Chawton Feb: 20 My dearest Fanny,

You are inimitable, irresistable. You are the delight of my Life. Such Letters, such entertaining Letters as you have lately sent!-Such a description of your queer little heart!-Such a lovely display of what Imagination does.-You are worth your weight in Gold, or even in the new Silver Coinage.-I cannot express to you what I have felt in reading your history of yourself, how full of Pity & Concern & Admiration & Amusement I have been. You are the Paragon of all that is Silly & Sensible, common-place & eccentric, Sad & Lively, Provoking & Interesting.-Who can keep pace with the fluctuations of your Fancy, the Capprizios of your Taste, the Contradictions of your Feelings?-You are so odd!-& all the time, so perfectly natural-so peculiar in yourself, & yet so like everybody else!-It is very, very gratifying to me to know you so intimately. You can hardly think what a pleasure it is to me, to have such thorough pictures of your Heart.-Oh! what a loss it will be when you are married. You are too agreable in your single state, too agreable as a Neice. I shall hate you when your delicious play of Mind is all settled down into conjugal & maternal affections.

Mr. J. W. frightens me.-He will have you.-I see you at the Altar.-I have some faith in Mrs. C. Cage's observation, & still more in Lizzy's; & besides, I know it must be so. He must be wishing to attach you. It would be too stupid & too shameful in him, to be otherwise; & all the Family are seeking your acquaintance.-Do not imagine that I have any real objection, I have rather taken a fancy to him than not, & I like Chilham Castle for you;-I only do not like you shd* marry anybody. And yet I do wish you to marry very much, because I know you will never be happy till you are; but the loss of a Fanny Knight will be never made up to me; My " affec: Neice F. C. Wildman " will be but a poor Substitute. I do not like your being nervous & so apt to cry :-it is a sign you are not quite well, but I hope Mr. Scud-as you always write his name, (your Mr. Scuds: amuse me very much) will do you good.-What a comfort that Cassandra should be so recovered!-It is more than we had expected.-I can easily beleive she was very patient & very good. I always loved Cassandra, for her fine dark eyes & sweet temper.-I am almost entirely cured of my rheumatism ; just a little pain in my knee now and then, to make me remember what it was, & keep on flannel.-Aunt Cassandra nursed me so beautifully!-I enjoy your visit to Goodnestone, it must be a great pleasure to you, You have not seen Fanny Cage in any comfort so long. I hope she represents & remonstrates & reasons with you, properly. Why should you be living in dread of his marrying somebody else ?-(Yet, how natural !)-You did not chuse to have him yourself; why not allow him to take comfort where he can?-In your conscience you know that he could not bear a comparison with a more animated Character.-You cannot forget how you felt under the idea of it's having been possible that he might have dined in Hans Place.-My dearest Fanny, I cannot bear you should be unhappy about him. Think of his Principles, think of his Father's objection, of want of Money, of a coarse Mother, of Brothers & Sisters like Horses, of sheets sewn across & c.-But I am doing no good-no, all that I urge against him will rather make you take his part more, sweet perverse Fanny.-And now I will tell you that we like your Henry to the utmost, to the very top of the Glass, quite brimful.-He is a very pleasing young Man. I do not see how he could be mended. He does really bid fair to be everything his Father and Sister could wish; and William I love very much indeed, & so we do all, he is quite our own William. In short we are very comfortable together-that is, we can answer for ourselves.-Mrs. Deedes is as welcome as May, to all our Benevolence to her Son; we only lamented that we cd* not do more, & that the \50 note we slipt into his hand at parting was necessarily the Limit of our Offering.-Good Mrs. Deedes!-I hope she will get the better of this Marianne, & then I wd* recommend to her & Mr. D. the simple regimen of separate rooms.-Scandal & Gossip;-yes I dare say you are well stocked; but I am very fond of Mrs. C. cage, for reasons good. Thank you for mentioning her praise of Emma & c.-I have contributed the marking to Uncle H.'s shirts, & now they are a complete memorial of the tender regard of many.-

Friday.-I had no idea when I began this yesterday, of sending it before your Br* went back, but I have written away my foolish thoughts at such a rate that I will not keep them many hours longer to stare me in the face.-Much obliged for the Quadrilles, which I am grown to think pretty enough, though of course they are very inferior to the Cotillions of my own day.-Ben & Anna walked here last Sunday to hear Uncle Henry, & she looked so pretty, it was quite a pleasure to see her, so young & so blooming & so innocent, as if she had never had a wicked Thought in her Life-which yet one has some reason to suppose she must have had, if we believe the Doctrine of original Sin, or if we remember the events of her girlish days.-

I hope Lizzy will have her Play. Very kindly arranged for her. Henry is generally thought very good-looking, but not so handsome as Edward.-I think I prefer his face.-Wm. is in excellent Looks, has a fine appetite & seems perfectly well. You will have a great Break-up at Gm* in the Spring, You must feel their all going. It is very right however. One sees many good causes for it.-Poor Miss C.-I shall pity her, when she begins to understand herself.-Your objection to the Quadrilles delighted me exceedingly.

-Pretty well, for a Lady irrecoverably attached to one Person!-Sweet Fanny, beleive no such thing of yourself.-Spread no such malicious slander upon your Understanding, within the Precincts of your Imagination.-Do not speak ill of your Sense, merely for the Gratification of your Fancy.-Yours is Sense, which deserves more honourable Treatment.-You are not in love with him. You never have been really in love with him.-

Yrs** very affecly**

J. Austen

Uncle H. & miss Lloyd dine at Mr. Digweed's today, which leaves us the power of asking Uncle & Aunt F.-to come & meet their Nephews here.