by Jane Austen
It is possible that Darcy, as a reader, might catch Elizabeth's allusion to Gilpin; it is doubtful that Miss Bingley or Mrs. Hurst would.
[from William Gilpin, Observations, on Several Parts of England, particularly the Mountains and Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, made in the Year 1772, Vol. II (London, 1808), p. 254]
Chapter Eleven
W hen the ladies removed after dinne,1 Elizabeth ran up to her sister, and seeing her well guarded from cold, attended her into the drawing-room; where she was welcomed by her two friends with many professions of pleasure; and Elizabeth had never seen them so agreeable as they were during the hour which passed before the gentlemen appeared. Their powers of conversation were considerable. They could describe an entertainment2 with accuracy,3 relate an anecdote with humour, and laugh at their acquaintance with spirit.4
But when the gentlemen entered, Jane was no longer the first object. Miss Bingley's eyes were instantly turned towards Darcy, and she had something to say to him before he had advanced many steps. He addressed himself directly to Miss Bennet, with a polite congratulation; Mr. Hurst also made her a slight bow, and said he was “very glad;” but diffuseness5 and warmth remained for Bingley's salutation. He was full of joy and attention. The first half hour was spent in piling up the fire,6 lest she should suffer from the change of room; and she removed at his desire to the other side of the fire-place, that she might be farther from the door.7 He then sat down by her, and talked scarcely to any one else. Elizabeth, at work8 in the opposite corner, saw it all with great delight.
When tea9 was over, Mr. Hurst reminded his sister-in-law of the card-table—but in vain. She had obtained private intelligence10 that Mr. Darcy did not wish for cards; and Mr. Hurst soon found even his open petition rejected.11 She assured him that no one intended to play, and the silence of the whole party on the subject, seemed to justify her. Mr. Hurst had therefore nothing to do, but to stretch himself on one of the sophas and go to sleep.12 Darcy took up a book; Miss Bingley did the same; and Mrs. Hurst, principally occupied in playing with her bracelets and rings, joined now and then in her brother's conversation with Miss Bennet.
Miss Bingley's attention was quite as much engaged in watching Mr. Darcy's progress through his book, as in reading her own; and she was perpetually either making some inquiry, or looking at his page. She could not win him, however, to any conversation; he merely answered her question, and read on. At length, quite exhausted by the attempt to be amused with her own book, which she had only chosen because it was the second volume of his,13 she gave a great yawn and said, “How pleasant it is to spend an evening in this way! I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book!—When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”14
No one made any reply. She then yawned again, threw aside her book, and cast her eyes round the room in quest of some amusement; when hearing her brother mentioning a ball to Miss Bennet, she turned suddenly towards him and said,
“By the bye, Charles, are you really serious in meditating a dance at Netherfield? —I would advise you, before you determine on it, to consult the wishes of the present party; I am much mistaken if there are not some among us to whom a ball would be rather a punishment than a pleasure.”
“If you mean Darcy,” cried her brother, “he may go to bed, if he chuses, before it begins—but as for the ball, it is quite a settled thing; and as soon as Nicholls has made white soup15 enough I shall send round my cards.”16
“I should like balls infinitely better,” she replied, “if they were carried on in a different manner; but there is something insufferably tedious in the usual process of such a meeting. It would surely be much more rational if conversation instead of dancing made the order of the day.”
“Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say but it would not be near so much like a ball.”17
Miss Bingley made no answer; and soon afterwards got up and walked about the room. Her figure was elegant, and she walked well;18 —but Darcy, at whom it was all aimed, was still inflexibly studious.19 In the desperation of her feelings she resolved on one effort more; and, turning to Elizabeth, said,
“Miss Eliza Bennet, let me persuade you to follow my example, and take a turn20 about the room. —I assure you it is very refreshing after sitting so long in one attitude.”21
Elizabeth was surprised, but agreed to it immediately. Miss Bingley succeeded no less in the real object of her civility; Mr. Darcy looked up.22 He was as much awake to the novelty of attention in that quarter as Elizabeth herself could be, and unconsciously closed his book. He was directly invited to join their party, but he declined it, observing, that he could imagine but two motives for their chusing to walk up and down the room together, with either of which motives his joining them would interfere. “What could he mean? she was dying to know what could be his meaning?” —and asked Elizabeth whether she could at all understand him?
“Not at all,” was her answer; “but depend upon it, he means to be severe on us, and our surest way of disappointing him, will be to ask nothing about it.”
Miss Bingley, however, was incapable of disappointing Mr. Darcy in any thing, and persevered therefore in requiring an explanation of his two motives.
