by Jane Austen
16. Such laments can be found elsewhere in writings of the time, though there is no particular evidence for worse behavior among young men then than during other periods.
17. amiable: kind, good-natured.
18. People came of age when they reached twenty-one. Until that point Miss Grey would have been legally under the control of her guardians—presumably her parents are dead—and could have married only with their approval.
19. Marianne refused to join in a round game at Lady Middleton’s on the grounds that she hated cards (this page). Mrs. Jennings was there, but has either forgotten or finds herself desperate to offer some other consolation to Marianne now that she has rejected the foods Mrs. Jennings offered.
20. wants: needs.
21. Again she thinks of what comfort Marianne might derive from food, a focus Mrs. Jennings will show on other occasions. Supper, a light meal, was eaten relatively late in the evening.
22. Conduit Street is where the Middletons live (see this page). Mrs. Jennings, even amid her genuine sympathy, reveals her love of gossip.
23. She does not mention Lady Middleton or Mr. Palmer, since she assumes they will be discreet, whether from good manners in her case or indifference in his (perhaps supplemented by a respect for certain forms of correct etiquette that he has shown).
24. To refrain from mentioning something important all through dinner constitutes significant self-restraint in Mrs. Jennings’s eyes.
25. A truly extraordinary statement for Mrs. Jennings.
A student in a boarding school threatened with caning (see note 4).
[From William Combe, The Dance of Life (London, 1817; 1903 reprint), p. 83]
[List of Illustrations]
26. Mrs. Jennings assumes Elinor just pretends to defend him for polite appearances’ sake. She cannot imagine that Elinor might have a genuine spirit of justice toward a man who has wronged her sister. Of course, Elinor is not exculpating him, only saying his behavior is not as wrong as Mrs. Jennings assumes.
27. Their lengthy visit to Willoughby’s probable future home at Allenham would be generally regarded as a sure sign of engagement (see note 46).
28. inforcement: enforcement, i.e., urging, pressing.
29. The lack of an engagement would only partially excuse Willoughby, for most would consider him still bound in honor to marry Marianne after raising such expectations. The hero of Persuasion feels himself to be so bound after a far less assiduous courtship than Willoughby’s. At the same time, the absence of an engagement would, if known, cause serious censure of Marianne’s behavior, especially her correspondence with Willoughby.
30. hilarity: cheerfulness.
31. “It is an ill wind that blows nobody good” is a traditional saying that means most events, however bad, benefit at least somebody (hence the event, or wind, not doing that is truly an ill one). In this case Mrs. Jennings suggests that Willoughby’s treachery will benefit Colonel Brandon.
32. Midsummer: June 24. Along with Michaelmas (September 29), Christmas, and Lady Day (March 25), it was one of the four rent days dividing the year.
33. drawback: diminution, deduction.
34. love-child: child born out of wedlock. Mrs. Jennings has already discussed Colonel Brandon’s supposed natural daughter (this page).
35. Apprenticed out—“ ’prenticed” was a traditional form that had ceased to be standard English—meant binding someone as an apprentice, for a small fee, to learn a trade. Those who could afford it might instead send a natural child to a boarding school, as is done with such a character in Emma, Harriet Smith. In either case the idea would be to give the child a chance in life, while avoiding the shame, and the offense to one’s neighbors and to the sanctity of marriage, of living with one’s illegitimate child. Mrs. Jennings’s suggestion would cost less than a boarding school and also consign the child to a lower position in life: her concluding words, “then what does it signify?,” suggest a rather hard-hearted attitude.
36. Fruit trees were often surrounded by garden walls, which protected the trees from the cold and thereby lengthened their growing season. Sometimes the walls were heated to extend the growing season further, or to allow the cultivation of fruits that fared best in a warmer climate than England’s.
37. Mulberry trees, which had first been imported into England because their leaves are the food of silkworms, grow best when protected by walls. They were not that common in England, though their fruit was considered by some a great delicacy; this is probably why Mrs. Jennings mentions it.
38. stuff: gorge ourselves. The term was not really proper English.
