Letter #13, Post #2

Friday 28 September 2012
To Cassandra, from Steventon, "My mother made her entree into the dressing-room through crowds of admiring spectators yesterday afternoon, and we all drank tea together for the first time these five weeks. She has had a tolerable night, and bids fair for a continuance in the same brilliant course of action to-day." - Jane Austen, Saturday 1-Sunday 2 December 1798

Mrs. Austen had sure been sick for a long time; five weeks later and she was just able to come downstairs  and have tea. There is something to be said for modern medicine.

I am not sure what Mrs. Austen's illness was. Jane Austen wrote in letter number ten which was written Saturday 27-Sunday 28 October 1798, "-Soon after I had finished my letter from Staines, my Mother began to suffer from the exercise & fatigue of travelling so far, & she was a good deal indisposed from that particular kind of evacuation which has generally preceded her Illnesses-. She had not a very good night at Staines, & felt a heat in her throat as we travelled yesterday morning, which seemed to foretell more Bile."

It sounds as though this was something she had suffered with before, possibly her stomach?

Mrs. Cassandra Leigh Austen

Mrs. Cassandra Leigh Austen was born the 26th September 1739. She married Reverend George Austen (1 May 1731 to 21 Janaury 1805) on 26 April 1764 at Walcot, Bath. They had eight children.

1. James Austen born 13 February 1765

2. George Austen born 26 August 1766

3. Edward Austen born 7 October 1767

4. Henry-Thomas Austen born 8 June 1771

5. Cassandra-Elizabeth Austen born 9 January 1773

6. Francis-William Austen born 23 April 1774

7. Jane Austen born 16 December 1775

8. Charles-John Austen born 23 June 1779

St. Nicholas Churchyard. Photo by Iain MacFarlaine 4/23/2005. This is such a pretty church.

Mrs. Austen passed away on 17 January 1827. She is buried in Chawton at St Nicholas Churchyard. Mrs. Austen lived almost ten years after Jane Austen's death.

I hope you enjoyed your day today!
Terrie

Letter #13, Post #1

Saturday 22 September 2012
Today we start Letter number thirteen. Jane was writing to Cassandra who has been at Godmersham since at least September 1, 1798. Elizabeth had a baby, little William Austen, and Cassandra stayed at Godmersham to assist Elizabeth.

There maybe a letter missing between twelve and thirteen dated 28-29 November 1798.

To Cassandra, from Steventon, "My dear Cassandra
     I am so good as to write to you again thus speedily, to let you know that I have just heard from Frank. He was at Cadiz, alive and well, on October 19, and had then very lately received a letter from you, written as long ago as when the 'London' was at St Helen's. But his raly latest intelligence of us was in one from me of September 1, which I sent soon after we got to Godmersham. He had written a packet full for is dear-est friends in England, early in October, to go by the 'Excellent'; but the 'Excellent' was not sailed, nor likely to sail, when he despatched this to me. It comprehended letters for both of us, for Lord Spencer, Mr Daysh, and the East India Directors. Lord St Vincent had left the fleet when he wrote, and was gone to Gibraltar, it was said to superintend the fitting out of a private expedition from thence against some of the enemies' ports; Minorca or Malta were conjectured to be the objects. Frank writes in good spirits, but says that our correspondence cannot be so easily carried on in future as it has been, as the communication between Cadiz and Lisbon is less frequent than formerly. You and my mother, therefore, must not alarm yourselves at the long intervals that may divide his letters. I address this advice to you two as being the most tender-hearted of the family." - Jane Austen, Saturday 1-Sunday 2 December 1798

"Raly" - ha, ha, Georgian Valley Girls!

                                      Francis-William Austen. He looks like such a kind person.                          

Frank Austen, aka, Francis-William Austen, was the sixth Austen in the family line; born just before Jane. He was born at Steventon on 23 April 1774. He left for the Royal Naval Academy in 1786, at just twelve years old. Frank had an illustrious Naval career. At the time of this letter he was a Commander. By the end of his career in 1865 he was Admiral of the Fleet.

