Part 10 (1/2)

'Chawton, January 24, 1817

'MY DEAR ALETHEA,--I think it tih I believe the epistolary debt is on _your_ side, and I hope this will find all the Streatham party well, neither carried away by the flood, nor rheuhtful to _us_, and though we have a great h thebut what beautifies us and does to talk of _I_ have certainly gained strength through the winter and a well; and I think I understand my own case now so much better than I did, as to be able by care to keep off any serious return of illness I am convinced that _bile_ is at the bottom of all I have suffered, which lad to hear thus much of me, I am sure We have just had a few days' visit froood account of his father, and the very circu able to spare hirows still, and still improves in appearance, at least in the estimation of his aunts, who love him better and better, as they see the sweet te man: I tried hard to persuade hie for William, {169a} but in vainThis is not a ties, and our donkeys are necessarily having so long a run of luxurious idleness that I suppose we shall find they have forgotten ain We do not use two at once however; don't iyman {169b} is expected here very soon, perhaps in tilad when the first hearing is over It will be a nervous hour for our pew, though we hear that he acquits himself with as much ease and collectedness, as if he had been used to it all his life We have no chance we know of seeing you between Streathaed to two or three houses; if there should be any change, however, you knoelcorienerally withwill please all the world, you know; but parts of it suit --_the proem_ I believe he calls it--is very beautiful Poor rieve for the loss of the son so fondly described Has he at all recovered it? What do Mr and Mrs Hill know about his present state?

'Yours affly, 'J AUSTEN

'The real object of this letter is to ask you for a receipt, but I thought it genteel not to let it appear early We ree wine at Manydown, es, entirely or chiefly I should be very ed to you for the receipt, if you can command it within a feeeks'

On the day before, January 23rd, she had written to her niece in the saer than I was, and can so perfectly walk _to_ Alton, _or_ back again without fatigue, that I hope to be able to do _both_ when summer comes'

Alas! summer came to her only on her deathbed March 17th is the last date to be found in the ed; and as the watch of the drowned man indicates the time of his death, so does this final date seeer pursue its accustomed course

And here I cannot do better than quote the words of the niece to whose private records of her aunt's life and character I have been so often indebted:--

'I do not kno early the alar sy March that I had the first idea of her being seriously ill It had been settled that about the end of thatof April, I should spend a few days at Chawton, in the absence of ed with Mrs Leigh Perrot in arranging her late husband's affairs; but Aunt Jane became too ill to have me in the house, and so I went instead to my sister Mrs Lefroy at Wyards' The next day alked over to Chawton toher room, but said she would see us, and ent up to her She was in her dressing gown, and was sitting quite like an invalid in an arreeted us, and then, pointing to seats which had been arranged for us by the fire, she said, ”There is a chair for the married lady, and a little stool for you, Caroline”

{171} It is strange, but those trifling words were the last of hers that I can remember, for I retain no recollection of as said by anyone in the conversation that ensued I was struck by the alteration in herself She was very pale, her voice eak and low, and there was about her a general appearance of debility and suffering; but I have been told that she never had much acute pain

She was not equal to the exertion of talking to us, and our visit to the sick roo us away I do not suppose we stayed a quarter of an hour; and I never saw Aunt Jane again'

In May 1817 she was persuaded to remove to Winchester, for the sake of enerations, h character in Winchester for medical skill, and the Mr

Lyford of that day was a reat London practitioners expressed confidence Mr Lyford spoke encouragingly It was not, of course, his business to extinguish hope in his patient, but I believe that he had, from the first, very little expectation of a perained by the re done the best that could be done, together with such alleviations of suffering as superior medical skill could afford

Jane and her sister Cassandra took lodgings in College Street They had two kind friends living in the Close, Mrs Heathcote and Miss Bigg, the mother and aunt of the present Sir Wm Heathcote of Hursley, bethose faenerations These friends did all that they could to pro that sad sojourn in Winchester, both by their society, and by supplying those little conveniences in which a lodging-house was likely to be deficient It was shortly after settling in these lodgings that she wrote to a nephew the following characteristic letter, no longer, alas in her fore St, Winton, 'Tuesday, May 27th

