[April 6, 1817.] My dearest Charles,—Many thanks for your affectionate letter. I was in your debt before, but I have really been too unwell the last fortnight to write anything that was not absolutely necessary. I have been suffering from a bilious attack attended with a good deal of fever. A few days ago my complaint appeared removed, but I am ashamed to say that the shock of my uncle's will brought on a relapse, and I was so ill on Friday and thought myself so likely to be worse that I could not but press for Cassandra's returning with Frank after the funeral last night, which she of course did; and either her return, or my having seen Mr. Curtis, or my disorder's chusing to go away, have made me better this morning. I live upstairs however for the present, and am coddled. I am the only one of the legatees who has been so silly, but a weak body must excuse weak nerves. My mother has borne the forgetfulness of her extremely well—her expectations for herself were never beyond the extreme of moderation, and she thinks with you that my Uncle always looked forward to surviving her. She desires her best love, and many thanks for your kind feelings; and heartily wishes that her younger children had more, and all her children something immediately. . . . Nothing can be kinder than Mrs. Cooke's enquiries after you [and Harriet] in all her letters, and there was no standing her affectionate way of speaking of your countenance, after her seeing you. God bless you all. Conclude me to be going on well if you hear nothing to the contrary. Yours ever truly, J. A. Tell dear Harriet that whenever she wants me in her service again she must send a hackney chariot all the way for me—for I am not strong enough to travel any other way, and I hope Cassy will take care that it is a green one. . . .
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Jane's last surviving letter to Charles
On 6 April 1817 Jane tells Charles that she has been too ill to write. Their uncle James Leigh-Perrot has died, but his will brings no immediate financial relief to Jane and her mother. The three readings are overlapping extracts of this letter. Life and Letters prints substantially more of the family circumstances than the Memoir or Sailor Brothers; none should be mistaken for a separate message. Jane's account of a relapse describes her experience, not a modern diagnosis of the illness that killed her.
Extract from Life and Letters (1913), p. 385.
‘I live up stairs for the present and am coddled. I am the only one of the party who has been so silly, but a weak body must excuse weak nerves.’
This passage also appears in Life and Letters, p. 385, and Sailor Brothers, p. 271. Chapman, letter 144 dates it 6 April 1817, postmarked 7 April. The Memoir places it within a discussion of 1816, which can obscure the later date.
Extract from A Memoir of Jane Austen (1871), p. 159.
“My dearest Charles,—Many thanks for your affectionate letter. I was in your debt before, but I have really been too unwell the last fortnight to write anything that was not absolutely necessary.... There was no standing Mrs. Cooke’s affectionate way of speaking of your countenance, after her seeing you. God bless you all. Conclude me to be going on well, if you hear nothing to the contrary.
“Yours ever truly, “J. A.
“Tell dear Harriet that whenever she wants me in her service again she must send a Hackney Chariot all the way for me, for I am not strong enough to travel any other way, and I hope Cassy will take care that it is a green one.”
Extract from Jane Austen’s Sailor Brothers (1906), p. 271.