The Annotated Emma
Page 54
8. “Exactly so” soon proves to be Mr. Elton’s favorite expression. The use of such pet phrases is generally a sign of faults of character in Austen’s novels.
9. disposition: general mental character; the term had a broader meaning then than it does today.
Furniture and equipment for drawing.
[From The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c, Vol. XIV (1815), p. 50]
[List of Illustrations]
10. taking likenesses: making portraits.
11. friends: friends or relatives; in this case, it is mostly members of Emma’s family.
12. Emma’s giving it up confirms what Mr. Knightley said in the last chapter, that Emma “will never submit to anything requiring industry and patience.”
13. sit to: sit for.
14. Drawing and painting were among the most popular and highly regarded of female accomplishments at this time. A book from 1829 declared, “Of all those attainments, which contribute as well to the gratification of the senses, as to the refinement of the taste, and the enlargement of the intellectual powers, the art of Painting is, perhaps, the best adapted to the female mind” (The Young Lady’s Book: A Manual of Elegant Recreations, Exercises, and Pursuits, p.347). Girls were frequently taught to draw and encouraged to continue the pursuit in later years. Jane Austen’s sister, Cassandra, drew, and left the only portraits of Jane that are known for certain to be of her.
15. Landscapes had long been leading types of painting, and in the early nineteenth century, under the influence of Romanticism, they enjoyed particular popularity; the two greatest British painters of this period, J. M. W. Turner and John Constable, focused almost entirely on landscapes. They were also the type of picture that amateur artists were most encouraged to attempt, with the help of manuals appearing throughout this period. The painting of flowers was far less common and well regarded for professional artists, but from the mid-eighteenth century onward it was increasingly promoted as a suitable activity for amateurs, especially women, and throughout the nineteenth century flower painting was a widely pursued pastime of genteel ladies.
16. figure-pieces: portraits, especially of an entire person.
17. Mr. Elton’s excessive rapture reveals his lack of discerning taste and his inclination toward flattery of Emma. Her passing over the point reveals her neglect at attending to his true character and intentions.
18. peculiarity: distinctness, special character.
19. Emma has just praised Harriet for her artlessness, and now tries to draw attention to her admirable lack of vanity. Mr. Elton’s reply, however, focuses only on the practical question of how easily Harriet’s unwillingness can be overcome.
20. Miniatures were a popular type of painting or drawing, for miniature portraits of people could be carried by lovers or family members as keepsakes or mementos. For a picture of a woman looking at a miniature, see this page.
21. Pencil, crayon, and watercolor would be Emma’s principal media for making pictures; amateur artists generally did not attempt oil paintings. “Crayon,” a term in existence since the seventeenth century, generally referred to colored chalk (such as a pastel). For pencils, see below, note 36.
22. Emma’s being able to draw and to play music (she is later depicted playing the piano, the most popular instrument of the time) indicates that she is talented and that she has benefited from a good education. It was more typical for ladies to have developed only one of these accomplishments.
23. Jane Austen, who practiced an hour a day on the piano for most of her life, would appreciate the need for continual application at such endeavors.
24. Once again Emma combines good sense and honesty with personal vanity.
25. For more on the names of the children, see note 54.
A sofa.
[From Esther Singleton, The Furniture of Our Forefathers (New York, 1916), p. 479]
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26. cockade: ribbon or bunch of ribbons worn in a hat or headdress.
27. For sofas, see note 3. For a picture of a sofa from the time, see previous page.
28. brother: brother-in-law. This usage is found throughout Jane Austen. One reason for it is the virtual permanence of ties by marriage, since divorce was almost unknown.
29. He is called “Mr. John Knightley” because he is the younger brother.
30. Isabella’s extreme fondness for her husband, revealed once she appears, makes her likely to hold any picture of him to a high standard, while Mrs. Weston’s fondness for Emma makes her positive evaluation of limited value.
31. John Knightley will show himself to be both a busy man and one who can become impatient or discontented.
32. Thus in every case Emma offers a good excuse for why her picture was not very good or why she abandoned it. The excuses are generally plausible, given the character of the subjects and the nature of children, but the consistent pattern is telling. The one exception is Mrs. Weston, for whom she could have no excuse for not doing a good job, but about whose pictures and their quality Emma says nothing.
33. Brunswick Square is in London, and where John and Isabella live (for more, see note 33). Morning visitors would be those, mostly other women, who visit Isabella.
34. Families often decorated their home with the artistic productions of family members or friends. Mr. Elton referred earlier to the pictures by Emma that adorn the room they are in at Hartfield and the drawing room at the Westons’. Mantelpieces were important parts of rooms, due to fireplaces being the sole source of heat. They frequently were places to display decorative items, as well as being highly decorative themselves. For an example, see the next page.
35. attitude: position, posture.
