by Jane Austen
26. By reasonable hours Mr. Woodhouse means his dinner time of four o’clock, which is on the early side of when dinner was eaten.
27. Mr. Woodhouse’s fears about a summer evening are also expressed in Jane Austen’s youthful story “Catharine, or the Bower,” in which an elderly woman panics to discover that she has remained outside on a July evening and frets that she may not recover from the effects until the following May.
28. He is still addressing her as “Miss Taylor,” though it is now many months since her marriage.
29. Servants would often deliver notes. Mr. Woodhouse’s worries about such trivial practical matters appear elsewhere; in this case, given the large number of servants the Woodhouses undoubtedly have, there is no need for any anxiety about finding someone to perform such a simple task.
30. As part of their expansion and improvement of their home, the Coles most likely altered their grounds or the road leading to the house.
31. Emma would be, after Mr. Knightley, the most socially prominent person there.
An elderly man (John Tait of Harvieston) and his grandson. Boys were dressed the same as girls when little.
[From Sir Walter Armstrong, Sir Henry Raeburn (London, 1901), p. 44]
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32. Medical writers of the time advised the avoidance of malt liquor for those who were bilious (for the meaning of the term, see note 23).
33. Mr. Woodhouse suddenly alters the extreme concern for Emma’s well-being he just expressed. His horror of giving offense or pain to somebody has overridden his obsession with health.
34. Piquet was a popular two-person card game.
35. This would be her lady’s maid, who would help her undress.
36. Serle was earlier mentioned as the cook. Sometimes the cook and housekeeper were the same person, and this is probably the case here, since the housekeeper and the butler were the principal servants and thus those who locked up at night. This also indicates that Serle is a woman: cook was the only servant position that could be held by either sex, though male cooks were mostly restricted to fashionable, aristocratic households.
A card table.
[From Esther Singleton, The Furniture of Our Forefathers (New York, 1916), p. 505]
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VOLUME II, CHAPTER VIII
1. lively: merry, playful.
2. He has reason for feeling unabashed, for the real purpose of his excursion turns out to be something more substantive than getting his hair cut—though this purpose is also imprudent in some ways.
3. impudent: shameless.
Harrowing a field. This involved flattening the soil after plowing in order to help prepare the seedbed.
[From Sir Walter Gilbey and E. D. Cuming, George Morland: His Life and Works (London, 1907), p. 142]
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4. Thus they have finished their dinner before Emma leaves for a dinner party. Mr. Woodhouse’s dinner hour is at four, the Coles’ later dinner time could be the product of their London background and social aspirations—wealthy and fashionable people, especially in London, ate later—or could simply be because a later dinner would suit a dinner party better.
5. dress: attire. This referred to everything somebody was wearing; the usual word for the garment we now call a dress was “gown.”
6. Wine was often taken with the dessert.
7. Emma was absent during the meal because she was dressing for the party.
8. Mr. Knightley would certainly have horses that worked on his farm, for they were fundamental to farming (for an example, see picture on previous page). But he keeps no horses purely for his carriage and has now taken some from the farm to use for this evening. Horses were expensive, and this arrangement would be more economical.
9. Many wealthy landowners, especially if heavily involved with farming their estates, as Mr. Knightley is, would invest as much capital as they could in the land and farm in order to maximize production. This left them with limited amounts for personal expenditures, and even though Mr. Knightley already owns a carriage, using it more often would mean more-frequent repairs, for carriages suffered substantial wear from the rough roads of the time. It would also necessitate a full-time coachman (he is probably at present using someone who mostly does other work for him).
10. activity: energy, vigor.
11. Using a carriage instead of walking was a sign of status. Practical necessity would not demand this for local travel, however, except possibly during bad weather, for over typical rough local roads carriages would not go much faster than someone on foot.
12. The drawing room is where guests gather before proceeding into dinner.
13. bustle: disturbance, agitation.
14. This other country, or county, family is never identified, though later (on this page), when a continuation of the dance begun at the Coles’ party is discussed, “the two Gilberts” are mentioned as natural participants along with others who were at the Coles’. That they are proper and unobjectionable, presumably in Emma’s eyes, indicates they are prominent landowners. The Coxes rank lower socially than Miss Bates and Miss Fairfax, since the latter are daughters of gentlemen, while local lawyers, who would therefore be attorneys rather than barristers, were not genteel (see note 36); this is why the Cox women are called the “less worthy females.” The Coles’ willingness nonetheless to invite the male Coxes to dinner probably results from the latter’s being particular friends with Mr. Cole or from important business ties they have with him.
15. “Pianoforte” was the original name for the piano, which had been invented in the early eighteenth century and was by this time by far the most popular musical instrument. Square and grand were the two principal types of pianoforte, the former—the more basic and widely used kind—being rectangular in shape, and the latter larger and wing-shaped. In this case the giver has not purchased the best possible piano for Jane, though its large size indicates he intended her to have a good one. For an example of a square pianoforte of the time, see this page.
