FROM BATH TO SOUTHAMPTON
1805-1808
The addition of Martha to the family party made it easy for the two
sisters to leave their mother in August and pay a visit to Godmersham;
and owing to the fact that they, each in turn, varied their stay at
Godmersham by paying a short visit to Lady Bridges at Goodnestone Farm,
we have three brief letters from Jane at this date. She was spending her
time in the usual way, seeing a good deal of her sister-in-law's
neighbours and connexions, and playing with her nephews and nieces.
Godmersham Park: Saturday [August 24, 1805].
MY DEAR CASSANDRA,-- . . . George[146] is a fine
boy, and well behaved, but Daniel chiefly
delighted 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.
* * * * *
Yesterday was a very quiet day with us; my
noisiest efforts were writing to Frank, and
playing 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.
* * * * *
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[147] to Godmersham has been
to Dover and Steventon. It was finished on the
16th, and tells what theirs told before as to his
present situation[148]; 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. 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.
* * * * *
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
therefore 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 to Goodnestone is
at all inconvenient.
Goodnestone Farm: Tuesday [August 27, 1805].
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 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,[149] 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.
Goodnestone Farm: Friday [August 30, 1805].
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
rouse their spirits, but without success. Mr.
Hammond, under the influence of daughters and an
expected ball, declares he will do nothing. . . .
Yours affectionately,
J. A.
Cassandra and Jane had a scheme for going to Worthing with some of their
young nephews and nieces; but we can say no more about the plan, for the
letters now cease until January 1807. As for the events of 1806, there
is every reason to believe that the Austens spent the first part of that
year in Bath, dividing their time somewhat uncomfortably between
different lodgings.[150]
Meanwhile, Francis Austen had been helping to make history--though not
always in so front a rank as he would have desired to occupy. We left
him raising the 'sea fencibles' at Ramsgate, instructing the defenders
of the coast, and considering the possibilities of a landing by the
French in their flat-bottomed vessels. It was at Ramsgate that he was
noted as '_the_ officer who knelt in Church,' and it was there that he
met and fell in love with his future wife, Mary Gibson. She became in
time one of the best loved of the sisters-in-law; but we are told that
at the time the engagement was a slight shock to Cassandra and Jane,
because the lady chosen was _not_ Martha Lloyd, as they had hoped she
might be.
Immediate marriage was out of the question, and in May 1804 Frank was
appointed to the _Leopard_, the flagship of Admiral Louis, who at this
time held a command in the squadron blockading Napoleon's flotilla.
Frank's removal from the _Leopard_ to the _Canopus_[151] brought him
home, for a short time, just at the date of his father's death in
January 1805. In March, Admiral Louis hoisted his flag in the _Canopus_
and soon became second-in-command to Nelson. Frank, as his flag-captain,
took part in the chase after Villeneuve to the West Indies and back.
Thus far, fortune had favoured him: a state of things which seemed
likely to continue, as he was personally known to Nelson and had reason
to hope that he would soon give him the command of a frigate. But a sad
reverse was in store for him. September was spent in blockading Cadiz;
and, after Nelson's arrival from England in the _Victory_ on September
28, the _Canopus_ was ordered to 'complete supplies'[152] at Gibraltar.
After this, followed an order to Admiral Louis to give protection, as
far as Cartagena, to a convoy proceeding to Malta. Shaking themselves
free from this duty on the news that the enemy's fleet was coming out of
Cadiz, they made haste to join the main fleet in spite of contrary
winds, and with the dreadful apprehension of being too late for the
imminent battle. 'I do not profess,' he writes to Mary Gibson, 'to like
fighting for its own sake, but if there has been an action with the
combined fleets I shall ever consider the day on which I sailed from the
squadron as the most inauspicious one of my life.' Six days later (on
October 27) he had to add: 'Alas! my dearest Mary, all my fears are but
too fully justified. The fleets have met, and, after a very severe
contest, a most decisive victory has been gained by the English. . . . To
lose all share in the glory of a day which surpasses all that ever went
before is what I cannot think of with any degree of patience.' But he
soon turns from selfish regrets to speak of the death of Nelson, and
adds: 'I never heard of his equal, nor do I expect again to see such a
man. To the soundest judgment he united prompt decision and speedy
execution of his plans; and he possessed in a superior degree the happy
talent of making every class of persons pleased with their situation,
and eager to exert themselves in forwarding the public service.'
