She was fond of her sons, especially of William,...
She was fond of her sons, especially
of William, but Betsey was the first of her girls whom she had
ever much regardedTo her she was most injudiciously indulgent
William was her pride; Betsey her darling; and John, Richard, Sam,
Tom, and Charles occupied all the rest of her maternal solicitude,
alternately her worries and her comfortsThese shared her heart:
her time was given chiefly to her house and her servantsHer days
were spent in a kind of slow bustle; all was busy without getting
on, always behindhand and lamenting it, without altering her ways;
wishing to be an economist, without contrivance or regularity;
dissatisfied with her servants, without skill to make them better,
and whether helping, or reprimanding, or indulging them, without
any power of engaging their respect
Of her two sisters, MrsPrice very much more resembled Lady
Bertram than MrsShe was a manager by necessity, without
any of MrsNorris’s inclination for it, or any of her activity
Her disposition was naturally easy and indolent, like Lady
Bertram’s; and a situation of similar affluence and do-nothingness
would have been much more suited to her capacity than the
340
Mansfield Park
exertions and self-denials of the one which her imprudent marriage
had placed her inShe might have made just as good a
woman of consequence as Lady Bertram, but MrsNorris would
have been a more respectable mother of nine children on a small
income
Much of all this Fanny could not but be sensible ofShe might
scruple to make use of the words, but she must and did feel that her
mother was a partial, ill-judging parent, a dawdle, a slattern, who
neither taught nor restrained her children, cartier tank must whose house was the
scene of mismanagement and discomfort from beginning to end,
and who had no talent, no conversation, no affection towards herself;
no curiosity to know her better, no desire of her friendship, and
no inclination for her company that could lessen her sense of such
feelings
Fanny was very anxious to be useful, and not to appear above her
home, or in any way disqualified or disinclined, by her foreign education,
from contributing her help to its comforts, and therefore set
about working for Sam immediately; and by working early and late,
with perseverance and great despatch, did so much that the boy was
shipped off at last, with more than half his linen readyShe had
great pleasure in feeling her usefulness, but could not conceive how
they would have managed without her
Sam, loud and overbearing as he was, she rather regretted when
he went, for he was clever and intelligent, and glad to be employed
in any errand in the town; and though spurning the remonstrances
of Susan, given as they were, though very reasonable in themselves,
with ill-timed and powerless warmth, was beginning to be influenced
by Fanny’s services and gentle persuasions; and she found
that the best of the three younger ones was gone in him: Tom and
Charles being at least as many years as they were his juniors distant
from that age of feeling and reason, which might suggest the expediency
of making friends, and of endeavouring to be less disagreeable
Their sister soon despaired of making the smallest impression
on them; they were quite untameable by any means of address which
she had spirits or time to attemptEvery afternoon brought a return
of their women rolex watches riotous games all over the house; and she very early learned
to sigh at the approach of Saturday’s constant half-holiday
341
Jane Austen
Betsey, too, a spoiled child, trained up to think the alphabet her
greatest enemy, left to be with the servants at her pleasure, and then
encouraged to report any evil of them, she was almost as ready to
despair of being able to love or assist; and of Susan’s temper she had
many doubtsHer continual disagreements with her mother, her
rash squabbles with Tom and Charles, and petulance with Betsey,
were at least so distressing to Fanny that, though admitting they
were by no means without provocation, she feared the disposition
that could push them to such length must be far from amiable, and
from affording any repose to herself
Such was the home which was to put Mansfield out of her head,
and teach her to think of her cousin Edmund with moderated feelings
On the contrary, she could think of nothing but Mansfield, its
beloved inmates, its happy waysEverything where she now was in
full contrast to itThe elegance, propriety, regularity, harmony, and
perhaps, above all, the peace and tranquillity of Mansfield, were
brought to her remembrance every hour of the day, by the prevalence
of everything opposite to them here
The living in incessant noise was, to a frame and temper delicate
and nervous like Fanny’s, an evil which no superadded elegance or
harmony could have entirely atoned forIt was the greatest misery
of allAt Mansfield, no sounds of contention, no raised voice, no
abrupt bursts, no tread of violence, was ever heard; all proceeded in
a regular course of cheerful orderliness; everybody had their hermes kelly handbag due
importance; everybody’s feelings were consultedIf tenderness could
be ever supposed wanting, good sense and good breeding supplied
its place; and as to the little irritations sometimes introduced by
aunt Norris, they were short, they were trifling, they were as a drop
of water to the ocean, compared with the ceaseless tumult of her
present abodeHere everybody was noisy, every voice was loud (excepting,
perhaps, her mother’s, which resembled the soft monotony
of Lady Bertram’s, only worn into fretfulness)Whatever was wanted
was hallooed for, and the servants hallooed out their excuses from
the kitchenThe doors were in constant banging, the stairs were
never at rest, nothing was done without a clatter, nobody sat still,
and nobody could command attention when they spoke
In a review of the two houses, as they appeared to her before the
342
Mansfield Park
end of a week, Fanny was tempted to apply to them DrJohnson’s
celebrated judgment as to matrimony and celibacy, and say, that
though Mansfield Park might have some pains, Portsmouth could
have no pleasures
343
Jane Austen
CHAPTER XL
FANNY WAS RIGHT enough in not expecting to hear from Miss
Crawford now at the rapid rate in which their correspondence had
begun; Mary’s next letter was after a decidedly longer interval than
the last, but she was not right in supposing that such an interval
would be felt a great relief to herselfHere was another strange revolution
of mind! She was really glad to receive the letter when it did
comeIn her present exile from good society, and distance from
everything that had been wont to interest her, a letter from one
belonging to the set where her heart lived, chanel earrings stud written with affection,
and some degree of elegance, was thoroughly acceptableThe usual
plea of increasing engagements was made in excuse for not having
written to her earlier; “And now that I have begun,” she continued,
“my letter will not be worth your reading, for there will be no little
offering of love at the end, no three or four lines passionnees from
the most devoted Hin the world, for Henry is in Norfolk; business
called him to Everingham ten days ago, or perhaps he only
pretended to call, for the sake of being travelling at the same time
that you wereBut there he is, and, by the bye, his absence may
sufficiently account for any remissness of his sister’s in writing, for
there has been no ‘Well, Mary, when do you write to Fanny? Is not
it time for you to write to Fanny?’ to spur me onAt last, after
various attempts at meeting, I have seen your cousins, ‘dear Julia
and dearest MrsRushworth’; they found me at home yesterday,
and we were glad to see each other againWe seemed very glad to see
each other, and I do really think we were a littleWe had a vast deal
to sayShall I tell you how MrsRushworth looked when your name
was mentioned? I did not use to think her wanting in self-possession,
but she had not quite enough for the demands of yesterday
Upon the whole, Julia was in the best looks of the two, at least after
344
Mansfield Park
you were spoken ofThere was no recovering the complexion from
the moment that I spoke of ‘Fanny,’ and spoke of her as a sister
shouldRushworth’s day of good looks will come; we have
cards for her first party on the 28thThen she will be in beauty, for
she will open one of the best houses in Wimpole gucci twirl watch Stre