Re: ballroom?
This is reference to the Bingleys, Darcys, and de Bourghs, the other families we meet in the book. I wasn't making a statement about Meryton society at large, but actual characters in the story.
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Bennets were inferior to Darcys and de Bourghs, but not inferior to other country gentry in their neighbourhood. Mrs Bennet looked down on the Lucases who had a large house but no estate, although...
View Articleincome
JA always calculated income at 5% of capital. If at only 3%, then Georgina's capital of 30,000 would yield only 900 a year, which seems most comparatively unfair to me when her brother had at least...
View ArticleRe: income
Collins actually said four percent, if I remember correctly. "Invested in the four-percents."
View Articlecarriage horses, and wealth
Mr Bennet used his carriage horses on the farm, the Hursts had no horses for their carriage, and in Emma, Mr Knightley, who was first in consequence in the neighbourhood, had no carriage horses,...
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I've always been fascinated by that passage in Emma, and what it implies about estate ownership. We're never told Mr. Knightley's income, but we are told that the Donwell Abbey estate is a large one....
View ArticleRe: income
I was looking at these passages in Shappard's annotated version today. What is interesting is that it didn't matter if it were a 3,4 or 5% bond the yeilds were almost always around 5% or more, based...
View ArticlePaging Bernadette: ABF Update?
I know we're near the end of your wonderful story and part of me wishes to drag it out as I don't want it to end. But you did promise an update soon... ;)
View ArticleRe: carriage horses, and wealth
And let's not forget that Knightley was single. He's actually the only single man of no family at all that we see in any of the books. Carriages do seem to have been essentially for the ladies or the...
View ArticleRe: carriage horses, and wealth
I don't think it's fair to assume that Fitzwilliam has a good income. I agree that the major problem is certainly his habits of expense, but just being the child of a peer doesn't necessarily give you...
View ArticleP.S.
It's also possible that someone not too far up the line decided to divide the family funds evenly instead of leaving the money with the estate--again, probably not Mr. Knightley's father, since the...
View ArticleRe: ballroom?
Thank you; I didn't remember.I had heard that by the time of JA there were a lot of people who had money in the five percents, but it was hard to get hold of them anymore, and people investing new...
View ArticleRe: income
It is a lot less money, but since women weren't expected to provide the bulk of the fortune, but rather to provide capital for the fortune of a younger child, it may be spot on or even generous...
View ArticleRe: ballroom?
The Bennets were the principal inhabitants of Longbourn (not Meryton), whereas most of their neighbors lived in the countryside round about and some probably had their own little country villages, of...
View ArticleRe: P.S.
I guess Knightley's property being an Abbey makes me think he's got a crumbling pre-Dissolution monstrosity sucking away at his cash. Plus he doesn't seem to think twice about living at Hartfield....
View ArticleRe: ballroom?
3s were popular according to what I read today, but not what I had read before. (I blame the internet) I don't know all the little ins and outs, but the popularity may have come from the discounts,...
View ArticleRe: carriage horses, and wealth
Well, cash was hardly the only way they had to provide for younger sons. For all we know Darcy may have owned (or could acquire) other properties besides Pemberley, and at the very least we know he's...
View ArticleDefinitey!! :)
Oh, Jancat, you are so right! It's only about 35-ish pages left!! And that's including the epilogue, if you can believe it (it's kind of amazing how much I cram in there). I am looking over the...
View ArticleRe: ballroom?
Meryton was only a small market town, Sir William felt it was not good enough to reside there after receiving his knighthood, he moved to a house within a short walk of Longbourn, but Lucas Lodge was...
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