Jane's in this 
one respect that they take their complexion and 
character from the scenery and surroundings of 
her home different altogether as were the two 
homes and the two writers. I have already con- 



74 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. IT. 

fessed my partiality for ' Jane Eyre ' and ' Villette,' 
and for these books, as well as for their authoress, 
I again avow an immense admiration. But they 
are books which Jane Austen never could or would 
have written, and- some of the most interesting 
characters are such as it would never have entered 
into her mind to conceive. It never would have 
occurred to her, for instance, to take for a hero 
such a man as Mr. Eochester, who, having been so 
unfortunate as to marry a mad wife, thinks it 
perfectly legitimate to take a second during the 
lifetime of the first, without a hint to the intended 
victim of the true state of the case. Nor, in all 
probability, would she ever have thought of repre- 
senting the said victim as continuing to cherish 
such a devoted love for the man who had so 
proposed to wrong her, as to induce her to return, 
after a becoming interval, for a last look at the 
mansion in which the wrong had been so nearly 
perpetrated, and, finding that the mansion and mad 
wife had been conveniently burnt together, and the 
would-be bigamist crippled and blinded by the 
same happy event, to come lovingly back to him, 
and marry him as contentedly as if nothing particu- 
lar had happened. These characters, however, did 



CH. iv. THE NOVELS. 75 

occur to Charlotte Bronte, and her delineation of 
them is such as to make them attractive by their 
very defects, and to carry her readers along with 
them, in spite of all the moral considerations which 
ought, I suppose, to deter us from reading about, 
and still more from liking, such naughty people. 
The truth is, that the style of the two writers is so 
dissimilar, the scenes and characters of which they 
treat are so entirely different, that it is hardly 
possible to compare them without doing injustice 
to one or the other. Fortunately, it is both 
possible and permissible to delight at one and the 
same time in the novels of both, and to appreciate 
the one without in the smallest degree underrating 
the other. I can honestly say that this is so in my 
own case, and that, loving them both, I do not 
care to compare them. 

Jane Austen did not rush hastily before the 
public, nor was she encouraged by any rapid or 
extraordinary success. Mr. Austen Leigh gives 
us a letter which her father wrote to Mr. Cadell, 
the publisher, in November 1797. evidently refer- 
ring to ' Pride and Prejudice,' which, under the 
name of ' False Impressions,' had been her earliest 
production. 



76 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. iv. 

Sir, I have in my possession a manuscript 
novel, comprising 3 vols., about the length of 
Miss Burney's ' Evelina.' As I am well aware of 
what consequence it is that a work of this sort 
should make its first appearance under a respect- 
able name, I apply to you. I shall be much 
obliged, therefore, if you will inform me whether 
you choose to be concerned in it, what will be the 
expense of publishing it at the author's risk, and 
what you will venture to advance for the property 
of it, if on perusal it is approved of? Should you 
give any encouragement, I will send you the work. 
I am, Sir, your humble servant, 

GEORGE AUSTEN. 

Steventon, Overton, Hants, 
November 1, 1797. 

This proposal, we are told, was declined by 
return of post, which the publisher must have 
regretted in subsequent years, though not with 
a deeper sorrow than the publisher at Bath, who 
went so far as to buy ' Northanger Abbey ' for 10/., 
and having laid it aside as worthless, was sub- 
sequently induced to return it, which he gladly 
did, for the same money, and was afterwards 
informed that it was by the author of ' Pride and 



CH. iv. THE NOVELS. 77 

Prejudice,' and other works which had then 
established the reputation of the authoress. It 
was Henry Austen who thus gained the manuscript, 
and disappointed the original purchaser by the 
subsequent disclosure of the state of the case. 

Of the keen interest which Jane took in her 
books we have evidence in some of the letters in 
these volumes, and also in those which Mr. Austen 
Leigh has already given to the world. In one of 
the latter (January 29, 1813) she writes to her 
sister of ' Pride and Prejudice ' : 

' I want to tell you that I have got my own 
darling child from London. On Wednesday I 
received one copy sent down by Falkener, with 
three lines from Henry to say that he had given 
another to Charles, and sent a third by the coach 
to Godmersham.' She is particularly enamoured 
of that creation of her own brain who has doubt- 
less inspired the same sentiment in many other 
people ' Elizabeth Darcy ' (nee Bennet) and of 
my mother's views upon the same subject she 
writes that ' Fanny's praise is very gratifying. My 
hopes were tolerably strong of her, but nothing 
like a certainty. Her liking Darcy and Elizabeth is 
enough. She might hate all the others, if she would.' 



78 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. iv. 

Although I have said that Jane Austen would 
never have chronicled all the laudatory remarks 
which might have been made, of and to her, by 
the admirers of her books, it must not be thought 
that I intend to represent her by any means as 
insensible to their praise or careless of the appro- 
bation which she received. This would have been 
unnatural, and therefore inconsistent with Jane's 
character. She undoubtedly appreciated the ap- 
proval of her friends and the world, although she 
probably never anticipated the extent to which 
that approval would ultimately reach. Indeed, 
during her lifetime it was by no means general, 
and some of the criticisms which she herself col- 
lected are of a very contrary character. ' Mans- 
field Park ' is called ' a mere novel,' ' Sense and 
Sensibility ' and ' Pride and Prejudice ' are stig- 
matised as ' downright nonsense.' Jane's language 
is called ' poor,' ' Emma ' is declared to be ' not 
interesting,' and sundry opinions of an unfavour- 
able tendency are recorded, which at the present 
day would be scouted as heretical by the literary 
world, but which only show the entirely different 
views which people are able to take upon the same 
subject. 



CH. iv. THE NOVELS. 79 

It is refreshing to turn to such a genuine 
instance of admiration as that which I find narrated 
in a letter from Lady George Hill to my mother 
(her sister) in 1856. Speaking of the widow of 
Sir Guy Campbell, she says : 

' Lady Campbell is " Pamela's " daughter and 
Lord Edwd. Fitzgerald's, and a most ardent 
admirer and enthusiastic lover of Aunt Jane's 
works. Aunt Cassandra herself would be satisfied 
at her appreciation of them nothing ever like 
them before or since. When she heard I was her 
niece she was in extasies. " My dear, is it pos- 
sible, are you Jane Austen's niece ? that I should 
never have known that before ! come and tell me 
about her do you remember her ? was she pretty ? 
wasn't she pretty ? Oh, if I could but have seen 
her Macaulay says she is second to Shakespeare. 
I was at Bowood when Lord Lansdowne heard of 
her death you cannot think how grieved and 
affected he was " I told her you were her great 
friend and used to correspond witli her. " Oh ! 
write and ask her if she can only send me one of 
her own real letters, and tell me any and every 
particular she may know about her life, self, 
everything, I should be so delighted ! Pray do 



SU LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. IT. 

write and ask her. The Archbishop of Dublin is 
another of her staunch admirers, and we have 
such long conversations about her." Then off she 
went, talking over and repeating parts of every 
one of the books, &c.' 

This is by no means a solitary instance of the 
enthusiasm with which Jane's works are admired, 
and which has induced me to believe that anything 
connected with her which has not hitherto seen 
the light may not be unacceptable to those who, 
in a greater or less degree, share the opinions of 
Lady Campbell. 



81 



CHAPTER V. 

THE NOVELS. 

I HAVE spoken elsewhere of Miss Tytler's Life of 
Jane Austen as being little more than a reproduc- 
tion of Mr. Austen Leigh's ' Memoir.' I have, I 
confess, a much greater objection to her manner 
of treating the novels ; for, although she speaks of 
touching them ' with a reverent hand,' she appears 
to me to have done just the reverse, and to have 
given an account of each book, sometimes in Jane 
Austen's words, with a running commentary, but 
generally in her own words, paraphrasing the 
original in such a manner as to spoil the symmetry 
of the work and destroy much of the beauty of 
the literary structure. Jane Austen's works did 
not. and do not, require this kind of handling. 
They should be read just as they were written, 
and it may be truly said of them that no books 
are more suitable for reading aloud. If well read, 
by a person who can understand the characters, 
VOL. i. G 



82 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. en. v. 

and is in sympathy with the spirit of the book, 
they are admirably adapted for this purpose; 
but as a great number of people dislike anything 
of the kind, it is a comfort to be able to add that 
they are equally delightful to read to oneself. The 
reviews of these books which have already ap- 
peared, and the general knowledge of them which 
is possessed by the public, deter me from entering 
into any lengthy criticism of their peculiar excel- 
lences or occasional defects, nor do I think it either 
necessary or desirable to introduce quotations from 
novels which are so well known and appreciated 
by the great body of the readers of fiction. There 
are, however, some few remarks which occur to 
me which may not be out of place, when we are 
considering the life and character of the gifted 
authoress of these works, and the circumstances 
under which they were written. 

My first observation, then, is to the effect, that 
in all her books the heroes are decidedly inferior 
to the heroines ; their characters less vigorously 
drawn, and themselves less interesting to the 
reader. There they are ; because every heroine 
requires a hero ; but in every case it is she and not 
he who is the prominent figure in the play. 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. 83 

Let us take the six novels into view. ' Pride 
and Prejudice ' gives us Darcy ; ' Sense and Sensi- 
bility,' Edward Ferrars ; ' Northanger Abbey,' 
Henry Tilney ; ' Mansfield Park,' Edmund Bertram ; 
4 Emma,' Mr. Knightley ; and ' Persuasion,' Captain 
Wentworth. Then look at the six heroines to 
match Elizabeth Bennet (she is sometimes spoken 
of in the novel as ' Eliza Bennet,' and it is notice- 
able in our letters that Jane constantly calls her 
Elizabeths ' Eliza '), Elinor Dashwood, Catherine 
Morland, Fanny Price, Emma -Woodhouse, and 
Anne Elliot -^-how much more we seem to know 
and to sympathise with the women than with the 
men throughout ! 

Darcy is really the only one for whom I feel 
much regard. He was certainly proud a fault 
with which his education and surroundings had 
much to do ; and, after all, it is perhaps not a 
wholly inexcusable pride which causes a man to 
hesitate before seeking to ally himself to a family 
of which the mother is insufferably vulgar and 
silly, several of the daughters objectionable, and 
the connections of a rank in life inferior to his 
own. Before his own heart was touched, it was 
neither wrong nor unnatural that he should strive 

G2 



84 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. v. 

to deter his friend Bingley from such a connection ; 
and when he found himself vanquished by the 
charms of Elizabeth, he got rid of his pride with 
a rapidity as commendable as that with which the 
lady dismissed her 'prejudice.' I think that we 
are told more of Darcy than of most of Jane's 
other heroes, and the gradual alteration of Eliza- 
beth's opinion of him as his character becomes 
better understood, and consequently better appre- 
ciated by her, is told and worked out in the most 
admirable manner. The gentleman's disposition 
was not one which made him likely to be the victim 
of a hasty attachment, and we watch with interest 
the struggle which goes on in his mind before 
he allows his growing love for Elizabeth to conquer 
his objections to her family. When this result 
has been accomplished, the lady is still perfectly 
unaware of the conquest which she has achieved, 
and his declaration to her at the parsonage, where 
she is on a visit to her friend, Charlotte Collins, 
takes her entirely by surprise. This is a very 
good scene in itself, and marks an epoch in the 
hero's life; for her contumelious rejection of his 
advances has a marvellous effect upon him, to 
the very great improvement of his character. He 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. 85 

accepts her decision in a manner which would 
have made it difficult for an ordinary writer to 
bring the two together again except by some 
strange and unusual method. Jane, however, 
manages it all in a most natural manner. Some 
words of Elizabeth regarding his two greatest 
offences the abstracting of her sister's lover and 
the supposed wrongs of Wickham induce him to 
write a long letter of explanation, which com- 
mences the change in the lady's heart, and from 
that moment Darcy only appears during the rest 
of the story in the most amiable light. I reject 
altogether the idea that the beauties of Pemberley 
had any effect in inducing Elizabeth to reconsider 
her refusal, and the sole doubt which remains 
upon my mind is the extent to which gratitude 
for his generous behaviour to her sister Lydia and 
her worthless husband really supplied the place of a 
warmer feeling in Elizabeth's heart. Gratitude, 
however, is a soil in which love readily grows 
and thrives, and in this instance the two may very 
well have existed and flourished side by side. 

But, after Darcy, what hero have we in whom 
it is possible to feel any deep interest such as that 
which attaches us to several of the heroines? 



86 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. CH. v. 

Edward Ferrars scarcely inspires much respect. 
Whatever excuse there may be for his conduct, he 
certainly behaves in such a manner as to induce 
Elinor to believe him attached to herself, whilst all 
the time he was engaged to another woman; for, 
if this had not been the case, the discovery of 
the engagement would not have filled the sensible 
heroine with such astonishment and dismay. His 
engagement was a boyish entanglement from which 
a man of any strength of character would have 
freed himself as soon as he found how much he 
had mistaken his own feelings, and how unsuited 
he and the lady were to each other, whilst there 
is something ludicrous in the rapidity with which, 
the very moment that his fool of a brother has 
conveniently taken her off his hands, he hurries 
off to Elinor, to make her happy by the assurance 
that he had really been all the while false to the 
lady whom he had still proposed to marry, and 
had loved her and her alone, although perfectly 
prepared to sacrifice her to his absurd ' engage- 
ment.' His readiness, moreover, to become a 
clergyman because clerical preferment was found 
for him does not add to the attractiveness of his 
character ; but Jane's picture of a clergyman is 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. 87 

generally that of a second son who enters the 
profession in order to hold a family living, an idea 
not unnatural in the daughter of one who was him- 
self the possessor of one of those benefices. 

Our two next heroes, Henry Tilney and Ed- 
mund Bertram, are to be classed in this category. 
Of the former, indeed, we know very little. A 
ball-room acquaintance at Bath, whose father, 
being deceived as to Catherine Morland's position 
and fortune, invites her to Northanger, and courts 
her on his son's behalf until he finds out the mis- 
take, we really know nothing more of this hero 
than that he displays a certain amount of amiable 
good sense in his conversations with Catherine, 
and a creditable degree of firmness in refusing to 
give her up at his father's command, or to root 
out of his heart that love which had been fostered, 
if not absolutely planted therein, by the paternal 
hand. The best we can say of this hero is that, 
if we knew him more, we should probably like him 
better. 

Of Edmund Bertram we know a good deal 
more, and he should perhaps rank next to Darcy 
in order of merit. His uniform kindness to his 
little cousin (which won her heart from the first), 



88 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. v. 

his superiority to the other members of his family, 
and general good conduct throughout the story, 
entitle him to our respect, if not to something more. 
We cannot help feeling sorry that he did not show a 
little more firmness in the matter of the theatricals, 
but are pleased at his readiness to give Fanny Price 
(at a time when he was not the least in love with her) 
the full credit which she deserved for her conduct 
upon that trying occasion. He may be blamed 
for having been attracted by the fascinations of 
Miss Crawford, when Fanny was there to be com- 
pared with her, but this was one of the most 
natural things in the world. Miss Crawford un- 
doubtedly was fascinating, and moreover had, and 
showed precisely that kind of predilection for 
Edmund which is so delightful to a young man 
when evinced by a pretty, clever, and agreeable 
person of the other sex. Besides, Fanny's per- 
fections being before his eyes every day, naturally 
struck him less than those of her rival, and he 
went on comfortably considering his affection for 
his cousin to be of the most quiet and brotherly 
description, until the exigencies of the story com- 
pelled him to find out that it was something of a 
different nature. Take him all in all, I must own 



CH. T. THE NOVELS. 89 

Edmund Bertram to be, after all, a hero above the 
average of such people, and one less inferior to 
the heroin.6 than any other of his class in the six 
novels, excepting always Darcy, to whom I remain 
faithful ; inasmuch as I think there is more power 
in his character and more masterly touches in its 
delineation. 

I frankly confess that I never could endure Mr. 
Knightley. He interfered too much, he judged 
other people rather too quickly and too harshly, 
he was too old for Emma, and being the elder 
brother of her elder sister's husband, there was 
something incongruous in the match which I could 
never bring myself to approve. To tell the truth, 
I always wanted Emma to marry Frank Churchill, 
and so did Mr. and Mrs. Weston. Mr. Knightley, 
however, is an eminently respectable hero too 
respectable, in fact, to be a hero at all ; he does 
not seem to rise above the standard of respecta- 
bility into that of heroism ; and I should have 
disputed his claim to the position had he not satis- 
factorily established it beyond all possible doubt 
by marrying the heroine. But I have never felt 
satisfied with the marriage, and feel very sure that 
Emma was not nearly so happy as she pretended. 



90 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. car. v. 

I am certain that he frequently lectured her, was 
jealous of every agreeable man that ventured to 
say a civil word to her, and evinced his intellec- 
tual superiority by such a plethora of eminently 
sensible conversations, as either speedily hurried 
her to an untimely grave, or induced her to run 
away with somebody possessed of an inferior in- 
tellect, but more endearing qualities. 

As to Captain Wentworth we are really told so 
little that there is nothing to say, except that he 
was a most faithful lover, but would have been 
wiser if he had not waited so long before letting 
the object of his affections know that such was 
the case. There is something pleasant about all 
Jane's sailors. Her sailor brothers were good 
examples of their class, and from them she pro- 
bably drew her ideas. Not a word can be said 
against Captain Wentworth, and I sincerely hope 
that he and his Anne lived very happily all the 
rest of their lives. 

But now let us turn from heroes to heroines, 
and I shall hardly know how to praise enough. 
Let Elizabeth Bennet stand forth ; she is, to my 
mind, the most delightful character that ever con- 
descended to display her perfections in a novel. 



en. v. THE NOVELS. 91 

She is not so intensely sweet and amiable as Anne 
Elliot, so sternly sensible as Elinor Dashwood, so 
simple and grateful as Fanny Price, so ' superior ' 
as Emma ; but not one of them all can equal her 
as a heroine of romance, and that principally be- 
cause there is nothing romantic about her. She is 
drawn with such an exquisite touch that she is far 
more like a personal acquaintance than one ' in a 
book ;' one enters into her feelings, understands her 
thoughts, her hopes and her fears, and cannot help 
taking the .same sort of interest in her proceedings 
as if she was one's own relation. How cleverly is 
the line drawn which separates her and Jane from 
the rest of the Bennet family, to whom they were 
as much superior as if they had been the children 
of other parents ! How keenly we share her dis- 
comfort at the vulgarity of her mother and the 
folly of her younger sisters ; how warmly we appre- 
ciate her solicitude for Jane, and her anger against 
those who had separated that beloved sister from 
the man for whom she cared ; how well we under- 
stand the warmth of honest sympathetic indignation 
with which she received Wickham's account of his 
ill-treatment by Mr. Darcy, and the equally honest 
contrition she experienced when she discovered 



92 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. v. 

how much that indignation had been misplaced ; 
with what interest do we watch the gradual change 
of her opinion of Darcy, as the mists which have 
enveloped his character are gradually cleared 
away ; and how heartily do we rejoice at her ulti- 
mate decision to accept the man who so well de- 
served her, and at the opportunity, created by the 
most bitter opponent of the marriage, which happily 
brought him a second time to her feet ! 

I do not know any character in any novel that 
ever was written whose career from first to last, 
throughout the whole book, one follows with such 
intense and continuous interest as that of this 
charming Elizabeth. There are several scenes to 
which I might call special attention, as illustrative 
of her character ; but I will be content with one, 
to my mind the most delicious and inimitable scene 
in the whole book I mean the interview between 
Elizabeth and Lady Catherine de Burgh, when the 
latter, furious at the report that her nephew Mr. 
Darcy is about to marry Elizabeth, drives over, in 
all the dignity and grandeur which can be imparted 
by a chaise and four, to insist upon its being im- 
mediately contradicted. If it were possible that 
our admiration of Elizabeth could be increased, 



CH. v. THE NOVELS 93 

her conduct and language during this trying inter- 
view would certainly accomplish such a result. 
The calmness and self-possession with which she 
encounters the arrogant insolence of her visitor, 
the courageous and undaunted spirit with which 
she refuses to be bullied and brow-beaten, and the 
acute but perfectly civil manner in which she holds 
her own, and puts her adversary entirely in the 
wrong throughout the whole of the conversation, 
are described with a rare talent, and the whole 
scene is one which, both in its conception and exe- 
cution, is undoubtedly one of the most excellent 
that ever was written. 

I could dwell with delight upon Elizabeth for a 
much longer time, but in my comparison of heroes 
and heroines I can only afford a short space to 
each, and therefore hurry on to ' Sense and Sensi- 
bility,' where Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are 
the two prominent figures, and I suppose that the 
former, being ' Sense,' has the best claim to the 
heroine's niche. She is certainly an excellent 
young woman, though, to my mind, less interesting 
than some of her sister heroines. It undoubtedly 
was a position the reverse of pleasant to be made 
the unwilling confidant of a girl so inferior to herself 



94 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. v. 

in good-breeding and refinement as Lucy Steele, 
and to receive as the first great secret the news 
that her own lover was engaged to this obnoxious 
young woman. It was disagreeable, too, to have a 
sister whose ' sensibility ' took the form of love-sick 
extravagances which must have constantly grated 
against Elinor's ' sense,' and who, by carrying her 
hysterical sentimentality so far as nearly to die of 
it, caused a disagreeable interruption to the tran- 
quillity of their domestic life. But, under all these 
circumstances, Elinor evinced a fortitude and self- 
control which must command our respect if it does 
not attract our admiration ; she takes a common- 
sense view of everything which occurs, submits 
with proper resignation to things which appear 
inevitable, condoles with and comforts her sister 
in her love disappointment without disclosing her 
own much greater reason to be heart-broken, and 
contentedly accepts and settles down with her 
lover when time and the vagaries of Miss Lucy 
Steele have enabled him to declare himself in his 
true colours. Altogether she is an admirably- 
drawn character, and the contrast between her 
' sense ' and the ' sensibility ' of Marianne, so well 
depicted and sustained, elevates her, at her sister's 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. 95 

expense, to a very creditable place among the list 
of heroines. 

Upon the whole, I think Catherine Morland the 
least interesting of the aforesaid list, and yet she 
is the heroine of such an interesting story, that I 
feel sorry as soon as I have written the words. I 
am consoled, however, by the reflection that the 
authoress begins her book by the remark that in 
her early youth nobody would ever have supposed 
Catherine born to be a heroine. She was the 
daughter of a clergyman, one of a large family, 
rather uninformed, very romantic, and, for the rest 
of it, a good-tempered, well-disposed, and good- 
looking girl, with no very marked characteristic 
or striking ability, or anything else to distinguish 
her from the common herd of girls. She is made 
interesting by the story, and as she generally takes 
a right view of things, is grateful for any kindness 
shown to her, shrinks from vulgarity, takes natu- 
rally to good things and people, and behaves with 
great propriety in the different positions in which 
she is placed, one can forgive her too great fond- 
ness for romances replete with horrors, and the 
readiness with which she harbours the suspicion 
that General Tilney had made away with his wife. 



96 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. v. 

We are able, upon the whole, to take her to our 
affections as a commendable specimen of the heroine 
tribe, although certainly eclipsed by other creations 
of the same fertile brain. 

Fanny Price is altogether of a different calibre, 
and, according to my opinion, contests with Emma 
Woodhouse the second place after Elizabeth Bennet. 
They are, of course, very different people in many 
respects, but as a matter of taste I am inclined to 
give the preference to Fanny. She is so gentle, 
so grateful, so ready to do a kindness to any 
and everybody, so submissive to Aunt Norris, so 
thoughtful for Lady Bertram, so good a daughter, 
so loving a sister, such an affectionate cousin, such 
a true and faithful friend, that one is inclined to 
wonder how a character can have been drawn with 
so few faults as to be near perfection, and yet so 
natural that it is impossible not to recognize it as 
a true picture. From her first entry into Mansfield 
Park down to the very end of the story, our hearts 
go out to Fanny Price, and we love her with a 
steady and unvarying love. She wins our sympathy 
from the moment we make her acquaintance, and 
keeps it throughout her whole career. She had 
something to bear, too, during her sojourn in her 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. 97 

uncle's house. There are few things more difficult 
to endure than injustice, and of this Aunt Norris 
inflicted a perpetual and unlimited amount upon 
the devoted head of her long-suffering niece. But 
there are worse things to endure in life than 
even the injustice of an ill-conditioned old aunt. 
It must have been a sore trial to Fanny to see 
Mary Crawford stealing from her that which she 
prized beyond everything else her cousin Edmund's 
affection and a sorer trial still to see him bestow- 
ing that affection upon a woman who, with all her 
beauty and other attractions, did not come up ta 
Fanny's standard, and whom she could not deem 
worthy of her cousin. Very trying, too, must have 
been those conversations with Edmund, wherein, 
doubtful of himself and of Miss Crawford, he spoke 
of the latter to Fanny, evidently seeking to be 
strengthened and encouraged by her in his affec- 
tion for her rival ; and trying, too, and in no 
ordinary degree, must have been the friendship of 
that rival for herself, especially when it took the 
form oi endeavouring to secure her acceptance of 
Henry Crawford for her husband. But Fanny 
came well and nobly out of every ordeal. The 
same simple, quiet, honest determination to do 
VOL. i. II 



98 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. v. 

what her conscience told her to be right, which 
sustained her in that severe trial in the matter of 
the theatricals in the absence of Sir Thomas, stood 
her equally in good stead throughout all her other 
troubles and trials. If we admire Elizabeth Bennet 
most, I really think that, upon the whole, we love 
Fanny Price best. It is impossible not to love such 
a thoroughly unselfish character, and I think she 
must be admitted to be one of the best of heroines 
and most charming of people. 

The partisans of ' Emma ' must forgive me for 
placing her only third on the list. She is a very 
charming creature, and all the more so for not 
having been drawn faultless, but with just enough 
imperfection to set her off, without taking her out 
of the category of ordinary mortals, to whom abso- 
lute perfection is an impossibility. Her propensity 
for match-making was decidedly objectionable, but 
as she failed so signally in this respect, it was pro- 
"bably its own punishment. Left the mistress of 
her father's house at an early age by the marriage 
of her sister, Emma ran a good chance of being 
spoiled, and such would probably have been her 
fate but for the excellent governess provided for 
her in the person of Miss Taylor, who became an 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. 99 

equally excellent wife for Mr. Weston just before 
the commencement of the story. Still, Miss Emma 
seems to have been tolerably self-willed, and to 
have been possessed of an independent spirit of 
her own, and a confidence in her own judgment 
which the adulation of her neighbours must have 
considerably increased. One does not exactly see 
why Emma Woodhouse should have been regarded 
as a little goddess in her own neighbourhood, but 
such appears to have been the case, and she is 
depicted throughout the story as the intellectual 
superior of everybody else, except Mr. Knightley, 
who treats her more like an elder brother than a 
lover, administers to her a well-deserved rebuke 
upon the occasion of her making an unkindly 
satirical remark to poor Miss Bates, and graciously 
marries her when he finds that he has been mis- 
taken in supposing her attached to Frank Churchill. 
4 Emma ' is undoubtedly a well-drawn character, 
and one that enjoys a deserved popularity ; but 
I confess that she is not my favourite heroine, as 
she is the favourite of many admirers of 'Jane 
Austen's ' novels, and had I been the hero of the 
piece, I am by no means sure that I should not have 
preferred to marry Jane Fairfax, who, despite her 

H2 



100 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. v. 

mistake in entering into a secret engagement with 
Frank Churchill, is a sweet and womanly character, 
and would have required less looking after and 
management than the ' superior ' Emma. 

I have but little to say of ' Anne Elliot,' the 
heroine of ' Persuasion,' but that little is good. 
With a worldly father and unsympathetic elder 
sister, her early life, after the loss of her mother, 
was not of the happiest description, nor had its 
happiness been increased by the breaking off 
of her engagement with Lieutenant Wentworth, 
their mutual attachment having been thwarted by 
that want of pecuniary resources which so often 
operates as a barrier in similar cases. Anne Elliot r 
taking after her mother rather than her father, 
was of a sweet disposition, amiable in every rela- 
tion of life, and so faithful to her first love as to 
have been quite ready to ' take up ' with him again 
when he came home eight years later with the 
rank of Captain, and his sister's husband, Admiral 
Crofts, had taken Kellynch, Sir Walter Elliot's 
family place. The gentleman, however, from 
timidity, doubt of her affection, and afterwards 
from the report that she was to marry her rich 
but profligate cousin, Mr. Elliot, held aloof, and 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. 101 

did not renew his former suit. Sweet, modest, 
tender-hearted, womanly Anne Elliot behaved just 
as she should have done under such a condition 
of affairs. Of course she never obtruded herself 
upon her lover in the slightest degree, or took any 
.steps to let him know the unchanged state of her 
affections. She remained true to him throughout 
.all temptations to the contrary, refused her cousin, 
kept her secret with proper reserve until the right 
moment and opportunity arrived, and then with- 
out hesitation forgave Captain Wentworth his 
doubts and delay, owned her continued affection 
ivithout any pretence of concealment, and obtained 
the husband for whom she had so long waited, 
and whom she so well deserved. We do not hear 
.so much of Anne Elliot as of some of Jane's other 
heroines, but we hear enough to sympathise with 
her from first to last, to appreciate the sweetness 
of her character, and to wish her every possible 
happiness in her married life. 

At the conclusion of my list of heroines I retain 
my opinion of their superiority to the heroes of 
these novels, with the additional remark that per- 
haps this may result from the fact that they are 
created by the hand of a woman, who might be 



LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. v. 

better able to understand and describe the feelings 
and actions of her own than those of the other sex. 
Still, it must be allowed that she shows a marvel- 
lous knowledge of both, and that few, if any, men 
who have attempted novel-writing have equalled 
either the male or female creations of the * inimit- 
able Jane.' 

It would occupy more time and space than 
I can afford if I were to criticize in detail one half 
or one quarter of the prominent characters in these 
novels. I have spoken elsewhere of a certain want 
of ' plot ' and ' incident,' but this I say in praise 
rather than blame, the wonder being at the manner 
in which the books are made so intensely interesting 
with so little of either. Perhaps the truth lies in 
the fact that, whilst a weak or imperfectly drawn 
character requires some exciting events to make it 
interesting, Jane's characters are so well drawn as 
to be interesting under the most trivial and ordi- 
nary circumstances. 

Take one instance from ' Pride and Prejudice/ 
There is nothing very remarkable in a man having 
married a silly wife, although one is inclined to 
wonder that a person with such a keen sense of 
humour and lively appreciation of the folly of 



en. v. THE NOVELS. 103 

other people as Mr. Bennet should have been 
caught by a pretty face when handicapped by 
such intense and silly vulgarity as that which his 
wife displayed. Such things did happen in Jane 
Austen's days, and probably happen still ; but for 
all that one may wonder on, consoling oneself 
with the reflection that the man must always be 
punished for the rest of his life. But the remark- 
able thing is, that out of this somewhat ordinary 
couple Jane manages to create two very amusing 
characters, whose daily conversations required no 
stirring events of any kind to make them so inte- 
resting as to cause the reader always to wish they 
were longer. Mr. Bennet bore his fate with more 
equanimity than many men would have done, and 
his quaint, dry remarks are irresistibly comic, and 
almost as amusing as the absurdities of his better- 
half. 

Mr. Collins, again, is really only a not uncom- 
mon character slightly exaggerated. But the 
exaggeration is carried out after a fashion so 
delightfully clever that Mr. Collins becomes one 
of the very best characters in the book, and his 
letters are not to be equalled. The announcement 
of his intention to visit Longbourn House, with the 



LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. en. v. 

scarcely-concealed view of marrying one of his 
cousins by way of atonement for being next in the 
entail, and, therefore, the future possessor of their 
home upon their father's death, is our first intro- 
duction to this worthy individual, and we are at 
once led to expect amusement from such a cha- 
racter. The reality, however, even surpasses our 
anticipations. His conversations are charming ; 
the self-assurance with which he proposes to Eliza- 
beth, the readiness with which he consoles himself 
with her friend, Charlotte Lucas ; above all, the 
grateful servility with which he accepts the crumbs 
which fall from Lady Catherine de Burgh's table, 
and magnifies her with continuous adoration all 
combine to enhance our admiration of the skill 
which could draw such a character with a touch 
which makes it amusingly ridiculous without being 
unnaturally absurd. But peril aps the letter in 
which he condoles with Mr. Bennet on the occasion 
of Lydia's elopement, and that in which he warns 
Elizabeth against marrying Lady Catherine's nephew 
without the consent of that august potentate, are 
two of the finest pieces of composition in the 
book. The fiYst is simply inimitable, and the 
second falls little short of it. 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. 105 

The Collins episode in this book suggests a 
comparison with that of Mr. Elton in ' Emma.' In 
each case the gentleman is refused by the heroine, 
and in each marries somebody else with very little 
delay. Mr. Collins, however, has the advantage 
both in the wife he selects and the behaviour 
which he adopts. He cheerfully accepts the situa- 
tion, receives Elizabeth at the parsonage, and only 
revenges himself by parading before her eyes as 
much as possible the inestimable advantages con- 
ferred upon him by the vicinity of Rosings. 

Mr. Elton, a man equally conceited but of 
greater ability, shows himself to be more little- 
minded in a similar situation, for he evidently 
resents his refusal to the end of the chapter, and 
both he and his disagreeable wife lose no oppor- 
tunity of sneering at and decrying Emma, who had 
not only been guilty of .the unpardonable offence 
of rejecting his advances, but had bitterly wounded 
his vanity by believing them to have been intended 
for Harriet Smith. Perhaps Mr. Collins's innate 
and intense satisfaction with himself and all that 
belonged to him may have had some share in in- 
ducing him to forgive Elizabeth when he had 
secured Charlotte ; but at all events he -shines in 



10G LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. v. 

comparison with Mr. Elton, and should have all 
the credit he deserves. 

The character of Lady Catherine de Burgh has 
sometimes been deemed exaggerated ; but in Jane 
Austen's days the deference paid to rank and 
position was far greater than at present, and an 
arrogant woman, accustomed to have her own 
way and impatient of contradiction, is, I suppose, 
pretty much the same kind of being in all ages of 
the world. If there is any criticism which may 
fairly be made, it is the total want of good-breed- 
ing which Lady Catherine, supposed to be a well- 
bred woman, exhibits in her conversations with 
those whom she deems her inferiors, whose feel- 
ings she apparently seeks to outrage every minute 
in the most unnecessary manner, and to whom she 
speaks after a fashion utterly at variance with the 
present usages of society. Some allowance must 
of course be made for the change in times and 
manners which has taken place, but in this one 
particular it is difficult not to incline to the opinion 
that the character is a little exaggerated. She is- 

CO 

splendid, however, in the interview with Elizabeth, 
to which I have already alluded, and, as a set-off 
to the heroine, as well as to Mr. Collins, is perfec- 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. 107 

tion. Indeed, one of the most delicious things in 
the whole book is the way in which her arrogant 
interference is made to punish itself, and causes 
her to impart to Darcy that which he might not 
otherwise have discovered namely, that change 
in Elizabeth's feelings which encourages him to ap- 
proach her once more. The way in which he does 
this is very natural, and exceedingly well told, 
and. in fact, there is hardly a page in this book 
which does not excite our wonder that it should 
have been written by a girl of twenty-one, ignorant 
of the world outside her own family circle. 

There is more ' finish ' about ' Emma,' and, per- 
haps, also about ' Mansfield Park,' but, take it all 
in all, ' Pride and Prejudice ' is the most wonderful 
production of the authoress. 

One comfort in Jane's novels lies in the fact 
that, as I have already observed of Miss Burney's 
works, they all end in the happy marriage of her 
heroines, so that we are left in no sad uncertainty 
as to their respective fates. An elopement or two 
on the part of their relatives (Lyclia Bennet and 
Julia Bertram to wit) only adds to their own respect- 
ability by the contrast, and they themselves are 
always people of the greatest propriety and most 



108 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. v. 

unblemished character. This is just as it should 
be, for we are bound to take a more or less tender 
interest in the heroine of a book, and it is de- 
cidedly preferable to experience this feeling for 
a well-conducted and respectable young woman 
than for the doubtful and sometimes really dis- 
reputable heroines whom we encounter too often 
in more modern novels. Jane's heroines never 
transgress the bounds of conventional good- 
behaviour. They enjoy their dancing, their novel- 
reading, their innocent flirtations, and other similar 
amusements which enlivened the society of their 
day ; but they indulge in no extravagances, do 
nothing out of the common way, and are a model 
set of heroines whom nobody but Jane could have 
made so entertaining and interesting as she has 
certainly done. They all deserve to marry com- 
fortably which seems to have been Jane's idea of 
the true object of a girl's life and it is impossible 
to grudge their deserts to such meritorious people. 
This leads me to another observation upon the 
drift and tendency of these novels. I think they 
really do all that the author of ' Pamela ' declares 
that he does in the self-laudatory preface which I 
have quoted. They make virtue lovely, and vice 



en. v. THE NOVELS. 109 

the reverse ; they show how the one brings its 
own reward, the other its own punishment, and 
without ever preaching to us, they continually 
impress upon our minds lessons of a purifying 
and elevating tendency. The different motives 
which influence men and women in various circum- 
stances of life the special faults which beset 
certain natures the effects which those faults 
produce upon others, the opposite results of a 
religious training and of a mere worldly education ; 
all these are drawn by the master-hand of a great 
artist, and are brought before us with a fidelity of 
description which can hardly fail to impress the 
reader. 

There is very little direct mention of religion, 
as a mainspring of action, in any of Jane Austen's 
books. In the ' religious novels ' of which the 
literary world has had a copious supply during the 
last fifty years, religion is often introduced in such 
a manner as doubtless to satisfy the godly reader, 
but effectually to deter the worldling from the 
perusal of the work. People are represented as 
so habitually pious, so fond of church-going and 
church-restoring, and so very much better than 
the common run of men, that the book does not 



110 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. CH. v. 

attract those whose lives are less exemplary, and 
who feel that the narrative is of worlds outside 
and apart from their own. There is nothing of 
this in Jane's books. So far from any parade of 
religion, there is so little allusion to anything 
of the kind that it would be a misnomer to apply 
the term ' religious novel ' to any of her works. 
But yet, throughout them all, the moral and 
virtuous thoughts and actions, which can spring 
only from a mind imbued with the principles of 
religion, are constantly brought before us, in such 
a manner as to command our respect, and to afford 
us, at the same time, an example of the way in 
which such thoughts can be cherished, and such 
actions performed, without any separation from the 
world, or the necessity of conducting ourselves 
differently from other people. There is a purity 
of thought as well as of style, an undercurrent of 
refinement, and an imperceptible suggestion of 
good which have not improbably had more salu- 
tary effects than any * religious ' novels that have 
ever been written. But I will indulge myself in 
no further criticism. Popular approbation has 
already stamped these books as among the greatest 
of English novels. I am glad of the opportunity 



CH. v. THE NOVELS. ill 

of throwing such further light upon the life of the 
writer as can be afforded by those of her letters 
which remain to us, and I only regret that I have 
not more materials from which to furnish the lovers 
of her works still further details of the life of 
Jane Austen. 



LETTERS. 



