by Jane Austen
26. cut capers: act fantastically.
27. Baize is a coarse woolen fabric, commonly used in this period for curtains and furniture; in a letter Jane Austen mentions two new tables being covered with green baize (Nov. 8, 1800). Green was the traditional color for stage curtains.
28. These are elements of contemporary stagecraft. Side wings are pieces of movable scenery for the side of the stage. “Doors in flat” mean doors that are part of the flat, a standing backdrop that was also movable; stage directions in plays of the time call for actors to enter or exit by a “door in flat.” “Scenes” here mean large painted hangings that can be let down to form an even larger backdrop. A trend during this period was for scenery and props to become more elaborate and to play a larger role in the drama. Most home theatricals could not afford scenery like this, though some aristocratic families put on comparable productions, and the one Mr. Yates just left is probably an example. That would account for his suggestions, as well as his familiarity with technical stage terminology.
29. The principal other difficulty would be the return of Sir Thomas. She herself has particular reason to wish to accelerate the performance of the play, since it would be likely to retain Henry Crawford at Mansfield.
30. The boxes, the pit, and the galleries were the three seating sections of a theater then. They also expressed a social division. The boxes, which covered the sides of the theater as well as usually the lower part of the back, were where the wealthiest patrons sat; the pit, in the middle, was for those of more moderate means; and the galleries, in the upper sections of the back, had the cheapest seats and the poorest customers. Edmund is conjuring up an image of enormous size—the leading London theaters then, which had recently been rebuilt, contained seating for several thousand people—that he reinforces by talk of an entire play. For pictures of the two principal London theaters, including the boxes and pit of one, see this page and this page.
31. so as it be: so long as it is.
32. Lovers’ Vow was a translation of a play by a German playwright, August F. F. von Kotzebue. His plays had become popular recently, as to a lesser degree had those of other Germans. This popularity was denounced by some writers due to the alleged immorality of German plays as well as the radical political views of many, including Kotzebue’s.
33. “Tricking” could refer to the use of artifice or deceptive stagecraft that fooled and surprised the audience; “trick” also could mean a prank or frolic or act of roguery. “Shift” could also denote acts of trickery and deceit, or could refer to changes of scenery or costume. All of these meanings would be suitable for the farcical productions that were typical of after-pieces.
34. A figure-dance is a dance with several figures or parts, while a hornpipe can refer either to a musical instrument of the time or to a lively dance often accompanied by it. Theatrical productions frequently added songs and dances to the program, including during the intervals between acts.
35. Acting was a trade then, which people were frequently apprenticed to when young, as in other trades. It was not very respectable socially and was considered especially improper for ladies.
36. Gentlemen and ladies of the time were educated in strict conventions of decorum, which emphasized the importance of restraint and propriety and would therefore preclude much of the behavior found on the stage.
37. Billiards was a popular amusement, especially for gentlemen, and many grand houses had a billiard room. The house of Jane Austen’s wealthy brother Edward contained one, and in Sense and Sensibility a man complains of the lack of such a room in a house where he is staying. For a contemporary illustration of men playing billiards, see this page.
38. The greenroom, a term still in use, is a room next to the side of the stage where the actors wait until it is time for them to appear onstage. Theater plans of the time consistently include a greenroom.
39. Some people objected to private theatricals, especially under the influence of the growing evangelical movement of the time. An example is Thomas Gisborne in An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex (1797), which Jane Austen read in 1805 and praised in a letter. Gisborne condemns private theatricals on the grounds that many plays are improper and morally dangerous, that acting in plays encourages vanity, and that they “destroy diffidence, by the unrestrained familiarity with persons of the other sex, which inevitably results from being joined with them in the drama” (see p. 175). It is not clear that Austen agrees with this verdict. When young she participated in her family’s frequent play-acting, and around the time that she read this book she joined in a theatrical production among people she was visiting. But past experience may have alerted her to potential dangers. In 1787–88, when Jane was twelve, her charming, hedonistic, and flirtatious cousin Eliza de Feuillide (see this page, note 68) played a leading role in the dramas the family was putting on, and seems to have fascinated and attracted two of Jane’s brothers, James and Henry, especially the latter (soon after, she expressed a strong interest in Henry, even though she was married to another man at the time). Jane’s perception of their flirtation was registered in a youthful story she wrote in this period entitled “Henry and Eliza,” in which the title characters elope.
40. want of feeling: lack of sensitivity, tenderness.
41. The principal objection here is probably that acting would mean taking advantage of his absence to engage in an activity, and to make alterations to his house, of which Sir Thomas might not approve.
42. He means her engagement, which might be imperiled by any appearance of impropriety on her part. In general, social conventions did not permit a man to withdraw from an engagement, but in this case Mr. Rushworth could plausibly argue that he was not breaking a formal pact since the engagement has not been officially sanctioned by Sir Thomas.
43. scruples: doubts, uncertainties.
