Below is a snapshot of the Web page as it appeared on 4/24/2024 (the last time our crawler visited it). This is the version of the page that was used for ranking your search results. The page may have changed since we last cached it. To see what might have changed (without the highlights), go to the current page.
Bing is not responsible for the content of this page.
This Jane Austen blog brings Jane Austen, her novels, and the Regency Period alive through food, dress, social customs, and other 19th C. historical details related to this topic.
It’s time for the next installment in this series devoted to examining the enduring romantic themes in Jane Austen’s novels, many of which are used over and over again in today’s most popular “rom com” movies and books.
This month, we’re taking a closer look at the romantic themes Jane Austen used in Northanger Abbey (NA) and tracking the themes that are still used today.
Defining the “Meet-Cute”
Every rom com has a meet-cute, the moment when two characters meet each other in a “cute” and memorable way. In The Holiday, Arthur (Eli Wallach) defines a meet-cute like this:
Say a man and a woman both need something to sleep in, and they both go to the same men’s pajama department. And the man says to the salesman, ‘I just need bottoms.’ The woman says, ‘I just need a top.’ They look at each other, and that’s the meet-cute.”
The Holiday
While every story has a meet-cute, some are cuter than others. Sometimes the two characters cannot stand one another, sometimes there is a misunderstanding, and sometimes there is a clash. But sometimes, as in NA, the two characters meet and are immediately drawn to one another.
Introducing Mr. Tilney
In NA, not only do Catherine Morland and Henry Tilney have a clever first meeting, we also learn a lot about social etiquette during that era.
When Catherine arrives in Bath, she knows no one and her chaperone, Mrs. Allen, has no immediate acquaintances. On their first night in the Upper Rooms, they move through a crowded ballroom, but because Mrs. Allen does not see anyone she knows, Catherine cannot dance:
[S]he longed to dance, but she had not an acquaintance in the room. Mrs. Allen did all that she could do in such a case by saying very placidly, every now and then, “I wish you could dance, my dear—I wish you could get a partner.”
Northanger Abbey
However, when they visit the Lower Rooms, “fortune” is “more favourable to our heroine” (Ch. 3). It’s there that the master of ceremonies makes an introduction: “The master of the ceremonies introduced to her a very gentleman-like young man as a partner; his name was Tilney.”
After dancing they strike up a lively conversation and the meet-cute is on.
Northanger’s Meet-Cute
Henry is described by Austen in highly favorable terms: “He seemed to be about four or five and twenty, was rather tall, had a pleasing countenance, a very intelligent and lively eye, and, if not quite handsome, was very near it. His address was good, and Catherine felt herself in high luck.”
As they talk, Mr. Tilney teases Catherine and is clearly a good-humored man: “He talked with fluency and spirit—and there was an archness and pleasantry in his manner which interested, though it was hardly understood by her.”
Mr. Tilney flirts with Catherine when he questions her about her journal and even tells her what she “ought” to write in it after their meeting:
“I danced with a very agreeable young man, introduced by Mr. King; had a great deal of conversation with him—seems a most extraordinary genius—hope I may know more of him. That, madam, is what I wish you to say.”
For the remainder of the chapter, Austen is at her absolute best with light-hearted, quick-paced dialogue and witty banter. Rarely do any of her characters talk quite so much upon first meeting one another, and we, her readers, find ourselves as charmed by Henry as Catherine herself:
They danced again; and, when the assembly closed, parted, on the lady’s side at least, with a strong inclination for continuing the acquaintance. Whether she thought of him so much, while she drank her warm wine and water, and prepared herself for bed, as to dream of him when there, cannot be ascertained; but I hope it was no more than in a slight slumber, or a morning doze at most; for if it be true, as a celebrated writer has maintained, that no young lady can be justified in falling in love before the gentleman’s love is declared, it must be very improper that a young lady should dream of a gentleman before the gentleman is first known to have dreamt of her.
Northanger Abbey
Love at First Sight, Conflict Ahead
In a book with a quick mutual connection between characters, there must be some kind of problem or conflict to keep the story going. Otherwise, it would be over in the first few pages. In many popular movies today, writers add in misunderstandings, timing issues, geographical hurdles, age differences, and other road blocks to make things interesting.
The same is true for NA. After their first meeting, Catherine develops an immediate first major crush, and it’s clear that Mr. Tilney is hoping to see more of her as well. Both are charmed and interested. Both hope to see one another again. However, as with most stories that start with immediate attraction, Catherine and Henry don’t live happily ever after–at least not right away.
For the remainder of the novel, Austen uses a variety of plot devices to create conflict for her two young lovers, unfold a larger plot with its own major themes, and build a multi-layered story arc for Catherine and Henry.
C.E. Brock illustration, Northanger Abbey, “Pray, pray, Stop Mr. Thorpe”
Popular “Meet-Cute” Examples
No romantic comedy can hold a candle to Jane Austen’s complex plots, characters, and novels. However, it’s interesting to think about the devices she used to create the meet-cute in NA versus the devices writers must use today. While people don’t need a master of ceremonies to introduce them anymore, writers still must find ways to “match-make” their characters. Here are some popular movies that fall into the “meet-cute” category:
In The Holiday, there are several meet-cutes: When Iris and Amanda switch houses for Christmas, Iris ends up meeting Miles when he comes to drop something off at Amanda’s house on a windy day in Los Angeles. Miles and Iris immediately hit it off, while Miles’ girlfriend sits in his car waiting. Amanda meets Graham when he shows up on her doorstep (Iris’ doorstep), hoping to crash at his sister’s house after a night out.
In Serendipity, the two main characters meet in a busy department store at Christmas time. They each grab for the last pair of black gloves and strike up a conversation.
In Notting Hill, Will spills orange juice on Anna, a popular movie star, when they crash into one another on the sidewalk near his apartment. She agrees to go to his place to change into clean clothes and they share a delightful first conversation and an unexpected first kiss.
In 50 First Dates, Henry must create a series of meet-cutes to gain the attention of Lucy each day because she has lost her short-term memory and forgets who he is every time they meet.
And in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, we find a refreshing twist on the meet-cute when Toula meets and falls in love with Ian. As she serves him at her family’s restaurant, she can’t even speak to him. However, that meeting pushes Toula to change her life, go to school, (get a makeover – of course), and become the confident woman Ian later notices through the window of a travel agency.
Clever Introductions
Jane Austen created her stories in a world where men and women could only meet under certain circumstances. The social rules of her time necessarily set up parameters that she had to follow, which provided for some very creative inspiration. Today, people don’t have to follow those same rules, but they still need to find a way to meet and introduce themselves, either in person, online, at church, work, or school, or through a mutual friend.
What are some of your favorite “meet-cute” moments in literature or film? If you have a “meet-cute” story of your own, we’d love to hear about it in the comments!
During Jane Austen’s lifetime, conduct literature that advocated ideal conduct and character for young women was common. In the form of letters, pamphlets, and full-length novels, conduct literature covered an array of topics meant to instruct and inform.
Conduct manuals played a large part in forming Austen’s culture and the world of her novels. To better understand her world and her characters, let’s take a closer look at the world of conduct literature for young ladies.
Conduct Books
Whereas etiquette books of the last century, such as Emily Post’s Etiquette, stressed good manners and how to behave in specific social situations, the conduct manuals and letters written for young ladies in Jane Austen’s time focused mainly on propriety. The central purpose was to mold the character of a young woman and teach her how to think, act, and speak in a way that was both morally and socially proper.
Conduct manuals discussed a wide range of subjects, including household chores, religion, and what to look for in a husband. However, the underlying concern evident in most of the conduct pamphlets being written at this time was the cultivation of “virtue” in the female sex. As Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin states in Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787), “the main business of our lives is to learn to be virtuous.” And according to many eighteenth-century conduct books, a woman’s virtue was expressed in her attitudes, her carriage, her accomplishments, and her actions and speech.
