The Annotated Sense and Sensibility

by Jane Austen

  8. A curtsy to the hostess, or bow to her by a man, would be a standard greeting by guests.

  9. Lady Middleton earlier had everyone play casino at her house (this page); it is evidently her favorite game. One reason she may prefer it to the more popular whist is that it is less challenging.

  10. succeeding to: enjoying or possessing after someone else.

  11. He will later explain his discomfort and avoidance of Marianne (this page).

  12. That even Elinor is left speechless and discomposed indicates how startling his cold conduct toward Marianne is after all that passed earlier.

  13. She has already held out her hand, and he has not taken it. Shaking hands was a standard greeting between a man and a woman who were closely connected, but it was generally considered improper for those not so close. Thus this clearly indicates Marianne’s belief in their engagement, and his rejection of such a state.

  Women in evening dress.

  [From The Repository of arts, literature, fashions, manufactures, &c, Vol. V (1811), p. 48]

  [List of Illustrations]

  14. Willoughby shields himself behind a standard polite formulation, such as one would use toward the most casual acquaintance.

  15. Elinor’s actions indicate the high value placed on social appearances by almost every character.

  16. She could be rubbing lavender water on her face or having her drink some (see note 24). The popularity of the liquid is shown by her having some with her.

  17. Again Marianne thinks only of her own feelings. In contrast, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice, when distressed, albeit not as much as Marianne, by an unexpected encounter with the hero while visiting his estate, never thinks of asking her aunt and uncle to cut their visit short because of her own wish to leave.

  18. Casino is played in rubbers, or sets of three or five games, with score tabulated over the whole rubber, so one would always prefer to leave after a rubber is finished.

  19. hartshorn: the scrapings of the horn of a hart, or male red deer. This was traditionally the main source of ammonia. A distilled form was used as a smelling salt to help revive people.

  20. speak: indicate, signify.

  21. Elinor’s surmise as to his embarrassment and possible sense of guilt will eventually prove correct.

  22. A design that would not bear investigation would be flirting with a woman for one’s own amusement, something that could injure both her heart and her reputation by making her look foolish and overly eager. Another such design would be seeking to seduce her, though it is not clear if Elinor has this in mind, given the tremendous abhorrence with which even the thought of such a thing was regarded in this society.

  VOLUME II, CHAPTER VII

  1. house-maid: the maid responsible for cleaning the rooms and performing other general chores. Housemaids were the most common of all servants; wealthier households would usually have more than one.

  2. Getting up early to light the fires was one of the housemaid’s basic tasks, and an essential one, especially in winter, since the fires were the only source of heat. Marianne’s rising before this indicates she is up very early.

  3. Many windows in houses then were set in a deep recess or bay, which was often filled by a flat horizontal surface below the window that could serve as a seat. Such a seat would give Marianne a little illumination from the barely rising sun, while also providing a writing surface.

  4. Given her early rising, and the lateness of breakfast then, this wandering could last a couple of hours.

  [From The Masterpieces of Lawrence (London, 1913), p. 42]

  [From The Repository of arts, literature, fashions, manufactures, &c, Vol. X (1813), p. 116]

  [List of Illustrations]

  5. This would be a table where everyone could gather for various forms of work, especially needlework, which was often called just work. Various scenes in Jane Austen show women gathered together in this fashion.

  6. This indicates the speed of the London two-penny post. Marianne’s letter probably went out with the first delivery, which was at eight o’clock. If it reached Willoughby reasonably soon, he would have had time to write a letter that could be picked up during the next round at ten o’clock and then delivered to Marianne after a lengthy breakfast, probably eleven o’clock or a little earlier. For a contemporary picture of a postman delivering mail, see this page.

  7. direction: address. Meaning if she had seen the handwriting.

  8. Worsted wool was used for a variety of fabrics at this time, due to its strength and smoothness. Carpet work, which included making rugs by knitting pieces of wool together, was a common pastime of ladies, and it is later described as a regular activity of Mrs. Jennings.

  9. being going: being in preparation. This construction is occasionally found in other passages in Jane Austen.

  10. Buying wedding clothes was a standard part of marriage preparations. It meant not only clothes for the wedding, which at this time tended to be a restrained affair, but also items she could wear afterward that would help her start her new life. London would be the ideal place to buy wedding clothes because of its plethora of shops. In Pride and Prejudice the heroine’s mother, on the occasion of one daughter’s impending marriage, frets that she will not know which are the best stores in London to purchase her clothes.

  11. sly: secretive.

  12. This is a sign of both Elinor’s acute sympathy with her sister and her own ability to experience strong emotions, however much she normally keeps her feelings under control.

  13. In this opening sentence and hereafter the letter employs extremely studied and formal language, which forms a sharp contrast to what Marianne used in her letters (see below), as well as being unlike the language one would normally use in a highly personal and important letter to a friend.

  14. It is notable that he calls it a former acquaintance.

  15. He speaks only of esteem, and that for the “whole family,” not Marianne herself.

  16. He will be married to another woman.

  17. delicate: sensitive to others; attuned to what is proper.

