by Jane Austen
12. She does not disagree at all with his statement about her always being right or attempt to disclaim the compliment.
13. {CAUTION: PLOT SPOILER} His conscious laugh results from knowing that the real reason he did not come to Highbury before was the absence of Jane Fairfax.
14. {CAUTION: PLOT SPOILER} This is the real cause of his delay. Being left alone with Jane, except for the deaf and inattentive Mrs. Bates, would be an excellent opportunity and would allow him to say farewell. It is possible he even knew from Jane when Miss Bates normally went out on certain errands.
15. {CAUTION: PLOT SPOILER} Having mentioned his visit to Jane, he is now tempted to confess all to Emma; he later explains that he did imagine Emma to have figured out his secret by this point (see here).
16. She fears that Frank is about to declare his love for her. His gravity and hesitation, as well as his words about her presumably already suspecting something, furnish good grounds for this surmise.
17. putting it by: preventing it.
18. Women are consistently depicted in Austen’s novels as more devoted to correspondence. Their supposed greater diffuseness and greater attention to the details of daily life are both cited at other points in this novel (see here and here).
19. idea: thought.
20. manners: behavior and bearing.
A woman with a letter.
[From The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c, Vol. XII (1814), p. 303]
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21. Mr. Knightley has a special reason for cheerfulness even stronger than his aversion to the ball, namely, his satisfaction at Frank Churchill’s departure, which will be more fully explained later.
22. As usual, Jane’s composure conceals her feelings and Emma does not suspect that the headache may have been a cover for greater suffering of another kind.
VOLUME II, CHAPTER XIII
1. working: doing needlework, which was such a basic activity of women that it was generally just called “work.”
2. amusing: interesting, entertaining.
3. These would have to be letters in which he proposed to her: it would be improper for an unmarried man to write to an unmarried woman unless he was proposing or they were already engaged (and she immediately adds that her scenarios always led to her refusing him). The reference to “letters” means that she has envisaged a variety of different proposals. The dialogues she imagines may also be proposals in spoken form, providing a further variety of agreeable possibilities for her fancy, whose activeness and inventiveness are well displayed in her thousand imaginary schemes.
4. She does not stop to reflect on how fixed that determination is if she has such an inclination to indulge her imagination with proposals of marriage, even ones coming from a man she does not love.
5. Thus she has discerned this quality in him, even amid her pleasure in him and praise of many other qualities of his.
6. She is thinking of the letters of excuse he used to write to Mrs. Weston to put off his visits; Mr. Knightley described them earlier as “fine flourishing” ones, “full of professions and falsehoods” (see here).
7. Propriety would restrain him from denigrating his home at Enscombe, and thus the uncle and aunt who have raised him and provided generously for him.
8. The last time his use of her name meets her eye, which is in the passage quoted immediately below.
9. He has squeezed a final message into a vacant corner of the letter, for the cost of postage meant people hated to leave blank spaces in a letter, and because postage was paid by the recipient, and according to the number of pages, wasting space on a page would seem inconsiderate. Jane Austen’s own letters show her filling every possible crevice. This also means, however, that any message inserted into these last vacant corners is likely to be of less interest and significance to the writer, who has probably bothered to compose it only from a need to fill up the remaining space. Emma, in her eagerness to find compliments to herself as well as, in a moment, matchmaking possibilities for Harriet, overlooks this.
10. prospects: expectations, hopes.
11. evil: trouble.
12. Nothing has been said about who has been fulfilling Mr. Elton’s clerical duties during his lengthy absences, but he could easily have hired a temporary curate to perform his job. Because of the overabundance of candidates for available positions, many clergy at the time were curates, which meant they lacked a position themselves and were hired by regular clergymen either to assist them or to perform their functions in their absence. Their numbers meant they could not command high salaries.
13. A couple would often purchase a new carriage upon marrying: in part it was a mark of favor and affection for the bride, since she might have need of a carriage in her new home. A youthful story of Jane Austen’s, “Three Sisters,” presents a satirical picture of a prospective bride who disputes vehemently with the man proposing to her about what kind of carriage he will buy her. Local church bells were rung frequently to celebrate a variety of important occasions.
14. Personal self-command and fortitude were highly praised values, and considered to be of great benefit to their possessor. In contrasting this with the issue of her own comfort, Emma implies that she is now speaking of Harriet’s comfort in urging such a virtue.
15. propriety: what is right and proper.
16. credit: reputation, public standing.
17. expressions: declarations.
18. Her words are ironic, considering all the frustration she has just experienced from dealing with Harriet and trying to convince her through reason rather than through manipulative emotional appeals.
19. This would be Frank Churchill. The idea of him and Harriet as a couple is taking increasing hold of Emma’s mind.
VOLUME II, CHAPTER XIV
1. visits in form: standard ceremonial visits, done fully in line with correct procedure.
2. It would be fifteen minutes long, the standard length for a first visit. Mrs. Elton’s return visit to Emma will be the same length.
