d take part in a
most gallant action when, in June 1796, Captain Williams's frigate, the
_Unicorn_, gave chase to a French frigate, _La Tribune_, and, after a
run of two hundred and ten miles, succeeded in capturing her. To
Charles, at the age of seventeen, this must have been a very exciting
experience; while to Captain Williams it brought the honour of
knighthood.

What with their visitors and their dances, and with a wedding to prepare
for, life must have been gay enough for the Miss Austens during the
autumn of 1792. Cassandra and Jane were now of an age to enjoy as much
dancing as they could get: in fact, if Jane began dancing as early as
she made Lydia Bennet begin, she may already have been going for a year
or two to the monthly assemblies that Basingstoke (like every other town
of any size) boasted of during the winter months.

Unfortunately, we know very little of Jane's personal history from 1792
to 1796. Most of her time would naturally be spent at home; but we catch
an occasional glimpse of her, now dancing at Southampton, now travelling
with Cassandra one hot summer's day from London to stay with her brother
Edward at Rowling (in 1794), now visiting in Gloucestershire.[59]

Early in 1794 came the shock of the execution of the Comte de Feuillide;
and Eliza, widowed and motherless, and with an invalid boy, must have
become more of a serious care to her relations. Over the acquittal of
her benefactor and godfather, Warren Hastings, there was but one feeling
in the family. They all admired him as a high-minded patriot, a warm and
disinterested friend, and a scholar whose approbation was an honour. The
event inspired Henry Austen with more than his usual grandeur of
language. 'Permit me,' he says (writing to Hastings) 'to congratulate my
country and myself as an Englishman; for right dear to every Englishman
must it be to behold the issue of a combat where forms of judicature
threatened to annihilate the essence of justice.'

One event of the deepest interest occurred during this period--namely,
Cassandra's engagement to Thomas Fowle (brother of Eliza Lloyd's
husband), which probably took place in 1795 when she was twenty-three
years old. She had known him from childhood, as he was a pupil at
Steventon Rectory in 1779. Mr. Fowle had taken Orders, and was at this
time Rector of Allington in Wiltshire. An immediate marriage did not
seem prudent, but advancement was hoped for from his kinsman, Lord
Craven; and,