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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 73
Page vii
... Henry VIII , from a painting by G. H. Harlow . 8 Brighthelmstone ( Brighton ) , the bathing place , with Smoaker's machine , c . 1790 , engraved for the Graphic , A Trip to Brighton , 1880 . 9 North view of Lyme Cobb , by T. M. Baynes ...
... Henry VIII , from a painting by G. H. Harlow . 8 Brighthelmstone ( Brighton ) , the bathing place , with Smoaker's machine , c . 1790 , engraved for the Graphic , A Trip to Brighton , 1880 . 9 North view of Lyme Cobb , by T. M. Baynes ...
Page xvii
... Henry 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 ...
... Henry 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 ...
Page xix
... Henry Crawford , like his sister and the Miss Bertrams , is also intent on the pursuit of pleasure ; and having failed to find enough scope for amusement in the improve- ments to his own estate , he is very keen to encourage Mr ...
... Henry Crawford , like his sister and the Miss Bertrams , is also intent on the pursuit of pleasure ; and having failed to find enough scope for amusement in the improve- ments to his own estate , he is very keen to encourage Mr ...
Page 4
... Henry ) culminated in an invitation to visit the library at Carlton House and to dedicate Emma to the Prince Regent . Yet she never made any show or fuss about her work . As she sat at her little mahogany desk , visitors , including ...
... Henry ) culminated in an invitation to visit the library at Carlton House and to dedicate Emma to the Prince Regent . Yet she never made any show or fuss about her work . As she sat at her little mahogany desk , visitors , including ...
Page 7
... Henry's house , No. 10 Henrietta Street , Covent Garden , in Septem- ber 1813 , she was anxious to put every moment to good use : ' Layton and Shear's is Bedford House ' , she wrote to Cassandra in comically breathless short sentences ...
... Henry's house , No. 10 Henrietta Street , Covent Garden , in Septem- ber 1813 , she was anxious to put every moment to good use : ' Layton and Shear's is Bedford House ' , she wrote to Cassandra in comically breathless short sentences ...
Other editions - View all
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