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His feelings for Eliza Bennett reveal Darcy’s pride:
“Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as
he was by her. He really believed, that were it not for
the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some
danger”.
Wentworth is a better man than that and, a
good quality in a romantic hero, he writes great letters.
The first drafts of perhaps the most admired works,
Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, were
written while living at the parsonage of the sleepy
village of Steventon – just a few miles from my
“Bacon” family ancestors who came from the same
area in Hampshire so I have a special affinity with
Jane Austen. That’s Steventon church, her father’s
church, pictured to the left.
The novels were revised and published later in her life
when she was living comfortably in the cottage at
Chawton which is now the Jane Austen House
Museum, rooms from which are pictured here. This
is perhaps the most evocative location where you feel
how it was to live as a spinster in Regency England,
depending on family and friends support. She also
began to find inspiration to write again here including
Persuasion which was the last work completed before
her death and published posthumously. Jane preferred
to keep her artistic side private so depended on a
squeaky door to alert her when visitors came so she
could quickly hide her manuscripts. I continue to
enjoy reading and watching Jane Austen’s dramas
unfold. Sadly Jane died in her early forties with only
6 novels completed – how many more classics may
have been written if she had lived longer?
Let’s finish with the lively Bennets:
Mrs Bennet to her husband:
“Mr Bennet, how can you abuse your own children
in such a way? You take delight in vexing me.
You have no compassion for my poor nerves”
“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for
your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard
you mention them with consideration these last
twenty years at least”
“Ah, you do not know what I suffer”.
“But I hope you will get over it, and live to see many
young men of four thousand a year come into the
neighbourhood”.
You can visit Jane Austen’s House at Chawton and
Steventon Church as part of The Jane Austen
Country Tour. More information
Blue Badge Guide Marian & Jane