But what did these books, letters, and pamphlets actually say? Let’s take a closer look at three examples from the late 1700s to see what young ladies were taught during Austen’s youth and adolescence:
“A Father’s Legacy to His Daughters”
In John Gregory’s popular conduct book, A Father’s Legacy to his Daughters(first published in 1774), Gregory told his daughters that they should aspire to the kind of “virtue” their deceased mother possessed and put on “a certain gentleness of spirit and manners extremely engaging in [women].”
Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, The New York Public Library. “A father’s legacy to his daughters.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
The topics for this particular conduct book are as follows:
Religion
Conduct and Behaviour
Amusements
Friendship, Love, Marriage
On the topic of Amusements, Gregory has this to say:
Some amusements are conducive to health, as various kinds of exercise: some are connected with qualities really useful, as different kinds of women’s work, and all the domestic concerns of a family: some are elegant accomplishments, as dress, dancing, music, and drawing. Such books as improve your understandings, enlarge your knowledge, and cultivate your taste, may be considered in a higher point of view than mere amusements. There are a variety of others, which are neither useful nor ornamental, such as play of different kinds.
On the topic of Friendship, Gregory makes these comments:
A happy choice of friends will be of the utmost consequence to you, as they may assist you by their advice and good offices. But the immediate gratification which friendship affords to a warm, open, and ingenuous heart, is of itself sufficient motive to court it. In the choice of your friends, have your principal regard to goodness of heart and fidelity. If they also possess taste and genius, that will still make them more agreeable and useful companions.
“An Unfortunate Mother’s Advice to Her Absent Daughters”
In Lady Pennington’s An Unfortunate Mother’s Advice to Her Absent Daughters(1761), she covers many topics for young ladies, complete with an index of books her daughters should read as part of her discussion on how her daughters should make “mental improvements” through reading, which gives us insight into other literature of the time period that was considered edifying for young ladies:
Along with Gregory, Pennington suggests that virtue should be a person’s highest goal: “Aim at perfection, or you will never reach to an attainable height of virtue.”
She goes into great detail on an expansive number of subjects, but one interesting highlight that seems to have been common for Jane Austen herself and for her leading ladies is in regard to one’s daily schedule. She explains that mornings should be spent in domestic duties and “improvement.” Afternoons “may then be allowed to diversions” (which includes “company, books of the amusing kind, and entertaining productions of the needle, as well as plays, balls”).
But, she says, the former part of the day should be “devoted to more useful employments”:
One half hour, or more, either before or immediately after breakfast, I would have you constantly give to the attentive perusal of some rationally pious author, or to some part of the New Testament, with which, and indeed with the whole Scripture, you ought to make yourself perfectly acquainted, as the basis on which your religion is founded. From this practice you will reap more real benefit than can be supposed by those who have never made the experiment.”
Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, The New York Public Library. “An Unfortunate Mother’s Advice to Her Absent Daughters, in a letter to Miss Pennington,” The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
Further advice includes studying “your own language thoroughly, that you may speak correctly, and write grammatically.” She suggests being “well acquainted” with French and, if possible, Italian; the history of England other European nations; Geography, as this will “make history more entertaining to you;” Philosophy; and the “first four rules of Arithmetic.” Music and Drawing are humorously described as “accomplishments well worth the trouble of attaining, if your inclination and genius lead to either: if not, do not attempt them; for it will be only much time and labour unprofitably thrown away.”
Finally, a quote I found personally inspiring which I can imagine Austen might have agreed with:
Expect not many friends, but think yourself happy, if, through life, you meet with one or two who deserve that name, and have all the requisites for the valuable relation.
Austen herself read a conduct manual titled An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex, written by Thomas Gisborne (1797), which followed his popular “Enquiries into the Duties of Men.” It covers topics such as the differences between men and women, female education, introducing young women into society, conversation and letter writing, dress, entertainment, the employment of time, choosing a husband, the duties of parents, and so forth.
I am glad you recommended “Gisborne”, for having begun, I am pleased with it, and I had quite determined not to read it.
Letter from Jane to Cassandra, 30 August 1805
To explain Austen’s possible reason for this common, the British Library has this to say:
“We don’t know why Austen had ‘determined not to read’ An Enquiry. Perhaps she expected it to be similar to the Mr Collins-endorsed Sermons to Young Women, referred to in Pride and Prejudice, which stresses the need for women to be submissive and modest. In fact, Gisborne praises woman’s capacity for ‘sprightliness and vivacity’, ‘quickness of perception’ and ‘fertility of invention’ – as well as the more traditional female virtues of offering comfort and cheer to those around them.
“Though Gisborne’s views seem conservative to modern readers, many of them are similar to those that Austen expresses in her novels. He urges women to spend time each day reading improving books, mentioning as particularly suitable the works of William Cowper, one of Austen’s favourite poets (p. 219). He warns against the ‘absurd and mischievous’ belief that a woman can reform a cruel and immoral man after marrying him (p. 238), and criticises mothers who prioritise wealth over happiness in choosing husbands for their daughters.” (British Library, Conduct Book for Women)
Forms of Conduct Literature
There were countless other conduct books, letters, and pamphlets written during Austen’s lifetime. These, along with sermons and religious writings, were the only kind of reading material that was thought proper for young ladies. Later, didactic novels that taught a moral lesson in story form, became more popular. Still within the genre of conduct literature, didactic novels were written to entertain and instruct. Stay tuned for more on that topic next month.
I encourage you to follow the links above and read some of these books for yourself. It’s quite interesting to find out what exactly young women were taught during Jane Austen’s time. And it’s easy to see where Austen may have found instruction, inspiration, and even, at times, amusement within their pages.
In Volume Two, Chapters 13 & 14, the emotional drama that Eleanor Tilney and Catherine Morland share almost explodes from its pages. After discovering that Catherine Morland was not the great heiress he thought her to be, General Tilney ordered his daughter, Eleanor, to oust Catherine from Northanger Abbey. Heretofore, Jane Austen has depicted Eleanor as a quiet, genteel, and deferential young lady, who had not been given much of a center stage. Now Austen reveals us to her inner thoughts and emotions. Catherine, as usual, continues to be an open and wide-eyed innocent.
“Eleanor, stood there. Catherine’s spirits, however, were tranquillized but for an instant, for Eleanor’s cheeks were pale, and her manner greatly agitated. Though evidently intending to come in, it seemed an effort to enter the room, and a still greater to speak when there. Catherine, supposing some uneasiness on Captain Tilney’s account, could only express her concern by silent attention, obliged her to be seated, rubbed her temples with lavender-water, and hung over her with affectionate solicitude. “My dear Catherine, you must not — you must not indeed — ” were Eleanor’s first connected words. “I am quite well. This kindness distracts me — I cannot bear it — I come to you on such an errand!”
“Errand! –to me!”
“How shall I tell you! — Oh! how shall I tell you!”
The above scene is more about Eleanor’s mortification at being the messenger of bad tidings than Catherine Morland’s reaction, which was concern for another, not herself. Eleanor knew the consequences of her angry’s father’s actions and is devastated. Catherine, perplexed, wonders about the reason for her departure.
A new idea now darted into Catherine’s mind, and turning as pale as her friend, she exclaimed, “‘Tis a messenger from Woodston!”
Catherine’s only concern is for Henry Tilney. Woodston is his residence, about 20 miles away from the Abbey.
“You are mistaken, indeed,” returned Eleanor, looking at her most compassionately — “it is no one from Woodston. It is my father himself.”
Eleanor could not lie. Indeed, she could not implicate her brother, who had no part in this deception.
Her voice faltered, and her eyes were turned to the ground as she mentioned his name. His unlooked-for return was enough in itself to make Catherine’s heart sink, and for a few moments she hardly supposed there were anything worse to be told.
