"There were only twelve dances, of which I danced nine, and was merely prevented from dancing the rest by the want of a partner. We began at ten, supped at one, and were at Deane before five. There were but fifty people in the room: very few families indeed from our side of the county, and not many more from the other. My partners were the two St. Johns, Hooper, Holder, and a very prodigious Mr. Matthew, with whom I called the last, and whom I liked the best of my little stock....
Mary said that I looked very well last night. I wore my aunt's gown and handkerchief, and my hair was at least tidy, which was all my ambition."
In one of the letters I read, Austen refers to an unpublished work of hers entitled First Impressions, which was the working name of Pride and Prejudice. I find all of this really interesting; I prefer to think this is because I have a scholarly interest in the life and times of Jane Austen and not because I'm inveterately nosy.... In any case, creepy or not, I'm having a great time wading through her personal correspondence.