3. ease: informality, lack of restraint. The term could be used pejoratively.
4. It would be natural and proper for a newcomer to feel anxious to please and to be a little diffident, and it would be presumptuous to take others’ approval for granted. Such diffidence and lack of presumption were especially valued in a young woman, whose age and sex were supposed to make her more deferential to others.
5. The proper diffidence and shyness expected of a new bride would excuse her from having to talk much.
6. Meaning he pretended to be very much at ease, and was actually very little so.
7. Harriet hopes to hear Emma’s opinion before venturing one of her own.
8. pretty: nice, good.
Garden seats.
[From John Buonaratti Papworth, Rural Residences (London, 1832), p. 101]
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9. Meaning a bad general environment, in which she had imbibed poor manners, or standards of conduct.
10. alliance: group of persons linked to one another—in this case, Mrs. Elton’s family.
11. The brother’s two carriages were already mentioned as the most impressive thing about him—here.
12. This suggests the Woodhouses have not been at Hartfield for many generations. Sometimes very wealthy families tore down old houses and built completely new ones, but this was probably beyond the means of the Woodhouses. It was more usual to alter or add to older ones. For examples of modern houses, by the standards of the time, see this page and this page.
13. The morning room is a living or sitting room used in the early part of the day. A room facing east or south would usually be chosen, since it would warm up more quickly in the morning sun. The limited heating means available then necessitated taking greater advantage of sunlight. The boastful Mrs. Elton may allude to a morning room because a family’s ability to have a sitting room set aside for one part of the day indicates a high level of wealth.
&nbs
p; 14. Grand country houses usually had a large open staircase at the entrance, so the similar placement of the stairs at Maple Grove is not much of a coincidence.
15. Miss Woodhouse would be transplanted to a new home upon marriage. Thus Mrs. Elton’s words are intended to remind Emma of their different marital status, which is a point of superiority for Mrs. Elton.
16. Landscaping ideals of the time stressed the benefits of creating views of trees across a lawn. For an example, see the picture on this page.
17. Seats of various kinds were often provided in landscaped areas where people would walk, in order to allow them to rest and to enjoy the view from the spot. For a contemporary picture of a bench around a tree, see this page, and for two fashionable garden seats, see this page.
18. country: county.
19. While Surrey was often noted for its beauties, it was not usually called the garden of England. That distinction was and is most often reserved for Kent, the southeasternmost county in England and one Jane Austen was familiar with since her brother had a substantial estate there. Other counties were also sometimes called the garden of England.
20. Mrs. Elton will often speak with the same certainty, and in a way that preempts a response (at least by someone unwilling to be rude by directly contradicting her).
21. The barouche and the landau were similar carriages: both had two seats facing each other, usually accommodating two persons each, and a top that could be folded up or down, thus allowing them to be either an open or a closed carriage. They were highly fashionable and prestigious vehicles, because of this flexibility and because it was costly to construct a vehicle with a mechanism sturdy enough to permit continual opening and closing without frequent problems. This is why Mrs. Elton boasts of theirs. The principal difference was that the landau had a top that split to fold down, with one half collapsing onto the front of the carriage and one half collapsing onto the back, whereas the barouche had an undivided top that folded down completely toward the back. The landau’s top allowed it to close more securely, thus being more like a coach, while the barouche’s permitted it to be lighter weight; the barouche also had a lighter and more streamlined body than the landau. The barouche landau was a landau that adopted some of the barouche’s shape and features in its lower part. For pictures of both, see this page.
22. The chaise is a small enclosed carriage, and thus would be less desirable in warm weather because one could not enjoy the outside while riding in it. Since Emma knows nothing of their chaise, Mrs. Elton has no need even to mention it and explain why they would not use it, but she does so in order to alert her listener to their possession of two carriages, a mark of distinction since carriages were expensive both to purchase and to maintain.
23. Kings Weston is a prominent country house west of Bristol. Its grounds were noted for their striking views. Owners of grand houses would often allow visitors onto their grounds and sometimes into the house itself.
24. This sentence marks the fifth time in this paragraph that Mrs. Elton has used “explore,” “explored,” or “exploring.” She continues to use it frequently, even though she is speaking only of short daily outings. Since the term then had the same meaning as today, it would not be used much in such a context, except by someone trying to make her activities sound of greater moment than they are; the only other time the term is used in Austen’s novels is in connection with the heroine of Northanger Abbey, whose overheated imagination causes her to transform everyday occurrences into grand adventures.
25. Selina is her sister’s name, and a good companion name to Augusta. During the eighteenth century female names ending in “a” and deriving from classical or foreign sources had become fashionable. “Augusta” comes from the Roman name “Augustus,” while “Selina” comes from Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon. Jane Austen tends to deride this fashion as pretentious, even though her own mother and sister were named Cassandra, after the Greek prophetess. The two names here, more exotic than almost any in Austen’s novels, are certainly a mark of pretension in the Hawkins family.