Eleanor bravely continues, telling Catherine of her part as an unwilling messenger. She also reveals how much Catherine’s friendship means to her:
She [Catherine] said nothing; and Eleanor, endeavoring to collect herself and speak with firmness, but with eyes still cast down, soon went on. “You are too good, I am sure, to think the worse of me for the part I am obliged to perform. I am indeed a most unwilling messenger. After what has so lately passed, so lately been settled between us — how joyfully, how thankfully on my side! — as to your continuing here as I hoped for many, many weeks longer, how can I tell you that your kindness is not to be accepted — and that the happiness your company has hitherto given us is to be repaid by — but I must not trust myself with words. My dear Catherine, we are to part. My father has recollected an engagement that takes our whole family away on Monday. We are going to Lord Longtown’s, near Hereford, for a fortnight. Explanation and apology are equally impossible. I cannot attempt either.”
Detail of Catherine (L) and Eleanor (R), Hugh Tomson drawing, 1897, entitled “General Tilney was Pacing the Drawing Room.”
Although the General’s excuse was a lie, poor Eleanor was forced to give it. She could not hide her shame. Anything Eleanor said between the lines escaped Catherine, who must have known that Lord Longtown could not be ignored.
“My dear Eleanor,” cried Catherine, suppressing her feelings as well as she could, “do not be so distressed. A second engagement must give way to a first. I am very, very sorry we are to part – so soon, and so suddenly too; but I am not offended, indeed I am not. I can finish my visit here, you know, at any time; or I hope you will come to me. Can you, when you return from this lord’s, come to Fullerton?”
Eleanor answers:
“It will not be in my power, Catherine.”
This sentence illustrates Eleanor’s story in a nutshell – she has no power and is entirely ruled by her father. Her oldest brother is largely absent. Henry is the only male in her family who shows her respect and deference, but she still must depend on him to escort her in public.
Catherine, Eleanor, and Henry had forged a close relationship because of their genuine like for each other. The brother and sister loved Catherine for her guileless utterances. She in turn admired them for the attention they paid her, which she found flattering. She trusted them like an eager puppy and reveled in their company, especially Henry’s, with whom she had fallen in love.
Astounded by Eleanor’s answer, she swallows her disappointment, but still can’t understand why she must leave the Abbey.
“Come when you can, then.” —
Eleanor made no answer; and Catherine’s thoughts recurring to something more directly interesting, she added, thinking aloud, “Monday — so soon as Monday; — and you all go. Well, I am certain of — I shall be able to take leave, however. I need not go till just before you do, you know. Do not be distressed, Eleanor, I can go on Monday very well. My father and mother’s having no notice of it is of very little consequence. The General will send a servant with me, I dare say, half the way — and then I shall soon be at Salisbury, and then I am only nine miles from home.”
Her sweet speech hurt Eleanor more than harsh words ever could. Eleanor must have steeled herself before answering her friend. Someone new to reading Jane Austen’s novels or who has recently been introduced to the Regency Era with all its strict customs, mores, and rules of etiquette could only guess why Eleanor was so distressed by her father’s behavior. The truth was that no genteel Regency lady of Catherine’s station was allowed by her family to travel as an unescorted passenger in a public coach.
“Ah, Catherine! were it settled so, it would be somewhat less intolerable, though in such common attentions you would have received but half what you ought. But — how can I tell you? — tomorrow morning is fixed for your leaving us, and not even the hour is left to your choice; the very carriage is ordered, and will be here at seven o’clock, and no servant will be offered you.”
The General’s edict was dangerous and indefensible. Both Eleanor and Catherine understood the full import of the message. Catherine was to be banished without even the most common decency or courtesy, alone, and without funds – her nightmare has come true, except she was not to be abducted but evicted.
Catherine’s nightmare: Three villains force her into a carriage. Hugh Tomson, 1897. Catherine’s imagination takes her to Gothic levels, but the danger of a single woman in a public carriage was real.
Catherine sat down, breathless and speechless. “I could hardly believe my senses, when I heard it; — and no displeasure, no resentment that you can feel at this moment, however justly great, can be more than I myself — but I must not talk of what I felt. Oh! that I could suggest anything in extenuation! Good God! what will your father and mother say! After courting you from the protection of real friends to this — almost double distance from your home, to have you driven out of the house, without the considerations even of decent civility! Dear, dear Catherine, in being the bearer of such a message, I seem guilty myself of all its insult; yet, I trust you will acquit me, for you must have been long enough in this house to see that I am but a nominal mistress of it, that my real power is nothing.”
Catherine searches for an answer:
“Have I offended the General?” said Catherine in a faltering voice.
Eleanor can give no good excuse:
“Alas! for my feelings as a daughter, all that I know, all that I answer for, is that you can have given him no just cause of offence. He certainly is greatly, very greatly discomposed; I have seldom seen him more so. His temper is not happy, and something has now occurred to ruffle it in an uncommon degree; some disappointment, some vexation, which just at this moment seems important, but which I can hardly suppose you to have any concern in, for how is it possible?”
Catherine still grasps for excuses and is still sorry for offending the General. She is only sad that he had not recalled his assignation with Lord Longtown earlier, so that she could have written to her parents for funds and an escort.
Eleanor responds:
“I hope, I earnestly hope, that to your real safety it will be of none; but to everything else it is of the greatest consequence: to comfort, appearance, propriety, to your family, to the world. Were your friends, the Allens, still in Bath, you might go to them with comparative ease; a few hours would take you there; but a journey of seventy miles, to be taken post by you, at your age, alone, unattended!”
“Oh, the journey is nothing. Do not think about that. And if we are to part, a few hours sooner or later, you know, makes no difference. I can be ready by seven. Let me be called in time.” Eleanor saw that she wished to be alone; and believing it better for each that they should avoid any further conversation, now left her with “I shall see you in the morning.”
Catherine must have had an accurate idea of her journey’s long distance and its travails. (Northanger Abbey is over twice the distance from her home than the thirty mile journey with the Allens to Bath.) She also must have known that the General’s order was grossly uncivil. However, she was given no choice as to the time and day she was to depart, or of her mode of travel, and thus, stripped of choice, she spent a sleepless night.
As good as her word, Catherine was ready early.
Soon after six Eleanor entered her room, eager to show attention or give assistance where it was possible; but very little remained to be done. Catherine had not loitered; she was almost dressed, and her packing almost finished.”
The silence between the two women spoke volumes.
Very little passed between them on meeting; each found her greatest safety in silence, and few and trivial were the sentences exchanged while they remained upstairs, Catherine in busy agitation completing her dress, and Eleanor with more good-will than experience intent upon filling the trunk.”
One can imagine the discomfort both women felt at that moment. They were quiet and deep in thought, and for the first time experienced awkwardness in each other’s company. Catherine, her appetite gone, silently reminisced how cheerful and carefree her previous breakfast in this room had been with brother and sister.
The appearance of the carriage, a hack post chaise, brought Catherine and Eleanor back to the present. A hack post chaise was a basic hired carriage guided only by a post-boy or postillion on a lead horse. (Jennifer S. Ewing states in her JASNA article: “Olsen observes that “There is always something vaguely tacky about hack vehicles in Austen. When she wants to convey a sense of comfortable, sophisticated travel, she uses the phrase ‘post-chaise’ or something similar. Hackney coaches are associated with poverty, disgrace, anonymity, and disappointment…”)
Eleanor turns to her friend:
“You must write to me, Catherine,” she cried, “you must let me hear from you as soon as possible. Till I know you to be safe at home, I shall not have an hour’s comfort. For one letter, at all risks, all hazards, I must entreat. Let me have the satisfaction of knowing that you are safe at Fullerton, and have found your family well, and then, till I can ask for your correspondence as I ought to do, I will not expect more. Direct to me at Lord Longtown’s, and, I must ask it, under cover to Alice.”
