she had a similar feeling with regard to her two naval brothers. But there was then no daily authentic intelligence of events as they occurred. Newspapers were a luxury of the rich in those days, and it need excite no surprise to find that the events are very seldom mentioned in Jane's surviving letters.[24] We can be in no doubt as to her fervent, and rather exclusive, love for her own country. Writing to an old friend, within a few months of her own death, she says: 'I hope your letters from abroad are satisfactory. They would not be satisfactory to _me_, I confess, unless they breathed a strong spirit of regret for not being in England.' Of her favourite authors and favourite pursuits, we will speak later. FOOTNOTES: [13] Charles Austen failed to do so in January 1799. See p. 124. [14] The description of Steventon is taken, almost entirely, from the _Memoir_, pp. 18-22. [15] This was written nearly half a century ago, before the revival of mixed gardens. [16] Her daughters seem to have looked upon this publicity of useful needlework with some suspicion. See letter from Lyme, September 14, 1804 (p. 179). [17] These letters, hitherto unpublished, are inserted by the kind permission of Mr. J. G. Nicholson of Castlefield House, Sturton by Scawby, Lincolnshire. [18] Son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter. [19] _Life and Times of Mrs. Sherwood_, edited by F. J. Harvey Darton, p. 124. [20] _Records of a Girlhood_, vol. i. p. 99. By Frances Ann Kemble. London, 1878. [21] There are, we think, but two references to school in her surviving correspondence--namely, in a letter to Cassandra, dated September 1, 1796, where she remarks of her sister's letter: 'I could die of laughter at it, as they used to say at school'; and in another, dated May 20, 1813, where she describes a room at a school as being 'totally unschool-like.' [22] In the same novel, _Persuasion_, Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove have brought back 'the usual stock of accomplishments' from a school at Exeter. [23] See next chapter. [24] It was no uncommon occurrence for the richer folk to hand on their newspaper to their neighbours. Thus we find the Austens, while at Steventon, apparently getting theirs from Mr. Holder at Ashe (p. 148); and, later, getting Mr. Pinckard's paper at Lyme (p. 180). Much in the same way Sir John Middleton in _Sense and Sensibility_ would not be denied the satisfaction of sending the Dashwoods his newspaper every day. CHAPTER III WARREN HASTINGS AND THE HANCOCKS 1752-1794