Return to Jane Austen's life
Return to Jane Austen's writings
- Letters of Jane Austen, Brabourne edition
- Search Jane Austen letters e-text
- Famous quotes from the letters (or quotes that should be famous)
- General Topics Index to the letters
- Index of allusions to books and authors in Jane Austen's writings
- Longer Table of contents
- Letters of Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra Austen
- 1796,
1798-1799,
1799,
1800-1801,
1801,
1805,
1807,
1808,
1808-1809,
1811,
1813,
1814,
1815-1816.
- Letters to Fanny Knight 1814-1816
- Letters to Anna Austen Lefroy, 1814-1816
- Letters from Cassandra Austen to Fanny Knight, 1817. [THIS FILE]
- Poetry, Backwards letter
- APPENDICES
[Letters from Cassandra Austen to Fanny Knight, 1817]
In January, 1817, she wrote of herself as better and able to walk into
Alton, and hoped in the summer she should be able to walk back. In April
her father in a note to Mrs. Lefroy says, "I was happy to have a good
account of herself written by her own hand, in a letter from your Aunt
Jane; but all who love, and that is all who know her, must be anxious on
her account." We all know how well grounded that anxiety was, and how soon
her relations had to lament over the loss of the dearest and brightest
member of their family.
And now I come to the saddest letters of all, those which tell us of
the end of that bright life, cut short just at the time when the world
might have hoped that unabated intellectual vigour, supplemented by the
experience brought by maturer years, would have produced works if possible
even more fascinating than those with which she had already embellished
the literature of her country. But it was not to be. The fiat had gone
forth -- the ties which bound that sweet spirit to earth were to be
severed, and a blank left, never to be filled, in the family which her
loved and loving presence had blessed, and where she had been so well and
fondly appreciated. In the early spring of 1817 the unfavourable symptoms
increased, and the failure of her health was too visible to be neglected.
Still, no apprehensions of immediate danger were entertained, and it is
probable that when she left Chawton for Winchester in May, she did not
recognise the fact that she was bidding a last farewell to "Home." Happy
for her if it was so, for there are few things more melancholy than to
look upon any beloved place or person with the knowledge that it is for
"the last time." In all probability this grief was spared to Jane, for
even after her arrival at Winchester she spoke and wrote as if recovery
was hopeful; and I fancy that her relations were by no means aware that
the end was so near.
I find from my mother's pocket-books that she received at least four
letters from "Aunt Jane" in 1817, the date of the last being March 26,
but of these I have found none. She wrote to her Aunt several times in
June (as Cassandra's letters imply), and as late as July 9, 10, and 15,
the last letter of which must either be the one specially alluded to
in Letter 95, or must have arrived after her death. The entries in my
mother's pocket-books at this time show how much her heart was with her
relations at Winchester.
June 14. -- "A sad account of my poor dear Aunt Jane."
June 18. -- "Another hopeless account from Winchester."
June 29. -- "Much the same account of dear Aunt Jane."
Then comes (July 20) "A letter from Papa announcing my poor dear Aunt Jane
Austen's death at four on Friday morn," and further on are allusions to
the letters which follow.
July 22. -- "A long letter from dear Aunt Cass., with many affecting
particulars." "Wrote great part of a letter to Aunt Cass. and was
miserable." My mother always summarised the "principal events of the year"
at the end of each pocket-book, and at the head of her summary of those
in 1817 comes: "I had the misery of losing my dear Aunt Jane after a
lingering illness." So terminated the friendship of two natures, which in
many respects singularly harmonised, and each of which, whilst on earth,
contributed in a remarkable degree to the happiness of those among whom
its lot was cast.
Cassandra's letters tell the tale of the event in words that require no
addition from me. They are simple and affecting -- the words of one who
had been stricken by a great grief, but whose religion stood her in good
stead, and enabled her to bear it with fortitude. The firm and loving bond
of union which had ever united the Austen family, naturally intensified
their sorrow at the loss of one of their number, and that the one of whom
they had been so proud as well as so fond. They laid her within the walls
of the old cathedral which she had loved so much, and went sorrowfully
back to their homes, with the feeling that nothing could replace to them
the treasure they had lost. And most heavily of all must the blow had
fallen upon the only sister, the correspondent, the companion, the other
self of Jane, who had to return alone to the desolate home, and to the
mother to whose comforts the two had hitherto ministered together, but
who would henceforward have her alone on whom to rely. The return must
have been sad indeed; every moment the surrounding associations must have
awakened old memories and kept alive her heart-grief, and nothing could
have rendered the misery endurable save that hope so earnestly expressed
in her letters, that she and her sister would be re-united hereafter.