Eleanor asks Catherine to send word of her safe arrival at Fullerton to someone named Alice. This person was probably her maid or a servant, as Eleanor would not have called Lord Longtown’s wife or daughter by their first names. The secrecy was necessary, for her controlling father would have the mail delivered to him before distributing the letters to his family.
Eleanor would not rest until she learned of Catherine’s safe arrival. Catherine balks at first, but then gives in – “Oh, Eleanor, I will write to you indeed.”
This gave Eleanor some comfort, but she suspected Catherine might not have had enough money left from her personal allowance to pay for the ride home. This…
proved to be exactly the case. Catherine had never thought on the subject till that moment, but, upon examining her purse, was convinced that but for this kindness of her friend, she might have been turned away from the house without even the means of getting home…”
Catherine’s artless utterances during her visit with the Tilneys must have clued Eleanor about the true state of her family’s finances, and so her father’s reason for evicting her from the Abbey was probably no surprise.
The Journey Home
Catherine was too wretched to be fearful. The journey in itself had no terrors for her; and she began it without either dreading its length or feeling its solitariness. Leaning back in one comer of the carriage, in a violent burst of tears, she was conveyed some miles beyond the walls of the abbey before she raised her head…”
During this first stage of the ride Catherine must have been alone in the carriage. Had passengers been present, she would not have burst violently into tears. Gentle ladies were taught to hold their emotions in check. While she was impulsive and naive, she also had impeccable manners.
A public coach was generally cramped and dirty. The straw on the floor was rarely changed. Passengers sought the four corners for some privacy, but some passengers in a six-seater coach were squeezed into the center, like the filling in a sandwich.
Crammed quarters. Image of Sandy Lerner’s Part 2 video of Pen and Parsimony: Carriages in the Novels of Jane Austen. Copyright Sandy Lerner. JASNA
The distance between Fullerton and Northanger Abbey was seventy miles. Carriages during that time could go as fast as 6-7 miles per hour on a post road. They often slowed down significantly on secondary roads, which were rutted after heavy rains and badly maintained. Austen writes:
…”she traveled on for about eleven hours without accident or alarm, and between six and seven o’clock in the evening found herself entering Fullerton.”
The journey lasted from ten to eleven hours, which meant that the horses reached speeds of up to 7 miles per hour. The added time was due to the stops in stages when fresh horses were exchanged with spent horses. Horses could pull a carriage for an average from 15 to 20 miles at most before needing to stop. The exchanges were rapid, and took as little as five minutes per stop (think of the speed of NASCAR pit stops – Regina Jeffers).
…after the first stage she had been indebted to the post-masters for the names of the places which were then to conduct her to it; so great had been her ignorance of her route. She met with nothing, however, to distress or frighten her. Her youth, civil manners, and liberal pay procured her all the attention that a traveller like herself could require; and stopping only to change horses…”
Of the journey, Jane writes that “the hours passed away, and her journey advanced much faster than she looked for”, but Catherine had not eaten since breakfast, which ended around 7 AM. She must have been hungry and exhausted when the coach stopped in Fullerton. Her spirits lifted, however, when she was met with joy by her family and she reveled in their unconditional love.
The chaise of a traveller being a rare sight in Fullerton, the whole family were immediately at the window; and to have it stop at the sweep-gate was a pleasure to brighten every eye and occupy every fancy — a pleasure quite unlooked for by all but the two youngest children, a boy and girl of six and four years old, who expected a brother or sister in every carriage…”
“…Her father, mother, Sarah, George, and Harriet, all assembled at the door to welcome her with affectionate eagerness, was a sight to awaken the best feelings of Catherine’s heart; and in the embrace of each, as she stepped from the carriage, she found herself soothed beyond anything that she had believed possible. So surrounded, so caressed, she was even happy!”
This heartwarming homecoming was the balm Catherine needed after such a heartsore night and day, but after the homecoming, reality set in and the family noticed her pale looks:
In the joyfulness of family love everything for a short time was subdued, and the pleasure of seeing her, leaving them at first little leisure for calm curiosity, they were all seated round the tea-table, which Mrs. Morland had hurried for the comfort of the poor traveller, whose pale and jaded looks soon caught her notice, before any inquiry so direct as to demand a positive answer was addressed to her.”
As Catherine spoke for half an hour, her family’s distress on her behalf increased.
…but here, when the whole was unfolded, was an insult not to be overlooked, nor, for the first half hour, to be easily pardoned. Without suffering any romantic alarm, in the consideration of their daughter’s long and lonely journey, Mr. and Mrs. Morland could not but feel that it might have been productive of much unpleasantness to her; that it was what they could never have voluntarily suffered; and that, in forcing her on such a measure, General Tilney had acted neither honourably nor feelingly — neither as a gentleman nor as a parent. Why he had done it, what could have provoked him to such a breach of hospitality, and so suddenly turned all his partial regard for their daughter into actual ill will…”
Mrs Morland was struck by General Tilney’s actions of sending her away without even a servant to escort her, and the needless trouble he caused her daughter. Not only could travel be dangerous during this era, especially at night when highwaymen roamed (recall the earlier Hugh Thomson image), or in the bitter cold of winter, but the journey might be delayed due to a broken wagon wheel, a lame horse, or impassable roads, rivers, or streams. Mrs Morland, ever the positive thinker, concludes that this experience was a character builder for her daughter.
“Well,” continued her philosophic mother, “I am glad I did not know of your journey at the time; but now it is over, perhaps there is no great harm done. It is always good for young people to be put upon exerting themselves; and you know, my dear Catherine, you always were a sad little shatter-brained creature; but now you must have been forced to have your wits about you, with so much changing of chaises and so forth; and I hope it will appear that you have not left anything behind you in any of the pockets.”
Catherine Keeps her Promise and Writes a Letter
Catherine reproached herself for coolly saying goodbye to Eleanor. The funds she gave her provided for a safe journey instead of one that was fraught with danger. If she had run out of the ability to pay, she might have been stranded miles from home without the means to contact her family.
According to Deborah Barnum, author of the Jane Austen in Vermont blog, the estimated cost of a hired post-chaise in 1800 was “about £1 / mile [i.e @1 shilling / horse / mile, to include the postillion.]” Eleanor’s gift was truly generous when one considers that Jane Austen’s annual allowance for personal purchases (which included gifts) was around £ 20 per year. Cassandra’s yearly income from the investments she made with the £1,000 that Tom Fowler bequeathed to her was around £35 (Lucy Worsley). The sisters’ combined income could not have paid for this expensive journey.
The money therefore which Eleanor had advanced was enclosed with little more than grateful thanks, and the thousand good wishes of a most affectionate heart.”
Mrs Morland observed how sadly out of luck Catherine had been in making friends during her ventures in Bath and at the Abbey, and says ”the next new friends you make I hope will be better worth keeping.”
Catherine coloured as she warmly answered, “No friend can be better worth keeping than Eleanor.”
Eleanor, who had largely been invisible before this drama, became a three-dimensional character in these two chapters. She reacted with real feeling and emotion when her father ordered her to remove Catherine from the Abbey, and when she had to put the plan in motion, but when Austen sped the novel to its conclusion, she was placed in the background again.
General Tilney’s behavior so disgusted his son Henry that it irrevocably altered their relationship. Henry hurried to Fullerton to apologize to Catherine and ask for her hand in marriage. She was just the sweet acquiescent girl he’d been searching for as his wife.
Additional Resources
Jane Austen Northanger Abbey: An Annotated Edition, edited by Susan J. Wolfson, 2014.Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, US. London, UK. 363 pp.
