“The Orange Wine will want our Care soon.-But in the meantime for Elegance & Ease & Luxury . . . I shall eat Ice & drink French wine, & be above Vulgar Economy.”
letter to Cassandra
July 1, 1808 [55]
Jane was writing from Godmersham (pic above), her brother Edward’s home, which was certainly above Vulgar Economy.
Horrible Mrs. Norris!
“Mrs. Norris had not the least intention of being at any expense whatever in [Fanny’s] maintenance. As far as walking, talking, and contriving reached, she was thoroughly benevolent, and nobody knew better how to dictate liberality to others: but her love of money was equal to her love of directing, and she knew quite as well how to save her own as to spend that of her friends. …
“Under this infatuating principle, counteracted by no real affection for her sister, it was impossible for her to aim at more than the credit of projecting and arranging so expensive a charity; though perhaps she might so little know herself, as to walk home to the Parsonage after this conversation, in the happy belief of being the most liberal-minded sister and aunt in the world.”
Mansfield Park, volume 1, chapter 1 (emphasis mine)
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Filed under Economy, Generosity, Greed, Mansfield Park, Money, Self-deception
“While Lady Elliot lived, there had been method, moderation, and economy, which had just kept him within his income; but with her had died all such right-mindedness, and from that period he had been constantly exceediing it. It had not been possible for him to spend less: he had done nothing but what Sir Walter Elliot was imperiously called on to do; but blameless as he was, he was not only growing dreadfully in debt, but was hearing of it so often, that it became vain to attempt concealing it longer.”
Persuasion, volume 1, chapter 1
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Filed under Debt, Economy, Lady Elliot, Money, Persuasion, Sir Walter Elliot
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