1796 

THE first two letters which I am able to present 
to my readers were written from Steventon to Jane 
Austen's sister Cassandra in January 1796. The 
most interesting allusion, perhaps, is to her ' young 
Irish friend,' who would seem by the context to 
have been the late Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, 
though at the time of writing only ' Mr. Tom 
Lefroy.' I have no means of knowing how serious 
the ' flirtation ' between the two may have been, or 
whether it was to this that Mr. Austen Leigh refers 
when he tells us that ' in her youth she had declined 
the addresses of a gentleman who had the recom- 
mendations of good character and connections, and 
position in life, of everything, in fact, except the 
subtle power of touching her heart.' I am inclined, 
however, upon the whole, to think, from the tone 
VOL. i. I 



114 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1790 

of the letters, as well as from some passages in 
later letters, that this little affair had nothing 
to do with the ' addresses ' referred to, any more 
than with that ' passage of romance in her history ' 
with which Mr. Austen Leigh was himself so 
' imperfectly acquainted ' that he can only tell us 
that there was a gentleman whom the sisters 
met ' whilst staying at some seaside place,' whom 
Cassandra Austen thought worthy of her sister Jane, 
and likely to gain her affection, but who very pro- 
vokingly died suddenly after having expressed his 
' intention of soon seeing them again.' Mr. Austen 
Leigh thinks that, ' if Jane ever loved, it was this 
unnamed gentleman ; ' but I have never met with 
any evidence upon the subject, and from all I have 
heard of l Aunt Jane,' I strongly incline to the 
opinion that, whatever passing inclination she may 
have felt for anyone during her younger days (and 
that there was once such an inclination is, I believe, 
certain), she was too fond of home, and too happy 
among her own relations, to have sought other 
ties, unless her heart had been really won, and that 
this was a thing which never actually happened. 
Her allusion (letter two) to the day on which ' I 
am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy ' rather nega- 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 115 

tives the idea that there was anything serious 
between the two, whilst a later reference (letter 
ten) to Mrs. Lefroy's ' friend ' seems to intimate 
that, whoever the latter may have been, any 
attachment which existed was rather on the side 
of the gentleman than of the lady, and was not 
recognized by her as being of a permanent nature. 
The first letter is written on her sister Cas- 
sandra's birthday, and is directed to her at Kint- 
bury, where she seems to have been staying with 
her friend Elizabeth Fowle (often referred to in 
these letters as ' Eliza '), nee Lloyd, whose sister 
was the ' Mary ' who ' would never have guessed ' 
the ' tall clergyman's ' name, and who afterwards 
married the 'James' (Jane's brother) who was 
taken into the carriage as an encouragement to> 
his improved dancing. Elizabeth Lloyd married 
the Rev. Fulwar Craven Fowle, who was the Vicar 
of Kintbury, near Newbury. Mr. Fowle was, I 
have always heard, a good sportsman, a good 
preacher, and a man of some humour. He had 
a hunter at one time which he named ' Biscay,' 
because it was ' a great roaring bay.' He com- 
manded a troop of Volunteers in the war-time, and 
King George the Third is reported to have said 

12 



116 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

of him that he was ' the best preacher, rider to 
hounds, and cavalry officer in Berks.' 

The Harwoods of Deane were country neigh- 
bours of whom we shall find frequent mention. 
They were a very old Hampshire family, living 
upon their own property, which was formerly 
much larger than at the date of our letters, and 
which, I believe, has now passed away altogether 
from its former possessors. Close to Deane is 
Ashe, of which Mr. Lefroy was rector, and Ashe 
Parke, now occupied by Col. E. Portal, and in 1796 
belonging to Mr. Portal, of Laverstoke, was at that 
time occupied by the family of St. John. The 
Eivers family lived, I believe, at Worthy Park, 
Kings worthy, and I imagine the Miss Deanes to 
have been of the family of that name living in 
Winchester. One member of this family has since 
held the neighbouring living of Bighton. The 
Lyfords were medical men, father and son, living 
at Basingstoke. It will be noted that one of them 
attended Mrs. George Austen in the illness men- 
tioned in the earlier letters, and it was one of the 
same family who was Jane Austen's doctor in her 
last illness at Winchester. In a little volume con- 
cerning the ' Vine hunt ' which he printed privately 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 117 

in 1865, Mr. Austen Leigh tells a good story of 
the grandfather of the ' John Lyford ' here men- 
tioned, ' a fine tall man, with such a flaxen wig as 
is not to be seen or conceived by this generation.' 
He knew nothing about fox-hunting, but had a 
due and proper regard for those who indulged in 
it, and it is recorded of him that upon one occa- 
sion, having accidentally fallen in with Mr. Chute's 
hounds when checked, he caused great confusion 
by galloping up in a very excited state, waving his 
hat, and exclaiming * Tally-ho ! Mr. Chute. Tally- 
ho ! Mr. Chute.' Not that he had seen the fox, 
but because he imagined that ' Tally-ho ! ' was the 
word with which fox-hunters ordinarily greeted 
each other in the field. 

Among the people mentioned as having been 
at ' the Harwoods' ball ' were several who de- 
serve notice. ' Mr. Heathcote ' was William, the 
brother of Sir Thomas, the fourth Baronet of 
Hursley. Two years after the date of this letter, 
viz. in 1798, he married Elizabeth, daughter of 
Lovelace Bigg Wither, Esq., of Manydown ; he 
was Prebendary of Winchester, and pre-deceasing 
his brother, his son William succeeded the latter 
as fifth baronet in 1825, sat for Hants in five 



118 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

Parliaments, and afterwards for Oxford University 
for fourteen years. He was made a Privy Councillor 
in 1870, and lived till 1881, very greatly respected 
and beloved by a large circle of friends. In 1796 
the Heathcotes lived at Worting, a house in a 
village of the same name, situate about five or 
six miles from Steventon. Mr. J. Portal was 
Mr. Portal, of Freefolk House, near Overton. He 
married twice, and, living till 1848, was succeeded 
by the eldest son of his second wife, Melville 
Portal, who was afterwards for a short time 
member for North Hants. Mr. John Portal's 
eldest daughter by his first marriage was Caroline, 
who married Edward Austen's fourth son William. 
Adela, one of his daughters by his second wife, 
became the second wife of the 'little Edward' 
mentioned in the letters, who was the eldest son 
of the same Edward Austen, Jane's brother, the 
owner of Godmersham and Chawton. She died 
in 1870. Mr. Portal's brother William lived at 
Laverstoke, which, as well as Ashe Park, belonged 
to him. Mr. Bigg Wither, of Manydown, had 
two other daughters besides Mrs. Heathcote, 
namely, Alithea, with whom 'James danced,' 
and Catherine, who afterwards married the Eev. 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 119 

Herbert Hill, who enjoyed the double distinction 
of being Southey's uncle and (at one time) chaplain 
to the British factory at Lisbon. ' Ibthorp ' was 
a house near Lord Portsmouth's place, Hurst- 
bourne, where lived as a widow Mrs. Lloyd, the 
mother of Eliza, Martha, and Mary. Her husband, 
the Eev. Nowys Lloyd, had held the two livings 
of Enbourne near Newbury and Bishopston, Wilts, 
and at the latter place fell in love with ' Martha 
Craven,' who was living there with an ' Aunt 
Willoughby,' having run away from a mother 
whom family tradition alleges to have treated her 
badly. Mrs. Lloyd died in April 1805, when the 
Austens were at Bath. The Coopers, whose arrival 
is expected in the first, and announced in the 
second letter, were Dr. Cooper, already mentioned 
as having married Jane Austen's aunt, Jane Leigh, 
with his wife and their two children, Edward and 
Jane, of whom we shall frequently hear. I have 
no means of knowing who is referred to as 
' Warren,' but there was, and is, a Hampshire 
family of that name, of Worting House, Basing- 
stoke, and it may very likely be one of them, 
since they were of course near neighbours, and 
likely to be intimate at Steventon. Neither can I 



120 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1790 

bring proof positive as to the identity of Mr. 
Benjamin Portal, which is the more to be regretted 
because a person with such ' handsome ' eyes 
deserves to be identified. There was, however, a 
certain clergyman, the Eev. William Portal, a 
member of the Freefolk and Laverstoke family, 
who had a wife, seven sons, and the Eectory of 
Stoke Charity in Hants. None of these sons 
married, but, judging by dates, some of them 
must have been living about 1796, and probably 
Benjamin was one of them. 

The third letter of 1796 is dated from London, 
where the writer had evidently stopped for a night 
on her way from Steventon to Eowling, a journey 
which in those days was a much more serious 
affair than at present, when a few hours of rail- 
road take us comfortably from one place to the 
other. Eowling was and is a small place belonging 
to the Bridges family, being about a mile distant 
from Goodnestone. Edward Austen, Jane's brother, 
lived there at this time, though whether his 
brother-in-law, Sir Brook, let it or lent it to him 
I cannot say. Probably the former ; at any rate, 
here he lived, and here were his three eldest 
children born. The subsequent letters (four to 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 121 

seven inclusive) were written whilst Jane was 
visiting her brother, and are full of touches of her 
own quaint humour. Mrs. Knight had not left 
Godmershani at this time, but was about to do so, 
and my grandfather and grandmother w r ere going 
to take possession. The ' Mr. and Mrs. Cage ' were 
Lewis Cage and his wife, Fanny Bridges. Harriet 
and Louisa were the two unmarried sisters of the 
latter ; Edward, their brother, and the ' Mr. and 
Mrs. Bridges ' must have been Henry Bridges, next 
brother to Sir Brook (fourth baronet), who was 
Eector of Danbury and Woodham Ferrers, in 
Essex, who had married Jane Hales the year be- 
fore this letter was written. Sir Thomas Hales, 
his father-in-law, was M.P. for Dover, and had four 
daughters besides Jane, of whom the two youngest, 
Harriet and Caroline, are here mentioned. Harriet 
died unmarried, Caroline married Mr. Gore in 
1798. Sir Thomas had died in 1773, and was suc- 
ceeded by his son of the same name, who dying in 
1824, and having only one daughter, the baronetcy 
became extinct. The allusion to * Camilla in Mr. 
Dabster's summer-house ' (to whom Jane likens 
herself when her brother's absence obliged her to 
stay at Bowling till he should return to escort 



122 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 179(3 

her home) will be understood by those who have 
perused Miss Burney's novel of that name, and to 
those who have not will, I hope, be an inducement 
to do so, as it will certainly repay the perusal. 
Lady Waltham was the wife of Lord Waltham, 
and a great friend of Lady Bridges. 

There are other allusions to things and people 
scattered throughout these letters, to understand 
which it is necessary to bear in mind that they are 
often made in the purest spirit of playful nonsense, 
and are by no means to be taken as grave and 
serious expressions of opinion or statement of facts. 
When, for instance, speaking of Mrs. Knight, the 
widow of Godmersham, she says ' it is imagined 
that she will shortly be married again,' and in the 
next letter speaks of her brother Edward as in- 
tending to get some of a vacant farm into his 
occupation, ' if he can cheat Sir Brook enough in 
the agreement,' she is writing in the same spirit 
of fun as when she presently tells us that her 
brother had thoughts of ' taking the name of 
Claringbould,' that ' Mr. Eichard Harvey's match is 
put off till he has got a better Christian name,' 
and that two gentlemen about to marry ' are to 
have one wife between them.' Mrs. Knight was 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 123 

advanced in years at the time, and her marrying 
a second time a very unlikely thing to occur ; and 
I suppose no man ever lived who was less likely 
to ' cheat ' or take advantage of another than my 
grandfather, Edward Austen. It is in the same 
vein of fun, or of originality, if the phrase be 
better, that she speaks (letter seven) of ' the Captain 
John Gore, commanded by the " Triton," ' instead 
of ' the " Triton," commanded by Captain John 
Gore,' and, in the postscript to the same letter, of 
her brother Frank being ' much pleased with the 
prospect of having Captain Gore under his com- 
mand,' when of course the relative position of the 
two was precisely the reverse. Many people will 
think this explanation superfluous, but I have so 
often met with matter-of-fact individuals who per- 
sist in taking everything in its plain and literal 
sense, that I think it well to make it. It is to this 
day a peculiarity of some of the Austens (and 
doubtless not confined to them) to talk and write 
nonsense to each other which, easily understood 
between themselves at the time, might have a 
curious appearance if published a hundred years 
hence. Such expressions as ' a chutton mop ' for 
* a mutton chop,' to ' clerge ' (i.e. to perform the 



124 LETTEKS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

duties of a clergyman), and to ' ronge ' i.e. ' to 
affect with a pleasing melancholy ' are well 
enough when used and appreciated in family 
letters and conversations, but might give rise to 
curious dissertations upon the different use of par- 
ticular English words at different times, if given 
without comment or explanation to the public, 
whilst the literal interpretation of things said in 
jest to those who understood the jest at the time 
would cause the most serious mistakes as to the 
real meaning of the writer and the spirit in which 
she wrote. 

The sixth and seventh letters are full of local 
and personal allusions of more or less interest. 
The dinner-party at Nackington is pleasantly 
described, and the wealth of Mr. Milles referred 
to in the pretended expectation expressed that 
he would have advanced money to a person with 
whom he had no relationship which might have 
induced such generosity. It was natural that 
Lady Sondes' picture should be found in her 
father's house, for in that relationship stood Mr. 
Milles to her. She was at this time living at Lees 
Court with her husband, who did not die until 
ten years later. Bifrons was at this time in the 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 125 

possession of the Taylor family, from whom it 
afterwards passed to the Conynghams ; but I do 
not know to whom Jane refers as the individual 
upon whom she once fondly doated, although the 
* once ' could not have been very long before, as 
at this time she had not yet completed her twenty- 
first year. Mrs. Joan Knatchbull lived in Canter- 
bury. She was the only sister of Sir Wyndham 
Knatchbull, who died in 1763, when the title and 
estates went to his uncle. The other people 
referred to in these letters are either dealt with 
in the preliminary chapters, or do not appear to 
require further notice, having little to do with 
Jane or her family. 



Steventon : Saturday (January 9). 

In the first place I hope you will live twenty- 
three years longer. Mr. Tom Lefroy's birthday was 
yesterday, so that you are very near of an age. 

After this necessary preamble I shall proceed 
to inform you that we had an exceeding good 
ball last night, and that I was very much dis- 
appointed at not seeing Charles Fowle of the party, 



126 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1790 

as I had previously heard of his being invited. In 
addition to our set at the Harwoods' ball, we had 
the Grants, St. Johns, Lady Eivers, her three 
daughters and a son, Mr. and Miss Heathcote, Mrs. 
Lefevre, two Mr. Watkins, Mr. J. Portal, Miss 
Deanes, two Miss Ledgers, and a tall clergyman 
who came with them, whose name Mary would 
never have guessed. 

We were so terrible good as to take James in 
our carriage, though there were three of us before ; 
but indeed he deserves encouragement for the very 
great improvement which has lately taken place in 
his dancing. Miss Heathcote is pretty, but not near 
so handsome as I expected. Mr. H. began with 
Elizabeth, and afterwards danced with her again ; 
but they do not know how to be particular. I flatter 
myself, however, that they will profit by the three 
successive lessons which I have given them. 

You scold me so much in the nice long letter 
which I have this moment received from you, that 
I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend 
and I behaved. Imagine to yourself everything 
most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing 
and sitting down together. I can expose myself, 
however, only once more, because he leaves the 
country soon after next Friday, on which day we 



179(5 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 127 

are to have a dance at Ashe after all. He is a very 
gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man, 
I assure you. But as to our having ever met, 
except at the three last balls, I cannot say much ; 
for he is so excessively laughed at about me at 
Ashe, that he is ashamed of coming to Steventon, 
and ran away when we called on Mrs. Lefroy a 
few days ago. 

We left Warren at Dean Gate, in our way home 
last night, and he is now on his road to town. He 
left his love, &c., to you, and I will deliver it when 
we meet. Henry goes to Harden to-day in his way 
to his Master's degree. We shall feel the loss of 
these two most agreeable young men exceedingly, 
and shall have nothing to console us till the arrival 
of the Coopers on Tuesday. As they will stay here 
till the Monday following, perhaps Caroline will go 
to the Ashe ball with me, though I dare say she 
will not. 

I danced twice with Warren last night, and 
once with Mr. Charles Watkins, and, to my in- 
expressible astpnishment, I entirely escaped John 
Lyford. I was forced to fight hard for it, however. 
We had a very good supper, and the greenhouse 
was illuminated in a very elegant manner. 

We had a visit yesterday morning from Mr. 



128 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

Benjamin Portal, whose eyes are as handsome as 
ever. Everybody is extremely anxious for your 
return, but as you cannot come home by the Ashe 
ball, I am glad that I have not fed them with false 
hopes. James danced with Alithea, and cut up the 
turkey last night with great perseverance. You 
say nothing of the silk stockings ; I flatter myself, 
therefore, that Charles has not purchased any, as 
I cannot very well afford to pay for them ; all my 
money is spent in buying white gloves and pink 
persian. I wish Charles had been at Manydown, 
because he would have given you some description 
of my friend, and I think you must be impatient to 
hear something about him. 

Henry is still hankering after the Regulars, and 
as his project of purchasing the adjutancy of the 
Oxfordshire is now over, he has got a scheme in his 
head about getting a lieutenancy and adjutancy 
in the 86th, a new-raised regiment, which he fan- 
cies will be ordered to the Cape of Good Hope. I 
heartily hope that he will, as usual, be disappointed 
in this scheme. We have trimmed up and given 
away all the old paper hats of Mamma's manufac- 
ture ; I hope you will not regret the loss of yours. 

After I had written the above, we received a 
visit from Mr. Tom Lefroy and his cousin George. 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 129 

The latter is really very well-behaved now ; and as 
for the other, he has but one fault, which time will, 
I trust, entirely remove it is that his morning coat 
is a great deal too light. He is a very great 
admirer of Tom Jones, and therefore wears the 
same coloured clothes, I imagine, which he did 
when he was wounded. 

Sunday. By not returning till the 19th, you 
will exactly contrive to miss seeing the Coopers, 
which I suppose it is your wish to do. We have 
heard nothing from Charles for some time. One 
would suppose they must have sailed by this time, 
as the wind is so favourable. What a funny name 
Tom has got for his vessel ! But he has no taste 
in names, as we well know, and I dare say he 
christened it himself. I am sorry for the* Beaches' 
loss of their little girl, especially as it is the one so 
much like me. 

I condole with Miss M. on her losses and with 
Eliza on her gains, and am ever yours, 



J. A. 



To Miss Austen, 

Rev. Mr. Fowle's, Kintbury, Newbury. 



VOL. I. K 



130 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

II. 

Steventon : Thursday (January 16). 

I have just received yours and Mary's letter, 
and I thank you both, though their contents might 
have been more agreeable. I do not at all expect 
to see you on Tuesday, since matters have fallen 
out so unpleasantly ; and if you are not able to 
return till after that day, it will hardly be possible 
for us to send for you before Saturday, though for 
my own part I care so little about the ball that 
it would be no sacrifice to me to give it up for 
the sake of seeing you two days earlier. We are 
extremely sorry for poor Eliza's illness. I trust, 
however, that she has continued to recover since 
you wrote, and that you will none of you be the 
worse for your attendance on her. What a good- 
for-nothing fellow Charles is to bespeak the stock- 
ings ! I hope he will be too hot all the rest of his 
life for it ! 

I sent you a letter yesterday to Ibthorp, which 
I suppose you will not receive at Kintbury. It 
was not very long or very witty, and therefore if 
you never receive it, it does not much signify. I 
wrote principally to tell you that the Coopers were 
arrived and in good health. The little boy is very 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 131 

like Dr. Cooper, and the little girl is to resemble 
Jane, they say. 

Our party to Ashe to-morrow night will consist 
of Edward Cooper, James (for a ball is nothing 
without him), Buller, who is now staying with us, 
and I. I look forward with great impatience to it, 
as I rather expect to receive an offer from my friend 
in the course of the evening. I shall refuse him, 
however, unless he promises to give away his white 
coat. 

I am very much flattered by your commenda- 
tion of my last letter, for I write only for fame, and 
without any view to pecuniary emolument. 

Edward is gone to spend the day with his friend, 
John Lyford, and does not return till to-morrow. 
Anna is now here ; she came up in her chaise to 
spend the day with her young cousins, but she does 
not much take to them or to anything about them, 
except Caroline's spinning-wheel. I am very glad 
to find from Mary that Mr. and Mrs. Fowle are 
pleased with you. I hope you will continue to 
give satisfaction. 

How impertinent you are to write to me about 
Tom, as if I had not opportunities of hearing from 
him myself ! The last letter that I received from 
him was dated on Friday, 8th, and he told me that 

K2 



132 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

if the wind should be favourable on Sunday, which 
it proved to be, they were to sail from Falmouth 
on that day. By this time, therefore, they are at 
Barbadoes, I suppose. The Rivers are still at Many- 
down, and are to be at Ashe to-morrow. I intended 
to call on the Miss Biggs yesterday had the weather 
been tolerable. Caroline, Anna, and I have just 
been devouring some cold souse, and it would be 
difficult to say which enjoyed it most. 

Tell Mary that I make over Mr. Heartley and 
all his estate to her for her sole use and benefit in 
future, and not only him, but all my other admirers 
into the bargain wherever she can find them, even 
the kiss which C. Powlett wanted to give me, as I 
mean to confine myself in future to Mr. Tom Lefroy, 
for whom I don't care sixpence. Assure her also, as 
a last and indubitable proof of Warren's indifference 
to me, that he actually drew that gentleman's picture 
for me, and delivered it to me without a sigh. 

Friday. At length the day is come on which I 
am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you 
receive this it will be over. My tears flow as I 
write at the melancholy idea. Wm. Chute called 
here yesterday. I wonder what he means by 
being so civil. There is a report that Tom is going 
to be married to a Lichfield lass. John Lyford 



179C LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 133 

and his sister bring Edward home to-day, dine with 
us, and we shall all go together to Ashe. I under- 
stand that we are to draw for partners. I shall be 
extremely impatient to hear from you again, that 
I may know how Eliza is, and when you are to 
return. 

With best love, &<?., I am affectionately yours, 

J. AUSTEN. 

Miss Austen, 

The Rev. Mr. Fowle's, Kintbury, Newbury. 

III. 

Cork Street : Tuesday morn (August 1796). 

MY DEAE CASSANDRA, 

Here I am once more in this scene of dissipation 
and vice, and I begin already to find my morals 
corrupted. We reached Staines yesterday, I do not 
(know) when, without suffering so much from the 
heat as I had hoped to do. We set off again this 
morning at seven o'clock, and had a very pleasant 
drive, as the morning was cloudy and perfectly 
cool. I came all the way in the chaise from Hert- 
ford Bridge. 

Edward and Frank are both gone out to seek 
their fortunes ; the latter is to return soon and 
help us seek ours. The former we shall never see 



134 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

again. We are to be at Astley's to-night, which I 
am glad of. Edward has heard from Henry this 
morning. He has not been at the races at all, 
unless his driving Miss Pearson over to Eowling 
one day can be so called. We shall find him there 
on Thursday. 

I hope you are all alive after our melancholy 
parting yesterday, and that you pursued your in- 
tended avocation with success. God bless you ! I 
must leave off, for we are going out. 

Yours very affectionately, 

J. AUSTEN. 

Everybody's love. 

IV. 

Rowling : Thursday (September 1). 

MY DEAREST CASSANDRA, 

The letter which I have this moment received 
from you has diverted me beyond moderation. I 
could die of laughter at it, as they used to say at 
school. You are indeed the finest comic writer of 
the present age. 

Since I wrote last, we have been very near 
returning to Steventon so early as next week. Such, 
for a day or two, was our dear brother Henry's 
scheme, but at present matters are restored, not to 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 135 

what they were, for my absence seems likely to 
be lengthened still farther. I am sorry for it, but 
what can I do ? 

Henry leaves us to-morrow for Yarmouth, as 
he wishes very much to consult his physician there, 
on whom he has great reliance. He is better than 
he was when he first came, though still by no 
means well. According to his present plan, he will 
not return here till about the 23rd, and bring with 
him, if he can, leave of absence for three weeks, as 
he wants very much to have some shooting at 
Godmersham, whither Edward and Elizabeth are 
to remove very early in October. If this scheme 
holds, I shall hardly be at Steventon before the 
middle of that month ; but if you cannot do with- 
out me, I could return, I suppose, with Frank if 
he ever goes back. He enjoys himself here very 
much, for he has just learnt to turn, and is so 
delighted with the employment, that he is at it all 
day long. 

I am sorry that you found such a conciseness in 
the strains of my first letter. I must endeavour to 
make you amends for it, when we meet, by some 
elaborate details, which I shall shortly begin com- 
posing. 

I have had my new gown made up, and it really 



LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

makes a very superb surplice. I am sorry to say 
that my new coloured gown is very much washed 
out, though I charged everybody to take great 
care of it. I hope yours is so too. Our men had 
but indifferent weather for their visit to Godmers- 
ham, for it rained great part of the way there and 
all the way back. They found Mrs. Knight remark- 
ably well and in very good spirits. It is imagined 
that she will shortly be married again. I have 
taken little George once in my arms since I have 
been here, which I thought very kind. I have told 
Fanny about the bead of her necklace, and she 
wants very much to know where you found it. 

To-morrow I shall be just like Camilla in Mr. 
Dubster's summer-house ; for my Lionel will have 
taken away the ladder by which I came here, or at 
least by which I intended to get away, and here I 
must stay till his return. My situation, however, 
is somewhat preferable to hers, for I am very 
happy here, though I should be glad to get home 
by the end of the month. I have no idea that 
Miss Pearson will return with me. 

What a fine fellow Charles is, to deceive us into 
writing two letters to him at Cork ! I admire his 
ingenuity extremely, especially as he is so great a 
gainer by it. 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 137 

Mr. and Mrs. Cage and Mr. and Mrs. Bridges 
dined with us yesterday. Fanny seemed as glad to 
see me as anybody, and enquired very much after 
you, whom she supposed to be making your 
wedding-clothes. She is as handsome as ever, and 
somewhat fatter. We had a very pleasant day, and 
some liqueurs in the evening. Louisa's figure is 
very much improved ; she is as stout again as she 
was. Her face, from what I could see of it one 
evening, appeared not at all altered. She and the 
gentlemen walked up here on Monday night 
she came in the morning with the Cages from 
Hythe. 

Lady Hales, with her two youngest daughters, 
have been to see us. Caroline is not grown at all 
coarser than she was, nor Harriet at all more deli- 
cate. I am glad to hear so good an account of Mr. 
Charde, and only fear that my long absence may 
occasion his relapse. I practise every day as much 
as I can I wish it were more for his sake. I have 
heard nothing of Mary Eobinson since I have been 
(here). I expect to be well scolded for daring to 
doubt, whenever the subject is mentioned. 

Frank has turned a very nice little butter-churn 
for Fanny. I do not believe that any of the party 
were aware of the valuables they had left behind ; 



138 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1700 

nor can I hear anything of Anna's gloves. Indeed 
I have not enquired at all about them hitherto. 

We are very busy making Edward's shirts, and 
I am proud to say that I am the neatest worker of 
the party. They say that there are a prodigious 
number of birds hereabouts this year, so that 
perhaps / may kill a few. I am glad to hear so 
good an account of Mr. Limprey and J. Lovett. I 
know nothing of my mother's handkerchief, but I 
dare say I shall find it soon. 

I am very affectionately yours, 

JANE. 

Miss Austen, Steventon, Overton, Hants. 

V. 

Rowling: Monday (September 5). 

MY DEAR CASSANDEA, 

I shall be extremely anxious to hear the event 
of your ball, and shall hope to receive so long and 
minute an account of every particular that I shall 
be tired of reading it. Let me know how many, 
besides their fourteen selves and Mr. and Mrs. 
Wright, Michael will contrive to place about their 
coach, and how many of the gentlemen, musicians, 
and waiters, he will have persuaded to come in 
their shooting-jackets. I hope John Lovett's acci- 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 139 

dent will not prevent his attending the ball, as 
you will otherwise be obliged to dance with Mr. 
Tincton the whole evening. Let me know how 
J. Harwood deports himself without the Miss 
Biggs, and which of the Marys will carry the day 
with my brother James. 

We were at a ball on Saturday, I assure you. 
We dined -at Goodnestone, and in the evening 
danced two country-dances and the Boulangeries. 

I opened the ball with Edward Bridges ; the other 



couples were Lewis Cage and Harriet, Frank and 
Louisa, Fanny and George. Elizabeth played one 
country-dance, Lady Bridges the other, which she 
made Henry dance with her, and Miss Finch played 
the Boulangeries. 

In reading over the - last three or four lines, I 
am aware of my having expressed myself in so 
doubtful a manner that, if I did not tell you to the 
contrary, you might imagine it was Lady Bridges 
who made Henry dance with her at the same time 
that she was playing, which, if not impossible, 
must appear a very improbable event to you. But 
it was Elizabeth who danced. We supped there, 
and walked home at night under the shade of two 
umbrellas. 

To-day the Goodnestone party begins to disperse 



140 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1790 

and spread itself abroad. Mr. and Mrs. Cage and 
George repair to Hythe. Lady Waltham, Miss 
Bridges, and Miss Mary Finch to Dover, for the 
health of the two former. I have never seen 
Marianne at all. On Thursday Mr. and Mrs. 
Bridges return to Danbury ; Miss Harriet Hales 
accompanies them to London on her way to Dorset- 
shire. 

Farmer Claringbould died this morning, and I 
fancy Edward means to get some of his farm, if he 
can cheat Sir Brook enough in the agreement. 

We have just got some venison from Godmers- 
ham, which the two Mr. Harveys are to dine on 
to-morrow, and on Friday or Saturday the Good- 
nestone people are to finish their scraps. Henry 
went away on Friday, as he purposed, without fay I. 
You will hear from him soon. I imagine, as he 
talked of writing to Steventon shortly. Mr. Eichard 
Harvey is going to be married ; but as it is a 
great secret, and only known to half the neigh- 
bourhood, you must not mention it. The lady's 
name is Musgrave. 

I am in great distress. I cannot determine 
whether I shall give Eichis half a guinea or only 
five shillings when I go away. Counsel me, amiable 
Miss Austen, and tell me which will be the most. 



179G LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 141 

We walked Frank last night to Crixhall Ruff, 
and he appeared much edified. Little Edward 
was breeched yesterday for good and all, and was 
whipped into the bargain. 

Pray remember me to everybody who does not 
enquire after me ; those who do, remember me with- 
out bidding. Give my love to Mary Harrison, and 
tell her I wish, whenever she is attached to a young 
man, some respectable Dr. Marchmont may keep 
them apart for five volumes. . . . 

VI. 

Rowling : Thursday (September 15). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

We have been very gay since I wrote last ; 
dining at Nackington. returning by moonlight, and 
everything quite in style, not to mention Mr. Cla- 
ringbould's funeral which we saw go by on Sunday. 

I believe I told you in a former letter that 
Edward had some idea of taking the name of Cla- 
ringbould ; but that scheme is over, though it would 
be a very eligible as well as a very pleasant plan, 
would anyone advance him money enough to begin 
on. We rather expected Mr. Milles to have done 
so on Tuesday ; but to our great surprise nothing 



142 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1790 

was said on the subject, and unless it is in your 
power to assist your brother with five or six 
hundred pounds, he must entirely give up the idea. 

At Nackington we met Lady Sondes' picture 
over the mantel-piece in the dining-room, and the 
pictures of her three children in an ante-room, 
besides Mr. Scott, Miss Fletcher, Mr. Toke, Mr. J. 
Toke, and the Archdeacon Lynch. Miss Fletcher 
and I were very thick, but I am the thinnest of the 
two. She wore her purple muslin, which is pretty 
enough, though it does not become her complexion. 
There are two traits in her character which are 
pleasing namely, she admires Camilla, and drinks 
no cream in her tea. If you should ever see Lucy, 
you may tell her that I scolded Miss Fletcher for 
her negligence in writing, as she desired me to do, 
but without being able to bring her to any proper 
sense of shame that Miss Fletcher says in her 
defence, that as everybody whom Lucy knew when 
she was in Canterbury has now left it, she has 
nothing at all to write to her about. By everybody, 
I suppose Miss Fletcher means that a new set of 
officers have arrived there. But this is a note of 
my own. 

Mrs. Milles, Mr. John Toke, and in short every- 
body of any sensibility enquired in tender strains 



1796 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 143 

after you, and I took an opportunity of assuring 
Mr. J. T. that neither he nor his father need 
longer keep themselves single for you. 

We went in our two carriages to Nackington ; 
but how we divided I shall leave you to surmise, 
merely observing that, as Elizabeth and I were 
without either hat or bonnet, it would not have 
been very convenient for us to go in the chaise. 
We went by Bifrons, and I contemplated with a 
melancholy pleasure the abode of him on whom 
I once fondly doated. We dine to-day at Good- 
nestone, to meet my Aunt Fielding from Margate 
and a Mr. Clayton, her professed admirer at least 
so I imagine. Lady Bridges has received very 
good accounts of Marianne, who is already certainly 
the better for her bathing. 

So His Eoyal Highness Sir Thomas Williams 
has at length sailed ; the papers say ' on a cruise.' 
But I hope they are gone to Cork, or I shall have 
written in vain. Give my love to Jane, as she 
arrived at Steventon yesterday, I dare say. 

I sent a message to Mr. Digweed from Edward 
in a letter to Mary Lloyd which she ought to 
receive to-day ; but as I know that the Harwoods 
are not very exact as to their letters, I may as well 
repeat it to you. Mr. Digweed is to be informed 



144 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

that illness has prevented Reward's coming over to 
look at the repairs intended at the farm, but that 
he will come as soon as he can. Mr. Digweed may 
also be informed, if you think proper, that Mr. and 
Mrs. Milles are to dine here to-inorrow, and that 
Mrs. Joan Knatchbull is to be asked to meet them. 
Mr. Eichard Harvey's match is put off till he has 
got a better Christian name, of which he has great 
hopes. 

Mr. Children's two sons are both going to be 
married, John and George. They are to have one 
wife between them, a Miss Hoi well, who belongs to 
the Black Hole at Calcutta. I depend on hearing 
from James very soon ; he promised me an account 
of the ball, and by this time he must have collected 
his ideas enough after the fatigue of dancing to 
give me one. 

Edward and Fly went out yesterday very early 
in a couple of shooting jackets, and came home like 
a couple of bad shots, for they killed nothing at 
all. They are out again to-day, and are not yet 
returned. Delightful sport ! They are just come 
home, Edward with his two brace, Frank with his 
two and a half. What amiable young men ! 

Friday. Your letter and one from Henry are 
just come, and the contents of both accord with 



179(5 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 145 

my scheme more than I had dared expect. In one 
particular I could wish it otherwise, for Henry is 
very indifferent indeed. You must not expect us 
quite so early, however, as Wednesday, the 20th 
on that day se'nnight, according to our present plan, 
we may be with you. Frank had never any idea 
of going away before Monday, the 26th. I shall 
write to Miss Mason immediately and press her 
returning with us, which Henry thinks very likely 
and particularly eligible. 

Buy Mary Harrison's gown by all means. You 
shall have mine for ever so much money, though, if 
I am tolerably rich when I get home, I shall like it 
very much myself. 

As to the mode of our travelling to town, / 
want to go in a stage-coach, but Frank will not 
let me. As you are likely to have the Williams 
and Lloyds with you next week, you would hardly 
find room for us then. If anyone wants anything 
in town, they must send their commissions to 
Frank, as / shall merely pass through it. The 
tallow-chandler is Penlington, at the Crown and 
Beehive, Charles Street, Covent Garden. 

-Miss Austeii, Steventon, Overtoil, Hants. 



VOL. T. 



146 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

vn. 

Rowling : Sunday (September 18). 

MY DEAK CASSANDRA, 

This morning has been spent in doubt and 
deliberation, in forming plans and removing diffi- 
culties, for it ushered in the day with an event 
which I had not intended should take place so 
soon by a week. Frank has received his appoint- 
ment on board the ' Captain John Gore,' com- 
manded by the ' Triton,' and will therefore be 
obliged to be in town on Wednesday ; and though I 
have every disposition in the world to accompany 
him on that day, I cannot go on the uncertainty of 
the Pearsons being at home, as I should not have a 
place to go to in case they were from home. 

I wrote to Miss P. on Friday, and hoped to 
receive an answer from her this morning, which 
would have rendered everything smooth and easy, 
and would have enabled us to leave this place to- 
morrow, as Frank, on first receiving his appoint- 
ment, intended to do. He remains till Wednesday 
merely to accommodate me. I have written to her 
again to-day, and desired her to answer it by return 
of post. On Tuesday, therefore, I shall positively 
know whether they can receive me on Wednesday. 



1790 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 147 

If they cannot, Edward has been so good as to 
promise to take me to Greenwich on the Monday 
following, which was the day before fixed on, if 
that suits them better. If I have no answer at all 
on Tuesday, I must suppose Mary is not at home, 
and must wait till I do hear, as, after having invited 
her to go to Steventon with me, it will not quite do 
to go home and say no more about it." 

My father will be so good as to fetch home his 
prodigal daughter from town, I hope, unless he 
wishes me to walk the hospitals, enter at the 
Temple, or mount guard at St. James'. It will 
hardly be in Frank's power to take me home nay, 
it certainly will not. I shall write again as soon as 
I get to Greenwich. 

What dreadful hot weather we have ! It keeps 
one in a continual state of inelegance. 

If Miss Pearson should return with me, pray be 
careful not to expect too much beauty. I will not 
pretend to say that on a first view she quite 
answered the opinion I had formed of her. My 
mother, I am sure, will be disappointed if she does 
not take great care. From what I remember of 
her picture, it is no great resemblance. 

I am very glad that the idea of returning 
with Frank occurred to me ; for as to Henry's 

L2 



148 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1796 

coming into Kent again, the time of its taking 
place is so very uncertain that I should be waiting 
for dead men's shoes. I had once determined to go 
with Frank to-morrow and take my chance, &c., 
but they dissuaded me from so rash a step, as I 
really think on consideration it would have been ; 
for if the Pearsons were not at home, I should 
inevitably fall a sacrifice to the arts of some fat 
woman who would make me drunk with small 
beer. 

Mary is brought to bed of a boy both doing 
very well. I shall leave you to guess what Mary I 
mean. Adieu, with best love to all your agreeable 
inmates. Don't let the Lloyds go on any account 
before I return, unless Miss P. is of the party. 
How ill I have written ! I begin to hate myself. 

Yours ever, 

J. AUSTEX. 

The ' Triton ' is a new 32 frigate just launched 
at Deptford. Frank is much pleased with the 
prospect of having Captain Gore under his com- 
mand. 

Miss Austen, Steventon, Overton, Hants. 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 149 

1798, 1799 

THE next division of letters comprises those written 
in 1798 and in January 1799. The first is written 
from Dartford, evidently the first stage of a journey 
home to Steventon from Godmersham, where Mr. 
and Mrs. George Austen had been visiting their 
son Edward in his new abode, probably for the 
first time, since he could not have been settled 
there for more than a year ; and there is a graphic 
account of the loss and recovery of Jane's writing 
and dressing boxes, which appear to have had a 
narrow escape from a voyage to the West Indies. 
From this and the following letters, it would seem 
that Mrs. Austen was in delicate health, and ap- 
parently thought herself worse than was really 
the case. At any rate, she rallied from the attack 
of which she complained at this time, and lived 
happily on until 1827, when she died at the ripe 
age of eighty-eight, having survived her husband 
twenty-two and her daughter Jane ten years. The 
other nine letters are all written from Steventon, 
and record the details of the everyday life in Jane 
Austen's home. She manages the household for 
her mother, visits the poor, enjoys such society as 



150 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 1798, 1799 

the neighbourhood affords, and fills her letters 
with such gossip about things and people as would 
be likely to interest her sister. Most of the people 
to whom she alludes will be identified by reference 
to the introductory chapters of this book, and of 
others there is nothing more to be said than that 
they were country neighbours of various stations 
in life, to whom attaches no particular interest as 
far as Jane Austen is concerned. The Dig weeds 
were brothers who occupied a fine old Elizabethan 
manor-house and a large farm in Steventon, which 
belonged to the Knight family until Mr. E. Knight 
(son of E. Austen) sold it to the Duke of Welling- 
ton, and the late Duke sold it in 1874 to Mr. 
Harris. An attempt to restore it failed, and even- 
tually a new house was built some fifty yards from 
the old one ; but, although the latter was turned 
into stables, its appearance in front at least was 
not injured, and there is a charming view of it 
across the lawn from the drawing-room of the new 
house. Previous to its sale to the present owner, 
the Digweed family had occupied the manor-house 
for more than 150 years, but not being Irish 
tenants, I suppose they got no compensation for 
' disturbance.' 



