by Jane Austen
42. situation: employment, position.
43. Woolwich was the location of the Royal Military Academy for the training of army officers in the artillery and the engineers. The boy, William, who ends up entering the navy, may have already exhibited an inclination for a military career. Mrs. Price may also mention it in the hope that Sir Thomas has some influence and connections in the army.
44. The East means India, most of which was controlled either directly or indirectly by the British East India Company. India offered many opportunities to make money, though going there also meant an extremely long and difficult voyage, a long stay, very slow communication with Britain, and the continual threat of tropical diseases. Jane Austen’s aunt, due to her lack of fortune, went to India as a young woman to find a wealthy husband. She succeeded, though after the couple returned and found that their wealth did not allow them to live in London with the lavishness that they had enjoyed in India, her husband returned to India to augment their fortunes and suffered commercial reverses and a decline in health that caused his death.
45. As the woman of the house, and Mrs. Price’s sister, Lady Bertram would properly be the official correspondent. This is why Mrs. Price wrote to her and why she is the one who sends money and baby linen. Sir Thomas’s friendly words would be conveyed indirectly via this correspondence, while Mrs. Norris writes the letters on behalf of Lady Bertram.
46. own: acknowledge.
47. Adequate provision for a girl would mean maintenance and education and some kind of dowry, usually essential for making a good marriage.
48. Among the landed elite, marriage between cousins, including first cousins, was completely acceptable (those at lower social levels were more likely to regard it as incestuous). One reason was the emphasis on marrying at the same rank, combined with the limited pool of possible mates at the top of the hierarchy. But Sir Thomas would not wish a son of his to marry a poor cousin.
49. delicacy: refined sense of what is proper and appropriate.
50. propriety: rightness, decency, appropriateness. The term, frequently used in Austen’s novels, refers to general moral principles, not just etiquette.
51. mite: small amount of money. The word has biblical connotations, which Mrs. Norris exploits later; see this page, note 32.
52. Mr. and Mrs. Norris’s lack of children, which will play an important role in the novel, was a common condition, even as many couples had extremely large families. The reason was the absence of effective treatments for infertility.
53. Social life among the wealthy was carefully regulated at this time, and a girl, once old enough to marry, would be presented or introduced by the family to adults of other families. This would, among other things, allow her to talk to eligible young men. For more on this system, see this page, note 36.
54. settling: marrying.
55. That is, without giving her a dowry.
56. country: county.
57. establishment: marriage, or position created by marriage. Mrs. Norris’s hope has some basis, for being brought up in Sir Thomas’s home would raise the status of his niece and give her more polished speech and manners. In one case in Emma (see note 63), the elegant manners and first-rate education a young woman acquires from growing up in a wealthy home allow her to attract a rich husband despite her lack of fortune. But such cases were the exception rather than the rule, and it would be irresponsible to expect a girl given no dowry to make a decent marriage.
58. It is possible that Mrs. Norris has never heard of a marriage between cousins who were raised in the same household, but she certainly would have heard of cousin marriages, for they occurred regularly.
59. connection: marriage.
60. Tom and Edmund are the two Bertram sons. Tom is the eldest, shown here by his being listed first—an almost invariable practice in this status-conscious society—and by his having been named after his father, a usual though not universal practice. (The custom was similar with girls: as will soon be revealed, the eldest daughter they adopt, Fanny, was named after her mother.)
61. mischief: trouble. The term had a stronger connotation then, referring to serious harm or injury.
62. Fiction of the time, partly reflecting the early stages of a growing democratic sentiment, often sympathetically depicted characters in circumstances of poverty and distress. In many cases these were young women whom wealthy young men, aroused by pity for their plight as well as their beauty and charm, would fall in love with and marry.
63. Taking another’s child into one’s home and raising it was not unusual. In Austen’s Emma, Frank Churchill is raised by his aunt and uncle, who are far wealthier than his father and who ultimately make him their heir, while another character, Jane Fairfax, who has lost her parents and been left with no money, is taken in by a wealthy friend of her father’s, who raises her with his daughter and gives her an excellent education. Still, since it was a serious and costly undertaking, most people would not give such instant assent as Lady Bertram does; her alacrity results less from generosity than from knowing that it will cause her no trouble, since she never takes trouble over anything.
64. With Sir Thomas’s reply all three of those present in this dialogue have spoken. Jane Austen uses their manner of speaking to indicate what kind of people they are, a technique she employs brilliantly throughout her works. In this case, Lady Bertram’s brief, simple statement suggests the simplicity of mind and indolence that will mark her throughout, while Mrs. Norris’s volubility and emphatic declarations indicate her frenetic busyness, wish to manage everything, extreme confidence in her own judgment, and lack of self-knowledge (as when she says, in the midst of her long speech, “I am a woman of few words and professions”). As for Sir Thomas, his long, complex, and often roundabout sentences reveal him as a man who is intelligent and thoughtful but also formal and ponderous in his manner and way of proceeding.
65. He is thinking partly of how it will make the family look in the eyes of others, a very important consideration in the world of Austen’s novels.
