She was a clever woman, and highly accomplished, after the French rather
than the English mode; and in those days, when intercourse with the
Continent was long interrupted by war, such an element in the society of
a country parsonage must have been a rare acquisition. The sisters may
have been more indebted to this cousin than to Mrs. La Tournelle's
teaching for the considerable knowledge of French which they possessed.
She also took the principal parts in the private theatricals in which the
family several times indulged, having their summer theatre in the barn,
and their winter one within the narrow limits of the dining-room, where
the number of the audience must have been very limited. On these
occasions, the prologues and epilogues were written by Jane's eldest
brother, and some of them are very vigorous and amusing. Jane was only
twelve years old at the time of the earliest of these representations,
and not more than fifteen when the last took place. She was, however, an
early observer, and it may be reasonably supposed that some of the
incidents and feelings which are so vividly painted in the Mansfield Park
theatricals are due to her recollections of these entertainments.

Some time before they left Steventon, one great affliction came upon the
family. Cassandra was engaged to be married to a young clergyman. He
had not sufficient private fortune to permit an immediate union; but the
engagement was not likely to be a hopeless or a protracted one, for he
had a prospect of early preferment from a nobleman with whom he was
connected both by birth and by personal friendship. He accompanied this
friend to the West Indies, as chaplain to his regiment, and there died of
yellow fever, to the great concern of his friend and patron, who
afterwards declared that, if he had known of the engagement, he would not
have permitted him to go out to such a climate. This little domestic
tragedy caused great and lasting grief to the principal sufferer, and
could not but cast a gloom over the whole party. The sympathy of Jane