Frank married first Mary Gibson of Ramsgate on 24 July 1806. They had eleven children.
1. Mary-Jane born  on 27 April 1807
2. Francis-William born on 12 July 1809
3. Henry-Edgar born on  21 April 1811
4. George born on 20 October 1812
5. Cassandra-Eliza born on 8 January 1814
6. Herbert-Grey born on 8 November 1815
7. Elizabeth born on 15 April 1817
8. Catherine-Anne born on 7 July 1818
9. Edward-Thomas born on 28 January 1820
10. Frances-Sophia born on 12 December 1821
11. Cholmeley born on 8 July 1823. He died 11 January 1824.

Mary Gibson Austen died on 15 July 1823, just a few days after Cholmeley was born.

Frank remarried five years later to Martha Lloyd (Jane and Cassandra's friend and James Austen's wife, Mary's, sister) on 24 July 1828.

Here is a link to his wiki page. You know you are famous when you have a wiki page, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Austen

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain.

                                   Cadiz, Spain

                                   Cadiz, Spain

Frank passed away on 10 August 1865 at the age of 91. He is buried at Wymering, Hants. He was the last surviving Austen in Jane's generation.

In the notes at the back of the book Deirdre Le Faye says it could be that Jane had written a br instead of an m, (they look much the same in her handwriting) so that she would have been saying her brother Edward and Cassandra were the most tender-hearted of the family. Either way, it was sweet that Jane was concerned they would be worried about not hearing from Frank. It seems she might have been a bit tender-hearted herself.

I hope you enjoyed your day today!
Terrie

Letter # 12, Post #11

Friday 7 September 2012
To Cassandra, from Steventon, "Ask little Edward whether Bob Brown wears a great coat this cold weather.

Miss Austen,
Godersham Park." - Jane Austen, Sunday 25 November 1798

Little Edward was Edward and Elizabeth Austen's second child and eldest son. He was born 10 May 1794 so he would have been four years old at the time of this letter. He married (1) Mary-Dorothea Knatchbull in May of 1826. They had seven children. On 3 March 1840 he married Adela Portal. They had nine children, so little Edward had sixteen children altogether. He moved to the Chawton Great House in 1826 and died in Chawton 5 November 1879. It is pretty awesome that his descendants still own Chawton Great House; that is how it should be.

                                    Chawton Great House

The notes in the back of the Jane Austen's Letters book say that perhaps Bob Brown was a manservant at Godmersham. He sounds rather like a character in a children's book to me. I could not find any information on him, but there is an interesting mention of him being a snowman which might be very possible. Whoever he was, he was known by Jane, Cassandra and little Edward Austen.
http://listserv.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind1102d&L=austen-l&T=0&F=&S=&P=992

The customary close at the end of this letter is missing.

Today we finished letter number twelve. I hope you enjoyed it. I know I did. I hope you have a great day today!

I wish you well,
Terrie

Letter #12, Post #10

Wednesday 5 September 2012
To Cassandra, from Steventon, "By the bye, I have written to Mrs. Birch among my other writings, and so I hope to have some account of all the people in that part of the world before long. I have written to Mrs E. Leigh too, and Mrs Heathcote has been ill-natured enough to send me a letter of enquiry; so that altogether I am tolerably tired of letter-writing, and unless I have anything new to tell you of my mother or Mary, I shall not write again for many days; perhaps a little repose may restore my regard for a pen." - Jane Austen, Sunday 25 November 1798

Mrs. Birch was a childhood friend of Mrs. Austen, Jane Austen's mother. Jane seemed to like her very much. I wonder what happened to the letters Jane wrote to Mrs. Birch? I wonder if they might still remain with the Birch family? Anyway, we covered Mrs. Birch in letter twelve, post number two. Here is the link if you would like to check it out.
http://allthings-jane-austen.blogspot.com/2012/08/letter-12-post-2.html

I believe Mrs. E. Leigh would have been Mrs. Elizabeth Leigh, Jane Austen's mother's sister, so Jane Austen's aunt. She never married but out of respect for her age Jane referred to her as Mrs. She was Cassandra's godmother.

