chawton, sept. 9.
my dear anna,—we have been very much amused by your three books, but i have a good many criticisms to make, more than you will like. we are not satisfied with mrs. forester settling herself as tenant and near neighbor to such a man as sir thomas, without having some other inducement to go there. she ought to have some friend living thereabouts to tempt her. a woman going with two girls just growing up into a neighborhood where she knows nobody but one man of not very good character, is an awkwardness which so prudent a woman as mrs. f. would not be likely to fall into. remember she is very prudent. you must not let her act inconsistently. give her a friend, and let that friend be invited by sir thomas h. to meet her, and we shall have no objection to her dining at the priory as she does; but otherwise a woman in her situation would hardly go there before she had been visited by other families. i like the scene itself, the miss leslie, lady anne, and the music very much.[268] leslie is a noble name. sir thomas h. you always do very well. i have only taken the liberty of expunging one phrase of his which would not be allowable,—"bless my heart!" it is too familiar and inelegant. your grandmother is more disturbed at mrs. forester's not returning the egertons' visit sooner than by anything else. they ought to have called at the parsonage before sunday. you describe a sweet place, but your descriptions are often more minute than will be liked. you give too many particulars of right hand and left. mrs. forester is not careful enough of susan's health. susan ought not to be walking out so soon after heavy rains, taking long walks in the dirt. an anxious mother would not suffer it. i like your susan very much; she is a sweet creature, her playfulness of fancy is very delightful. i like her as she is now exceedingly, but i am not quite so well satisfied with her behavior to george r. at first she seems all over attachment and feeling, and afterwards to have none at all; she is so extremely confused at the ball, and so well satisfied apparently with mr. morgan. she seems to have changed her character.
you are now collecting your people delightfully, getting them exactly into such a spot as is the delight of my life. three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on, and i hope you will do a great deal more, and[269] make full use of them while they are so very favorably arranged.
you are but now coming to the heart and beauty of your story. until the heroine grows up the fun must be imperfect, but i expect a great deal of entertainment from the next three or four books, and i hope you will not resent these remarks by sending me no more. we like the egertons very well. we see no blue pantaloons or cocks or hens. there is nothing to enchant one certainly in mr. l. l., but we make no objection to him, and his inclination to like susan is pleasing. the sister is a good contrast, but the name of rachel is as much as i can bear. they are not so much like the papillons as i expected. your last chapter is very entertaining, the conversation on genius, etc.; mr. st. julian and susan both talk in character, and very well. in some former parts cecilia is perhaps a little too solemn and good, but upon the whole her disposition is very well opposed to susan's, her want of imagination is very natural. i wish you could make mrs. forester talk more; but she must be difficult to manage and make entertaining, because there is so much good sense and propriety about her that nothing can be made very broad. her economy and her ambition must not be staring. the papers left by mrs. fisher are very good. of course one guesses something. i[270] hope when you have written a great deal more, you will be equal to scratching out some of the past. the scene with mrs. mellish i should condemn; it is prosy and nothing to the purpose, and indeed the more you can find in your heart to curtail between dawlish and newton priors, the better i think it will be,—one does not care for girls until they are grown up. your aunt c. quite understands the exquisiteness of that name,—newton priors is really a nonpareil. milton would have given his eyes to have thought of it. is not the cottage taken from tollard royal?
[thus far the letter was written on the 9th, but before it was finished news arrived at chawton of the death of mrs. charles austen. she died in her confinement, and the baby died also. she left three little girls,—cassie, harriet, and fanny. it was not until the 18th that jane resumed her letter as follows:[32]]
sunday.—i am very glad, dear anna, that i wrote as i did before this sad event occurred. i have only to add that your grandmamma does not seem the worse now for the shock.
i shall be very happy to receive more of your work if more is ready; and you write so fast that i have great hopes mr. digweed will come back freighted with such a cargo as not all his hops or his sheep could equal the value of.
[271]
your grandmamma desires me to say that she will have finished your shoes to-morrow, and thinks they will look very well. and that she depends upon seeing you, as you promise, before you quit the country, and hopes you will give her more than a day.
yours affectionately. j. austen.
