castle square, friday (december 9).
many thanks, my dear cassandra, to you and mr. deedes for your joint and agreeable composition, which took me by surprise this morning. he has certainly great merit as a writer; he does ample justice to his subject, and without being diffuse is clear and correct; and though i do not[121] mean to compare his epistolary powers with yours, or to give him the same portion of my gratitude, he certainly has a very pleasing way of winding up a whole, and speeding truth into the world.
"but all this," as my dear mrs. piozzi says, "is flight and fancy and nonsense, for my master has his great casks to mind and i have my little children." it is you, however, in this instance, that have the little children, and i that have the great cask, for we are brewing spruce beer again; but my meaning really is, that i am extremely foolish in writing all this unnecessary stuff when i have so many matters to write about that my paper will hardly hold it all. little matters they are, to be sure, but highly important.
in the first place, miss curling is actually at portsmouth, which i was always in hopes would not happen. i wish her no worse, however, than a long and happy abode there. here she would probably be dull, and i am sure she would be troublesome.
the bracelets are in my possession, and everything i could wish them to be. they came with martha's pelisse, which likewise gives great satisfaction.
soon after i had closed my last letter to you we were visited by mrs. dickens and her sister-in-law, mrs. bertie, the wife of a lately made admiral. mrs. f. a.,[8] i believe, was their first object, but[122] they put up with us very kindly, and mrs. d., finding in miss lloyd a friend of mrs. dundas, had another motive for the acquaintance. she seems a really agreeable woman,—that is, her manners are gentle, and she knows a great many of our connections in west kent. mrs. bertie lives in the polygon, and was out when we returned her visit, which are her two virtues.
a larger circle of acquaintance, and an increase of amusement, is quite in character with our approaching removal. yes, i mean to go to as many balls as possible, that i may have a good bargain. everybody is very much concerned at our going away, and everybody is acquainted with chawton, and speaks of it as a remarkably pretty village, and everybody knows the house we describe, but nobody fixes on the right.
i am very much obliged to mrs. knight for such a proof of the interest she takes in me, and she may depend upon it that i will marry mr. papillon, whatever may be his reluctance or my own. i owe her much more than such a trifling sacrifice.
our ball was rather more amusing than i expected. martha liked it very much, and i did not gape till the last quarter of an hour. it was past nine before we were sent for, and not twelve when we returned. the room was tolerably full, and there were, perhaps, thirty couple of dancers. the[123] melancholy part was to see so many dozen young women standing by without partners, and each of them with two ugly naked shoulders.
it was the same room in which we danced fifteen years ago. i thought it all over, and in spite of the shame of being so much older, felt with thankfulness that i was quite as happy now as then. we paid an additional shilling for our tea, which we took as we chose in an adjoining and very comfortable room.
there were only four dances, and it went to my heart that the miss lances (one of them, too, named emma) should have partners only for two. you will not expect to hear that i was asked to dance, but i was—by the gentleman whom we met that sunday with captain d'auvergne. we have always kept up a bowing acquaintance since, and, being pleased with his black eyes, i spoke to him at the ball, which brought on me this civility; but i do not know his name, and he seems so little at home in the english language that i believe his black eyes may be the best of him. captain d'auvergne has got a ship.
martha and i made use of the very favorable state of yesterday for walking, to pay our duty at chiswell. we found mrs. lance at home and alone, and sat out three other ladies who soon came in. we went by the ferry, and returned by the bridge, and were scarcely at all fatigued.
[124]
edward must have enjoyed the last two days. you, i presume, had a cool drive to canterbury. kitty foote came on wednesday; and her evening visit began early enough for the last part, the apple-pie, of our dinner, for we never dine now till five.
yesterday i—or rather, you—had a letter from nanny hilliard, the object of which is that she would be very much obliged to us if we would get hannah a place. i am sorry that i cannot assist her; if you can, let me know, as i shall not answer the letter immediately. mr. sloper is married again, not much to nanny's, or anybody's satisfaction. the lady was governess to sir robert's natural children, and seems to have nothing to recommend her. i do not find, however, that nanny is likely to lose her place in consequence. she says not a word of what service she wishes for hannah, or what hannah can do; but a nursery, i suppose, or something of that kind, must be the thing.
having now cleared away my smaller articles of news, i come to a communication of some weight; no less than that my uncle and aunt[9] are going to allow james 100l. a year. we hear of it through steventon. mary sent us the other day an extract from my aunt's letter on the subject, in which the donation is made with the greatest kindness, and intended as a compensation for his loss[125] in the conscientious refusal of hampstead living; 100l. a year being all that he had at the time called its worth, as i find it was always intended at steventon to divide the real income with kintbury.
nothing can be more affectionate than my aunt's language in making the present, and likewise in expressing her hope of their being much more together in future than, to her great regret, they have of late years been. my expectations for my mother do not rise with this event. we will allow a little more time, however, before we fly out.
if not prevented by parish business, james comes to us on monday. the mrs. hulberts and miss murden are their guests at present, and likely to continue such till christmas. anna comes home on the 19th. the hundred a year begins next lady-day.
i am glad you are to have henry with you again; with him and the boys you cannot but have a cheerful, and at times even a merry, christmas. martha is so [mss. torn]. . . . we want to be settled at chawton in time for henry to come to us for some shooting in october, at least, or a little earlier, and edward may visit us after taking his boys back to winchester. suppose we name the 4th of september. will not that do?
i have but one thing more to tell you. mrs. hill called on my mother yesterday while we were[126] gone to chiswell, and in the course of the visit asked her whether she knew anything of a clergyman's family of the name of alford, who had resided in our part of hampshire. mrs. hill had been applied to as likely to give some information of them on account of their probable vicinity to dr. hill's living by a lady, or for a lady, who had known mrs. and the two miss alfords in bath, whither they had removed it seems from hampshire, and who now wishes to convey to the miss alfords some work or trimming which she has been doing for them; but the mother and daughters have left bath, and the lady cannot learn where they are gone to. while my mother gave us the account, the probability of its being ourselves occurred to us, and it had previously struck herself ... what makes it more likely, and even indispensably to be us, is that she mentioned mr. hammond as now having the living or curacy which the father had had. i cannot think who our kind lady can be, but i dare say we shall not like the work.
distribute the affectionate love of a heart not so tired as the right hand belonging to it.
yours ever sincerely, j. a.
miss austen, edward austen's, esq.,
godmersham park, faversham, kent.