Mrs. Heathcote was probably Elizabeth Bigg Heathcote of Manydown (Harris Bigg-Wither's sister). She had married Reverend William Heathcote 11 January 1798, so they were still newlyweds at the writing of this letter. I believe Jane was teasing when she referred to Mrs. Heathcote as being ill-natured. She would have been obliged to respond to Mrs. Heathcote's letter and she was tired of writing.

There is a sweet little book called Gift of a Letter by Alexandra Stoddard. I love this book. It discusses letter writing why's and how's with passion. It bothers me that no one writes letters any more. I used to write to two of my grandmother's sisters. They are gone now, but I have the letters and I cherish them.

People connect with each other on facebook and by email, but it is just not the same. What if Jane Austen would have had email? I am very sure we would not have the email's to read and learn about her and the time she lived in. How sad! And what about our generations, our children and their children, what will they have of us that would be as personal as a letter can be? That little trash can at the top of the email list is a scary thing - delete!

http://www.alexandrastoddard.com/book.asp?ID=17

In Gift of a Letter Alexandra Stoddard states, "Letters allow us to be personal, natural and specific. More than any other medium, letters provide an uninhibited view of everyday life-the most accurate and natural form of autobiography. Like an intimate conversation between friends, they record immediate circumstances, events, news, gossip and feelings... When I write a letter to a friend, I bring that person into my day,..." We are seeing this proven in taking the time to dissect Jane Austen's letters. We are learning about her, her daily life, and the people around her.

Perhaps we should all sit down and write a letter to someone we think about often, but have not taken the time to connect with. Hummm. Maybe they will write back, and then we could write back, and...

I hope you enjoyed your day today!
Terrie

Letter # 12, Post #9

Monday 3 September 2012
To Cassandra, from Steventon, "We have got Boswell's 'Tour to the Hebrides', and are to have his 'Life of Johnson'; and, as some money will yet remain in Burdon's hands, it is to be laid out in the purchase of Cowper's works. This would please Mr. Clarke, could he know it." - Jane Austen, Sunday 25 November 1798

You can read Boswell's 'Tour to the Hebrides' on-line or download it here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1461743
And, this book has it's own Wiki page. I still find it amazing that things people did back in the seventeen hundreds still effect us today. It is really a small world when you think about how we, each of us, make a mark on each other.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_a_Tour_to_the_Hebrides

Boswell's 'Life of Johnson' can be read here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1564
And the Wiki page here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Samuel_Johnson

The notes in the back of Jane Austen's Letters by Deirdre Le Faye say Burdon's hands could be either "John Burdon, bookseller, College Street, or Thomas B., bookseller and wine-merchant, Kingsgate Street, both of Winchester." It sounds a bit like Reverend Austen may have been doing some bartering doesn't it? or maybe, he sold some books back, kind of like a seventeen hundreds version of Amazon.com ;) Anyway, it seems like a good way to update your library.

Again from the notes, "William Cowper (1731-1800)-either the 6th edn. of his poems 1797, or the new edn. 1798."

The Wiki page on The Task by William Cowper is interesting. It is a poem in six books. Its six books are called The Sofa, The Timepiece, The Garden, The Winter Evening, The Winter Morning Walk and The Winter Walk at Noon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Task_(poem)

Cowper is said to have greatly influenced Jane Austen. She quoted him in Sense and Sensibility, The Sofa in Mansfield Park, The Winter Evening in Emma, and Tirocinium (another poem by Cowper) in Mansfield Park. In fact, her brother, Henry Austen, wrote in the preface to Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, “Her reading was very extensive in history and belles lettres; and her memory extremely tenacious. Her favourite moral writers were Johnson in prose, and Cowper in verse.”

Mr. Clarke was John Clarke (1752-1842) of Worting, Hants. His wife, Mrs. Clarke, was Anne Mildmay, the second daughter of Carew Mildmay. Worting is near Basingstoke and Deane, so they were neighbors. Mr. Clarke must have been a great reader also.

So, it would seem the purchases Reverend Austen made in this venture proved to be very important to Jane Austen. You just never know what a day will bring!
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And, I hope you have enjoyed your day today!!
Terrie