A Memoir of Jane Austen

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Bath 59
interest in the Stoneleigh property in Warwickshire was left, after
the extinction of the earlier Leigh peerage, but he compromised
his claim to the succession in his lifetime. He married a niece of
Sir Montague Cholmeley° of Lincolnshire. He was a man of considerable
natural power, with much of the wit of his uncle, the
Master of Balliol,° and wrote clever epigrams and riddles, some of
which, though without his name, found their way into print; but
he lived a very retired life, dividing his time between Bath and his
place in Berkshire called Scarlets. Jane’s letters from Bath make
frequent mention of this uncle and aunt.
The unfinished story, now published under the title of ‘The
Watsons,’ must have been written during the author’s residence
in Bath.° In the autumn of 1804 she spent some weeks at Lyme,
and became acquainted with the Cobb, which she afterwards
made memorable for the fall of Louisa Musgrove.° In February
1805, her father died at Bath, and was buried at Walcot Church.
The widow and daughters went into lodgings for a few months,
and then removed to Southampton.° The only records that I can
find about her during those four years° are the three following
letters to her sister; one from Lyme, the others from Bath. They
shew that she went a good deal into society, in a quiet way, chiefly
with ladies; and that her eyes were always open to minute traits of
character in those with whom she associated:––
Extract from a letter from Jane Austen to her Sister°
‘Lyme, Friday, Sept. 14 (1804).
‘MY DEAR CASSANDRA,–– I take the first sheet of fine striped
paper to thank you for your letter from Weymouth, and express
my hopes of your being at Ibthorp before this time. I expect to
hear that you reached it yesterday evening, being able to get as far
as Blandford on Wednesday. Your account of Weymouth contains
nothing which strikes me so forcibly as there being no ice in the
town. For every other vexation I was in some measure prepared,
and particularly for your disappointment in not seeing the Royal
Family° go on board on Tuesday, having already heard from Mr.
Crawford that he had seen you in the very act of being too late.