Jane Austen Letters

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London parties and a toothless baby

Jane Austen’s cousin Eliza has come to England with her mother, Philadelphia Hancock. She describes long days and nights of society to another cousin, Philadelphia Walter. Her “little boy” is Hastings de Feuillide; his “two Mamas” are his mother and grandmother. The passage is a lively extract, not the whole letter.

Eliza de Feuillide to Philadelphia Walter
APR 9, 1787

As to me, I have been for some time past the greatest rake imaginable, and really wonder how such a meagre creature as I am can support so much fatigue, of which the history of one day will give you some idea, for I only stood from two to four in the drawing-room and of course loaded with a great hoop of no inconsiderable weight, went to the Duchess of Cumberland's in the evening and from thence to Almack's, where I staid till five in the morning: all this I did not many days ago, and am yet alive to tell you of it. I believe tho', I should not be able to support London hours, and all the racketing of a London life for a year together. You are very good in your enquiries after my little boy who is in perfect health, but has got no teeth yet, which somewhat mortifies his two Mamas.