[332] The first two batches of letters are to be found in Lord Brabourne's book, vol. ii. p. 277 _et seq._; of the third set (to Caroline) only a few isolated quotations have been published. The second and third sets have been compared with the originals, but we have been unable to do this in the case of the first. [333] Cassandra was evidently not in the secret; and we learn from their niece Anna the interesting fact that, close and intimate as were the relations between the two sisters, they were absolutely silent to each other when the confidences of a third person had to be guarded. [334] Perhaps in March 1814. [335] Lord Brabourne dates them in 1816, and Mr. Oscar Fay Adams and Miss Hill naturally follow him; but such a date is impossible, as they contain allusions to two or three family events which had not then happened. This correction makes the account of her own health in the letters of March 13 and March 23 (which will be found in Chap. XX, p. 383) fit in much better with our information from other sources as to the progress of her illness than would have been the case had it been written in 1816. [336] See p. 336. [337] In _Evelina_. [338] It must be remembered that there was no 'Lord Portman' or 'Lord Desborough' in 1814. [339] In _Mansfield Park_. [340] Published July 7, 1814. Jane Austen had no more doubt as to who was the author than Miss Mitford had. [341] See p. 376. [342] On the birth of Anna Lefroy's eldest daughter, Jemima. [343] See p. 374. [344] No doubt the Frank Austens. CHAPTER XX FAILING HEALTH 1816-1817 During the last year of Jane Austen's life, when her health was gradually failing, and she was obliged to depend--ever more and more exclusively--on her immediate family for society, she had at least the satisfaction of having her two sailor brothers nearer at hand than had often been the case. After Frank's return from the Baltic, early in 1814, nothing occurred of a more serious nature than the Great Naval Review in June--which only indirectly affected him, as he was not then in command of a ship--to prevent his attending to his family. He settled down to a domestic life with wife and children, first of all occupying the Great House at Chawton, but soon moving to Alton.