39. Dovecotes are houses for doves and pigeons, and there were many in England then to provide pigeons for eating. Stew ponds are fishponds, another feature of many estates for the purpose of providing food. Canals and other waterways were standard parts of the elaborate landscape gardens of the time; for an example, see picture on the preceding page. Mrs. Jennings’s reference to the canal constitutes her one praise of something for its aesthetic value; otherwise she speaks only of the gastronomic or social benefits of Delaford.
40. Turnpikes were the main long-distance roads in Britain; they were constructed by private turnpike trusts, authorized by the government, that collected tolls. They would provide a regular stream of carriage traffic for the ever curious Mrs. Jennings. Yew trees, sometimes called English cedars, are a common conifer in England.
41. hard by: close by.
42. The parsonage house, where the minister of the parish lived, would usually be next to the church, which she just said was close to Colonel Brandon’s house. Mrs. Jennings, as her next sentence indicates, values this especially for the social benefits, for clergy and their wives, being genteel, would be appropriate companions for those living at Delaford. The proximity of the local village helps mark Delaford as old-fashioned: a recent trend was to seclude country houses behind extensive landscaped parks.
43. Though most landowners would raise livestock, they would also purchase meat from a local butcher. Butchers in rural areas would often deliver meat to their customers; for a contemporary picture of a butcher on his way to a delivery, see this page.
44. The Dashwoods’ residence at Barton is only half a mile from the Middletons’ house, but even the difference between that and a closer proximity seems of great significance to the gregarious Mrs. Jennings.
45. spirit up: encourage.
46. This is a proverbial expression, used sometimes to mean that eating makes one hungrier. Here it would mean that Marianne, having had her appetite whetted by Willoughby, will be all the more eager for another man to replace him.
47. Elinor would be carrying a candle or a lamp to light her way. Marianne’s not procuring any light indicates her complete disdain of practicalities.
48. notice: acknowledgment.
49. repaired: returned, went.
50. Constantia wine: wine from the large Constantia farm near Cape Town in South Africa. This wine was developed by Dutch settlers in the late seventeenth century and soon became widely renowned for its high quality.
51. Gout involves inflammation and severe pain in the joints, especially those of the big toe. It was a common ailment of the time, especially among the wealthy, for it is caused by excessive consumption of alcohol and foods rich in purine, the most prominent of which are certain meats and fish. It also usually afflicted people as they grew older, and men were far more susceptible to it than women. “Cholicky” means his gout was accompanied by cholic, or colic, a term used then for severe stomach pains. This is a separate ailment, and was understood as such at the time, but it could easily exist with gout, since an overly rich diet also helped bring it on.
52. His hesitation, which continues throughout this conversation, indicates how painful a subject he finds Willoughby’s breach of faith with Marianne. He will shortly reveal further reasons why he finds any matter connected with Willoughby to be painful.
53. stationer’s shop: shop selling writing m
aterials. Writing then required a number of materials, including ink, quill pens, penknives (for sharpening pens), and sanders (for helping ink dry).
54. Pall Mall: a well-known street in London with many expensive shops and comparable houses. It is in the St. James neighborhood, a small area immediately south of Mayfair that had long been an aristocratic location, thanks to the royal residence at St. James Palace. Edward Ferrars will later be found living on this street, while Colonel Brandon lives on the nearby St. James Street. For a picture of Pall Mall, see this page.
55. His hearing news in this way indicates the relatively small upper-class society of the time. Even in London the number of people in this class would not be enormous, and they were concentrated in one section of the city. Hence it is not unlikely that those in that area would know of an important item of news such as an engagement, and that Colonel Brandon would overhear their gossip. Mrs. Jennings’s hearing of the news earlier is another example of this.
56. It was probably a secret for a while because of negotiations over the marriage settlement. Elaborate legal and financial settlements were a standard aspect of marriage among the wealthy, and they could involve protracted bargains. In this case, an indebted groom would be acquiring a very large sum of money from the bride, so the negotiations could have been especially complicated. Once married the husband assumed general authority over the wife and her fortune, and Miss Grey’s representative probably wished to provide her with good safeguards in return for her sizable contribution.
