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 xvii
... described her as a ' present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion ' , 4 and so it proved to be . From the first she and Cassandra were inseparable . The closeness of their relationship was described by their nephew ...
... described her as a ' present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion ' , 4 and so it proved to be . From the first she and Cassandra were inseparable . The closeness of their relationship was described by their nephew ...
Page 2
... described as being specifically in ' the very heart of Bristol'.1 ( Bristol at that time was predominantly industrial ; Clifton , the spa where the Austens stayed briefly in 1806 , was always carefully distinguished from the city itself ...
... described as being specifically in ' the very heart of Bristol'.1 ( Bristol at that time was predominantly industrial ; Clifton , the spa where the Austens stayed briefly in 1806 , was always carefully distinguished from the city itself ...
Page 7
... described in The Watsons ; but if it was a private ball , a proper supper was expected . In Emma when the practical Mrs Weston , finding that there is nowhere spacious enough at the Crown to serve a ' regular supper ' , suggests that ...
... described in The Watsons ; but if it was a private ball , a proper supper was expected . In Emma when the practical Mrs Weston , finding that there is nowhere spacious enough at the Crown to serve a ' regular supper ' , suggests that ...
Page 8
... described as ' another ' reason , and we must assume that there is something else that he does not like about the idea . No doubt he foresees more clearly than Mrs Elton in her enthusiasm for the scheme that when they have been picking ...
... described as ' another ' reason , and we must assume that there is something else that he does not like about the idea . No doubt he foresees more clearly than Mrs Elton in her enthusiasm for the scheme that when they have been picking ...
Page 10
... described here to the rector of Baughurst and his family would not have been paid before one , and probably began later than that . Since in a country area such as north Hampshire visits were mainly made to friends of long standing ...
... described here to the rector of Baughurst and his family would not have been paid before one , and probably began later than that . Since in a country area such as north Hampshire visits were mainly made to friends of long standing ...
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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