Part 48 (1/2)

383) fit in much better with our inforress 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 reh' in 1814

[339] In _Mansfield Park_

[340] Published July 7, 1814 Jane Austen had no more doubt as to as the author than Miss Mitford had

[341] See p 376

[342] On the birth of Anna Lefroy's eldest daughter, Jemima

[343] See p 374

[344] No doubt the Frank Austens

CHAPTER XX

FAILING HEALTH

1816-1817

During the last year of Jane Austen's life, when her health was gradually failing, and she was obliged to depend--ever more and more exclusively--on her immediate fa her two sailor brothers nearer at hand than had often been the case

After Frank's return fro occurred of a more serious nature than the Great Naval Review in June--which only indirectly affected him, as he was not then in co to his family He settled down to a do the Great House at Chawton, but soonto Alton

Charles, who for ten years had had active but unexciting work outside the theatre of war, now caate, he operated against Murat, when that eccentric sovereign took part with Napoleon on the escape of the latter from Elba

Charles was sent in pursuit of a Neapolitan squadron cruising in the Adriatic; and subsequently he blockaded Brindisi, and waited for the garrison to hoist the white flag of the Bourbons Later on, he was kept busy with Greek pirates in the Archipelago, until the _Phoenix_ was lost off Smyrna in 1816, when he returned home The _Phoenix_ had been a lucky shi+p, Ad made his fortune in her; but her luck orn out When she went down, the pilot was on board; no lives were lost, and no blame fell on the captain Ittiot another shi+p

A letter fro this command, written from Palermo, May 6, 1815, furnishes us with one of the few indications that exist of fa her lifetime:--

Books becahly, when a younghad come out for years to be compared with _Pride and Prejudice_, _Sense and Sensibility_, &c As I am sure you must be anxious to know the name of a person of so much taste, I shall tell you it is Fox, a nephew of the late Charles James Fox That you may not be too much elated at this morsel of praise, I shall add that he did not appear to like _Mansfield Park_ so well as the two first, in which, however, I believe he is singular[345]

We iven in the _Memoir_[346] from Sir Henry Holland's _Recollections_:--

I have the picture beforeon his bed, when attacked with gout; his ad aloud--as she always did on these occasions--some one of Miss Austen's novels, of which he was never wearied

It is as difficult to follow the various stages of Jane's illness as it is to understand the exact nature of her coun to feel her malady early in the year 1816; for so, 'thought that her health was somewhat impaired, and observed that she went about her old haunts and recalled the old recollections connected with them in a particular ain'[347] This is, however, alour at that tiiven by Lord Brabourne as written in 1816, must be transferred to 1817[348]; and so must the two short extracts[349] on pp 150, 151 of the _Memoir_, as they evidently refer to a family event which occurred in the March of the later year The tone of her letters through the re of the next year, was almost invariably cheerful, and she showed by the completion of _Persuasion_ that she was capable of first-rate literary work during the summer of 1816 The fact is that, as to health, she was an incurable optiood spirits made her see the best side, and her unselfishness proht distress those around her Nothing, for instance, could beletter to Edward Austen, written while he was still at Winchester School, but had come home for his last summer holidays

Chawton: July 9, 1816