44. Tom’s use of “my father” and “my mother,” even though he is speaking to his own brother, was standard at the time for genteel people. Along with the similar use of “my sister” and “my brother,” it is regularly found in Austen’s novels and in her letters. In a letter to her sister she comments, with evident bemusement, on a servant’s consistently saying “Mother” rather than “my mother” (Jan. 24, 1809).
45. amusing: diverting, distracting.
46. Tom refers to two of the most famous speeches in Shakespeare, Marc Antony’s funeral oration for the title character in Julius Caesar and Hamlet’s soliloquy.
47. “My name is Norval” is the beginning of a speech in the tragedy Douglas by John Home; the play, appearing in the 1750s, became one of the most popular tragedies of the age and was acclaimed by some as superior to Shakespeare.
48. The Christmas holidays were when Tom and Edmund were home from school.
49. Learning to speak well was considered an important part of education. It could also be especially important for Tom and Edmund, the former because, as the heir to the title and estate, he would be expected to succeed his father as a member of Parliament, where oratory was an essential skill, and the latter because, as a prospective clergyman, he will eventually have to deliver regular sermons.
50. Sir Thomas presumably shares the objection to female acting alluded to above, which would apply particularly to grown-up—i.e., sexually mature—women.
51. This is a deliberate understatement, for Tom will inherit the house.
52. Most editions of the novel amend this to “sisters’,” and it is possible that Jane Austen meant to refer to both sisters and it was accidentally altered by those printing the book. But it is also possible that the pianoforte was given to only one sister, most likely to Maria as the elder, and considered hers, even if both play on it.
53. This is a small sum for Tom, whose family’s income is certainly in the thousands per annum. At the same time, it exceeds the annual income of many laborers of the time.
54. Christopher Jackson is the carpenter for the estate; large estates often had various types of workers on staff.
55. by the ears: at variance, in a state of conflict.
56. representation: argument, remonstrance.
57. Maria’s probable reasoning is that because she is committed to a future husband she is less likely to engage in improper flirtation, and that others would be less likely to misinterpret her friendly behavior toward unrelated men as a sign of romantic interest.
58. under strappers: assistants.
59. A duenna is an elderly female chaperone; many plays of the time contained duennas, and the leading playwright of late eighteenth-century England, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, wrote a comic opera entitled The Duenna. A confidante is an intimate companion to a woman. Confidantes had long been common characters in dramas, since they provided a mechanism for the playwright to have important female characters express their inner thoughts aloud. Both duennas and confidantes are usually supporting roles, which is why Mary mentions them to indicate her willingness and flexibility.
60. mind of genius: character of talent or natural ability.
61. Meaning that he focuses on how kind Mary is to offer to help, rather than on her eagerness to engage in a plan he considers inappropriate.
62. In the period leading up to the expedition to Sotherton, she had been frequently at Mansfield Park. Since then, nothing important has occurred to furnish her an excuse for coming there for extended periods.
VOLUME I, CHAPTER XIV
1. business: task.
2. forming: being formed. This usage is found elsewhere in Austen’s novels and letters as well as in other writings of the time.
3. wanting: lacking.
4. determinateness: determination, decidedness of choice.
5. They are going through published copies of plays, of which there were many available.
6. Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello were, after Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s most popular tragedies at the time. For Douglas, see this page, note 47. The Gamester (1753), by Edward Moore, was another popular tragedy; it concerns a man destroyed by excessive gambling.
7. These are all comedies. The Rivals (1775) and The School for Scandal (1777) are the two most renowned pieces by the leading playwright of the age, Richard Brinsley Sheridan; the first centers around the romantic complications of two couples, while the second is a satire of fashionable London society. The Wheel of Fortune (1795), by Richard Cumberland, is a sentimental comedy about a man who ultimately renounces revenge on a man who wronged him in the past. The Heir at Law (1797) is by the popular comic dramatist George Colman the Younger; for more, see note 11.
8. These would be the characters of low social rank. Such characters almost always played supporting roles in plays of the time, and were usually comical, if not buffoonish.
9. nice: fastidious, choosy.
10. doubting: wondering.
11. The Heir at Law is a broad comedy that does not have “fine tragic parts.” Lord Duberly and Dr. Pangloss are leading roles, both highly comical. The first is a crude merchant seeking education; the second, the most celebrated character in the play, is a pedantic and greedy scholar who is hired for the task. Tom wishes for this play particularly because it would allow him to play one of these two figures.
12. Lovers’ Vows is based on Das Kind der Liebe by August F. F. von Kotzebue, which appeared in 1790. An English version by the popular playwright and novelist Elizabeth Inchbald was first performed in London in 1798, and quickly attained great success; it became a popular part of the theatrical repertoire and also appeared in various printed versions. Inchbald, who did not know German and based her version on someone else’s literal translation, made substantial changes to the play. This included changing the title, which translates to “love child,” for the play centers around a child born out of wedlock. Inchbald, knowing this to be a controversial if not taboo subject in England, substituted a more innocuous title, while also altering other important elements to create a drama more suitable to English taste, as she avows in a preface to the first printed edition. Even so, the drama, while praised by many, provoked condemnation for treating sympathetically a female character who had borne an illegitimate child.
