I have no answer to Marks's query but add another question.
Of Darcy's estate in Derbyshire, Wickham says, "Yes, his estate there is a noble one. A clear ten thousand per annum."
I often wonder about the word "there" in that short statement. Does it mean there are other estates? If there is only one estate and it is in Derbyshire, why include the word there? As to what a clear ten thousand means, I always took it as net -- that is, clear after expenses have been accounted for. That gives Darcy's Pemberley income a nice symmetry with Bingley's income, which we know is a clear four or five thousand annually (presumably from holdings in funds rather than land or continued proceeds directly from manufacturing.)
If Darcy's ten thousand from Pemberley is not net, then his actual income is closer to Bingley's -- and I don't think it was intended that their incomes be so close. Bingley is nice but Darcy is twice the man, or so I have always worked it out in my interpretation. But that is based on emotion of a reader rather than the facts of a researcher. Ultimately, I bow to facts. Also, Pemberley is 10,000 acres, so five times the size of Longbourn? Or, perhaps the return per acre was different in Derbyshire than it was in Hertfordshire.
Of Darcy's estate in Derbyshire, Wickham says, "Yes, his estate there is a noble one. A clear ten thousand per annum."
I often wonder about the word "there" in that short statement. Does it mean there are other estates? If there is only one estate and it is in Derbyshire, why include the word there? As to what a clear ten thousand means, I always took it as net -- that is, clear after expenses have been accounted for. That gives Darcy's Pemberley income a nice symmetry with Bingley's income, which we know is a clear four or five thousand annually (presumably from holdings in funds rather than land or continued proceeds directly from manufacturing.)
If Darcy's ten thousand from Pemberley is not net, then his actual income is closer to Bingley's -- and I don't think it was intended that their incomes be so close. Bingley is nice but Darcy is twice the man, or so I have always worked it out in my interpretation. But that is based on emotion of a reader rather than the facts of a researcher. Ultimately, I bow to facts. Also, Pemberley is 10,000 acres, so five times the size of Longbourn? Or, perhaps the return per acre was different in Derbyshire than it was in Hertfordshire.