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Philadelphia Walter continues to favour Cassandra over her younger sister Jane. The older biography presents this as a further report a day or two after 23 July 1788. Austen Papers prints it within the 23 July letter to Philadelphia’s brother James, with an omission before it. The editions therefore leave the exact division of the correspondence uncertain.
I continue to admire my amiable likeness the best of the two in every respect; she keeps up conversation in a very sensible and pleasing manner. Yesterday they all spent the day with us, and the more I see of Cassandra the more I admire [her]. Jane is whimsical and affected.
Life and Letters, pp. 58–59 places this a day or two after the letter of 23 July 1788. Austen Papers, pp. 130–131 prints it in the 23 July item to James Walter, separated by an omission. “My amiable likeness” means Cassandra, whom Philadelphia thought resembled her.
Extract from Life and Letters (1913), p. 59.
