“Our acquaintance increase too fast. He was recognised lately by Admiral Bertie, and a few days since arrived the Admiral and his daughter Catherine to wait upon us. There was nothing to like or dislike in either. To the Berties are to be added the Lances, with whose cards we have been endowed, and whose visit Frank and I returned yesterday. They live about a mile and three-quarters from S., to the right of the new road to Portsmouth, and I believe their house is one of those which are to be seen from almost anywhere among the woods on the other side of the Itchen. It is a handsome building, stands high, and in a very beautiful situation.”
The next letter is an answer to one from Cassandra delaying her return, evidently a matter of regret to the whole household.
“Frank and Mary cannot at all approve of your not being at home in time to help them in their finishing purchases, and desire me to say that, if you are not, they will be as spiteful as possible, and choose everything in the style most likely to vex you—knives that will not cut, glasses that will not hold, a sofa without a seat, and a bookcase without shelves. But I must tell you a story. Mary had for some time had notice from Mrs. Dickson of the intended arrival of a certain Miss Fowler in this place. Miss F. is an intimate friend of Mrs. D., and a good deal known as such to Mary. On Thursday last she called here while we were out. Mary found, on our return, her card with only her name on it, and she had left word that she would call again. The particularity of this made us talk, and, among other conjectures, Frank said in joke, ‘I dare say she is staying with the Pearsons.’ The connection of the names struck Mary, and she immediately recollected Miss Fowler’s having been very intimate with persons so called, and, upon putting everything together, we have scarcely a doubt of her actually being staying with the only family in the place whom we cannot visit.
CASSANDRA AUSTEN
“What a contretemps!—in the language of France. What an unluckiness!—in that of Madame Duval. The black gentleman has certainly employed one of his menial imps to bring about this complete, though trifling mischief. Miss Fowler has never called again, but we are in daily expectation of it. Miss P. has, of course, given her a proper understanding of the business. It is evident that Miss F. did not expect or wish to have the visit returned, and Francis is quite as much on his guard for his wife as we could desire for her sake or our own.”
What the mysterious disagreement with the Pearson family may have been it is impossible to tell. That it caused more amusement than heartburn is clear, but Jane was always an adept, as she says herself, at constructing “a smartish letter, considering the want of materials.”
The next we hear of Frank (beyond the fact that he has “got a very bad cold, for an Austen; but it does not disable him from making very nice fringe for the drawing-room curtains”) is on the question of his further employment. He was very anxious indeed to get into a frigate, but feared that the death of Lord Nelson, who knew of his desire, would seriously damage his chances of getting what he wanted. Jane writes: “Frank’s going into Kent depends of course upon his being unemployed; but as the First Lord, after promising Lord Moira that Captain A. should have the first good frigate that was vacant, has since given away two or three fine ones, he has no particular reason to expect an appointment now. He, however, has scarcely spoken about the Kentish journey. I have my information chiefly from her, and she considers her own going thither as more certain if he should be at sea than if not.” This was in February 1807. Mrs. Frank Austen was very soon to feel the loneliness of a sailor’s wife. In April 1807, Captain Austen took command of the St. Albans, then moored in Sheerness Harbour.
Naval matters, though much better than they had been, were by no means in order yet, and great was the difficulty experienced in getting the ship properly equipped. Letter after letter was written by the Captain to “the principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty’s Navy” before the ship could be got ready for sea, properly supplied with stores and men. It was not until late in June that they at last got away on convoying duty to the Cape of Good Hope.
The account of Simon’s Bay in the note-book of Francis Austen is interesting, when compared with the state of things now existing at the Cape. After sundry very instructive but entirely nautical directions for sailing in and out, and anchoring, he goes on to make a few remarks respectively on wooding and watering, fortifications and landing-places, trade and shipping and inhabitants, from each of which we give extracts.