26. Their home is near Bristol, and since it is a large city they would probably go there for shopping, entertainment, or visiting people they know.
27. The park usually represented one of the two principal parts of the grounds surrounding a country house (the other was the pleasure grounds—see note 51). The park consisted of the lawns and woodlands farther from the house, which looked natural but had usually been carefully landscaped to provide beautiful views and areas for walking or other kinds of recreation. The park paling is the fence surrounding the park, and thus the outer boundary of the residential property.
28. People often went to Bath to cure ailments; Mrs. Elton, having lived there, would be particularly likely to recommend it. For a picture of the Pump Room, where people drank the waters from the springs, see this page.
29. Bath provided much to divert people, including beautiful buildings and views, extensive shops, and a variety of entertainments.
30. The advantages to the young could be its many opportunities for enjoyment, but she probably means in particular its opportunities for an unmarried person to find a mate at its numerous dances and social events. That may have been why Mr. Elton went there, and why Mrs. Elton chose to live there part of every winter (see here). Her raising this now allows her to condescend to Emma in her unmarried state and to offer to assist her in the particular difficulties of her situation.
31. She resided with Mrs. Partridge because social rules did not permit an unmarried young woman to live on her own or to attend public entertainments by herself. Mrs. Partridge could have chaperoned her, which is why she speaks next of Emma going into public with Mrs. Partridge.
32. dashing: showy—in a pejorative sense.
33. She assumes Mrs. Partridge is a widow, because if she were married, Mrs. Elton would have spoken of living with the Partridges. Bath was full of widows, who found it a congenial place of retirement. It offered many things to do and people to meet; moreover, urban areas often suited single women better than rural ones, for rules of propriety and difficulties of transportation restricted their ability to venture far from home, and few women participated in the country sports that interested so many men. The census of 1811 showed Bath’s population to be 60 percent female, against 52 percent for England as a whole.
34. made a shift: managed, contrived.
35. Many widows, including those in Bath, rented rooms. It could be an appropriate way for them to earn money, for they often owned a house left them by their husband, they were practiced in the housekeeping skills required to manage lodgings, and, while women were barred from most jobs, unmarried women could own property and engage in property transactions on basically equal terms with men. At the same time, a widow engaged in such an enterprise would certainly be middle-class or lower rather than genteel, so Emma disdains the idea of associating with a woman like this.
36. character: reputation.
37. In contrast to Mrs. Elton’s persistent posing of direct personal questions, Emma introduces a new topic and inquiry indirectly. This is more polite because it is less inquisitive, and it gives the person being questioned greater latitude in deciding how to answer, or to avoid answering if it is a sensitive subject.
38. Bath offered public concerts, often of very high quality, every week (it also offered plays, which Mrs. Elton mentions shortly in listing what one might sacrifice by going to a retired location). Maple Grove’s musical society would have consisted principally of the music played by its residents and guests.
39. She will continue to call her husband “Mr. E.” No other character in Austen’s novels uses such a designation, which Emma identifies as vulgar as soon as her visitor leaves.
40. retirement: seclusion, privacy.
41. resources: sources or means of relaxation and entertainment. Mrs. Elton will use the term twice more in the next sentence, and at several points later; such a propensity for pet terms or phrases is generally
a mark of a flawed character or limited intellect in Austen’s novels.
42. A typical clerical residence would certainly be smaller than a grand country house, and the Highbury vicarage was identified as an inferior house.
43. apartments: rooms.
44. condition: stipulate.
45. This, like other speeches of Mrs. Elton’s in this scene and through the rest of the novel, is much longer than her companion’s.
46. Meaning the motive of inducing her to marry him. The words would form a compliment to Mrs. Elton, the type of compliment often offered to ladies, especially brides.
47. Concerts then could also mean musical performances put on by one or a few persons in a private home.
48. Married women did have a reputation for giving up music. Young ladies were taught music partly to increase their marital eligibility, since performing gave proof of their talents and allowed them to engage in a potentially seductive activity. After securing a husband, a lady would lose this incentive to play. A character in Sense and Sensibility, Lady Middleton, is described as celebrating her marriage “by giving up music, though by her mother’s account she had played extremely well, and by her own was very fond of it.”
49. This contradicts her statement above about Maple Grove being such a musical society.
50. This would be part of her duties as mistress of the house, duties that she never had to perform while living in her sister’s house. She might discuss with the housekeeper such things as the state of the house and the staff, the ordering of food and other supplies, and the menus for upcoming meals.
51. train: sequence, arrangement. Emma, who has long been managing a larger house than Mrs. Elton’s, would understand well what it involves. Yet despite the size of Hartfield, she enjoys ample leisure even as, by all appearances, the house runs very smoothly under her direction.
52. It is possible Mrs. Elton’s insistence that she will have little time for music is meant to mask the inferior nature of her playing.