Worsley, Lucy.Jane Austen at Home: A Biography, 2017. St. Martin’s Press, 1st. Ed. NY
“You deserve a longer letter than this, but it is my unhappy fate seldom to treat people so well as they deserve…” – Jane Austen
Introduction:
In August, 1798, Rev George and Mrs. Austen and their daughters Cassandra and Jane visited Godmersham, Edward Austen-Knight’s estate near Godmersham, Kent, where he had moved with his family in November, 1797. While Jane and her parents returned to Steventon in October, Cassandra remained behind until March, 1799. Jane wrote the following letter on Christmas eve in the middle of Cassandra’s prolonged visit.
Godmersham Park, 1799, Wikipedia public domain image
Jane Austen’s letter:
Steventon: Monday Night, Dec 24 [1798]
My dear Cassandra
Our ball was very thin, but by no means unpleasant. There were thirty-one people, and only eleven ladies out of the number, and but five single women in the room. Of the gentlemen present you may have some idea from the list of my partners—Mr. Wood, G. Lefroy, Rice, a Mr. Butcher (belonging to the Temples, a sailor and not of the 11thLight Dragoons). Mr. Temple (not the horrid one of all). Mr. Wm Orde (cousin to the Kingsclere man). Mr. John Harwood, and Mr. Calland, who appeared as usual with his hat in his hand, and stood every now and then behind Catherine and me to be talked to and abused for not dancing. We teased him, however, into it at last. I was very glad to see him again after so long a separation…
There were twenty dances, and I danced them all, and without any fatigue…My black cap was openly admired by Mrs. Lefroy, and secretly I imagine by everybody else in the room…Of my charities to the poor since I came home you shall have a faithful account. I have given a pair of worsted stockings to Mary Hutchins, Dame Kew, Mary Steevens, and Dame Staples: a shift to Hannah Staples, and a shawl to Betty Dawkins: amounting in all to about half a guinea…
I was to have dined at Deane today, but the weather is so cold that I am not sorry to be kept at home by the appearance of snow. We are to have company to dinner on Friday: the three Digweeds and James. We shall be a nice silent party. I suppose.
You deserve a longer letter than this, but it is my unhappy fate seldom to treat people so well as they deserve…God bless you!
Yours affectionately, Jane Austen
Steventon Parsonage, Wikimedia Commons
This short letter might reveal very little information to the contemporary reader, but Cassandra knew the context of every sentence Jane wrote. She knew the people, time, place, and setting, since she lived it. No detailed descriptions were needed for Cassandra to comprehend the letter’s full meaning
Thankfully for us, records and books exist that will help us make more sense of Jane’s cryptic words.
The Years Leading to Austen’s Letter
Jane and Cassandra had just experienced a number of eventful years. In 1796, Jane met and danced with Tom LeFroy at Deane. We know the details of this meeting in the first existing letter Jane wrote to Cassandra. In August, 1797, Cassandra learned that Thomas Fowle, her fiance, died tragically of fever in the West Indies months earlier and was buried at sea. A little over a year after the shocking news, she must still have been in deep mourning.
By 1798, Jane had already written the first drafts of Pride and Prejudice, initially entitled First Impressions, and Sense and Sensibility, originally drafted as an epistolary novel entitled Elinor and Marianne. Just five months previously, her dear cousin Lady Williams (Jane Cooper) had died in a carriage accident, another cause for mourning.
Timeline of events:
1795
(?)
Cassandra engaged to Thomas Fowle.
May
Mrs. James Austen died.
1795
-6
Mr. Tom Lefroy at Ashe.
1796
First Impressions (Pride and Prejudice) begun.
1797,
Jan.
James Austen married Mary Lloyd.
Feb.
Thomas Fowle died of fever in the W. Indies.
Nov.
Jane, with mother and sister, went to Bath.
First Impressions refused by Cadell.
Sense and Sensibility (already sketched in Elinor and Marianne) begun.
1798,
Aug.
Lady Williams (Jane Cooper) killed in a carriage accident.
Mrs. Knight gave up Godmersham to the Edward Austens. Jane’s first visit there.
Deidre Le Faye in Jane Austen’s Letters, 4th Edition, listed Austen’s known letters in chronological order. At a glance one can see when and where the sisters were apart. Many casual readers think of Jane as a spinster and a homebody, but the list demonstrates how often and how extensively she and Casssandra traveled, largely in the south of England. This link leads to an interactive map of her travels in Smithsonian Magazine.
Le Faye chronicles the ten letters Jane sent to Cassandra during her visit to Godmersham. They were written from October 24, 1798 to January 23, 1799. This letter, which described past and future events, was dated December 24th, Christmas eve. The ball had already occurred. Christmas festivities in 1798 were rather simple compared to festivities introduced during Queen Victoria’s time, (Click on this link to a Georgian Christmas). Jane must have missed her sister even more on this occasion.
Deirdre Le Faye, in her descriptive article for Persuasion #14, 1992, entitled Jane Austen’s Letters, described the letters as “often hasty and elliptical–the equivalent of chatty telephone conversations between the sisters, keeping each other informed of the events at home…interspersed with news of the day, both local and national.” (p. 82, Jane Austen’s Letters)
Example of a cross written letter to save paper and postage, much as the Austens sent to each other. The recipient of the letter paid for the postage. Paper was saved by cross writing. Image in the public domain.
When Jane and Cassandra were apart, they wrote each other every three days, or five letters in a fortnight. As soon as one was sent, they began to write the next one. The letters followed a pattern, telling the other of the journey, then about daily events and how life was at home, then talking about the visit at the destination, and finally of the journey home. This pattern helped Le Faye determine which letters (or set of letters) were missing or destroyed by Cassandra.
When Jane was ready to mail her letter, Mr. Austen dropped it off at the post box in Deane as he made his rounds throughout his parish. Cassandra bequeathed this letter to Fanny Knatchbull, née Austen-Knight, which eventually made its way into her son’s, Lord Brabourne’s, publication of Jane’s letters.
Events in the Letter: The Ball, the People, and the Setting
The setting
In her December 24th letter, Jane indicated her physical fitness – she danced all twenty dances without any fatigue. As a country girl who helped her family in the kitchen garden or with breakfast, and who walked into town, to church, or to visit neighbors at Deane or Ashe, she was in prime physical condition. View this map of Steventon, Deane, and Ashe.
She described the ball as being thin.
“There were thirty-one people, and only eleven ladies out of the number, and but five single women in the room.“
It is hard to tell if the ball was public or private. The word “thin,” however, indicated that it must have been public to anyone who had a subscription. If the ball had been private, then the hosts would have ensured that the correct number of persons of both sexes would have been invited. Once they accepted the invitation, good manners would have obliged them to show up. If the December ball had been private, Jane would surely have known who and how many were coming. There would have been few surprises.
Basingstoke Town Hall in the late 18th early 19th centuries.
Public assembly balls were held in Basingstoke’s town hall, which was a little over 7 miles from Steventon (an hour’s carriage ride in good weather, since horses pulling carriages traveled 6 miles per hour on average). Dancing was performed in a ballroom on the first floor that also held a card room for gentlemen like Mr. Austen, who might not have felt like dancing.
Rev George and Mrs Anne Lefroy (née Brydges). The reverend obtained his living in Ashe in 1783, and Madam Lefroy, as she was locally known, was Jane’s good friend and mentor. In her letters, Jane talked of visiting friends and neighbors, such as the Lefroys of Ashe Park, which was within easy walking distance. In 1800, Jane wrote:
“We had a very pleasant day on Monday at Ashe (Park). We sat down fourteen to dinner in the study, the dining-room being not habitable from the storms having blown…down its chimney. There was a whist and a casino table…” – Constance Hill
Ashe Rectory. Illustration by Ellen Hill
Mr. Wood: All we know about John Wood is that he was Jane’s dance partner.
Rice is most likely Henry Rice, who married Jemima-Lucy Lefroy. He was known to be a fun-loving spendthrift who was often bailed out by his mother.