66. Securing it now would mean drawing up a legal document specifying what support the child will receive, a common procedure for children of wealthy families, whether natural or adopted. It is never clear whether Sir Thomas does this, or simply, as he also suggests, resolves to provide the child with sufficient support when she reaches the age when she will need it.
67. A gentlewoman, or lady, was the counterpart of a gentleman. The terms had a precise meaning then, namely membership in the upper, or genteel, ranks of society. For men the standard criterion for gentility was either possession of a sufficient fortune, especially in landed property, enabling one not to have to work, or a career in one of the professions deemed genteel: principally army or navy officer, clergyman, or barrister. For women, membership was secured by being the wife or daughter of a man of genteel status. The division between those with this status and those without it is the most important social distinction within Austen’s novels. The child being discussed, as the daughter of a marine officer, would technically already be considered a gentlewoman, but his very low rank and the family’s poverty would make her status precarious, and it would sink further if she married a man who was not genteel, as she easily might do if she remains in her current circumstances.
“Genteel” and its attendant terms also had a moral significance. The possession of certain virtues, including courtesy, refinement, and generosity, was supposed to correspond to social gentility, though in practice this was not always the case. People in this society would regularly judge how genteel others were in their behavior and character; Jane Austen often does this in her letters.
68. Sir Thomas indicates his awareness that Mrs. Norris’s hopes for a good marriage for the girl without a dowry are overly optimistic. If she did not marry, she would need to be able to live comfortably to maintain her status as a gentlewoman, because the only jobs a genteel woman might secure, governess or schoolteacher, would probably cause her to lose that s
tatus. Arrangements for her to continue living with a member of the Bertram family would probably be necessary.
69. Mrs. Norris will prove herself true to her words about strongly preferring Sir Thomas’s children to the adopted child, even though the latter has just as close a familial relationship to her. One reason is her high regard for rank, and another is the benefit, both social and economic, that she derives from close association with the Bertram family.
70. “Nanny” does not refer to the position she holds: the word as a designation for someone hired to take care of children would not arise until many decades later (at the time of this novel, such a person was called a “nurse” or “nursery maid”), and in any case the Norrises have no children. Instead, it is a diminutive form of Anne, a very common name then. When Jane Austen was young her family had two servants named Anne who were called Nanny. This woman’s position is confirmed by the use of her first name: this would only be done with servants or certain close family members (and Mrs. Norris has no family living with her). The little inconvenience involved in sending this servant to London, which would mean at least two days away, is the basis of Mrs. Norris’s boast about never regarding her own trouble.
71. A sadler, or saddler, is someone who makes saddles. The ubiquity of horses for transportation made it a common occupation. As a workingman, a saddler would be a likely cousin to a servant.
72. town: London. The term is frequently used this way in Austen’s novels.
73. This means the public coach, which ran regularly between towns in England. Since Portsmouth is south of London and Northampton directly north, going via London, while not the most direct route, would not be greatly out of the way (see map).
74. Being only ten, she would naturally need an escort, and preferably a female one. Tradesmen and their wives were not considered genteel, but they, like Mrs. Norris’s servant, would be completely acceptable for a task like this, and there were many of them in Britain due to the country’s commercial and industrial growth. Moreover, because Portsmouth was a good-sized town and London contained a million people, there would be plenty of travelers regularly making the trip between the two places.
75. By the “attack on Nanny’s cousin,” Sir Thomas means this man’s being forced, without any prior consultation, to host his cousin and a stranger. Sir Thomas seems to be worrying less about the inconvenience to the cousin than about the lowliness of his position when he substitutes a more “respectable” rendezvous. This probably means having Nanny rent a room at an inn in London, and lodging the girl there for the next day’s journey to Mansfield Park (both journeys are around seventy miles, a full day’s travel then).
76. liberality: generosity, particularly in a financial sense.
77. Any hopes she had previously harbored for a wealthy match would have been inflated by her sister’s marriage to Sir Thomas, which might have encouraged wealthy suitors who could see the advantage of marrying the sister-in-law of a baronet.
78. Her frugality was initially a matter of prudence because if she had children—as virtually all couples expected to—it would be best to save money in advance. Once she realized they were destined to remain childless, continued thrift became a choice, one she apparently enjoys. These matters would fall primarily under Mrs. Norris’s control, for a wife’s job normally involved managing household expenditures, including those for food, other necessities, and servants.
79. infatuating: folly-inducing.
80. The parsonage, the residence of the local clergyman, is near the village of Mansfield, which is within fairly easy walking distance of Mansfield Park. This proximity will play an important role in the novel.
81. Gout is an affliction of the joints, often centered in those of the big toe, that involves inflammation and pain, sometimes excruciating. It is not life-threatening but can immobilize the sufferer. It is caused by an excess of uric acid in the blood due to excessive consumption of alcohol and foods rich in purine (mainly various types of meat and fish). It was a common ailment, for alcohol was part of most people’s daily routine, and the diet of those who could afford it consisted mostly of meat—thus it was particularly prevalent among the wealthy; Jane Austen’s rich brother Edward suffered from it. It also was most likely to afflict men, due to differences in male and female physiology, and the middle-aged or elderly, since it resulted from long-term consumption of the offending items.
