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 xiv
... wives and daughters to assemblies , ball- rooms and pleasure gardens ; they gambled away fortunes at cards in their clubs or lost large sums of money at horse - races ; they were entertained at concert rooms and theatres , and their ...
... wives and daughters to assemblies , ball- rooms and pleasure gardens ; they gambled away fortunes at cards in their clubs or lost large sums of money at horse - races ; they were entertained at concert rooms and theatres , and their ...
Page xvi
... wife also came from a clerical background : Cassandra Leigh was the daughter of the rector of Harpsden in Oxfordshire , and her uncle , Theophilus Leigh , was Master of Balliol College , Oxford . The Leighs were grander than the Austens ...
... wife also came from a clerical background : Cassandra Leigh was the daughter of the rector of Harpsden in Oxfordshire , and her uncle , Theophilus Leigh , was Master of Balliol College , Oxford . The Leighs were grander than the Austens ...
Page xviii
... wife's family , the Bridges , at Goodnestone , introduced her to a higher level of country house society and allowed her to experience at first hand the kind of life she was to describe in Mansfield Park . Like the rest of her family ...
... wife's family , the Bridges , at Goodnestone , introduced her to a higher level of country house society and allowed her to experience at first hand the kind of life she was to describe in Mansfield Park . Like the rest of her family ...
Page xix
... wife , was Anna Lefroy , the other niece to whom Jane was close ; her husband , Ben Lefroy , was the son of Jane's great friend and mentor , Anne Lefroy , wife of the rector of Ashe , known as ' Madam Lefroy ' . Restored to the ...
... wife , was Anna Lefroy , the other niece to whom Jane was close ; her husband , Ben Lefroy , was the son of Jane's great friend and mentor , Anne Lefroy , wife of the rector of Ashe , known as ' Madam Lefroy ' . Restored to the ...
Page 2
... wife's death , adopted his son as their heir , just as the Knights did with Edward Austen . For Frank Churchill to marry Emma would set the seal on Mr Weston's social position ; yet although he undoubtedly hopes for such a marriage , it ...
... wife's death , adopted his son as their heir , just as the Knights did with Edward Austen . For Frank Churchill to marry Emma would set the seal on Mr Weston's social position ; yet although he undoubtedly hopes for such a marriage , it ...
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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