The Annotated Northanger Abbey

by Jane Austen

  22. The intercepting of letters was a particularly useful device in the epistolary novels of the time, since their characters were engaged in such continual correspondence. It plays a central role in the plot of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740), an enormous bestseller that helped popularize both the epistolary form and the motif of a heroine in acute distress. Intercepting a heroine’s love letters would be particularly momentous, for social rules forbade correspondence between unmarried young people of opposite sexes unless they were closely related.

  23. character: reputation.

  24. Being reduced to extreme misery, at least for a time, is a common fate of sentimental heroines; in one novel, The Husband’s Resentment (1776), the heroine’s husband imprisons her, cuts off her hair, and feeds her on bread and water (before eventually dying and thus allowing her to marry the hero). Chaperones to the heroines—for social mores dictated that unmarried young ladies have chaperones—assist in the infliction of misery in numerous novels, often in the ways described here. The joke is that Mrs. Allen is an amiable nonentity who would scarcely be able to cause significant harm (or good) to anyone.

  25. genius: talent.

  26. manner: a distinguished air or bearing.

  27. One reason for such a choice would be the same limited marriage opportunities already mentioned (note 57). Austen’s two other early novels, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, also present examples of intelligent men joined to foolish wives. (See introduction for more on the order in which Austen’s novels were written.)

  28. being fine: dressing well.

  29. a dress: an outfit. “Dress” then always referred to everything someone was wearing (and could apply to men as well as women). The principal female garment is always called a gown in Austen’s novels.

  30. As a town full of wealthy visitors, including many from London, Bath had fine clothing stores that would be far more in tune with the latest fashions than the Wiltshire shops Mrs. Allen might normally frequent. She could also consult the Bath Journal, which provided information on fashion. Jane Austen, in letters to her sister from Bath, sometimes reported on what was currently being worn there.

  31. The Upper Rooms were one of the two sets of assembly rooms in Bath. Their name came from their position in the more elevated, northern part of the town. The older Lower Assembly Rooms were in the low-lying area to the south where Bath had been concentrated until its tremendous growth and expansion during the eighteenth century. For the location of the Upper Assembly Rooms, see this map.

  32. The “best hand” would be Mrs. Allen’s maid. Wealthy women had personal lady’s maids whose job was to take care of the mistress’s clothes, help her dress, and arrange her hair; these maids, among the most prestigious and best paid of all servants, had often received special training in hairdressing. It is unlikely Catherine had her own maid at home—the Bennets of Pride and Prejudice, who are wealthier than the Morlands seem to be, simply have a housemaid help their daughters with their hair—so this would be a novelty for Catherine.

  33. The Upper Rooms was a large building with several rooms, the most important of which was the ballroom (see diagram).

  34. It is now late January or early February (see chronology, this page). Winter was the height of Bath’s social season. In a letter of May 5, 1801, Jane Austen speaks of how “very empty” Bath had become by May.

  35. directly: immediately.

  36. A card room was a standard feature of places used for social events, due to the preference of many older people, especially men, for cards over dancing. Mr. Allen’s alacrity in going there may also stem from his wish for a break from the company of his empty-headed wife.

  37. Women almost always wore a hat or headdress; those for formal evening events could be quite ornate and contain feathers as well as other decorative features. The end of the eighteenth century witnessed a particular vogue for extravagant headgear. For extreme examples of feathers on a head, see this illustration.

  38. This probably means they are behind a set of raised benches, which is why they now have a better view of the room. Ballrooms normally had benches or seats around the edge for those who wished to observe, or who lacked a partner.

  39. late: recent.

  40. “Tea” meant not only the beverage, but a snack involving it. Tea, coffee, and breads, cakes, and other foods would typically be offered. The rules of the assembly rooms in Bath directed that balls were to last from six to eleven, which would naturally dictate an interlude for refreshment. Since Catherine and Mrs. Allen have come late, this break occurs soon after their arrival.

  Two women dancing.

  [From Max von Boehn, Modes & Manners of the Nineteenth Century, Vol. I (London, 1909), p. 34]

  [List of Illustrations]

  41. The tea room, where food and drink were served, was the largest of the rooms in the Upper Rooms complex after the ballroom.

  42. eligible: desirable, suitable.

  43. situation: position, location.

  44. A muslin is a dress made of muslin, a lightweight cotton fabric originally from India that had become extremely popular during the late eighteenth century in Britain (see also note 11). Since all muslin is fairly delicate, Mrs. Allen’s gown is probably especially so; this would fit with her obsession with fashion, since the more delicate a gown, the more stylish and expensive it tended to be.

  45. Tea things are the utensils required to drink tea. For pictures of such things from the time, see below.

  46. This is Mrs. Allen’s fourth utterance in this scene, and in the novel, and each one has consisted at least partly of a repetition of words just said to her. This pattern will continue, a sign of her mental vacuity.

  47. Mrs. Allen suspects an injury to her headdress, not to her head itself.

  A teapot and a cup and saucer.

  [From MacIver Percival, Old English Furniture and Its Surroundings (New York, 1920), p. 177, and Plate XIV, no. 4]

  [List of Illustrations]

  48. light: slight.