17i>s, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 151 

' John Bond ' was Mr. Austen's ' factotum ' in 
his farming operations. There is an anecdote 
extant relating to this worthy which may as well 
be told here : Mr. Austen used to join Mr. Digweed 
in buying twenty or thirty sheep, and that all 
might be fair, it was their custom to open the pen, 
and the first half of the sheep which ran out were 
counted as belonging to the rector. Going down 
to the fold on one occasion after this process had 
been gone through, Mr. Austen remarked one 
sheep among his lot larger and finer than the rest. 
* Well, John,' he observed to Bond, who was with 
him, ' I think we have had the best of the luck 
with Mr. Digweed to-day, in getting that sheep.' 
' Maybe not so much in the luck as you think, sir,' 
responded the faithful John. ' I see'd her the 
moment I come in, and set eyes on the sheep, so 
when we opened the pen I just giv'd her a " huck" 
with my stick, and out a run.' 

There is an allusion in the sixteenth letter to 
' First Impressions ' her original name for the 
work afterwards published as ' Pride and Preju- 
dice ' which shows that, as regards this book at 
least, her having written it was no secret from her 
family. It is singular that it should have remained 



I ~>'2 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1700 

so long unpublished, but at all events this proves 
that it was no hasty production, but one which had 
been well considered, and submitted to the judg- 
ment of others long before it was given to the 
public. Jane changed the name of another novel 
also between composition and publication, ' Sense 
and Sensibility' having been at first entitled 
' Elinor and Marianne.' 

In the same letter there is an observation about 
' Mrs. Knight's giving up the Godmersham estate 
to Edward being no such prodigious act of gene- 
rosity after all,' which was certainly not intended 
seriously, or if so, was written under a very im- 
perfect knowledge of the facts. I have seen the 
letters which passed upon the occasion. The first 
is from Mrs. Knight, offering to give up the pro- 
perty in the kindest and most generous terms, and 
this when she was not much above forty years of 
age, and much attached to the place. Then comes 
my grandfather's answer, deprecating the idea of 
her making such a sacrifice, and saying that he 
and his wife were already well enough off through 
Mrs. Knight's kindness, and could not endure that 
she should leave for their sakes a home which she 
loved so much. Mrs. Knight replies that it was 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 153 

through her great affection for my grandfather 
that her late husband had adopted him, that she 
loved him as if lie was her own son, that his letter 
had strengthened her in her resolution to give up 
the property to him, and that she considered there 
were duties attaching to the possession of landed 
property which could not be discharged by a 
woman so well as by a man. She reminds him 
how that the poor had always been liberally 
treated by the Godraersham family, and expresses 
her happiness at feeling that he will do his duty in 
this and other respects, and that she shall spend 
the rest of her days near enough to see much of 
him and his wife. I am quite sure that my grand- 
father was most gratefully fond of Mrs. Knight, 
and considered her conduct, as indeed it was, an 
act of affectionate generosity. 



VIII. 

' Bull and George,' Dartford : 

Wednesday (October 24). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

You have already heard from Daniel, I con- 
clude, in what excellent time we reached and 
quitted Sittingbourne, and how very well my 



154 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

mother bore her journey thither. I am now able 
to send you a continuation of the same good 
account of her. She was very little fatigued on her 
arrival at this place, has been refreshed by a com- 
fortable dinner, and now seems quite stout. It 
wanted five minutes of twelve when we left Sitting- 
bourne, from whence we had a famous pair of 
horses, which took us to Eochester in an hour and 
a quarter ; the postboy seemed determined to show 
my mother that Kentish drivers were not always 
tedious, and really drove as fast as Cax. 

Our next stage was not quite so expeditiously 
performed ; the road was heavy and our horses very 
indifferent. However, we were in such good time, 
and my mother bore her journey so well, that ex- 
pedition was of little importance to us ; and as it 
was, we were very little more than two hours and 
a half coming hither, and it was scarcely past 
four when we stopped at the inn. My mother 
took some of her bitters at Ospringe, and some 
more at Eochester, and she ate some bread several 
times. 

We have got apartments up two pair of stairs, 
as we could not be otherwise accommodated with 
a sitting-room and bed-chambers on the same floor, 
which we wished to be. We have one double- 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 155 

bedded and one single-bedded room ; in the former 
my mother and I are to sleep. I shall leave you to 
guess who is to occupy the other. We sate down 
to dinner a little after five, and had some beef- 
steaks and a boiled fowl, but no oyster sauce. 

I should have begun my letter soon after our 
arrival but for a little adventure which prevented 
me. After we had been here a quarter of an hour 
it was discovered that my writing and dressing 
boxes had been by accident put into a chaise 
which was just packing off as we came in, and 
were driven away towards Gravesend in their way 
to the West Indies. No part of my property could 
have been such a prize before, for in my writing- 
box was all my worldly wealth, 7/., and my dear 
Harry's deputation. Mr. Nottley immediately de- 
spatched a man and horse after the chaise, and in 
half an hour's time I had the pleasure of being as 
rich as ever ; they were got about two or three 
miles off. 

My day's journey has been pleasanter in every 
respect than I expected. I have been very little 
crowded arid by no means unhappy. Your watch- 
fulness with regard to the weather on our accounts 
was very kind and very effectual. We had one 
heavy shower on leaving Sittingbourne, but after- 



156 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 170t> 

wards the clouds cleared away, and we had a very 
bright chrystal afternoon. 

My father is now reading the ' Midnight Bell,' 
which he has got from the library, and mother 
sitting by the fire. Our route to-morrow is not 
determined. We have none of us much inclination 
for London, and if Mr. Nottley will give us leave, 
I think we shall go to Staines through Croydon 
and Kingston, which will be much pleasanter than 
any other way ; but he is decidedly for Clapham 
and Battersea. God bless you all ! 

Yours affectionately, 

J. A. 

I flatter myself that itty Dordy will not forget 
me at least under a week. Kiss him for me. 



Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham. 



IX. 

Steventon : Saturday (October 27). 

MY DEAK CASSANDKA, 

Your letter was a most agreeable surprise to 
me to-day, and I have taken a long sheet of paper 
to show my gratitude. 

We arrived here yesterday between four and 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 157 

five, but I cannot send you quite so triumphant an 
account of our last day's journey as of the first 
and second. Soon after I had finished my letter 
from Staines, my mother began to suffer from the 
exercise or fatigue of travelling, and she was a 
good deal indisposed. She had not a very good 
night at Staines, but bore her journey better than 
I had expected, and at Basingstoke, where we 
stopped more than half an hour, received much 
comfort from a mess of broth and the sight of 
Mr. Lyford, who recommended her to take twelve 
drops of laudanum when she went to bed as a 
composer, which she accordingly did. 

James called on us just as we were going to tea, 
and my mother was well enough to talk very cheer- 
fully to him before she went to bed. James seems 
to have taken to his old trick of coming to Steven- 
ton in spite of Mary's reproaches, for he was here 
before breakfast and is now paying us a second 
visit. They were to have dined here to-day, but 
the weather is too bad. I have had the pleasure 
of hearing that Martha is with them. James 
fetched her from Ibthorp on Thursday, and she 
will stay with them till she removes to Kintbury. 

We met with no adventures at all in our journey 
yesterday, except that our trunk had once nearly 



158 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

slipped off, and we were obliged to stop at Hartley 
to have our wheels greased. 

Whilst my mother and Mr. Lyford were together 
I went to Mrs. Eyder's and bought what I intended 
to buy, but not in much perfection. There were 
no narrow braces for children and scarcely any 
netting silk ; but Miss Wood, as usual, is going to 
town very soon, and will lay in a fresh stock. I 
gave 26*. 3d. a yard for my flannel, and I fancy it is 
not very good, but it is so disgraceful and con- 
temptible an article in itself that its being com- 
paratively good or bad is of little importance. I 
bought some Japan ink likewise, and next week 
shall begin my operations on my hat, on which 
you know my principal hopes of happiness de- 
pend. 

I am very grand indeed ; I had the dignity of 
dropping out my mother's laudanum last night. I 
carry about the keys of the wine and closet, and 
twice since I began this letter have had orders to 
give in the kitchen. Our dinner was very good 
yesterday, and the chicken boiled perfectly tender ; 
therefore I shall not be obliged to dismiss Nanny 
on that account. 

Almost everything was unpacked and put away 
last night. Nanny chose to do it, and I was not 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 

sorry to be busy. I have unpacked the gloves 
and placed yours in your drawer. Their colour is 
light and pretty, and I believe exactly what we 
fixed on. 

Your letter was chaperoned here by one from 
Mrs. Cooke, in which she says that ' Battleridge ' 
is not to come out before January, and she is so 
little satisfied with Cawthorn's dilatoriness that she 
never means to employ him again. 

Mrs. Hall, of Sherborne, was brought to bed 
yesterday of a dead child, some weeks before she 
expected, owing to a fright. I suppose she hap- 
pened unawares to look at her husband. 

There has been a great deal of rain here for 
this last fortnight, much more than in Kent, and 
indeed we found the roads all the way from 
Staines most disgracefully dirty. Steventon lane 
has its full share of it, and I don't know when I 
shall be able to get to Deane. 

I hear that Martha is in better looks and spirits 
than she has enjoyed for a long time, and I natter 
myself she will now be able to jest openly about 
Mr. W. 

The spectacles which Molly found are my 
mother's, the scissors my father's. We are very 
glad to hear such a good account of your patients, 



160 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1709 

little and great. My dear itty Dordy's remem- 
brance of me is very pleasing to me foolishly 
pleasing, because I know it will be over so soon. 
My attachment to him will be more durable. I 
shall think with tenderness and delight on his 
beautiful and smiling countenance and interesting 
manner until a few years have turned him into an 
ungovernable ungracious fellow. 

The books from Winton are all unpacked and 
put away ; the binding has compressed them most 
conveniently, and there is now very good room in 
the bookcase for all that we wish to have there. 
I believe the servants were very glad to see us. 
Nanny was, I am sure. She confesses that it was 
very dull, and yet she had her child with her till 
last Sunday. I understand that there are some 
grapes left, but I believe not many ; they must be 
gathered as soon as possible, or this rain will 
entirely rot them. 

I am quite angry with myself for not writing 
closer ; why is my alphabet so much more sprawly 
than yours ? Dame Tilbury's daughter has lain in. 
Shall I give her any of your baby clothes ? The 
laceman was here only a few days ago. How 
unfortunate for both of us that he came so soon ! 
ime Bushell washes for us only one week more, 



1798, 1709 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 161 

as Sukey lias got a place. John Steevens' wife 
undertakes our purification. She does not look as 
if anything she touched would ever be clean, but 
who knows ? We do not seem likely to have any 
other maidservant at present, but Dame Staples 
will supply the place of one. Mary has hired a 
young girl from Ashe who has never been out to 
service to be her scrub, but James fears her not 
being strong enough for the place. 

Earle Harwood has been to Deane lately, as I 
think Mary wrote us word, and his family then told 
him that they would receive his wife, if she con- 
tinued to behave well for another year. He was 
very grateful, as well he might ; their behaviour 
throughout the whole affair has been particularly 
kind. Earle and his wife live in the most private 
manner imaginable at Portsmouth, without keeping 
a servant of any kind. What a prodigious innate 
love of virtue she must have, to marry under such 
circumstances ! 

It is now Saturday evening, but I wrote the 
chief of this in the morning. My mother has not 
been down at all to-day ; the laudanum made her 
sleep a good deal, and upon the whole I think she 
is better. My father and I dined by ourselves. 

v strange ! He and John Bond are now very 

VOL. i. M 



102 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1708, 

happy together, for I have just heard the heavy 
step of the latter along the passage. 

James Digweed called to-day, and I gave him 
his brother's, deputation. Charles Harwood, too,, 
has just called to ask how we are, in his way from 
Dummer, whither he has been conveying Miss 
Garrett, who is going to return to her former 
residence in Kent. I will leave off', or I shall not 
have room to add a word to-morrow. 

Sunday. My mother has had a very good 
night, and feels much better to-day. 

I have received my Aunt's letter, and thank 
you for your scrap. I will write to Charles soon. 
Pray give Fanny and Edward a kiss from me, and 
ask George if he has got a new song for me. Tis 
really very kind of my Aunt to ask us to Bath 
again ; a kindness that deserves a better return 
than to profit by it. Yours ever, 

J. A. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversharn, Kent. 

X. 

Saturday, November 17, 1798. 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

If you paid any attention to the conclusion of 
my last letter, you will be satisfied, before you 



1798, 1709 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 163 

receive this, that my mother has had no relapse, 
and that Miss Debary comes. The former con- 
tinues to recover, and though she does not gain 
strength very rapidly, my expectations are humble 
enough not to outstride her improvements. She 
was able to sit up nearly eight hours yesterday., 
and to-day I hope we shall do as much. ... So 
much for my patient now for myself. 

Mrs. Lefroy did come last Wednesday, and the 
Harwoods came likewise, but very considerately 
paid their visit before Mrs. Lefroy 's arrival, witli 
whom, in spite of interruptions both from my 
father and James, I was enough alone to hear all 
that was interesting, which you will easily credit 
when I tell you that of her nephew she said 
nothing at all, and of her friend very little. She 
did not once mention the name of the former to 
me, and I was too proud to make any enquiries ; 
but on my father's afterwards asking where he was, 
I learnt that he was gone back to London in his 
way to Ireland, where he is called to the Bar and 
means to practise. 

She showed me a letter which she had received 
from her friend a few weeks ago (in answer to one 
written by her to recommend a nephew of Mrs. 
Eussell to his notice at Cambridge), towards the 



104 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1708, 17'.M> 

end of which was a sentence to this effect : ' I am 
very sorry to hear of Mrs. Austen's illness. It 
would give me particular pleasure to have an 
opportunity of improving my acquaintance with 
that family with a hope of creating to myself a 
nearer interest. But at present I cannot indulge 
any expectation of it.' This is rational enough ; 
there is less love and more sense in it than some- 
times appeared before, and I am very well satisfied. 
It will all go on exceedingly well, and decline away 
in a very reasonable manner. There seems no 
likelihood of his coming into Hampshire this 
Christmas, and it is therefore most probable that 
our indifference will soon be mutual, unless his 
regard, which appeared to spring from knowing 
nothing of me at first, is best supported by never 
seeing me. 

Mrs. Lefroy made no remarks in the letter, nor 
did she indeed say anything about him as relative 
to me. Perhaps she thinks she has said too much 
already. She saw a great deal of the Mapletons 
while she was in Bath. Christian is still in a very 
bad state of health, consumptive, and not likely 
to recover. 

Mrs. Portman is not much admired in Dorset- 
shire ; the good-natured world, as usual, extolled 



171 IS, \7W U'TTERS OF JANE AUSTKY 1C 5- 

lici- beauty so highly, that all the neighbourhood 
have had the pleasure of being disappointed. 

My mother desires me to toll you that 1 am ;i 
very good housekeeper, which I have no reluc- 
tance in doing, because I really think it my peculiar 
excellence, and for this reason I always take cart- 
to provide such things as please my own appetite, 
which 1 eonsider as the chief merit in housekoop 
ing. I have had some ragout veal, and I mean to 
have some haricot mutton to-morrow. We are to 
kill a pig soon. 

There is to be a hall at Basingstoke next 
Thursday. Our assemblies have very kindly de- 
clined ever since we laid down the carriage, so 
that die-convenience and dia-inclination to go ha\- 

kept, pace together. 

My father's ailed inn for Miss Cuthbert is as 
lively as ever, and he begs that you will not neglect 
to send him intelligence of hoi or her brother, when- 
ever you have any to send. 1 am likewise to tell 
you that one of his Leicestershire sheep, sold to the 
butcher la>t week, weighed '11 11). and J per quarter. 

I wont to heane with my father two days ago 
to see Mary, who is still plagued with the Hieii 
matism, which she would he \ery glad to get, rid 
of, and still more glad to got rid of her child, of 



1GG LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

-whom she is heartily tired. Her nurse is come, 
and has no particular charm either of person or 
manner ; but as all the Hurstbourne world pro- 
nounce her to be the best nurse that ever was, 
Mary expects her attachment to increase. 

What fine weather this is ! Not very becoming 
perhaps early in the morning, but very pleasant 
out of doors at noon, and very wholesome at least 
everybody fancies so, and imagination is everything. 
To Edward, however, I really think dry weather 
of importance. I have not taken to fires yet. 

I believe I never told you that Mrs. Coulthard 
and Anne, late of Manydown, are both dead, and 
both died in childbed. We have not regaled Mary 
with this news. Harry St. John is in Orders, has 
done duty at Ashe, and performs very well. 

I am very fond of experimental housekeeping, 
such as having an ox-cheek now and then ; I shall 
ihave one next week, and I mean to have some 
little dumplings put into it, that I may fancy myself 
at Godmersharn. 

I hope George was pleased with my designs. 
Perhaps they would have suited him as well had 
they been less elaborately finished ; but an artist 
cannot do anything slovenly. I suppose baby 
grows and improves. 



1798, 1791) LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 167 



. I have just received a note from 
James to say that Mary was brought to bed last 
night, at eleven o'clock, of a fine little boy, and 
that everything is going on very well. My mother 
had desired to know nothing of it before it should 
be all over, and we were clever enough to prevent 
her having any suspicion of it, though Jenny, who 
had been left here by her mistress, was sent for 
home. . . . 

I called yesterday on Betty Londe, who en- 
quired particularly after you, and said she seemed 
to miss you very much, because you used to call 
in upon her very often. This was an oblique 
reproach at me, which I am sorry to have merited, 
.aiid from which I will profit. I shall send George 
.another picture when I write next, which I sup- 
pose will be soon, on Mary's account. My mother 
continues well. Yours, y . 

Miss Austen, Godmersham. 

XI. 

Steventon : Sunday (Ncn-euiber 25). 

MY DEAR SISTER, 

I expected to have heard from you this morn- 
ing, but no letter is come. I shall not take the 



168 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1708, 179 

trouble of announcing to you any more of Mary's 
children, if, instead of thanking me for the intelli- 
gence, you always sit down and write to James, 
I am sure nobody can desire your letters so much 
as I do, and I don't think anybody deserves them 
so well. 

Having now relieved my heart of a great deal 
of malevolence, I will proceed to tell you that 
Mary continues quite well, and my mother tole- 
rably so. I saw the former on Friday, and though 
I had seen her comparatively hearty the Tuesday 
before, I was really amazed at the improvement 
which three days had made in her. She looked 
well, her spirits were perfectly good, and she spoke 
much more vigorously than Elizabeth did when 
we left Godmersham. I had only a glimpse at the 
child, who was asleep ; but Miss Debary told me 
that his eyes were large, dark, and handsome. She 
looks much as she used to do, is netting herself a 
gown in worsteds, and wears what Mrs. Birch would 
call a pot hat. A short and compendious history 
of Miss Debary ! 

I suppose you have heard from Henry himself 
that his affairs are happily settled. We do not 
know who furnishes the qualification. Mr. Mowell 
would have readily given it. had not all his Oxford- 



1798, 1790 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 169 

shire property been engaged for a similar purpose 
to the Colonel. Amusing enough ! 

Our family affairs are rather deranged at pre- 
sent, for Nanny has kept her bed these three or 
four days, with a pain in her side and fever, and 
we are forced to have two charwomen, which is 
not very comfortable. She is considerably better 
now, but it must still be some time, I suppose, 
before she is able to do anything. You and 
Edward will be amused, I think, when you know 
that Nanny Littlewart dresses my hair. 

The ball on Thursday was a very small one 
indeed, hardly so large as an Oxford smack. 
There were but seven couples, and only twenty- 
seven people in the room. 

The Overton Scotchman has been kind enough 
to rid me of some of my money, in exchange for 
six shifts and four pair of stockings. The Irish is 
not so fine as I should like it ; but as I gave as 
much money for it as I intended, I have no reason 
to complain. It cost me 3s. Qd. per yard. It is 
rather finer, however, than our last, and not so 
harsh a cloth. 

We have got ' Fitz-Albini ;' my father has 
bought it against my private wishes, for it does 
not quite satisfy my feelings that we should pur- 



170 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 17'.)*, 1799 

<?hase the only one of Egerton's works of which 
his family are ashamed. That these scruples, how- 
ever, do not at all interfere with my reading it, 
you will easily believe. We have neither of us 
yet finished the first volume. My father is dis- 
appointed / am not, for I expected nothing better. 
Never did any book carry more internal evidence 
of its author. Every sentiment is completely 
Egerton's. There is very little story, and what 
there is is told in a strange, unconnected way. 
There are many characters introduced, apparently 
merely to be delineated. We have not been able 
to recognise any of them hitherto, except Dr. and 
Mrs. Hey and Mr. Oxenden, who is not very 
tenderly treated. 

You must tell Edward that my father gives 
25s. a piece to Seward for his last lot of sheep, 
and, in return for this news, my father wishes to 
receive some of Edward's pigs. 

We have got Boswell's ' Tour to the Hebrides,' 
and are to have his ' Life of Johnson ;' and, as 
some money will yet remain in Burdon's hands, it 
is to be laid out in the purchase of Cowper's works. 
This would please Mr. Clarke, could he know it. 

By the bye, I have written to Mrs. Birch 
among my other writings, and so I hope to have 



17!8, 1799 LETTERS OF JAXE AIJSTEX. 171 

some account of all the people in that part of the 

world before long. I have written to Mrs. E. 

Y 

Leigh too, and Mrs. Heathcote has been ill-natured 
enough to send me a letter of enquiry ; so that 
altogether I am tolerably tired of letter-writing, 
and, unless I have anything new to tell you of 
my mother or Mary, I shall not write again for 
many days ; perhaps a little repose may restore 
my regard for a pen. Ask little Edward whether 
Bob Brown wears a great coat this cold weather. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park. 



XII. 

Steventon : December 1. 

MY DEAR CASSANDKA, 

I am so good as to write to you again thus 
speedily, to let you know that I have just heard 
from Frank. He was at Cadiz, alive and well, 
on October 19, and had then very lately received 
-a letter from you, written as long ago as when 
the 4 London ' was at St. Helen's. But his raly 
latest intelligence of us was in one from me of 
September 1, which I sent soon after we got to 
Godmersham. He had written a packet full for 
liis dearest friends in England, early in October, to 



172 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1708, 1799- 

go by the ' Excellent ; ' but the ' Excellent ' was not 
sailed, nor likely to sail, when he despatched this to- 
me. It comprehended letters for both of us, for 
Lord Spencer, Mr. Daysh, and the East India 
Directors. Lord St. Vincent had left the fleet when 
he wrote, and was gone to Gibraltar, it was said 
to superintend the fitting out of a private expe- 
dition from thence against some of the enemies' 
ports ; Minorca or Malta were conjectured to be 
the objects. 

Frank writes in good spirits, but says that our 
correspondence cannot be so easily carried on in 
future as it has been, as the communication be- 
tween Cadiz and Lisbon is less frequent than 
formerly. You and my mother, therefore, must 
not alarm yourselves at the long intervals that 
may divide his letters. I address this advice to 
you two as being the most tender-hearted of the 
family. 

My mother made her entree into the dressing- 
room through crowds of admiring spectators yes- 
terday afternoon, and we all drank tea together 
for the first time these five weeks. She has had a 
tolerable night, and bids fair for a continuance in 
the same brilliant course of action to-day. . . . 

Mr. Lyford was here yesterday ; he came while 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 173 

we were at dinner, and partook of our elegant 
entertainment. I was not ashamed at asking him 
to sit down to table, for we had some pease-soup, 
a sparerib, and a pudding. He wants my mother 
to look yellow and to throw out a rash, but she 
will do neither. 

I was at Deane yesterday morning. Mary was 
very well, but does not gain bodily strength very 
fast. When I saw her so stout on the third and 
sixth days, I expected to have seen her as well as 
ever by the end of a fortnight. 

James went to Ibthorp yesterday to see his 
mother and child. Letty is with Mary at present, 
of course exceedingly happy, and in raptures with 
the child. Mary does not manage matters in such 
a way as to make me want to lay in myself. She 
is not tidy enough in her appearance ; she has no 
dressing-gown to sit up in ; her curtains are all too 
thin, and things are not in that comfort and style 
about her which are necessary to make such a 
situation an enviable one. Elizabeth was really a 
pretty object with her nice clean cap put on so 
tidily and her dress so uniformly white and orderly. 
We live entirely in the dressing-room now, which 
I like very much ; I always feel so much more 
elegant in it than in the parlour. 



174 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

No news from Kintbury yet. Eliza sports with 
our impatience. She was very well last Thursday. 
Who is Miss Maria Montresor going to marry, and 
what is to become of Miss Mulcaster ? 

I find great comfort in my stuff gown, but I 
hope you do not wear yours too often. I have 
made myself two or three caps to wear of evenings 
since I came home, and they save me a world of 
torment as to hair- dressing, which at present gives 
me no trouble beyond washing and brushing, for 
my long hair is always plaited up out of sight, and 
my short hair curls well enough to want no paper- 
ing. I have had it cut lately by Mr. Butler. 

There is no reason to suppose that Miss Morgan 
is dead after all. Mr. Lyford gratified us very 
much yesterday by his praises of my father's 
mutton, which they all think the finest that was 
ever ate. John Bond begins to find himself grow 
old, which John Bonds ought not to do, and un- 
equal to much hard work ; a man is therefore 
hired to supply his place as to labour, and John 
himself is to have the care of the sheep. There 
are not more people engaged than before, I believe ; 
only men instead of boys. I fancy so at least, but 
you know my stupidity as to such matters. Lizzie 
Bond is just apprenticed to Miss Small, so we may 



1798, 1700 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 175 

hope to see her able to spoil gowns in a few 
years. 

My father has applied to Mr. May for an ale- 
house for Robert, at his request, and to Mr. Deane, 
of Winchester, likewise. This was my mother's 
idea, who thought he Avould be proud to oblige a 
relation of Edward in return for Edward's accept- 
ing his money. He sent a very civil answer indeed, 
but has no house vacant at present. May expects 
to have an empty one soon at Farnham, so perhaps 
Nanny may have the honour of drawing ale for the 
Bishop. I shall write to Frank to-morrow. 

Charles Powlett gave a dance on Thursday, to 
the great disturbance of all his neighbours, of 
course', who, you know, take a most lively interest 
in the state of his finances, and live in hopes of his 
being soon ruined. 

We are very much disposed to like our new 
maid ; she knows nothing of a dairy, to be sure, 
which, in our family, is rather against her, but she 
is to be taught it all. In short, we have felt the 
inconvenience of being without a maid so long, 
that we are determined to like her, and she will 
find it a hard matter to displease us. As yet,, she 
seems to cook very well, is uncommonly stout, and 
says she. can work well at her needle. 



J76 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

Sunday. My father is glad to hear so good an 
account of Edward's pigs, and desires he may be 
told, as encouragement to his taste for them, that 
Lord Bolton is particularly curious in his pigs, has 
had pigstyes of a most elegant construction built 
for them, and visits them every morning as soon as 
he rises. Affectionately yours, 

J. A. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham. 



XIII. 

Steventon : Tuesday (December 18). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

Your letter came quite as soon as I expected, 
and so your letters will always do, because I have 
made it a rule not to expect them till they come, 
in which I think I consult the ease of us both. 

It is a great satisfaction to us to hear that your 
business is in a way to be settled, and so settled 
as to give you as little inconvenience as possible, 
You are very welcome to my father's name and to 
his services if they are ever required in it. I shall 
keep my ten pounds too, to wrap myself up in next 
winter. 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 177 

I took the liberty a few days ago of asking 
your black velvet bonnet to lend me its cawl, 
which it very readily did, and by which I have 
been enabled to give a considerable improvement 
of dignity to cap, which was before too nidgetty to 
please me. I shall wear it on Thursday, but I hope 
you will not be offended with me for following your 
advice as to its ornaments only in part. I still ven- 
ture to retain the narrow silver round it, put twice 
round without any bow, and instead of the black 
military feather shall put in the coquelicot one as 
being smarter, and besides coquelicot is to be all the 
fashion this winter. After the ball I shall probably 
make it entirely black. 

I am sorry that our dear Charles begins 
to feel the dignity of ill-usage. My father will 
write to Admiral Gambier. He must have already 
received so much satisfaction from his acquaint- 
ance and patronage of Frank, that he will be de- 
lighted, I dare say, to have another of the family 
introduced to him. I think it would be very right 
in Charles to address Sir Thomas on the occasion, 
though I cannot approve of your scheme of writing 
to him (which you communicated to me a few nights 
ago) to request him to come home and convey you 
to Steventon. To do you justice, however, you had 

VOL. i. N 



178 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1790 

some doubts of the propriety of such a measure 
yourself. 

I am very much obliged to my dear little 
George for his message for his love at least ; his 
duty, I suppose, was only in consequence of some 
hint of my favourable intentions towards him from 
his father or mother. I am sincerely rejoiced, how- 
ever, that I ever was born, since it has been the 
means of procuring him a dish of tea. Give my 
best love to him. 

This morning has been made very gay to us by 
visits from our two livery neighbours, Mr. Holder 
and Mr. John Harwood. 

I have received a very civil note from Mrs. 
Martin, requesting my name as a subscriber to 
her library which opens January 14, and my 
name, or rather yours, is accordingly given. My 
mother finds the money. May subscribes too, 
which I am glad of, but hardly expected. As an 
inducement to subscribe, Mrs. Martin tells me that 
her collection is not to consist only of novels, but 
of every kind of literature, &c. She might have 
spared this pretension to our family, who are great 
novel-readers and not ashamed of being so ; but it 
was necessary, I suppose, to the self-consequence 
of half her subscribers. 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 

I hope and imagine that Edward Taylor is to 
inherit all Sir Edward Dering's fortune as well as all 
his own father's. I took care to tell Mrs. Lefroy of 
your calling on her mother, and she seemed pleased 
with it. 

I enjoyed the hard black frosts of last week 
very much, and one day while they lasted walked 
to Deane by myself. I do not know that I ever 
did such a thing in my life before. 

Charles Powlett has been very ill, but is getting 
well again. His wife is discovered to be everything 
that the neighbourhood could wish her, silly and 
cross as well as extravagant. Earle Harwood and 
his friend Mr. Bailey came to Deane yesterday, but 
are not to stay above a day or two. Earle has got 
the appointment to a prison-ship at Portsmouth,, 
which he has been for some time desirous of having, 
and he and his wife are to live on board for the 
future. 

We dine now at half-past three, and have done 
dinner, I suppose, before you begin. We drink tea 
at half-past six. I am afraid you will despise us. 
My father reads Cowper to us in the morning, to- 
which I listen when I can. How do you spend 
your evenings ? I guess that Elizabeth works, that 
you read to her, and that Edward goes to sleep. 



180 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1709 

My mother continues hearty ; her appetite and 
nights are very good, but she sometimes complains 
of an asthma, a dropsy, water in her chest, and a 
liver disorder. 

The third Miss Irish Lefroy is going to be 
married to a Mr. Courteney, but whether James or 
Oharles I do not know. Miss Lyford is gone into 
Suffolk with her brother and Miss Lodge. Every- 
body is now very busy in making up an income 
for the two latter. Miss Lodge has only 800/. of 
her own, and it is not supposed that her father can 
give her much ; therefore the good offices of the 
neighbourhood will be highly acceptable. John 
Lyford means to take pupils. 

James Digweed has had a very ugly cut how 
could it happen ? It happened by a young horse 
which he had lately purchased, and which he was 
trying to back into its stable ; the animal kicked 
him down with his forefeet, and kicked a great 
hole in his head; he scrambled away as soon as 
he could, but was stunned for a time, and suffered 
a good deal of pain afterwards. Yesterday he got 
upon the horse again, and, for fear of something 
worse, was forced to throw himself off. 

Wednesday. I have changed my mind, and 
changed the trimmings of my cap this morning ; 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 181 

they are now such as you suggested. I felt as if I 
should not prosper if I strayed from your direc- 
tions, and I think it makes me look more like Lady 
Conyngham now than it did before, which is all 
that one lives for now. I believe I shall make my 
new gown like my robe, but the back of the latter 
is all in a piece with the tail, and will seven yards- 
enable me to copy it in that respect ? 

Mary went to church on Sunday, and had the 
weather been smiling, we should have seen her 
here before this time. Perhaps I may stay at 
Manydown as long as Monday, but not longer. 
Martha sends me word that she is too busy to write 
to me now, and but for your letter I should have 
supposed her deep in the study of medicine pre- 
paratory to their removal from Ibthorp. The 
letter to Gambier goes to-day. 

I expect a very stupid ball ; there will be no- 
body worth dancing with, and nobody worth talk- 
ing to but Catherine, for I believe Mrs. Lefroy will 
not be there. Lucy is to go with Mrs. Eussell. 

People get so horridly poor and economical in 
this part of the world that I have no patience with 
them. Kent is the only place for happiness ; every- 
body is rich there. I must do similar justice, how- 
ever, to the Windsor neighbourhood. I have been 



182 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

forced to let James and Miss Debary have two 
sheets of your drawing-paper, but they shan't have 
any more ; there are not above three or four left, 
besides one of a smaller and richer sort. Perhaps 
you may want some more if you come through 
town in your return, or rather buy some more, for 
your wanting it will not depend on your coming 
through town, I imagine. 

I have just heard from Martha and Frank : his 
letter was written on November 12. All well 
and nothing particular. 

J. A. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham. 

XIV. 

Steventon : Monday night (December 24). 

MY DEAR CASSANDEA, 

I have got some pleasant news for you which I 
am eager to communicate, and therefore begin my 
letter sooner, though I shall not send it sooner than 
usual. 

Admiral Gambier, in reply to my father's appli- 
cation, writes as follows : ' As it is usual to keep 
young officers in small vessels, it being most 
proper on account of their inexperience, and it 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 183 

being also a situation where they are more in the 
way of learning their duty, your son has been con- 
tinued in the " Scorpion ; " but I have mentioned to 
the Board of Admiralty his wish to be in a frigate, 
and when a proper opportunity offers and it is 
judged that he has taken his turn in a small ship, 
I hope he will be removed. With regard to your 
son now in the " London " I am glad I can give you 
the assurance that his promotion is likely to take 
place very soon, as Lord Spencer has been so good 
as to say he would include him in an arrangement 
that he proposes making in a short time relative to 
some promotions in that quarter.' 

There ! I may now finish my letter and go and 
hang myself, for I arn sure I can neither write nor 
do anything which will not appear insipid to you 
after this. Now I really think he will soon be 
made, and only wish we could communicate our 
foreknowledge of the event to him whom it prin- 
cipally concerns. My father has written to Daysh 
to desire that he will inform us, if he can, when the 
commission is sent. Your chief wish is now ready 
to be accomplished ; arid could Lord Spencer give 
happiness to Martha at the same time, what a 
joyful heart he would make of yours ! 

I have sent the same extract of the sweets of 



184 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1790 

Gambler to Charles, who, poor fellow, though he 
sinks into nothing but an humble attendant on the 
hero of the piece, will, I hope, be contented with 
the prospect held out to him. By what the Admi- 
ral says, it appears as if he had been designedly 
kept in the ' Scorpion.' But I will not torment 
myself with conjectures and suppositions ; facts 
shall satisfy me. 

Frank had not heard from any of us for ten 
weeks when he wrote to me on November 12 in 
consequence of Lord St. Vincent being removed 
to Gibraltar. When his commission is sent, how- 
ever, it will not be so long on its road as our letters, 
because all the Government despatches are for- 
warded by land to his lordship from Lisbon with 
great regularity. 

I returned from Manydown this morning, and 
found my mother certainly in no respect worse 
than when I left her. She does not like the cold 
weather, but that we cannot help. I spent 
my time very quietly and very pleasantly with 
Catherine. Miss Blackford is agreeable enough. 
I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it 
saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal. 
I found only Catherine and her when I got to 

*/ 

Manydown on Thursday. We dined together and 



1798, 1709 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 185 

went together to Worting to seek the protection of 
Mrs. Clarke, with whom were Lady Mildmay, her 
eldest son, and a Mr. and Mrs. Hoare. 

Our ball was very thin, but by no means un- 
pleasant. There were thirty- one people, and only 
eleven ladies out of the number, and but five 
single women in the room. Of the gentlemen 
present you may have some idea, from the list of 
my partners Mr. Wood, G. Lefroy, Eice, a Mr. 
Butcher (belonging to the Temples, a sailor and not 
of the llth Light Dragoons), Mr. Temple (not the 
horrid one of all), Mr. Wm. Orde (cousin to the 
Kingsclere man), Mr. John Harwood, and Mr. Cal- 
land, who appeared as usual with his hat in his 
hand, and stood every now and then behind Cathe- 
rine and me to be talked to and abused for not 
dancing. We teased him, however, into it at last. 
I was very glad to see him again after so long a 
separation, and he was altogether rather the genius 
and flirt of the evening. He enquired after you. 

There were twenty dances, and I danced them 
all, and without any fatigue. I was glad to find 
myself capable of dancing so much, and with so 
much satisfaction as I did ; from my slender enjoy- 
ment of the Ashford balls (as assemblies for danc- 
ing) I had not thought myself equal to it, but in 



186 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

cold weather and with few couples I fancy I could 
just as well dance for a week together as for half 
an hour. My black cap was openly admired by 
Mrs. Lefroy, and secretly I imagine by everybody 
else in the room. 

Tuesday. I thank you for your long letter, 
which I will endeavour to deserve by writing the 
rest of this as closely as possible. I am full of joy 
at much of your information ; that you should 
have been to a ball, and have danced at it, and 
supped with the Prince, and that you should medi- 
tate the purchase of a new muslin gown, are de- 
lightful circumstances. / am determined to buy a 
handsome one whenever I can, and I am so tired 
and ashamed of half my present stock, that I even 
blush at the sight of the wardrobe which contains 
them. But I will not be much longer libelled by 
the possession of my coarse spot ; I shall turn it 
into a petticoat very soon. I wish you a merry 
Christmas, but no compliments of the season. 

Poor Edward ! It is very hard that he, who 
has everything else in the world that he can wish 
for, should not have good health too. But I hope 
with the assistance of stomach complaints, faint- 
nesses, and sicknesses, he will soon be restored to 
that blessing likewise. If his nervous complaint 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 187 

proceeded from a suppression of something that 
ought to be thrown out, which does not seem un- 
likely, the first of these disorders may really be a 
remedy, and I sincerely wish it may, for I know no 
one more deserving of happiness without alloy than 
Edward is. 

I cannot determine what to do about my new 
gown ; I wish such things were to be bought ready- 
made. I have some hopes of meeting Martha at 
the christening at Deane next Tuesday, and shall 
see what she can do for me. I want to have some- 
thing suggested which will give me no trouble of 
thought or direction. 

Again I return to my joy that you danced at 
Ashford, and that you supped with the Prince. I 
can perfectly comprehend Mrs. Cage's distress and 
perplexity. She has all those kind of foolish and 
incomprehensible feelings which would make her 
fancy herself uncomfortable in such a party. I 
love her, however, in spite of all her nonsense. 
Pray give ' t'other Miss Austen's ' compliments to 
Edward Bridges when you see him again. 