82. Miss Lee is the family governess, the “regular instructress” mentioned by Sir Thomas, while the other two girls are his daughters, who are roughly Fanny’s age. A governess was a servant, but a high-ranking one, which is why she is called “Miss.” They were usually women with no money but from fairly good backgrounds, which ensured they were well educated enough to teach, and that their speech and manners were sufficiently refined for them to serve as models for their charges.
83. The mistress of a house would often have a servant who was her chief advisor and assistant in deciding on and carrying out household tasks. It is not clear why Nanny will be away three days, since it takes only two to travel to London and back. It is possible she is spending two nights in London to ensure she is present when the child arrives there the day after her first night; it is also possible that they have arranged a rendezvous south of London in order to make the child’s journey from Portsmouth easier. Finally, Mrs. Norris may be exaggerating in order to magnify the trouble she will suffer by her servant’s absence.
84. The top floor of a grand house like this was often the location of the nurseries, as well as the rooms for the servants, including the governess. Housemaids were the most basic type of female servant; their principal job was cleaning the house.
85. Ladies often had lady’s maids, who would help them dress, fix their hair, and take care of their clothes. They were upper servants, which gave them the privilege of being called by their last name (hence “Ellis”). In this case the two daughters of Sir Thomas share a lady’s maid (Lady Bertram, as revealed later, has her own). When a lady’s maid was not available, a housemaid could perform her tasks instead. For a contemporary picture, see this page.
86. evil: misfortune. The word then tended to have a less strong connotation than at present.
87. Sir Thomas’s low expectations reflect partly his own snobbery, but partly the reality of dramatic differences in the experience and upbringing of children depending on their social class. This was particularly marked in education: there were no government schools or standard curriculum, so while those at the top would have private governesses and instructors or go to exclusive schools, those at the bottom would receive little or no schooling. The Prices would have given their children some education, but the girls, whose education was considered less important, would likely have been taught by their mother when she was not occupied with household chores; girls also would be required to spend much of their time assisting their mother when they were old enough. The resulting lack of knowledge could produce a “meanness,” i.e., baseness or littleness, in their ideas about the world. Finally, the manners taught and practiced at various social levels differed significantly, giving those lower down many characteristics that seemed vulgar to those above them.
88. Pugs, like other lapdogs, were very popular among wealthy ladies. They had been introduced into Europe during the seventeenth century by Dutch traders who encountered them in Asia. They came to England by the end of that century and became a favorite pet during the next, reaching the peak of their popularity late in the eighteenth century, when the queen was a great devotee of pugs: a dictionary written in 1780 gives as one of the two definitions of “pug” “anything tenderly loved.” A number of writers of the time discuss pugs, sometimes affectionately and sometimes mockingly, for ladies’ affection for small dogs was a frequent object of ridicule.
89. Sir Thomas’s careful weighing of these conflicting principles reflects partly his preference for his own children—among other things, they will have greater rights within the family and a larger fortun
e, and therefore superior expectations of a good marriage—and his wish to behave well toward a niece he is bringing into his family. It also reflects a conflict within the society of the time, between a belief in the rightness of social hierarchy and of treating people differently according to their rank (a belief that underlay the entire social and political order), and a belief, strongly grounded in the established Christian faith, in extending compassion and concern to all people regardless of their rank. The tension between the two can be seen in many aspects of this society, and in contemporary writings.
90. Mrs. Price is later described as favoring her sons. She also might think that a boy, because he needs to pursue a career, would benefit more from an improvement in his education and in the social level of those he associates with.
91. throw her off: rid themselves of her.
92. Medical opinion of the time attributed many illnesses to the effects of bad air, and the air in towns like Portsmouth was often foul, due to poor sanitation and crowded living quarters.
93. This is a rare authorial exclamation in Austen’s novels. Usually, she confines herself to impersonal description, though her descriptions often contain strong doses of irony and moral judgment. One reason for it here is that Fanny comes from a more deprived background than the heroines of any of the other novels, and while Jane Austen gets around to depicting this background in detail only toward the end, she wishes to give the reader some sense of its harsh reality by a brief evocation of the pity it naturally arouses.
VOLUME I, CHAPTER II
1. The girl’s two-day journey would have been either by public coach or by a smaller hired carriage (for the latter, which is the way characters in Austen’s novels usually travel, see this page, note 22). Mrs. Norris had stipulated for the former, but it is possible Sir Thomas, who already chose a “more respectable though less economical rendezvous,” would have also paid more for a means of conveyance that was far more respectable as well as more private and comfortable. In either case Northampton, meaning the principal town in Northamptonshire, would have been her last stop. Mansfield Park is described as being “seventy miles from London” (see this page), and Northampton was around sixty-five miles by roads of that time. The short remaining distance would allow Sir Thomas to send his own carriage and horses, accompanied by Mrs. Norris, to meet his niece.