  49. The extraordinary beauty of the heroines of many stories inspired such enthusiastic reactions. Jane Austen presents an absurd version of this in her youthful sketch “Letter the Fifth,” from “A Collection of Letters.” In it, a man writes to a woman that his first sight of her struck him dumb with admiration, and declares, “Adorable Henrietta how beautiful you are! I declare you are quite divine! You are more than Mortal. You are an Angel. You are Venus herself. In short Madam you are the prettiest Girl I ever saw in my Life.” The next paragraph alludes to the idea that “a true quality heroine,” in addition to being accustomed to effusive praise, would be exalted enough in mind to be impervious to simple flattery.

  50. “Handsome” was often used to describe women then, without any masculine connotation.

  A ball in the Upper Rooms. This picture was part of a series on Bath life, “The Comforts of Bath,” by the leading satirist Thomas Rowlandson. Other pictures in the series are shown on this page, this page, this page, this page, and this page.

  [From Joseph Grego, Rowlandson the Caricaturist, Vol. I (London, 1880), p. 346]

  [List of Illustrations]

  51. “Chair” here means a sedan chair hired, like a taxi, for transportation. It would consist of an enclosed seat carried by two men using long poles attached to the bottom of the seat (for a picture of one, as well as a satirical exaggeration of the feather in a headdress, see this illustration). These chairs were common in Bath because of the difficulty of getting carriages through the narrow streets of the older sections. In a letter written just after arriving in Bath for her second visit there, Jane Austen says, “My Uncle overwalked himself at first & can now only travel in a Chair” (June 2, 1799). Chairs, not necessarily covered, could also be used to carry people all the way into and out of the baths or other buildings, thereby allowing ill people to avoid changing vehicles or walking (for an example of this, see this illustration). Some houses were designed so that the residents could be carried all
the way to or from their beds. The significance of chairs is shown by the detailed regulations drawn up by the City of Bath for them, including a schedule of rates to be charged, depending on distance traveled. Since a chair held only one person, Catherine would have her own.

  VOLUME I, CHAPTER III

  1. “Morning” then meant most of the day, which is why they are able to do so much; usually people of their social position would stay home during the early part of the day and venture out only around noon.

  2. Bath, due to its many wealthy visitors, abounded in shops. Only London was a superior shopping venue in England at this time. Jane Austen mentions shopping for clothes in Bath in many of her letters; in one, composed soon before she and her family moved to Bath, she declares that she will wait to buy a new gown until after she is there (Jan. 25, 1801).

  3. The Pump Room was one of three locations where people could drink the warm Bath waters, pumped up from below. Each was attached to one of the three baths where water sprang from the ground; the King’s Bath, the Hot Bath, and the Cross Bath. The Pump Room, attached to the King’s Bath, was distinctive because it was also a place where people could socialize. It had an orchestra that played for part of the day, and its large size allowed people to amble around the room. The resulting ability to see and be seen made it a prime venue for daytime gathering. For pictures of its interior and its exterior, see this illustration and this illustration. For its location, see this map.

  4. The Lower Rooms were the other set of assembly rooms in Bath. The Lower Assembly Rooms were less architecturally grand than the newer Upper Rooms, but both venues held regular events.

  The Lower Rooms (the costumes date the picture to the mid-eighteenth century).

  [From Constance Hill, Jane Austen; her Home and her Friends (London, 1904), p. 115]

  [List of Illustrations]

  5. The master of ceremonies was an important official position in Bath. Each of the assembly room complexes had one, and his job was to ensure the activities there ran smoothly. This could include greeting new arrivals to Bath, resolving disputes, and establishing and enforcing rules of etiquette and dress; a detailed list of such rules, which could be very elaborate, was published for the information of anyone visiting Bath. The master of ceremonies would also introduce young people to one another, a valuable service because social rules dictated that people, especially young unmarried ladies, could socialize only with those to whom they had been introduced. Catherine’s being introduced in such a ritualized and unremarkable way to a young man whom she finds attractive represents a further sharp contrast with the ideal novel heroine, who frequently encounters the hero through extraordinary events that help signal that theirs is no ordinary bond.

  6. address: bearing and demeanor.

  7. Plays and concerts were, along with balls, the principal evening entertainments in Bath. Concerts were normally given at the Assembly Rooms, often by the leading performers of the day. They usually featured a miscellany of short instrumental and vocal selections, including songs from operas.

  A Bath concert.

  [From Mowbray Aston Green, The Eighteenth Century Architecture of Bath (Bath, 1904), frontispiece]

  [List of Illustrations]

  8. raised: aroused.

  9. He is satirizing the normal mode of introducing oneself and making polite small talk. Even someone who follows general principles of courtesy—as Mr. Tilney will do over the course of the novel—can poke fun at many people’s formulaic and unimaginative application of them. His frequent use of “madam” in this exchange is meant parodically, for it (or its contracted form “ma’am”) was normally used for speaking to an older or married woman. “Sir,” which Catherine uses in her replies to him, could be employed for a man of any age.