I insist upon your persevering in your intention 
of buying a new gown ; I am sure you must want 
one, and as you will have o/. due in a week's time, 
I am certain you may afford it very well, and if 



188 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 1798, 1790- 

you think you cannot, I will give you the body- 
lining. 

Of my charities to the poor since I came home 
you shall have a faithful account. I have given a 
pair of worsted stockings to Mary Hutchins, Dame 
Kew, Mary Steevens, and Dame Staples ; a shift to 
Hannah Staples, and a shawl to Betty Dawkins ; 
amounting in all to about half a guinea. But I 
have no reason to suppose that the Batty s would 
accept of anything, because I have not made them 
the offer. 

I am glad to hear such a good account of 
Harriet Bridges; she goes on now as young ladies 
of seventeen ought to do, admired and admiring, 
in a much more rational way than her three elder 
sisters, who had so little of that kind of youth. I 
dare say she fancies Major Elkington as agreeable 
as Warren, and if she can think so, it is very well. 

I was to have dined at Deane to-day, .but the 
weather is so cold that I am not sorry to be kept 
at home by the appearance of snow. We are to 
have company to dinner on Friday : the three 
Digweeds and James. We shall be a nice silent 
party, I suppose. Seize upon the scissors as soon 
as you possibly can on the receipt of this. I only 
fear your being too late to secure the prize. 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 

The Lords of the Admiralty will have enough 
of our applications at present, for I hear from 
Charles that he has written to Lord Spencer him- 
self to be removed. I am afraid his Serene High- 
ness will be in a passion, and order some of our 
heads to be cut off. 

My mother wants to know whether Edward has 
ever made the hen-house which they planned to- 
gether. I am rejoiced to hear from Martha that 
they certainly continue at Ibthorp, and I have just 
heard that I am sure of meeting Martha at the 
christening. 

You deserve a longer letter than this ; but it 
is my unhappy fate seldom to treat people so well 
.as they deserve. . . . God bless you ! 
Yours affectionately, 

JANE AUSTEN. 

Wednesday. The snow came to nothing yes- 
terday, so I did go to Deane, and returned home 
at nine o'clock at night in the little carriage, and 
without being very cold. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversbam, Kent. 



190 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1791 

XV. 

Steve nton : Friday (December 28). 

MY DEAR CASSANDEA, 

Frank is made. He was yesterday raised tc 
the rank of Commander, and appointed to the 
' Petterel ' sloop, now at Gibraltar. A letter from 
Daysh has just announced this, and as it is con- 
firmed by a very friendly one from Mr. Mathew to 
the same effect, transcribing one from Admiral 
Gambier to the General, we have no reason to 
suspect the truth of it. 

As soon as you have cried a little for joy, you 
may go on, and learn farther that the India House 
have taken Captain Austen's petition into con- 
sideration this comes from Daysh and likewise 
that Lieutenant Charles John Austen is removed 
to the ' Tamar ' frigate this comes from the 
Admiral. We cannot find out where the ' Tamar * 
is, but I hope we shall now see Charles here at all 
events. 

This letter is to be dedicated entirely to good 
news. If you will send my father an account of 
your washing and letter expenses, &c., he will 
send you a draft for the amount of it, as well as 
for your next quarter, and for Edward's rent. If 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 191 

you don't buy a muslin gown now on the strength 
of this money and Frank's promotion, I shall 
never forgive you. 

Mrs. Lefroy has just sent me word that Lady 
Dorchester meant to invite me to her ball on 
January 8, which, though an humble blessing 
compared with what the last page records, I do 
not consider as any calamity. 

I cannot write any more now, but I have 
written enough to make you very happy, and 
therefore may safely conclude. 

Yours affectionately, 
JANE. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park. 

XVI. 

Steventon : Tuesday (January 8). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

You must read your letters over jive times in 
future before you send them, and then, perhaps, 
you may find them as entertaining as I do. I 
laughed at several parts of the one which I am 
now answering. 

Charles is not come yet, but he must come this 
morning, or he shall never know what I will do 
to him. The ball at Kempshott is this evening, 



192 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

and I have got him an invitation, though I have 
not been so considerate as to get him a partner. 
But the cases are different between him and Eliza 
Bailey, for he is not in a dying way, and may 
therefore be equal to getting a partner for himself. 
I believe I told you that Monday was to be the 
ball night, for which, and for all other errors intc 
which I may ever have led you, I humbly ask 
your pardon. 

Elizabeth is very cruel about my writing 
music, and, as a punishment for her, I should insist 
upon always writing out all hers for her in future, 
if I were not punishing myself at the same time. 

I am tolerably glad to hear that Edward's 
income is so good a one as glad as I can be at any- 
body's being rich except you and me and I am 
thoroughly rejoiced to hear of his present to you. 

I am not to wear my white satin cap to-night 
after all ; I am to wear a mamalone cap instead 
which Charles Fowle sent to Mary, and which she 
lends me. It is all the fashion now ; worn at the 
opera, and by Lady Mild mays at Hackwood balls 
I hate describing such things, and I dare say yoi 
will be able to guess what it is like. I have go 
over the dreadful epocha of mantua-making mud 
better than I expected. My gown is made verj 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 

much like my blue one, which you always told 
me sat very well, with only these variations : the 
sleeves are short, the wrap fuller, the apron comes 
over it, and a band of the same completes the 
whole. 

I assure you that I dread the idea of going to 
Brighton as much as you do, but I am not without 
liopes that something may happen to prevent it. 

F has lost his election at B , and per- 
haps they may not be able to see company for 
some time. They talk of going to Bath, too, in the 
spring, and perhaps they may be overturned in 
their way down, and all laid up for the summer. 

Wednesday. I have had a cold and weakness 
in one of my eyes for some days, which makes 
writing neither very pleasant nor very profitable, 
and which will probably prevent my finishing this 
letter myself. My mother has undertaken to do it 
for me, and I shall leave the Kempshott ball for 
her. 

You express so little anxiety about my being 
murdered under Ash Park Copse by Mrs. Hulbert's 
servant, that^I have a great mind not to tell you 
whether I was or not, and shall only say that I did 
not return home that night or the next, as Martha 
kindly made room for me in her bed, which was 

VOL. i. 



194 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1790 

the shut-up one in the new nursery. Nurse and 
the child slept upon the floor, and there we all were 
in some confusion and great comfort. The bed 
did exceedingly well for us, both to He awake in 
and talk till two o'clock, and to sleep in the rest of 
the night. I love Martha better than ever, and I 
mean to go and see her, if I can, when she gets 
home. We all dined at the Harwoods' on Thursday, 
and the party broke up the next morning. 

This complaint in my eye has been a sad bore 
to me, for I have not been able to read or work in 
any comfort since Friday, but one advantage will 
be derived from it, for I shall be such a proficient 
in music by the time I have got rid of my cold, 
that I shall be perfectly qualified in that science at 
least to take Mr. Eoope's office at Eastwell next 
summer ; and I am sure of Elizabeth's recommen- 
dation, be it only on Harriet's account. Of my 
talent in drawing I have given specimens in my 
letters to you, and I have nothing to do but to 
invent a few hard names for the stars. 

Mary grows rather more reasonable about her 
child's beauty, and says that she does not think 
him really handsome ; but I suspect her moderation 

to be something like that of W W 's mama. 

Perhaps Mary has told you that they are going to 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 195 

enter more into dinner parties ; the Biggs and Mr. 
Holder dine there to-morrow, and I am to meet 
them. I shall sleep there. Catherine has the 
honour of giving her name to a set, which will be 
composed of two Withers, two Heathcotes, a Black - 
ford, and no Bigg except herself. She congra- 
tulated me last night on Frank's promotion, as if 
she really felt the joy she talked of. 

My sweet little George ! I am delighted to 
hear that he has such an inventive genius as to 
face-making. I admired his yellow wafer very 
much, and hope he will choose the wafer for your 
next letter. I wore my green shoes last night, and 
took my white fan with me ; I am very glad he 
never threw it into the river. 

Mrs. Knight giving up the Godmersham estate 
to Edward was no such prodigious act of gene- 
rosity after all, it seems, for she has reserved herself 
an income out of it still ; this ought to be known, 
that her conduct may not be overrated. I rather 
think Edward shows the most magnanimity of the 
two, in accepting her resignation with such incum- 
brances. 

The more I write, the better my eye gets, so I 
shall at least keep on till it is quite well, before I 
give up my pen to my mother. 

o 2 



196 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

Mrs. Bramston's little moveable apartment was 
tolerably filled last night by herself, Mrs. H. Black- 
stone, her two daughters, and me. I do not like 
the Miss Blackstones ; indeed, I was always deter- 
mined not to like them, so there is the less merit 
in it. Mrs. Bramston was very civil, kind, and 
noisy. I spent a very pleasant evening, chiefly 
among the Manydown party. There was the same 
kind of supper as last year, and the same want of 
chairs. There were more dancers than the room 
could conveniently hold, which is enough to con- 
.stitute a good ball at any time. 

I do not think I was very much in request. 
People were rather apt not to ask me till they 
could not help it ; one's consequence, you know, 
varies so much at times without any particular 
reason. There was one gentleman, an officer of 
the Cheshire, a very good-looking young man, who, 
I was told, wanted very much to be introduced to 
me; but as he did not want it quite enough to 
take much trouble in effecting it, we never could 
bring it about. 

I danced with Mr. John Wood again, twice with 
a Mr. South, a lad from Winchester, who, I suppose, 
is as far from being related to the bishop of that 
diocese as it is possible to be, with G. Lefroy, and 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 197 

J. Harwood, who, I think, takes to me rather more 
than he used to do. One of my gayest actions was 
sitting down two dances in preference to having 
Lord Bolton's eldest son for my partner, who 
danced too ill to be endured. The Miss Charterises 
were there, and played the parts of the Miss Edens 
with great spirit. Charles never came. Naughty 
Charles ! I suppose he could not get superseded 
in time. 

Miss Debary has replaced your two sheets of 
drawing-paper with two of superior size and qua- 
lity ; so I do not grudge her having taken them at 
all now. Mr. Ludlow and Miss Pugh of Andover 
are lately married, and so is Mrs. Skeete of Basing- 
stoke, and Mr. French, chemist, of Beading. 

I do not wonder at your wanting to read ' First 
Impressions ' again, so seldom as you have gone 
through it, and that so long ago. I am much 
obliged to you for meaning to leave my old petti- 
coat behind you. I have long secretly wished it 
might be done, but had not courage to make the 
request. 

Pray mention the name of Maria Montresor's 
lover when you write next. My mother wants to 
know it, and I have not courage to look back into 
your letters to find it out. 



198 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1799 

I shall not be able to send this till to-morrow, 
and you will be disappointed on Friday ; I am very 
sorry for it, but I cannot help it. 

The partnership between Jefiereys, Toomer, and 
Legge is dissolved ; the two latter are melted away 
into nothing, and it is to be hoped that Jeffereys 
will soon break, for the sake of a few heroines 
whose money he may have. I wish you joy of 
your birthday twenty times over. 

I shall be able to send this to the post to-day, 
which exalts me to the utmost pinnacle of human 
felicity, and makes me bask in the sunshine of 
prosperity, or gives me any other sensation of plea- 
sure in studied language which you may prefer. 
Do not be angry with me for not filling my sheet, 
and believe me yours affectionately, y . 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham. 

XVII. 

Steventon : Monday (January 21). 

MY DEAR CASSAXDRA, 

I will endeavour to make this letter more 
worthy your acceptance than my last, which was 
so shabby a one that I think Mr. Marshall could 
never charge you with the postage. My eyes have 



1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 199 

been very indifferent since it was written, but are 
now getting better once more ; keeping them so 
many hours open on Thursday night, as well as the 
dust of the ball-room, injured them a good deal. 
I use them as little as I can, but you know, and 
Elizabeth knows, and everybody who ever had 
weak eyes knows, how delightful it is to hurt them 
by employment, against the advice and entreaty of 
all one's friends. 

Charles leaves us to-night. The ' Tamar ' is in 
the Downs, and Mr. Daysh advises him to join her 
there directly, as there is no chance of her going 
to the westward. Charles does not approve of this 
at all, and will not be much grieved if he should 
be too late for her before she sails, as he may then 
hope to get into a better station. He attempted 
to go to town last night, and got as far on his road 
thither as Dean Gate ; but both, the coaches were 
full, and we had the pleasure of seeing him back 
again. He will call on Daysh to-morrow to know 
whether the ' Tamar ' has sailed or not. and if she 
is still at the Downs he will proceed in one of the 
night coaches to Deal. I want to go with him, 
that I may explain the country to him properly 
between Canterbury and Rowling, but the un- 
pleasantness of returning by piyself deters me. I 



200 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 17 ( .>8, 170$> 

should like to go as far as Ospringe with him very 
much indeed, that I might surprise you at God- 
mersham. 

Martha writes me word that Charles was very 
much admired at Kintbury, and Mrs. Lefroy never 
saw anyone so much improved in her life, and 
thinks him handsomer than Henry. He appears 
to far more advantage here than he did at God- 
mersham, not surrounded by strangers and neither 
oppressed by a pain in his face or powder in his- 
hair. 

James christened Elizabeth Caroline on Satur- 
day morning, and then came home. Mary, Anna,, 
and Edward have left us of course ; before the 
second went I took down her answer to her cousin 
Fanny. 

Yesterday came a letter to my mother from 
Edward Cooper to announce, not the birth of a 
child, but of a living ; for Mrs. Leigh has begged 
his acceptance of the Eectory of Ham stall-Bid ware 
in Staffordshire, vacant by Mr. Johnson's death. 
We collect from his letter that he means to reside- 
there, in which? he shows his wisdom. Stafford- 
shire is a good way off; so we shall see nothing 
more of them till, some fifteen years hence, the 
Miss Coopers are presented to us, fine, jolly,, 



1798, 1709 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 201 

handsome, ignorant girls. The living is valued at 
140/. a year, but perhaps it ma} 7 be improvable. 
How will they be able to convey the furniture of 
the dressing-room so far in safety ? 

Our first cousins seem all dropping off very 
fast. One is incorporated into the family, another 
dies, and a third goes into Staffordshire. We can 
learn nothing of the disposal of the other living. 
I have not the smallest notion of Fulwar's having 
it. Lord Craven has prdbably other connections 
and more intimate ones, in that line, than he now 
has with the Kintbury family. 

Our ball on Thursday was a very poor one, only 
eight couple and but twenty-three people in the 
room ; but it was not the ball's fault, for we were 
deprived of two or three families by the sudden 
illness of Mr. Wither, who was seized that morn- 
ing at Winchester with a return of his former 
alarming complaint. An express was sent off from 
thence to the family ; Catherine and Miss Blackford 
were dining with Mrs. Eussell. Poor Catherine's 
distress must have been very great. She was pre- 
vailed on to wait till the Heathcotes could come 
from Wintney, and then with those two and Harris 
proceeded directly to Winchester. In such a dis- 
order his danger, I suppose, must always be great ; 



202 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 171K) 

but from this attack he is now rapidly recovering, 
and will be well enough to return to Manydown, I 
fancy, in a few days. 

It was a fine thing for conversation at the ball. 
But it deprived iis not only of the Biggs, but of 
Mrs. Eussell too, and of the Boltons and John 
Harwood, who were dining there likewise, and of 
Mr. Lane, who kept away as related to the family. 
Poor man ! I mean Mr. Wither his life is so use- 
ful, his character so respectable and worthy, that I 
really believe there was a good deal of sincerity 
in the general concern expressed on his account. 

Our ball was chiefly made up of Jervoises and 
Terrys, the former of whom were apt to be vulgar, 
the latter to be noisy. I had an odd set of part- 
ners : Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Street, Col. Jervoise, James 
Digweed, J. Lyford, and Mr. Briggs, a friend of the 
latter. I had a very pleasant evening, however, 
though you will probably find out that there was 
no particular reason for it ; but I do not think it 
worth while to wait for enjoyment until there is 
some real opportunity for it. Mary behaved very 
well, and was not at all fidgetty. For the history 
of her adventures at the ball I refer you to Anna's 
letter. 

When you come home you will have some 



1798, 1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 203 

shirts to make up for Charles. Mrs. Davies 
frightened him into buying a piece of Irish when 
we were in Basirigstoke. Mr. Daysh supposes that 
Captain Austen's commission has reached him by 
this time. 

Tuesday. Your letter has pleased and amused 
me very much. Your essay on happy fortnights is 
highly ingenious, and the talobert skin made me 
laugh a good deal. Whenever I fall into mis- 
fortune, how many jokes it ought to furnish to my 
acquaintance in general, or I shall die dreadfully 
in their debt for entertainment. 

It began to occur to me before you mentioned 
it that I had been somewhat silent as to my mother's 
health for some time, but I thought you could have 
no difficulty in divining its exact state you, who 
have guessed so much stranger things. She is 
tolerably well better upon the whole than she 
was some weeks ago. She would tell you herself 
that she has a very dreadful cold in her head at 
present ; but I have not much compassion for colds 
in the head without fever or sore throat. 

Our own particular little brother got a place in 
the coach last night, and is now, I suppose, in town. 
I have no objection at all to your buying our gowns 
there, as your imagination has pictured to you 



204 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1798, 1790 

exactly such a one as is necessary to make me 
happy. You quite abash me by your progress in 
netting, for I am still without silk. You must get 
me some in town or in Canterbury ; it should be 
finer than yours. 

I thought Edward would not approve of Charles 
being a crop, and rather wished you to conceal it 
from him at present, lest it might fall on his spirits 
and retard his recovery. My father furnishes him 
with a pig from Cheesedown; it is already killed 
and cut up, but it is not to weigh more than nine 
stone ; the season is too far advanced to get him 
a larger one. My mother means to pay herself 
for the salt and the trouble of ordering it to be 
cured by the sparibs, the souse, and the lard. We 
have had one dead lamb. 

I congratulate you on Mr. E. Hatton's good 
fortune. I suppose the marriage will now follow 
out of hand. Give my compliments to Miss Finch. 

What time in March may we expect your re- 
turn in ? I begin to be very tired of answering 
people's questions on that subject, and, independent 
of that, I shall be very glad to see you at home 
again, and then if we can get Martha and shirk 
who will be so happy as we ? 

I think of going to Ib thorp in about a fort- 



1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 205 

night. My eyes are pretty well, I thank you, if 
you please. 

Wednesday, 23rd. I wish my dear Fanny 
many returns of this day, and that she may on 
every return enjoy as much pleasure as she is 
now receiving from her doll's-beds. 

I have just heard from Charles, who is by this 
time at Deal. He is to be Second Lieutenant, 
which pleases him very well. The 'Endymion ' is 
come into the Downs, which pleases him likewise. 
He expects to be ordered to Sheerness shortly, as 
the ' Tamar ' has never been refitted. 

My father and mother made the same match 
for you last night, and are very much pleased with 
it. He is a beauty of my mother's. 

Yours affectionately, 

JANE. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham, Kent. 



1799 

THE third division consists of four letters written 
from Bath in May and June 1799, when Mr. and 
Mrs. Austen of Godmersham had taken a house 
for a month, in order that the former might ' try 



20C LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 179i> 

the waters ' for the benefit of his health, which 
was supposed to be delicate ; the experiment seems 
to have been successful, for he lived fifty-three 
years longer, dying at Godmersham in December 
1852, at the good old age of eighty-two. Cassandra 
had stayed at home with her father at Steventon, 
and Mrs. Austen and Jane had accompanied the 
Godmersham party. These letters contain little 
more than ordinary chit-chat, and for the most 
part explain themselves. There is another allu- 
sion to 'Pride and Prejudice ' under the name of 
' First Impressions,' which Martha Lloyd seems to 
have been allowed to read ; another proof that 
this work at least was read and talked over in the 
family long before it was published. 



XVIII. 

13, Queen's Square, Friday (May 17). 

MY DEAEEST CASSANDEA, 

Our journey yesterday went off exceedingly 
well ; nothing occurred to alarm or delay us. We 
found the roads in excellent order, had very good 
horses all the way, and reached Devizes with ease 
by four o'clock. I suppose John has told you in 



1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 207 

what manner we were divided when we left Ando- 
ver, and no alteration was afterwards made. At 
Devizes we had comfortable rooms and a good 
dinner, to which we sat down about five ; amongst 
other things we had asparagus and a lobster, which 
made me wish for you, and some cheesecakes, on 
which the children made so delightful a supper as 
to endear the town of Devizes to them for a long 
time. 

Well, here we are at Bath ; we got here about 
one o'clock, and have been arrived just long 
enough to go over the house, fix on our rooms, 
and be very well pleased with the whole of it. 
Poor Elizabeth lias had a dismal ride of it from 
Devizes, for it has rained almost all the way, and 
our first view of Bath has been just as gloomy as it 
was last November twelvemonth. 

I have got so many things to say, so many 
things equally important, that I know not on 
which to decide at present, and shall therefore go- 
and eat with the children. 

We stopped in Paragon as we came along, but 
as it was too wet and dirty for us to get out, we 
could only see Frank, who told us that his master 
was very indifferent, but had had a better night 
last night than usual. In Paragon we met Mrs. 



'208 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1799 

Foley and Mrs. Dowdeswell with her yellow shawl 
airing out, and at the bottom of Kingsdown Hill we 
met a gentleman in a buggy, who, on minute 
examination, turned out to be Dr. Hall and Dr. 
Hall in such very deep mourning that either his 
mother, his wife, or himself must be dead. These 
are all of our acquaintance who have yet met our 
eyes. 

I have some hopes of being plagued about my 
trunk ; I had more a few hours ago, for it was too 
heavy to go by the coach which brought Thomas 
and Eebecca from Devizes ; there was reason to 
suppose that it might be too heavy likewise for any 
other coach, and for a long time we could hear of 
no waggon to convey it. At last, however, we 
unluckily discovered that one was just on the point 
of setting out for this place, but at any rate the 
trunk cannot be here till to-morrow ; so far we are 
safe, and who knows what may not happen to 
procure a farther delay ? 

I put Mary's letter into the post-office at Ando- 
ver with my own hand. 

We are exceedingly pleased with the house ; 
the rooms are quite as large as we expected. Mrs. 
Bromley is a fat woman in mourning, and a little 
black kitten runs about the staircase. Elizabeth 



1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 209 

has the apartment within the drawing-room ; she 
wanted my mother to have it, but as there was no 
bed in the inner one, and the stairs are so much 
easier of ascent, or my mother so much stronger 
than in Paragon as not to regard the double flight, 
it is settled for us to be above, where we have two 
very nice-sized rooms, with dirty quilts and every- 
thing comfortable. I have the outward and larger 
apartment, as I ought to have ; which is quite as 
large as our bedroom at home, and my mother's is 
not materially less. The beds are both as large as 
any at Steventon, and I have a very nice chest of 
drawers and a closet full of shelves so full indeed 
that there is nothing else in it, and it should therefore 
be called a cupboard rather than a closet, I suppose. 

Tell Mary that there were some carpenters at 
work in the inn at Devizes this morning, but as I 
could not be sure of their being Mrs. W. Fowle's 
relations, I did not make myself known to them. 

I hope it will be a tolerable afternoon. When 
first we came, all the umbrellas were up, but now 
the pavements are getting very white again. 

My mother does not seem at all the worse for 
her journey, nor are any of us, I hope, though 
Edward seemed rather fagged last night, and not 
very brisk this morning ; but I trust the bustle of 

VOL. I. v P 



210 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 1799 

sending for tea, coffee, and sugar, &c., and going 
out to taste a cheese himself, will do him good. 

There was a very long list of arrivals here in 
the newspaper yesterday, so that we need not 
immediately dread absolute solitude ; and there is a 
public breakfast in Sydney Gardens every morning, 
so that we shall not be wholly starved. 

Elizabeth has just had a very good account 
of the three little boys. I hope you are very 
busy and very comfortable. I find no difficulty in 
closing my eyes. I like our situation very much ; 
it is far more cheerful than Paragon, and the 
prospect from the drawing-room window, at which 
I now write, is rather picturesque, as it commands 
a prospective view of the left side of Brock Street, 
broken by three Lombardy poplars in the garden 
of the last house in Queen's Parade. 

I am rather impatient to know the fate of my 
best gown, but I suppose it will be some days 
before Frances can get through the trunk. In the 
meantime I am, with many thanks for your trouble 
in making it, as well as marking my silk stockings, 
Yours very affectionately, 

JANE. 

A great deal of love from everybody. 

Miss Austen, Steventon, Overton, Hants. 



1799 LETIERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 211 

XIX. 

13, Queen Square, Sunday (June 2). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

I am obliged to you for two letters, one from 
yourself and the other from Mary, for of the latter 
I knew nothing till on the receipt of yours yester- 
day, when the pigeon-basket was examined, and I 
received my due. As I have written to her since 
the time which ought to have brought me hers, I 
suppose she will consider herself, as I choose to 
consider her, still in my debt. 

I will lay out all the little judgment I have in 
endeavouring to get such stockings for Anna as she 
will approve ; but I do not know that I shall 
execute Martha's commission at all, for I am not 
fond of ordering shoes ; and, at any rate, they shall 
all have flat heels. 

What must I tell you of Edward ? Truth or 
falsehood ? I will try the former, and you may 
choose for yourself another time. He was better 
yesterday than he had been for two or three days 
before about as well as while he was at Steventon. 
He drinks at the Hetling Pump, is to bathe to- 
morrow, and try electricity on Tuesday. He 
proposed the latter himself to Dr. Fellowes, who 



212 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1799 

made no objection to it, but I fancy we are all 
unanimous in expecting no advantage from it. At 
present I have no great notion of our staying here 
beyond the month. 

I heard from Charles last week ; they were to 
sail on Wednesday. 

My mother seems remarkably well. My uncle 
overwalked himself at first, and can now only 
travel in a chair, but is otherwise very well. 

My cloak is come home. I like it very much, 
and can now exclaim with delight, like J. Bond at 
hay-harvest, c This is what I have been looking for 
these three years/ I saw some gauzes in a shop 
in Bath Street yesterday at only 4.d. a yard, 
but they were not so good or so pretty as mine. 
Flowers are very much worn, and fruit is still 
more the thing. Elizabeth has a bunch of straw- 
berries, and I have seen grapes, cherries, plums, 
and apricots. There are likewise almonds and 
raisins, French plums, and tamarinds at the 
grocers', but I have never seen any of them in 
hats. A plum or greengage would cost three 
shillings ; cherries and grapes about five, I believe, 
but this is at some of the dearest shops. My aunt 
has told me of a very cheap one, near Walcot 
Church, to which I shall go in quest of something 



1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 213 

for you. I have never seen an old woman at the 
pump-room. 

Elizabeth has given me a hat, and it is not only 
a pretty hat, but a pretty style of hat too. It is some- 
thing like Eliza's, only, instead of being all straw, 
half of it is narrow purple ribbon. I natter myself, 
however, that you can understand very little of it 
from this description. Heaven forbid that I should 
ever offer such encouragement to explanations as 
to give a clear one on any occasion myself! But 
T must write no more of this. . . . 

I spent Friday evening with the Mapletons, and 
was obliged to submit to being pleased in spite of 
my inclination. We took a very charming walk 
from six to eight up Beacon Hill, and across some 
fields, to the village of Charlecombe, which is 
sweetly situated in a little green valley, as a village 
with such a name ought to be. Marianne is 
sensible and intelligent, and even Jane, considering 
how fair she is, is not unpleasant. We had a Miss 
North and a Mr. Gould of our party ; the latter 
walked home with me after tea. He is a very 
young man, just entered Oxford, wears spectacles, 
and has heard that ' Evelina ' was written by Dr. 
Johnson. 

I am afraid I cannot undertake to carry 



214 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 179O 

Martha's shoes home, for, though we had plenty 
of room in our trunks when we came, we shall have 
many more things to take back, and I must allow 
besides for my packing, 

There is to be a grand gala on Tuesday even 
ing in Sydney Gardens, a concert, with illumina- 
tions and fireworks. To the latter Elizabeth and I 
look forward with pleasure, and even the concert 
will have more than its usual charm for me, as the 
gardens are large enough for me to get pretty well 
beyond the reach of its sound. In the morning 
Lady Willoughby is to present the colours to some 
corps, or Yeomanry, or other, in the Crescent, and 
that such festivities may have a proper commence- 
ment, we think of going to ... 

I am quite pleased with Martha and Mrs. Lefroy 
for wanting the pattern of our caps, but I am not 
so well pleased with your giving it to them. Some 
wish, some prevailing wish, is necessary to the 
animation of everybody's mind, and in gratifying 
this you leave them to form some other which will 
not probably be half so innocent. I shall not for- 
get to write to Frank. Duty and love, &c 

Yours affectionately, 

JANE. 



1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 215 

My uncle is quite surprised at my hearing from 
you so often ; but as long as we can keep the fre- 
quency of our correspondence from Martha's uncle, 
we will not fear our own. 

Miss Austen, Steventon. 

XX. 

13, Queen Square, Tuesday (June 11). 

MY DEAE CASSANDEA, 

Your letter yesterday made me very happy, I 
am heartily glad that you have escaped any share 
in the impurities of Deane, and not sorry, as it 
turns out, that our stay here has been lengthened 
I feel tolerably secure of our getting away next 
week, though it is certainly possible that we may 
remain till Thursday the 27th. I wonder what we 
shall do with all our intended visits this summer ! 
I should like to make a compromise with Adle- 
strop, Harden, and Bookham, that Martha's spend- 
ing the summer at Steventon should be considered 
as our respective visits to them all. 

Edward has been pretty well for this last week, 
and as the waters have never disagreed with him 
in any respect, we are inclined to hope that he will 
derive advantage from them in the end. Every- 



216 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1799 

body encourages us in this expectation, for they 
all say that the effect of the waters cannot be nega- 
tive, and many are the instances in which their 
benefit is felt afterwards more than on the spot. 
He is more comfortable here than I thought he 
would be, and so is Elizabeth, though they will 
both, I believe, be very glad to get away the latter 
especially, which one can't wonder at somehow. 
So much for Mrs. Piozzi. I had some thoughts of 
writing the whole of my letter in her style, but I 
believe I shall not. 

Though you have given me unlimited powers 
concerning your sprig, I cannot determine what to 
do about it, and shall therefore in this and in every 
other future letter continue to ask your farther 
directions. We have been to the cheap shop, and 
very cheap we found it, but there are only flowers 
made there, no fruit ; and as I could get four or 
live very pretty sprigs of the former for the same 
money which would procure only one Orleans 
plum in short, could get more for three or four 
shillings than I could have means of bringing 
home I cannot decide on the fruit till I hear from 
you again. Besides, I cannot help thinking that it is 
more natural to have flowers grow out of the head 
than fruit. What do you think on that subject ? 



3799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 217 

I would not let Martha read ' First Impressions 
again upon any account, and am very glad that I 
did not leave it in your power. She is very cunning, 
but I saw through her design ; she means to pub- 
lish it from memory, and one more perusal must 
enable her to do it. As for ' Fitzalbini,' when I get 
home she shall have it, as soon as ever she will 
own that Mr. Elliott is handsomer than Mr. Lance, 
that fair men are preferable to black ; for I mean 
to take every opportunity of rooting out her pre- 
judices. 

Benjamin Portal is here. How charming that 
is ! I do not exactly know why, but the phrase 
followed so naturally that I could not help putting 
it down. My mother saw him the other day, but 
without making herself known to him. 

I am very glad you liked my lace, and so are 
you, and so is Martha, and we are all glad together 
I have got your cloak home, which is quite de- 
lightful as delightful at least as half the circum- 
stances which are called so. 

I do not know what is the matter with me to- 
day, but I cannot write quietly ; I am always 
wandering away into some exclamation or other. 
Fortunately I have nothing very particular to 
say. 



218 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1790 

We walked to Weston one evening last week, 
and liked it very much. Liked what very much ? 
Weston ? No, walking to Weston. I have not ex- 
pressed myself properly, but I hope you will under- 
stand me. 

We have not been to any public place lately, 
nor performed anything out of the common daily 
routine of No. 13, Queen Square, Bath. But to- 
day we were to have dashed away at a very extra- 
ordinary rate, by dining out, had it not so happened 
that we did not go. 

Edward renewed his acquaintance lately with 
Mr. Evelyn, who lives in the Queen's Parade, and 
was invited to a family dinner, which I believe at 
first Elizabeth was rather sorry at his accepting ; 
but yesterday Mrs. Evelyn called on us, and her 
manners were so pleasing that we liked the idea of 
going very much. The Biggs would call her a nice 
woman. But Mr. Evelyn, who was indisposed 
yesterday, is worse to-day, and we are put off. 

It is rather impertinent to suggest any house- 
hold care to a housekeeper, but I just venture to 
say that the coffee-mill will be wanted every day 
while Edward is at Steventon, as he always drinks 
coffee for breakfast. 

Fanny desires her love to you, her love to 



1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 219 

grandpapa, her love to Anna, and her love to 
Hannah ; the latter is particularly to be remem- 
bered. Edward desires his love to you, to grand- 
papa, to Anna, to little Edward, to Aunt James 
and Uncle James, and he hopes all your turkeys 
and ducks, and chicken and guinea fowls are very 
well ; and he wishes you very much to send him 
a printed letter, and so does Fanny and they both 
rather think they shall answer it. 

' On more accounts than one you wished our 
stay here to be lengthened beyond last Thursday.' 
There is some mystery in this. What have you 
going on in Hampshire besides the itch from 
which you want to keep us ? 

Dr. Gardiner was married yesterday to Mrs. 
Percy and her three daughters. 

Now I will give you the history of Mary's veil, 
in the purchase of which I have so considerably 
involved you that it is my duty to economise for 
you in the flowers. I had no difficulty in getting a 
muslin veil for half a guinea, and not much more 
in discovering afterwards that the muslin was thick, 
dirty, and ragged, and therefore would by no means 
do for a united gift. I changed it consequently 
as soon as I could, and, considering what a state 
my imprudence had reduced me to, I thought 



220 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 179i) 

myself lucky in getting a black lace one for sixteen 
shillings. I hope the half of that sum will not 
greatly exceed what you had intended to offer upon 
the altar of sister-in-law affection. 

Yours affectionately, JANE 

They do not seem to trouble you much from 
Manydown. I have long wanted to quarrel with 
them, and I believe I shall take this opportunity. 
There is no denying that they are very capricious 
for they like to enjoy their elder sister's com- 
pany when they can. 

Miss Austen, Steventon, Overtoil, Hants. 

XXI. 

13, Queen Square, Wednesday (June 19). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

The children were delighted with your letters, 
as 1 fancy they will tell you themselves before this 
is concluded. Fanny expressed some surprise at 
the wetness of the wafers, but it did not lead to 
any suspicion of the truth. 

Martha and you were just in time with your 
commissions, for two o'clock on Monday was the 
last hour of my receiving them. The office is now 
closed. 



1709 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 221 

John Lyford's history is a melancholy one. I 
feel for his family, and when I know that his wife 
was really fond of him, I will feel for her too, but 
at present I cannot help thinking their loss the 
greatest. 

Edward has not been well these last two days ; 
his appetite has failed him, and he has complained 
of sick and uncomfortable feelings, which, with 
other symptoms, make us think of the gout ; per- 
haps a fit of it might cure him, but I cannot wish 
it to begin at Bath. He made an important pur- 
chase yesterday : no less so than a pair of coach- 
horses. His friend Mr. Evelyn found them out 
and recommended them, and if the judgment of a 
Yahoo can ever be depended on, I suppose it 
may now, for I believe Mr. Evelyn has all his 
life thought more of horses than of anything else. 
Their colour is black and their size not large ; their 
price sixty guineas, of which the chair mare was 
taken as fifteen but this is of course to be a 
secret. 

Mrs. Williams need not pride herself upon her 
knowledge of Dr. Mapleton's success here ; she 
knows no more than everybody else knows in 
Bath. There is not a physician in the place who 
writes so many prescriptions as he does. I cannot 



222 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1799 

help wishing that Edward had not been tied down 
to Dr. Fellowes, for, had he come disengaged, we 
should all have recommended Dr. Mapleton ; my 
uncle and aunt as earnestly as ourselves. I do not 
seethe Miss Mapletons very often, but just as often 
as I like ; we are always very glad to meet, and I 
do not wish to wear out our satisfaction. 

Last Sunday we all drank tea in Paragon ; my 
uncle is still in his flannels, but is getting better again. 

On Monday Mr. Evelyn was well enough for 
us to fulfil our engagement with him ; the visit was 
very quiet and uneventful pleasant enough. We 
met only another Mr. Evelyn, his cousin, whose 
wife came to tea. 

Last night we were in Sydney Gardens again, 
as there was a repetition of the gala which went 
off so ill on the 4th. We did not go till nine, and 
then were in very good time for the fireworks, 
which were really beautiful, and surpassing my ex- 
pectation ; the illuminations too were very pretty. 
The weather was as favourable as it was otherwise 
a fortnight ago. The play on Saturday is, 1 hope, 
to conclude our gaieties here, for nothing but a 
lengthened stay will make it otherwise. We go 
with Mrs. Fellowes. 

Edward will not remain at Steventon longer 



1799 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 223 

than from Thursday to the following Monday, I 
believe, as the rent-day is to be fixed for the con- 
secutive Friday. 

I can recollect nothing more to say at present ; 
perhaps breakfast may assist my ideas. I was de- 
ceived my breakfast supplied only two ideas that 
the rolls were good and the butter bad. But the 
post has been more friendly to me it has brought 
me a letter from Miss Pearson. 

You may remember that I wrote to her above 
two months ago about the parcel under my care ; 
and as I had heard nothing from her since, I 
thought myself obliged to write again two or three 
days ago, for after all that has passed I was deter- 
mined that the correspondence should never cease 
through my means. This second letter has pro- 
duced an apology for her silence, founded on the 
illness of several of the family. The exchange of 
packets is to take place through the medium of 
Mr. Nutt, probably one of the sons belonging to 
Woolwich Academy, who comes to Overton in the 
beginning of July. I am tempted to suspect from 
some parts of her letter that she has a matrimonial 
project in view. I shall question her about it when 
I answer her letter, but all this you know is en 
mystere between ourselves. 



224 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1790 

Edward has seen the apothecary to whom Dr. 
Millman recommended him, a sensible, intelligent 
man, since I began this, and he attributes his pre- 
sent little feverish indisposition to his having ate 
something unsuited to his stomach. I do not un- 
derstand that Mr. Anderton suspects the gout at 
all ; the occasional particular glow in the hands and 
feet, which we considered as a symptom of that 
disorder, he only calls the effect of the water in 
promoting a better circulation of the blood. 

I cannot help thinking from your account of 
Mrs. E. H. that Earle's vanity has tempted him to 
invent the account of her former way of life, that 
his triumph in securing her might be greater ; I 
dare say she was nothing but an innocent country 
girl in fact. Adieu ! I shall not write again before 
Sunday, unless anything particular happens. 

Yours ever, Jjunfc 

We shall be with you on Thursday to a very late 
dinner later, I suppose, than my father will like 
for himself but I give him leave to eat one before 
You must give us something very nice, for we are 
used to live well. 

Miss Austen, Steventon, Overton, Hants. 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 225 

I8OO, 1 80 1 

THESE are all addressed to Godmersliam, where 
Cassandra was staying with her brother Edward. 
' Heathcote and Chute for ever,' in the first letter 
(No. 22), refers to the two Conservative members, 
who again stood and were returned without a 
contest in 1802. Mr. William Chute, of the Vine, 
in the parish of Sherborn St. John, Basingstoke, 
was a mighty fox-hunter, and the founder of the 
celebrated pack which has since been called by 
the name of his house. He was elected M.P. for 
Hants in 1795. Camden mentions this seat in the 
following laudatory words, after the description of 
Basing House : 

'Neere unto this house, the Vine sheweth it- 
selfe, a very faire place, and mansion house of the 
Baron Sands, so named of the vines there, which 
wee have had in Britaine, since Probus the em- 
perour's time, rather for shade than fruit. For, 
hee permitted the Britaines to have vines. The 
first of these Barons was Sir William Sands, whom 
King Henry the Eigth advanced to that dignitie, 
being Lord Chamberlaine unto him, and having 

o 7 o 

much amended his estate by marrying Margerie 
VOL. i. Q 



226 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

Bray, daughter and heire of John Bray, and cousin 
to Sir Reinold Bray, a most worthy Knight of the 
Order of the Garter, and a right noble Banneret : 
whose son Thomas Lord Sands was grandfather to 
William L. Sands that now liveth.' 

Warner has, in his ' History of Hampshire,' an 
interesting account of this place and of the Sands 
family, concluding thus : ' About 1654, the ancient 
family mansion of the Vine, together with the estate, 
was sold, in those unhappy times, to Chaloner Chute, 
Esq., a lawyer, who, in 1656, was returned member 
for Middlesex ; and again for the same place in the 
Parliament of Eichard Cromwell ; and also Speaker 
of the House, but from the anxiety of his mind 
respecting the tumults, he was so ill, that the Par- 
liament chose another Speaker, until his health 
should be re-established ; but that never happened : 
he dying April 15, 1659.' Anthony Chute, says 
Warner, ' stood the famous contested election for 
the county ' in 1734, and afterwards sat for Yar- 
mouth and subsequently for Newport in the Isle of 
Wight. A collateral branch of Chutes, from Nor- 
folk, came into this property in 1776. 

An allusion in letter No. 24 (written Novem- 
ber 20, 1800) to James Digweed's compliment to 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 227 

Cassandra respecting the fall of two elms, suggests 
the quotation from a letter published by Mr. 
Austen Leigh, of the date of November 8, in that 
same year : ' Sunday evening. We have had a 
dreadful storm of wind in the fore-part of th is day 
which has done a great deal of mischief among 
our trees. I was sitting alone in the dining-room 
when an odd kind of crash startled me ; in a 
moment afterwards it was repeated. I then went 
to the window, which I reached just in time to see 
the last of our two highly valued elms descend 
into the sweep ; the other, which had fallen, I sup- 
pose, in the first crash, and which was the nearest 
to the pond, taking a more easterly direction, sank 
among our screen of chestnuts and firs, knocking 
down one spruce fir, breaking off the head of 
another, and stripping the two corner chestnuts 
of several branches in its fall. This is not all. 
One large elm out of the two on the left-hand side 
as you enter what I call the elm walk was likewise 
blown down ; the maple bearing the weather-cock 
was broke in two, and what I regret more than all 
the rest is, that all the three elms which grew in 
Hall's meadow and gave such ornament to it are 
gone ; two were blown down, and the other so 

Q2 



228 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

much injured that it cannot stand. I am happy 
to add, however, that no greater evil than the 
loss of the trees has been the consequence of the 
storm in this place, or in our immediate neighbour- 
hood ; we grieve, therefore, in some comfort.' In 
this same twenty-fourth letter occurs the sentence 
* You and George walking to Eggerton ! ' Eggerton, 
or more properly Eggarton, was an old manor-house 
near Godmersham, on the other side of the river. 
It formerly belonged that is to say, so long ago 
as the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the Scots of 
Scot's Hall, from whose possession it passed through 
several hands until it came into those of the Gott 
family, one of whom left it to the co-heiresses of 
William Western Hugessen of Provender ; and when 
these two ladies married respectively Sir Edward 
Knatchbull (my grandfather) and Sir Joseph Banks, 
this property was sold to Jane, a sister of Mr. 
Thomas Knight. Another of his sisters, Mrs. 
Elizabeth Knight, was of weak intellect, and after 
the two sisters had resided first at Bilting, she was 
moved to Eggarton, a larger and more convenient 
house, and two lady attendants, Miss Cuthbert and 
her sister Maria, were engaged to look after her, 
which they did for many years. It was to these 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 22 9 

ladies that the visits from Godmersham were paid. 
Eggarton House stood on the east side of God- 
mersham, in the parish of Crundale, near a wood, 
which went by the name of Purr Wood, and was 
eventually pulled down by my grandfather, Mr. 
Knight, who did not care to let it, being so near 
Godmersham. 

The twenty-fifth letter is almost entirely taken 
up with remarks upon the preparations for leaving 
Steventon and settling at Bath, which event oc- 
curred in 1801, and does not seem to have been 
regretted by Jane as much as one would have ex- 
pected. But the fact is that she was very little 
dependent upon the world outside her own family, 
and carried with her wherever she went occupa- 
tions and resources of her own which did not 
require to be supplemented by extraneous assist- 
ance. Her home was wherever her own people 
were, and whether at Steventon, Bath, or else- 
where, her cheerful temperament was even and 
unvaried, and assured her own happiness as well 
as that of those with whom she lived. 

The other letters in this division do not seem to 
require further explanation. 



230 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 



XXII. 

Steventon : Saturday evening (October 25). 

MY DEAE CASSANDEA, 

I am not yet able to acknowledge the receipt 
of any parcel from London, which I suppose will 
not occasion you much surprise. I was a little 
disappointed to-day, but not more so than is per- 
fectly agreeable, and I hope to be disappointed 
again to-morrow, as only one coach comes down 
on Sundays. 

You have had a very pleasant journey of course, 
and have found Elizabeth and all the children 
very well on your arrival at Godmersham, and 1 
congratulate you on it. Edward is rejoicing this 
evening, I dare say, to find himself once more at 
home, from which he fancies he has been absent 
a great while. His son left behind him the very 
fine chestnuts which had been selected for planting 
at Godmersham, and the drawing of his own which 
he had intended to carry to George ; the former 
will therefore be deposited in the soil of Hamp- 
shire instead of Kent, the latter I have already 
consigned to another element. 

We have been exceedingly busy ever since you 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 231 

went away. In the first place we have had to re- 
joice two or three times every day at your having 
such very delightful weather for the whole of your 
journey, and in the second place we have been 
obliged to take advantage of the very delightful 
weather ourselves by going to see almost all oui 
neighbours. 

c 

On Thursday we walked to Deane, yesterday to 
Oakley Hall and Oakley, and to-day to Deane 
again. At Oakley Hall we did a great deal eat 
some sandwiches all over mustard, admired Mr. 
Bramston's porter, and Mrs. Bramston's transpa- 
rencies, and gained a promise from the latter of 
two roots of heartsease, one all yellow and the 
other all purple, for you. At Oakley we bought 
ten pair of worsted stockings and a shift ; the shift 
is for Betty Dawkins, as we find she wants it more 
than a rug ; she is one of the most grateful of all 
whom Edward's charity has reached, or at least 
she expresses herself more warmly than the rest, 
for she sends him a ' sight of thanks.' 

This morning we called at the Har woods' > and 
in their dining-room found ' Heathcote and Chute 
for ever.' Mrs. William Heathcote and Mrs. 
Chute the first of whom took a long ride yester- 
day morning with Mrs. Harwood into Lord Car- 



232 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

narvon's park, and fainted away in the evening, and 
the second walked down from Oakley Hall attended 
by Mrs. Augusta Bramston ; they had meant to- 
come on to Steventon afterwards, but we knew a 
trick worth two of that. If I had thought of it 
in time, I would have said something civil to her 
about Edward's never having had any serious idea 
of calling on Mr. Chute while he was in Hamp- 
shire ; but unluckily it did not occur to me. Mrs, 
Heathcote is gone home to-day ; Catherine had paid 
her an early visit at Deane in the morning, and 
brought a good account of Harris. 

James went to Winchester Fair yesterday, and 
bought a new horse, and Mary has got a new maid 
two great acquisitions ; one comes from Folly farm, 
is about five years old, used to draw, and thought 
very pretty, and the other is niece to Dinah at 
Kintbury. 

James called by my father's desire on Mr. Bayle 
to inquire into the cause of his being so horrid. 
Mr. Bayle did not attempt to deny his being 
horrid, and made many apologies for it ; he did 
not plead his having a drunken self, he talked 
only of a drunken foreman, &c., and gave hopes 
of the tables being at Steventon on Monday 
se'nnight next. We have had no letter since you 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 233 

left us, except one from Mr. Serle of Bishopstoke 
to inquire the character of James Elton. 

Our whole neighbourhood is at present very 
busy grieving over poor Mrs. Martin, who has 
totally failed in her business, and had very lately 
an execution in her house. Her own brother and 
Mr. Eider are the principal creditors, and they 
have seized her effects in order to prevent other 
people's doing it. There has been the same affair 
going on, we are told, at Wilson's, and my hearing 
nothing of you makes me apprehensive that you, 
your fellow-travellers, and all your effects, might 
be seized by the bailiffs when you stopt at the 
house, and sold altogether for the benefit of the 
creditors. 

In talking of Mr. Deedes' new house, Mrs. 
Bramston told us one circumstance, which, that 
we should be ignorant of it before, must make 
Edward's conscience fly into his face ; she told us 
that one of the sitting rooms at Sandling, an oval 
room, with a bow at one end, has the very re- 
markable and singular feature of a fire-place with 
a window, the centre window of the bow, exactly 
over the mantel-piece. 

Sunday. This morning's unpromising aspect 
makes it absolutely necessary for me to observe 



234 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

once more how peculiarly fortunate you have been 
in your weather, and then I will drop the subject 
for ever. Our improvements have advanced very 
well ; the bank along the elm walk is sloped down 
for the reception of thorns and lilacs, and it is 
settled that the other side of the path is to con- 
tinue turfed, and to be planted with beech, ash, 
and larch. 

Monday. I am glad I had no means of sending 
this yesterday, as I am now able to thank you for 
executing my commission so well. I like the 
gown very much, and my mother thinks it very 
ugly. I like the stockings also very much, and 
greatly prefer having two pair only of that quality 
to three of an inferior sort. The combs are very 
pretty, and I am much obliged to you for your 
present, but am sorry you should make me so 
many. The pink shoes are not particularly beauti- 
ful, but they fit me very well ; the others are 
faultless. I am glad that I have still my cloak to 
expect. 

Among my other obligations, I must not omit 
to remember your writing me so long a letter in a 
time of such hurry. I am amused by your going 
to Milgate at last, and glad that you have so 
charming a day for your journey home. 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 235 

My father approves his stockings very highly, 
and finds no fault with any part of Mrs. Hancock's 
bill except the charge of 3s. Qd. for the packing 
box. 

The weather does not know how to be other- 
wise than fine. I am surprised that Mrs. Marriot 
should not be taller. Surely you have made a 
mistake. Did Mr. Eoland make you look well ? 
Yours affectionately, J. A. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversbam, Kent. 

XXIII. 

Steventon : Saturday (November 1). 

MY DEAE CASSANDRA, 

You have written, I am sure, though I have 
received no letter from you since your leaving 
London ; the post, and not yourself, must have 
been unpunctual. 

We have at last heard from Frank ; a letter 
from him to you came yesterday, and I mean to 
send it on as soon as I can get a ditto (that means a 
frank), which I hope to do in a day or two. En 
attendant, you must rest satisfied with knowing 
that on the 8th of July the ' Petterel,' with the rest 



236 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

of the Egyptian squadron, was off the Isle of 
Cyprus, whither they went from Jaffa for provi- 
sions, &c., and whence they were to sail in a day 
or two for Alexandria, there to wait the result of 
the English proposals for the evacuation of Egypt. 
The rest of the letter, according to the present 
fashionable style of composition, is chiefly descrip- 
tive. Of his promotion he knows nothing ; of 
prizes he is guiltless. 

Your letter is come ; it came, indeed, twelve 
lines ago, but I could not stop to acknowledge it 
before, and I am glad it did not arrive till I had 
completed my first sentence, because the sentence 
had been made ever since yesterday, and I think 
forms a very good beginning. 

Your abuse of our gowns amuses but does not 
discourage me ; I shall take mine to be made up 
next week, and the more I look at it the better it 
pleases me. My cloak came on Tuesday, and, 
though I expected a good deal, the beauty of the 
lace astonished me. It is too handsome to be 
worn almost too handsome to be looked at. The 
glass is all safely arrived also, and gives great 
satisfaction. The wine-glasses are much smaller 
than I expected, but I suppose it is the proper 
size. We find no fault with your manner of per- 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 237 

forming any of our commissions, but if you like to 
think yourself remiss in any of them, pray do. 

My mother was rather vexed that you could 
not go to Penlington's, but she has since written to 
him, which does just as well. Mary is disappointed, 
of course, about her locket, and of course delighted 
about the mangle, which is safe at Basingstoke. 
You will thank Edward for it on their behalf, &c., 
&c., and, as you know how much it was wished for, 
will not feel that you are inventing gratitude. 

Did you think of our ball on Thursday evening, 
and did you suppose me at it ? You might very 
safely, for there I was. On Wednesday morning 
it was settled that Mrs. Harwood, Mary, and I 
should go together, and shortly afterwards a very 
civil note of invitation for me came from Mrs. 
Bramston, who wrote I believe as soon as she 
knew of the ball. I might likewise have gone 
witli Mrs. Lefroy, and therefore, with three methods 
of going, I must have been more at the ball than 
anyone else. I dined and slept at Deane ; Charlotte 
and I did my hair, which I fancy looked very in- 
different ; nobody abused it, however, and I retired 
delighted with my success. 

It was a pleasant ball, and still more good than 
pleasant, for there were nearly sixty people, and 



238 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

sometimes we had seventeen couple. The Ports- 
mouths, Dorchesters, Boltons, Portals, and Clerks 
were there, and all the meaner and more usual &c., 
&c.'s. There was a scarcity of men in general, 
and a still greater scarcity of any that were good 
for much. I danced nine dances out of ten five 
with Stephen Terry, T. Chute, and James Digweed, 
and four with Catherine. There was commonly a 
couple of ladies standing up together, but not often 
any so amiable as ourselves. 

I heard no news, except that Mr. Peters, who 
was not there, is supposed to be particularly at- 
tentive to Miss Lyford. You were inquired after 
very prettily, and I hope the whole assembly now 
understands that you are gone into Kent, which 
the families in general seemed to meet in ignorance 
of. Lord Portsmouth surpassed the rest in his 
attentive recollection of you, inquired more into 
the length of your absence, and concluded by 
desiring to be ' remembered to you when I wrote 
next.' 

' Lady Portsmouth had got a different dress on, 
and Lady Bolton is much improved by a wig. The 
three Miss Terries were there, but no Annie ; which 
was a great disappointment to me. I hope the 
poor girl had not set her heart on her appearance 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 230 

that evening so much as I had. Mr. Terry is ill, 
in a very low way. I said civil things to Edward 
for Mr. Chute, who amply returned them by de- 
claring that, had he known of my brother's being 
at Steventon, he should have made a point of 
calling upon him to thank him for his civility 
about the Hunt. 

I have heard from Charles, and am to send 
his shirts by half-dozens as they are finished ; one 
set will go next week. The ' Endymion ' is now 
waiting only for orders, but may wait for them 
perhaps a month. Mr. Coulthard 1 was unlucky in 
very narrowly missing another unexpected guest 
at Chawton, for Charles had actually set out and 
got half way thither in order to spend one day 
with Edward, but turned back on discovering the 
distance to be considerably more than he had 
fancied, and finding himself and his horse to be 
very much tired. I should regret it the more if 
his friend Shipley had been of the party, for Mr. 
Coulthard might not have been so well pleased to 
see only one come at a time. 

Miss Harwood is still at Bath, and writes word 
that she never was in better health, and never 
more happy. Joshua Wakeford died last Saturday, 

1 Mr. Coulthard rented Chawton House at this time. 



240 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

and my father buried him on Thursday. A deaf 
Miss Fonnereau is at Ashe, which has prevented 
Mrs. Lefroy's going to Worting or Basingstoke 
during the absence of Mr. Lefroy. 

My mother is very happy in the prospect of 
dressing a new doll which Molly has given Anna. 
My father's feelings are not so enviable, as it ap- 
pears that the farm cleared 300Z. last year. James 
and Mary went to Ibthorp for one night last 
Monday, and found Mrs. Lloyd not in very good 
looks. Martha has been lately at Kintbury, but is 
probably at home by this time. Mary's promised 
maid has jilted her, and hired herself elsewhere. 
The Debaries persist in being afflicted at the death 
of their uncle, of whom they now say they saw a 
great deal in London. Love to all. I am glad 
George remembers me. 

Yours very affectionately, J. A. 

I am very unhappy. In re-reading your letter 
I find I might have spared myself any intelligence 
of Charles. To have written only what you knew 
before ! You may guess how much I feel. I 
wore at the ball your favourite gown, a bit of 
muslin of the same round my head, bordered with 
Mrs. Cooper's band, and one little comb. 

Miss Austen, CTodinersham Park. 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 241 

XXIV. 

Steventon: Thursday (November 20). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

Your letter took me quite by surprise this 
morning ; you are very welcome, however, and I am 
very much obliged to you. I believe I drank toe 
much wine last night at Hurstbourne ; I know not 
how else to account for the shaking of my hand 
to-day. You will kindly make allowance there- 
fore for any indistinctness of writing, by attribut- 
ing it to this venial error. 

Naughty Charles did not come on Tuesday, but 
good Charles came yesterday morning. About two 
o'clock he walked in on a Gosport hack. His 
feeling equal to such a fatigue is a good sign, and 
his feeling no fatigue in it a still better. He walked 
down to Deane to dinner ; he danced the whole 
evening, and to-day is no more tired than a gentle- 
man ought to be. 

Your desiring to hear from me on Sunday will, 
perhaps, bring you a more particular account of 
the ball than you may care for, because one is 
prone to think much more of such things the morn- 
ing after they happen, than when time has entirely 
driven them out of one's recollection. 

VOL. i. R 



242 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

It was a pleasant evening ; Charles found it 
remarkably so, but I cannot tell why, unless the 
absence of Miss Terry, towards whom his con- 
science reproaches him with being now perfectly 
indifferent, was a relief to him. There were only 
twelve dances, of which I danced nine, and was 
merely prevented from dancing the rest by the 
want of a partner. We began at ten, supped at 
one, and were at Deane before five. There were 
but fifty people in the room ; very few families 
indeed from our side of the county, and not many 
more from the other. My partners were the two 
St. Johns, Hooper, Holder, and very prodigious 
Mr. Mathew, with whom I called the last, and 
whom I liked the best of my little stock. 

There were very few beauties, and such as there 
were were not very handsome. Miss Iremonger 
did not look well, and Mrs. Blount was the only 
one much admired. She appeared exactly as she 
did in September, with the same broad face, dia- 
mond bandeau, white shoes, pink husband, and fat 
neck. The two Miss Coxes were there : I traced 
in one the remains of the vulgar, broad-featured 
girl who danced at Enham eight years ago ; the 
other is refined into a nice, composed-looking 
girl, like Catherine Bigg. I looked at Sir Thomas 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 243 

Champneys and thought of poor Eosalie ; I looked 
at his daughter, and thought her a queer animal 
with a white neck. Mrs. Warren, I was constrained 
to think a very fine young woman, which I much 
regret. She danced away with great activity. Her 
husband is ugly enough, uglier even than his 
cousin John ; but he does not look so very old. 
The Miss Maitlands are both prettyish, very like 
Anne, with brown skins, large dark eyes', and a 
good deal of nose. The General has got the gout, 
and Mrs. Maitland the jaundice. Miss Debary, 
Susan, and Sally, all in black, but without any 
statues, made their appearance, and I was as civil 
to them as circumstances would allow me. 

They told me nothing new of Martha. I mean 
to go to her on Thursday, unless Charles should 
determine on coming over again with his friend 
Shipley for the Basingstoke ball, in which case I 
shall not go till Friday. I shall write to you again, 
however, before I set off, and I shall hope to hear 
from you in the meantime. If I do not stay for 
the ball, I would not on any account do so uncivil 
a thing by the neighbourhood as to set off at that 
very time for another place, and shall therefore 
make a point of not being later than Thursday 
morning. 

R2 



244 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

Mary said that I looked very well last night. 
I wore my aunt's gown and handkerchief, and my 
hair was at least tidy, which was all my ambition. 
I will now have done with the ball, and I will 
moreover go and dress for dinner. 

Thursday evening. Charles leaves us on Satur- 
day, unless Henry should take us in his way to the 
island, of which we have some hopes, and then 
they will probably go together on Sunday. 

The young lady whom it is expected that Sir 
Thomas is to marry is Miss Emma Wabshaw ; 
she lives somewhere between Southampton and 
Winchester, is handsome, accomplished, amiable, 
and everything but rich. He is certainly finishing 
his house ip. a great hurry. Perhaps the report of 
his being to marry a Miss Fanshawe might origi- 
nate in his attentions to this very lady the names 
are not unlike. 

Summers has made my gown very well indeed, 
and I get more and more pleased with it. Charles 
does not like it, but my father and Mary do. My 
mother is very much resigned to it ; and as for 
James, he gives it the preference over everything 
of the kind he ever saw, in proof of which I am 
desired to say that if you like to sell yours Mary 
will buy it. 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 245 

We had a very pleasant day on Monday at 
Ashe, we sat down fourteen to dinner in the study, 
the dining-room being not habitable from the 
storms having blown down its chimney. Mrs. 
Bramston talked a good deal of nonsense, which 
Mr. Bramston and Mr. Clerk seemed almost equally 
to enjoy. There was a whist and a casino table, 
and six outsiders. Rice and Lucy made love, Mat. 
Robinson fell asleep, James and Mrs. Augusta alter- 
nately read Dr. Finnis' pamphlet on the cow-pox, 
and I bestowed my company by tarns on all. 

On inquiring of Mrs. Clerk, I find that Mrs. 
Heathcote made a great blunder in her news of 
the Crookes and Morleys. It is young Mr. Crook 
who is to marry the second Miss Morley, and 
it is the Miss Morleys instead of the second Miss 
Crooke who were the beauties at the music meet- 
ing. This seems a more likely tale, a better devised 
imposture. 

The three Digweeds all came on Tuesday, and 
we played a pool at commerce. James Dig weed 
left Hampshire to-day. I think he must be in love 
with you, from his anxiety to have you go to the 
Faversham balls, and likewise from his suppos- 
ing that the two elms fell from their grief at 
your absence. Was not it a gallant idea ? It 



246 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

never occurred to me before, but I dare say it 
was so. 

Hacker has been here to-day putting in the 
fruit trees. A new plan has been suggested con- 
cerning the plantation of the new inclosure of the 
right-hand side of the elm walk : the doubt is 
whether it would be better to make a little orchard 
of it by planting apples, pears, and cherries, or 
whether it should be larch, mountain ash, and 
acacia. What is your opinion ? I say nothing, and 
am ready to agree with anybody. 

You and George walking to Eggerton ! What a 
droll party ! Do the Ashford people still come to 
Godmersham church every Sunday in a cart ? It 
is you that always disliked Mr. N. Toke so much, 
not /. I do not like his wife, and I do not like 
Mr. Brett, but as for Mr. Toke, there are few people 
whom I like better. 

Miss Harwood and her friend have taken a 
house fifteen miles from Bath ; she writes very 
kind letters, but sends no other particulars of the 
situation. Perhaps it is one of the first houses in 
Bristol. 

Farewell ; Charles sends you his best love and 
Edward his worst. If you think the distinction 
improper, you may take the worst yourself. He 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 247 

will write to you when he gets back to his ship, 
and in the meantime desires that you will consider 

me as 

Your affectionate sister, J. A. 

Friday. I have determined to go on Thurs- 
day, but of course not before the post comes in. 
Charles is in very good looks indeed. I had the 
comfort of finding out the other evening who all 
the fat girls with long noses were that disturbed 
me at the 1st H. ball. They all prove to be Miss 
Atkinsons of En (illegible). 

I rejoice to say that we have just had another 
letter from our dear Frank. It is to you, very 
short, written from Larnica in Cyprus, and so 
lately as October 2. He came from Alexandria, 
and was to return there in three or four days, 
knew nothing of his promotion, and does not write 
above twenty lines, from a doubt of the letter's 
ever reaching you, and an idea of all letters being 
opened at Vienna. He wrote a few days before to 
you from Alexandria by the ' Mercury,' sent with 
despatches to Lord Keith. Another letter must be 
owing to us besides this, one if not two ; because 
none of these are to me. Henry comes to- 
morrow, for one night only. 

My mother has heard from Mrs. E. Leigh. 



248 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

Lady Saye and Scale and her daughter are going to 
remove to Bath. Mrs. Estwick is married again 
to a Mr. Sloane, a young man under age, without 
the knowledge of either family. He bears a good 
character, however. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham, Kent. 

XXV. 

Steventon : Saturday (January 3). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

As you have by this time received my last 
letter, it is fit that I should begin another, and I 
begin with the hope, which is at present uppermost 
in my mind, that you often wore a white gown in 
the morning at the time of all the gay parties being 
with you. 

Our visit at Ash Park, last Wednesday, went 
off in a come-cd way. We met Mr. Lefroy and 
Tom Chute, played at cards, and came home again. 
James and Mary dined here on the following day, 
and at night Henry set off in the mail for London. 
He was as agreeable as ever during his visit, and 
has not lost anything in Miss Lloyd's estimation. 

Yesterday we were quite alone only our four 
selves ; but to-day the scene is agreeably varied by 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 249 

Mary's driving Martha to Basingstoke, and Martha's 
afterwards dining at Deane. 

My mother looks forward with as much cer- 
tainty as you can do to our keeping two maids ; 
my father is the only one not in the secret. We 
plan having a steady cook and a young, giddy 
housemaid, with a sedate, middle-aged man, who 
is to undertake the double office of husband to the 
former and sweetheart to the latter. No children, 
of course, to be allowed on either side. 

You feel more for John Bond than John Bond 
deserves. I am sorry to lower his character, but 
he is not ashamed to own himself that he has no 
doubt at all of getting a good place, and that he 
had even an offer many years ago from a Farmer 
Paine of taking him into his service whenever he 
might quit my father's. 

There are three parts of Bath which we have 
thought of as likely to have houses in them 
Westgate Buildings, Charles Street, and some of 
the short streets leading from Laura Place or 
Pulteney Street. 

Westgate Buildings, though quite in the lower 
part of the town, are not badly situated them- 
selves. The street is broad, and has rather a good 
appearance. Charles Street, however, I think is 



250 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

preferable. The buildings are new, and its nearness 
to Kingsmead Fields would be a pleasant circum- 
stance. Perhaps you may remember, or perhaps 
you may forget, that Charles Street leads from 
the Queen Square Chapel to the two Green Park 
Streets. 

The houses in the streets near Laura Place I 
should expect to be above our price. Gay Street 
would be too high, except only the lower house on 
the left-hand side as you ascend. Towards that 
my mother has no disinclination ; it used to be 
lower rented than any other house in the row, from 
some inferiority in the apartments. But above all 
others her wishes are at present fixed on the 
corner house in Chapel Eow, which opens into 
Prince's Street. Her knowledge of it, however, is 
confined only to the outside, and therefore she is 
equally uncertain of its being really desirable as of 
its being to be had. In the meantime she assures 
you that she will do everything in her power to 
avoid Trim Street, although you have not expressed 
the fearful presentiment of it which was rather 
expected. 

We know that Mrs. Perrot will want to get us 
into Oxford Buildings, but we all unite in particular 
dislike of that part of the town, and therefore hope 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AL'STEX. 251 

to escape. Upon all these different situations you 
and Edward may confer together, and your opinion 
of each will be expected with eagerness. 

As to our pictures, the battle-piece, Mr. Nibbs, 
Sir William East, and all the old heterogeneous, 
miscellany, manuscript, Scriptural pieces dispersed 
over the house, are to be given to James. Your 
own drawings will not cease to be your own, and 
the two paintings on tin will be at your disposal. 
My mother says that the French agricultural 
prints in the best bedroom were given by Edward 
to his two sisters. Do you or he know anything 
about it ? 

She has written to my aunt, and we are all 
impatient for the answer. I do not know how to 
give up the idea of our both going to Paragon in 
May. Your going I consider as indispensably 
necessary, and I shall not like being left behind ; 
there is no place here or hereabouts that I shall 
want to be staying at, and though, to be sure, 
the keep of two will be more than of one, I 
will endeavour to make the difference less by dis- 
ordering my stomach with Bath buns ; and as to 
the trouble of accommodating us, whether there 
are one or two, it is much the same. 

According to the first plan, my mother and 



252 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

our two selves are to travel down together, and 
my father follow us afterwards in about a fortnight 
or three weeks. We have promised to spend a 
couple of days at Ibthorp in our way. We must 
all meet at Bath, you know, before we set out for 
the sea, and, everything considered, I think the 
first plan as good as any. 

My father and mother, wisely aware of the 
difficulty of finding in all Bath such a bed as 
their own, have resolved on taking it with 
them ; all the beds, indeed, that we shall want 
are to be removed viz., besides theirs, our' own 
two, the best for a spare one, and two for ser- 
vants ; and these necessary articles will probably 
be the only material ones that it would answer to 
send down. I do not think it will be worth while 
to remove any of our chests of drawers ; we shall 
be able to get some of a much more commodious 
sort, made of deal, and painted to look very neat ; 
and I flatter myself that for little comforts of all 
kinds our apartment will be one of the most com- 
plete things of the sort all over Bath, Bristol 
included. 

We have thought at times of removing the 
sideboard, or a Pembroke table, or some other 
piece of furniture, but, upon the whole, it has 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 253 

ended in thinking that the trouble and risk of the 
removal would be more than the advantage of 
having them at a place where everything may be 
purchased. Pray send your opinion. 

Martha has as good as promised to come to us 
again in March. Her spirits are better than they 
were. 

I have now attained the true art of letter- 
writing, which we are always told is to express on 
paper exactly what one would say to the same 
person by word of mouth. I have been talking to 
you almost as fast as I could the whole of this 
letter. 

Your Christmas gaieties are really quite sur- 
prising ; I think they would satisfy even Miss 
Walter herself. I hope the ten shillings won by 
Miss Foote may make everything easy between her 
and her cousin Frederick. So Lady Bridges, in the 
delicate language of Coulson Wallop, is in for it ! 
I am very glad to hear of the Pearsons' good 
fortune. It is a piece of promotion which I know 
they looked forward to as very desirable some 
years ago, on Captain Lockyer's illness. It brings 
them a considerable increase of income and a 
better house. 

My mother bargains for having no trouble at 



254 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

all in furnishing our house in Bath, and I have 
engaged for your willingly undertaking to do it all. 
I get more and more reconciled to the idea of our 
removal. We have lived long enough in this 
neighbourhood : the Basingstoke balls are certainly 
on the decline, there is something interesting in 
the bustle of going away, and the prospect of 
spending future summers by the sea or in Wales is 
very delightful. For a time we shall now possess 
many of the advantages which I have often thought 
of with envy in the wives of sailors or soldiers. It 
must not be generally known, however, that I am 
not sacrificing a great deal in quitting the country, 
or I can expect to inspire no tenderness, no in- 
terest, in those we leave behind. 

The threatened Act of Parliament does not 
seem to give any alarm. 

My father is doing all in his power to increase 
his income, by raising his tithes, &c., and I do not 
despair of getting very nearly six hundred a year. 

In what part of Bath do you mean to place 
your bees ? We are afraid of the South Parade's 
being too hot. 

Monday. Martha desires her best love, and 
says a great many kind things about spending 
some time with you in March, and depending on a 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 255 

large return from us both in the autumn. Perhaps 
I may not write again before Sunday. 

Yours affectionately, J. A. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham, Kent. 



XXVI. 

Steventon: Thursday (January 8). 

MY DEAE CASSANDRA, 

The ' perhaps ' which concluded my last letter 
being only a * perhaps,' will not occasion your 
being overpowered with surprise, I dare say, if you 
should receive this before Tuesday, which, unless 
circumstances are very perverse, will be the case. 
I received yours with much general philanthropy, 
and still more peculiar goodwill, two days ago ; 
and I suppose I need not tell you that it was very 
long, being written on a foolscap sheet, and very 
entertaining, being written by you. 

Mr. Payne has been dead long enough for 
Henry to be out of mourning for him before his 
last visit, though we knew nothing of it till about 
that time. Why he died, or of what complaint, or 
to what noblemen he bequeathed his four daughters 
in marriage, we have not heard. 



256 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

I am glad that the Wildmans are going to give 
a ball, and hope you will not fail to benefit both 
yourself and me by laying out a few kisses in the 
purchase of a frank. I believe you are right in 
proposing to delay the cambric muslin, and I sub- 
mit with a kind of voluntary reluctance. 

Mr. Peter Debary has declined Deane curacy ; 
he wishes to be settled near London. A foolish 
reason ! as if Deane were not near London in 
comparison of Exeter or York. Take the whole 
world through, and he will find many more places 
at a greater distance from London than Deane 
than he will at a less. What does he think of 
Glencoe or Lake Katherine ? 

I feel rather indignant that any possible objec- 
tion should be raised against so valuable a piece 
of preferment, so delightful a situation ! that 
Deane should not be universally allowed to be as 
near the metropolis as any other country villages. 
As this is the case, however, as Mr. Peter Debary 
has shown himself a Peter in the blackest sense of 
the word, we are obliged to look elsewhere for an 
heir ; and my father has thought it a necessary 
compliment to James Digweed to offer the curacy 
to him, though without considering it as either a 
desirable or an eligible situation for him. Unless 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 257 

he is in love with Miss Lyford, I think he had 
better not be settled exactly in this neighbourhood ; 
and unless he is very much in love with her in- 
deed, he is not likely to think a salary of 50. 
equal in value or efficiency to one of 7ol. 

Were you indeed to be considered as one of 
the fixtures of the house ! but you were never 
actually erected in it either by Mr. Egerton 
Brydges or Mrs. Lloyd. 

Martha and I dined yesterday at Deane to meet 
the Powletts and Tom Chute, which we did not 
fail to do. Mrs. Powlett was at once expensively 
and nakedly dressed ; we have had the satisfaction 
of estimating her lace and her muslins ; and she 
said too little to afford us much other amusement. 

Mrs. John Lyford is so much pleased with the 
state of widowhood as to be going to put in for 
being a widow again ; she is to marry a Mr. 
Fendall, a banker in Gloucester, a man of very 
good fortune, but considerably older than herself, 
and with three little children. Miss Lyford has 
never been here yet ; she can come only for a day, 
and is not able to fix the day. 

I fancy Mr. Holder will have the farm, and 
without being obliged to depend on the accom- 
modating spirit of Mr. William Portal ; he will 

VOL. i. S 



1258 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

probably have it for the remainder of my father's 
lease. This pleases us all much better than it's 
falling into the hands of Mr. Harwood or Farmer 
Twitchen. Mr. Holder is to come in a day or two 
to talk to my father on the subject, and then John 
Bond's interest will not be forgotten. 

I have had a letter to-day from Mrs. Cooke, 
Mrs. Laurel is going to be married to a Mr. 
Hinchman, a rich East Indian. I hope Mary will 
be satisfied with this proof of her cousin's exis- 
tence and welfare, and cease to torment herself 
with the idea of his bones being bleaching in the 
sun on Wantage Downs. 

Martha's visit is drawing towards its close,, 
which we all four sincerely regret. The wedding 
day is to be celebrated on the 16th, because the 
17th falls on Saturday ; and a day or two before 
the 16th Mary will drive her sister to Ibthorp to 
find all the festivity she can in contriving for 
everybody's comfort, and being thwarted or teased 
by almost everybody's temper. Fulwar, Eliza, and 
Tom Chute are to be of the party. I know of 
nobody else. I was asked, but declined it. 

Eliza has seen Lord Craven at Barton, and 
probably by this time at Kintbury, where he was 
expected for one day this week. She found his 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 259 

manners very pleasing indeed. The little flaw of 
having a mistress now living with him at Ashdown 
Park seems to be the only unpleasing circumstance 
about him. From Ibthorp, Fulwar and Eliza are 
to return with James and Mary to Deane. 

The Prices are not to have an house on Weyhill ; 
for the present he has lodgings in Andover, and 
they are in view of a dwelling hereafter in Apple- 
shaw, that village of wonderful elasticity, which 
stretches itself out for the reception of everybody 
who does not wish for a house on Speen Hill. 

Pray give my love to George ; tell him that I 
am very glad to hear he can skip so well already, 
and that I hope he will continue to send me word 
of his improvement in the art. 

I think you judge very wisely in putting off 
your London visit, and I am mistaken if it be not 
put off for some time. You speak with such noble 
resignation of Mrs. Jordan and the Opera House, 
that it would be an insult to suppose consolation 
required ; but to prevent you thinking with regret 
of this rupture of your engagement with Mr. 
Smithson, I must assure you that Henry suspects 
him to be a great miser. 

Friday. No answer from my aunt. She has 
no time for writing, I suppose, in the* hurry of 

s2 



260 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

selling furniture, packing clothes, and preparing 
for their removal to Scarletts. 

You are very kind in planning presents for me 
to make, and my mother has shown me exactly the 
same attention ; but as I do not choose to have 
generosity dictated to me, I shall not resolve on 
giving my cabinet to Anna till the first thought of 
it has been my own. 

Sidmouth is now talked of as our summer 
abode. Get all the information, therefore, about 
it that you can from Mrs. C. Cage. 

My father's old ministers are already deserting 
him to pay their court to his son. The brown 
mare, which, as well as the black, was to devolve 
on James at our removal, has not had patience to 
wait for that, and has settled herself even now at 
Deane. The death of Hugh Capet, which, like 
that of Mr. Skipsey, though undesired, was not 
wholly unexpected, being purposely effected, has 
made the immediate possession of the mare very 
convenient, and everything else I suppose will be 
seized by degrees in the same manner. Martha 
and I work at the books every day. 

Yours affectionately, J. A. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham, Kent. 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 261 

XXVII. 

Steventon : Wednesday (January 14). 

Poor Miss Austen ! It appears to me that I 
have rather oppressed you of late by the frequency 
of my letters. You had hoped not to hear from 
me again before Tuesday, but Sunday showed you 
with what a merciless sister you had to deal. I 
cannot recall the past, but you shall not hear from 
me quite so often in future. 

Your letter to Mary was duly received before 
she left Dean with Martha yesterday morning, 
and it gives us great pleasure to know that the 
Chilham ball was so agreeable, and that you danced 
four dances with Mr. Kemble. Desirable, however, 
as the latter circumstance was, I cannot help won- 
dering at its taking place. Why did you dance 
four dances with so stupid a man ? why not rather 
dance two of them with some elegant brother 
officer who was struck with your appearance as 
soon as you entered the room ? 

Martha left you her best love. ' She will write 
to you herself in a short time ; but, trusting to my 
memory rather than her own, she has nevertheless 
desired me to ask you to purchase for her two 
bottles of Steele's lavender water when you are in 



262 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

town, provided you should go to the shop on your 
own account, otherwise you may be sure that she 
would not have you recollect the request. 

James dined with us yesterday, wrote to 
Edward in the evening, filled three sides of paper, 
every line inclining too much towards the north- 
east, and the very first line of all scratched out, 
and this morning he joins his lady in the fields of 
Elysium and Ibthorp. 

Last Friday was a very busy day with us. We 
were visited by Miss Lyford and Mr. Bayle. The 
latter began his operations in the house, but had 
only time to finish the four sitting-rooms ; the rest 
is deferred till the spring is more advanced and 
the days longer. He took his paper of appraise- 
ment away with him, and therefore we only know 
the estimate he has made of one or two articles of 
furniture which my father particularly inquired 
into. I understand, however, that he was of opi- 
nion that the whole would amount to more than 
two hundred pounds, and it is not imagined that 
this will comprehend the brewhouse and many 
other, &c., &c. 