For his personal disappointment, Frank was, to a certain extent,
consoled by taking part in Sir John Duckworth's cruise to the West
Indies and in the victory over the French at St. Domingo; the squadron
returning home, with three prizes, to receive the thanks of Parliament
on their arrival at the beginning of May 1806. In the following July,
Francis Austen and Mary Gibson were married.[153]
Meanwhile, the long residence at Bath of his mother and sisters had come
to an end. On July 2, Mrs. Austen, her two daughters, and Martha Lloyd,
left Bath. Cassandra and Jane were thoroughly tired of the place--so
says Jane in a letter written two years afterwards to Cassandra,
reminding her of their happy feelings of escape.[154] The immediate
destination of the party was Clifton, and here Martha Lloyd left
them--perhaps for Harrogate in accordance with the lines quoted
above.[155] The Austens did not stay long at Clifton, and by the end of
the month were at Adlestrop Rectory on a visit to Mr. Thomas Leigh; but
neither did this prove more than a brief resting-place, for on August 5
they set out, in somewhat peculiar circumstances, together with Mr.
Leigh, his sister (Miss Elizabeth Leigh), Mr. Hill (agent of Mr.
Leigh),[156] and all the house party, to stay at Stoneleigh Abbey in
Warwickshire.
The circumstances were as follows. On July 2, 1806, occurred the death
of the Hon. Mary Leigh, who had been for twenty years life-tenant of the
Stoneleigh estates, under the will of her brother, the last Lord Leigh.
The estates now passed--according to Lord Leigh's will--unto the first
and nearest of his kindred, being male and of his blood and name, that
should be alive at the time. All the Leighs of the Stoneleigh branch had
died out, and an heir had to be sought among their remote cousins, the
Adlestrop Leighs. In ordinary circumstances the heir would have been
James Henry Leigh, who was the head of this branch; but by the peculiar
wording of Lord Leigh's will, all those of an older generation who were
thus 'the first and nearest of his blood and name' appeared to take
precedence of the natural heir, although this does not seem to have been
the intention of Lord Leigh.[157]
The _eldest_ Leigh was the Rev. Thomas Leigh,[158] who therefore became
the legal owner of Stoneleigh; but as it was thought possible that there
might be other claimants, Mr. Leigh's solicitor advised his taking
immediate possession; and accordingly Mr. Leigh and all his house party
moved from Adlestrop to Stoneleigh.
This visit, and the whole question of the succession to Stoneleigh, must
have been especially interesting to Jane's mother; for it seemed likely
that Mrs. Austen's own brother, Mr. Leigh Perrot, would, under the terms
of the will, have a life interest in the estate after Mr. Thomas Leigh,
if he survived him. It was, however, obviously most in accordance with
the desire of the testator, and with the general opinion of the family,
that the estate should go according to the usual rules of succession by
primogeniture in the Adlestrop branch; and as all the parties to the
transaction were on excellent terms with each other, and as they
believed it to be quite doubtful what interpretation a court of law
would put upon the will, they settled the matter without any such
intervention. Mr. Leigh Perrot resigned his claim to the estate and
gained instead a capital sum of L24,000 and an annuity of L2000, which
lasted until the death of his wife in 1835. This is no doubt the
agreement with Adlestrop, mentioned below in the letter of February 20,
1807,[159] and it must, one would think, have been considered
satisfactory: indeed, the writer speaks of the negotiation as 'happily
over.' The remaining clause in it which ensured to the Leigh Perrots two
bucks, two does, and the game off one manor annually was less
successful, for the bucks sometimes arrived in such a condition as to
demand immediate burial. Yet it can hardly have been this which made
Jane at a later date speak of the 'vile compromise': we should rather
treat this expression as one of her _obiter dicta_, not meant to be
taken seriously.
'And here,' writes Mrs. Austen on August 13, 1806, 'we found ourselves
on Tuesday (that is, yesterday se'nnight), eating fish, venison, and all
manner of good things, in a large and noble parlour hung round with
family portraits.'
Mrs. Austen had expected to find Stoneleigh very grand, but the
magnificence of the place surpassed her expectations. After describing
its exterior, she adds:--
At nine in the morning we say our prayers in a
handsome chapel of which the pulpit, &c., is now
hung in black. Then follows breakfast, consisting
of chocolate, coffee, and tea, plum cake, pound
cake, hot rolls, cold rolls, bread and butter, and
dry toast for me. The house steward, a fine large
respectable-looking man, orders all these matters.
