“She had the consciousness of being nine-and-twenty to give her some regrets and some apprehensions; she was fully satisfied of being still quite as handsome as ever, but she felt her approach to the years of danger, and would have rejoiced to be certain of being properly solicited by baronet-blood within the next twelvemonth or two.”
Of Elizabeth Elliot
Persuasion, volume 1, chapter 1
Comments Off on Years of danger
Filed under Aging, Beauty, Elizabeth Elliot, Persuasion
“’Colonel Brandon is certainly younger than Mrs. Jennings, but he is old enough to be my father; and if he were ever animated enough to be in love, must have long outlived every sensation of the kind. It is too ridiculous! When is a man to be safe from such wit if age and infirmity will not protect him?’”
Marianne again on Colonel Brandon’s advanced age of thirty-five, reflecting o n his “advanced years and on his forlorn condition of an old bachelor”
Sense & Sensibility, volume 1, chapter 8
I think I could put up with Colonel Brandon’s age and infirmity.
I didn’t get to see S&S last night. Between puppy-sitting this weekend, and a deadline this morning (which I missed - ack!), my weekend went by too fast. Hoping to watch it tonight. Did you love it — hate it? I did catch the very beginning today over lunch, and thought the opening scene would be a bit confusing if you didn’t know the story and already know who that was.
Filed under Aging, Col. Brandon, Love, Marianne, Sense and Sensibility, Singleness
“’A woman of seven and twenty,’ said Marianne, after pausing a moment, ‘can never hope to feel or inspire affection again.’”
Sense & Sensibility, volume 1, chapter 8
Thank goodness Jane did not believe this!
Filed under Aging, Love, Marianne, Sense and Sensibility
“It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before; and, generally speaking, if there has been neither ill-health nor anxiety, it is a time of life at which scarcely any charm is lost.”
in the description of Elizabeth Elliot
Persuasion, volume 1, chapter 1
Hear, hear! (Or is that, here, here! I never know…) Of course, Marianne would disagree.
Julia Davis as Elizabeth Elliot; Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot; and Amanda Hale as Mary Musgrove.. ©Nick Briggs/Clerkenwell Films for Masterpiece™
Complete Jane Austen
Filed under Aging, Beauty, Elizabeth Elliot, Persuasion
“By the bye, as I must leave off being young, I find many Douceurs in being a sort of Chaperon for I am put on a Sofa near the Fire & can drink as much wine as I like.”
letter to Cassandra
November 6, 1813 [96]
I have a birthday next week… Now that I am leaving off being young, I am ready to be put on a sofa by the fire. 😉
According to dictionary.com, the archaic meaning of douceurs is “sweetness or agreeableness.”
The Jane Austen Guide to Life: Thoughtful Lessons for the Modern Woman (May, 2012)
A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith