by Jane Austen
79. exquisite: intense, exalted.
80. views: expectations, i.e., of success, and perhaps also adventure and heroism in the navy.
81. Since Fanny arrived in August (see this page, note 6), this is four months later, and thus a time when Fanny’s and William’s memories of each other are still vivid.
82. The navy did offer many opportunities for someone like William to rise in rank, especially because the war with Napoleonic France created a great demand for naval personnel and many positions were vacated due to injury or death. The navy also offered the chance of becoming wealthy, through the distribution of prize money after the capture of an enemy ship (for more, see this page, note 69). Finally, the crucial role the navy played in the war would make people regard serving in it as an admirable patriotic service.
83. Eton was probably the most famous and distinguished of the small number of boarding schools that were the principal venue for education of upper-class boys in England. Most graduates of such schools would go on to Oxford or Cambridge, the only two universities in England at this time. Both existed primarily to train members of the Anglican clergy, Edmund’s chosen profession, though other men would also attend.
At this time Eton had three holidays during the year, a month around Christmas, two weeks around Easter, and the month of August. Oxford had four weeks around Christmas, almost three weeks around Easter, and a little more than three months from early July to early October. Hence Edmund would have substantially more time away from school after he entered Oxford. This transition would have happened not long after Fanny arrived, for he was sixteen then and students usually entered a university at eighteen.
84. History was probably the subject that contemporary writers on education were most likely to recommend as an essential part of study for girls (it was also valued for boys, though it was subordinated to the supreme emphasis on ancient languages and literature).
VOLUME I, CHAPTER III
1. It would be normal for Sir Thomas, who probably owns much of the land in and around the village, to own some of the houses there. Jane Austen, during the latter part of her life when she wrote this and other novels, lived in a house owned by her brother, who owned a grander house and other land in the same village.
2. Her principal source of income has been her husband’s annual clerical salary. For what she now lives on instead, see this page, note 37.
3. The right to appoint the holder of the clerical living, called an advowson, was in the hands of Sir Thomas; such advowsons were forms of property that could be bought and sold, or inherited. Sir Thomas had intended to appoint Edmund to the position, just as he earlier appointed Mr. Norris. If the latter died before Edmund was old enough to be in orders (age twenty-three), the normal expedient would be to appoint a friend on the condition that the friend would resign the living once Edmund was in a position to take it.
4. extravagance: unrestrained or excessive living, which in this case has also involved financial extravagance.
5. Tom has run up debts, which his father must pay. A later passage describes Tom as having engaged in gambling (see this page), and he also may have borrowed money (his father would give him an allowance, but he might easily wish to spend more). Moneylenders would lend, though at high interest rates, to heirs of wealthy estates, who eventually would be in a position to repay.
6. The “different disposal” of the presentation means Sir Thomas is selling the right to appoint the next holder. He would be legally barred from a formal sale, permanently alienating the right of appointment, since such a sale could not occur while the living was vacant, nor would he wish to sell it permanently. But he can arrange informally to let someone else choose the next holder in return for a substantial payment. The man who appointed Jane Austen’s father to his living sold the right of presentation to another living he controlled, and there were advertisements in newspapers offering to sell the next presentation to a living.
7. Sir Thomas intended for Edmund to hold both livings; many clergy did this.
8. The new holder must die or resign for Edmund to be appointed. “More than half” suggests that the salary for this living is higher than that for the family living still reserved for Edmund.
9. preferment: advancement to a church living. Sir Thomas may be able to procure a different living at some point, as might Tom after he inherits the estate and the church livings belonging to it.
10. “Dr.” means he is a doctor of divinity. Most clergy received only a bachelor’s degree, and they would simply be called “Mr.” A doctorate did not necessarily enhance one’s chances of securing a better position, but it did confer greater prestige. The title “Dr.” was not used to refer to medical men, who generally received no formal education.
11. “Mr. Bertram” is Tom. The eldest male of a family is called “Mr. + last name.” Normally that is the father, but in this case he is “Sir Thomas” instead. Edmund, as a younger son, is called “Mr. Edmund Bertram.”
12. “Apoplectic” means inclined toward apoplexy, the term used then for a sudden seizure, especially a stroke. (Not understanding the role of blood clots, people attributed strokes to other causes, such as overheating of the blood.) A short neck was considered one of the leading signs of being apoplectic; diagnosing susceptibility to disease through external appearance was very common, due to the lack of almost any internal diagnostic tools. A medical book of the time says of apoplexy, “The short-necked, the indolent, and such as are apt to indulge in full meals of animal food, and the free use of spirituous and vinous liquors, are generally its victims” (Richard Reece, The Medical Guide, 1820 ed., p. 190). This view provides the basis for Tom’s hope that if “plied with good things” (as in fact Dr. Grant will be), he will soon “pop off.” Tom’s use of this slang expression signals his flip attitude toward serious matters.
13. This age difference was not unusual. The pressure for women to marry (for more, see this page, note 35) meant that women with poor marital prospects—and Mrs. Grant is shortly described as being neither good-looking nor rich—had a strong incentive to accept a man greatly their senior, especially if he could offer them a good home.