  18. An important part of the decorum of a gentleman was to express praise and admiration for the person one was addressing, especially if that person was a lady. Another was to be willing to accept blame for any disagreements or mishaps. Instead Willoughby says nothing to indicate any regard for Marianne, despite their past involvement, and nothing to indicate an awareness of any fault he may have committed. Instead, in mentioning a possible breach with the Dashwood family, he suggests it could occur only through some “mistake or misapprehension of my actions”—in other words, through some fault of Marianne’s.

  19. impudently: shamelessly.

  20. His complete lack of regret or apology in this letter contrasts with the embarrassment Elinor perceived in his behavior at the party. The reason for the contrast will eventually be explained (this page).

  21. peculiar: particular.

  22. The general impossibility of divorce, along with a woman’s significantly inferior financial and legal position at the time, would make such a match especially terrible for Marianne.

  23. mind: inner character.

  24. Elinor’s thoughts revert to Edward.

  25. Etiquette dictated visits only later in the day, so that people had time at home to take care of important tasks.

  26. A chariot was a small enclosed carriage that sat three people across. It was almost exactly like a chaise (see note 4), except that a chaise was normally driven by someone, called a postilion, riding on one of the horses, and a chariot had a seat on top of the carriage for a driver. This made it more appropriate for transportation around town. A small and therefore less expensive carriage would be suitable for Mrs. Jennings, living on her own, while she would not want an open carriage, which could be even smaller, because it usually required one to drive oneself, which women generally did not do, and because she would wish for more protection from the elements while in London during the winter, the
time when she is probably using her carriage the most. For a picture of a chariot, see the following page.

  27. Carriages were often kept in alleys behind houses, and Mrs. Jennings would have told the servant what time to bring it to the door. Elinor, knowing the intended hour, is surprised because she has lost track of time: as mentioned above, the letter probably arrived at eleven or a little earlier, and she and Marianne have been together since then, absorbed in their thoughts and distress.

  28. Elinor, despite her focus on Marianne, still takes the trouble to attend to her hostess.

  29. Wine was often used for medicinal purposes then.

  30. wildly: passionately, excitedly.

  31. Elinor alludes to other aspects of life besides love, a principle she, in contrast to Marianne, has exemplified in her response to romantic disappointment.

  A chariot, such as Mrs. Jennings owns.

  [From T. Fuller, An Essay on Wheel Carriages (London, 1828), Plate no. 1]

  [List of Illustrations]

  32. A declaration of love was tantamount to a proposal, for a man normally never said that to a woman until he was asking her to marry him.

  33. Willoughby’s ability to keep implying this during his intense involvement with Marianne, without ever going beyond that, signals he knew exactly what he was doing, and perhaps that he had done this before. The strict rules governing sexual behavior meant that a man who wished to flirt with women without becoming trapped into a marriage commitment would need to be continually careful of what he said and did.

  34. Marianne gratuitously insults Mrs. Jennings in her note. She is perhaps echoing Willoughby’s sentiments: he, amid his frequent censure of others, had expressed his contempt for Mrs. Jennings and Lady Middleton (this page). Elinor had lamented this aspect of his behavior, one that Marianne had at times seconded, and here Marianne is being especially inconsiderate in denigrating someone who has kindly, and at her own expense, conveyed her to the place she dearly wanted to go.

  35. By this point Marianne has spent more than a week pining for Willoughby and feeling surprised and distressed by his failure to appear or respond. She was “exceedingly hurt” after learning he had been invited to the party at the Middletons’ that he did not attend. Yet in this note, written soon after, she avoids any expression of anguish or anger, confining herself to a simple request for an explanation and a brief expression of fear of his being altered, which she quickly dismisses. Her extreme confidence in him has still barely wavered.

  36. Here Marianne, suffering acutely from Willoughby’s behavior toward her at the party, begins to express some genuine despair, though even now it alternates with expectations of his vindication. The heartfelt appeal throughout the letter contrasts sharply with the completely cold and impersonal tone of Willoughby’s reply.

  37. This turns out to be wrong, for she is currently suffering far more than she ever did from the previous uncertainty. Of course, she probably did not imagine that Willoughby’s rejection, even if it came, would be so callously and cruelly expressed.

  38. Events have shown the hazards of dispensing with legal and social forms, for such forms create an external pressure to fulfill an agreement. Marianne, in contrast, relied only on another’s feelings, and they proved either to have been always different from what she had supposed, or highly changeable.

  39. Her lament over how easily he gave up the lock suggests that her request that he return it was really meant to stir him to a realization of what bound them together, not to inspire actual compliance.

  40. Her account of how he obtained the lock, so sharply at odds with what he claims in his letter (as she complains below), conforms to Margaret’s earlier description of the incident (this page).

  41. bely: belie, i.e., slander, misrepresent.

  42. Even now she insists on her profound knowledge of Willoughby’s heart, privileging her feelings about him over the evidence before her eyes.

