ride on
the donkey and like it very much--and you must try
to get me quiet, mild days, that I may be able to
go out pretty constantly. A great deal of wind
does not suit me, as I have still a tendency to
rheumatism. In short I am a poor honey at present.
I will be better when you can come and see us.

Yours affectionately,
J. AUSTEN.

Caroline Austen contributed to the _Memoir_ written by her brother many
of the personal reminiscences of their aunt. She was the niece to whom
Jane in her last illness sent a recommendation to read more and write
less during the years of girlhood. Caroline obeyed the injunction; she
became a very well-read woman, and never wrote stories for publication.
She was, however, an admirable talker: able to invest common things with
a point and spirit peculiarly her own. She was also an ideal aunt, both
to nieces and nephews, who all owe a great deal to her companionship and
devotion.

FOOTNOTES:

[332] The first two batches of letters are to be found in Lord
Brabourne's book, vol. ii. p. 277 _et seq._; of the third set (to
Caroline) only a few isolated quotations have been published. The second
and third sets have been compared with the originals, but we have been
unable to do this in the case of the first.

[333] Cassandra was evidently not in the secret; and we learn from their
niece Anna the interesting fact that, close and intimate as were the
relations between the two sisters, they were absolutely silent to each
other when the confidences of a third person had to be guarded.

[334] Perhaps in March 1814.

[335] Lord Brabourne dates them in 1816, and Mr. Oscar Fay Adams and
Miss Hill naturally follow him; but such a date is impossible, as they
contain allusions to two or three family events which had not then
happened. This correction makes the account of her own health in the
letters of March 13 and March 23 (which will be found in Chap. XX, p.
383) fit in much better with our information from other sources as to
the progress of her illness than would have been the case had it been
written in 1816.

[336] See p. 336.

[337] In _Evelina_.

[338] It must be remembered that there was no 'Lord Portman' or 'Lord
Desborough' in 1814.

[339] In _Mansfield Park_.

[340] Published July 7, 1814. Jane Austen had no more doubt as to who
was