Miss Lyford was very pleasant, and gave my 
mother such an account of the houses in Westgate 
Buildings, where Mrs. Lyford lodged four years 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 263 

ago, as made her think of a situation there with 
great pleasure, but your opposition will be without 
difficulty decisive, and my father, in particular, 
who was very well inclined towards the Eow be- 
fore, has now ceased to think of it entirely. At 
present the environs of Laura Place seem to be 
his choice. His views on the subject are much 
advanced since I came home ; he grows quite 
ambitious, and actually requires now a comfort- 
able and a creditable-looking house. 

On Saturday Miss Lyford went to her long 
home that is to say, it was a long way off and 
soon afterwards a party of fine ladies issuing from a 
well-known commodious green vehicle, their heads 
full of Bantam cocks and Gralinies, entered the 
house Mrs. Heathcote, Mrs. Harwood, Mrs. James 
Austen, Miss Bigg, Miss Jane Blachford. 

Hardly a day passes in which we do not have 
some visitor or other : yesterday came Mrs. Bram- 
stone, who is very sorry that she is to lose us, and 
afterwards Mr. Holder, who was shut up for an 
hour with my father and James in a most awful 
manner. John Bond est d lui. 

Mr. Holder was perfectly willing to take him 
on exactly the same terms with my father, and 
John seems exceedingly well satisfied. The com- 



2G4 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

fort of not changing his home is a very material 
one to him, and since such are his unnatural feel- 
ings, his belonging to Mr. Holder is the every thing 
needful ; but otherwise there would have been a 
situation offering to him, which I had thought of 
with particular satisfaction, viz., under Harry Dig- 
weed, who, if John had quitted Cheesedown, would 
have been eager to engage him as superintendent 
at Steventon, would have kept a horse for him to 
ride about on, would probably have supplied him 
with a more permanent home, and I think would 
certainly have been a more desirable master alto- 
gether. 

John and Corbett are not to have any concern 
with each other there are to be two farms and 
two bailiffs. We are of opinion that it would be 
better in only one. 

This morning brought my aunt's reply, and 
most thoroughly affectionate is its tenor. She 
thinks with the greatest pleasure of our being set- 
tled in Bath it is an event which will attach her to 
the place more than anything else could do, &c., &c. 
She is, moreover, very urgent with my mother not 
to delay her visit in Paragon, if she should continue 
unwell, and even recommends her spending the 
whole winter with them. At present and for many 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 265 

days past my mother has been quite stout, and she 
wishes not to be obliged by any relapse to alter 
her arrangements. 

Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlayne are in Bath, lodg- 
ing at the Charitable Eepository ; 1 wish the scene 
may suggest to Mrs. C. the notion of selling her 
black beaver bonnet for the relief of the poor. 
Mrs. Welby has been singing duets with the Prince 
of Wales. 

My father has got above 500 volumes to dispose 
of ; I want James to take them at a venture at half 
a guinea a volume. The whole repairs of the par- 
sonage at Deane, inside and out, coachbox, basket 
and dickey will not much exceed 100/. 

Have you seen that Major Byng, a nephew of 
Lord Torrington, is dead ? That must be Edmund. 

Friday. I thank you for yours, though I should 
have been more grateful for it if it had not been 
charged 8d. instead of 6d., which has given me the 
torment of writing to Mr. Lambould on the occa- 
sion. I am rather surprised at the revival of the 
London visit ; but Mr. Doricourt has travelled he 
knows best. 

That James Digweed has refused Deane curacy 
I suppose lie has told you himself, though probably 
the subject has never been mentioned between you. 



266 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

Mrs. Milles flatters herself falsely, it has never been 
Mrs. Eice's wish to have her son settled near her- 
self ; and there is now a hope entertained of her 
relenting in favour of Deane. 

Mrs. Lefroy and her son-in-law were here yes- 
terday ; she tries not to be sanguine, but he was in 
excellent spirits. I rather wish they may have the 
curacy. It would be an amusement to Mary to 
superintend their household management, and abuse 
them for expense, especially as Mrs. L. means to 
advise them to put their washing out. 

Yours affectionately, J. A. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham, Kent. 

XXVIII. 

Steventon : Wednesday (January 21). 

Expect a most agreeable letter, for not being 
overburdened with subject (having nothing at all 
to say), I shall have no check to my genius from 
beginning to end. 

Well, and so Frank's letter has made you very 
happy, but you are afraid he would not have 
patience to stay for the ' Haarlem,' which you wish 
him to have done as being safer than the mer- 
chantman. Poor fellow ! to wait from the middle 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 267 

of November to the end of December, and perhaps 
even longer, it must be sad work ; especially in a 
place where the ink is so abominably pale. What 
a surprise to him it must have been on October 20, 
to be visited, collared, and thrust out of the 
' Petterell ' by Captain Inglis. He kindly passes 
over the poignancy of his feelings in quitting his 
.ship, his officers, and his men. 

What a pity it is that he should not be in 
England at the time of this promotion, because 
he certainly would have had an appointment, so 
everybody says, and therefore it must be right for 
me to say it too. Had he been really here, the 
certainty of the appointment, I dare say, would not 
have been half so great, but as it could not be 
brought to the proof his absence will be always a 
lucky source of regret. 

Eliza talks of having read in a newspaper that 
all the 1st lieutenants of the frigates whose captains 
were to be sent into line-of-battle ships were to be 
promoted to the rank of commanders. If it be 
true, Mr. Valentine may afford himself a fine Valen- 
tine's knot, and Charles may perhaps become 1st 
of the ' Endymion,' though I suppose Captain 
Durham is too likely to bring a villain with him 
under that denomination. 



268 .LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

I dined at Deane yesterday, as I told you I 
should, and met the two Mr. Holders. We played 
at vingt-un, which, as Fulwar was unsuccessful, gave 
him an opportunity of exposing himself as usual. 

Eliza says she is quite well, but she is thinner 
than when we saw her last, and not in very good 
looks. I suppose she has not recovered from the 
effects of her illness in December. She cuts her 
hair too short over her forehead, and does not wear 
her cap far enough upon her head ; in spite of these 
many disadvantages, however, I can still admire 
her beauty. They all dine here to-day ; much good 
may it do us all. 

William and Tom are much as usual ; Caroline 
is improved in her person ; I think her now really 
a pretty child. She is still very shy, and does not 
talk much. 

Fulwar goes next month into Gloucestershire,. 
Leicestershire, and Warwickshire, and Eliza spends 
the time of his absence at Ibthorp and Deane ; she 
hopes, therefore, to see you before it is long. 

Lord Craven was prevented by company at 
home from paying his visit at Kintbury, but, as I 
told you before, Eliza is greatly pleased with him, 
and they seem likely to be on the most friendly 
terms. 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 269 

Martha returns into this country next Tues- 
day, and then begins her two visits at Deane. 

I expect to see Miss Bigg every day to fix the 
time for my going to Manydown ; I think it will be 
next week, and I shall give you notice of it, if I 
can, that you may direct to me there. 

The neighbourhood have quite recovered the 
death of Mrs. Rider; so much so, that I think they 
are rather rejoiced at it now ; her things were so 
very dear ! and Mrs. Rogers is to be all that is desi- 
rable. Not even death itself can fix the friendship 
of the world. 

You are not to give yourself the trouble of 
going to Penlingtons when you are in town ; my 
father is to settle the matter when he goes there 
himself ; you are only to take special care of the 
bills of his in your hands, and I dare say will 
not be sorry to be excused the rest of the busi- 
ness. 

Thursday. Our party yesterday was very 
quietly pleasant. To-day we all attack Ashe Park, 
and to-morrow I dine again at Deane. What an 
eventful week ! 

Eliza left me a message for you, which I have 
great pleasure in delivering : she will write to you 
and send you your money next Sunday. Mary has 



270 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

likewise a message : she will be much obliged to you 
if you can bring her the pattern of the jacket and 
trousers, or whatever it is that Elizabeth's boys 
wear when they are first put into breeches ; so if 
you could bring her an old suit itself, she would be 
very glad, but that I suppose is hardly done. 

I am happy to hear of Mrs. Knight's amend- 
ment, whatever might be her complaint. 

The Wylmots being robbed must be an amusing 
thing to their acquaintance, and I hope it is as 
much their pleasure as it seems their avocation to 
be subjects of general entertainment. 

I have a great mind not to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter, which I have just had the 
pleasure of reading, because I am so ashamed to 
compare the sprawling lines of this with it. But 
if I say all that I have to say, I hope I have no 
reason to hang myself. 

Caroline was only brought to bed on the 7th of 
this month, so that her recovery does seem pretty 
rapid. I have heard twice from Edward on the 
occasion, and his letters have each been exactly 
what they ought to be cheerful and amusing. He 
dares not write otherwise to me, but perhaps he 
might be obliged to purge himself from the guilt 
of writing nonsense by filling his shoes with whole 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 271 

peas for a week afterwards. Mrs. G. has left him 
100/., his wife and son 500/. each. 

I join with you in wishing for the environs of 
Laura Place, but do not venture to expect it. 
My mother hankers after the Square dreadfully, 
and it is but natural to suppose that my uncle 
will take her part. It would be very pleasant to 
be near Sydney Gardens ; we might go into the 
labyrinth every day. 

You need not endeavour to match my mother's 
morning calico ; she does not mean to make it up 
any more. 

Why did not J. D. make his proposals to you ? I 
suppose he went to see the cathedral, that he might 
know how he should like to be married in it. 

Fanny shall have the boarding-school, as soon 
as her papa gives me an opportunity of sending it ; 
and I do not know whether I may not by that 
time have worked myself into so generous a fit as 
to give it to her for ever. 

We have a ball on Thursday too ; I expect to 
go to it from Manydown. Do not be surprised, or 
imagine that Frank is come, if I write again soon ; 
it will only be to say that I am going to M., and to 
answer your question about my gown. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, Faversham, Kent. 



272 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1*01 

XXIX. 

Steventon: Sunday (January 25). 

I have nothing to say about Manydown, but 
I write because you will expect to hear from me, 
and because if I waited another day or two, I hope 
your visit to Goodnestone would make my letter 
too late in its arrival. I dare say I shall be at M. 
in the course of this week, but as it is not certain 
you will direct to me at home. 

I shall want two new coloured gowns for the 
summer, for my pink one will not do more than 
clear me from Steventon. I shall not trouble you, 
however, to get more than one of them, and that is 
to be a plain brown cambric muslin, for morning 
wear ; the other, which is to be a very pretty 
yellow and white cloud, I mean to buy in Bath. 
Buy two brown ones, if you please, and both of a 
length, but one longer than the other it is for a 
tall woman. Seven yards for my mother, seven 
yards and a half for me ; a dark brown, but the kind 
of brown is left to your own choice, and I had 
rather they were different, as it will be always some- 
thing to say, to dispute about which is the prettiest. 
They must be cambric muslin. 

How do you like this cold weather ? I hope 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 273 

you liave all been earnestly praying for it as a 
salutary relief from the dreadfully mild and un- 
healthy season preceding it, fancying yourself half 
putrified from the want of it, and that now you all 
draw into the fire, complain that you never felt 
such bitterness of cold before, that you are half 
starved, quite frozen, and wish the mild weather 
back again with all your hearts. 

Your unfortunate sister was betrayed last 
Thursday into a situation of the utmost cruelty. 
I arrived at Ashe Park before the party from 
Deane, and was shut up in the drawing-room with 
Mr. Holder alone for ten minutes. I had some 
thoughts of insisting on the housekeeper or Mary 
<Jorbett being sent for, and nothing could prevail 
on me to move two steps from the door, on the 
lock of which I kept one hand constantly fixed. 
We met nobody but ourselves, played at vingt-un 
again, and were very cross. 

On Friday I wound up my four days of dissi- 
pation by meeting William Digweed at Deane, and 
am pretty well, I thank you, after it. While I was 
there a sudden fall of snow rendered the roads 
impassable, and made my journey home in the 
little carriage much more easy and agreeable than 
my journey down. 

VOL. I. T 



274 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

Fulwar and Eliza left Deane yesterday. You 
will be glad to hear that Mary is going to keep 
another maid. I fancy Sally is too much of a 
servant to find time for everything, and Mary 
thinks Edward is not so much out of doors as he 
ought to be ; there is therefore to be a girl in the 
nursery. 

I would not give much for Mr. Price's chance 
of living at Deane ; he builds his hope, I find, not 
upon anything that his mother has written, but 
upon the effect of what he has written himself. He 
must write a great deal better than those eyes in- 
dicate if he can persuade a perverse and narrow- 
minded woman to oblige those whom she does 
not love. 

Your brother Edward makes very honourable 
mention of you. I assure you, in his letter to James, 
and seems quite sorry to part with you. It is a 
great comfort to me to think that my cares have 
not been thrown away, and that you are respected 
in the world. Perhaps you may be prevailed on 
to return with him and Elizabeth into Kent, when 
they leave us in April, and I rather suspect that 
your great wish of keeping yourself disengaged 
has been with that view. Do as you like ; I have 
overcome my desire of your going to Bath with 



1800, 1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 275 

my mother and me. There is nothing which 
energy will not bring one to. 

Edward Cooper is so kind as to want us 
all to come to Hamstall this summer, instead of 
going- to the sea, but we are not so kind as to 

Q O ' 

mean to do it. The summer after, if you please, 
Mr. Cooper, but for the present we greatly prefer 
the sea to all our relations. 

I dare say you will spend a very pleasant three 
weeks in town. I hope you will see everything 
worthy notice, from the Opera House to Henry's 
office in Cleveland Court ; and I shall expect you 
to lay in a stock of intelligence that may pro- 
cure me amusement for a twelvemonth to come. 
You will have a turkey from Steventon while you 
are there, and pray note down how many full 
courses of exquisite dishes M. Halavant converts 
it into. 

I cannot write any closer. Neither my affection 
for you nor for letter-writing can stand out against 
a Kentish visit. For a three months' absence I can 
be a very loving relation and a very excellent cor- 
respondent, but beyond that I degenerate into 
negligence and indifference. 

I wish you a very pleasant ball on Thursday, 
and myself another, and Mary and Martha a third, 

T2 



276 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1800, 1801 

but they will not have theirs till Friday, as they 
have a scheme for the Newbury Assembly. 

Nanny's husband is decidedly against her quit- 
ting service in such times as these, and I believe 
would be very glad to have her continue with us. 
In some respects she would be a great comfort, 
and in some we should wish for a different sort of 
servant. The washing would be the greatest evil. 
Nothing is settled, however, at present with her, 
but I should think it would be as well for all 
parties if she could suit herself in the meanwhile 
somewhere nearer her husband and child than 
Bath. Mrs. H. Eice's place would be very likely 
to do for her. It is not many, as she is herself 
aware, that she is qualified for. 

My mother has not been so well for many 
months as she is now. 

Adieu. Yours sincerely, J. A. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversham, Kent. 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 277 

1801 

MR. and Mrs. Leigh Perrot were the uncle and 
aunt who lived at Paragon, Bath, and it would seem 
that the Steventon family, having made up their 
mind to settle in Bath upon Mr. George Austen's 
giving over his clerical duties to his son, made the 
Perrots' house their head-quarters whilst they 
looked about for a fitting abode. Cassandra Austen 
seems to have been visiting, first at Mrs. Lloyd's 
and then at Kintbury, for to these places the letters 
are addressed. They have not many allusions 
which require explanation, being chiefly occupied 
by observations regarding the search for a house, 
the people whom Jane encountered at Bath, and 
the news they heard of the sale of their effects 
at Steventon Eectory. I suppose ' the Chamber- 
laynes ' to have been the family of the Eev. Thomas 
Chamberlayne, rector and patron of Charlton, who 
married in 1799 Maria Francesca, daughter of 
Captain Eobert Walter, E.N., and whose eldest 
son is described in 'Burke's Landed Gentry' as 
Thomas Chamberlayne, of Cranbury Park and 
Weston Grove, Hants which, by the way, the 
unwary reader must not confound with the Weston 



278 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1801 

to which Jane and Mrs. Chamberlayne walked, 
which was, of course, the Weston by Bath, cele- 
brated for the battle of 1643, in which the Eoyalist 
Sir Bevil Grenville lost his life, and which was 
fought on Lansdown, mostly in this parish, from 
which the present Marquis of that name takes 
his title. 

It will be seen that there is an ' hiatus ' in the 
letters after 1801, for I have discovered none be- 
tween May in that year and August 1805. During 
this period the family lived in Bath, first at No. 4 
Sydney Terrace, and afterwards in Green Park 
Buildings, until Mr. Austen's death. Before the 
move to Southampton, which occurred later in the 
same year, Jane went to pay a visit to her rela- 
tions in Kent, from which county the next letters 
were written. 



XXX. 

Paragon : Tuesday (May 6). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

I have the pleasure of writing from my own 
room up two pair of stairs, with everything very 
comfortable about me. 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 279 

Our journey here was perfectly free from acci- 
dent or event ; we changed horses at the end of 
every stage, and paid at almost every turnpike. 
We had charming weather, hardly any dust, and 
were exceedingly agreeable, as we did not speak 
above once in three miles. 

Between Luggershall and Everley we made our 
grand meal, and then with admiring astonishment 
perceived in what a magnificent manner our sup- 
port had been provided for. We could not with 
the utmost exertion consume above the twentieth 
part of the beef. The cucumber will, I believe, 
be a very acceptable present, as my uncle talks of 
having inquired the price of one lately, when he 
was told a shilling. 

We had a very neat chaise from Devizes ; it 
looked almost as well as a gentleman's, at least 
as a very shabby gentleman's ; in spite of this 
advantage, however, we were above three hours 
coming from thence to Paragon, and it was half 
after seven by your clocks before we entered the 
house. 

Frank, whose black head was in waiting in the 
Hall window, received us very kindly ; and his 
master and mistress did not show less cordiality. 
They both look very well, though my aunt has a 



280 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 180T 

violent cough. We drank tea as soon as we ar- 
rived, and so ends the account of our journey r . 
which my mother bore without any fatigue. 

How do you do to-day ? I hope you improve in 
sleeping I think you must, because I fall off; 
I have been awake ever since five and sooner ; I 
fancy I had too much clothes over me ; I thought 
I should by the feel of them before I went to 
bed, but I had not courage to alter them. I am 
warmer here without any fire than I have been, 
lately with an excellent one. 

Well, and so the good news is confirmed, and 
Martha triumphs. My uncle and aunt seemed 
quite surprised that you and my father were not 
coming sooner. 

I have given the soap and the basket, and each 
have been kindly received. One thing only among^ 
all our concerns has not arrived in safety : when I 
got into the chaise at Devizes I discovered that 
your drawing ruler was broke in two ; it is just at 
the top where the cross-piece is fastened on. I 
beg pardon. 

There is to be only one more ball next Mon- 
day is the day. The Chamberlaynes are still here. 

I begin to think better of Mrs. C , and upon 

recollection believe she has rather a long chin than 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 281 

otherwise, as she remembers us in Gloucestershire 
when we were very charming young women. 

The first view of Bath in fine weather does not 
answer my expectations ; I think I see more dis- 
tinctly through rain. The sun was got behind 
everything, and the appearance of the place from 
the top of Kingsdown was all vapour, shadow, 
smoke, and confusion. 

I fancy we are to have a house in Seymour 
Street, or thereabouts. My uncle and aunt both 
like the situation. I was glad to hear the former 
talk of all the houses in New King Street as too 
small ; it was my own idea of them. I had not 
been two minutes in the dining-room before he 
questioned me with all his accustomary eager 
interest about Frank and Charles, their views and 
intentions. I did my best to give information. 

I am not without hopes of tempting Mrs. Lloyd 
to settle in Bath ; meat is only Sd. per pound, 
butter 12d., and cheese 9|d. You must carefully 
conceal from her, however, the exorbitant price of 
fish : a salmon has been sold at 2s. 9cZ. per pound 
the whole fish. The Duchess of York's removal 
is expected to make that article more reasonable 
and till it really appears so, say nothing about 
salmon. 



282 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1801 

Tuesday night. When my uncle went to take 
his second glass of water I walked with him, and 
in our morning's circuit we looked at two houses 
in Green Park Buildings, one of which pleased me 
very well. We walked all over it except into the 
garret ; the dining-room is of a comfortable size, 
just as large as you like to fancy it ; the second 
room about 14 ft. square. The apartment over the 
drawing-room pleased me particularly, because it 
is divided into two, the smaller one a very nice- 
sized dressing-room, which upon occasion might 
admit a bed. The aspect is south-east. The only 
doubt is about the dampness of the offices, of which 
there were symptoms. 

Wednesday. Mrs. Mussell has got my gown, 
and I will endeavour to explain what her intentions 
are. It is to be a round gown, with a jacket and 
a frock front, like Oath. Bigg's, to open at the 
side. The jacket is all in one with the body, and 
comes as far as the pocket-holes about half a 
quarter of a yard deep, I suppose, all the way 
round, cut off straight at the corners with a broad 
hem. No fulness appears either in the body or the 
flap ; the back is quite plain in this form ^7, and 
the sides equally so. The front is sloped round to 
the bosom and drawn in, and there is to be a frill 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 283 

of the same to put on occasionally when all one's 
handkerchiefs are dirty which frill must fall back. 
She is to put two breadths and a-half in the tail, 
and no gores gores not being so much worn as 
they were. There is nothing new in the sleeves : 
they are to be plain, with a fulness of the same 
falling down and gathered up underneath, just like 
some of Martha's, or perhaps a little longer. Low 
in the back behind, and a belt of the same. I can 
think of nothing more, though I am afraid of not 
being particular enough. 

My mother has ordered a new bonnet, and so 
have I; both white strip, trimmed with white 
ribbon. I find my straw bonnet looking very 
much like other people's, and quite as smart. 
Bonnets of cambric muslin on the plan of Lady 
Bridges' are a good deal worn, and some of' them 
are very pretty ; but I shall defer one of that sort 
till your arrival. Bath is getting so very empty 
that I am not afraid of doing too little. Black 
gauze cloaks are worn as much as anything. I 
shall write again in a day or two. Best love. 

Yours ever, J. A. 

We have had Mrs. Lillingstone and the Cham- 
berlaynes to call on us. My mother was very 



284 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1801 

much struck with the odd looks of the two latter ; 
/ have only seen her. Mrs. Busby drinks tea and 
plays at cribbage here to-morrow ; and on Friday, 
I believe, we go to the Chamberlaynes'. Last night 
we walked by the Canal. 

Miss Austen, Mrs. Lloyd's, Up Hurstbourne, 
Andover. 

XXXI. 

Paragon : Tuesday (May 12). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

My mother has heard from Mary, and I have 
heard from Frank ; we therefore know something 
now of our concerns in distant quarters ; and you, 
I hope, by some means or other are equally in- 
structed, for I do not feel inclined to transcribe the 
letter of either. 

You know from Elizabeth, I dare say, that my 
father and Frank, deferring their visit to Kipping- 
ton on account of Mr. 1 M. Austen's absence, are to 
be at Godmersham to-day ; and James, I dare say, 
has been over to Ibthorp by this time to inquire 
particularly after Mrs. Lloyd's health, and forestall 
whatever intelligence of the sale I might attempt 

1 Francis Motley- Austen, who bought Kippington from Sir Chas. 
Farnaby. 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 285 

to give ; sixty-one guineas and a-half for the three 
cows gives one some support under the blow 
of only eleven guineas for the tables. Eight for 
my pianoforte is about what I really expected to 
get ; I am more anxious to know the amount of 
my books, especially as they are said to have sold 
well. 

My adventures since I wrote last have not been 
numerous ; but such as they are, they are much at 
your service. 

We met not a creature at Mrs. Lillingstone's, 
and yet were not so very stupid, as I expected, 
which I attribute to my wearing my new bonnet 
and being in good looks. On Sunday we went to 
church twice, and after evening service walked a 
little in the Crescent fields, but found it too cold to 
stay long. 

Yesterday morning we looked into a house in 
Seymour Street, which there is reason to suppose 
will soon be empty ; and as we are assured from 
many quarters that no inconvenience from the river 
is felt in those buildings, we are at liberty to fix in 
them if we can. But this house was not inviting ; 
the largest room downstairs was not much more 
than fourteen feet square, with a western aspect. 

In the evening, I hope you honoured my toi- 



286 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 1801 

lette and ball with a thought ; I dressed myself as 
well as I could, and had all my finery much ad- 
mired at home. By nine o'clock my uncle, aunt, 
and I entered the rooms, and linked Miss Winstone 
on to us. Before tea it was rather a dull affair ; 
but then the before tea did not last long, for there 
was only one dance, danced by four couple. Think 
of four couple, surrounded by about an hundred 
people, dancing in the Upper Eooms at Bath. 

After tea we cheered up ; the breaking up of 
private parties sent some scores more to the ball, 
and though it was shockingly and inhumanly thin 
for this place, there were people enough, I suppose, 
to have made five or six very pretty Basingstoke 
assemblies. 

I then got Mr. Evelyn to talk to, and Miss T. 
to look at ; and I am proud to say that though 
repeatedly assured that another in the same party 
was the She, I fixed upon the right one from the 
first. A resemblance to Mrs. L. was my guide. 
She is not so pretty as I expected ; her face has 
the same defect of baldness as her sister's, and her 
features not so handsome ; she was highly rouged, 
and looked rather quietly and contentedly silly 
than anything else. 

Mrs. B. and two young women were of the 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 287 

same party, except when Mrs. B. thought herself 
obliged to leave them to run round the room 
after her drunken husband. His avoidance, and 
her pursuit, with the probable intoxication of both, 
was an amusing scene. 

The Evelyns returned our visit on Saturday ; 
we were very happy to meet, and all that ; they 
are -going to-morrow into Gloucestershire to the 
Dolphins for ten days. Our acquaintance, Mr. 
Woodward, is just married to a Miss Rowe, a young 
lady rich in money and music. 

I thank you for your Sunday's letter, it is very 
long and very agreeable. I fancy you know many 
more particulars of our sale than we do ; we have 
heard the price of nothing but the cows, bacon, 
hay, hops, tables, and my father's chest of drawers 
and study table. Mary is more minute in her ac- 
count of their own gains than in ours ; probably 
being better informed in them. I will attend to 
Mrs. Lloyd's commission and to her abhorrence of 
musk when I write again. 

I have bestowed three calls of inquiry on the 
Mapletons, and I fancy very beneficial ones to 
Marianne, as I am always told that she is better. 
I have not seen any of them. Her complaint is a 
bilious fever. 



288 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1801 

I like my dark gown very much indeed, colour, 
make, and everything ; I mean to have my new 
white one made up now, in case we should go to 
the rooms again next Monday, which is to be really 
the last time. 

Wednesday. Another stupid party last night ; 
perhaps if larger they might be less intolerable, 
but here there were only just enough to make one 
card-table, with six people to look on and talk 
nonsense to each other. Lady Fust, Mrs. Busby, 
and a Mrs. Owen sat down with my uncle to whist, 
within five minutes after the three old Toughs came 
in, and there they sat, with only the exchange of 
Adm. Stanhope for my uncle, till their chairs were 
announced. 

I cannot anyhow continue to find people agree- 
able ; I respect Mrs. Chamberlayne for doing her 
hair well, but cannot feel a more tender sentiment. 
Miss Langley is like any other short girl, with a 
broad nose and wide mouth, fashionable dress and 
exposed bosom. Adm. Stanhope is a gentleman- 
like man, but then his legs are too short and his 
tail too long. Mrs. Stanhope could not come ; I 
fancy she had a private appointment with Mr. 
Chamberlayne, whom I wished to see more than 
all the rest. 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 289 

My uncle has quite got the better of his lame- 
ness, or at least his walking with a stick is the only 
remains of it. He and I are soon to take the long- 
planned walk to the Cassoon, and on Friday we 
are all to accompany Mrs. Chamberlayne and Miss 
Langley to Weston. 

My mother had a letter yesterday from my 
father ; it seems as if the W. Kent Scheme was 
entirely given up. He talks of spending a fort- 
night at Godmersham, and then returning to town. 

Yours ever, J. A. 

Excepting a slight cold, my mother is very well ; 
she has been quite free from feverish or bilious 
complaints since her arrival here. 

Miss Austen, Mrs. Lloyd's, 

Hurstbourn Tan-ant, Andover. 

XXXII. 

Paragon : Thursday (May 21). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

To make long sentences upon unpleasant sub- 
jects is very odious, and I shall therefore get rid 
of the one now uppermost in my thoughts as soon 
as possible. 

Our views on G. P. Buildings seem all at an 
end ; the observation of the damps still remaining 

VOL. i. U 



290 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1801 

in the offices of an house which has been only 
vacated a week, with reports of discontented fami- 
lies and putrid fevers, has given the coup de grace. 
We have now nothing in view. When you arrive, 
we will at least have the pleasure of examining 
some of these putrefying houses again ; they are so 
very desirable in size and situation, that there is 
some satisfaction in spending ten minutes within 
them. 

I will now answer the inquiries in your last 
letter. I cannot learn any other explanation of 
the coolness between my aunt and Miss Bond than 
that the latter felt herself slighted by the former's 
leaving Bath last summer without calling to see 
her before she went. It seems the oddest kind of 
quarrel in the world. They never visit, but I 
believe they speak very civilly if they meet. My 
uncle and Miss Bond certainly do. 

The four boxes of lozenges, at Is. ld. per box, 
amount, as I was told, to 4s. 6d., and as the sum 
was so trifling, I thought it better to pay at once 
than contest the matter. 

I have just heard from Frank. My father's 
plans are now fixed ; you will see him at Kintbury 
on Friday, and, unless inconvenient to you, we are 
to see you both here on Monday, the 1st of June 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 291 

Frank lias an invitation to Milgate, which I believe 
he means to accept. 

Our party at Ly. Fust's was made up of the same 
set of people that you have already heard of the 
Winstones, Mrs. Chamberlayne, Mrs. Busby, Mrs. 
Franklyn, and Mrs. Maria Somerville ; yet I think 
it was not quite so stupid as the two preceding 
parties here. 

The friendship between Mrs. Chamberlayne and 
me which you predicted has already taken place, 
for we shake hands whenever we meet. Our grand 
walk to Weston was again fixed for yesterday, 
and was accomplished in a very striking manner. 
Every one of the party declined it under some 
pretence or other except our two selves, and we 
had therefore a tete-a-tete, but that we should 
equally have had after the first two yards had half 
the inhabitants of Bath set off with us. 

It would have amused you to see our progress. 
We went up by Sion Hill, and returned across the 
fields. In climbing a hill Mrs. Chamberlayne is 
very capital ; I could with difficulty keep pace 
with her, yet would not flinch for the world. On 
plain ground I was quite her equal. And so we 
posted away under a fine hot sun, she without any 
parasol or any shade to her hat, stopping for 

u 



i- 9. 



292 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1801 

nothing, and crossing the churchyard at Weston 
with as much expedition as if we were afraid of 
being buried alive. After seeing what she is 
equal to, 1 cannot help feeling a regard for her 
As to agreeableness, she is much like other people. 
Yesterday evening we had a short call from 
two of the Miss Arnolds, who came from Chippen- 
ham on business. They are very civil, and not too 
genteel, and upon hearing that we wanted a house, 
recommended one at Chippenham. 

This morning we have been visited again by 
Mrs. and Miss Holder ; they wanted us to fix an 
evening for drinking tea with them, but my 
mother's still remaining cold allows her to decline 
everything of the kind. As 1 had a separate in- 
vitation, however, I believe I shah 1 go some after- 
noon. It is the fashion to think them both very 
detestable, but they are so civil, and their gowns 
look so white and so nice (which, by the bye, my 
aunt thinks an absurd pretension in this place), 
that I cannot utterly abhor them, especially as Miss 
Holder owns that she has no taste for music. 

After they left us I went with my mother to help 
look at some houses in New King Street, towards 
which she felt some kind of inclination, but their 
size has now satisfied her. They were smaller than 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 293 

I expected to find them ; one in particular out of 
the two was quite monstrously little ; the best of 
the sitting-rooms not so large as the little parlour 
at Steventon, and the second room in every floor 
about capacious enough to admit a very small 
single bed. 

We are to have a tiny party here to-night. I 
hate tiny parties, they force one into constant 
exertion. Miss Edwards and her father, Mrs. 
Busby and her nephew, Mr. Maitland, and Mrs. 
Lillingstone are to be the whole ; and I am pre- 
vented from setting my black cap at Mr. Maitland 
by his having a wife and ten children. 

My aunt has a very bad cough do not forget 
to have heard about that when you come and 
I think she is deafer than ever. My mother's cold 
disordered her for some days, but she seems now 
very well. Her resolution as to remaining here 
begins to give way a little ; she will not like being 
left behind, and will be glad to compound matters 
with her enraged family. 

You will be sorry to hear that Marianne Maple- 
ton's disorder has ended fatally. She was believed 
out of danger on Sunday, but a sudden relapse 
carried her off the next day. So affectionate a 
family must suffer severely ; and many a girl on 



2!) 4 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1801 

early death has been praised into an angel, I be- 
lieve, on slighter pretensions to beauty, sense, and 
merit than Marianne. 

Mr. Bent seems lent upon being very detest- 
able, for he values the books at only 70. The 
whole world is in a conspiracy to enrich one part 
of our family at the expense of another. Ten 
shillings for Dodsley's Poems, however, please me 
to the quick, and I do not care how often I sell 
them for as much. When Mrs. Bramston has read 
them through I will sell them again. I suppose 
you can hear nothing of your magnesia ? 

Friday. You have a nice day for your journey,, 
in whatever way it is to be performed, whether in 
the Debary's coach or on your own twenty toes. 

When you have made Martha's bonnet you 
must make her a cloak of the same sort of mate- 
rials ; they are very much worn here, in different 
forms many of them just like her black silk 
spencer, with a trimming round the armholes 
instead of sleeves ; some are long before, and some 
long all round, likeC. Bigg's. Our party last night 
supplied me with no new idea for my letter. 

Yours ever, J. A. 

The Pickfords are in Bath, and have called 



1801 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 295* 

here. She is the most elegant-looking woman I 
have seen since I left Martha ; he is as raffish in 
his appearance as I would wish every disciple of 
Godwin to be. We drink tea to-night with Mrs. 
Busby. I scandalised her nephew cruelly ; he has- 
but three children instead of ten. 
Best love to everybody. 

Miss Austen, the Rev. F. C. Fowle's, 
Kintbury, Newbury. 



1805 

THE thirty-third letter begins with an account 
of a visit to Eastwell Park, where lived George 
Hatton and his wife, Lady Elizabeth (nee Murray). 
The two boys, George and Daniel, to whom refer- 
ence is made, were the late Earl of Winchilsea 
(ninth earl, who succeeded his cousin in 1826), 
and his brother, who subsequently married Lady 
Louisa Greville (daughter of the Earl of Warwick),, 
and was Eector of Great Weldon, Northampton- 
shire, and Chaplain to the Queen. Lady Gordon 
and Miss Anne Finch were the sisters of the owner 
of Eastwell Park, the former of whom married Sir 
Jenison William Gordon, K.C.B., and the latter 



29G LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1805 

died unmarried. Goodnestone Farm, to which the 
first letter was written, and from which Jane 
afterwards writes, is a comfortable house very 
near the great house, which has generally been 
inhabited as a dower house or by some younger 
member of the Bridges family, to whom it belongs. 
* Harriot ' means Harriet Bridges, as this was the 
year before she married Mr. Moore. It will be 
noticed that Jane always has a good word 
for her when she speaks of her, which, considering 
the freedom of her general remarks upon her 
acquaintance, is a high testimony to character, 
which was doubtless deserved. It must be admitted 
that my beloved great-aunt was a careless speller. 
She invariably spells ' niece ' ' neice ' in these letters, 
and in that now before me she spells Lady Bridges' 
name * Brydges ' twice, which I note to remark 
that the Goodnestone family spell their name with 
an ' i,' the Wootton family with a ' y,' which makes 
a difference, though I cannot describe it in the 
same terms as Mr. Justice Haliburton (Sam Slick) 
once used to me in the House of Commons, when, 
having occasion to write his name, I asked him if 
I should spell it with one ' 1 ' or two. ' Sir,' he 
replied, ' on no account with more than one ; there 



1805 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 297 

is an " / " of a difference.' The Kriatchbulls who 
are mentioned as having stayed at Godmersham at 
this time were Captain Charles Knatchbull, K.N., 
son of Wadham Knatchbull, Chancellor and Pre- 
bendary of Durham, who had married his cousin 
Frances, only daughter and heiress of Major Norton 
Knatchbull (youngest son of the fourth Hatch 
baronet), of Babington, Somersetshire, which place 
Captain Charles now possessed in right of his wife. 

The Duke of Gloucester, whose death put off 
the Deal ball, was the brother of King George the 
Third, who died in his 62d year. At the time of 
his death he commanded a regiment of Guards, 
and was Warden and Keeper of the New Forest, 
Eanger of Windsor Forest and of Hampton Court 
Park, and Chancellor of Dublin University. 

The Marianne mentioned in the thirty-fifth 
letter as being strikingly like ' Catherine Bigg ' was 
a younger daughter of Sir Brook and Lady Bridges 
(Fanny Fowler), who was an invalid all her life, 
and died unmarried in 1811. 



298 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1805 

XXXIII. 

Godmersham Park : Saturday (August 24). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

How do you do ? and how is Harriot's cold ? 
I hope you are at this time sitting down to answer 
these questions. 

Our visit to Eastwell was very agreeable ; I 
found Ly. Gordon's manners as pleasing as they had 
been described, and saw nothing to dislike in Sir 
Janison, excepting once or twice a sort of sneer 
at Mrs. Anne Finch. He was just getting into talk 
with Elizabeth as the carriage was ordered, but 
during the first part of the visit he said very 
little. 

Your going with Harriot was highly approved 
of by every one, and only too much applauded as 
an act of virtue on your part. I said all I could 
to lessen your merit. The Mrs. Finches were 
afraid you would find Goodnestone very dull ; I 
wished when I heard them say so that they could 
have heard Mr. E. Bridges's solicitude on the 
subject, and have known all the amusements that 
were planned to prevent it. 

They were very civil to me, as they always are ; 
Fortune was also very civil to me in placing Mr. 



180o LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 299 

E. Hatton by me at dinner. I have discovered 
that Lad}' Elizabeth, for a woman of her age and 
situation, has astonishingly little to say for herself, 
and that Miss Hatton has not much more. Her 
eloquence lies in her fingers ; they were most 
fluently harmonious. 

George is a fine boy, and well behaved, but 
Daniel chiefly deligjited me ; the good humour of 
his countenance is quite bewitching. After tea we 
had a cribbage-table, and he and I won two rubbers 
of his brother and Mrs. Mary. Mr. Brett was the 
only person there, besides our two families. 

It was considerably past eleven before we were 
at home, and I was so tired as to feel no envy of 
those who were at Ly. Yates' ball. My good 
wishes for its being a pleasant one were, I hope, 
successful. 

Yesterday was a very quiet day with us ; my 
noisiest efforts were writing to Frank, and playing 
at battledore and shuttlecock with William ; he 
and I have practised together two mornings, and 
improve a little ; we have frequently kept it up 
three times, and once or twice six. 

The two Edwards went to Canterbury in the 
chaise, and found Mrs. Knight as you found her, 
I suppose, the day before, cheerful but weak. 



300 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1805 

Fanny was met walking with Miss Sharp and Miss 
Milles, the happiest being in the world ; she sent a 
private message to her mamma implying as much. 
* Tell mamma that I am quite Palmerstone ! ' If 
little Lizzy used the same language she would, I 
daresay, send the same message from Goodnestonc. 

In the evening we took a quiet walk round the 
farm, with George and Henry to animate us by 
their races and merriment. Little Edward is by 
no means better, and his papa and mamma have 
'determined to consult Dr. Wilmot. Unless he 
recovers his strength beyond what is now pro- 
bable, his brothers will return to school without 
him, and he will be of the party to Worthing. If 
sea-bathing should be recommended he will be left 
there with us, but this is not thought likely to 
happen. 

I have been used very ill this morning : I have 
received a letter from Frank which I ought to 
have had when Elizabeth and Henry had theirs, 
and which in its way from Albany to Godmersham 
has been to Dover and Steventon. It was finished 
on ye 16th, and tells what theirs told before as to 
his present situation ; he is in a great hurry to be 
married, and I have encouraged him in it, in the 
letter which ought to have been an answer to his. 



1805 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 301 

He must think it very strange that I do not 
acknowledge the receipt of his, when I speak 
of those of the same date to Eliz. and Henry ; 
and to add to my injuries, I forgot to number mine 
on the outside. 

I have found your white mittens ; they were 
folded up within my clean nightcap, and send their 
duty to you. 

Elizabeth has this moment proposed a scheme 
which will be very much for my pleasure if equally 
convenient to the other party ; it is that when you 
return on Monday, I should take your place at 
Goodnestone for a few days. Harriot cannot be 
insincere, let her try for it ever so much, and there- 
fore I defy her to accept this self-invitation of mine, 
unless it be really what perfectly suits her. As 
there is no time for an answer, I shall go in the 
carriage on Monday, and can return with you, if 
my going on to Goodnestone is at all inconvenient. 

The Knatchbulls come on Wednesday to dinner, 
and stay only till Friday morning at the latest. 
Frank's letter to me is the only one that you or I 
have received since Thursday. 

Mr. Hall walked off this morning to Ospringe, 
with no inconsiderable booty. He charged Eliza- 
beth 5s. for every time of dressing her hair, and 



302 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 

5s. for every lesson to Sace, allowing nothing for 
the pleasures of his visit here, for meat, drink, and 
lodging, the benefit of country air, and the charms 
of Mrs. Salkeld's and Mrs. Sace's society. 1 Towards 
me he was as considerate as I had hoped for 
from my relationship to you, charging me only 
2s. 6d. for cutting my hair, though it was as 
thoroughly dressed after being cut for Eastwell as 
it had been for the Ashford assembly. He cer- 
tainly respects either our youth or our poverty. 

My writing to you to-day prevents Elizabeth 
writing to Harriot, for which evil I implore the 
latter's pardon. Give my best love to her, and 
kind remembrance to her brothers. 

Yoiirs very affectionately, 

J. A. 

You are desired to bring back with you Henry's 
picture of Bowling for the Misses Finches. 

As I find, on looking into my affairs, that instead 
of being very rich I am likely to be very poor, I 
cannot afford more than ten shillings for Sackree ; 
but as we are to meet in Canterbury I need not 
have mentioned this. It is as well, however, to 
prepare you for the sight of a sister sunk in 
poverty, that it may not overcome your spirits. 

1 The Godmersham housekeeper and lady's-maid. 



1805 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 303 

Elizabeth hopes you will not be later here on 
Monday than five o'clock, on Lizzy's account. 

We have heard nothing from Henry since he 
went. Daniel told us that he went from Ospringe 
in one of the coaches. 

Miss Austen, Goodnestone Farm, Wingham. 

, XXXIV. 

Goodnestone Farm : Tuesday (August 27). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

We had a very pleasant drive from Canterbury, 
and reached this place about half-past four, which 
seemed to bid fair for a punctual dinner at five ; 
but scenes of great agitation awaited us, and there 
was much to be endured and done before we could 
:sit down to table. 

Harriot found a letter from Louisa Hatton, 
desiring to know if she and her brothers were to 
be at the ball at Deal on Friday, and saying that 
the Eastwell family had some idea of going to it, 
and were to make use of Eowling if they did ; and 
while I was dressing she came to me with another 
letter in her hand, in great perplexity. It was 
from Captain Woodford, containing a message from 
Lady Forbes, which he had intended to deliver in 
person, but had been prevented from doing. 



304 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1805 

The offer of a ticket for this grand ball, with 
an invitation to come to her house at Dover before 
and after it, was Lady Forbes's message. Harriot 
was at first very little inclined, or rather totally 
disinclined, to profit by her ladyship's attention ; 
but at length, after many debates, she was per- 
suaded by me and herself together to accept the 
ticket. The offer of dressing and sleeping at 
Dover she determined on Marianne's account to 
decline, and her plan is to be conveyed by Lady 
Elizabeth Hatton. 

I hope their going is by this time certain, and 
will be soon known to be so. I think Miss H. 
would not have written such a letter if she had 
not been all but sure of it, and a little more. I am 
anxious on the subject, from the fear of being in 
the way if they do not come to give Harriot a 
conveyance. I proposed and pressed being sent 
home on Thursday, to prevent the possibility of 
being in the wrong place, but Harriot would not 
hear of it. 

There is no chance of tickets for the Mr. 
Bridgeses, as no gentlemen but of the garrison are 
invited. 

With a civil note to be fabricated to Lady 
F., and an answer written to Miss H., you will 



1805 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 305 

easily believe that we could not begin dinner till 
six. We were agreeably surprised by Edward 
Bridges's company to it. He had been, strange to 
tell, too late for the cricket match, too late at least 
to play himself, and, not being asked to dine with 
the players, came home. It is impossible to do 
justice to the hospitality of his attentions towards 
me ; he made a point of ordering toasted cheese 
for supper entirely on my account. 

We had a very agreeable evening, and here I 
am before breakfast writing to you, having got up 
between six and seven ; Lady Brydges's room must 
be good for early rising. 

Mr. Sankey was here last night, and found his 
patient better, but I have heard from a maid- 
servant that she has had but an indifferent night. 

Tell Elizabeth that I did not give her letter to 
Harriot till we were in the carriage, when she 
received it with great delight, and could read it 
in comfort. 

As you have been here so lately, I need not 
particularly describe the house or style of living, 
in which all seems for use and comfort ; nor need 
I be diffuse on the state of Lady Brydges's book- 
case and corner-shelves upstairs. What a treat to 
my mother to arrange them ! 

VOL. i. X 



30G LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1805 

Harriot is constrained to give up all hope of 
seeing Edward here to fetch me, as I soon recol- 
lected that Mr. and Mrs. Charles Knatchbull's being 
at Godmersham on Thursday must put it out of the 
question. 

Had I waited till after breakfast, the chief of 
all this might have been spared. The Duke of 
Gloucester's death sets my heart at ease, though 
it will cause some dozens to ache. Harriot's is not 
among the number of the last ; she is very well 
pleased to be spared the trouble of prepara- 
tion. She joins me in best love to you all, and will 
write to Elizabeth soon. I shall be very glad to 
hear from you, that we may know how you all are, 
especially the two Edwards. 

I have asked Sophie if she has anything to say 
to Lizzy in acknowledgment of the little bird, 
and her message is that, with her love, she is 
very glad Lizzy sent it. She volunteers, moreover, 
her love to little Marianne, with the promise of 
bringing her a doll the next time she goes to 
Godmersham. 

John is just come from Eamsgate, and brings a 
good account of the people there. He and his 
brother, you know, dine at Nackington ; we are to 
dine at four, that we may walk afterwards. As it 



1805 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 307 

is now two, and Harriot has letters to write, we 
shall probably not get out before. 

Yours affectionately, 

J. A. 

Three o clock. Harriot is just come from 
Marianne, and thinks her upon the whole better. 
The sickness has not returned, and a headache is- 
at present her chief complaint, which Henry at- 
tributes to the sickness. 

Miss Austen, Edward Austen's, Esq. 

Godmersham Park, Faversham. 

XXXV. 

Goodnestone Farm : Friday (August 30). 

MY BEAR CASSANDRA, 

I have determined on staying here till Monday, 
Not that there is any occasion for it on Marianne's 
account, as she is now almost as well as usual, but 
Harriot is so kind in her wishes for my company 
that I could not resolve on leaving her to-morrow r 
especially as I had no reason to give for its neces- 
sity. It would be inconvenient to me to stay with 
her longer than the beginning of next week, on 
account of my clothes, and therefore I trust it will 
suit Edward to fetch or send for rne on Monday, or 



308 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1805 

Tuesday if Monday should be wet. Harriot has 
this moment desired me to propose his coming 
hither on Monday, and taking me back the next day. 

The purport of Elizabeth's letter makes me 
anxious to hear more of what we are to do and 
not to do, and I hope you will be able to write me 
your own plans and opinions to-morrow. The 
journey to London is a point of the first expe- 
diency, and I am glad it is resolved on, though it 
seems likely to injure our Worthing scheme. I 
expect that we are to be at Sandling, while they are 
in town. 

It gives us great pleasure to hear of little 
Edward's being better, and we imagine, from his 
mama's expressions, that he is expected to be well 
enough to return to school with his brothers. 

Marianne was equal to seeing me two days ago ; 
we sat with her for a couple of hours before 
dinner, and the same yesterday, when she was evi- 
dently better, more equal to conversation, and more 
cheerful than during our first visit. She received 
me very kindly, and expressed her regret in not 
having been able to see you. 

She is, of course, altered since we saw her in 
October, 1794. Eleven years could not pass away 
even in health without making some change, but 



1805 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 

in her case it is wonderful that the change should 
be so little. I have not seen her to advantage, as 
I understand she has frequently a nice colour, and 
her complexion has not yet recovered from the 
effects of her late illness. Her face is grown longer 
and thinner, and her features more marked, and 
the likeness which I remember to have always 
seen between her and Catherine Bigg is stronger 
than ever, and so striking is the voice and manner 
of speaking that I seem to be really hearing 
Catherine, arid once or twice have been on the 
point of calling Harriot ' Alethea.' She is very 
pleasant, cheerful, and interested in everything 
about her, and at the same time shows a thought- 
ful, considerate, and decided turn of mind. 

Edward Bridges dined at home yesterday ; the 
day before he was at St. Albans ; to-day he goes 
to Broome, and to-morrow to Mr. Hallett's, which 
latter engagement has had some weight in my 
resolution of not leaving Harriot till Monday. 

We have walked to Howling on each of the 
two last days after dinner, and very great was my 
pleasure in going over the house and grounds. We 
have also found time to visit all the principal walks 
of this place, except the walk round the top of the 
park, which we shall accomplish probably to-day. 



310 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 

Next week seems likely to be an unpleasant 
one to this family on the matter of game. The 
evil intentions of the Guards are certain, and the 
gentlemen of the neighbourhood seem unwilling to 
come forward in any decided or early support of 
their rights. Edward Bridges has been trying to 
arouse their spirits, but without success. Mr. 
Hammond, under the influence of daughters and 
an expected ball, declares he will do nothing. 

Harriot hopes my brother will not mortify her 
by resisting all her plans and refusing all her invi- 
tations ; she has never yet been successful with 
him in any, but she trusts he will now make 
her all the amends in his power by coming on 
Monday. She thanks Elizabeth for her letter, and 
you may be sure is not less solicitous than myself 
for her going to town. 

Pray say everything kind for us to Miss Sharpe, 
who could not regret the shortness of our meeting 
in Canterbury more than we did. I hope she re- 
turned to Godmersham as much pleased with Mrs. 
Knight's beauty and Miss Milles's judicious remarks 
as those ladies respectively were with hers. You 
must send me word that you have heard from Miss 
Irvine. 

I had almost forgot to thank you for your 



1805 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 311 

letter. I am glad you recommended ' Gisborne,' for 
having begun, I am pleased with it, and I had 
quite determined not to read it. 

I suppose everybody will be black for the D. of 
O. Must we buy lace, or will ribbon do ? 

We shall not be at Worthing so soon as we 
have been used to talk of, shall we ? This will be 
no evil to us, and we are sure of my mother and 
Martha being happy together. Do not forget to 
write to Charles. As I am to return so soon, we 
shall not send the pincushions. 

Yours affectionately, J. A. 

You continue, I suppose, taking hartshorn, and 
I hope with good effect. 

Miss Austen, Edward Austen's, Esq. 

Godmersham Park, Faversham. 



1807 

THERE are no letters of 1806, so that this batch 
were written after the Austens had been esta- 
blished at Southampton for more than a year. 
* Our guests ' in the thirty-sixth letter were James 
and Mary, who had been staying with their rela- 



312 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1807 

tions in Castle Square. There is little to observe 
in the rest of the letter, although one is glad to- 
find that Captain Foote was not put out of temper 
by having to eat underdone mutton, and that Mrs- 
Austen's finances were iira satisfactory condition 
at the commencement of the new year. 

' Clarentine ' is, of course, Miss S. S. Burney's 
work, which other people besides Jane have thought 
'foolish.' It is a novel of the most ordinary 
description, and not one which she would have 
been likely to approve. There is a playful allusion 
in these letters to the chance of Martha Lloyd's 
marriage ; Jane could not foresee that this event 
would be delayed until her own brother Frank 
sought the lady's affection many years later. 



XXXVI. 

Southampton : Wednesday (January 7). 

MY DEAR CASSAXDRA, 

You were mistaken in supposing I should ex- 
pect your letter on Sunday ; I had no idea of hear- 
ing from you before Tuesday, and my pleasure 
yesterday was therefore unhurt by any previous dis- 
appointment. I thank you for writing so much ; 



1807 LETTERS OF JAXE AUSTEN. 315 

you must really have sent me the value of two 
letters in one. We are extremely glad to hear 
that Elizabeth is so much better, and hope you will 
be sensible of still further amendment in her when 
you return from Canterbury. 

Of your visit there I must now speak ' in- 
cessantly ; ' it surprises, but pleases me more, and I 
consider it as a very just and honourable distinc- 
tion of you, and not less to the credit of Mrs. 
Knight. I have no doubt of your spending your 
time with her most pleasantly in quiet and rational 
conversation, and am so far from thinking her ex- 
pectations of you will be deceived, that my only 
fear is of your being so agreeable, so much to her 
taste, as to make her wish to keep you with her for 
ever. If that should be the case, we must remove 
to Canterbury, which I should not like so well as 
Southampton. 

When you receive this, our guests will be all 
gone or going ; and I shall be left to the com- 
fortable disposal of my time, to ease of mind from 
the torments of rice puddings and apple dump- 
lings, and probably to regret that I did not take 
more pains to please them all. 

Mrs. J. Austen has asked me to return with her 
to Steventon ; I need not give my answer ; and she 



314 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1807 

lias invited my mother to spend there the time of 
Mrs. F. A.'s confinement, which she seems half 
inclined to do. 

A few days ago I had a letter from Miss Irvine, 
and as I was in her debt, you will guess it to be a 
remonstrance, not a very severe one, however ; the 
first page is in her usual retrospective, jealous, in- 
consistent style, but the remainder is chatty and 
harmless. She supposes my silence may have pro- 
ceeded from resentment of her not having written 
to inquire particularly after my hooping cough, 
.&c. She is a funny one. 

I have answered her letter, and have endea- 
voured to give something like the truth with as 
little incivility as I could, by placing my silence to 
the want of subject in the very quiet way in which 
we live. Phebe has repented, and stays. I have 
also written to Charles, and I answered Miss Buller's 
letter by return of post, as I intended to tell you 
in my last. 

Two or three things I recollected when it was 
too late, that I might have told you ; one is, that 
the Welbys have lost their eldest son by a putrid 
fever at Eton, and another that Tom Chute is going 
to settle in Norfolk. 

You have scarcely ever mentioned Lizzy since 



1807 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 315 

your being at Godmersham. I hope it is not be- 
cause she is altered for the worse. 

I cannot yet satisfy Fanny as to Mrs. Foote's 
baby's name, and I must not encourage her to ex- 
pect a good one, as Captain Foote is a professed 
adversary to all but the plainest ; he likes only 
Mary, Elizabeth, Anne, &c. Our best chance is of 
* Caroline,' which in compliment to a sister seems 
the only exception. 

He dined with us on Friday, and I fear will not 
soon venture again, for the strength of our dinner 
was a boiled leg of mutton, underdone even for 
James ; and Captain Foote has a particular dis- 
like to underdone mutton ; but he was so good- 
humoured and pleasant that I did not much mind 
his being starved. He gives us all the most cor- 
dial invitation to his house in the country, saying 
just what the Williams ought to say to make us 
welcome. Of them we have seen nothing since 
you left us, and we hear that they are just gone to 
Bath again, to be out of the way of further altera- 
tions at Brooklands. 

Mrs. F. A. has had a very agreeable letter from 
Mrs. Dickson, who was delighted with the purse, 
and desires her not to provide herself with a chris- 
tening dress, which is exactly what her young 



316 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1807 

correspondent wanted ; and she means to defer 
making any of the caps as long as she can, in hope 
of having Mrs. D.'s present in time to be serviceable 
as a pattern. She desires me to tell you that the 
gowns were cut out before your letter arrived, 
but that they are long enough for Caroline. The 
Beds, as I believe they are called, have fallen to 
Frank's share to continue, and of course are cut 
out to admiration. 

' Alphonsine ' did not do. We were disgusted in 
twenty pages, as, independent of a bad translation, 
it has indelicacies which disgrace a pen hitherto 
so pure ; and we changed it for the ' Female Qui- 
xotte,' which now makes our evening amusement ; 
to me a very high one, as I find the work quite 
equal to what I remembered it. Mrs. F. A., to 
whom it is new, enjoys it as one could wish ; the 
other Mary, I believe, has little pleasure from that 
or any other book. 

My mother does not seem at all more dis- 
appointed than ourselves at the termination of the 
family treaty ; she thinks less of that just now than 
of the comfortable state of her own finances, which 
she finds on closing her year's accounts beyond her 
expectation, as she begins the new year with a 
balance of 30/. in her favour ; and when she has 



1807 LETTERS OF JAXE AUSTEN. 31 7 

written her answer to my aunt, which you know 
always hangs a little upon her mind, she will be 
above the world entirely. You will have a great 
deal of unreserved discourse with Mrs. K., I dare 
say, upon this subject, as well as upon many other 
of our family matters. Abuse everybody but me. 

Thursday. We expected James yesterday, but 
he did not come ; if he comes at all now, his 
visit will be a very short one, as he must return 
to-morrow, that Ajax and the chair may be sent 
to Winchester on Saturday. Caroline's new pelisse 
depended upon her mother's being able or not to 
come so far in the chair ; how the guinea that will 
be saved by the same means of return is to be 
spent I know not. Mrs. J. A. does not talk much 
of poverty now, though she has no hope of my 
brother's being able to buy another horse next 
summer. 

Their scheme against Warwickshire continues, 
but I doubt the family's being at Stoneleigh so 
early as James says he must go, which is May. 

My mother is afraid I have not been explicit 
enough on the subject of her wealth ; she began 
1806 with OS/., she begins 1807 with 99/., and 
this after 32/. purchase of stock. Frank too has 
been settling his accounts and making calculations, 



318 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 1807 

and each party feels quite equal to our present ex- 
penses ; but much increase of house-rent would 
not do for either. Frank limits himself, I believe, 
to four hundred a year. 

You will be surprised to hear that Jenny is not 
yet come back ; we have heard nothing of her since 
her reaching Itchingswell, and can only suppose 
that she must be detained by illness in somebody 
or other, and that she has been each day expecting 
to be able to come on the morrow. I am glad I 
did not know beforehand that she was to be absent 
during the whole or almost the whole of our 
friends being with us, for though the inconve- 
nience has not been nothing, I should have feared 
still more. Our dinners have certainly suffered 
not a little by having only Molly's head and Molly's 
hands to conduct them ; she fries better than she 
did, but not like Jenny. 

We did not take our walk on Friday, it was too 
dirty, nor have we yet done it ; we may perhaps 
do something like it to-day, as after seeing Frank 
skate, which he hopes to do in the meadows by the 
beech, we are to treat ourselves with a passage 
over the ferry. It is one of the pleasantest frosts 
I ever knew, so very quiet. I hope it will last 
some time longer for Frank's sake, who is quite 



1807 LETTEKS OF JANE AUSTEN. 319 

anxious to get some skating ; he tried yesterday, 
but it would not do. 

Our acquaintance increase too fast. He was 
recognised lately by Admiral Bertie, and a few 
days since arrived the Admiral and his daughter 
Catherine to wait upon us. There was nothing to 
like or dislike in either. To the Berties are to be 
added the Lances, with whose cards we have been 
endowed, and whose visit Frank and I returned 
yesterday. They live about a mile and three- 
quarters from S. to the right of the new road to 
Portsmouth, and I believe their house is one of 
those which are to be seen almost anywhere among 
the woods on the other side of the Itchen. It is 
a handsome building, stands high, and in a very 
beautiful situation. 

We found only Mrs. Lance at home, and whether 
she boasts any offspring besides a grand piano- 
forte did not appear. She was civil and chatty 
enough, and offered to introduce us to some ac- 
quaintance in Southampton, which we gratefully 
declined. 

I suppose they must be acting by the orders of 
Mr. Lance of Netherton in this civility, as there 
seems no other reason for their coming near us. 
They will not come often, I dare say. They live in 



320 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1807 

a handsome style and are rich, and she seemed to 
like to be rich, and we gave her to understand that 
we were far from being so ; she will soon feel there- 
fore that we are not worth her acquaintance. 

You must have heard from Martha by this 
time. We have had no accounts of Kintbury since 
her letter to me. 

Mrs. F. A. has had one fainting fit lately ; it- 
came on as usual after eating a hearty dinner, but 
did not last long. 

I can recollect nothing more to say. When my 
letter is gone, I suppose I shall. 

Yours affectionately, J. A. 

I have just asked Caroline if I should send her 
love to her godmama, to which she answered 
< Yes.' 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversliam, Kent. 

XXXVII. 

Southampton : February 8. 

My DEAREST CASSANDRA, 

My expectation of having nothing to say to 
you after the conclusion of my last seems nearer 
truth than I thought it would be, for I feel to have 



1807 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 321 

but little. I need not, therefore, be above acknow- 
ledging the receipt of yours this morning, or of 
replying to every part of it which is capable of an 
answer, and you may accordingly prepare for my 
ringing the changes of the glads and sorrys for the 
rest of the page. 

Unluckily, however, I see nothing to be glad of, 
unless I make it a matter of joy that Mrs. Wylmot 
has another son, and that Lord Lucan has taken a 
mistress, both of which events are, of course, joyful 
to the actors ; but to be sorry I find many occa- 
sions. The first is, that your return is to be 
delayed, and whether I ever get beyond the first 
is doubtful. It is no use to lament. I never 
heard that even Queen Mary's lamentation did her 
any good, and I could not, therefore, expect benefit 
from mine. We are all sorry, and now that subject 
is exhausted. 

I heard from Martha yesterday. She spends 
this week with the Harwoods, goes afterwards with 
James and Mary for a few days to see Peter 
Debary and two of his sisters at Eversley, the living 
of which he has gained on the death of Sir E. Cope, 
and means to be here on the 24th, which will be 
Tuesday fortnight. I shall be truly glad if she can 
keep to her day, but dare not depend on it, and am 

VOL. i. ' Y 



322 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 1807 

so apprehensive of farther detention, that, if nothing 
else occurs to create it, I cannot help thinking she 
will marry Peter Debary. 

It vexed me that I could not get any fish for 
Kintbury while their family was large, but so it 
was ; and till last Tuesday I could procure none. 
I then sent them four pair of small soles, and 
should be glad to be certain of their arriving in 
good time, but I have heard nothing about them 
since, and had rather hear nothing than evil. They 
cost six shillings, and as they travelled in a basket 
which came from Kintbury a few days before with 
poultry, &c., I insist upon treating you with the 
booking, whatever it may be. You are only eighteen 
pence in my debt. 

Mrs. E. Leigh did not make the slightest allu- 
sion to my uncle's business, as I remember telling 
you at the time, but you shall have it as often as 
you like. My mother wrote to her a week ago. 

Martha's rug is just finished, and looks well, 
though not quite so well as I had hoped. I see 
no fault in the border, but the middle is dingy. 
My mother desires me to say that she will knit one 
for you as soon as you return to choose the colours 
and pattern. 

I am sorry I have affronted you on the subject 



1807 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 323 

of Mr. Moore, but I do not mean ever to like 
him ; and as to pitying a young woman merely 
because she cannot live in two places at the same 
time, and at once enjoy the comforts of being 
married and single, I shall not attempt it, even 
for Harriet. You see I have a spirit as well as 
yourself. 

Frank and Mary cannot at all approve of your 
not being at home in time to help them in their 
finishing purchases, and desire me to say that, if 
you are not, they will be as spiteful as possible, 
and choose everything in the style most likely to 
vex you knives that will not cut, glasses that will 
not hold, a sofa without a seat, and a bookcase 
without shelves. 

Our garden is putting in order by a man who 
bears a remarkably good character, has a very fine 
complexion, and asks something less than the first. 
The shrubs which border the gravel walk, he says, 
are only sweetbriar and roses, and the latter of an 
indifferent sort ; we mean to get a few of a better 
kind, therefore, and at my own particular desire he 
procures us some syringas. I could not do without 
a syringa, for the sake of Cowper's line. We talk 
also of a laburnum. The border under the terrace 
wall is clearing away to receive currants and goose 

Y2 



324 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 1807 

berry bushes r and a spot is found very proper for 
raspberries. 

The alterations and improvements within doors, 
too, advance very properly, and the offices will be 
made very convenient indeed. Our dressing table 
is constructing on the spot, out of a large kitchen 
table belonging to the house, for doing which we 
have the permission of Mr. Husket, Lord Lans- 
down's painter domestic painter, I should call 
him, for he lives in the castle. Domestic chaplains 
have given way to this more necessary office, and 
I suppose whenever the walls want no touching up 
he is employed about my lady's face. 

The morning was so wet that I was afraid we 
should not be able to see our little visitor, but 
Frank, who alone could go to church, called for 
her after service, and she is now talking away at 
my side and examining the treasures of my writing- 
desk drawers very happy, I believe. Not at all 
shy, of course. Her name is Catherine, and her 
sister's Caroline. She is something like her 
brother, and as short for her age, but not so well- 
looking. 

What is become of all the shyness in the world ? 
Moral as well as natural diseases disappear in the 
progress of time, and new ones take their place. 



1807 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 325 

Shyiiess and the sweating sickness have given way 
to confidence and paralytic complaints. 

I am sorry to hear of Mrs. Whitfield's increas- 
ing illness, and of poor Marianne Bridges having 
suffered so much ; these are some of my sorrows ; 
and that Mrs. Deedes is to have another child I 
suppose I may lament. 

The death of Mrs. W. K. we had seen. I had 
no idea that anybody liked her, and therefore felt 
nothing for any survivor, but I am now feeling 
away on her husband's account, and think he had 
better marry Miss Sharpe. 

I have this instant made my present, and have 
the pleasure of seeing it smiled over with genuine 
satisfaction. I am sure I may, on this occasion, 
call Kitty Foote, as Hastings did H. Egerton, my 
* very valuable friend.' 

Evening. Our little visitor has just left us, and 
left us highly pleased with her ; she is a nice, 
natural, open-hearted, affectionate girl, with all the 
ready civility which one sees in the best children 
in the present day ; so unlike anything that I was 
myself at her age, that I am often all astonishment 
and shame. Half her time was spent at spillikins, 
which I consider as a very valuable part of our 
household furniture, and as not the least important 



326 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1807 

benefaction -from the family of Knight to that of 
Austen. 

But I must tell you a story. Mary has for 
some time had notice from Mrs. Dickson of the 
intended arrival of a certain Miss Fowler in this 
place. Miss F. is an intimate friend of Mrs. D., 
and a good deal known as such to Mary. On 
Thursday last she called here while we were out. 
Mary found, on our return, her card with only her 
name on it, and she had left word that she would 
call again. The particularity of this made us talk, 
and, among other conjectures, Frank said in joke, 
'I dare say she is staying with the Pearsons.' The 
connection of the names struck Mary, and she 
immediately recollected Miss Fowler's having been 
very intimate with persons so called, and, upon 
putting everything together, we have scarcely a 
doubt of her being actually staying with the only 
family in the place whom we cannot visit. 

What a contretemps ! in the language of 
France. What an unluckiness ! in that of Madame 
Duval. The black gentleman has certainly em- 
ployed one of his menial imps to bring about 
this complete, though trifling, mischief. Miss F. 
has never called again, but we are in daily ex- 
pectation of it. Miss P. has, of course, given her 



1807 LE1TERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 327 

a proper understanding of the business. It is 
evident that Miss F. did not expect or wish to have 
the visit returned, and Frank is quite as much on 
his guard for his wife as we could desire for her 
sake or our own. 

We shall rejoice in being so near Winchester 
when Edward belongs to it, and can never have 
our spare bed filled more to our satisfaction than 
by him. Does he leave Elthain at Easter? 

We are reading ' Clarentine,' and are surprised 
to find how foolish it is. I remember liking it 
much less on a second reading than at the first, and 
it does not bear a third at all. It is full of un- 
natural conduct and forced difficulties, without 
striking merit of any kind. 

Miss Harrison is going into Devonshire, to at- 
tend Mrs. Dusantoy, as usual. Miss J. is married 
to young Mr. Gr., and is to be very unhappy. He 
swears, drinks, is cross, jealous, selfish, and brutal. 
The match makes her family miserable, and has 
occasioned his being disinherited. 

The Browns are added to our list of acquaint- 
ance. He commands the Sea Fencibles here, under 
Sir Thomas, and was introduced at his own desire 
by the latter when we saw him last week. As yet 
the gentlemen only have visited, as Mrs. B. is ill, 



328 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1807 

but she is a nice-looking woman, and wears one of 
the prettiest straw bonnets in the place. 

Monday. The garret beds are made, and ours 
will be finished to-day. I had hoped it would be 
finished on Saturday, but neither Mrs. Hall nor 
Jenny was able to give help enough for that, and 
I have as yet done very little, and Mary nothing 
at all. This week we shah 1 do more, and I should 
like to have all the five beds completed by the end 
of it. There will then be the window curtains, 
sofa-cover, and a carpet to be altered. 

I should not be surprised if we were to be 
visited by James again this week ; he gave us 
reason to expect him soon, and if they go to 
Eversley he cannot come next week. 

There, I flatter myself I have constructed you 
a smartish letter, considering my want of materials, 
but, like my dear Dr. Johnson, I believe I have 
dealt more in notions than facts. 

I hope your cough is gone and that you are 
otherwise well, and remain, with love, 

Yours affectionately, J. A. 

Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, 
Faversliam, Kent. 



3807 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 329 

XXXVIII. 

Southampton : Friday (February 20). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

We have at last heard something of Mr. Austen's 
will. It is believed at Tunbridge that he has left 
everything after the death of his widow to Mr. M* 
Austen's third son John ; and, as the said John 
was the only one of the family who attended the 
funeral, it seems likely to be true. Such ill-gotten 
wealth can never prosper. 

I really have very little to say this week, and 
do not feel as if I should spread that little into the 
show of much. I am inclined for short sentences. 

Mary will be obliged to you to take notice how 
often Elizabeth nurses her baby in the course of 
twenty-four hours, how often it is fed, and with 
what ; you need not trouble yourself to write the 
result of your observations, your return will be 
early enough for the communication of them. 
You are recommended to bring away some flower- 
seeds from Godmersham, particularly mignonette 
seed. 

My mother has heard this morning from Para- 
gon. My aunt talks much of the violent colds 
prevailing in Bath, from which my uncle has suf- 



330 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. ISO? 

i'ered ever since their return, and she has herself a 
cough ranch worse than any she ever had before, 
subject as she has always been to bad ones. She 
writes in good humour and cheerful spirits, how- 
ever. The negotiation between them and Adlestrop 
so happily over, indeed, what can have power to 
vex her materially ? 

Elliston, she tells us, has just succeeded to a 
considerable fortune on the death of an uncle. I 
would not have it enough to take him from the 
stage ; she should quit her business, and live with 
him in London. 

We could not pay our visit on Monday ; the 
weather altered just too soon, and we have since 
had a touch of almost everything in the weather 
way ; two of the severest frosts since the winter 
began, preceded by rain, hail, and snow. Now we 
are smiling again. 

Saturday. I have received your letter, but I 
suppose you do not expect me to be gratified by 
its contents. I confess myself much disappointed 
by this repeated delay of your return, for though 
I had pretty well given up all idea of your being 
with us before our removal, I felt sure that March 
would not pass quite away without bringing you. 
Before April comes, of course something else will 



1807 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 331 

occur to detain you. But as you are happy, all 
this is selfishness, of which here is enough for one 
page. 

Pray tell Lizzy that if I had imagined her teeth 
to be really out, I should have said before what I 
say now, that it was a very unlucky fall indeed, 
that I am afraid it must have given her a great 
deal of pain, and that I dare say her mouth looks 
very comical. 

I am obliged to Fanny for the list of Mrs. 
Coleman's children, whose names I had not, how- 
ever, quite forgot ; the new one I am sure will be 
Caroline. I have got Mr. Bowen's recipe for you ; 
it came in my aunt's letter. 

You must have had more snow at Godmersham 
than we had here ; on Wednesday morning there 
was a thin covering of it over the fields and roofs 
of the houses, but I do not think there was any 
left the next day. Everybody used to Southampton 
says that snow never lies more than twenty-four 
hours near it, and, from what we have observed 
ourselves, it is very true. 

Frank's going into Kent depends, of course, 
upon his being unemployed ; but as the First Lord, 
after promising Lord Moira that Captain A. should 
have the first good frigate that was vacant, lias 



332 - LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1807 

since given away two or three fine ones, he has 
no particular reason to expect an appointment 
now. He, however, has scarcely spoken about the 
Kentish journey. I have my information chiefly 
from her, and she considers her own going thither 
as more certain if he should be at sea than if not. 

Frank has got a very bad cough, for an Austen ; 
but it does not disable him from making very nice 
fringe for the drawing-room curtains. 

Mrs. Day has now got the carpet in hand, and 
Monday I hope will be the last day of her employ- 
ment here. A fortnight afterwards she is to be 
called again from the shades of her red-checked 
bed in an alley near the end of the High Street, 
to clean the new house and air the bedding. 

We hear that we are envied our house by many 
people, and that the garden is the best in the town. 
There will be green baize enough for Martha's 
room and ours, not to cover them, but to lie over 
the part where it is most wanted, under the dressing 
table. Mary is to have a piece of carpeting for 
the same purpose ; my mother says die does not 
want any, and it may certainly be better done 
without in her rooms than in Martha's and ours, 
from the difference of their aspect. 

I recommend Mrs. Grant's letters, as a present 



1807 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 333 

to the latter ; what they are about, and how many 
volumes they form, I do not know, having never 
heard of them but from Miss Irvine, who speaks 
of them as a new and much- admired work, and 
as one which has pleased her highly. I have in- 
quired for the book here, but find it quite un- 
known. 

I believe / put five breadths of linsey also into 
my flounce ; I know I found it wanted more than 
I had expected, and that I should have been dis- 
tressed if I had not bought more than I believed 
myself to need for the sake of the even measure, 
on which we think so differently, A light morning 
gown will be a very necessary purchase for you, 
and I wish you a pretty one. I shall buy such 
things whenever I am tempted, but as yet there is 
nothing of the sort to be seen. 

We are reading Barretti's other book, and find 
him dreadfully abusive of poor Mrs. Sharpe. I can 
no longer take his part against you, as I did nine 
years ago. 

Sunday. This post has brought our Martha's 
own assurance of her coming on Tuesday evening, 
which nothing is now to prevent except Williain 
should send her word that there is no remedy on 
that day. Her letter was put into the post at 



3o4 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1807 

Basingstoke on their return from Eversley, where 
she says they have spent their time very pleasantly. 
She does not own herself in any danger of being 
tempted back again, however, and as she signs by 
her maiden name, we are at least to suppose her 
not married yet. 

They must have had a cold visit, but as she 
found it agreeable I suppose there was no want of 
blankets, and we may trust to her sister's taking 
care that her love of many should be known. She 
sends me no particulars, having time only to write 
the needful. 

I wish you a pleasant party to-morrow, and not 
more than you like of Miss Hatton's neck. Lady B. 
must have been a shameless woman if she named 
H. Hales as within her husband's reach. It is a 
piece of impertinence, indeed, in a woman to 
pretend to fix on any one, as if she supposed it 
could be only ask and have. A widower with 
three children has no right to look higher than 
his daughter's governess. 

I am forced to be abusive for want of subject, 
having really nothing to say. When Martha comes 
she will supply me with matter ; I shall have to tell 
you how she likes the house, and what she thinks 
of Mary. 



1807 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 335 

You must be very cold to-day at Godmersham. 
We are cold here. I expect a severe March, a wet 
April, and a sharp May. And with this prophecy 
I must conclude. 

My love to everybody. 

Yours affectionately, J. AUSTEN. 

Miss Austen, Godrnersham Park, 
Faverslmm, Kent. 



I808 

THESE letters were written during a visit which 
Jane and her brother James and his wife paid to 
Godmersham at this time. There is a graphic 
description of the arrival of the two ladies and 
their reception by their relations, and a pleasant 
account of the life at Godmersham, which Edward 
Austen had greatly improved, inside and out, since 
his accession to the property iii 1798. ' Bentigh' 
and ' the Temple plantations ' deserve a word of 
notice. The former was once a ploughed field, 
but when my grandfather first came to Godmer- 
sham he planted it with underwood, and made 
gravel walks through it, planted an avenue of 



336 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

trees on each side of the principal walk, and added 
it to the shrubberies. The family always walked 
through it on their way to church, leaving the 
shrubberies by a little door in the wall, at the end 
of the private grounds, which brought them out just 
opposite the church. The same improving hand 
planted also a great deal on the other (east) side of 
the river, where was a pretty sort of summer-house 
called ' The Temple,' built by one of the preceding 
owners of the place. The road at that time ran 
nearer to the house than the present turnpike 
road ; it formerly divided the river from the park, 
and the hill called ' the Canterbury Hill ' was also 
planted by my grandfather, and is the plantation 
to which reference is here made. 

' Edward and Caroline ' are James and Mary 
Austen's children the writer of the ' Memoir/ 
who was now nearly ten years old, and his little 
sister. 

The fortieth letter commences with an account 
of a visit to Canterbury, wherein is a kindly men- 
tion of Mrs. Knight (Catherine Knatchbull) and a 
criticism on Mr. Moore (Harriet Bridges' husband), 
who does not seem to have been a favourite of 
Jane's, although she never varies in her affectionate 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 337 

mention of his wife. Mrs. Knight seems to have 
been very generously disposed towards other 
members of the Austen family besides her hus- 
band's heir, for her ' very agreeable present ' is 
here gratefully acknowledged, and both Cassandra 
and Jane stayed with her at different times at the 
White Friars house. 

