e.

Cassandra returned to Chawton and devoted a further ten years to the
care of her aged mother. Till old Mrs. Austen's death in 1827, Martha
Lloyd remained an inmate, and everything went on, nominally, as before;
but the 'chief light was quenched and the loss of it had cast a shade
over the spirits of the survivors.'[369] So, when the young Austens went
to stay there, expecting to be particularly happy, they could not help
feeling something of the chill of disappointment. Later, Martha became
the second wife of Francis Austen, while Cassandra lived on at Chawton.
One of her great-nieces remembers seeing her towards the end of her life
at a christening, 'a pale, dark-eyed old lady, with a high arched nose
and a kind smile, dressed in a long cloak and a large drawn bonnet, both
made of black satin.' She died of a sudden illness in 1845, at the house
of her brother Francis, near Portsmouth--at his house, but in his
absence; for he and his family had to leave for the West Indies (where
he was to take up a command) while she lay dying. She was tended by her
brothers Henry and Charles and her niece Caroline. She was buried beside
her mother at Chawton.

All her brothers survived her, except James, who was in bad health when
his sister Jane died, and followed her in 1819.

Edward (Knight) saw his children and his children's children grow up
around him, and died at Godmersham as peacefully as he had lived, in
1852.

Henry held the living of Steventon for three years after the death of
his brother James, till his nephew, William Knight, was ready to take
it. He was afterwards Perpetual Curate of Bentley, near Farnham. Later
on, he lived for some time in France, and he died at Tunbridge Wells in
1850.

Both the sailor brothers rose to be Admirals.[370] Charles was employed
in the suppression of the Slave Trade and against Mehemet Ali, and
became Rear-Admiral in 1846. In 1850 he commanded in the East Indian and
Chinese waters, and died of cholera on the Irawaddy River in 1852,
having 'won the hearts of all by his gentleness and kindness whilst he
was struggling with disease.'

Francis had thirty years on shore after the end of the long war; and his
only subsequent foreign service was the command of the West Indian and
North American Station, 1845-48. He, however, constantly rose in his
profession, and enjoyed the esteem and respect of the Admiralty. He
ended by being G.C.B. and Admiral of the Fleet, and did not die until