Mr. Leigh and Mr. Hill are busy a great part of
the morning. _We_ walk a good deal, for the woods
are impenetrable to the sun, even in the middle of
an August day. I do not fail to spend some part of
every day in the kitchen garden, where the
quantity of small fruit exceeds anything you can
form an idea of.
She concludes her letter by saying:--
Our visit has been a most pleasant one. We all
seem in good humour, disposed to be pleased, and
endeavouring to be agreeable, and I hope we
succeed. Poor Lady Saye and Sele, to be sure, is
rather tormenting, though sometimes amusing, and
affords Jane many a good laugh, but she fatigues
me sadly on the whole. To-morrow we depart. We
have seen the remains of Kenilworth, which
afforded us much entertainment, and I expect still
more from the sight of Warwick Castle, which we
are going to see to-day.[160]
From Stoneleigh, we may imagine the Austens to have gone on to pay a
promised visit to Hamstall-Ridware--Edward Cooper's living in
Staffordshire; but the curtain drops on them once more, and is not
raised again until Jane is writing from Southampton on January 7, 1807.
Owing to the gap in the letters, we have no means of knowing why the
Austens selected Southampton as a home; nor are we told what Jane
herself thought of the place. At any rate, it was a change from Bath,
and she preferred it to Canterbury, which, from its nearness to
Godmersham, would have been another very suitable place of residence.
Southampton was in her old county, and within fairly easy reach of her
old home; and probably one reason for choosing the neighbourhood of a
naval centre was, that it enabled them to join forces with Frank Austen
and his newly married wife: but we should doubt whether Jane ever felt
really at home during her two or three years' residence there, or took
much to the society of the place. No doubt the partnership with the
Frank Austens and with Martha made it possible for the party to command
better quarters, and to live in greater comfort than would have been
within reach of the slender means of the Austens by themselves; and when
Jane's letters begin again it is pretty clear that the party, though
still in lodgings,[161] were getting ready to take possession in March
of their house in Castle Square. They were living in a very quiet way,
not caring to add to their acquaintance more than was necessary.
Cassandra was at this time on a visit to Godmersham, and Martha Lloyd
was also away. The Austens were near enough to Steventon to be visited
occasionally by James Austen and his wife; and between their own
acquaintance, and Frank's friends in the service, they had what they
wanted in the way of society.
Southampton: Wednesday [January 7, 1807].
Of your visit there [to Canterbury] I must now
speak 'incessantly'; it surprises, but pleases me
more, and I consider it as a very just and
honourable distinction 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 expectations 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.
* * * * *
_Alphonsine_[162] 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 Quixote_ which now makes our evening
amusement: to me a very high one, as I find the
work quite equal to what I remembered it.
* * * * *
Our acquaintance increase too fast. He [Frank] 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[outhampton] 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 pianoforte
did not appear. She was civil and chatty enough,
and offered to introduce us to some acquaintance
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.
Southampton: [February 8, 1807].
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 the 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.[163] We talk also of a laburnum.
The border under the terrace wall is clearing away
to receive currants and gooseberry bushes, 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
Lansdown's[164] 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.
Shyness and the sweating sickness have given way
to confidence and paralytic complaints.
* * * * *
_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 benefaction from the
family of Knight to that of Austen.
* * * * *
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[165].
Southampton: [Friday, February 20, 1807].
We have at last heard something of Mr.
Austen's[166] 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.
* * * * *
My mother has heard this morning from Paragon. My
aunt talks much of the violent colds prevailing in
Bath, from which my uncle has suffered ever since
their return, and she has herself a cough much
worse than any she ever had before, subject as she
has always been to bad ones. She writes in good
humour and cheerful spirits, however. The
negotiation between them and Adlestrop so happily
over, indeed, what can have power to vex her
materially?
* * * * *
_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
occur to detain you. But as _you_ are happy, all
this is selfishness, of which here is enough for
one page.
* * * * *
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, has 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.
* * * * *
I recommend Mrs. Grant's[167] letters, as a
present to her [Martha]; 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
inquired for the book here, but find it quite
unknown.