Mr. Temple, mostly likely Frank, who served in the navy. His friend was Samuel Butcher.
Mr. Butcher (belonging to the Temples, a sailor and not of the 11th Light Dragoons.) Samuel Butcher was five years older than Jane. He was appointed to HMS Sans Pareil in 1795.
Mr. Wm Orde (cousin to the Kingscler man) of Nunnykirk “perhaps.” He remained unmarried.
Mr. Calland, who Penelope Hughes-Hallett identified as the Rector of Bentworth. The joke in the Austen family was that he always appeared at any function with a hat in his hand, which Mrs. Austen made fun of with a poem. On this day, Jane and her friend Catherine teased him into dancing.
Catherine is Catherine Bigg, daughter of Mr. Bigg Wither of Manydown Park, and Jane’s good friend.
“Manydown is within easy reach of Basingstoke, and Jane often stayed there when the Assembly balls took place. She had done so on the present occasion.”- Constance Hill
18th century engraving of Manydown Park
Of my charities to the poor…
In this section of the letter, Jane listed the Steventon villagers who received her largesse:
“ I have given a pair of worsted stockings to Mary Hutchins, Dame Kew, Mary Steevens, and Dame Staples: a shift to Hannah Staples, and a shawl to Betty Dawkins:”
Hannah was Dame Staples’ daughter. Jane Austen, as a rector’s daughter of the most influential man (not the richest) in the parishes he served, was obligated to support the many poor ladies in Steventon. Her gifts, simple as they seemed, were multiplied by the gifts of food and clothing from the community at large and kept the villager women from dire extremes. Mrs. and Miss Bates in Emma depend on the kindness of neighbors to survive, as Jane wrote in scene after scene.
The Austens, while influential in Steventon, were not rich. They belonged, as Lucy Worsley writes in Jane Austen at Home, to the pseudo-gentry.
“Jane belonged to the pseudo-gentry; there was land in her family, but her parents and siblings didn’t own land, so they had to make do and mend and gloss things over.”
Pseudo-gentry kept up appearances even though their means fell short of their richer neighbors, friends, and relatives. Still, Jane managed from her meager yearly-pin money of around £20 to spend a sum “amounting in all to about half a guinea….”
Half a guinea was a gold coin minted from the Guinea Coast in Africa, which ceased to be minted around the time of this letter. The idea that Jane possessed a gold coin is far fetched. In Austen’s day, a guinea had a value of 21 shillings–this value could change depending on the quality of the coinage in use. Interestingly, the gold coin’s purchasing power (comparing Austen’s time to now), remains a little over 1 pound today. (CPI Inflation calendar).
The ball and dances
“Balls in the days of Miss Austen consisted mainly of country dances, for the stately minuet was going out of vogue, while the rapid waltz had not yet come in. We must picture to ourselves the ladies and gentlemen ranged in two long rows facing one another, whilst the couples at the extreme ends danced down the set; the most important lady present having been privileged to “call” or lead off the dance.”… Constance Hill
Which dances did Jane Austen dance?
Country dances as late as 1798 had very little variation, with long lines of couples progressing up and down a set that could last from twenty minutes to as much as an hour. This and other dances mentioned by Austen included cotillions performed as a square by four couples. The boulanger was known as a “finishing” dance performed at the last. It was physically an easy dance to do and one that after a night of physical exertion was probably most welcome. – (“What did Jane Austen Dance,” Capering & Kickery, 2009)
Dances Austen might have danced in 1798, since they were popular during that time, were the Scotch reel, the minuet (rapidly going out of fashion), and Sir Roger de Coverley, another finishing dance (although no record exists of Jane mentioning this dance). One dance she and her contemporaries decidedly did not dance during this period was the waltz, although Jane might have heard its music. (Capering & Kickery.)
The Music
Jane adored music and she made eight volumes of her own collections, two of which she wrote by hand (copying sheets of music). The music included songs by Handel and English composers, and instrumental pieces by Correlli, Gluck and J.C. Bach. (Jane Austen and classical music: how Bath brought them together, Discover Music.)
‘The London March’, manuscript music copied by Jane Austen, image in the public domain
Susan of Capering and Kickery reminds readers that dancers during the end of the 18th century and in the Regency era paid attention to fashionable “music in the moment.” Dancers would not have chosen to dance to music popular in the 17th or early 18th centuries. “Austen was no more likely to dance a 75- or 100-year old dance than she was to wear fashions from a hundred years earlier.”
Many contemporary comments regarding the music in the recent mini-series of “Sanditon” and the film, “Emma.” 2020, were scathing regarding the raw country tunes that were played in the dance scenes, many of which were Scottish airs and folk music, like “The Water is Wide,” which is popular to this day. Yet these movies have it wrong.
“… dances like “Hole in the Wall,” “Mr. Beveridge’s Maggot,” “Childgrove,” and “Grimstock” (all dating from 1650 to 1710) are nothing Jane Austen or her characters would have been caught dead dancing.”- Capering and Kickery
Yet, due to films, such as 1995’s “Pride and Prejudice” (an adaptation I admire), modern audiences accept these dance choices as authentic. Neither Cassandra nor Jane would have.
The Musicians
Well-paid musicians in London would have played more sophisticated pieces from the Continent interspersed with popular English music. Country balls, however, employed traveling musicians (from 5-6) who sought work from town to town. Villagers and townsmen might have sought out local talent, who consisted of anyone who could play an instrument, no matter the quality of their play. Think of Mary Bennet, whose talent at the piano forte was bad, versus an impresario like Jane Fairfax. Elizabeth Bennet could play tolerably well and Anne Elliot was called upon to play at the piano forte as the family rolled up the carpet for an impromptu dance in the evening.
Henry Raeburn, violinist and composer, 1727-1807
Ball dress:
The only reference Austen makes to her dress is:
“My black cap was openly admired by Mrs. Lefroy, and secretly I imagine by everybody else in the room…”
At twenty-three years of age, Jane was almost on the shelf and in danger of becoming a spinster. She had begun to wear caps earlier than most other unmarried ladies, and in this respect her quote was not surprising. It is hard, however, to find a black cap in the fashion magazines of her day and before. Black hats were shown in the magazines, but not caps in that color. They were generally made of white muslin and sewn by the women who wore them. Tom Fowle’s death hit Cassandra hard (she was not to learn of his passing until months after the event when the ship made it back to port.)
Cassandra knew exactly what Jane was writing about regarding the cap; but we can only conjecture. Regency mourning customs were not as strict as in Victorian times, but wearing a black cap was perhaps Jane’s way of honoring his memory and perhaps Jane Cooper. The following quote from The British Library states:
“The Gallery of Fashion shows a lot of mourning dresses. A woman might spend a considerable part of her life wearing mourning of some sort, for distant relatives as well as close ones, so it is not surprising that there was a pressure to remain fashionable while doing so.” – Gallery of Fashion, The British Library.
In any case, little is known of the black cap. The closeup of this image is the only 1798 full dress example I found online after hours of searching.
Detail, Fashion Plate, ‘Full Dress for Dec. 1798’ for ‘Lady’s Monthly Museum’
In 1798, ladies’ dresses made the transition from round gowns (so prettily drawn in Nicholas Heideloff’s Gallery of Fashion (1794-1802) to sleeker, more figure hugging gowns popular in the early 19th century.
Fashion Plate, ‘Full Dress for Decr. 1798’ for ‘Lady’s Monthly Museum’, LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
Women’s dresses during this decade sported trains. Austen’s gown in the ball she attended in 1798 was probably a full dress gown, since the senior Austens were too often strapped for income to afford a full array of morning gowns, walking gowns, dinner gowns, full dress gowns, and ball gowns for their two girls.
