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 vii
... lived opposite at 4 Sydney Place between 1801 and 1804 . 5 The Upper Rooms , Bath , engraving by H. S. Storer , 1818. Also known as the New Rooms , they were opened in 1771 . 6 The Theatre , Bath , engraving by H. S. Storer , 1818 ...
... lived opposite at 4 Sydney Place between 1801 and 1804 . 5 The Upper Rooms , Bath , engraving by H. S. Storer , 1818. Also known as the New Rooms , they were opened in 1771 . 6 The Theatre , Bath , engraving by H. S. Storer , 1818 ...
Page xi
... lived ( they were not altogether the same thing ) , as the ' leisured classes ' ; and we form an image of them , reinforced by colourful screen adaptations , sitting in elegant drawing - rooms , strolling along Geor- gian crescents or ...
... lived ( they were not altogether the same thing ) , as the ' leisured classes ' ; and we form an image of them , reinforced by colourful screen adaptations , sitting in elegant drawing - rooms , strolling along Geor- gian crescents or ...
Page xvi
... lived at home . Edward , the third son , was adopted at the age of fifteen by Thomas Knight II ( the son of Mr Austen's benefactor ) , who , having no children of his own , settled his property on him ; he was sent on the Grand Tour for ...
... lived at home . Edward , the third son , was adopted at the age of fifteen by Thomas Knight II ( the son of Mr Austen's benefactor ) , who , having no children of his own , settled his property on him ; he was sent on the Grand Tour for ...
Page xvii
... lived in the same home , and shared the same bedroom , till separated by death,5 They were a talented and affectionate family , inheriting from their father strong principles and a regard for learning , and from their mother a sense of ...
... lived in the same home , and shared the same bedroom , till separated by death,5 They were a talented and affectionate family , inheriting from their father strong principles and a regard for learning , and from their mother a sense of ...
Page 1
... lived either in smaller cathedral cities and market towns or in villages in the countryside . Jane Austen led a quiet , rural existence , except for the period of eight years when she lived first in Bath and then in Southampton ; there ...
... lived either in smaller cathedral cities and market towns or in villages in the countryside . Jane Austen led a quiet , rural existence , except for the period of eight years when she lived first in Bath and then in Southampton ; there ...
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Common terms and phrases
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