* * * * *
We are reading Baretti's other book,[168] and find
him dreadfully abusive of poor Mr. Sharpe. I can
no longer take his part against you, as I did nine
years ago.
Our knowledge of the house which was the Austens' home at Southampton
for two years, and of its surroundings, is derived from the personal
reminiscences of the author of the _Memoir_, who was now old enough to
visit his relatives, and who tells us that at this time he began to
know, and 'what was the same thing, to love' his Aunt Jane. 'They
lived,' he says,[169] 'in a commodious old-fashioned house in a corner
of Castle Square . . . with a pleasant garden, bounded on one side by the
old city walls; the top of this wall was sufficiently wide to afford a
pleasant walk, with an extensive view easily accessible to ladies by
steps.' Castle Square itself was occupied 'by a fantastic edifice, too
large for the space in which it stood, though too small to accord well
with its castellated style, erected by the second Marquis of Lansdowne.'
The whole of this building disappeared after the death of its eccentric
owner in November 1809. His half-brother and successor in the
peerage--the well-known statesman--became in after life an ardent
admirer of Jane Austen's novels, and told a friend[170] that 'one of the
circumstances of his life which he looked back upon with vexation was
that Miss Austen should once have been living some weeks in his
neighbourhood without his knowing it.' Had he known it, however, he
would have had no reason--in the Southampton period--for imagining her
to be an author.
On March 9, 1807, we may imagine the party taking possession of their
new house; but Frank can have seen but little of it before he took
command of the _St. Albans_ in April, and went to the Cape of Good Hope
on convoying duty. He was back by June 30.
On Cassandra's return, the two sisters must have been together for a
considerable period; but till June 1808 we know little that is definite
about them, except that in September 1807, together with their mother,
they paid a visit to Chawton House--Edward Austen's Hampshire
residence.[171]
During these years, Charles Austen was long engaged in the unpleasant
and unprofitable duty of enforcing the right of search on the Atlantic
seaboard of America. Hardly anything is said in the extant letters of
his marriage to Fanny Palmer, daughter of the Attorney-General of
Bermuda, which took place in 1807.
The month of June 1808 found Jane staying with her brother Henry in
Brompton[172]; but we have no details of her stay beyond the fact that
she watched some of her acquaintance going to Court on the King's
birthday. On June 14 she left London with her brother James, his wife
and two children, on a visit to Godmersham.
Godmersham: Wednesday [June 15, 1808].
MY DEAR CASSANDRA,--Where shall I begin? Which of
all my important 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
uncomfortable 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 Blackheath
we suffered nothing, and as the day advanced 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 present occasion
had about the same bad butter.
At half-past ten we were again off, and,
travelling on without any adventure reached
Sittingbourne 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[173] were walking before the
house as we approached, as natural as life. Fanny
and Lizzie 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
Godmersham 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.
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 received
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
handsomer 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.
* * * * *
_Thursday._-- . . . I feel rather languid and
solitary--perhaps because 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.
* * * * *
_Friday._--Edward and Caroline[174] seem very
happy here; he has nice play-fellows in Lizzie 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
to it by considering that two or three years may
restore it again.
Godmersham: Monday [June 20, 1808].
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-day, and I believe I shall go. I have consulted
Edward, and think it will be arranged for Mrs. J.
A.'s going with me one morning, my staying the
night, and Edward driving me home the next
evening. Her very agreeable present will make my
circumstances quite easy. I shall reserve half for
my pelisse.
* * * * *
_Wednesday._--I sent my answer by them [the
Moores] to Mrs. Knight; my double acceptance of
her note and her invitation, which I wrote without
effort, for I am rich, and the rich are always
respectable, whatever be their style of writing.
Ought I to be very much pleased with
_Marmion_?[175] As yet I am not. James reads it
aloud every evening--the short evening, beginning
at about ten, and broken by supper.
Godmersham: Sunday [June 26, 1808].
I am very much obliged to you for writing to me on
Thursday, and very glad that I owe the 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.
* * * * *
They [the Knatchbulls] return into Somersetshire
by way of Sussex and Hants, and are to be at
Fareham, and, perhaps, may be in Southampton, on
which possibility I said all that I thought right,
and, if they are in the place M^{rs.} K. has
promised to call in Castle Square; it will be
about the end of July. . . . 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.
Godmersham: Thursday [June 30, 1808].
