Page:Austen Lady Susan Watson Letters.djvu/237

 and was not recognised by her as being of a permanent nature.

The first letter is written on her sister Cassandra's birthday, and is directed to her at Kintbury, where she seems to have been staying with her friend Ehzabeth Fowle (often referred to in these letters as “Eliza”), née Lloyd, whose sister was the “Mary” who “would never have guessed” the “tall clergyman's” name, and who afterwards married the “James” (Jane's brother) who was taken into the carriage as an encouragement to his improved dancing. Elisabeth Lloyd married the Rev. Fulwar Craven Fowle, who was the Vicar of Kintbury, near Newbury. Mr. Fowle was, I have always heard, a good sportman, a good preacher, and a man of some humour. He had a hunter at one time which he named “Biscay”, because it was “a great roaring bay.” He commanded a troop of Volunteers in the war-time, and King George the Third is reported to have said of him that he was “the best preacher, rider to hounds, and cavalry officer in Berks.”

The Harwoods of Deane were country neighbours of whom we shall find frequent mention. They were a very old Hampshire family, living upon their own property, which was formely much larger than at the date of our letters, and which, I believe, has now passed away altogether