Emma - Jane Austen [235]
2. thought, word, or deed: Compare the General Confession of the Anglican service of Holy Communion, ‘We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, By thought, word and deed.’
3. ‘open temper’: Mr Knightsley’s preference is typical of eighteenth-century moral philosophy; compare Adam Smith’s ‘Frankness and openness conciliate confidence. We trust the man who seems willing to trust us’, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), eds. D.D. Raphael and A.L. Macfie (Oxford, 1976), p. 337.
CHAPTER XVI
1. rout-cakes: Rich cakes suitable for routs or receptions.
2. no ice: By the 1780s, most big houses had an ice house for storing winter ice through the summer (M. Girouard, Life in the English Country House (New Haven, 1978), p. 262). For Mrs Elton, this is a further sign of Highbury’s provincial limitations. Compare Letters, p. 92.
CHAPTER XVII
1. There are places: Compare Samuel Johnson’s Rambler essay 107 on fallen women, ‘There are places, indeed, set apart, to which these unhappy creatures may resort.’ See also note III, x: 1.
2. slave-trade: The Act of Abolition came into effect in 1808. The parallel between slavery and the situation of women without independent means also occurs in Mansfield Park (see M. Kirkham, Jane Austen: Feminism and Fiction, pp. 117–18). For discussion of the slavery issue in relation to Mansfield Park, and suggestions for further related reading, see Kathryn Sutherland’s Introduction to the New Penguin edition (London, 2003).
3. black gentleman: The Devil. Austen also uses the term in a letter of 8 February 1807 (Letters, p. 120).
CHAPTER XVIII
1. Clifton: Fashionable district of Bristol.
2. Hymen’s saffron robe: Compare Milton’s ‘L’Allegro’, ll. 125–6. Hymen was the ancient Greek God of marriage.
3. Birmingham: The West Midlands industrial town had expanded greatly by 1815, but was still unrepresented in Parliament.
4. completed the purchase before his death: In contrast to the ‘very ancient family’ of Woodhouse (I, xvi), the Sucklings’ status as landowners is very recent. In 1806, Austen had stayed in Clifton, where many Bristol businessmen were building elegant houses, perhaps inspiring her later creation of Maple Grove. See Mavis Batey, Jane Austen and the English Landscape, p. 124.
Volume Three
CHAPTER I
1. Richmond: Surrey town on the Thames, now part of Greater London. Richmond had royal connections dating back to the sixteenth century and its palace was famous for being the place where Elizabeth I died. Richmond Hill, with its impressive views, became a very desirable residential area in the eighteenth century.
2. Manchester-street: Near Marylebone High Street in London.
CHAPTER II
1. Jane: Mrs Elton offends again through her over-familiar mode of address.
2. tippet: Short cape or stole worn around the shoulders.
CHAPTER III
1. imaginist: An imaginative person. The term appears to have been invented by Austen and used only in this instance. Although Emma’s imagination is often seen as dangerous, it can also be seen in the context of contemporary statements such as Wordsworth’s Preface to his Poems of 1815.
CHAPTER IV
1. Tunbridge-ware box: Wooden box with mosaic decoration of the kind traditionally made in Tunbridge Wells in Kent.
2. court plaister: Sticking plaster made of silk coated with isinglass (originally used at court for beauty spots).
3. spruce beer: Drink brewed from spruce needles. Austen refers to it in letters of 7 October 1808 (‘Martha comes to day; yesterday brought us notice of it, & the Spruce Beer is brewed in consequence’) and 9 December 1808 (‘we are brewing Spruce Beer again’) (Letters, pp. 143, 156).
CHAPTER V
1. ‘Myself creating: From William Cowper, The Task (1785), Book IV, 1. 290. Although Mr Knightley does not appear to share Cowper’s satisfaction with his imaginative powers, he is nevertheless familiar with one of Austen’s favourite poets.
2. Pembroke: A small, drop-leaf table. Austen’s enthusiasm for her mother’s Pembroke is recorded in a letter to Cassandra,