“Mrs Badcock & two young Women were of the same party, except when Mrs Badcock thought herself obliged to leave them, to run round the room after her drunken Husband.-His avoidance, & her pursuit, with the probable intoxication of both, was an amusing scene.”
letter to Cassandra
May 12, 1801 [36]
“Expect a most agreeable Letter; for not being overburdened with subject-(having nothing to say)-I shall have no check to my Genius from beginning to end.”
letter to Cassandra
January 21, 1801 [32]
“‘Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.”
Lizzy giving Jane a bit of a hard time about Bingley, just after they’ve met at the Meryton ball (tongue in cheek, of course).
Pride & Prejudice, volume 1, chapter 4 (emphasis mine)
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Filed under Elizabeth Bennet, Humor, Jane Bennet, Love, Mr. Bingley, Pride and Prejudice
“I am quite pleased with Martha & Mrs. Lefroy for wanting the pattern of our Caps, but I am not so well pleased with Your giving it to them-. Some wish, some prevailing Wish is necessary to the animation of everybody’s Mind, & in gratifying this, You leave them to form some other which will not probably be half so innocent.”
letter to Cassandra
June 2, 1799 [20]
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Filed under Fashion, Humor, Letters, Martha Lloyd, Morality, Mrs. Lefroy
“Heaven forbid that I should ever offer such encouragement to Explanations, as to give a clear one on any occasion myself.”
letter to Cassandra
June 2, 1799 [20]
“Dr. Hall [is] in such very deep mourning that either his Mother, his Wife, or himself must be dead.”
letter to Cassandra, about a mutual acquaintance Jane had run into at Bath
May 17, 1799 [19]
“Whenever I fall into misfortune, how many jokes it ought to furnish to my acquaintance in general, or I shall die dreadfully in their debt for entertainment.”
letter to Cassandra
January 22, 1799 [18]
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Filed under Humor, Letters, Misfortune, Neighbors
“You deserve a longer letter than this; but it is my unhappy fate seldom to treat people so well as they deserve.”
letter to Cassandra
December 25, 1798 [15]
“Mrs. Portman is not much admired in Dorsetshire; the good-natured world, as usual, extolled her beauty so highly, that all the neighbourhood have had the pleasure of being disappointed.”
letter to Cassandra
November 17, 1798 [11]
“Here I am once more in this Scene of Dissipation & vice, and I begin already to find my Morals corrupted.”
letter to Cassandra, from London
August 23, 1796 [3]
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