14. Many people in England had West Indian estates. During the seventeenth century England had acquired and settled a number of islands in the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua, Grenada, and St. Vincent. These colonies, which contained rich agricultural lands, attracted numerous English settlers, some of whom attained great wealth and gradually established a planter aristocracy that dominated the islands. The heyday of these colonies was the eighteenth century, when tremendous profits were made by many planters, most notably in sugar, which came to dominate production. The plantations were worked by massive numbers of imported African slaves, who became the majority population of the islands while also suffering extremely high death rates, due to brutality of treatment and the debilitating rigors involved in harvesting sugar. For this same reason, the one area of the antebellum United States that specialized in sugar cultivation, southern Louisiana, suffered far worse slave mortality than other slaveholding areas. For more on the issue of slavery, see this page, note 41.
During the second half of the eighteenth century many members of the planter class used their riches to move to England and live comfortably there. They and their descendants reassimilated into English life and intermarried with wealthy English families. As a consequence, as a leading contemporary writer states, “Many persons there are, in Great Britain itself, who, amidst the continual fluctuation of human affairs, and the changes incident to property, find themselves possessed of estates in the West Indies which they have never seen” (Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British West Indies, vol. 2, 1819 ed.). Sir Thomas Bertram’s being a baronet suggests his family has been of prominent status in England for a while, which, along with the strong attachment he shows to Mansfield Park, makes it likely that the Mansfield estate is his principal source of income. Planters from the West Indi
es who settled in England instead tended to live in London or coastal towns with better prospects for social life and enjoyment. Yet his West Indies estate must be substantial, for he soon shows himself willing to go there for almost a year to deal with losses.
Such losses were not unusual. Many estates in the hands of absentee owners suffered difficulties, since they were managed by people, often local merchants or attorneys, who had other demands on their time or whose interests conflicted with those of the owner. Moreover, the reliance of much of the West Indies on a single export crop, and the islands’ vulnerability to disruptions in international trade, produced great economic volatility. Around 1800 the islands suffered an acute downturn when Napoleon’s blockade of Britain cut them off from trade with Europe and created a glut of sugar in Britain that drove the price down. This situation lasted until 1813, when this novel was being finished.
15. His assumption is that once Fanny goes to live with Mrs. Norris, the latter will naturally assume these responsibilities.
16. This is part of Lady Bertram’s needlework, her principal daily activity. She would embroider a design from a pattern (many patterns for such use were printed in books and journals of the time—see the preceding page), and she has Fanny attach the pattern to the material using a “tack” or short stitch that can easily be removed.
17. Edmund is probably home on holiday from Oxford. He was sixteen when Fanny arrived, the normal age of entry was eighteen, and it is now five years later (making him twenty-one). Students studying to be clergy usually stayed four years. Since the timing of the next major event (the departure of his father and brother) suggests it is now November or December (see chronology, this page), this scene likely occurs during the Christmas holidays.
18. She has just spoken of “my aunt Norris,” and now she says “my aunt Bertram.” This usage is standard in Austen’s novels. Speaking this way to Edmund about his own mother is also a mark of the prevailing formality of manners.
19. The capital “W” may result from its having been previously owned by a family called White. Important houses often had proper names, as in Mansfield Park, and sometimes this name included the word “House,” but in that case it would be spelled with a capital “H,” as it is not here.
20. Her situation is her position as an adopted child, and the more humble social and economic level of her parents in comparison to the Bertram family and to Mrs. Norris.
21. colouring: blushing.
22. At a later point Mrs. Norris’s new house, which is in the village, is described as a quarter-mile away. Edmund’s wording signals that the park that surrounds Mansfield Park extends all the way to the edge of the village.
23. powers: abilities, especially mental ones.
24. Grand houses usually had gardens near the house, both for flowers and for fruits and vegetables.
25. A typical park around a house featured walking paths, some of them extending a great distance if the park was large enough. For examples, see the picture and the pictures on this page and see this page.
26. A library was a standard feature of a grand house. It often contained books collected over many generations. They would be an invaluable resource for someone devoted to reading, as Fanny is shown to be, for books were expensive and only a limited number would be easily available, even for purchase, in a rural village like Mansfield.
27. Exercise was recognized as important for health, and riding horses was almost the only form possible for women, aside from walking, since almost all outdoor sports were considered inappropriate for them. Fanny’s youth, small stature for her age, and lack of physical vigor would make a pony the logical choice for her; it would also be less expensive.
28. This conversation, which turns out to concern a situation that never occurs, does have one crucial significance: it marks an incipient willingness by Fanny to judge differently from Edmund and to express that difference, despite her almost worshipful respect for him and her timidity and diffidence. That willingness will grow, and play an important role in the story.
29. Mansfield parish means the local neighborhood. A rural parish usually comprised a village and the immediate surrounding countryside.
