ansfield Park by Jane Austen A PENN...
ansfield
Park
by
Jane Austen
A PENN STATE
ELECTRONIC CLASSICS SERIES
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3
Jane Austen
Mansfield Park
(1814)
by
Jane Austen
(1775-1817)
CHAPTER I
ABOUT THIRTY YEARS AGO Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with
only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir
Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton,
and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet’s lady, with all the
comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income
All Huntingdon exclaimed on the greatness of the match,
and her uncle, the lawyer, himself, necklace tiffany allowed her to be at least three
thousand pounds short of any equitable claim to itShe had two
sisters to be benefited by her elevation; and such of their acquaintance
as thought Miss Ward and Miss Frances quite as handsome as
Miss Maria, did not scruple to predict their marrying with almost
equal advantageBut there certainly are not so many men of large
fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them
Miss Ward, at the end of half a dozen years, found herself obliged to
be attached to the RevNorris, a friend of her brother-in-law,
with scarcely any private fortune, and Miss Frances fared yet worse
Miss Ward’s match, indeed, when it came to the point, was not
4
Mansfield Park
contemptible: Sir Thomas being happily able to give his friend an
income in the living of Mansfield; and MrNorris began
their career of conjugal felicity with very little less than a thousand
a yearBut Miss Frances married, in the common phrase, to disoblige
her family, and by fixing on a lieutenant of marines, without education,
fortune, or connexions, did it very thoroughlyShe could hardly
have made a more untoward choiceSir Thomas Bertram had interest,
which, from principle as well as pride—from a general wish of
doing right, and a desire of seeing all that were connected with him
in situations of respectability, he would have been glad to exert for
the advantage of Lady Bertram’s sister; but her husband’s profession
was such as no interest could reach; and before he had time to devise
any other method of assisting them, an absolute breach between
the sisters had taken placeIt was the natural prada bowler handbag result of the
conduct of each party, and such as a very imprudent marriage almost
always producesTo save herself from useless remonstrance,
MrsPrice never wrote to her family on the subject till actually
marriedLady Bertram, who was a woman of very tranquil feelings,
and a temper remarkably easy and indolent, would have contented
herself with merely giving up her sister, and thinking no more of
the matter; but MrsNorris had a spirit of activity, which could not
be satisfied till she had written a long and angry letter to Fanny, to
point out the folly of her conduct, and threaten her with all its
possible ill consequencesPrice, in her turn, was injured and
angry; and an answer, which comprehended each sister in its bitterness,
and bestowed such very disrespectful reflections on the pride
of Sir Thomas as MrsNorris could not possibly keep to herself, put
an end to all intercourse between them for a considerable period
Their homes were so distant, and the circles in which they moved
so distinct, as almost to preclude the means of ever hearing of each
other’s existence during the eleven following years, or, at least, to
make it very wonderful to Sir Thomas that MrsNorris should ever
have it in her power to tell them, as she now and then did, in an
angry voice, that Fanny had got another childBy the end of eleven
years, however, MrsPrice could no longer afford to cherish pride or
resentment, or to lose one connexion that might possibly assist her
A large and still increasing family, an husband disabled for active
5
Jane Austen
service, but not the less equal to company and good liquor, fake louis vuitton bags and a
very small income to supply their wants, made her eager to regain
the friends she had so carelessly sacrificed; and she addressed Lady
Bertram in a letter which spoke so much contrition and despondence,
such a superfluity of children, and such a want of almost
everything else, as could not but dispose them all to a reconciliation
She was preparing for her ninth lying-in; and after bewailing
the circumstance, and imploring their countenance as sponsors to
the expected child, she could not conceal how important she felt
they might be to the future maintenance of the eight already in
beingHer eldest was a boy of ten years old, a fine spirited fellow,
who longed to be out in the world; but what could she do? Was
there any chance of his being hereafter useful to Sir Thomas in the
concerns of his West Indian property? No situation would be beneath
him; or what did Sir Thomas think of Woolwich? or how
could a boy be sent out to the East?
The letter was not unproductiveIt re-established peace and kindness
Sir Thomas sent friendly advice and professions, Lady Bertram
dispatched money and baby-linen, and MrsNorris wrote the letters
Such were its immediate effects, and within a twelvemonth a more
important advantage to MrsPrice resulted from itNorris was
often observing to the others that she could not get her poor sister
and her family out of her head, and that, much as they had all done
for her, she seemed to be wanting to do more; and at length she
could not but own it to be her wish that poor MrsPrice should be
relieved from the charge and expense of one child entirely out of d&g bag her
great number“What if they were among them to undertake the
care of her eldest daughter, a girl now nine years old, of an age to
require more attention than her poor mother could possibly give?
The trouble and expense of it to them would be nothing, compared
with the benevolence of the action Lady Bertram agreed with her
instantly“I think we cannot do better,” said she; “let us send for
the child
Sir Thomas could not give so instantaneous and unqualified a
consentHe debated and hesitated;—it was a serious charge;—a
girl so brought up must be adequately provided for, or there would
be cruelty instead of kindness in taking her from her familyHe
6
Mansfield Park
thought of his own four children, of his two sons, of cousins in love,
etc—but no sooner had he deliberately begun to state his objections,
than MrsNorris interrupted him with a reply to them all,
whether stated or not
“My dear Sir Thomas, I perfectly comprehend you, and do justice
to the generosity and delicacy of your notions, which indeed are
quite of a piece with your general conduct; and I entirely agree with
you in the main as to the propriety of doing everything one could
by way of providing for a child one had in a manner taken into one’s
own hands; and I am sure I should be the last person in the world to
withhold my mite upon such an occasionHaving no children of
my own, who should I look to in any little matter I may ever have to
bestow, but the children of my sisters?—and I am sure MrNorris is
too just—but you know I am a woman of few words and professions
Do not let us be frightened from a good deed by a tiffany 925 silver jewelry trifle