I was calculated (as best I could) what they would have had if they had just saved and reinvested the income from Mrs. Gardiner's 5000 pounds each year. They could have spent the whole income of estate and just left that alone, and it would have ballooned tremendously, and come out close to that much by the time Jane is 24 or so. I once made this point somewhere and the answer was that it wasn't enough to have made them any more attractive to rich suitors, but that's not the point. The point is that they could have been financially secure and comfortable, not rich, but able to support themselves and not fear poverty.
I've been thinking lately about the whole entail thing, and Mr. Bennet's plan to have his son help break the entail so that he could provide for his daughters that way. It's ironic, because he is exactly what entails were designed to protect against. He was prepared to cut up and sell off portions of the family estate in order to give dowries to his daughters, leaving said son with a greatly diminished inheritance--all rather than have to practice a little economy right now. You're right, he was a loser.
I've been thinking lately about the whole entail thing, and Mr. Bennet's plan to have his son help break the entail so that he could provide for his daughters that way. It's ironic, because he is exactly what entails were designed to protect against. He was prepared to cut up and sell off portions of the family estate in order to give dowries to his daughters, leaving said son with a greatly diminished inheritance--all rather than have to practice a little economy right now. You're right, he was a loser.