  10. Catherine’s ability to sample each venue on successive days results in part from a conscious attempt on the part of those running the Upper and Lower Rooms, for they cooperated with each other to a degree, to spread out events over the week. The Upper Rooms had dances on Monday and Thursday evenings, the Lower Rooms on Tuesday and Friday evenings. In addition, on Wednesday evenings, the Upper Rooms held a concert in the same principal room used for dancing. Meanwhile, the main theater in Bath performed on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings, with the Saturday performance being especially grand.

  11. Muslin is a light cotton that became the most popular clothing material for gowns and other garments in the 1780s and 1790s. One reason was that innovations in the textile industry, ones representing a critical early stage in the Industrial Revolution, had made it relatively inexpensive. Another was the trend toward soft, flowing styles, for which muslin—unlike silk or satin, the earlier choice materials—was especially suitable. “Sprigged” muslin gowns had ornamental sprigs of flowers or bunches of leaves sewn onto them; for more on muslin fashions, see note 17. Many gowns also had trimmings of ribbon or lace, which would show up prominently against muslin because it was a fairly plain material.

  12. This could be worthy of comment because most women’s shoes were not black, and many had decorations on them. The blackness of Catherine’s shoes could also have helped Mr. Tilney notice them: ladies’ long gowns frequently hid their shoes, but muslin gowns, especially for evening wear, tended to be white, so black shoes would stand out more.

  13. The actual master of ceremonies for the Lower Rooms at this time was James King; he would later move to the Upper Rooms. Henry’s mentioning him by name indicates the prestige and importance of the master of ceremonies; the selection of a new one could involve fierce political competition, and each person chosen was given a special ornate medallion denoting his position.

  14. easy: fluid; free from awkwardness or stiffness.

  15. peculiarly: particularly.

  16. Women are depicted at various points of Austen’s novels as especially fond of writing letters, and of filling their letters with copious detail. In Emma the hero tells the heroine that, to learn the full story behind a recent event, she must wait for the woman involved to write her: “She will give you all the minute particulars, which only woman’s language can make interesting—In our [men’s] communications we deal only in the great [larger matters].” Women were also noted for keeping diaries or journals. The epistolary novels of the time, which were especially favored by female novelists, tended to center around a heroine who would, in a letter or journal, record her experiences in minute detail.

  17. stops: punctuation.

  18. Women were more likely to sing or draw, for both were accomplishments encouraged in women but not widely valued as part of men’s education. Most professional musicians and artists, however, were men. Landscapes were especially popular subjects for drawing or painting at the time.

  19. power: ability.

  20. Taste, which often had a broad meaning then, touching on general aesthetic judgment and discernment, was a fundamental concept in contemporary discussions of art.

  21. She may have gotten the pin in her sleeve from bumping into someone in the crowded dancing area. Women’s headdresses, which could be very elaborate, were often held together by pins (for an example, see below).

  22. Shillings, along with pence and pounds, were the basic units of the British monetary system then: twelve pence (or pennies) formed a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. She speaks of the price per yard because gowns were not sold already made; instead, strips of material were displayed in a shop (for a picture, see this illustration), and the buyer, after selecting one and purchasing the number of yards needed, would arrange for a dress to be made from it. In a letter Jane Austen tells her sister to get seven yards for a gown for their mother and seven and a half yards for a gown for Jane herself (Jan. 25, 1801).

  23. Cravats were standard accessories for men (for an example, see this illustration). They were made of soft material that, after being wrapped around the neck, often several times, would be tied in a large bow at the front, so muslin would be appropriate for them.

&
nbsp; 24. His closeness to his sister will appear later in the novel. This may be one reason he is so knowledgeable and attentive regarding female clothing.

  25. Muslin originated in India, where during the eighteenth century Britain had significantly expanded its commerce and gradually established colonial domination. Though by this time much muslin was being manufactured in Britain itself, India still produced the finest varieties.

  26. genius: mental aptitude.

  A pin for a headdress.

  [From Alice Morse Earle, Two Centuries of Costume in America (New York, 1903), p. 792]

  [List of Illustrations]

  27. Methods of washing were rough then and often damaged clothes.

  28. He means that if the muslin gown frays at the edges, and thereby becomes unsuitable as a gown, the material can still be cut up and used for smaller items. The high cost of textiles, relative to overall incomes, spurred such reuse of clothing whenever possible, and, partly for this reason, most women (of all social levels) were skilled at the sewing required for such tasks.

  29. Handkerchiefs were a standard item for both sexes. Caps were common articles for women, especially older or married women; they were worn indoors, to keep hair clean and to remove the necessity of arranging hair carefully. Caps were also sometimes worn underneath hats—and for this reason they, unlike hats, were normally made of soft material. Cloaks were the most popular outdoor covering for women; they could be of heavy or light material.

  30. He is referring to when his sister has bought more yards than she needed, or has made mistakes in cutting up pieces for garments. The Tilneys are shown to be a wealthy family, which would make such wastefulness more likely. At the same time, even a wealthy woman would take the trouble to salvage material, as well as to do her own cutting (unless, as is possible, he speaks of her supervising her maid in these activities).