Pride and Prejudice (64 page)

2
.
a gulf impossible
: The second and subsequent editions of the novel emend this to ‘a gulf impassable’, but since the phrase makes perfect sense (and might even be a buried quotation, though I have been unable to find a source), I have retained the first-edition reading.

3
.
regulars
: See note I, vii: 5.

4
.
ensigncy
: See note I, vii: 6.

1
.
first of September
: The first day of partridge shooting.

2
.
in that parish
: See note III, iv: 5.

3
.
the little Theatre
: Built in 1720, the Little Theatre occupied the site immediately north of the present Haymarket Theatre. It was demolished in 1821.

4
.
beyond the hour
: At this period marriages had to be solemnized between the hours of eight in the morning and twelve noon.

1
.
Edward-street
: In the fashionable area of London, on the site of the present Langham Place. In
Lady Susan
, it is the address of the heroine’s bosom friend.

2
.
in some other country
: In another area.

1
.
covies
: A covey is a ‘brood or hatch of partridges; a family of partridges keeping together during the first season’ (
OED
).

2
.
two courses
: See note I, xxi: 3.

1
.
Scarborough
: On the north-east coast of England, Scarborough was a fashionable spa town from the mid-seventeenth century.

1
.
as well as the others
: Chapman accepts ‘other’ here, which is the reading of the second and third editions, but this would be a very odd way to refer to Jane and it is unlikely that Bingley would as yet feel himself intimate enough to sit if Elizabeth were standing. I have therefore retained the first-edition reading.

1
.
The horses were post
: i.e., supplied by post-stations for general hire (see note II, xiv: 2).

2
.
hermitage
: Gardens often included summerhouses, etc., designed as replicas of rustic buildings or caves.

1
.
ignorance
: In Cassandra Austen’s copy of the novel, ‘ignorance’ is corrected to ‘innocence’, but it is much more likely that Austen intended the play on ignorance and knowledge that runs throughout the text.

1
.
entered the room
: In Cassandra Austen’s copy ‘the’ is corrected to ‘their’, suggesting that Elizabeth first met Jane in their own room.

2
.
pin-money
: ‘Money allowed to a wife for her private expences without account’ (Johnson).

3
.
special licence
: For someone like Mrs Bennet, marriage by special licence (and therefore private) would be considered a sign of social status: it was universal practice among the aristocracy and therefore often adopted by the gentry and urban middle class. (See also note III, iv: 5.)

1
.
the restoration of peace
: This might refer to the temporary cessation of hostilities with France at the Treaty of Amiens of March 1802, which lasted until May 1803. This would set the main action of the novel in the 1790s, and the reference has been used by some commentators as evidence for Austen having substantially revised the novel in 1802. (See P. B. S. Andrews, ‘The Date of
Pride and Prejudice
’,
Notes and Queries
213 (1968), pp. 338–42.) R. W. Chapman, who believes that the novel was revised in 1811–12, argues that ‘the peace’ might simply be a hopeful anticipation of the end of the Napoleonic Wars, which occurred in 1815.