The story begins with this character, Agatha, returning to the town where she had earlier had the child in order to look for him, now a full-grown man who has become a soldier; she is also on the verge of starvation. Her son, Frederick, soon appears, and he and his mother recognize each other and embrace. He determines to find food for her. Meanwhile Agatha’s seducer, Baron Wildenhaim, has just returned to his nearby castle after a long absence. He is entertaining Count Cassel, a suitor to his daughter Amelia. The Count, however, is vain and foolish, and Amelia prefers instead Anhalt, her teacher and the family chaplain. She declares her love to him, and Anhalt, after admitting the same passion, fears the Baron will never approve because he is not a nobleman. Meanwhile Frederick accosts the Count and the Baron, ignorant of the latter’s identity, and begs them for money for his mother; when the Baron does not give as much as he needs, Frederick pulls out his sword and demands more, which leads to his arrest and imprisonment at the castle. While there he learns the Baron is his father and reveals this to him; the Baron, who has long been stricken with remorse, decides to make amends, finds Agatha in the village, reconciles with her and Frederick, and agrees to marry her. Inspired by the same pure and generous spirit, he also gives his previously withheld permission for his daughter to marry Anhalt.
13. The butler, a comical supporting character, delivers information in the form of his own verses, even after being requested to speak in prose.
14. Tom is thinking only of the male parts in saying that is all. This may indicate his general disinterest in women as well as a self-centered focus on how each drama they are considering suits him personally.
15. Ranting, which could also mean simply speaking in a boisterous or declamatory manner, was considered an essential part of acting then. The vast size of theaters made loud tones and exaggerated gestures more necessary to communicate with the audience, and prevailing theories also stressed the importance of expressing each emotion through emphatic outward behavior. At the same time, some writers criticized actors who went too far in this direction, and praised more naturalistic performances. Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, the most popular and renowned of all eighteenth-century novels, contains an episode in which Tom’s servant is held up for ridicule because, after disparaging the actor playing Hamlet (identified as David Garrick, the greatest actor of his age and one renowned for his naturalism) on the grounds that he acted just as a man would act in those situations, he praises instead the actor playing the king, since “he speaks all his Words distinctly, half as loud again as the other.—Any Body may see he is an Actor.” Hence Yates’s ambition to rant would be criticized by many, including Jane Austen, who frequently ridicules the tendency toward melodramatic exaggeration in contemporary fiction.
16. parley: dialogue, exchange.
17. Agatha and Frederick have a long and tender scene of reconciliation and explanation, including several embraces, so Maria would naturally hope to play the role opposite Henry Crawford.
18. Since the Baron is Frederick’s father, and a figure of authority, his being taller could be seen as appropriate.
19. Tom exaggerates, probably due to his own preference for comedy, for Amelia has a number of tender and serious scenes. But she also expresses wit and humor, and her scenes are far more lighthearted than those of Agatha, who spends virtually the entire play in a pitiable state of misery and remorse.
20. The play opens with Agatha, and she dominates the first act.
21. come across me: cross my path, i.e., occur to me (often unintentionally or by chance).
22. In Act 1, Frederick makes his entrance wearing a soldier’s uniform and carrying a knapsack, which was mostly associated with soldiers at the time.
23. After the encounter of Agatha and Frederick, they are befriended and given succor by a cottager, the inhabitant of a cottage and thus a man of humble mea
ns, along with his wife.
24. pretty: nice, proper.
25. spirit: ardor, vigor. The wife differs with her husband in her inclination to speak critically of others despite his admonitions against it.
26. Cottager’s wife, while definitely a secondary role, does appear in several scenes and has numerous lines, albeit mostly short ones. Yates’s contempt for the role indicates his love of declamation, which more important characters engage in through long speeches explaining their situation and feelings.
27. A governess’s lower status makes her more appropriate for a lesser role as a poorer character. At the same time, unlike a servant, who would actually be closer to the rank of cottager’s wife, a governess’s better social background made her a suitable companion for joining in the amusements of the presiding family in the house.
28. office: position, function.
29. Yates begins to reveal his partiality for Julia.
30. Cottager and his wife appear together in all their scenes, and have a comparable number of lines, so the only difference is that, as Tom says, Cottager is a less humorous role.
31. pathetic: affecting, moving.
32. nicety: delicacy, subtlety.
33. “Simplicity” is a term that had assumed mostly positive connotations in the language of the time, and is consistently used that way in Austen’s novels. It most commonly occurs in descriptions of a person’s character, where it means sincerity and naturalness or lack of affectation and artifice; it is also used in this sense to describe Amelia at one point in the play. The word could also be employed in an aesthetic sense, meaning a suitable plainness and an absence of ornamentation or excessive elaboration. Henry is probably using the term in both senses when asserting the debility of professional actresses—though it is not clear how much he really believes this, since he is obviously searching for whatever argument he can use to mollify Julia. In this respect, as in many over the course of the novel, he is the opposite of moral simplicity, as defined at the time.