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 xiii
... wish to consolidate his newly acquired social position by purchasing a large estate in Derbyshire ( of which county he was appointed High Sheriff ) . But investment in the funds or in capital projects such as canals or urban ...
... wish to consolidate his newly acquired social position by purchasing a large estate in Derbyshire ( of which county he was appointed High Sheriff ) . But investment in the funds or in capital projects such as canals or urban ...
Page 7
... wish . 7 During a ball refreshments of some sort would always be served , and people sat down to eat halfway through the dancing . At public assemblies it was most likely to be tea , as is described in The Watsons ; but if it was a ...
... wish . 7 During a ball refreshments of some sort would always be served , and people sat down to eat halfway through the dancing . At public assemblies it was most likely to be tea , as is described in The Watsons ; but if it was a ...
Page 8
... wishes to persuade Mr Woodhouse to join the party and he knows that ' to have any of them sitting down out of doors to eat would inevitably make him ill ' ; 20 but this is described as ' another ' reason , and we must assume that there ...
... wishes to persuade Mr Woodhouse to join the party and he knows that ' to have any of them sitting down out of doors to eat would inevitably make him ill ' ; 20 but this is described as ' another ' reason , and we must assume that there ...
Page 14
... wishes to put off her walk with them again in order to go out with him and Isabella . Catherine will not be tricked a second time into doing what she thinks wrong : she runs after them and , disregarding all considerations of form ...
... wishes to put off her walk with them again in order to go out with him and Isabella . Catherine will not be tricked a second time into doing what she thinks wrong : she runs after them and , disregarding all considerations of form ...
Page 16
... wishes . And even Lady Russell , who is the only person apart from Captain Wentworth to value Anne as she deserves , makes several crucial errors in her advice to her : not only is she responsible for having persuaded her not to marry ...
... wishes . And even Lady Russell , who is the only person apart from Captain Wentworth to value Anne as she deserves , makes several crucial errors in her advice to her : not only is she responsible for having persuaded her not to marry ...
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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