by Jane Austen
“She is so fond of Mrs. Forster,” said she, “it will be quite shocking to send her away! And there are several of the young men, too, that she likes very much.52 The officers may not be so pleasant in General—'s regiment.”
His daughter's request, for such it might be considered, of being admitted into her family again, before she set off for the North, received at first an absolute negative. But Jane and Elizabeth, who agreed in wishing, for the sake of their sister's feelings and consequence,53 that she should be noticed54 on her marriage by her parents, urged him so earnestly, yet so rationally and so mildly, to receive her and her husband at Longbourn, as soon as they were married, that he was prevailed on to think as they thought, and act as they wished. And their mother had the satisfaction of knowing, that she should be able to shew her married daughter in the neighbourhood, before she was banished to the North. When Mr. Bennet wrote again to his brother, therefore, he sent his permission for them to come; and it was settled, that as soon as the ceremony was over, they should proceed to Long-bourn. Elizabeth was surprised, however, that Wickham should consent to such a scheme, and, had she consulted only her own inclination, any meeting with him would have been the last object of her wishes.55
1. In other words, Lydia would still be tainted by her elopement, but she might regain some honor and credit, i.e., public reputation, through her marriage, bought by money for Wickham.
2. When the heir to an entail came of age, if the current holder of the entail (in this case Mr. Bennet) were still alive, they could join together to break or annul the entail. They could then establish a new settlement of the property to help other members of the family. But, while Mr. Bennet could hope to get a son to agree to such a new settlement (which would mean sacrificing some of his own interest for the sake of his siblings), Mr. Bennet would have no chance with a more distant relation like Mr. Collins.
3. saving: frugal.
4. economy: economical management. Management of the household, including such matters as meals and shopping and servants, would be Mrs. Bennet's responsibility.
5. independence: financial independence. Presumably this means that his desire to avoid going into debt, and thus becoming dependent on creditors, keeps him from being too careless.
6. In discussing Mr. Bennet's financial failures, Jane Austen does not mention another way he could have improved his position: increasing the revenues from his estate through agricultural improvement. Such improvements were being introduced by landowners throughout England at this time and were helping to lay the foundations for her rapid economic growth and industrialization in the nineteenth century. Jane Austen refers to a landowner's improvements in Sense and Sensibility; she may not bother discussing them here because, given Mr. Bennet's general indolence, they may have constituted even less of a real option for him than frugal living.
7. Marriage articles are provisions of the legally binding settlement drawn up before marriage. In this case the five thousand pounds—which would have derived from the four thousand in dowry of Mrs. Bennet (see p. 50) plus another thousand that Mr. Bennet's family would presumably have added—is a sum whose income Mr. Bennet is able to enjoy during his life, but which he cannot otherwise touch. After his death it will go to his wife or children.
In this case there is some ambiguity as to whether the wife or the children will be the primary recipient: Mr. Gardiner's letter speaks of the money going to the children after both parents died, but Mr. Bennet then talks of Lydia receiving her thousand after his death. Normally separate provisions were drawn up for the wife, in case of her becoming a widow, and for the children, who would often receive their sum when they turned twenty-one or when they married. In this case it seems that the Bennet children may not even receive their relatively small sum until both parents are dead, which would make their financial position even worse. The smallness of the mother's and children's inheritance, compared to that usually seen among those of this class, probably reflects the relatively weak position of Mrs. Ben-net's family when the marriage articles were drawn up: since they were of lower rank than Mr. Bennet's family, they and their daughter were, socially speaking, receiving greater advantages than they were conferring; the consequent weakness of their bargaining position meant that they probably felt greater pressure to compromise.
As for the lack of a specified distribution of the sum among the children, that was more normal. This procedure was often employed because it gave the parents more power over their children by allowing them to hold out the threat, to a disobedient or misbehaving child, of allotting all the inheritance to the other children.
8. That is, she already cost him around 90 pounds a year.
9. transports: fits, strong emotions.
10. decent philosophy: philosophical resignation or acceptance (regarding something undesirable).
11. Meaning that it would have provided better talk or gossip; that is why it required “decent philosophy” for them to bear the good news.
12. Miss Lydia Bennet: others in the neighborhood would call her this, for just saying “Lydia Bennet” would be too familiar in speaking about someone who was not a relation and who came from a genteel family.
13. come upon the town: sunk into a life of dissipation or prostitution.
14. Being isolated from society, while still being given a minimum of sustenance from her family, was a common fate of women who had fallen sexually. This is what happens to the adulteress in Mansfield Park.
15. spirit: zest, vigor.
16. Jane Austen is being ironic about their “good-natured wishes,” since the old ladies would have been uttering them while actually relishing Lydia's misfortunes.
17. oppressively high: oppressive for those around her.
18. Marriage among the wealthy, i.e. elegant nuptials, would normally involve the acquisition of new carriages and new dresses—of which latter, muslins (dresses of muslin fabric) were the most popular—as well as the establishment of a new household with its servants.
19. situation: place to live.
20. If Wickham remains a low-ranking military officer, his and Lydia's income will be very low, far too low to enable them to rent a large home.
