d that we must trust to our knowledge of
our own wretched constitutions for any relief; but if you think it
advisable for the interests of the _place_ to get a medical man there,
I will undertake the commission with pleasure, and have no doubt of
succeeding. I could soon put the necessary irons in the fire. As for
getting to Sanditon myself, it is an impossibility. I grieve to say
that I cannot attempt it, but my feelings tell me too plainly that in
my present state the sea-air would probably be the death of me; and in
truth I doubt whether Susan's nerves would be equal to the effort. She
has been suffering much from headache, and six leeches a day, for ten
days together, relieved her so little that we thought it right to
change our measures; and being convinced on examination that much of
the evil lay in her gums, I persuaded her to attack the disorder
there. She has accordingly had three teeth drawn, and is decidedly
better; but her nerves are a good deal deranged, she can only speak in
a whisper, and fainted away this morning on poor Arthur's trying to
suppress a cough.'

Within a week of the date of this letter, in spite of the impossibility
of moving, and of the fatal effects to be apprehended from the sea-air,
Diana Parker was at Sanditon with her sister. She had flattered herself
that by her own indefatigable exertions, and by setting at work the
agency of many friends, she had induced two large families to take houses
at Sanditon. It was to expedite these politic views that she came; and
though she met with some disappointment of her expectation, yet she did
not suffer in health.

Such were some of the _dramatis personae_, ready dressed and prepared for
their parts. They are at least original and unlike any that the author
had produced before. The success of the piece must have depended on the
skill with which these parts might be played; but few will be inclined to
distrust the skill of one who had so often succeeded. If the author had
lived to complete her work, it is probable that these personages might
have grown into as mature an individuality of character, and have taken
as permanent a place amongst our familiar acquaintance, as Mr. Bennet, or
John Thorp, Mary Musgrove, or Aunt Norris herself.

CHAPTER XIV.

_Postscript_.

When first I was asked to put together a memoir of my aunt, I saw reasons
for declining the attempt. It was not on