Heathcote, {66a} however, who has broken the small bone of his leg, is
so good as to be going on very well. It would be really too much to
have three people to care for.

'You distress me cruelly by your request about books. I cannot think
of any to bring with me, nor have I any idea of our wanting them. I
come to you to be talked to, not to read or hear reading; I can do
that at home; and indeed I am now laying in a stock of intelligence to
pour out on you as my share of the conversation. I am reading Henry's
History of England, which I will repeat to you in any manner you may
prefer, either in a loose, desultory, unconnected stream, or dividing
my recital, as the historian divides it himself, into seven parts:--The
Civil and Military: Religion: Constitution: Learning and Learned Men:
Arts and Sciences: Commerce, Coins, and Shipping: and Manners. So
that for every evening in the week there will be a different subject.
The Friday's lot--Commerce, Coins, and Shipping--you will find the
least entertaining; but the next evening's portion will make amends.
With such a provision on my part, if you will do yours by repeating
the French Grammar, and Mrs. Stent {66b} will now and then ejaculate
some wonder about the cocks and hens, what can we want? Farewell for
a short time. We all unite in best love, and I am your very
affectionate

'J. A.'

The two next letters must have been written early in 1801, after the
removal from Steventon had been decided on, but before it had taken
place. They refer to the two brothers who were at sea, and give some
idea of a kind of anxieties and uncertainties to which sisters are seldom
subject in these days of peace, steamers, and electric telegraphs. At