castle square, tuesday (january 10, 1809).
i am not surprised, my dear cassandra, that you did not find my last letter very full of matter, and i wish this may not have the same deficiency; but we are doing nothing ourselves to write about, and i am therefore quite dependent upon the communications of our friends, or my own wits.
this post brought me two interesting letters, yours and one from bookham, in answer to an inquiry of mine about your good godmother, of whom we had lately received a very alarming account from paragon. miss arnold was the informant then, and she spoke of mrs. e. l. having been very dangerously ill, and attended by a physician from oxford.
your letter to adlestrop may perhaps bring you information from the spot, but in case it should not, i must tell you that she is better; though dr. bourne cannot yet call her out of danger; such was the case last wednesday, and mrs. cooke's having[134] had no later account is a favorable sign. i am to hear again from the latter next week, but not this, if everything goes on well.
her disorder is an inflammation on the lungs, arising from a severe chill taken in church last sunday three weeks; her mind all pious composure, as may be supposed. george cooke was there when her illness began; his brother has now taken his place. her age and feebleness considered, one's fears cannot but preponderate, though her amendment has already surpassed the expectation of the physician at the beginning. i am sorry to add that becky is laid up with a complaint of the same kind.
i am very glad to have the time of your return at all fixed; we all rejoice in it, and it will not be later than i had expected. i dare not hope that mary and miss curling may be detained at portsmouth so long or half so long; but it would be worth twopence to have it so.
the "st. albans" perhaps may soon be off to help bring home what may remain by this time of our poor army, whose state seems dreadfully critical. the "regency" seems to have been heard of only here; my most political correspondents make no mention of it. unlucky that i should have wasted so much reflection on the subject.
i can now answer your question to my mother more at large, and likewise more at small—with[135] equal perspicuity and minuteness; for the very day of our leaving southampton is fixed; and if the knowledge is of no use to edward, i am sure it will give him pleasure. easter monday, april 3, is the day; we are to sleep that night at alton, and be with our friends at bookham the next, if they are then at home; there we remain till the following monday, and on tuesday, april 11, hope to be at godmersham. if the cookes are absent, we shall finish our journey on the 5th. these plans depend of course upon the weather, but i hope there will be no settled cold to delay us materially.
to make you amends for being at bookham, it is in contemplation to spend a few days at baiton lodge in our way out of kent. the hint of such a visit is most affectionately welcomed by mrs. birch, in one of her odd pleasant letters lately, in which she speaks of us with the usual distinguished kindness, declaring that she shall not be at all satisfied unless a very handsome present is made us immediately from one quarter.
fanny's not coming with you is no more than we expected; and as we have not the hope of a bed for her, and shall see her so soon afterwards at godmersham, we cannot wish it otherwise.
william will be quite recovered, i trust, by the time you receive this. what a comfort his cross-stitch must have been! pray tell him that i should[136] like to see his work very much. i hope our answers this morning have given satisfaction; we had great pleasure in uncle deedes' packet; and pray let marianne know, in private, that i think she is quite right to work a rug for uncle john's coffee urn, and that i am sure it must give great pleasure to herself now, and to him when he receives it.
the preference of brag over speculation does not greatly surprise me, i believe, because i feel the same myself; but it mortifies me deeply, because speculation was under my patronage; and, after all, what is there so delightful in a pair royal of braggers? it is but three nines or three knaves, or a mixture of them. when one comes to reason upon it, it cannot stand its ground against speculation,—of which i hope edward is now convinced. give my love to him if he is.
the letter from paragon before mentioned was much like those which had preceded it, as to the felicity of its writer. they found their house so dirty and so damp that they were obliged to be a week at an inn. john binns had behaved most unhandsomely, and engaged himself elsewhere. they have a man, however, on the same footing, which my aunt does not like, and she finds both him and the new maid-servant very, very inferior to robert and martha. whether they mean to have any other domestics does not appear, nor[137] whether they are to have a carriage while they are in bath.
the holders are as usual, though i believe it is not very usual for them to be happy, which they now are at a great rate, in hooper's marriage. the irvines are not mentioned. the american lady improved as we went on; but still the same faults in part recurred.
we are now in margiana, and like it very well indeed. we are just going to set off for northumberland to be shut up in widdrington tower, where there must be two or three sets of victims already immured under a very fine villain.
wednesday.—your report of eliza's health gives me great pleasure, and the progress of the bank is a constant source of satisfaction. with such increasing profits, tell henry that i hope he will not work poor high-diddle so hard as he used to do.
has your newspaper given a sad story of a mrs. middleton, wife of a farmer in yorkshire, her sister, and servant, being almost frozen to death in the late weather, her little child quite so? i hope the sister is not our friend miss woodd, and i rather think her brother-in-law had moved into lincolnshire, but their name and station accord too well. mrs. m. and the maid are said to be tolerably recovered, but the sister is likely to lose the use of her limbs.
[138]
charles's rug will be finished to-day, and sent to-morrow to frank, to be consigned by him to mr. turner's care; and i am going to send marmion out with it,—very generous in me, i think.
as we have no letter from adlestrop, we may suppose the good woman was alive on monday, but i cannot help expecting bad news from thence or bookham in a few days. do you continue quite well?
have you nothing to say of your little namesake? we join in love and many happy returns.
yours affectionately, j. austen.
the manydown ball was a smaller thing than i expected, but it seems to have made anna very happy. at her age it would not have done for me.
miss austen, edward austen's, esq.,
godmersham park, faversham, kent.
