STEVENTON, Thursday (January 16, 1796).
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 stockings! 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 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 commendation 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 if the
wind should be favorable 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 Manydown, 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 and his sister
bring Edward home to-day, dine with us, and we shall all go together to
Ashe. I understand 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, etc., I am affectionately yours,