'There is no better way,you for your affectionate concern foryou et better I will not boast of ; neither that nor my face have yet recovered their proper beauty, but in other respects I gain strength very fast I aht: upon the sofa, it is true, but I eat my meals with aunt Cassandra in a rational way, and can employ myself, and walk from one room to another Mr Lyford says he will cure me, and if he fails, I shall draw up a memorial and lay it before the Dean and Chapter, and have no doubt of redress fros are very co-rooarden {173} Thanks to the kindness of your father and e, my journey hither on Saturday was perforue, and had it been a fine day, I think I should have felt none; but it distressed ht, who kindly attended us on horseback, riding in the rain almost the whole way We expect a visit froht; and on Thursday, which is a confiret Charles out to breakfast We have had but one visit from _him_, poor fellow, as he is in sick-rooht We see Mrs

Heathcote every day, and William is to call upon us soon God bless you, my dear E If ever you are ill, may you be as tenderly nursed as I have been May the sa friends be yours: andof all in the consciousness of not being unworthy of their love _I_ could not feel this

'Your very affecte Aunt, 'J A'

The following extract from a letter which has been before printed, written soon after the former, breathes the same spirit of humility and thankfulness:--

'I will only say further that able nurse, has not been made ill by her exertions As to what I owe her, and the anxious affection of all my beloved family on this occasion, I can only cry over it, and pray God to bless thehout her illness she was nursed by her sister, often assisted by her sister-in-law, my mother Both ith her when she died Two of her brothers, ere clergyh to Winchester to be in frequent attendance, and to administer the services suitable for a Christian's death-bed While she used the language of hope to her correspondents, she was fully aware of her danger, though not appalled by it It is true that there was much to attach her to life She was happy in her fa to feel confidence in her own success; and, no doubt, the exercise of her great talents was an enjoyladly have lived longer; but she was enabled without dismay or co Christian Her life had been passed in the performance of home duties, and the cultivation of do after applause She had always sought, as it were by instinct, to promote the happiness of all who came within her influence, and doubtless she had her reward in the peace of ranted her in her last days Her sweetness of terateful to those who attended on her At times, when she felt rather better, her playfulness of spirit revived, and she aht herself near her end, she said what she iht be her last words to those around her, and particularly thanked her sister-in- law for being with her, saying: 'You have always been a kind sister to me, Mary' When the end at last ca asked by her attendants whether there was anything that she wanted, her reply was, '_Nothing but death_' These were her last words In quietness and peace she breathed her last on theof July 18, 1817

On the 24th of that month she was buried in Winchester Cathedral, near the centre of the north aisle, almost opposite to the beautiful chantry toe slab of black marble in the pavement marks the place Her own family only attended the funeral Her sister returned to her desolated home, there to devote herself, for ten years, to the care of her aged mother; and to live much on the memory of her lost sister, till called many years later to rejoin her Her brothers went back sorrowing to their several homes They were very fond and very proud of her They were attached to her by her talents, her virtues, and her engaging manners; and each loved afterwards to fancy a resehter of his own to the dear sister Jane, whose perfect equal they yet never expected to see

CHAPTER XII

_The Cancelled Chapter (Chap X) of 'Persuasion_'

With all this knowledge of Mr Elliot and this authority to is, her , thinking, recalling, and foreseeing everything, shocked at Mr Elliot, sighing over future Kellynch, and pained for Lady Russell, whose confidence in him had been entire The embarrassment which must be felt from this hour in his presence! How to behave to hiet rid of him? What to do by any of the party at hoether a confusion of iitation which she could not see the end of And she was in Gay Street, and still soaddressed by Admiral Croft, as if he were a person unlikely to be met there It ithin a few steps of his own door