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
... Edward Edwards ' A Practical Treatise of Perspective ( 1803 ) . Page from The Artist's Vade - Mecum : being the Whole Art of Drawing Taught in a New Work ( 1776 ) ii 5 67 80 83 86 Title page to B. Thomas ( pseudonym of Thomas B. Johnson ) ...
... Edward Edwards ' A Practical Treatise of Perspective ( 1803 ) . Page from The Artist's Vade - Mecum : being the Whole Art of Drawing Taught in a New Work ( 1776 ) ii 5 67 80 83 86 Title page to B. Thomas ( pseudonym of Thomas B. Johnson ) ...
Page xvi
... Edward , the third son , was adopted at the age of fifteen by Thomas Knight II ( the son of Mr Austen's benefactor ) ... Edward took over the estates at Godmersham , Steventon and Chawton ; and in 1812 , on the death of his widow , he ...
... Edward , the third son , was adopted at the age of fifteen by Thomas Knight II ( the son of Mr Austen's benefactor ) ... Edward took over the estates at Godmersham , Steventon and Chawton ; and in 1812 , on the death of his widow , he ...
Page xvii
... Edward Austen - Leigh in his Memoir . dearest of all to the heart of Jane was her sister Cassandra , about three years her senior . Their sisterly affection for each other could scarcely be exceeded . Perhaps it began on Jane's side ...
... Edward Austen - Leigh in his Memoir . dearest of all to the heart of Jane was her sister Cassandra , about three years her senior . Their sisterly affection for each other could scarcely be exceeded . Perhaps it began on Jane's side ...
Page xviii
... Edward at Godmersham , and to his 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 ...
... Edward at Godmersham , and to his 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 ...
Page xix
... Edward maintained three estates . This was the pattern in many comparable families throughout the kingdom . In Jane Austen's novels , work or at least useful employment - is given a moral value , as can be seen most clearly in Mansfield ...
... Edward maintained three estates . This was the pattern in many comparable families throughout the kingdom . In Jane Austen's novels , work or at least useful employment - is given a moral value , as can be seen most clearly in Mansfield ...
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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