30. A house would need to be of a certain size and quality to qualify as genteel, which means having at least two bedrooms suitable for residents or guests of genteel status (rather than for servants, who would inhabit inferior rooms). Thus, Mrs. Norris, in wishing to maintain the outward signs of gentility while also avoiding having to take Fanny, must pretend that her second good bedroom is reserved for a potential guest.
31. Since Fanny is now fifteen, the two Bertram daughters are seventeen and eighteen. This means they are at the end of their education and no longer need a governess; the Bertrams are retaining Miss Lee only to continue teaching Fanny.
32. Calling her “Lady Bertram,” as Mrs. Norris will continue to do, indicates her deference; in contrast, Lady Bertram has simply called her “sister.” Social differences have superseded the difference in age (which favors Mrs. Norris).
33. “Cheerfullest,” rather than “most cheerful,” reflects a greater willingness at this time to add “-er” or “-est” to long adjectives. In other novels Austen also uses “cheerfullest” or “cheerfuller,” and later in this novel she uses “forwarder.”
34. Nursing had not yet emerged as a profession and was mainly done by the women of the family or by female servants.
35. The use of “this world” to refer to earthly life, in contrast to the next world or heaven, was common. Mrs. Norris, as a clergyman’s wife, would be very accustomed to this pious rhetoric (as also in her use of “peace,” another word frequently evoked in religious contexts), even though she never gives any sense of having genuine religious feeling herself.
36. Were she to live shabbily, it could harm Mr. Norris’s reputation by making it look as if he failed to provide sufficiently for his widow. She is again pretending to care about others to justify her selfishness.
37. Widows of clergymen received no pensions or other payments. Mrs. Norris’s principal source of income is the 7,000 pounds that she, like her sister Lady Bertram, received from her family as her dowry. This sum, which was controlled by her husband while they were married, reverted to her after his death. It provides her with 350 pounds a year, at the standard rate of 5 percent per annum on government bonds (the main way people invested their money, aside from land). She also might have inherited her husband’s own money, though because he was described at the outset as having “scarcely any private fortune,” this would be unlikely to provide much. Thus she must be drawing annual returns from money she saved over the course of her married life. The Norrises were married for seventeen years (see chronology, this page) and enjoyed an income of “very little less than a thousand a year,” so she must have adopted a formidable program of frugality. To generate the entire 250 pounds a year required to bring her to 600, she would have needed to save 5,000 pounds, almost a third of the total income she and her husband received.
It is hard to convert these amounts into current equivalents. Judging by changes in retail prices, a pound from the time of the novel is equal to 65 to 70 pounds today, or around 100 U.S. dollars by current exchange rates. This would make Mrs. Norris’s 600-pound annual income the equivalent of $60,000. But present societies, in the U.S. and the U.K., are far wealthier on average than the society of that time: Mrs. Norris’s income would put her in the top 2 or 3 percent of the population then. Moreover, relative prices have altered significantly: in particular, goods tended to be relatively much more expensive then and labor much cheaper. Thus, according to a contemporary guide, a household with Mrs. Norris’s income would normally hire four to five servants.
38. Clergy, as well as other genteel people, were expected to extend charity to the poor, which would often include feeding people who came to the house in need. Mrs. Norris’s words indicate she did this grudgingly.
39. matters: household or financial affairs.
41. Antigua was one of the most important islands in the British West Indies, and, like most of the others, it was dominated by sugar plantations worked by slaves. Jane Austen’s decision to have the principal family in her novel possess such a plantation has naturally aroused comment. It is also interesting in light of clear indications of her personal opposition to slavery. The strongest of these is in a letter written during the time she was writing this novel (January 24, 1813). In it she expresses admiration for Thomas Clarkson, author of The History of the Rise, Progress, & Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament (1808). Clarkson was a leader in the campaign to abolish the slave trade in British territories, which was achieved in 1807, and in the book he chronicles and celebrates that struggle, while also expressing his horror at the continuing institution of slavery. (The abolitionists focused on the slave trade first because they thought it would be easier to end that than to abolish slavery entirely; they turned to the latter goal afterward and finally accomplished it in 1833.)
The most obvious reason she chose to make Sir Thomas the owner of an estate in the West Indies is that it is essential for the plot. Sir Thomas leaves for an extended trip to Antigua in order to salvage the struggling estate, and this absence will permit several developments that are central to the story. A significant property overseas is necessary for this, since heads of families with large estates in England would otherwise never go away for so long. The West Indies was the one place at the time where they might have such a property. Moreover, its location is far enough away to make an absence of a year or two normal, but not so far to make a much longer absence more likely.
Some commentators have suggested that Austen also wished to raise the issues of slavery and abolition in the novel. One piece of evidence cited is its title, for it was the judge Lord Mansfield who in 1772 laid down the decision that effectively abolished slavery within England; this decision helped inspire the movement to abolish it throughout the British Empire. It is possible that Austen had this in mind when choosing the title, but far from certain, for Mansfield is a common English name, typical of those she used for the characters and places in her novels. Moreover, the paucity of references to slavery and abolition, with only one overt mention of the slave trade (see this page, as well as note 7 on this page), makes any theory of an underlying message on the matter inherently speculative.