57. Honeymoons were not typical then, though a newly married couple might travel somewhere for enjoyment.
58. Colonel Brandon, after first accidentally hearing the news, made an effort to gain further information. Generally only more vulgar characters would do this, but in this case his concern for Marianne prompted him to be more inquisitive.
59. Meaning groups for playing cards. Once tea was over this would be the normal way for many people to spend the evening.
60. This is a sign of Mrs. Jennings’s limitations. Just as she cannot imagine that good food, and the prospect of Colonel Brandon’s estate, would not quickly soothe Marianne’s grief, so she cannot imagine that Colonel Brandon’s affection for Marianne would make him think more of her current unhappiness than of his own enhanced marital prospects.
Pall Mall in London.
[From E. Beresford Chancellor, The XVIIIth Century in London (New York, 1921), p. 65]
[List of Illustrations]
VOLUME II, CHAPTER IX
1. The behavior of Mrs. Jennings earlier in the novel gave grounds for this dismissal of her motives, but her recent actions have revealed another, more favorable dimension of her character. Elinor has perceived this, thanks both to her careful observation and her steady fulfillment of the demands of social life, which causes her to interact with others continually. Marianne’s quick, impulsive judgments and complete self-absorption deprive her of both these avenues of elucidation. Marianne also fails to distinguish between those like Mrs. Jennings and Sir John, whose vulgarities coexist with genuine benevolence of heart, and those like John and Fanny Dashwood who have few counterbalancing good qualities.
2. irritable: excessively sensitive.
3. abilities: mental powers or endowments.
4. candid: fair, generous, benevolent. The meaning of the sentence is that even if more than half the world is clever and good, most of that group, including Marianne, are not reasonable and candid in judging others. Those who are clever and good as well as reasonable and candid must then be a tiny minority, one that presumably includes Elinor.
5. inforce: enforce, i.e., strengthen or reinforce.
6. “More than hope” probably means her imagined scenario went so far beyond what she might reasonably hope that it was partly delusion or mental frenzy.
7. The inability to find words to express overpowering emotions is a theme found in various Romantic writings.
8. application: appeal (in Elinor’s letter to her mother).
9. wildly: passionately, vehemently.
10. They will have to wait a little bit for this. Letters, which went by the very fast mail coach, would take almost two days to go between London and their home in Devonshire, so even if Elinor wrote immediately and Mrs. Dashwood responded likewise, it would be four or five days until they received her reply. The letter Marianne just received from her mother was in response to Elinor’s letter sent around six days ago (see this page).
11. As seen at other points, etiquette generally forbade early calls so that people would have time to attend to their own affairs at home without disturbance.
12. This is a good example of Marianne’s injustice in judging others’ “motives by the immediate effect of their actions on herself.” In addition, Marianne’s exclusive focus on Willoughby has meant that she, unlike Elinor, never got to know Colonel Brandon; she also could still be influenced by Willoughby’s dislike of Colonel Brandon (this page).
13. A natural place to meet because it is a main shopping street.
14. Colonel Brandon’s justification of himself shows that, contrary to Marianne’s accusation, he is aware of the rules against calling early, especially when the mistress of the house is not at home.
15. In other words, he hopes that his motives are purely to give comfort, but he is conscious of other possible, less benevolent motives. His halting speech signals this consciousness, as well as perhaps other reasons for discomfort.
16. As will become apparent, he hesitates because he is about to reveal matters normally never mentioned in conversation, especially with a lady.
17. open: expose, reveal.
18. diffuse: wordy.
19. for recollection: to compose himself.
20. This happened on this page.
21. Because of the high mortality rate in this society many children were orphaned and raised by other relations, who served as their legal guardians.
22. Marriage between cousins, even first cousins, often occurred and was completely acceptable among the landed elite (it was less accepted lower in the social scale). One reason was the relative scarcity of socially suitable mates among this level of society.
