Jane Austen by Andrew Norman

right time:
    I confess myself much disappointed by the repeated delay in your return, for tho’ I had pretty well given up any idea of your being with us before our removal [to Godmersham Park], I felt sure that March would not pass away without bringing you. Before April comes, of course something else will occur to detain you. But as you are happy, all this is Selfishness [i.e. on Jane’s part]. 9
    Meanwhile Charles, while stationed in Bermuda, had met 17-year-old Frances Fitzwilliam Palmer (‘Fanny’), daughter of the island’s former Attorney-General. The pair were married on 19 May 1807. In March 1808 Francis was given command of HMS St Albans , in which vessel he voyaged to South Africa, China and the East Indies.
    On 15 June 1808 it was Jane’s turn to be invited to Godmersham Park and she makes no secret of the fact that she looks forward to the luxurious life there: ‘I shall eat Ice & drink French wine, & be above Vulgar Economy.’ 10
    Over a week later, on 26 June, Jane tells Cassandra that, ‘We are all very happy to hear of his [Francis’s] health and safety’, and a few days later she is exuberant at the prospect of seeing her seafaring brother again. She writes to her sister:
    I give you all Joy of Frank’s return, which happens in the true Sailor way, just after our being told not to expect him for some weeks. 11
    In August, Francis found himself in command of a flotilla of ships transporting troops to Corunna, north-west Spain,in support of Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and bringing wounded English soldiers and French prisoners back to Spithead (Portsmouth). The Duke had been sent to assist the Portuguese against France in the Peninsular War.
    At the end of September Cassandra made another visit to Godmersham Park; this time for Edward’s wife Elizabeth’s confinement with her eleventh child. Tragedy then struck because on 10 October, ten days after the birth of a boy, Brook John, Elizabeth died. Cassandra was required to remain with Edward while the latter’s eldest two sons George and Edward were taken by coach from Winchester College, where they were pupils, to Southampton, to be looked after for a time by Jane. Mourning clothes were purchased for them and during that period Jane took them on several excursions up the Hamble river where they saw a naval ship under construction. In a letter to Cassandra, Jane expressed her feelings:
    … dearest Edward, whose loss & whose suffering seem to make those of every other person nothing. – God be praised! … that he has a religious Mind to bear him up, & a Disposition that will gradually lead him to comfort. 12
    Once again, Jane found herself missing her sister greatly. On 24/25 October she wrote to Cassandra saying, ‘As to your lengthened stay, it is no more than I expected, and what must be, but you cannot suppose I like it’. 13 (In the event, Cassandra did not return to Southampton until February 1809).
    On 16 December 1808, which was her birthday, Jane composed a poem in memory of Mrs Lefroy who had died exactly four years previously:
    Beloved friend, four years have pass’d away
    Since thou wert snatch’d forever from our eyes
    However much she regretted the fact that Mrs Lefroy had been instrumental in sending away her nephew and lover Tom, Jane had clearly forgiven her.
    Jane’s letters indicate that she made frequent visits to Henry and Eliza at Sloane Street, and yet in that month of December 1808, she requests of Cassandra, ‘Send me some intelligence of Eliza, it is a long while since I have heard of her’. A month later Jane tells Cassandra, ‘Your report of Eliza’s health gives me great pleasure’. 14
    In April 1809 the Austens left Southampton for Bookham in Surrey, home of Mrs Austen’s cousin and namesake Cassandra Cooke ( née Leigh), and Godmersham Park. That summer, Jane’s brother Edward generously invited Jane, Cassandra, Mrs Austen and Martha Lloyd to live at Chawton Cottage in Hampshire; this was a