Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters Part 13

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 a.s.sure 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 G.o.dmersham 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 inc.u.mbrances.

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 Ches.h.i.+re, 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 suns.h.i.+ne 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 G.o.dmersham, 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 Staffords.h.i.+re, vacant by Mr. Johnson's death. We collect from his letter that he means to reside there, in which he shows his wisdom. Staffords.h.i.+re 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 140 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 Staffords.h.i.+re. . . .

[_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 r.e.t.a.r.d 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 const.i.tute 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 princ.i.p.al 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.