Tuesday 11 May 2010

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Letter #2, To Cassandra, from Steventon, “John Lyford and his sister bring Edward home to day, dine with us, & we shall all go together to Ashe. I understand that we are to draw for Partners.” – Jane Austen, Friday 15 January 1796

The Edward here would be Revd Edward Cooper. She mentions him at the beginning of this letter as having gone with his friend John Lyford and coming back on Friday, which would be 15 January.

John Lyford; He was in fact Revd John Lyford (1769 to 12 June 1799); the curate of Basing and Nately 1793. He married Jane Lodge 19 April 1799, died suddenly and was buried at Basingstoke. He was married just under two months. That is very sad.

An interesting note about his family is that his brother, Charles Lyford (1743-1805), was a surgeon in Winchester and his son, Giles-King Lyford (1764-1837), was Surgeon-in-Ordinary at the County Hospital, Winchester, and attended Jane Austen during her last illness.

John Lyford’s sister was Mary Susannah (1772-1840). She married Revd James Digweed in June 1803.

Drawing for partners must be just what it sounds like. I read somewhere, (I cannot find it now), but, there was the thought that perhaps Mrs. Lefroy chose to have drawing for partners because she was concerned about the flirting between Jane and Mr. Lefroy.

It seems to me that drawing for partners might be a bit risky, what if you did not particularly care for the partner you drew? Then what? You are stuck with no way out except a Mr. Elton scene; and no one wants that; to be compared with the littleness of Mr. Elton! Mr. Knightly's advice would be to, just do the right thing and stick-it-out, and maybe, just maybe, if you keep a positive attitude, you just might enjoy yourself. You just might, in the end, decide that Emma chose better for Mr. Elton than he did for himself! You never know until you try!