23. encumbered: burdened with debt, especially a mortgage (which was the principal way landowners borrowed money). Many landowners fell into debt, and marriage to an heiress was a common solution. In this case, Eliza would be inheriting money from her parents: as long as she was a child others would manage the fortune for her, but they could not seize any of it; her uncle, as her guardian, was probably given the annual income from the money, such as the 5% it would earn if invested in government bonds, to help defray the costs of supporting her. His receipt of that money over the years could have inspired a wish to gain the principal as well for the sake of his family. He would wish her to marry his eldest son, rather than Colonel Brandon, because the former will inherit the family estate.
24. Scotland’s laws allowed a couple younger than twenty-one to marry without the consent of parents or guardians; the marriage, once performed there, would be valid in England.
25. She probably had a lady’s maid who attended her and helped her dress. Such a maid would tend to know her mistress’s secrets, especially plans to go away, since the maid was in charge of her clothes and would pack them. The maid divulged the information either from folly or to curry favor and perhaps receive monetary compensation from the head of the family, Colonel Brandon’s father.
26. society: company of other people.
27. He had harbored unrealistic expectations of her ability to resist the pressure to marry his brother.
28. This probably means he had affairs, among other things. It would be considered proper to employ a euphemism when speaking of sexual activity, especially if illicit.
29. lively: vivacious, lighthearted, merry.
30. In other words, it would have been better if she had died than commit the terrible crime of adultery and experience the shame and guilt that followed. This was a
standard sentiment at the time, a reflection of the firm insistence on female chastity.
31. It was revealed earlier that he had been in India, where many British troops were stationed to guard Britain’s colonial interests. A regiment was the basic unit of the British army.
32. fall: lose her virtue, commit adultery.
33. He was already serving in a regiment stationed in England and exchanged his position there for one in India. Army officers usually purchased a commission for a particular regiment, so Colonel Brandon probably sold his existing commission and used the money to buy a new one. He went into the army in the first place because, as a younger son, he needed a profession, and the army was one of the leading choices of gentlemen. For more on this, see this page, and note 12.
34. Divorce was almost nonexistent in this society, and considered a terrible calamity. It required a special act of Parliament, something available only to those wealthy enough to lobby for it, and was granted only under very serious circumstances, a wife’s infidelity being a principal one.
35. This is a very intimate gesture, which Colonel Brandon, proper as he is, has performed only under the emotion of such a personal disclosure.
36. He could leave the army by selling his commission. He may have waited three years from a commitment to his regiment in India, or because of operations they were engaged in or shortages of other officers to replace him. As a colonel he would be the highest or almost highest-ranking officer in his regiment, and therefore of great importance.
37. She would have been given a legal allowance as part of the divorce—her husband would have gained her fortune by the marriage. The description suggests that her allowance was unfairly low relative to that fortune.
38. She probably went to moneylenders and agreed to hand over her allowance for a lump payment. Resorting to moneylenders was a common practice.
39. Imprisonment for debt was a long-standing practice in England, and one that figures in many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels; it was also one reason moneylenders were willing to lend to so many people. Anybody whose debts exceeded a modest amount (except merchants, who were treated in a separate fashion) could be taken to court by their creditors and thrown in jail until they were able to repay the debt. Some people would end up spending years there. Those who had just been arrested and who expected to pay off their debts would reside in spunging houses, or lockup houses, while they tried to settle with their creditors. If they failed they would generally be transferred to the harsher conditions of a regular debtors’ prison. Spunging houses mostly contained more affluent prisoners, who had the best expectations of resolving their debts and could afford the exorbitant fees charged by the houses—their name derived from their reputation for mercilessly sponging off their inmates with their charges. All this makes it unlikely that Colonel Brandon’s former servant or sister-in-law, the latter now an outcast from all respectable society, would be in a spunging house instead of a regular debtors’ prison. Thus this could be one of the very rare cases of a mistake by Jane Austen, probably a result of her dealing with a seamy side of life outside her own experience. She may have thought of a spunging house as the equivalent of a debtors’ prison because the former was what any talk in her social circle about confinement for debt would refer to, or she may have been inspired by Clarissa, by one of her favorite novelists, Samuel Richardson, whose heroine’s adventures involve a stay in a spunging house. For a picture of someone being arrested for debt, see this page.
