Jane Austen Read Free Page B

principal character in the story. Of the other daughters, Jane, the eldest, makes the acquaintance of a Mr Bingley who rents a neighbouring country house and Lydia meets army officer Mr Wickham of the local militia. The book begins with the famous line, ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’.
    There is an abundance of humour in the story, beginning in the very first chapter with Mrs Bennet telling Mr Bennet that he has no compassion on her ‘poor nerves’. To which he replies:
    You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.
    At a ball, Mr Bingley introduces the assembled company to Mr Darcy who:
    … soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien; and the report which was ingeneral circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand [pounds] a year.
    However:
    his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased.
    This is Jane Austen laying down the acceptable standards of good manners by which a prospective husband should be judged. Meanwhile, Lydia pursues the officers of the local militia with gusto. ‘If we make haste, perhaps we may see something of Captain Carter before he goes’.
    Mr Bennet’s cousin and heir to the estate – which includes the abode of the Bennets (property in those days always descending through the male line) – is Mr Collins, a clergyman whose patroness is Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy’s aunt. Collins is described as having originally possessed ‘great humility of manner’, but this was now ‘a good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head’. He declares admiringly that, ‘he had never in his life witnessed such behaviour in a person of rank – such affability and condescension, as he had himself experienced from Lady Catherine’.
    A favourite device of Jane Austen’s is to place her hero – e.g. Darcy – in the position of being wrongly accused of some misdemeanour. This is so in Pride and Prejudice , where Wickham confides to Elizabeth Bennet that Darcy had failed to honour a promise he made; the promise being that he would provide for Wickham after his father’s death. (Mr Darcy Senior being Wickham’s godfather).
     
    When Mr Collins makes a proposal of marriage to the unsuspecting Elizabeth, he gives his reasons for marrying as:

    … first, that I think it a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances to set the example of matrimony in his parish. Secondly, that I am convinced it will add very greatly to my happiness; and thirdly … that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling patroness [i.e. Lady Catherine de Bourgh].
    Needless to say, Elizabeth summarily declines his offer. Elizabeth’s mother, who is extremely disappointed by her daughter’s decision, now gives her an ultimatum in regard to her refusal of Mr Collins. Upon this ultimatum Elizabeth’s father makes the following comment:
    An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. – Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.
    Mr Collins speaks in glowing terms about Lady Catherine’s home ‘Rosings’, and in sycophantic terms about the lady herself. When the Bennets are invited to ‘Rosings’ for a meal, he expresses the hope that ‘so many servants, and so splendid a dinner might not wholly overpower them’. As for their attire:
    I would advise you merely to put on whatever of your clothes is superior to the rest, there is no occasion for any thing more. Lady Catherine will not think the worse of you for being simply