GODMERSHAM AND STEVENTON
1798-1799
Some change after this shock must have been desirable; and at the end of
the same month Mr. and Mrs. Austen, with Cassandra and Jane, started on
a visit to the Edward Austens--no longer at Rowling but at Godmersham,
which, by the generosity of Mrs. Knight, was now become their residence.
Edward would naturally wish for a visit from his parents and sisters in
his new and beautiful home. We know very little of Jane's doings there,
except that she attended a ball at Ashford; but, on her parting from
Cassandra (who was left behind) and returning to Steventon with her
father and mother, we find ourselves fortunately in the company of the
letters once more. Mrs. Austen was at this time in poor health, and Jane
evidently felt the responsibility of taking charge of her in Cassandra's
absence.
'Bull and George,' Dartford: Wednesday [October 24, 1798].
MY DEAR CASSANDRA,--You have already heard from
Daniel, I conclude, in what excellent time we
reached and quitted Sittingbourne, and how very
well my 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
comfortable dinner, and now seems quite stout. It
wanted five minutes of twelve when we left
Sittingbourne, from whence we had a famous pair of
horses, which took us to Rochester 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 load was heavy and our horses very
indifferent. However, we were in such good time,
and my mother bore her journey so well, that
expedition 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.
* * * * *
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, L7, and my dear Harry's
deputation.[78] Mr. Nottley immediately despatched
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 and by no means unhappy. Your watchfulness
with regard to the weather on our accounts was
very kind and very effectual. We had one heavy
shower on leaving Sittingbourne, but afterwards
the clouds cleared away, and we had a very bright
_chrystal_ afternoon.
My father is now reading the _Midnight Bell_[79]
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_[80] will not
forget me at least under a week. Kiss him for me.
Steventon: Saturday [October 27, 1798].
We arrived here yesterday between four and 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.
* * * * *
James called on us just as we were going to tea,
and my mother was well enough to talk very
cheerfully to him before she went to bed. . . . They
[James and Mary] 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.
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.
* * * * *
Your letter was chaperoned here by one from Mrs.
Cooke, in which she says that _Battleridge_[81] 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
happened 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.
* * * * *
My dear _itty Dordy's_ remembrance 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 all 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.
Saturday [November 17, 1798].[82]
My mother desires me to tell you that I am a very
good housekeeper, which I have no reluctance in
doing, because I really think it my peculiar
excellence, and for this reason--I always take
care to provide such things as please my own
appetite, which I consider as the chief merit in
housekeeping. 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 ball at Basingstoke next
Thursday. Our assemblies have very kindly declined
ever since we laid down the carriage, so that
dis-convenience and dis-inclination to go have
kept pace together.
* * * * *
_Sunday._--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,[83] 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.
Steventon: Sunday [November 25, 1798].
MY DEAR SISTER,--I expected to have heard from you
this morning, but no letter is come. I shall not
take the trouble of announcing to you any more of
Mary's children, if, instead of thanking me for
the intelligence, 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 tolerably 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!
* * * * *
We have got _Fitz-Albini_;[84] my father has
bought it against my private wishes, for it does
not quite satisfy my feelings that we should
purchase the only one of Egerton's works of which
his family are ashamed. That these scruples,
however, 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
disappointed--_I_ 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. . . .
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.
Steventon: [December 1, 1798].
MY DEAR CASSANDRA,--I am so good as to write 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 _London_ was at St. Helen's. But his
_raly_ latest intelligence of us was in one from
me of September 1st, which I sent soon after we
got to Godmersham. He had written a packet full
for his dearest friends in England, early in
October, to 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,[85] Mr.
Daysh,[86] 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 expedition 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
between 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 yesterday
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[87] was here yesterday; he came while
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.
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.
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 papering.
_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.
This and the following letter contain allusions to Jane's wearing caps.
Those intended for use at balls, &c. would be smart head-dresses, worn
at that period by younger as well as older women.[88] In later life, the
Miss Austens seem to have been rather indifferent to fashion and beauty
in their clothing, although always very neat.
Steventon: Tuesday [December 18, 1798].
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
my 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
venture 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.[89] He must have already received
so much satisfaction from his acquaintance and
patronage of Frank, that he will be delighted, I
dare say, to have another of the family introduced
to him.
* * * * *
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,
however, that I ever was born, since it has been
the means of procuring him a dish of tea.[90] Give
my best love to him.
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. Mary 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.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
_Wednesday._--I have changed my mind, and changed
the trimmings of my cap this morning; they are now
such as you suggested. I felt as if I should not
prosper if I strayed from your directions, 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?
* * * * *
People get so horribly poor and economical in this
part of the world that I have no patience with
them. Kent is the only place for happiness;
everybody is rich there. I must do similar
justice, however, to the Windsor neighbourhood.
Steventon: Monday night [December 24, 1798].
MY DEAR CASSANDRA,--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
application, 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 being also a situation where they are more in
the way of learning their duty, your son has been
continued 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 am 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
principally 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; and 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
Gambier 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 Admiral
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 me on November 12 in consequence of
Lord St. Vincent being removed to Gibraltar. When
his commission is sent, however, it will not be so
long on its road as our letters, because all the
Government despatches are forwarded by land to his
lordship from Lisbon with great regularity.