You are very kind in mentioning old Mrs. Williams
so often. Poor creature! I cannot help hoping that
each letter may tell of her suffering being over.
If she wants sugar I should like to supply her
with it.
* * * * *
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.
Mary's visit in the island is probably shortened
by this event. Make our kind love and
congratulations to her.
* * * * *
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 providing for
their amusement. They come back this evening.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
_Friday, July 1._--It will be two years to-morrow
since we left Bath for Clifton, with what happy
feelings of escape!
* * * * *
In another week I shall be at home, and there, my
having been at Godmersham will seem like a dream,
as my visit to Brompton seems already.
* * * * *
The orange wine will want our care soon. But in
the meantime, for elegance and ease and luxury,
the Hattons and the Milles' dine here to-day, and
I shall eat ice and drink French wine, and be
above vulgar economy. Luckily the pleasures of
friendship, of unreserved conversation, of
similarity of taste and opinions, will make good
amends for orange wine.
Little Edward is quite well again.
Yours affectionately, with love from all,
J. A.
FOOTNOTES:
[146] George (Hatton) was afterwards Earl of Winchilsea; Daniel was
Rector of Great Weldon and Chaplain to Queen Victoria.
[147] Henry's banking premises were then in Albany, Piccadilly.
[148] At Ushant, after the chase of Villeneuve.
[149] The cricket dinner seems to have come at the end of the play, as
it did in the celebrated match played at a somewhat later date in the
same county between All-Muggleton and Dingley Dell (_Pickwick Papers_,
chapter vii.).
[150] A letter from Mrs. Austen is extant, dated 'April 1806, Trim
Street _still_.' Most writers state that the Austens went to Southampton
towards the end of 1805--a year too early.
[151] Jane afterwards asked Frank's leave to introduce the names of some
of his ships (one of which was the _Canopus_) into _Mansfield Park_.
[152] This order is said to have been given to each squadron in
succession; and it is evident that the ships of Admiral Louis's squadron
were especially likely to be in need of supplies, as they had taken
their part in Nelson's chase of Villeneuve.
[153] _Sailor Brothers_, chaps. ix, x, and xi.
[154] See p. 208.
[155] See p. 70.
[156] Probably Joseph Hill--the frequent correspondent of the poet
Cowper.
[157] Miss Mary Leigh left her property--in so far as she had any right
to do so--in trust for (_a_) the Rev. Thomas Leigh; (_b_) James Leigh
Perrot; (_c_) William Henry Leigh.
[158] Not to be confused with his uncle, Thomas Leigh, Rector of
Harpsden and father of Mrs. Austen.
[159] See p. 201.
[160] This letter is quoted by Miss Hill, pp. 163-7.
[161] Unfortunately, Jane appears to date her letters merely
'Southampton,' until she moved to Castle Square.
[162] _Alphonsine_, by Madame de Genlis; _The Female Quixote_, published
1752, by Mrs. Charlotte Lennox, author of the phrase: 'A thought strikes
me: let us swear an eternal friendship.'
[163] Miss Hill supplies us with the line from _The Task_, 'The Winter
Walk at Noon,' ll. 149-50:--
'Laburnum rich
In streaming gold; syringa, ivory pure.'
[164] The Austens were about to become Lord Lansdowne's tenants in
Castle Square.
[165] Johnson to Boswell, July 4, 1774.--Birkbeck Hill's _Boswell_, ii.
279.
[166] Mr. John Austen of Broadford, under whose will the property at
Horsmonden came into the possession of the family of 'Uncle Frank' on
the failure of his own direct heirs. See Chapter I.
[167] _Letters from the Mountains: being the real Correspondence of a
Lady, between 1773 and 1807_, by Mrs. Grant of Laggan.
[168] Probably _An Account of the Manners and Customs of Italy, etc._
London, 1768-9.
[169] _Memoir_, p. 77.
[170] _Ibid._ p. 140.
[171] _Brabourne_, vol. ii. p. 116.
[172] The Henry Austens were then living at 16 Michael's Place,
Brompton--a row of houses on the site of the present Egerton Mansions.
[173] James having arrived by the coach before the others.
[174] Son and daughter of James.
[175] Mr. W. Fowle speaks of a visit to Steventon, when Jane read 'very
sweetly' the first canto of _Marmion_. By that time she was no doubt a
warm admirer of the poem.