21. importance: prominence. Mrs. Bennet wants an impressive house so that Wickham and Lydia can assume a prominent place in the neighborhood.
22. He would prefer not to begin an argument with his wife in the presence of the servants, for that could undermine the respect of the latter for their employers, or lead to gossip about the argument, based on the servants' reports, spreading through the neighborhood.
23. your son: a son-in-law was commonly called this.
24. impudence: effrontery; lack of chastity or modesty. Mr. Bennet could be referring to their earlier improper sexual behavior, or to their generally shameless attitude.
25. guinea: a coin worth a pound and a shilling.
26. A father normally gave his daughters clothes and other presents on her wedding, so it would be a mark of shame for a father to refuse to do this; in addition, without new clothes Lydia would not be able to look as elegant at the wedding. In Northanger Abbey a wealthy young woman is described as having received the considerable sum of five hundred pounds in order to buy wedding clothes.
27. That is, conceal their having lived together for two weeks beforehand.
28. Meaning she has no reason to fear that Darcy, thanks to his having learned of the affair at the inn at Lambton, will tell others of it.
It is at this point, when the crisis concerning Lydia is over, that Elizabeth can return to thinking at length about Darcy and her situation with regard to him.
29. In other words, Elizabeth's regrets about Darcy's knowledge do not stem from her belief that such knowledge would make him unwilling to marry her, for she thinks that, given his hatred for Wickham, he would be unwilling to connect himself to the Bennet family regardless of the circumstances of Lydia and Wickham's marriage. Instead, Elizabeth indicates here her concern about Darcy's opini
on, irrespective of the prospect of marrying him. This shows how much he has risen in her esteem.
30. intelligence: news, information (about him).
31. Elizabeth is thus experiencing the same pain of believing a beloved to be unattainable that Darcy experienced after she rejected him.
32. generous: noble, magnanimous.
33. Meaning that even the most magnanimous man would be human enough to feel some sense of triumph at such a turn of events and such a vindication of himself.
34. understanding and temper: mind and disposition.
35. ease: lack of formality or social awkwardness.
36. liveliness: playfulness, lightheartedness.
37. mind: inner character.
38. softened: made gentler.
39. information: instruction; or capacity to instruct.
40. This passages expresses what may be the central ideal in Jane Austen, that of love as a force to perfect our characters—at least when that love is a rational and sound love. Elizabeth imagines here the ways that both she and Darcy could become a better person after their marriage; the novel already demonstrates the improvements each undergoes before marriage under the influence of the other.
41. In other words, a union of a contrasting nature, one that is guaranteed to make such connubial felicity impossible. The reference is to Lydia and Wickham's match.
42. That is, how they would be able to support themselves in a decent manner financially.
43. The reasons for Mr. Gardiner's wish to close the subject, and to avoid receiving further thanks for his supposed rescue of Lydia, will soon be shown (pp. 586, 588).
44. purport: purpose.
45. Since people in Wickham's existing corps would know how he and Lydia came to be married, the two of them would probably be ridiculed and scorned.
46. regulars: regular units, i.e., the part of the army that, unlike the militia, would fight in wars abroad.
47. He would need assistance particularly in purchasing a commission for the regulars. See p. 589, note 29 for how it transpired.
48. ensigncy: the lowest officer position in the army (his main function was to carry the colors, or ensignia, of the unit). Wickham is descending in rank from his earlier position as a lieutenant, though this is balanced by his moving to the more prestigious regulars.
49. General———s regiment: as with the militia, Jane Austen prefers not to specify an actual regiment; in this case she even omits the commander's name. She was willing to name the colonel for Wickham's militia regiment, but since there were fewer generals, it would be easier for someone to say that in fact no such officer existed.
It was normal in the regular army, unlike in the militia, for the commander of a regiment to be a general (though the position of regimental command was still called a colonelcy). This was because the regular army had an abundance of generals, in contrast to the militia's frequent shortage of officers at various levels. This abundance stemmed from the practice of normally conferring automatic promotion on any colonel who had served a certain number of years, combined with the reluctance of officers to retire due to the absence of any real pension system. Thus many generals, being unable to procure one of the limited number of higher posts, remained in regimental command after promotion; at the close of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, a mere handful of the approximately 200 regiments in the regular army were commanded by a colonel rather than by a general.
50. If other people do not know their past, something more likely if they are in a distant place, these others will consider them to have decent characters; thus Wickham and Lydia will have an incentive to act well in order to main tain those characters or reputations. Were they among those who regard them already as bad, the two would lack this incentive. The phrase “promises fairly” indicates Mr. Gardiner has at least moderate hopes that this will occur.
51. Their strong perception of the advantage of Lydia and Wickham's removal to a distant place may be based on more than the reason Mr. Gardiner suggested, that Wickham and Lydia might improve if among strangers. Mr. Bennet, as well as Elizabeth, may be thinking particularly of the benefits of having Wickham and Lydia far away from the rest of the family. This would allow the others to avoid their unpleasant presence; it would also mean that Kitty would be less exposed to any harmful influences emanating from the new couple. In the last chapter of the book Mr. Bennet is described, evidently for this very reason, as never allowing Kitty to visit Lydia despite the latter's frequent invitations.