“I have not the smallest objection to explaining them,” said he, as soon as she allowed him to speak. “You either chuse this method of passing the evening because you are in each other's confidence and have secret affairs to discuss, or because you are conscious that your figures appear to the greatest advantage in walking; —if the first, I should be completely in your way; —and if the second, I can admire you much better as I sit by the fire.”
“Oh! shocking!” cried Miss Bingley. “I never heard any thing so abominable. How shall we punish him for such a speech?”
“Nothing so easy, if you have but the inclination,” said Elizabeth. “We can all plague and punish one another. Teaze him—laugh at him.—Intimate as you are, you must know how it is to be done.”
“But upon my honour I do not. I do assure you that my intimacy has not yet taught me that. Teaze calmness of temper and presence of mind! No, no —I feel he may defy us there. And as to laughter, we will not expose ourselves, if you please, by attempting to laugh without a subject. Mr. Darcy may hug himself”23
“Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at!” cried Elizabeth. “That is an uncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue, for it would be a great loss to me to have many such acquaintance. I dearly love a laugh.”24
“Miss Bingley,” said he, “has given me credit for more than can be. The wisest and the best of men, nay, the wisest and best of their actions, may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke.”
“Certainly,” replied Elizabeth —”there are such people, but I hope I am not one oithem. I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.—But these, I suppose, are precisely what you are without.”
“Perhaps that is not possible for any one. But it has been the study of my life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong understanding25 to ridicule.”26
“Such as vanity and pride.”
“Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride—where there is a real superiority of mind,27 pride will be always under good regulation.”28
Elizabeth turned away to hide a smile.
“Your examination of Mr. Darcy is over, I presume,” said Miss Bingley; —”and pray what is the result?”
“I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect. He owns29 it himself without disguise.”
“No” —said Darcy, “I have made no such pretension. I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch for.—It is I believe too little yielding—certainly too little for the convenience of the world.
I cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought, nor their offences against myself. My feelings are not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper would perhaps be called resentful —My good opinion once lost is lost for ever.”30
“That is a failing indeed!” —cried Elizabeth. “Implacable resentment is a shade31 in a character. But you have chosen your fault well.—I really cannot laugh at it. You are safe from me.”
“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil, a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.”
“And your defect is a propensity to hate every body.”
“And yours,” he replied with a smile, “is wilfully to misunderstand them.”32
“Do let us have a little music,” —cried Miss Bingley, tired of a conversation in which she had no share.33 —”Louisa, you will not mind my waking Mr. Hurst.”
Her sister made not the smallest objection, and the piano forte was opened, and Darcy, after a few moments recollection, was not sorry for it. He began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention.
1. It was customary for the ladies to withdraw after dinner into the drawing room, leaving the gentlemen alone for a while. The men would generally drink further, talk about subjects like politics that were considered to be of particular interest to men, or even introduce salacious matter and jokes, something strictly forbidden in the presence of ladies.
2. entertainment: used to describe not just public performances, but also social gatherings or other activities done for enjoyment.
3. accuracy: precision; the word then related more to the care or exactness with which an account was rendered than to its validity or truthfulness.
4. spirit: animation, vigor. The abilities of the two sisters shine particularly in the area of mockery.
5. diffuseness: verboseness. In other words, Bingley spoke a great deal, in contrast to the others' conciseness.
6. piling up the fire: building it up so it burns hotter, and thereby warms the room more. It is now mid-November, so warding off the outside cold would be an important issue.
7. In an age without central heating, the temperature could vary significantly in different parts of the room. If the door leads to an unheated or less heated room, being near it would be colder, though it is implied that here the possibility exists mostly in Bingley's imagination.
8. work: needlework. This usage, often seen in the novel, signals needlework's central place in women's lives then. Elizabeth, though said later not to be an eager needleworker, is shown engaged in it at several points.
9. tea: this normally occurred an hour or two after dinner.
10. intelligence: information.
11. As the one keeping house, Miss Bingley would be the one to decide on bringing out the card table, which means, given her interest in Darcy, that his wishes rather than Mr. Hurst's have priority.
12. In line with the prevailing emphasis on elegance and formality, people at the time were always encouraged to maintain an erect seating posture, with any slouching or leaning back in the chair regarded as slothful (except in the case of the sick or infirm). Hence Mr. Hurst's lying down and sleeping on a sofa would be considered a true mark of laxness or self-indulgence, especially since he does it in the presence of guests.
13. Books then were often published in multiple volumes. This was the case with all Jane Austen's novels.
14. One sees here the hopelessness of Miss Bingley's pursuit of Darcy, for her patent insincerity runs completely contrary to his hatred of deceit, and her lack of interest in books goes against his earlier praise of extensive reading for women.