They are indeed sad letters, but they form the proper conclusion to the
series which I give to the world. The lock of Jane's hair, mentioned at
the end of the last letter, was set in an oval brooch, bearing simply
the inscription of her name and the date of her death. I have it now in
my possession.
Letters from Miss Cassandra Austen to her niece Miss Knight, after the
death of her sister Jane, July 18, 1817.
Winchester: Sunday.
MY DEAREST FANNY,
Doubly dear to me now for her dear sake whom we have lost. She did love you
most sincerely, and never shall I forget the proofs of love you gave her
during her illness in writing those kind, amusing letters at a time when
I know your feelings would have dictated so different a style. Take the
only reward I can give you in the assurance that your benevolent purpose
was answered; you did contribute to her enjoyment.
Even your last letter afforded pleasure. I merely cut the seal and gave
it to her; she opened it and read it herself, afterwards she gave it to
me to read, and then talked to me a little and not uncheerfully of its
contents, but there was then a languor about her which prevented her
taking the same interest in anything she had been used to do.
Since Tuesday evening, when her complaint returned, there was a visible
change, she slept more and much more comfortably; indeed, during the last
eight-and-forty hours she was more asleep than awake. Her looks altered
and she fell away, but I perceived no material diminution of strength,
and, though I was then hopeless of a recovery, I had no suspicion how
rapidly my loss was approaching.
I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been
surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the
soother of every sorrow; I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is
as if I had lost a part of myself. I loved her only too well -- not better
than she deserved, but I am conscious that my affection for her made me
sometimes unjust to and negligent of others; and I can acknowledge, more
than as a general principle, the justice of the Hand which has struck
this blow.
You know me too well to be at all afraid that I should suffer materially
from my feelings; I am perfectly conscious of the extent of my irreparable
loss, but I am not at all overpowered and very little indisposed, nothing
but what a short time, with rest and change of air, will remove. I thank
God that I was enabled to attend her to the last, and amongst my many
causes of self-reproach I have not to add any wilful neglect of her comfort.
She felt herself to be dying about half-an-hour before she became tranquil
and apparently unconscious. During that half-hour was her struggle,
poor soul! She said she could not tell us what she suffered, though she
complained of little fixed pain. When I asked her if there was anything
she wanted, her answer was she wanted nothing but death, and some of her
words were: "God grant me patience, pray for me, oh, pray for me!" Her
voice was affected, but as long as she spoke she was intelligible.
I hope I do not break your heart, my dearest Fanny, by these particulars;
I mean to afford you gratification whilst I am relieving my own feelings.
I could not write so to anybody else; indeed you are the only person I
have written to at all, excepting your grandmamma -- it was to her, not
your Uncle Charles, I wrote on Friday.
Immediately after dinner on Thursday I went into the town to do an errand
which your dear aunt was anxious about. I returned about a quarter before
six and found her recovering from faintness and oppression; she got so
well as to be able to give me a minute account of her seizure, and when
the clock struck six she was talking quietly to me.
I cannot say how soon afterwards she was seized again with the same
faintness, which was followed by the sufferings she could not describe;
but Mr. Lyford had been sent for, had applied something to give her ease,
and she was in a state of quiet insensibility by seven o'clock at the
latest. From that time till half-past four, when she ceased to breathe,
she scarcely moved a limb, so that we have every reason to think, with
gratitude to the Almighty, that her sufferings were over. A slight motion
of the head with every breath remained till almost the last. I sat close
to her with a pillow in my lap to assist in supporting her head, which
was almost off the bed, for six hours; fatigue made me then resign my
place to Mrs. J. A. for two hours and a-half, when I took it again, and
in about an hour more she breathed her last.
I was able to close her eyes myself, and it was a great gratification to
me to render her those last services. There was nothing convulsed which
gave the idea of pain in her look; on the contrary, but for the continual
motion of the head she gave one the idea of a beautiful statue, and even
now, in her coffin, there is such a sweet, serene air over her countenance
as is quite pleasant to contemplate.