Jane began to write Northanger Abbey in 1798, when gowns with trains were fashionable. This extra fabric must have gotten quite dirty during country walks and work around the house, and might have tripped the dancer and her partners if left to its own devices. This passage from her novel provided the solution:
“The progress of the friendship between Catherine and Isabella was quick as its beginning had been warm, and they passed so rapidly through every gradation of increasing tenderness that there was shortly no fresh proof of it to be given to their friends or themselves. They called each other by their Christian name, were always arm in arm when they walked, pinned up each other’s train for the dance, and were not to be divided in the set;” – Chapter 5, Northanger Abbey
“Pinned up each others trains”, Northanger Abbey illustration in the public domain, Hugh Thompson. British Library.
Shoes and the accoutrements of a lady’s dance wardrobe
Interestingly, many shoes made for dancing lasted for only one evening or two. The slippers, constructed of cloth or delicate kid, barely lasted the full hours of physical exertion. The slippers were festooned with rosettes made with a fabric that matched or complimented the ladies’ gowns. Mrs. Austen made dance slippers of fabric for her grandchildren, much in this tradition.
Gloves not only came above the elbow, but were often made of kid leather, which were a buttery color. The gloves also were made with white or an assortment of pale, soft colored cloths. Gentlemen wore gloves as well, for it was unseemly for a gentleman and lady to touch each other with bare hands. Another necessity, especially on warm nights, or when candlelight and exertion overheated the ballroom, was a fan.
Dance cards were not yet as popular as in the 19th century, but a lady knew not to commit to too many dances ahead of the ball in case a likely prospect entered the room later in the evening. A couple could dance only two sets together, for dancing more than two was considered ill-mannered.
As mentioned in this letter, only five single women danced in a room with twenty men, which meant that each female was quite busy and exhausted at the end of the night. After supper, served around midnight, the ladies and their partner sat with the lady’s family or chaperones. The etiquette of the ballroom was quite strict. Once a lady refused to dance with a gentleman, she had to sit out the rest of the dances for the evening.
In her novels, Jane used this convention to differentiate the villains from the obedient or the heroes and heroines, or to demonstrate personality quirks. Mr. Elton’s rudeness in refusing a dance with poor Harriet Smith in Emma humiliated the young woman and spoke ill of his character. Mr. Knightley, in inviting Harriet to dance, showed his heroic instincts. These actions demonstrated a gentleman’s quality better than any exposition Jane could have written. Her contemporary readers knew this, but we in the 21st century must learn these quirks of etiquette through research and reading.
Post Ball mentions
“I was to have dined at Deane today, but the weather is so cold that I am not sorry to be kept at home by the appearance of snow. We are to have company to dinner on Friday: the three Digweeds and James. We shall be a nice silent party. I suppose.”
Image of Deane House, Ellen Hill.
Dining at Deane meant dining in the old manor house of Deane with Squire Harwood and his family. In this house Jane had danced with Tom Lefroy in 1796. The Harwoods were very well off according to late 18th century standards, but this was not to last. Upon his death in 1813, it was discovered that John Harwood had mortgaged his estate to the hilt, leaving his heir in ruin and his widow and daughter with nothing.
As for not dining with the Harwoods in December, 1798, the narrow country lanes between Steventon, Deane and Ashe were filled with deep ruts. Wet snow would have deterred the company from visiting their good friends.
Austen’s letter ends with a planned dinner with the Digweeds on Friday, December 28th. The Digweeds were tenants of Steventon Manor in Steventon Parish, who rented the land from Mr. Knight in Godmersham Park. (p. 18, Jane Austen’s Country Life.) The Digweeds and the Austens grazed hundreds of sheep around the village. (p. 21, Country Life.) Harry and William-Francis Digweed (who, with their brothers, were playmates with the Austen siblings) were joint tenants until 1798. James Digweed, ordained in 1797, became curate of Steventon in 1798. Jane, it seems, anticipated a quiet (boring?) evening.
Gentle reader: This analysis ends my research into this letter, which was sent shorthand to Cassandra. She would have mentally filled in the gaps easily and fluently, gaps that we today struggle to understand.
Deirdre Le Fay, who passed away just a few weeks ago, painstakingly researched Austen’s letters and their corresponding information for her massive undertaking, Jane Austen’s Letters, 4th edition. With its lists of letters, the letters, abbreviations and citations, notes and general notes on the letters, select bibliography, biographical index, topographical index, subject index, and general index is 667 pages long. This world has lost a scholar of the first rank.
References:
Jane Austen’s Letters, Deirdre Le Faye, Oxford University Press, 4th Edition (December 1, 2011), ISBN-10 : 0199576076, ISBN-13 : 978-0199576074
Jane Austen’s Country Life: Uncovering the rural backdrop to her life, her letters and her novels, Deidre Le Faye, Frances Lincoln (June 1, 2014) ISBN-10 : 0711231583, ISBN-13 : 978-0711231580
Jane Austen at Home: A Biography, Lucy Worsley, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2017. Hardcover, 400 pages. ISBN-13 : 978-1250131607, ISBN-10 : 125013160X
A Dance With Jane Austen: How a Novelist and her Characters went to the Ball, Susannah Fullerton, Frances Lincoln, 2012. ISBN-10 : 0711232458, ISBN-13 : 978-0711232457
Understanding the subtle nuances behind formal introductions and customary greetings during Jane Austen’s lifetime is a lot of fun, and it can provide a unique level of insight into her books. The reason: Austen uses breaches of etiquette and manners as commentaries on her characters. In her book Those Elegant Decorums, Jane Nardin says, “In Jane Austen’s novels, a person’s social behavior is the external manifestation of his moral character” (12).
Austen utilizes greetings such as formal introductions, handshakes, curtsies, bows, and even the infamous “cut,” in order to help drive her plots, provide insightful information about her characters, and give subtle hints to her readers.
Throughout her novels, Jane Austen makes clever use of the rule that two strangers cannot interact socially until they have been properly introduced by a third party or mutual acquaintance. Today, it might seem rude to mingle with someone in a social setting and not introduce ourselves, but Kirsten Olsen says in All Things Austen that “genteel people who had not been introduced simply did not speak to one another” (132). Austen is able to use this code of conduct to the advantage and disadvantage of her characters.
Catherine Moorland feels the disadvantage of this rule acutely when she first goes to Bath: “she longed to dance, but she had not an acquaintance in the room” and Mrs. Allen only says, “every now and then, ‘I wish you could dance, my dear—I wish you could get a partner.’” (Northanger Abbey 21). Because they have no acquaintance, Catherine cannot dance. When they find a place for tea next to a large party of people, they even spend the meal “without having anything to do there, or anybody to speak to, except each other” (22). But if a girl cannot get a dance partner or find friends at the tea table without an acquaintance, how can she meet a marriage partner? Luckily, there was an exception to this rule: The master of ceremonies at the Lower Rooms could make a proper introduction, which is how Catherine meets Henry Tilney. (See Vic’s article on The Lower Assembly Rooms and Bath Society for more.)
Austen also uses this rule of introductions as the essential “hook” that grabs the reader’s attention at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice when Mrs. Bennet harasses Mr. Bennet to pay a visit to Mr. Bingley. Among the gentry in the country, when someone moved into the neighborhood, it was polite for his neighbors to call on him. Obviously, Mr. Bennet must introduce himself so that his daughters can meet Mr. Bingley. However, there is another reason for Mrs. Bennet’s insistence: Once the call is made, it must be returned. As Olsen says, “virtually all visits required a reciprocal visit so that once one started visiting at a particular house, it was hard to stop” (Olsen 385). This bit of information makes Mrs. Bennet’s shrewd scheming even more humorous for she knows it will inevitably lead to her daughters being introduced to Mr. Bingley.
