Jane Austen and LeisureJane Austen's novels portray a leisured society of gentlemen and ladies who do not need to work. Even the minority of clergymen, soldiers and sailors - men with professions - are almost never seen working. Jane Austen herself, despite responsibility for some domestic tasks, wrote as a woman of leisure. Yet leisure, the distinguishing mark of a gentleman, was not meant to be an excuse for idleness. The proper use of leisure to fulfil duties, to read and to think, and above all to pursue social relations in a world where family and marriage for the propertied was of central importance, was a vital test of character. |
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Page ix
... Thomas ( pseudonym of Thomas B. Johnson ) , The Shooters Guide ( 1809 ) . 94 Miss Prudom as Arbaces in Arne's opera Artexerxes , published in Bell's British Theatre , 1781 . 117 Copy in Jane Austen's hand of Dibdin's " The Soldier's ...
... Thomas ( pseudonym of Thomas B. Johnson ) , The Shooters Guide ( 1809 ) . 94 Miss Prudom as Arbaces in Arne's opera Artexerxes , published in Bell's British Theatre , 1781 . 117 Copy in Jane Austen's hand of Dibdin's " The Soldier's ...
Page xvi
... Thomas Knight of Godmersham in Kent . Mr Austen was a conscientious parish priest and , like many clergymen without independent means , he took pupils into the rectory to educate them in the classical studies necessary for university ...
... Thomas Knight of Godmersham in Kent . Mr Austen was a conscientious parish priest and , like many clergymen without independent means , he took pupils into the rectory to educate them in the classical studies necessary for university ...
Page xvii
... Thomas , also went to St John's College and on leaving was commissioned as a Lieuten- ant in the Oxfordshire Militia , later setting up in business as an army agent and banker in London ; when in 1815 his bank failed , he too went into ...
... Thomas , also went to St John's College and on leaving was commissioned as a Lieuten- ant in the Oxfordshire Militia , later setting up in business as an army agent and banker in London ; when in 1815 his bank failed , he too went into ...
Page xviii
... Thomas Cadell , to accept First Impressions , all these remained in manuscript . In December 1800 Mr Austen made a sudden announcement to his family that he intended to leave Steventon and retire to Bath . The decision came as a shock ...
... Thomas Cadell , to accept First Impressions , all these remained in manuscript . In December 1800 Mr Austen made a sudden announcement to his family that he intended to leave Steventon and retire to Bath . The decision came as a shock ...
Page xix
... Thomas's affairs requires him to go out to Antigua , leaving a vacuum at Mansfield that Tom Bertram fails to fill , since , unlike his father , his life is given over to the pursuit of pleasure ; 7 the gap is exploited by Mrs Norris ...
... Thomas's affairs requires him to go out to Antigua , leaving a vacuum at Mansfield that Tom Bertram fails to fill , since , unlike his father , his life is given over to the pursuit of pleasure ; 7 the gap is exploited by Mrs Norris ...
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amusement assemblies aunt Austen-Leigh ball Bath Bennet brother Captain Wentworth cards Cassandra characters charade Charles Chawton Country Dancing course daughter delightful Donwell Edmund eighteenth century Elton Emma Emma Watson Emma's Fanny Burney feel Frank Churchill gardens give Godmersham Harriet Henry heroine Highbury hunting Ibid James Edward Jane Austen Jane Austen Society Jane Fairfax John kind Knightley Knightley's Lady Bertram later Lefroy leisure letter lived London look Lord Lybbe Powys Lyme Mansfield Park Marianne marry Martha Lloyd Mary Crawford Mary Lloyd Miss Bates moral needlework never niece night Northanger Abbey novel party perhaps pianoforte play pleasure poem popular Pride and Prejudice resort Sanditon scene seaside Sense and Sensibility sister social Steventon taste theatre theatricals thing Thomas Tilney Tom Bertram verse Weston wife woman Woodhouse writing young ladies