16. Broadwood and Sons was the leading piano manufacturer of the time; John Broadwood had invented the grand piano. The company also made substantial improvements to piano manufacture, and in 1815, the year this novel was published, they were selling some square pianos for less than twenty pounds and grand ones for forty-six. The former was not a great sum, though still beyond the means of the Bateses or Jane Fairfax, especially in combination with the cost of transporting the instrument from the company’s store in London to Highbury.
17. His wealth and his closeness to Jane make him the natural suspect. At present he is visiting his daughter in Ireland, but as a resident of London he probably has friends there who could undertake the commission of purchasing it for him.
18. Emma guesses it is from the Mr. Dixon who so admired Jane Fairfax’s playing.
19. Pianos by this time had become a standard accoutrement in the English home, helped by the modest cost, even for grand ones, for anyone with sufficient money to afford a nice house. Even those who did not play music might want one to demonstrate their good taste, as well as provide the possibility of a guest treating them to music, a reason Mrs. Cole gives below (such domestic playing was the only way, aside from church, that most people could enjoy music, unless they lived in large towns that offered public concerts). The Coles have the additional incentive of using theirs to teach their girls a basic female accomplishment. The gap between Mrs. Cole and her daughters in regard to music was common among families rising socially; the earlier generation had received a more limited education, but their increased affluence meant they could provide a more genteel one for their children.
20. A spinnet, or spinet, was a keyboard instrument popular in eighteenth-century England. It and the larger harpsichord were the main predecessors to the piano. They contain mechanically operated strings that are plucked when a key is pressed, which means the notes always sound with the same force. The piano’s ability to vary the
strength of the notes, because the strings are struck rather than plucked, was its great innovation and appeal—the name “pianoforte,” which means soft-loud in Italian, derived from this ability.
21. The word “entrapped” suggests Emma’s yearning to snare some potentially dangerous bit of information to feed her malicious suspicions, ones she now articulates.
22. Frank has been caught smiling by Emma, and, not wishing to divulge the reason, he responds by asking about her smile and then playing along with her suspicions.
23. Good carriages would allow her to go out comfortably in cold weather. Here she must walk.
A woman in evening dress.
[From The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c, Vol. XIII (1815), p. 241]
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24. water-party: party or social event on the water, in this case sailing.
25. It is natural that Emma, with her active and romantic imagination, should be influenced by this report of a dramatic accident. Popular novels of the time often included highly dramatic rescues of the heroine by the hero. Emma’s imagination will be inspired by another such rescue later in the book.
26. Meaning any anxiety peculiar, or particular, to Mr. Dixon, instead of the alarm everyone was feeling. It is notable that even though Frank shows himself very willing to share Emma’s suspicions and speculations, he clearly noticed nothing suspicious in the actual incident and does not follow Emma now in imagining that it might have deeper significance. None of this, however, dissuades Emma from believing her guesses at a distance are more accurate.
27. A formal dinner would normally have two courses, each substantial. The food would be similar in each, except that the second course tended to involve more sweet dishes. Dessert would still follow as a course in itself.
28. A tablecloth was considered essential for a meal, with ideally a different cloth being used for each main course. Hence after the first course both the dishes and the cloth were removed, and a new cloth needed to be laid before the second course could be served.
29. The style of serving for each course was to set out a great variety of dishes, more than any one person would eat, throughout the table, including in the corners. People would choose which dishes they preferred and serve themselves from the serving containers, or be served by someone else at the table (a lady was often served by the gentleman next to her). For diagrams of recommended courses from a book of the time, as well as lists showing what sort of foods were on offer, see this page.
30. Emma continues her thoughtless and improper behavior of voicing suspicions, now articulated in more detail, about another person to someone she knows so little. She is in no position to know that he will not spread the rumor, perhaps even to the Campbells and the Dixons, since he is friendly with them, or take other action that may be harmful to Jane because of what he hears.
31. injure: malign.
32. The children would be with the guests only briefly. Almost all the social gatherings in Austen’s novels, especially those in the evening and including people outside the family, involve only adults.
33. dull: stupid, foolish.
34. news: local gossip or news—not news of national affairs.
35. Jane Austen’s own letters indicate that she experienced many such ordinary social events and conversations.
36. The ladies have left the men in the dining room.
37. entrée: action or manner of entering.
38. artless: natural, guileless.
39. purchased: acquired, obtained (generally at some cost or sacrifice).
40. Emma is right in perceiving a blush of guilt, though not necessarily about the reason for it. Jane will later speak of how much her conscience troubled her throughout this period (see here).
Children with a family and their guests.