52. One can imagine that Lydia frequently told her mother, while the regiment was in Meryton, of her affections for or flirtations with various officers, and that Mrs. Bennet eagerly soaked up this information.
53. consequence: social standing or importance.
54. noticed: recognized, acknowledged. A refusal of such notice by Mr. Bennet, which would be very unusual, would signal to everyone how badly they had behaved, and thus further discredit Lydia.
55. It would seem that Elizabeth hoped that, while Mr. and Mrs. Bennet would acknowledge Lydia by inviting her to come, she and Wickham would not actually accept the invitation, in part because Wickham would not be willing to face the family.
Chapter Nine
T heir sister's wedding day arrived; and Jane and Elizabeth felt for her probably more than she felt for herself1 The carriage was sent to meet them at——,2 and they were to return in it, by dinner-time. Their arrival was dreaded by the elder Miss Bennets; and Jane more especially, who gave Lydia the feelings which would have attended herself, had she been the culprit, was wretched in the thought of what her sister must endure.
They came. The family were assembled in the breakfast room, to receive them. Smiles decked the face of Mrs. Bennet, as the carriage drove up to the door; her husband looked impenetrably grave; her daughters, alarmed, anxious, uneasy.
Lydia's voice was heard in the vestibule; the door was thrown open, and she ran into the room. Her mother stepped forwards, embraced her, and welcomed her with rapture; gave her hand with an affectionate smile to Wickham, who followed his lady,3 and wished them both joy, with an alacrity which shewed no doubt of their happiness.
Their reception from Mr. Bennet, to whom they then turned, was not quite so cordial. His countenance rather gained in austerity; and he scarcely opened his lips. The easy assurance4 of the young couple, indeed, was enough to provoke him. Elizabeth was disgusted, and even Miss Bennet was shocked. Lydia was Lydia still; untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, and fearless. She turned from sister to sister, demanding their congratulations, and when at length they all sat down, looked eagerly round the room, took notice of some little alteration in it, and observed, with a laugh, that it was a great while since she had been there.
Wickham was not at all more distressed than herself, but his manners were always so pleasing, that had his character and his marriage been exactly what they ought, his smiles and his easy address,5 while he claimed their relationship, would have delighted them all. Elizabeth had not before believed him quite equal to such assurance; but she sat down, resolving within herself, to draw no limits in future to the impudence of an impudent6 man.7 She blushed, and Jane blushed; but the cheeks of the two who caused their confusion, suffered no variation of colour.
There was no want of discourse.8 The bride and her mother could neither of them talk fast enough; and Wickham, who happened to sit near Elizabeth, began enquiring after his acquaintance in that neighbourhood, with a good humoured ease, which she felt very unable to equal in her replies. They seemed each of them to have the happiest memories in the world. Nothing of the past was recollected with pain; and Lydia led voluntarily to subjects, which her sisters would not have alluded to for the world.
“Only think of its being three months,” she cried, “since I went away; it seems but a fortnight I declare; and yet there have been things enough happened in the time. Good gracious! when I went away, I am sure I had no more idea of being married till I came back again! though I thought it would be very goo
d fun if I was.”
Her father lifted up his eyes. Jane was distressed. Elizabeth looked expressively at Lydia; but she, who never heard nor saw any thing of which she chose to be insensible,9 gaily continued, “Oh! mamma, do the people here abouts know I am married today? I was afraid they might not; and we overtook William Goulding in his curricle,10 so I was determined he should know it, and so I let down the side glass11 next to him, and took off my glove, and let my hand just rest upon the window frame, so that he might see the ring, and then I bowed and smiled like any thing.”
Elizabeth could bear it no longer. She got up, and ran out of the room; and returned no more, till she heard them passing through the hall to the dining parlour. She then joined them soon enough to see Lydia, with anxious parade,12 walk up to her mother's right hand, and hear her say to her eldest sister, “Ah! Jane, I take your place now, and you must go lower, because I am a married woman.”13
It was not to be supposed that time would give Lydia that embarrassment, from which she had been so wholly free at first. Her ease and good spirits increased. She longed to see Mrs. Philips, the Lucases, and all their other neighbours, and to hear herself called “Mrs. Wickham,” by each of them; and in the mean time, she went after dinner to shew her ring and boast of being married, to Mrs. Hill and the two housemaids.14
“Well, mamma,” said she, when they were all returned to the breakfast room,15 “and what do you think of my husband? Is not he a charming man? I am sure my sisters must all envy me. I only hope they may have half my good luck. They must all go to Brighton. That is the place to get husbands. What a pity it is, mamma, we did not all go.”
“Very true; and if I had my will, we should. But my dear Lydia, I don't at all like your going such a way off. Must it be so?”
“Oh, lord! yes; —there is nothing in that. I shall like it of all things. You and papa, and my sisters, must come down and see us. We shall be at Newcastle16 all the winter, and I dare say there will be some balls, and I will take care to get good partners for them all.”