15. white soup: a popular soup for parties. It had a long and distinguished pedigree, having been originally part of courtly cookery; its French name was soupe à la reine, or “Queen's soup.” Its most basic ingredients were almonds and cream; Martha Lloyd, a close family friend of the Austens, left behind a recipe for White Soup that involved almonds, cream, egg yolks, and meat gravy. Nicholls is, as we learn later, the housekeeper; it is she who would be supervising the making of the soup, rather than the cook (though occasionally the two functions were combined in the same person).
16. cards: invitations.
17. Bingley's reply suggests that, while often unequal to Darcy, he is more than a match for his sister; it also reveals the absurdity of her statement, and thus the lengths to which she will go in her attempt to say whatever she can that might please Darcy—in this instance she has criticized dancing at balls because he does not like dancing much.
18. Miss Bingley turns to using her physical qualities to attract Darcy's attention after she has just shown, through indifference to her book and being made to look foolish in discussion by her brother, how little she could ever hope to attract Darcy through her mental ones.
19. studious: devoted to books or study, or intent on a purpose. In this case, it means that Darcy is paying full attention to his book.
20. take a turn: walk in a circuit.
21. attitude: posture, position.
22. Miss Bingley may wish not only to draw Darcy's attention generally, but also to have him watch herself and Elizabeth engage in an activity in which she could hope to outshine the latter. Miss Bingley, in her earlier list of female accomplishments, said that a young woman must “possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking,” and she undoubtedly believes in her own excellence in this department, especially because of her education at a leading ladies' seminary. Such schools instructed their pupils in elegant and attractive manners of standing, sitting, walking, etc.; sometimes these skills were emphasized above almost all other attainments. One of Jane Austen's sisters-in-law went to a fashionable London boarding school that offered minimal academic instruction, but did include training in how to enter and exit a carriage in a becoming manner, for which purpose it installed an actual carriage in the building to allow the students to practice. Books of advice on the best ways of walking, sitting, or performing other motions existed; they could be addressed to men as well as to women, but it was the latter who had most reason to heed them since they were the ones most likely to be noticed and evaluated in these areas.
23. hug himself: congratulate, or feel smug about, himself.
24. Another exchange between Elizabeth and Darcy that illuminates an important theme of the novel, which contains characters who err by taking themselves too seriously, and ones who err by allowing their love of a joke to make them neglect serious matters (Mr. Bennet and Lydia are both, in different ways, examples of the latter). Darcy at times commits the first error, and Elizabeth the second—a difference that mirrors their disagreement here.
This issue also has particular resonance for Jane Austen, who displays throughout her novels the same love of follies and nonsense that Elizabeth avows here, even as her novels also engage continually with serious moral issues. The one truly critical comment she makes about this novel in her correspondence is to say it is “rather too light & bright & sparkling” and might benefit from a little more serious matter (though she is somewhat playful in her suggestions as to what that serious matter might be). This may be one reason why her next novel, Mansfield Park, which she composed while finishing this one, is in a distinctly more serious vein.
25. understanding: intellect, judgment.
26. A good clue to Darcy's character: he hates weakness, he has continually endeavored to avoid it, and he takes pride in his presumed success.
27. mind: character.
28. under good regulation: Darcy probably means that such superiority of mind will ensure that a person's pride is always regulated properly and will not become unreasonable. He could also mean that pride, in a superior person, will always have some justification, i.e., conform to regulations for a good character. In either case, he refuses to admit that pride is a weakness, at least for a superior person (like himself). In condemning vanity more than pride Darcy may be relying on the idea that vanity re
flects a greater concern with others' opinions (see p. 35, note 16), something Darcy always disdains.
29. owns: acknowledges. Elizabeth is being sarcastic, for she clearly disagrees with his defense of pride.
30. In supposedly admitting his flaw, Darcy actually uses language that justifies himself as much as possible. According to him, what he violates is merely the world's “convenience,” what he refuses to yield to are “follies and vices” or “offences against myself” (rather than anything more benign), and what his behavior contrasts with is the behavior of those who are “puffed about with every attempt to move them.” It could be said that Darcy is here giving his own example of the deceitful “appearance of humility,” or “indirect boast,” that he had spotted and criticized in Bingley in the previous chapter.
31. shade: shadow, i.e., dark or negative spot. The idea of Darcy being a man of implacable resentment is one that fixes itself firmly in Elizabeth's mind. In fact, Darcy has not exactly avowed this quality, though it could be inferred from what he says, and he later proves himself not to be such a man at all, for he does not maintain his resentment of Elizabeth after she harshly rejects him and makes unjust accusations about his character.