CHAPTER 11 WHO can be in doubt of what followed?—When any two Young People take it into their heads to marry, they are pretty sure by perseverance to carry their point—be they ever so poor, or ever so imprudent, or ever so little likely to be necessary to each other's ultimate comfort. This may be bad Morality to conclude with, but I believe it to be Truth—and if such parties succeed, how should a Capt. W. & an Anne E., with the advantage of maturity of Mind, consciousness of Right, & one Independant Fortune between them, fail of hearing down every opposition? They might in fact, have born down a great deal more than they met with, for there was little to distress them beyond the want of Graciousness & Warmth. Sir W. made no objection, & Elizabeth did nothing worse than look cold & unconcerned. Capt. W.—with £25,000—& as high in his Profession as Merit & Activity could place him, was no longer nobody. He was now esteemed quite worthy to address the Daughter of a foolish spendthrift Baronet, who had not had Principle or sense enough to maintain himself in the Situation in which Providence had placed him, & who could give his Daughter but a small part of the share of ten Thousand pounds which must
Classics in Literature: Jane Austen ElecBook 300 be her's hereafter.—Sir Walter indeed tho' he had no affection for his Daughter & no vanity flattered to make him really happy on the occasion, was very far from thinking it a bad match for her.— On the contrary when he saw more of Capt. W. & eyed him well, he was very much struck by his personal claims & felt that his superiority of appearance might be not unfairly balanced against her superiority of Rank;—and all this, together with his well- sounding name, enabled Sir W. at last to prepare his pen with a very good grace for the insertion of the Marriage in the volume of Honour.—The only person among them whose opposition of feelings could excite any serious anxiety, was Lady Russell.—Anne knew that Lady R. must be suffering some pain in understanding & relinquishing Mr E. & be making some struggles to become truly acquainted with & do justice to Capt. W.—This however, was what Lady R. had now to do. She must learn to feel that she had been mistaken with regard to both—that she had been unfairly influenced by appearances in each—that, because Capt. W.'s manners had not suited her own ideas, she had been too quick in suspecting them to indicate a Character of dangerous Impetuosity, & that because Mr Elliot's manners had precisely pleased her in their propriety & correctness, their general politeness & suavity, she had been too quick in receiving them as the certain result of the most correct opinions & well regulated Mind. There was nothing less for Lady R. to do than to admit that she had been pretty completely wrong, & to take up a new set of opinions & hopes.—There is a quickness of perception in some, a nicety in the discernment of character—a natural Penetration in short which no Experience in others can equal—and Lady R. had been less gifted in this part of Understanding than her young friend;—but
Classics in Literature: Jane Austen ElecBook 301 she was a very good Woman; & if her second object was to be sensible & well judging, her first was to see Anne happy. She loved Anne better than she loved her own abilities—and when the awkwardness of the Beginning was over, found little hardship in attaching herself as a Mother to the Man who was securing the happiness of her Child. Of all the family, Mary was probably the one most immediately gratified by the circumstance. It was creditable to have a Sister married, and she might flatter herself that she had been greatly instrumental to the connection, by having Anne staying with her in the Autumn; & as her own Sister must be better than her Husbands Sisters, it was very agreable that Captain W. should be a richer Man than either Capt. B. or Charles Hayter.—She had something to suffer perhaps when they came into contact again, in seeing Anne restored to the rights of Seniority & the Mistress of a very pretty Landaulet—but she had a future to look forward to, of powerful consolation—Anne had no Uppercross Hall before her, no Landed Estate, no Headship of a family, and if they could but keep Capt. W. from being made a Baronet, she would not change situations with Anne.—It would be well for the Eldest Sister if she were equally satisfied with her situation, for a change is not very probable there.—She had soon the mortification of seeing Mr E. withdraw, & no one of proper condition has since presented himself to raise even the unfounded hopes which sunk with him. The news of his Cousin Anne's engagement burst on Mr Elliot most unexpectedly. It deranged his best plan of domestic Happiness, his best hopes of keeping Sir Walter single by the watchfulness which a son in law's rights would have given—But tho' discomfited & disappointed, he could still do something for his own interest & his own enjoyment. He
Classics in Literature: Jane Austen ElecBook 302 soon quitted Bath and on Mrs Clay's quitting it likewise soon afterwards & being next heard of, as established under his Protection in London, it was evident how double a Game he had been playing, & how determined he was to save himself from being cut out by one artful woman at least.—Mrs Clay's affections had overpowered her Interest, & she had sacrificed for the Young Man's sake, the possibility of scheming longer for Sir Walter;—she has Abilities however as well as Affections, and it is now a doubtful point whether his cunning or hers may finally carry the day, whether, after preventing her from being the wife of Sir Walter, he may not be wheedled & caressed at last into making her the wife of Sir William. It cannot be doubted that Sir Walter & Elizabeth were shocked & mortified by the loss of their companion & the discovery of their deception in her. They had their great cousins to be sure, to resort to for comfort—but they must long feel that to flatter & follow others, without being flattered & followed themselves is but a state of half enjoyment. Anne, satisfied at a very early period, of Lady Russell's meaning to love Capt. W. as she ought, had no other alloy to the happiness of her prospects, than what arose from the consciousness of having no relations to bestow on him which a Man of Sense could value.—There, she felt her own Inferiority keenly.—The disproportion in their fortunes was nothing;—it did not give her a moment's regret;—but to have no Family to receive & estimate him properly, nothing of respectability, of Harmony, of Goodwill to offer in return for all the Worth & all the prompt welcome which met her in his Brothers & Sisters, was a source of as lively pain, as her Mind could well be sensible of, under circumstances of
Classics in Literature: Jane Austen ElecBook 303 otherwise strong felicity.—She had but two friends in the World, to add to his List, Lady R. & Mrs Smith.—To those however, he was very well-disposed to attach himself. Lady R. inspite of all her former transgressions, he could now value from his heart;—while he was not obliged to say that he believed her to have been right in originally dividing them, he was ready to say almost anything else in her favour;—& as for Mrs Smith, she had claims of various kinds to recommend her quickly & permanently.—Her recent good offices by Anne had been enough in themselves—and their marriage, instead of depriving her of one friend secured her two. She was one of their first visitors in their settled Life—and Capt. Wentworth, by putting her in the way of recovering her Husband's property in the W. Indies, by writing for her, & acting for her, & seeing her through all the petty Difficulties of the case, with the activity & exertion of a fearless Man, & a determined friend, fully requited the services she had rendered, or had ever meant to render, to his Wife. Mrs Smith's enjoyments were not spoiled by this improvement of Income, with some improvement of health, & the acquisition of such friends to be often with, for her chearfulness & mental Activity did not fail her, & while those prime supplies of Good remained, she might have bid defiance even to greater accessions of worldly Prosperity. She might have been absolutely rich & perfectly healthy, & yet be happy.—Her spring of Felicity was in the glow of her Spirits—as her friend Anne's was in the warmth of her Heart.—Anne was Tenderness itself;—and she had the full worth of it in Capt. Wentworth's affection. His Profession was all that could ever make her friends wish that Tenderness less; the dread of a future War, all that could dim her Sunshine.—She gloried in being a Sailor's wife, but she
Classics in Literature: Jane Austen ElecBook 304 must pay the tax of quick alarm, for belonging to that Profession which is—if possible—more distinguished in its Domestic Virtues, than in it's National Importance. FINIS July 18.—1816.