36. pencil: paintbrush. This was the original meaning of the term, and was applied especially to brushes made of fine hair that were suited for delicate work. It coexisted with the current meaning of “pencil,” for that instrument had been developed in the sixteenth century and was soon known by that name. Which term is intended in writings of this time can be ascertained only from context. On this page, when Emma’s productions in “pencil, crayon, and water-colours” are described, it probably means the instrument we know. Here, because Emma is attempting “a whole-length in water-colours,” it means a paintbrush.
37. This means he is admiring Emma’s skill more than Harriet’s face.
38. complaisance: civility, willingness to please.
39. Thus Emma values matchmaking over artistic accuracy. Her choice is emblematic of her preference for imagination over reality, as well as her larger scheme of making Harriet what she is not.
A stylish mantelpiece from the period.
[From John Swarbrick, Robert Adam and His Brothers (New York, 1915), p. 79]
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40. Harriet was described earlier as fair. Emma may have darkened her features somewhat because she thought it would look better, and thus Mr. Elton could now be trying to explain the darkening as merely the result of shade.
41. Mr. Knightley, like Mrs. Weston, has noticed Emma’s alterations from Harriet’s actual appearance, though he, unlike Mrs. Weston, makes no attempt to apologize for them.
42. own: acknowledge, admit.
43. Mr. Elton’s hesitations and fragmentary sentences, which will appear in other speeches of his, testify both to the fervor with which he attempts to offer praise even when he has trouble thinking of something to say, and to his intellectual limits.
44. Foreshortening is an artistic technique, discussed in books of the time, in which an object is shortened in a particular direction in order to make it appear more natural or to give it greater depth or solidity. If Emma had used such a technique, and there is nothing to indicate she has, it would have made Harriet appear shorter rather than taller. Mr. Elton is just using technical artistic terms that he has presumably heard without any understanding of what they actually mean.
45. Shawls were popular female accessories; for more, see no
te 13.
46. directly: immediately.
47. London had an extraordinary array of shops and would be the best place to find one that could frame a picture. People from other parts of England, particularly those living in close proximity to London, often went there for its shops.
48. London had long been notorious for fogs because of the smoke emitted by coal burned for fuel. The increase in population—the latest census, in 1811, had shown London containing approximately a million people—had gradually made the problem worse (it continued to worsen into the Victorian period, before eventually diminishing in the second half of the twentieth century). The fog was at its worst in the winter, when people burned the most coal for heating. From December 27, 1813, to January 3, 1814 (the year this novel was written), the city was enveloped in a fog so dense that the Prince Regent, the reigning sovereign, was forced to turn back from an intended excursion outside of London. Because the fog was formed by smoke, rather than by weather patterns, it was also difficult and harmful to breathe, which is why the health-conscious Mr. Woodhouse would hate for his daughter to venture outside in it.
49. office: task, charge.
50. “Principal” and “second” were terms used in dueling to refer to the dueler and the one assisting him; the terms were also used occasionally in other contexts with a similar meaning.
A London printshop, such as might frame a picture. It also gives a sense of the atmosphere of the affluent shops found in the West End of London.
[From The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c, Vol. I (1809), p. 53]
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VOLUME I, CHAPTER VII
1. Breakfast and dinner were the two principal meals. The first occurred at mid-morning and the second usually around four or five o’clock. For more, see note 62.
2. “Parcel” usually meant a small package or bundle.
3. Elizabeth is the Martin girl Harriet has spoken of fondly. She has been copying the sheet music for a song, a common practice then because music cost a lot to purchase. Jane Austen had a large collection of songs, which she used for her piano playing, and approximately half of them had been copied by her.
A young woman with a miniature.
[From The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c, Vol. XIII (1815), p. 56]
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4. liberality: generosity.
5. propriety: decency, attention to what is right and proper. The term referred to general moral principles, not just etiquette, and was always used in a positive sense.
6. A contemporary book expressed an ideal of letter writing that conforms closely to the letter being described. It urges the writer to be unaffected and to “express your meaning as freely [frankly, plainly] as possible. Long periods [sentences] may please the ear, but they perplex the understanding; a short style and plain, strikes the mind and fixes an impression” (The Young Woman’s Companion: or Frugal Housewife [1813], p. 388).
7. The idea of women’s greater diffuseness in communication appears elsewhere in Jane Austen, including in this novel.
8. There were clear rules of etiquette then governing both how a man should propose and how a woman should respond.
9. collect: gather.
A woman holding music.
[From The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c, Vol. XIV (1815), p. 51]
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10. in suspense: undecided, uncertain.
11. Emma’s persuading Harriet to refuse Robert Martin represents a serious intervention in another person’s affairs that will have significant ramifications over the rest of the novel. It is made even more problematic by Emma’s absurd pretense that Harriet has really made up her own mind.