[From William Combe, The Dance of Life (London, 1817; 1903 reprint), p. 244]
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41. Mrs. Weston would have needed to be musical for her job as a governess. She would be the one who taught Emma to play the piano.
42. These are the attributes of the instrument. The touch is the way the keys respond to the player. Pedals allowed the player to vary the tone.
43. The parish, the basic unit of local government, was normally run by the men of the wealthiest families in it, along with the clergyman. Mr. Knightley does not actually live in Highbury parish, but he owns land there; moreover, as a magistrate his authority extends over multiple parishes, and part of his job would be to oversee the actions of parish governments. These governments would handle matters such as law enforcement, relief for the poor, and road maintenance.
44. Frank’s agreeableness and fulsome compliments about everyone and everything in Highbury could provide confirmation for both Emma’s original hopes and Mr. Knightley’s original fears of what Frank could bring to Highbury. Knightley worried about “the practised politician … dispensing his flatteries around” (see here).
45. visitings: social engagements or interactions.
46. great: high-ranking and wealthy.
47. Very elite families often would not socialize with all the genteel families of the local area, as those in Austen’s novels always do. They preferred those of the same rank, and this meant excursions farther afield, which might include extended stays at another’s house. Their wealth enabled them to afford such distant travel, as well as the enormous houses that could accommodate overnight guests and allow them to host elaborate parties. For an example of such a house, see the picture on this page.
A pianoforte of the period.
[From Esther Singleton, The Furniture of Our Forefathers (New York, 1916), p. 585]
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48. address: skill, dexterity.
49. introduce: bring.
50. retirement: seclusion.
51. noticing: commenting upon.
52. He shows a great ability to persuade others, especially women, as well as a great confidence in, and reliance upon, that ability. He does not explain why, if he has such influence over his aunt, he still never visited his father all these years, even after his father’s marriage.
53. Wealthy young men often went abroad to Europe; for more, see note 84.
54. As with so many of Emma’s guesses, this one will turn out to be wrong.
55. outrée: exaggerated, eccentric. His use of a French word indicates his background, for knowledge and use of French was more widespread among elite circles, due to their education and a tendency to look to France as a model of taste and fashion. Those lower in the social scale tended to be less educated in foreign languages, as well as more nationalistic and insular.
56. The most popular female hairstyles then involved curls. For examples, see the pictures on this page and this page. Frank’s excursion to get his own hair cut might suggest a particular concern with such matters.
57. Jane has never been to Ireland, so it is doubtful she would be following an Irish fashion. He is proposing to tease her about Mr. Dixon and see if she gives anything away by blushing.
58. colours: blushes.
59. It could be by design, since it allows him to speak to Miss Fairfax without their facial expressions being observed.
60. Mrs. Weston’s general concern for others, as well as her background as a governess, makes her likely to worry about such matters. She also displays, like her former employer Mr. Woodhouse, a tendency to worry about her own and others’ health, and Jane has supposedly come to Highbury because of her poor health.
61. Mrs. Weston may base this opinion on her own husband, who, while kind and good-natured, is not especially observant or thoughtful.
Parlor or drawing-room chairs.
[From The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c, Vol. XII (1814), p. 232]
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62. Whereas a gallant man might undertake this action to pay a particular attention to a lady, Mr. Knightley does it from huma
ne concern for Jane simply as a person. Mr. Knightley, in his debate with Emma over Frank Churchill, criticized gallantry and praised in contrast careful attention to others.
63. Emma’s vehement reaction to the idea of Mr. Knightley’s marriage suggests more than her stated concern for her nephew. Other possible reasons are her dislike of Jane Fairfax and her fondness for Mr. Knightley.
64. If Mr. Knightley never married, his property would devolve upon his death to his younger brother, John Knightley, and then to the latter’s eldest son, Henry.
65. The imprudence refers specifically to social and financial concerns, for Mr. Knightley would be marrying someone with no fortune and with undistinguished family connections.
A private library.
[From John Swarbrick, Robert Adam and His Brothers (New York, 1915), p. 267]
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66. This would place Jane Fairfax in a superior social position to Emma, due both to Mr. Knightley’s leading position in the neighborhood and to the higher status enjoyed by a married woman. This would give Emma another reason to dislike the possibility.
67. Those with farms often raised sheep; Robert Martin’s sheep are mentioned more than once. Those with large country houses usually had private libraries, with collections accumulated by previous generations as well as the current one; for an example, see previous page. Mr. Knightley is later described as spending much of his time reading (see here).
68. It is not clear whether she is referring to Donwell or Highbury parish, or both. The boundaries of Mr. Knightley’s estate, as well as his position as a magistrate, would give him a strong interest in both.
69. Later events will reveal the fallacy of this estimation of Mr. Knightley.