This day, my dearest Fanny, you have had the melancholy intelligence, and
I know you suffer severely, but I likewise know that you will apply to
the fountain-head for consolation, and that our merciful God is never
deaf to such prayers as you will offer.
The last sad ceremony is to take place on Thursday morning; her dear
remains are to be deposited in the cathedral. It is a satisfaction to
me to think that they are to lie in a building she admired so much; her
precious soul, I presume to hope, reposes in a far superior mansion. May
mine one day be re-united to it!
Your dear papa, your Uncle Henry, and Frank and Edwd. Austen, instead of
his father, will attend. I hope they will none of them suffer lastingly
from their pious exertions. The ceremony must be over before ten o'clock,
as the cathedral service begins at that hour, so that we shall be at home
early in the day, for there will be nothing to keep us here afterwards.
Your Uncle James came to us yesterday, and is gone home to-day. Uncle H.
goes to Chawton to-morrow morning; he has given every necessary direction
here, and I think his company there will do good. He returns to us again
on Tuesday evening.
I did not think to have written a long letter when I began, but I have
found the employment draw me on, and I hope I shall have been giving you
more pleasure than pain. Remember me kindly to Mrs. J. Bridges (I am so
glad she is with you now), and give my best love to Lizzie and all the
others.
I am, my dearest Fanny,
Most affectionately yours,
CASS. ELIZ. AUSTEN.
I have said nothing about those at Chawton, because I am sure you hear
from your papa.
Chawton: Tuesday (July 29, 1817).
MY DEAREST FANNY,
I have just read your letter for the third time, and thank you most sincerely
for every kind expression to myself, and still more warmly for your
praises of her who I believe was better known to you than to any human
being besides myself. Nothing of the sort could have been more gratifying
to me than the manner in which you write of her, and if the dear angel
is conscious of what passes here, and is not above all earthly feelings,
she may perhaps receive pleasure in being so mourned. Had she been the
survivor I can fancy her speaking of you in almost the same terms. There
are certainly many points of strong resemblance in your characters; in your
intimate acquaintance with each other, and your mutual strong affection,
you were counterparts.
Thursday was not so dreadful a day to me as you imagined. There was so
much necessary to be done that there was no time for additional misery.
Everything was conducted with the greatest tranquillity, and but that I
was determined I would see the last, and therefore was upon the listen,
I should not have known when they left the house. I watched the little
mournful procession the length of the street; and when it turned from
my sight, and I had lost her for ever, even then I was not overpowered,
nor so much agitated as I am now in writing of it. Never was human being
more sincerely mourned by those who attended her remains than was this
dear creature. May the sorrow with which she is parted with on earth be
a prognostic of the joy with which she is hailed in heaven!
I continue very tolerably well -- much better than any one could have supposed
possible, because I certainly have had considerable fatigue of body as
well as anguish of mind for months back; but I really am well, and I hope
I am properly grateful to the Almighty for having been so supported. Your
grandmamma, too, is much better than when I came home.
I did not think your dear papa appeared well, and I understand that he
seemed much more comfortable after his return from Winchester than he
had done before. I need not tell you that he was a great comfort to me;
indeed, I can never say enough of the kindness I have received from him
and from every other friend.
I get out of doors a good deal and am able to employ myself. Of course those
employments suit me best which leave me most at leisure to think of her
I have lost, and I do think of her in every variety of circumstance. In
our happy hours of confidential intercourse, in the cheerful family party
which she so ornamented, in her sick room, on her death-bed, and as (I
hope) an inhabitant of heaven. Oh, if I may one day be re-united to her
there! I know the time must come when my mind will be less engrossed by
her idea, but I do not like to think of it. If I think of her less as on
earth, God grant that I may never cease to reflect on her as inhabiting
heaven, and never cease my humble endeavours (when it shall please God)
to join her there.
In looking at a few of the precious papers which are now my property I
have found some memorandums, amongst which she desires that one of her
gold chains may be given to her god-daughter Louisa, and a lock of her
hair be set for you. You can need no assurance, my dearest Fanny, that
every request of your beloved aunt will be sacred with me. Be so good as
to say whether you prefer a brooch or ring. God bless you, my dearest Fanny.
Believe me, most affectionately yours,
CASS. ELIZTH. AUSTEN.
Miss Knight, Godmersham Park,
Canterbury.
Return to Jane Austen's life
Return to Jane Austen's writings
Go to table of contents at top of file
|
|