12. acquaintance: friendly intercourse; the word sometimes had a stronger connotation then.
13. The hierarchical principles governing this society dictated that one keep close friendships and company only with those of the same social rank. All the characters in this novel and other Austen novels follow this rule to a large extent, and Emma shows herself to be more particular about it than most.
14. must have been: would have had to be. This usage is often found in Jane Austen, as in the last sentence of this paragraph, which means “I would have had to, or been forced to, give you up.”
15. Emma is condemning the Martins more than is warranted, for their behavior and Harriet’s descriptions have not indicated they are illiterate—i.e., uneducated—and vulgar, even if they may be less educated and refined than Emma and others of her rank.
16. assurance: audacity, presumption.
A farmyard. The man on horseback may be a farmer like Robert Martin.
[From George Dawe, The Life of George Morland (London, 1909), p. 126]
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17. is not to: is not obligated to.
18. expressions: declarations.
19. Thus Emma shows herself to be fully cognizant of Harriet’s mental weakness, but this does not affect her confidence in her ambitious plans for Harriet.
Thirkleby, Yorkshire: a modern country house (from the perspective of 1814), such as Hartfield is later described as being.
[From John Preston Neale, Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen, Vol. V (1822)]
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20. A linen draper was a seller of linens and related fabrics. It would be a humble occupation, for any sort of trade was considered less than genteel, and running an ordinary retail shop was not very distinguished even as lines of trade went.
21. Emma articulates a typical opinion then, namely that the maintenance of the social hierarchy was served by people in humble stations not being too refined, or too proud, since that would make them discontented and less apt to fulfill the place they held. Schoolteacher, even though it required some education, was a humble position socially; none of the characters in the novel, even the less wealthy ones, are ever mentioned as socializing with any of the teachers at Mrs. Goddard’s school.
22. Mr. Elton is presumably from London and is staying with family overnight to break his journey into two days. A later account of his origins suggests his family is in trade, which would make it probable that they live in a city.
23. Bond Street was a leading shopping street in the fashionable and exclusive West End of London; see map. It plays an important role in Sense and Sensibility. Mr. Elton’s choice of a shop on Bond Street indicates that he is procuring a first-rate frame for the picture.
A farmhouse. The house is solid and substantial but obviously inferior to the gentleman’s country house shown on the previous page.
[From Joseph Grego, Rowlandson the Caricaturist Vol. II (London, 1880), p. 242]
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24. prepossession: predisposition, partiality.
25. This final reference to their imaginations is appropriate, for Emma, in envisaging this entire elaborate scenario, revolving around people that she has mostly never met, is displaying her own highly active imagination.
A woman looking at a picture.
[From The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c, Vol. XIII (1815), p. 366]
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VOLUME I, CHAPTER VIII
1. turns: walks around.
2. ceremony: formality.
3. Mr. Woodhouse was described earlier as taking a longer or shorter walk, depending on the season (see here), so this is presumably his shorter one.
4. Donwell Abbey is probably not that close to them, since it is not in the same parish as Highbury, though Mr. Woodhouse would probably describe even a modest distance as long. That despite the distance Mr. Knightley walks rather than using a horse or carriage, as he certainly could afford to do, indicates his physical vigor; Emma later raises with him this practice of his (see here).
A young woman holding a letter.
[From The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactu
res, &c, Vol. VII (1812), p. 179]
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5. This would be the door leading to the garden. A great coat was a loose coat that reached to below the knees, frequently worn by men in cold weather.
6. Thus Mr. Knightley, honest as he is, has told a slight fib to Mr. Woodhouse to get the latter to leave.
7. Any earlier praise of her by him has resulted presumably from politeness or Emma’s prompting.
8. use: benefit.
9. His lack of praise clearly affects her, a sign of her wish to be always praised and of Mr. Knightley’s importance to her.
10. Mr. Knightley’s wisdom and intelligence would make others turn to him for advice, as would his leading social position in the community.
Abington Abbey, Northamptonshire: an older house, such as Donwell Abbey is later described as being.
[From John Preston Neale, Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen, Vol. I (1818)]
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11. done his business: done for him, ruined him (playing on the sense of love being a man’s downfall).
12. Though Mr. Knightley speaks of friendship, and shows a high regard for Robert Martin, he is never shown associating with him socially. There are other cases in Austen’s novels where people speak of those of different social ranks as friends, without meaning the closeness we associate with the term. Robert Martin’s renting a farm from Mr. Knightley gives them a financial and professional tie as well, for landowners and their farmers had a mutuality of interest on many matters and frequently worked together.
13. settle: marry.
14. Mr. Knightley’s procedure here contrasts with Emma’s procedure with Harriet, for Mr. Knightley concentrates on practical matters that he can speak of knowledgeably and does not try to sway the other person’s affections—even though, as he soon indicates, he does not have a high opinion of the lady in question.