* * * * *
I spent my time [at Manydown] very quietly and
very pleasantly with Catherine. Miss Blachford is
agreeable enough. I do not want people to be very
agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking
them a great deal.
Our ball was very thin, but by no means
unpleasant. 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, Rice, a Mr. Butcher
(belonging to the Temples, a sailor and not of the
11th Light Dragoons), Mr. Temple (not the horrid
one of all), Mr. Wm. Orde (cousin to the
Kingsclere man), Mr. John Harwood, and Mr.
Calland, who appeared as usual with his hat in his
hand, and stood every now and then behind
Catherine 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 enjoyment
of the Ashford balls (as assemblies for dancing) I
had not thought myself equal to it, but in 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
meditate the purchase of a new muslin gown, are
delightful circumstances.
* * * * *
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.
I know no one more deserving of happiness without
alloy than Edward is.
* * * * *
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 _Battys_ would accept
of anything, because I have not made them the
offer.
* * * * *
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 himself to be
removed. I am afraid his Serene Highness will be
in a passion, and order some of our heads to be
cut off.
Steventon: Friday [December 28, 1798].
MY DEAR CASSANDRA,--Frank is made. He was
yesterday raised to the rank of Commander, and
appointed to the _Peterel_ sloop, now at
Gibraltar. A letter from Daysh has just announced
this, and as it is confirmed by a very friendly
one from Mr. Mathew to the same effect,
transcribing one from Admiral Gambier to the
General,[91] 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
consideration--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,[92] and for Edward's rent.
If 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.
Steventon: Tuesday [January 8, 1799].
I am tolerably glad to hear that Edward's income
is a good one--as glad as I can be at anybody's
being rich except you and me--and I am thoroughly
rejoiced to hear of his present to you.
* * * * *
I assure you that I dread the idea of going to
Brighton[93] as much as you do, but I am not
without hopes that something may happen to prevent
it.
* * * * *
[_Wednesday._]--You express so little anxiety
about my being murdered under Ashe 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 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 lie 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.
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[94] giving up the Godmersham estate to
Edward was no such prodigious act of generosity
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
incumbrances.
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.
* * * * *
I do not think I was very much in request [at the
Kempshot ball]. 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 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.
* * * * *
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 _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
pleasure in studied language which you may prefer.
Do not be angry with me for not filling my sheet,
and believe me yours affectionately,
J. A.
Steventon: Monday [January 21, 1799].
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 Deane Gate, but both the coaches were
full, and we had the pleasure of seeing him back
again.
* * * * *
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 Godmersham, not
surrounded by strangers and neither oppressed by a
pain in his face or powder in his hair.
* * * * *
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[95] has begged his
acceptance of the Rectory of Hamstall-Ridware 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. Staffordshire
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,
handsome, ignorant girls. The living is valued at
L140 a year, but perhaps it may 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,[96] another
dies,[97] and a third goes into Staffordshire. . . .
* * * * *
[_Tuesday._]--Our own particular 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 exactly such a one as is
necessary to make me happy. You quite abash me by
your progress in notting, 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,[98] and rather wished you to conceal
it from him at present, lest it might fall on his
spirits and retard his recovery.
* * * * *
_Wednesday._--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.
FOOTNOTES:
[78] Harry was one of the Digweeds--Edward Austen's tenants at
Steventon--who shared with the Rectory party the _deputed_ right of
shooting over the Manor (_Persuasion_, ch. iii.). The _New English
Dictionary_ (s.v.) says 'The deputation was necessary to constitute a
gamekeeper; but it was also frequently used as a means of giving to
friends the privilege of shooting game over an estate.' The term of
endearment has of course no particular significance.
[79] _The Midnight Bell_, a German story (London, 1798), is ascribed in
the _Dictionary of National Biography_ to Francis Lathom. This book is
mentioned in chapter vi. of _Northanger Abbey_.
[80] Afterwards, as George Knight, a well-known Kent cricketer, and one
of the principal agents in the introduction of round-arm bowling.
[81] _Battleridge, an historical tale founded on facts._ By a lady of
quality [? Mrs. Cooke], London, 1799.
[82] The first part of this letter is inserted in Chapter VI.
[83] James Edward Austen (Leigh), the author of the _Memoir_; in his
youth always (after his uncle and cousin had become 'Edward Knight')
known as 'Edward Austen.'
[84] _Arthur Fitz-Albini_, a novel [by Sir Egerton Brydges]. London,
1798.
[85] First Lord of the Admiralty, 1794-1801.
[86] George Daysh, clerk in the Ticket Office, Navy Office.
[87] The Basingstoke doctor.
[88] Anne Elliot, in _Persuasion_, thought that a cap would be a very
suitable present for her sister Mary, who was a young woman, and who
certainly wished to remain so.
[89] One of the Lords of the Admiralty: afterwards Lord Gambier.
[90] On his Aunt Jane's birthday.
[91] General Mathew, father of James Austen's first wife.
[92] The Miss Austens seem to have had a dress allowance of L20 a year.
Cf. _Brabourne_, vol. i. p. 189.
[93] Brighton had possibly been suggested to her brother Edward as an
alternative for Bath.
[94] This is of course an amusing mis-statement of the writer's real
opinion. See p. 83.
[95] The Hon. Mary Leigh, of Stoneleigh.
[96] Eliza de Feuillide.
[97] Lady Williams.
[98] I.e. without powder or pigtail.