“I am perfectly convinced that your present feelings, supposing you were to marry now, would be sufficient for his happiness;-but when I think how very, very far it is from a Now, & take everything that may be, into consideration, I dare not say, ‘determine to accept him.’ The risk is too great for you, unless your own Sentiments prompt it.”
letter to her niece Fanny Knight
November 30, 1814 [114]
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Filed under Austen family, Letters, Love, Marriage, niece Fanny Knight, Uncertainty in love
More from Jane’s letters to her niece Fanny, about whether or not she should marry Mr. John Plumptre:
“Now, my dearest Fanny . . . You frighten me out of my Wits by your reference. Your affection gives me the highest pleasure, but indeed you must not let anything depend on my opinion. Your own feelings & none but your own, should determine such an important point.”
letter to her niece Fanny Knight
November 30, 1814 [114]
Imogen Poots as Fanny Knight in Miss Austen Regrets
Filed under Austen family, Letters, Love, Marriage, niece Fanny Knight, Uncertainty in love
Alas… just one more evening of P&P on Sunday.
“You are joking, Lizzy. This cannot be!-engaged to Mr. Darcy! No, no, you shall not deceive me. I know it to be impossible.”
“This is a wretched beginning indeed! My sole dependence was on you; and I am sure nobody else will believe me, if you do not. Yet, indeed, I am in earnest. I speak nothing but the truth. He still loves me, and we are engaged.”
Jane looked at her doubtingly. “Oh, Lizzy! it cannot be. I know how much you dislike him.”
“You know nothing of the matter. That is all to be forgot. Perhaps I did not always love him so well as I do now. But in such cases as these, a good memory is unpardonable. This is the last time I shall ever remember it myself.”
Lizzy and Jane discussing Lizzy’s engagement to Mr. Darcy
Pride & Prejudice, Volume 3, Chapter 17
Another lovely icon from the icon contest at Jane Austen Today, this one from Mandie at ATUA.
Filed under Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Bennet, Love, Marriage, Pride and Prejudice
“‘I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.'”
Darcy, answering Lizzy’s question about how he ever began to fall in love with her in the first place
Pride and Prejudice, volume 3, chapter 18
My brother was able to get my wireless network back up and running yesterday. Whoo-hoo!
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Filed under Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Love, Pride and Prejudice
“There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and everyday confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense.”
Lizzy talking to her sister Jane, upon hearing of Charlotte’s wedding and after a letter from Caroline Bingley, hinting at her brother’s supposed indifference
Pride & Prejudice, Volume 2, Chapter 1
Lovely Jennifer Ehle icon is from the icon contest a while back at Jane Austen Today, created by Sands at the web forum A Truth Universally Acknowledged.
Filed under Elizabeth Bennet, Friendship, Love, Pride and Prejudice
Happy Valentine’s Day, dear readers! One of my favorites…
Here is Knightley echoing Darcy’s thoughts of the other day:
“I cannot make speeches, Emma . . . If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”
Emma, volume 3, chapter 13
Filed under Emma, Emma Woodhouse, Love, Mr. Knightley, Proposals
“Poor dear Mr J.P.!-Oh! dear Fanny, Your mistake has been one that thousands of women fall into. He was the first young Man who attached himself to you. That was the charm, & most powerful it is.”
letter to her niece, Fanny Knight, about Mr. John Plumptre, whom Fanny was considering marrying
November 18, 1814 [109]
Olivia Williams as letter-writing aunt Jane Austen. ©BBC 2007 for MASTERPIECE
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Filed under Austen family, Letters, Love, Men, niece Fanny Knight
“My dearest Fanny, I am writing what will not be of the smallest use to you. I am feeling differently every moment, & shall not be able to suggest a single thing that can assist your Mind.-I could lament in one sentence & laugh in the next, but as to Opinion or Counsel I am sure none will be extracted worth having from this Letter.”
letter to her niece Fanny Knight
November 18, 1814 [109]
Filed under Austen family, Letters, Love, niece Fanny Knight
“From the time of our being in London together, I thought you really very much in love.-But you certainly are not at all-there is no concealing it.-What strange creatures we are!-It seems as if your being secure of him (as you say yourself) had made you Indifferent.”
letter to her niece, Fanny Knight, about Mr. John Plumptre, whom Fanny was considering marrying
November 18, 1814 [109]
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Filed under Austen family, Letters, Love, Men, niece Fanny Knight, Uncertainty in love
“I purposely abstain from dates on this occasion, that every one may be
at liberty to fix their own, aware that the cure of unconquerable
passions, and the transfer of unchanging attachments, must vary much as
to time in different people. I only entreat everybody to believe that
exactly at the time when it was quite natural that it should be so, and
not a week earlier, Edmund did cease to care about Miss Crawford, and
became as anxious to marry Fanny as Fanny herself could desire.”
Mansfield Park, volume 3, chapter 17
See a preview on the PBS site.
Blake Ritson as Edmund Bertram. ©Jon Hall/ITV plc (Granada International) for Masterpiece™
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Filed under Edmund Bertram, Fanny Price, Love, Mansfield Park, Mary Crawford
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