CHAWTON, Sept. 9.
MY DEAR ANNA,--We have been very much amused by your three books, but I
have a good many criticisms to make, more than you will like. We are not
satisfied with Mrs. Forester settling herself as tenant and near
neighbor to such a man as Sir Thomas, without having some other
inducement to go there. She ought to have some friend living thereabouts
to tempt her. A woman going with two girls just growing up into a
neighborhood where she knows nobody but one man of not very good
character, is an awkwardness which so prudent a woman as Mrs. F. would
not be likely to fall into. Remember she is very prudent. You must not
let her act inconsistently. Give her a friend, and let that friend be
invited by Sir Thomas H. to meet her, and we shall have no objection to
her dining at the Priory as she does; but otherwise a woman in her
situation would hardly go there before she had been visited by other
families. I like the scene itself, the Miss Leslie, Lady Anne, and the
music very much. Leslie is a noble name. Sir Thomas H. you always do
very well. I have only taken the liberty of expunging one phrase of his
which would not be allowable,--"Bless my heart!" It is too familiar and
inelegant. Your grandmother is more disturbed at Mrs. Forester's not
returning the Egertons' visit sooner than by anything else. They ought
to have called at the Parsonage before Sunday. You describe a sweet
place, but your descriptions are often more minute than will be liked.
You give too many particulars of right hand and left. Mrs. Forester is
not careful enough of Susan's health. Susan ought not to be walking out
so soon after heavy rains, taking long walks in the dirt. An anxious
mother would not suffer it. I like your Susan very much; she is a sweet
creature, her playfulness of fancy is very delightful. I like her as she
is now exceedingly, but I am not quite so well satisfied with her
behavior to George R. At first she seems all over attachment and
feeling, and afterwards to have none at all; she is so extremely
confused at the ball, and so well satisfied apparently with Mr. Morgan.
She seems to have changed her character.
You are now collecting your people delightfully, getting them exactly
into such a spot as is the delight of my life. Three or four families in
a country village is the very thing to work on, and I hope you will do a
great deal more, and make full use of them while they are so very
favorably arranged.
You are but now coming to the heart and beauty of your story. Until the
heroine grows up the fun must be imperfect, but I expect a great deal of
entertainment from the next three or four books, and I hope you will not
resent these remarks by sending me no more. We like the Egertons very
well. We see no blue pantaloons or cocks or hens. There is nothing to
enchant one certainly in Mr. L. L., but we make no objection to him, and
his inclination to like Susan is pleasing. The sister is a good
contrast, but the name of Rachel is as much as I can bear. They are not
so much like the Papillons as I expected. Your last chapter is very
entertaining, the conversation on genius, etc.; Mr. St. Julian and Susan
both talk in character, and very well. In some former parts Cecilia is
perhaps a little too solemn and good, but upon the whole her disposition
is very well opposed to Susan's, her want of imagination is very
natural. I wish you could make Mrs. Forester talk more; but she must be
difficult to manage and make entertaining, because there is so much good
sense and propriety about her that nothing can be made very broad. Her
economy and her ambition must not be staring. The papers left by Mrs.
Fisher are very good. Of course one guesses something. I hope when you
have written a great deal more, you will be equal to scratching out some
of the past. The scene with Mrs. Mellish I should condemn; it is prosy
and nothing to the purpose, and indeed the more you can find in your
heart to curtail between Dawlish and Newton Priors, the better I think
it will be,--one does not care for girls until they are grown up. Your
Aunt C. quite understands the exquisiteness of that name,--Newton Priors
is really a nonpareil. Milton would have given his eyes to have thought
of it. Is not the cottage taken from Tollard Royal?
[Thus far the letter was written on the 9th, but before it was finished
news arrived at Chawton of the death of Mrs. Charles Austen. She died in
her confinement, and the baby died also. She left three little
girls,--Cassie, Harriet, and Fanny. It was not until the 18th that Jane
resumed her letter as follows:[32]]
_Sunday._--I am very glad, dear Anna, that I wrote as I did before this
sad event occurred. I have only to add that your grandmamma does not
seem the worse now for the shock.
I shall be very happy to receive more of your work if more is ready; and
you write so fast that I have great hopes Mr. Digweed will come back
freighted with such a cargo as not all his hops or his sheep could equal
the value of.
Your grandmamma desires me to say that she will have finished your shoes
to-morrow, and thinks they will look very well. And that she depends
upon seeing you, as you promise, before you quit the country, and hopes
you will give her more than a day.
Yours affectionately. J. AUSTEN.