I had a very comfortable account of your Aunt Jane this morning; she now sits up a little. Charles Knight came this morning: he saw her yesterday, and says she looks better and seem'd very cheerful. She hoped to be well enough to see Mrs. Portal to-day; your Mamma is there (went yesterday by the coach), which I am very glad of. Cassandra did not quite like the nurse they had got, so wish'd Mrs. J. A. to come in her stead, as she promised she would whenever she was wanted.
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News from Jane’s sickroom
Jane Austen is seriously ill in Winchester. Her mother, Cassandra Austen, passes on a visitor’s encouraging report and explains that Mary, the wife of Jane’s brother James, has gone to help care for her.
Cassandra Austen (née Leigh) to A grandchild (identity uncertain)
Date unresolved
“Your Aunt Jane” and “your Mamma” identify the recipient as a grandchild, but not which one. Life and Letters places this extract in 1817 without an exact date. The encouraging report is not evidence that Jane recovered.
Extract from Life and Letters (1913), p. 392.