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 viii
... kind used at Hartfield , on which Emma wrote the letters herself . ( V & A Picture Library ) 17 Bilbocatch , or cup and ball . ( Bristol City Museum ) 18 Spillikins . ( Bristol City Museum ) Text Illustrations Cassino , engraving by ...
... kind used at Hartfield , on which Emma wrote the letters herself . ( V & A Picture Library ) 17 Bilbocatch , or cup and ball . ( Bristol City Museum ) 18 Spillikins . ( Bristol City Museum ) Text Illustrations Cassino , engraving by ...
Page xi
... kind habitual with Mrs Norris is hardly seen to be commendable , indolence is always condemned , indul- gently perhaps in a Lady Bertram , much more harshly in a Sir Walter Elliot : in his case it is indicative of serious defects of ...
... kind habitual with Mrs Norris is hardly seen to be commendable , indolence is always condemned , indul- gently perhaps in a Lady Bertram , much more harshly in a Sir Walter Elliot : in his case it is indicative of serious defects of ...
Page xiv
... kind of goods grew to meet the purchasing power of consumers , large numbers of people were able to enjoy a degree of comfort and luxury that , in previous times , had been restricted to a small aristocratic group at the very top of ...
... kind of goods grew to meet the purchasing power of consumers , large numbers of people were able to enjoy a degree of comfort and luxury that , in previous times , had been restricted to a small aristocratic group at the very top of ...
Page xvii
... kind elder sister . Something of this feeling always remained ; and even in the maturity of her powers , and in the enjoyment of increasing success , she would still speak of Cassandra as of one wiser and better than herself . In ...
... kind elder sister . Something of this feeling always remained ; and even in the maturity of her powers , and in the enjoyment of increasing success , she would still speak of Cassandra as of one wiser and better than herself . In ...
Page xviii
... kind of life she was to describe in Mansfield Park . Like the rest of her family , she read a great deal , particularly novels ; her engagement with literature , and a keen relish for burlesque , encouraged her to begin writing herself ...
... kind of life she was to describe in Mansfield Park . Like the rest of her family , she read a great deal , particularly novels ; her engagement with literature , and a keen relish for burlesque , encouraged her to begin writing herself ...
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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