Later in Pride and Prejudice, when Mr. Collins introduces himself to Mr. Darcy without having been formally introduced, it is an embarrassing breach of conduct, especially as he is of inferior social rank: “Elizabeth tried hard to dissuade him from such a scheme, assuring him that Mr. Darcy would consider his addressing him without introduction as an impertinent freedom, rather than a compliment to his aunt; that it was not in the least necessary there should be any notice on either side; and that if it were, it must belong to Mr. Darcy, the superior in consequence, to begin the acquaintance” (PP 79). This is not merely a terrible social faux pas—Austen is bringing attention to Mr. Collins’s ignorance and over-inflated sense of pride in regard to his connection to Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Polite Gestures and Greetings
Austen also uses bows, curtsies, nods, and other physical gestures purposefully; body language carries a lot of meaning in her books. Bowing and curtsying, for instance, was to be done elegantly and gracefully. However, the depth and duration of a bow depended on the circumstances. For example, “A short, curt bow, more like a nod, could indicate displeasure or mere formal acknowledgement, while a long bow could be ridiculous in some situations and lend emphasis to one’s words or departure in others” (Olsen 131). We see an example of this subtlety when Mr. Darcy only bows slightly and moves away after Mr. Collins comes forward to introduce himself. Mr. Collins tells Elizabeth that the introduction went well, but from mere observation Elizabeth can see that the opposite is true.
Gentlemen were also expected to bow upon taking leave of a lady. Bows or tips of the hat were given in greeting to women, social superiors, and to acquaintances seen at a distance. Nodding was also important. Nodding was also common courtesy among women. And, much like a visit, a tip of the hat or nod of the head must be returned, as we see in Northanger Abbey when Catherine is looking for Mr. Tilney but is also occupied with “returning the nods and smiles of Miss Thorpe,” which “claimed much of her leisure” (Austen NA 35).
Shaking hands was generally used between men of the same social class. However, Olsen says that “women could choose to shake hands, even with a man, though conduct books indicated that this was a favour (sic) to be distributed with care” (131). We see in Sense and Sensibility that Marianne has become accustomed to granting this favor to Willoughby (and is hurt by his apparent indifference) when she holds out her hand to him and cries: “Will you not shake hands with me?” when they see one another at a party in London (176). When she first sees him, he merely bows “without attempting to speak to her, or to approach.” After spending so much time together, he is incredibly uncomfortable and acts as though they do not know each other as well as they do. Austen uses this scene to reveal to the reader that Willoughby’s feelings and intentions toward Marianne have changed abruptly.
The Cut
Finally, we see that once two people have been introduced, each one must give and return the appropriate calls, bows, curtsies, and nods. When someone deliberately chose not to engage in these polite customs and acknowledge an acquaintance, it was known as a “cut.” Olsen explains that “[a]n introduction was a matter of some importance, as once two people were introduced, they had to ‘know’ each other for good, acknowledging each other’s presence every time they met and accepting visits back and forth. The only way out of perpetual acquaintance was for one…to do something so horrific and unforgivable that the other might ‘cut’ him” (Olsen 132).
For instance, when meeting on the street, if one man saw a gentleman acquaintance, he would tip his hat. The other could then nod back. However, to ignore the other person and refuse to acknowledge him was a “cut.” The “cut” is used pointedly in Pride and Prejudice when Darcy sees Wickham in Meryton: “Mr. Wickham, after a few moments, touched his hat—a salutation which Mr. Darcy just deigned to return. What could be the meaning of it? It was impossible to imagine; it was impossible not to long to know” (73).
The cut is highlighted several times in Austen’s novels because “in her social world it was almost as dramatic an incident as could possibly happen” (Olsen 133). We see the cut used several times as a way to show that a relationship between two people has been broken for one reason or another. In Sense and Sensibility, after Willoughby breaks Marianne’s heart and she become ill, he tells Elinor that Sir John spoke to him for the first time in two months when they met in public. He says “[t]hat he had cut me ever since my marriage, I had seen without surprise or resentment” (330). Depending on the situation, sometimes it is the one being cut or the one giving the cut who is at fault.
In Pride and Prejudice, when Jane visits Miss Bingley in London, Miss Bingley waits several weeks before returning the call (though a call should be returned within a day or two. Jane writes to Elizabeth: “It was very evident that she had no pleasure in [the visit]; she made a slight, formal, apology, for not calling before, said not a word of wishing to see me again, and was in every respect so altered a creature, that when she went away, I was perfectly resolved to continue the acquaintance no longer” (148). This is a subtle cut and was considered highly impolite.
In each of her novels, Austen utilizes social gestures such as they to give her readers special insight into her characters and plots. When someone is in error, we should always look closely to find out why Austen has written it that way. Often, when the code of conduct is not followed, something (or someone) is amiss. Exploring these nuances is one way to understand the underlying meaning in Austen’s books. For more on these topics, see… (links/references)
Rachel Dodge, May 24, 2017
Inquiring readers: About Ms. Dodge, the author of this article (and more to come):
Rachel Dodge’s knowledge of Jane Austen and the Regency World is impeccable. She has an M.A. in English literature in creative writing and public relations, and is a free freelance web and marketing content writer/editor for churches, missionary organizations, and small businesses. Rachel is a frequent speaker at libraries, literary groups, and reading groups about Jane Austen, 18th-century literature, and the Regency Era. Her written works include: “Exploring Womanhood: Moral Instruction, the Ideal Female, and 18th-Century Conduct in Pride & Prejudice.” (Master’s Thesis on the topic of female etiquette in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice). She belongs to JASNA National, JASNA Greater Sacramento, and Inspire Writers.
You can see why I am so pleased to add Rachel to the Jane Austen’s World group of contributing writers! Please welcome her aboard.
Works Cited
Austen, Jane, and R. W. Chapman. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1988.
–. Pride and Prejudice. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1988.
–. Sense and Sensilibity. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1988.
Nardin, Jane, and Jane Austen. Those Elegant Decorums the Concept of Propriety in Jane Austen’s Novels. Albany, State Univ. of New York Press, 2012.
Olsen, Kirstin. All Things Austen: A Concise Encyclopedia of Austen’s World. Oxford, Greenwood World, 2008.
Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England is now available! By JAW contributor Brenda S. Cox. See Review. Available from Amazon and Jane Austen Books.
Available through December 31st, 2025. Click on image for details, and share this poster with other teachers and students!
The Obituary of Charlotte Collins by Andrew Capes
Click on image to read the story.
Comments
“My idea of good company…is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation.” – Jane Austen, Persuasion
Gentle readers: Please feel free to post your comments and continue the conversation! Due to SPAM, we will no longer accept comments on posts after 30 days of publication. In some instances, links will be removed from comments as well.
Administrators and Contributors
Vic Sanborn, founder of this blog, is supported by a team of talented and knowledgeable writers about Jane Austen and the Regency era. They are:
Tony Grant, who now contributes his photos from London and England
Click on their names to enter their own blogs.
In addition, we thank the many experts and authors who frequently contribute their posts and opinions, and who continue to do so freely or at our request.
Click here to enter the page. Topics include Regency fashion, historic foods, Jane Austen societies, British sites, related topics. Click on image.
May we suggest?
Hello, my name is Vic and I live in Maryland, USA. I have adored Jane Austen almost all of my life. I am a proud lifetime member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me and my team. We do not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we do accept and keep books and CDs to review.
If you would like to share a new site, or point out an error, please email us. (Yes, we are fallible. We'll own up to our mistakes and will make the corrections with a polite smile on our faces.) Write us at
Thank you for visiting this blog. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome.
Project Gutenberg: eBook of Stage-coach and Mail in Days of Yore, Volume 2 (of 2), by Charles G. Harper
STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE: A PICTURESQUE HISTORY
OF THE COACHING AGE, VOL. II, By CHARLES G. HARPER. 1903. Click on this link.
Jane Austen's World 