During the short peace of Amiens, she and her
second husband went to France, in the hope of recovering some of the
Count's property, and there narrowly escaped being included amongst the
_detenus_. Orders had been given by Buonaparte's government to detain
all English travellers, but at the post-houses Mrs. Henry Austen gave the
necessary orders herself, and her French was so perfect that she passed
everywhere for a native, and her husband escaped under this protection.
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.
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