date her letters merely
'Southampton,' until she moved to Castle Square.

[162] _Alphonsine_, by Madame de Genlis; _The Female Quixote_, published
1752, by Mrs. Charlotte Lennox, author of the phrase: 'A thought strikes
me: let us swear an eternal friendship.'

[163] Miss Hill supplies us with the line from _The Task_, 'The Winter
Walk at Noon,' ll. 149-50:--

'Laburnum rich
In streaming gold; syringa, ivory pure.'

[164] The Austens were about to become Lord Lansdowne's tenants in
Castle Square.

[165] Johnson to Boswell, July 4, 1774.--Birkbeck Hill's _Boswell_, ii.
279.

[166] Mr. John Austen of Broadford, under whose will the property at
Horsmonden came into the possession of the family of 'Uncle Frank' on
the failure of his own direct heirs. See Chapter I.

[167] _Letters from the Mountains: being the real Correspondence of a
Lady, between 1773 and 1807_, by Mrs. Grant of Laggan.

[168] Probably _An Account of the Manners and Customs of Italy, etc._
London, 1768-9.

[169] _Memoir_, p. 77.

[170] _Ibid._ p. 140.

[171] _Brabourne_, vol. ii. p. 116.

[172] The Henry Austens were then living at 16 Michael's Place,
Brompton--a row of houses on the site of the present Egerton Mansions.

[173] James having arrived by the coach before the others.

[174] Son and daughter of James.

[175] Mr. W. Fowle speaks of a visit to Steventon, when Jane read 'very
sweetly' the first canto of _Marmion_. By that time she was no doubt a
warm admirer of the poem.

CHAPTER XIII

FROM SOUTHAMPTON TO CHAWTON

1808-1809

We do not doubt that the orange wine was duly made and the pleasure of
unreserved conversation enjoyed during the remainder of the summer.
Before the end of September, Cassandra had gone to Godmersham on what
was to prove a long and a sad visit. She arrived just at the time of the
birth of her sister-in-law's sixth son and eleventh child, John. For a
time all went well with mother and child; but on October 8 Elizabeth
Austen was suddenly seized with sickness, and died before the serious
nature of her attack had been fully realised.[176] This sad event
occurred, as the reader will see, between the second and third of the
following letters. Edward Austen's two eldest boys, Edward and George,
were now at Winchester School, but were taken away for a time on their
mother's death. They went at first to the James Austens, at Steventon,
no one appearing to think a jour