' Buckwell ' is an old-fashioned farmhouse, be- 
longing to the Godmersham property, and situate on 
the Ashford road, within an easy drive. The * drag- 
ging ' of the fish-pond does not seem to have tempted 
Jane, but it is a kind of sport which has a peculiar 
fascination of its own, though scarcely so great as 
that of * letting the water off' from a well- stocked 
pond. There are few more delightful pastimes 
than this to schoolboys who have the good fortune 
to have pond-owning fathers ; the patience which 
has to be exercised whilst the water slowly drains 
away is amply rewarded when the depth has 
become sufficiently reduced to allow of the sight 
of the carp and tench splashing about in evident 
astonishment at the extraordinary change which is 
taking place in their usually quiet home. Then, 
when enough water has been drained off to allow 
it, how gloriously exciting is the plunge into the 
VOL. i. Z 



338 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

mud, and the capture of the fish in small landing 
nets, varied by the eager chase after the eels, 
whose twistings and windings are enough to baffle 

o o o 

the most experienced holder of eel-tongs, and 
whose capture is the climax of the sport. This, 
however, is not strictly germane to Jane Austen, 
whom I do not suspect of having ever waded after 
eels in her life, and who upon the occasion of the 
present less exciting amusement stayed quietly 
at home. In the same letter the expression : 
{ I initiated her into the mysteries of Inmanism ' 
requires explanation. Mrs. Inman was the aged 
widow of a former clergyman at Godmersham, 
who lived at the park-keeper's house (' Old Hills '), 
and it was one of the ' treats ' of the Godmersham 
children to walk up to her with fruit after dessert. 
She was blind, and used to walk about the park 
with a gold-headed walking-stick, and leaning on 
the arm of her faithful servant Nanny Part. She 
died in September 1815. 

' John Bridges,' who had grown ' old and black,' 
was Brook John, younger brother of the reigning 
Sir Brook. Strange to say, he married the sister 
of his eldest brother's second wife, Miss Hawley 
as Edward married the sister of the first wife, 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 339 

Miss Foote a rare example of confidence in a 
fraternal selection of a family from which to choose 
a partner for life. John Bridges had the curacy 
of Moldash (which was attached to the living of 
Godmersham), and lived some time with his sister 
and brother-in-law, with whose children he was a 
great favourite. He hunted (which was a common 
qualification with clergymen in those days), had 
delicate health, and died in 1812, leaving no 
children. His widow afterwards married Mr. 
Bramston, of Skreens, in Essex. She was the ' Aunt 
Charlotte' of the Godmersham family, and died 
in 1848. 

The forty -first letter mentions ' Mr. Knatchbull 
of Provender ' as being at the White Friars. This 
was my father, afterwards the Eight Hon. Sir 
Edward Knatchbull, who subsequently represented 
Kent from the death of his father in 1819 to 1830, 
and East Kent from 1832 to 1845. At this time 
he had been two years married to his first wife, 
Annabella-Christiana, daughter of Sir John Hony- 
wood. Provender had been the property of the 
two Hugessen co-heiresses, Mary (Lady Knatch- 
bull) and Dorothy (Lady Banks), wife of the 
Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, and through this 

z2 



340 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

channel came into my 'father's and, ultimately, 
into my possession. ' Charles Graham,' rector of 
Barham, and brother to my grandfather Sir E. 
Knatchbull's second wife, was always intimate at 
Hatch, as was, in after years, his only son, a most 
popular young man, who was unhappily drowned 
at Oxford whilst an undergraduate of Trinity 
College in that University. The ' Lady Knatch- 
bull ' here mentioned was my grandfather's third 
wife Mary Hawkins, co-heiress of Nash Court, 
near Faversham. Curiously enough this property, 
which was sold, has come back to a descendant 
of this lady, one of whose daughters, Eleanor 
Knatchbull, married the fourth Lord Sondes, and 
the late owner of Nash Court, Mr. Ladd, lately 
bequeathed it (subject tc the life interest of his 
wife) to one of the younger sons of the fifth Lord 
(now the first Earl) Sondes his neighbour at Lees 
Court, which adjoins it. 

The Knatchbulls who ' returned into Somerset- 
shire ' were the branch of the Hatch family al- 
ready mentioned in the sixth division of letters. 

The Lady Bridges mentioned in the forty- 
second letter was not the then baronet's wife, Miss 
Foote, who had died two years before, but his 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 341 

mother, ' Fanny Fowler,' who at this time was 
living at Goodnestone Farm at the Dower-house. 



XXXIX. 

Godmersham : Wednesday (June 15). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

Where shall I begin? Which of all my im- 
portant nothings shall I tell you first ? At half 
after seven yesterday morning Henry saw us into 
our own carriage, and we drove away from the Bath 
Hotel ; which, by-the-bye, had been found most un- 
comfortable quarters very dirty, very noisy, and 
very ill-provided. James began his journey by the 
coach at five. Our first eight miles were hot ; 
Deptford Hill brought to my mind our hot journey 
into Kent fourteen years ago ; but after Black- 
lieath we suffered nothing, and as the day ad- 
vanced it grew quite cool. At Dartford, which we 
reached within the two hours and three-quarters, 
we went to the Bull, the same inn at which we 
breakfasted in that said journey, and on the pre- 
sent occasion had about the same bad butter. 

At half-past ten we were' again off, and, tra- 
velling on without any adventure reached Sitting- 



342 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

bourne by three. Daniel was watching for us at 
the door of the George, and I was acknowledged 
very kindly by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, to the 
latter of whom I devoted my conversation, while 
Mary went out to buy some gloves. A few minutes, 
of course, did for Sittingbourne ; and so off we 
drove, drove, drove, and by six o'clock were at 
Godmersham. 

Our two brothers were walking before the 
house as we approached, as natural as life. Fanny 
and Lizzy met us in the Hall with a great deal of 
pleasant joy ; we went for a few minutes into the 
breakfast parlour, and then proceeded to our 
rooms. Mary has the Hall chamber. I am in the 
Yellow room very literally for I am writing in 
it at this moment. It seems odd to me to have 
such a great place all to myself, and to be at God- 
mersham without you is also odd. 

You are wished for, I assure you : Fanny, who 
came to me as soon as she had seen her Aunt 
James to her room, and stayed while I dressed, 
was as energetic as usual in her longings for you. 
She is grown both in height and size since last year, 
but not immoderately, looks very well, and seems 
as to conduct and manner just what she was and 
what one could wish her to continue. 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 343 

Elizabeth, who was dressing when we arrived, 
came to me for a minute attended by Marianne, 
Charles, and Louisa, and, you will not doubt, gave 
me a very affectionate welcome. That I had re- 
ceived such from Edward also I need not mention ; 
but I do, you see, because it is a pleasure. I never 
saw him look in better health, and Fanny says he 
is perfectly well. I cannot praise Elizabeth's looks, 
but they are probably affected by a cold. Her 
little namesake has gained in beauty in the last 
three years, though not all that Marianne has lost. 
Charles is not quite so lovely as he was. Louisa 
is much as I expected, and Cassandra I find hand- 
somer than I expected, though at present disguised 
by such a violent breaking-out that she does not 
come down after dinner. She has charming eyes 
and a nice open countenance, and seems likely to 
be very lovable. Her size is magnificent. 

I was agreeably surprised to find Louisa Bridges 
still here. She looks remarkably well (legacies 
are very wholesome diet), and is just what she 
always was. John is at Sandling. You may fancy 
our dinner party therefore ; Fanny, of course, be- 
longing to it, and little Edward, for that day. He 
was almost too happy, his happiness at least made 
him too talkative. 



344 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 1808 

It has struck ten; I must go to breakfast. 

Since breakfast I have had a tute-a-tete with 
Edward in his room ; he wanted to know James's 
plans and mine, and from what his own now are 
I think it already nearly certain that I shall return 
when they do, though not with them. Edward 
will be going about the same time to Alton, where 
he has business with Mr. Trimmer, and where he 
means his son should join him ; and I shall pro- 
bably be his companion to that place, and get on 
afterwards somehow or other. 

I should have preferred a rather longer stay 
here certainly, but there is no prospect of any 
later conveyance for me, as he does not mean to 
accompany Edward on his return to Winchester, 
from a very natural unwillingness to leave Eliza- 
beth at that time. I shall at any rate be glad not 
to be obliged to be an incumbrance on those who 
have brought me here, for, as James has no horse, 
I must feel in their carriage that I am taking his 
place. We were rather crowded yesterday, though 
it does not become me to say so, as I and my boa 
were of the party, and it is not to be supposed but 
that a child of three years of age was fidgety. 

I need scarcely beg you to keep all this to 
yourself, lest it should get round by Anna's means. 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 345 

She is very kindly inquired after by her friends 
here, who all regret her not coming with her 
father and mother. 

I left Henry, I hope, free from his tiresome 
complaint, in other respects well, and thinking 
with great pleasure of Cheltenham and Stone- 
leigh. 

The brewery scheme is quite at an end : at a 
meeting of the subscribers last week it was by 
general, and I believe very hearty, consent dis- 
solved. 

The country is very beautiful. I saw as much 
as ever to admire in my yesterday's journey. 

Thursday. I am glad to find that Anna was 
pleased with going to Southampton, and hope with 
all my heart that the visit may be satisfactory to 
everybody. Tell her that she will hear in a few 
days from her mamma, who would have written to 
her now but for this letter. 

Yesterday passed quite d la Godmersham : the 
gentlemen rode about Edward's farm, and returned 
in time to saunter along Bentigh with us ; and 
after dinner we visited the Temple Plantations, 
which, to be sure, is a Chevalier Bayard of a plan- 
tation. James and Mary are much struck with 
the beauty of the place. To-day the spirit of the 



346 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

thing is kept up by the two brothers being gone 
to Canterbury in the chair. 

I cannot discover, even through Fanny, that 
her mother is fatigued by her attendance on the 
children. I have, of course, tendered my services, 
and when Louisa is gone, who sometimes hears the 
little girls read, will try to be accepted in her 
stead. She will not be here many days longer. 
The Moores are partly expected to dine here to- 
morrow or Saturday. 

I feel rather languid and solitary perhaps be- 
cause I have a cold ; but three years ago we were 
more animated with you and Harriot and Miss 
Sharpe. We shall improve, I dare say, as we 
go on. 

I have not yet told you how the new carriage 
is liked very well, very much indeed, except the 
lining, which does look rather shabby. 

I hear a very bad account of Mrs. Whitefield ; 
a very good one of Mrs. Knight, who goes to 
Broadstairs next month. Miss Sharpe is going 
with Miss Bailey to Tenby. The Widow Kennet 
succeeds to the post of laundress. 

Would you believe it my trunk is come al- 
ready ; and, what completes the wondrous happi- 
ness, nothing is damaged. I unpacked it all before 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 347 

I went to bed last night, and when I went down 
to breakfast this morning presented the rug, 
which was received most gratefully, and met with 
universal admiration. My frock is also given, and 
kindly accepted. 

Friday. I have received your letter, and I 
think it gives me nothing to be sorry for but 
Mary's cold, which I hope is by this time better. 
Her approbation of her child's hat makes me very 
happy. Mrs. J. A. bought one at Gayleard's for 
Caroline, of the same shape, but brown and with 
a feather. 

I hope Huxham is a comfort to you ; I am 
glad you are taking it. I shall probably have an 
opportunity of giving Harriot your message to- 
morrow ; she does not come here, they have not a 
day to spare, but Louisa and I are to go to her in 
the morning. I send your thanks to Eliza by this 
post in a letter to Henry. 

Lady Catherine is Lord Portmore's daughter. 
I have read Mr. Jefferson's case to Edward, and he 
desires to have his name set down for a guinea and 
his wife's for another ; but does not wish for more 
than one copy of the work. Your account of 
Anna gives me pleasure. Tell her, with my love, 
that I like her for liking the quay. Mrs. J. A. 



348 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

seems rather surprised at the Maitlands drinking 
tea with you, but that does not prevent my ap- 
proving it. I hope you had not a disagreeable 
evening with Miss Austen and her niece. You 
know how interesting the purchase of a sponge- 
cake is to me. 

I am now just returned from Eggerton ; Louisa 
and I walked together and found Miss Maria at 
home. Her sister we met on our way back. She 
had been to pay her compliments to Mrs. Inman, 
whose chaise was seen to cross the park while we 
were at dinner yesterday. 

I told Sackree that you desired to be remem- 
bered to her, which pleased her ; and she sends her 
duty, and wishes you to know that she has been 
into the great world. She went on to town after 
taking William to Eltham, and, as well as myself, 
saw the ladies go to Court on the 4th. She had 
the advantage indeed of me in being in the Palace. 

Louisa is not so handsome as I expected, but she 
is not quite well. Edward and Caroline seem very 
happy here ; he has nice playfellows in Lizzy and 
Charles. They and their attendant have the boys' 
attic. Anna will not be surprised that the cutting 
off her hair is very much regretted by several of 
the party in this house ; I am tolerably reconciled 



1808 LETTEES OF JANE AUSTEN. 349 

to it by considering that two or three years may 
restore it again. 

You are very important with your Captain 
Bulmore and Hotel Master, and I trust, if your 
trouble overbalances your dignity on the occasion, 
it will be amply repaid by Mrs. Craven's appro- 
bation, and a pleasant scheme to see her. 

Mrs. Cooke has written to my brother James 
to invite him and his wife to Bookham in their way 
back, which, as I learn through Edward's means, 
they are not disinclined to accept, but that my 
being with them would render it impracticable, 
the nature of the road affording no conveyance to 
James. I shall therefore make them easy on that 
head as soon as I can. 

I have a great deal of love to give from every- 
body. 

Yours most affectionately, JAXE. 

My mother will be glad to be assured that the 
size of the rug does perfectly well. It is not to be 
used till winter. 

Miss Austen, Castle Square, Southampton. 



350 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

XL. 

Godmeraham : Monday (June 20). 

MY DEAR CASSANDKA, 

I will first talk of my visit to Canterbury, as 
Mrs. J. A.'s letter to Anna cannot have given you 
every particular of it which you are likely to wish 
for. I had a most affectionate welcome from 
Harriot, and was happy to see her looking almost 
as well as ever. She walked with me to call on 
Mrs. Brydges, when Elizabeth and Louisa went to 
Mrs. Milles'. Mrs. B. was dressing, and could not 
see us, and we proceeded to the White Friars, 
where Mrs. K. was alone in her drawing room, as 
gentle, and kind, and friendly as usual. She 
inquired after everybody, especially my mother 
and yourself. We were with her a quarter of an 
hour before Elizabeth and Louisa, hot from Mrs. 
Baskerville's shop, walked in ; they were soon fol- 
lowed by the carriage, and another five minutes 
brought Mr. Moore himself, just returned from his 
morning ride. 

Well, and what do I think of Mr. Moore ? I 
will not pretend in one meeting to dislike him, 
whatever Mary may say, but I can honestly assure 
her that I saw nothing in him to admire. His 



1808 LETTERS OF JAXE AUSTEN. 351 

manners, as you have always said, are gentleman- 
like, but by no means winning. He made one 
formal inquiry after you. 

I saw their little girl, and very small and very 
pretty she is. Her features are as delicate u-* 
Mary Jane's, with nice dark eyes ; and if she had 
Mary Jane's fine colour she would be quite com- 
plete. Harriot's fondness for her seems just what 
is amiable and natural, and not foolish. I saw 
Caroline also, and thought her very plain. 

Edward's plan for Hampshire does not vary ; 
he only improves it with the kind intention of 
taking me on to Southampton, and spending one 
whole day with you ; and, if it is found practicable, 
Edward, jun., will be added to our party for that 
one day also, which is to be Sunday, the 10th of 
July. I hope you may have beds for them. We 
are to begin our journey on the 8th, and reach you 
late on the 9th. 

This morning brought me a letter from Mrs. 
Knight, containing the usual fee, and all the usual 
kindness. She asks me to spend a day or two with 
her this week, to meet Mrs. C. Knatchbull, who, 
with her husband, comes to the White Friars to 1 
day, and I believe I shall go. I have consulted 
Edward, and think it will be arranged for Mrs. 



352 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

J. A.'s going with me one morning, my staying 
the night, and Edward's driving me home the next 
evening. Her very agreeable present will make 
my circumstances quite easy. I shall reserve half 
for my pelisse. I hope by this early return I am 
sure of seeing Catherine and Alethea ; and I pro- 
pose that, either with or without them, you and 
I and Martha shall have a snug fortnight while 
my mother is at Steventon. 

We go on very well here. Mary finds the 
children less troublesome than she expected, and, 
independent of them, there is certainly not much 
to try the patience or hurt the spirits at Godmer- 
sham. I initiated her yesterday into the mysteries 
of Inman-ism. The poor old lady is as thin and 
cheerful as ever, and very thankful for a new 
acquaintance. I had called on her before with 
Elizabeth and Louisa. 

I find John Bridges grown very old and black, 
but his manners are not altered ; he is very pleas- 
ing, and talks of Hampshire with great admiration. 

Pray let Anna have the pleasure of knowing 
that she is remembered with kindness, both by 
Mrs. Cooke and Miss Sharpe. Her manners must 
be very much worsted by your description of them, 
but I hope they will improve by this visit. 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 353 

Mrs. Knight finished her letter with, ' Give my 
best love to Cassandra when you write to her/ 
I shall like spending a day at the White Friars 
very much. 

We breakfasted in the library this morning for 
the first time, and most of the party have been 
complaining all day of the heat ; but Louisa and 
I feel alike as to weather, and are cool and com- 
fortable. 

Wednesday. The Moores came yesterday in 
their curricle, between one and two o'clock, and 
immediately after the noonshine which succeeded 
their arrival a party set off for Buckwell, to see the 
pond dragged Mr. Moore, James, Edward, and 
James ; Edward on horseback, John Bridges driving 
Mary in his gig. The rest of us remained quietly 
and comfortably at home. 

We had a very pleasant dinner, aft the lower 
end of the table at least ; the merriment was 
chiefly between Edward, Louisa, Harriot, and 
myself. Mr. Moore did not talk so much as I 
expected, and I understand from Fanny that I did 
not see him at all as he is in general. Our being 
strangers made him so much more silent and quiet. 
Had I had no reason for observing what he said 
and did, I should scarcely have thought about 

VOL. i. A A 



354 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

him. His manners to her want tenderness, and he 
was a little violent at last about the impossibility 
of her going to Eastwell. I cannot see any un- 
happiness in her, however, and as to kind-hearted- 
ness, &c., she is quite unaltered. Mary was 
disappointed in her beauty, and thought him very 
disagreeable ; James admires her, and finds him 
conversable and pleasant. 

I sent my answer by them to Mrs. Knight, my 
double acceptance of her note and her invitation, 
which I wrote without much effort, for I was rich, 
and the rich are always respectable, whatever be 
their style of writing. 

I am to meet Harriot at dinner to-morrow. It 
is one of the audit days, and Mr. M. dines with 
the Dean, who is just come to Canterbury. On 
Tuesday there is to be a family meeting at Mrs. C. 
Milles's : Lady Bridges and Louisa from Good- 
nestone, the Moores, and a party from this house 
Elizabeth, John Bridges, and myself. It will give 
me pleasure to see Lady B. ; she is now quite well. 
Louisa goes home on Friday, and John with her, 
but he returns the next day. These are our 
engagements ; make the most of them. 

Mr. Waller is dead, I see. I cannot grieve 
about it, nor, perhaps, can his widow very much. 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 355 

Edward began cutting sanfoin on Saturday, and, 
I hope, is likely to have favourable weather. The 
crop is good. 

There has been a cold and sore- throat prevailing 
very much in this house lately ; the children have 
almost all been ill with it, and we were afraid 
Lizzy was going to be very ill one day. She had 
specks and a great deal of fever. It went off, 
however, and they are all pretty well now. 

I want to hear of your gathering strawberries ; 
we have had them three times here. I suppose 
you have been obliged to have in some white wine, 
and must visit the store closet a little oftener than 
when you were quite by yourselves. 

One begins really to expect the St. Albans now, 
.and I wish she may come before Henry goes to 
Cheltenham, it will be so much more convenient to 
him. He will be very glad if Frank can come to 
him in London, as his own time is likely to be 
very precious, but does not depend on it. I shall 
not forget Charles next week. 

So much did I write before breakfast, and now, 
to my agreeable surprise, I have to acknowledge 
another letter from you. I had not the least 
notion of hearing before to-morrow, and heard of 
Russell's being about to pass the windows without 

A A2 



LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808- 

any anxiety. You are very amiable and very clever 
to write such long letters ; every page of yours has 
more lines than this, and every line more words 
than the average of mine. I am quite ashamed ; 
but you have certainly more little events than 
we have. Mr. Lyford supplies you with a great 
deal of interesting matter (matter intellectual, 
not physical), but I have nothing to say of Mr. 
Scudamore. 1 

And now, that is such a sad, stupid attempt 
at wit about matter that nobody can smile at it, 
and I am quite out of heart. I am sick of myself 
and my bad pens. I have no other complaint, 
however ; my languor is entirely removed. 

Ought I to be very much pleased with ' Mar- 
mion ' ? As yet I am not. James reads it aloud in 
the evening the short evening, beginning at about 
10, and broken by supper. 

Happy Mrs. Harrison and Miss Austen ! You 
seem to be always calling on them. I am glad 
your various civilities have turned out so well, and 
most heartily wish you success and pleasure in 
your present engagement. I shall think of you 
to-night as at Netley, and to-morrow too, that 

1 The doctor who attended the Godmersham family. He lived at 
Wye. 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 357 

I may be quite sure of being right, and therefore 
I guess you will not go to Netley at all. 

This is a sad story about Mrs. P. I should not 
have suspected her of such a thing. She stayed 
the Sacrament, I remember, the last time that you 
and I did. A hint of it, with initials, was in yes- 
terday's ' Courier,' and Mr. Moore guessed it to be 
Lord S., believing there was no other Viscount S. 
in the peerage, and so it proved, Lord Viscount S. 
not being there. 

Yes, I enjoy my apartment very much, and 
always spend two or three hours in it after break- 
fast. The change from Brompton quarters to these 
is material as to space. I catch myself going on 
to the hall chamber now and then. 

Little Caroline looks very plain among her 
cousins ; and though she is not so headstrong or 
humoursome as they are, I do not think her at all 
more engaging. Her brother is to go with us to 
Canterbury to-morrow, and Fanny completes the 
party. I fancy Mrs. K. feels less interest in that 
branch of the family than any other. I dare say she 
will do her duty, however, by the boy. His uncle 
Edward talks nonsense to him delightfully ; more 
than he can always understand. The two Morrises 
are come to dine and spend the day with him. 



358 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 180& 

Mary wishes my mother to buy whatever she 
thinks necessary for Anna's shifts, and hopes to see 
her at Steventon soon after the 9th of July, if that 
time is as convenient to my mother as any other. 
I have hardly done justice to what she means on 
the subject, as her intention is that my mother 
should come at whatever time she likes best. They 
will be at home on the 9th. 

I always come in for a morning visit from 
Crundale, and Mr. and Mrs. Filmer have just given 
me my due. He and I talked away gaily of 
Southampton, the Harrisons, Wallers, &c. 

Fanny sends her best love to you all, and will 
write to Anna very soon. 

Yours very affectionately, JANE. 

I want some news from Paragon. 
I am almost sorry that Rose Hill Cottage should 
be so near suiting us, as it does not quite. 

Miss Austen, Castle Square, Southampton. 

XLI. 

Godmersham: Sunday (June 26). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA, 

I am very much obliged to you for writing to 
me on Thursday, and very glad that I owe the 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 359 

pleasure of hearing from you again so soon to such 
an agreeable cause ; but you will not be surprised, 
nor perhaps so angry as I should be, to find that 
Frank's history had reached me before in a letter 
from Henry. We are all very happy to hear of his 
health and safety ; he wants nothing but a good 
prize to be a perfect character. 

This scheme to the island is an admirable thing 
for his wife ; she will not feel the delay of his 
return in such variety. How very kind of Mrs. 
Craven to ask her ! I think I quite understand 
the whole island arrangements, and shall be very 
ready to perform my part in them. I hope my 
mother will go, and I trust it is certain that there 
will be Martha's bed for Edward when he brings 
me home. What can you do with Anna ? for her 
bed will probably be wanted for young Edward. 
His father writes to Dr. Goddard to-day to ask 
leave, and we have the pupil's authority for think- 
ing it will be granted. 

I have been so kindly pressed to stay longer 
here, in consequence of an offer of Henry's to take 
me back some time in September, that, not being 
able to detail all my objections to such a plan, 
I have felt myself obliged to give Edward and 
Elizabeth one private reason for my wishing to be 



360 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

at home in July. They feel the strength of it and 
say no more, and one can rely on their secrecy. 
After this I hope we shall not be disappointed of 
our friend's visit ; my honour as well as my affec- 
tion will be concerned in it. 1 

Elizabeth has a very sweet scheme of our 
accompanying Edward into Kent next Christmas. 
A legacy might make it very feasible a legacy is 
our sovereign good. In the meanwhile, let me 
remember that I have now some money to spare, 
arid that I wish to have my name put down as a 
subscriber to Mr. Jefferson's works. My last letter 
was closed before it occurred to me how possible, 
how right, and how gratifying such a measure 
would be. 

Your account of your visitors' good journey, 
voyage, and satisfaction in everything gave me the 
greatest pleasure. They have nice weather for their 
introduction to the island, and I hope, with such a 
disposition to be pleased, their general enjoyment 
is as certain as it will be just. Anna's being in- 
terested in the embarkation shows a taste that 
one values. Mary Jane's delight in the water is 
quite ridiculous. Elizabeth supposes Mrs. Hall will 

1 I have no clue to this reason. 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 361 

account for it by the child's knowledge of her 
father's being at sea. 

Mrs. J. A. hopes, as I said in my last, to see 
my mother soon after her return home, and will 
meet her at Winchester on any day she will ap- 
point. 

And now I believe I have made all the need- 
ful replies and cominunicatios, and may disport 
myself as I can on my Canterbury visit. 

It was a very agreeable visit. There was 
everything to make it so kindness, conversation, 
variety, without care or cost. Mr. Knatchbull, from 
Provender, was at the W. Friars when we arrived, 
and stayed dinner, which, with Harriot, who 
came, as you may suppose, in a great hurry, ten 
minutes after the time, made our number six. 
Mr. K. went away early ; Mr. Moore succeeded him, 
and we sat quietly working and talking till 10, 
when he ordered his wife away, and we adjourned 
to the dressing-room to eat our tart and jelly. 
Mr. M. was not unagreeable, though nothing 
seemed to go right with him. He is a sensible 
man and tells a story well. 

Mrs. C. Knatchbull and I breakfasted tete-a-tete 
the next day, for her husband was gone to Mr. 



362 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

Toko's, and Mrs. Knight had a sad headache which 
kept her in bed. She had had too much company 
the day before. After my coming, which was not 
till past two, she had Mrs. Milles, of Nackington, a 
Mrs. and Miss Gregory, and Charles Graham ; and 
she told me it had been so all the morning. 

Very soon after breakfast on Friday, Mrs. C. 
K., who is just what we have always seen her,, 
went with me to Mrs. Brydges, and Mrs. Moore's, 
paid some other visits while I remained with the 
latter, and we finished with Mrs. C. Milles, who- 
luckily was not at home, and whose new house is- 
a very convenient short cut from the Oaks to the 
W. Friars. 

We found Mrs. Knight up and better ; but 
early as it was only 12 o'clock we had scarcely 
taken off' our bonnets before company came 
Ly. Knatchbull and her mother ; and after them 
succeeded Mrs. White, Mrs. Hughes and her two 
children, Mr. Moore, Harriot and Louisa, and 
John Bridges, with such short intervals between 
any as to make it a matter of wonder to me 
that Mrs. K. and I should ever have been ten 
minutes alone or have had any leisure for comfort- 
able talk, yet we had time to say a little of every- 
thing. Edward came to dinner, and at 8 o'clock 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 363 

he and I got into the chair, and the pleasures of 
my visit concluded with a delightful drive home. 

Mrs. and Miss Brydges seemed very glad to see 
me. The poor old lady looks much as she did 
three years ago, and was very particular in her 
enquiries after my mother. And from her and 
from the Knatchbulls I have all manner of kind 
compliments to give you both. 

As Fanny writes to Anna by this post I had 
intended to keep my letter for another day, but. 
recollecting that I must keep it two, I have resolved 
rather to finish and send it now. The two letters 
will not interfere, I dare say ; on the contrary, 
they may throw light on each other. 

Mary begins to fancy, because she has received 
no message on the subject, that Anna does not 
mean to answer her letter, but it must be for the 
pleasure of fancying it. I think Elizabeth better 
and looking better than when we came. 

Yesterday I introduced James to Mrs. Inman ; 
in the evening John Bridges returned from Good- 
nestone, and this morning, before we had left the 
breakfast table, we had a visit from Mr. Whitfield, 
whose object, I imagine, was principally to thank 
my eldest brother for his assistance. Poor man ! 
he has now a little intermission of his excessive 



364 LETTEKS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

solicitude on his wife's account, as she is rather 
better. James does duty at Godmershara to-day. 

The Knatchbulls had intended coming here next 
week, but the rent-day makes it impossible for 
them to be received, and I do not think there will 
be any spare time afterwards. They return into 
Somersetshire by way of Sussex and Hants, and are 
to be at Fareliam and, perhaps, may be in South- 
ampton, on which possibility I said all that I 
thought right, and, if they are in the place, Mrs. 
K. has promised to call in Castle Square ; it will be 
about the end of July. She seems to have a pro- 
spect, however, of being in that county again in 
the spring for a longer period, and will spend a day 
with us if she is. 

You and I need not tell each other how glad 
we shall be to receive attention from, or pay it 
to anyone connected with, Mrs. Knight. I cannot 
help regretting that now, when I feel enough her 
equal to relish her society, I see so little of the 
latter. 

The Milles of Nackington dine here on Friday, 
and perhaps the Hattons. It is a compliment as 
much due to me as a call from the Filmers. 

When you write to the island, Mary will be 
glad to have Mrs. Craven informed, with her love, 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 365 

that she is now sure it will not be in her power to 
visit Mrs. Craven during her stay there, but that 
if Mrs. Craven can take Steventon in her way back 
it will be giving my brother and herself great 
pleasure. She also congratulates her namesake on 
hearing from her husband. That said namesake 
is rising in the world ; she was thought excessively 
improved in her late visit. Mrs. Knight thought 
her so last year. Henry sends us the welcome in- 
formation of his having had 110 face-ache since I 
left them. 

You are very kind in mentioning old Mrs. 
Williams so often. Poor creature ! I cannot help 
hoping that each letter may tell of her sufferings 
being over. If she wants sugar I should like to 
supply her with it. 

The Moores went yesterday to Goodnestone, 
but return to-morrow. After Tuesday we shall 
see them no more, though Harriot is very earnest 
with Edward to take Wrotham in his journey, but 
we shall be in too great a hurry to get nearer to it 
than Wrotham Gate. He wishes to reach Guild- 
ford on Friday night, that we may have a couple 
of hours to spare for Alton. I shall be sorry to 
pass the door at Scale without calling, but it must 
be so ; and I shall be nearer to Bookham than 



366 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

I could wish in going from Dorking to Guilclford ; 
but till I have a travelling purse of my own I must 
submit to such things. 

The Moores leave Canterbury on Friday, and 
go for a day or two to Sandling. I really hope 
Harriot is altogether very happy, but she cannot 
feel quite so much at her ease with her husband 
as the wives she has been used to. 

Good-bye. I hope you have been long re- 
covered from your worry on Thursday morning, 
and that you do not much mind not going to the 
Newbury races. I am withstanding those of Can- 
terbury. Let that strengthen you. 

Yours very sincerely, JANE. 

Miss Austen, Castle Square, Southampton. 

XLTI. 
Godmersham : Thursday (June 20). 

MY DEAR CASSANDRA. 

I give you all joy of Frank's return, which 
happens in the true sailor way, just after our being 
told not to expect him for some weeks. The wind 
has been very much against him, but I suppose 
he must be in our neighbourhood by this time . 
Fanny is in hourly expectation of him here. 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 367 

Mary's visit in the island is probably shortened 
by this event. Make our kind love and con- 
gratulations to her. 

What cold disagreeable weather, ever since 
Sunday ! I dare say you have fires every day. 
My kerseymere spencer is quite the comfort of 
our evening walks. 

Mary thanks Anna for her letter, and wishes 
her to buy enough of her new coloured frock to 
make a shirt handkerchief. I am glad to hear of 
her Aunt Maitland's kind present. We want you 
to send us Anna's height, that we may know 
whether she is as tall as Fanny ; and pray can you 
tell me of any little tiling that would be probably 
acceptable to Mrs. F. A. ? I wish to bring her 
something : has she a silver knife, or would you 
recommend a brooch ? I shall not spend more 
than half a guinea about it. 

Our Tuesday's engagement went off very plea- 
santly ; we called first on Mrs. Knight, and found 
her very well ; and at dinner had only the Milles' 
of Nackington, in addition to Goodnestone and 
Godmersham, and Mrs. Moore. Lady Bridges 
looked very well, and would have been very 
agreeable, I am sure, had there been time enough 
for her to talk to me ; but as it was, she could only 



368 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

be kind and amiable, give one good-humoured 
smiles, and make friendly enquiries. Her son 
Edward was also looking very well, and with 
manners as unaltered as hers. In the evening 
came Mr. Moore, Mr. Toke, Dr. and Mrs. Walsby r 
and others. One card-table was formed, the rest 
of us sat and talked, and at half after nine we 
came away. 

Yesterday my two brothers went to Canterbury,, 
and J. Bridges left us for London in his way to 
Cambridge, where he is to take his master's 
degree. 

Edward and Caroline and their mamma have 
all had the Godmersham cold, the former with 
sore-throat and fever, which his looks are still 
suffering from. He is very happy here, however, 
but I believe the little girl will be glad to go 
home ; her cousins are too much for her. We 
are to have Edward, I find, at Southampton, while 
his mother is in Berkshire for the races, and 
are very likely to have his father too. If circum- 
stances are favourable, that will be a good time for 
our scheme to Beaulieu. 

Lady E. Hatton called here a few mornings, 
ago, her daughter Elizth. with her, who says as 
little as ever, but holds up her head and smiles, 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 369 

and is to be at the races. Annamaria was there 
with Mrs. Hope, but we are to see her here to- 
morrow. 

So much was written before breakfast ; it is 
now half-past twelve, and, having heard Lizzy read, 
I am moved down into the library for the sake 
of fire, which agreeably surprised us when we 
assembled at ten, and here in warm and happy 
solitude proceed to acknowledge this day's letter. 

We give you credit for your spirited voyage, 
and are very glad it was accomplished so pleasantly, 
and that Anna enjoyed it so much. I hope you 
are not the worse for the fatigue ; but to embark 
at four you must have got up at three, and most 
likely had no sleep at all. Mary's not choosing to 
be at home occasions a general small surprise. As 
to Martha, she has not the least chance in the 
world of hearing from me again, and I wonder at 
her impudence in proposing it. I assure you I am 
as tired of writing long letters as you can be. 
What a pity that one should stiil be so fond of 
receiving them ! 

Fanny Austen's match is quite news, and I am 
sorry she has behaved so ill. There is some 
comfort to us in her misconduct, that we have not 
a congratulatory letter to write. 

VOL. i. BB 



370 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

James and Edward are gone to Sandling to- 
day a nice scheme for James, as it will show him 
a new and fine country. Edward certainly excels 
in doing the honours to his visitors, and provid- 
ing for their amusement. They come back this 
evening. 

Elizabeth talks of going with her three girls to 
Wrotham while her husband is in Hampshire ; she 
is improved in looks since we first came, and, ex- 
cepting a cold, does not seem at all unwell. She 
is considered, indeed, as more than usually active 
for her situation and size. I have tried to give 
James pleasure by telling him of his daughter's 
taste, but if he felt he did not express it. I rejoice 
in it very sincerely. 

Henry talks, or rather writes, of going to the 
Downes, if the ' St. Albans ' continues there, but I 
hope it will be settled otherwise. I had every- 
body's congratulations on her arrival at Canterbury. 
It is pleasant to be among people who know one's 
connections and care about them, and it amuses 
me to hear John Bridges talk of ' Frank.' I have 
thought a little of writing to the Downs, but I 
shall not, it is so very certain that he would be 
somewhere else when my letter got there. 

Mr. Tho. Leigh is again in town, or was very 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 371 

lately. Hemy met with him last Sunday in St. 
James's Church. He owned being come up un- 
expectedly on business, which we of course think 
can be only one business, and he came post from 
Adlestrop in one day, which, if it could be 
doubted before, convinces Henry that he will live 
for ever. 

Mrs. Knight is kindly anxious for our good, 
and thinks Mr. L. P. 1 must be desirous for hi* 
family's sake to have everything settled. Indeed 
I do not know where we are to get our legacy, 
but we will keep a sharp look-out. Lady B. was 
all in prosperous black the other day. 

A letter from Jenny Smalbone to her daughter 
brings intelligence which is to be forwarded to my 
mother the calving of a cow at Steventon. I am 
also to give her mamma's love to Anna, and say 
that as her papa talks of writing her a letter of 
comfort she will not write, because she knows it 
would certainly prevent his doing so. 

When are calculations ever right? I could 
have sworn that Mary must have heard of the ' St. 
Albans' ' return, and would have been wild to come 
home or to be doing something. Nobody ever 
feels or acts, suffers or enjoys, as one expects. 

1 Leigh Perrot. 



372 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN. 1808 

I do not at all regard Martha's disappointment 
in the island ; she will like it the better in the end. 
I cannot help thinking and re-thinking of your 
going to the island so heroically. It puts me in 
mind of Mrs. Hastings' voyage down the Ganges, 
and, if we had but a room to retire into to pat our 
fruit, we would have a picture of it hung there. 

Friday r , July 1. The weather is mended, 
which I attribute to my writing about it ; and I am 
in hopes, as you make no complaint, though on 
the water and at four in the morning, that it has 
not been so cold with you. 

It will be two years to-morrow since we left 
Bath for Clifton, with what happy feelings of 
escape ! 

This post has brought me a few lines from the 
amiable Frank, but he gives us no hope of seeing 
him here. We are not unlikely to have a peep at 
Henry, who, unless the ' St. Albans ' moves quickly, 
will be going to the Downs, and who will not be 
able to be in Kent without giving a day or two to 
Godmersham. 

James has heard this morning from Mrs. Cooke, 
in reply to his offer of taking Bookham in his way 
home, which is kindly accepted ; and Edwd. has 
had a less agreeable answer from Dr. Goddard, 



1808 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 373 

who actually refuses the petition. Being once fool 
enough to make a rule of never letting a boy go 
away an hour before the breaking-up hour, he 
is now fool enough to keep it. We are all dis- 
appointed. His letter brings a double disappoint- 
ment, for he lias no room for George this summer. 

My brothers returned last night at ten, having 
spent a very agreeable day in the usual routine. 
They found Mrs. D. 1 at home, and Mr. D. returned 
from business abroad to dinner. James admires 
the place very much, and thinks the two eldest 
girls handsome, but Mary's beauty has the pre- 
ference. The number of children struck him a 
good deal, for not only are their own eleven all at 
home, but the three little Bridgeses are also with 
them. 

James means to go once more to Canty, to see 
his friend Dr. Marlowe, who is coming about this 
time. / shall hardly have another opportunity of 
going there. In another week I shall be at home, 
and there, my having been at Godmersham will 
seem like a dream, as my visit at Brompton seems 
already. 

The orange wine will want our care soon. But 
in the meantime, for elegance and ease and luxury, 

1 Deedes. 



374 LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEX. 1808 

the Hattons and Milles' dine here to-day, and I 
shall eat ice and drink French wine, and be above 
vulgar economy. Luckily the pleasures of friend- 
ship, of unreserved conversation, of similarity of 
taste and opinions, will make good amends for 
orange wine. 

Little Edwd. is quite well again. 

Yours affectionately, with love from all, 

J. A. 

Miss Austen, Castle Square, Southampton. 



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RICHARD BENTLEY & SOX, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, 

Publisher* in Ordinary to Her M/i/i-xt;/ the (Jiu-en. 



APR 15 1951 



v.l 



PR Austen, Jane 

4036 Letters of Jane Austen 



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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY 



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