  43. The idea of a form of pride that can be laudable in certain circumstances appears elsewhere in Jane Austen. It mostly means a pride in one’s own merit that makes one act well to fulfill that ideal. Here it has a particular connotation, rather less noble, of not wishing to be humiliated in the eyes of others, especially an enemy. Elinor herself has displayed this pride in dealing with Lucy. She makes a case for it here because she perceives that Marianne is not yet ready to see that only Willoughby is to blame.

  44. This is consistent with Marianne’s general scorn for any form of disguise, even for the benefit of those she loves.

  45. Beds then almost all had high posts around them. From the posts would hang a canopy, which would provide both additional decoration to the room and warmth during the wintertime.

  46. art: wiles, cunning, artifices. The idea of a woman’s artfulness in seducing a man is found elsewhere in Jane Austen.

  A bed, with the bedposts that were standard at the time.

  [From A. E. Reveirs-Hopkins, The Sheraton Period (New York, 1922), Figure 13]

  [List of Illustrations]

  47. Marianne is not only neglecting her obligations to Mrs. Jennings, as Elinor immediately objects, but also any consideration for Elinor. Her mother had earlier indicated her hope that Elinor might see Edward in London, and since Marianne, like her mother, does not know of Edward’s engagement to Lucy, she has every reason to think such an encounter would be of great benefit to her sister.

  48. This contradicts her earlier statement that she has no pride and that all the world is welcome to witness her wretchedness. Her fears also demonstrate another drawback of her principle of openness and unreserve, for others would be far less aware of her misery and humiliation had she not behaved as if she were engaged to Willoughby at Barton, pined so openly for him in London, and written to him (thereby confirming the engagement in everyone’s eyes). In contrast, Elinor, by keeping her affection for Edward as discreet as she can, runs far less danger of being the object of others’ pity or attention.

  49. Her statement shows the influence that Willoughby, whose contempt for Lady Middleton was just mentioned, continues to exercise on her. Marianne’s ardent belief in a complete union of tastes and opinions with her beloved (this page) has been achieved to some extent—though not to her benefit.

  50. attitude: position.

  51. These would be drops of lavender water, the same substance that was applied the previous evening to help relieve her suffering.

  VOLUME II, CHAPTER VIII

  1. sink: faint.

  2. dressing: chastisement, castigation. This meaning survives in the expression “dressing down.”

  A butcher on his rounds.

  [From William Pyne, Costume of Great Britain (London, 1804; 1989 reprint), Plate LVIII]

  [List of Illustrations]

  3. dress: attire. The word then referred to everything one was wearing; the usual term for what we now call a dress was “gown.”

  4. Many children went to boarding schools, and had fairly long holidays when they were at home. Fond parents would, as the holidays neared their end, begin to regret the children’s imminent departure and spoil them. This could be especially true of mothers with boys. Boys, more than girls, usually went to boarding schools, which could be harsh environments, due both to the discipline of the schoolmasters and the roughness of other boys. Mothers, who often lamented this but could not override their husbands’ insistence—backed up by general social practice and opinion—that such an experience was necessary to make a boy a man, would fear what would happen to their sons back at school and wish to make them happy before this ordeal resumed. For a contemporary picture of a boy in a boarding school threatened with caning, see this page.

  5. news: personal news or gossip.

  6. sweetmeats: various sweet foods, including cakes.

  7. Olives were a luxury item, since they were not cultivated in England and needed to be imported. Delicacies like this were more available in London than in the country, which is one reason for Mrs. Jennings to think
they would please Marianne particularly.

  8. Because of the lack of refrigeration, fruits were often dried or made into preserves. These would generally be the only fruits available during winter (it is currently January).

  A London cherry seller.

  [From Andrew Tuer, Old London Street Cries, p. 21]

  [List of Illustrations]

  9. Fifty thousand pounds was a considerable sum then, much larger than any other female fortune mentioned in Austen novels. Landowning families normally left the bulk of their fortune to the eldest son, or to another male relation if no son existed, to preserve the family estate intact and in the male line. This suggests that Miss Grey comes from a wealthy commercial family, where such practices were less common. Many such families would provide their daughters with enormous dowries to enable them to marry men of higher social status, and thereby raise the entire family socially: someone like Willoughby with a landed estate but serious current debts would be an ideal candidate for such an exchange of money for status. In contrast, an aristocratic woman with this fortune would be able to attract a man of even higher rank than Willoughby. The likelihood of Miss Grey’s lower background is strengthened by Mrs. Jennings’s remembering her aunt, which suggests she knew the aunt when she was living in the commercial section of London with her husband.

  10. all to pieces: in a state of disarray or dissolution.

  11. A curricle was an expensive open carriage that required two horses, a further expense; hunters were special horses for hunting, which cost more than regular horses (see note 17).

  12. makes love to: courts, professes love to. The term had no further meaning then.

  13. Many landowners rented their houses, whether due to debts or a wish to live elsewhere. They would rarely sell because of the strong emphasis on preserving the family estate for future generations.

  14. turn off: dismiss.

  15. Many wealthy people fell into debt—the need to keep up with others of one’s own class who enjoyed even greater incomes was one reason—and this often led to programs of financial retrenchment.