Cantitate/Preț
Produs

Persuasion

Autor Jane Austen
Notă:  5.00 · o notă 
en Limba Engleză Paperback – 24 apr 2017
This is a new edition of "Persuasion," originally published in 1913 by Macmillan and Co., Ltd., of London, England, with an introduction by Austin Dobson and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. Part of the project Immortal Literature Series of classic literature, this is a new edition of the classic work published in 1913-not a facsimile reprint. Obvious typographical errors have been carefully corrected and the entire text has been reset and redesigned by Pen House Editions to enhance readability, while respecting the original edition. This is Jane Austen's sixth novel, first published in 1818 (without Hugh Thomson's illustrations). The novel tells the story of a second chance. Anne Elliot was persuaded by her family to break up with Frederick Wentworth to marry someone richer and of a higher class. Eight years later, Anne is still single and Wentworth returns from the Napoleonic Wars as a famous and wealthy captain. He is now an eligible suitor, and Anne discovers she still loves him after all these years. Persuasion is another of Austen's great novels and, as with her other remarkable works, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Northanger Abbey, the reader will be delighted with Austen's elegant narrative style, and with the story's fascinating characters and their social interactions. About the Author: Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist whose seminal works, inspired by her own upbringing as well as in the landed gentry, have influenced successive generations. She was the seventh child-out of eight-and second daughter of Cassandra (nee Leigh) and the Reverend George Austen. She was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, England. Her parents were well-respected middle-class community members. Her father was the local Anglican clergyman and supplemented the family income by taking private pupils in the family home and parsonage. Her mother, Cassandra Leigh Austen, came from an aristocratic family and influenced Jane's sense of social class and self-worth. When they were young, Jane and her six brothers and sister were encouraged to read from their father's extensive library. With a romantic vein, but nevertheless a realist-known for her style and ironic humor as well as for her fascinating depiction of women's domestic roles of the early nineteenth century-Austen wrote "Sense and Sensibility" (1811), "Pride and Prejudice" (1813), "Mansfield Park" (1814), "Emma" (1815), "Northanger Abbey" (1817), and "Persuasion" (1818), all of which replete with memorable protagonists.
Citește tot Restrânge

Toate formatele și edițiile

Toate formatele și edițiile Preț Express
Paperback (96) 2153 lei  3-5 săpt. +502 lei  6-12 zile
  Wordsworth Editions – 31 mai 1993 2153 lei  3-5 săpt. +502 lei  6-12 zile
  Penguin Random House Group – 31 dec 2000 3507 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Oxford University Press – 16 apr 2008 3651 lei  3-5 săpt. +1131 lei  6-12 zile
  VINTAGE CLASSICS – 31 iul 2008 3815 lei  21-33 zile +1552 lei  6-12 zile
  Penguin Books – 26 mar 2003 4152 lei  3-5 săpt. +1877 lei  6-12 zile
  Penguin Books – 25 apr 2012 4268 lei  21-33 zile +1619 lei  6-12 zile
  Sterling Juvenile – 21 iun 2023 4322 lei  3-5 săpt. +1496 lei  6-12 zile
  VINTAGE CLASSICS – 30 iun 2014 4363 lei  21-33 zile +1782 lei  6-12 zile
  HarperCollins Publishers – 6 iul 2022 4460 lei  3-5 săpt. +692 lei  6-12 zile
  Arcturus Publishing – 14 aug 2016 4464 lei  3-5 săpt. +708 lei  6-12 zile
  Alma Books COMMIS – 31 dec 2015 4527 lei  3-5 săpt. +934 lei  6-12 zile
  CREATESPACE – 4642 lei  3-5 săpt.
  4649 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 4939 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5022 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Headline – 14 mai 2006 5211 lei  3-5 săpt.
  5251 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 31 aug 2010 5343 lei  3-5 săpt.
  5574 lei  3-5 săpt.
  SWEET CHERRY PUBLISHING – 11 sep 2019 5708 lei  3-5 săpt. +790 lei  6-12 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5739 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Tribeca Books – 31 aug 2011 5833 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Hythloday Press – 4 apr 2014 6031 lei  3-5 săpt.
  West Margin Press – 9 dec 2020 6104 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6422 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6533 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6575 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6870 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6870 lei  3-5 săpt.
  6895 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6927 lei  3-5 săpt.
  7113 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7128 lei  3-5 săpt.
  EMPIRE BOOKS – 31 oct 2011 7246 lei  3-5 săpt.
  7319 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 7469 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 7469 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 7469 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 7827 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 7828 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Denton & White – 7856 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7944 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 8113 lei  3-5 săpt.
  8532 lei  3-5 săpt.
  8606 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 8629 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 8651 lei  3-5 săpt.
  TREDITION CLASSICS – 31 oct 2011 8836 lei  17-24 zile +765 lei  6-12 zile
  CREATESPACE – 9053 lei  3-5 săpt.
  9161 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 9690 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9767 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 9935 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 10648 lei  3-5 săpt.
  10771 lei  3-5 săpt.
  12462 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Adelphi Press – 13 iun 2018 12517 lei  3-5 săpt.
  University of British Columbia Press – 24 sep 2020 12974 lei  3-5 săpt. +1079 lei  6-12 zile
  West Margin Press – 29 aug 2022 15428 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Cambridge University Press – 29 mai 2013 19161 lei  17-24 zile +1780 lei  6-12 zile
  Outlook Verlag – 24 sep 2019 22376 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Vintage Books USA – 31 aug 2007 5477 lei  6-8 săpt.
  HarperCollins Publishers – 19 sep 2011 5937 lei  6-8 săpt.
  SMK Books – 28 mai 2009 7603 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Lulu.Com – 27 mai 2018 7729 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Editorium – 31 mar 2012 8560 lei  6-8 săpt.
  SC Active Business Development SRL – 24 apr 2017 8669 lei  38-45 zile
  8797 lei  6-8 săpt.
  8859 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Lulu.Com – 17 iun 2017 8938 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Tar & Feather Publishing – 16 dec 2016 9100 lei  6-8 săpt.
  USA Public Domain Books – 4 iul 2020 9803 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Camel Publishing House – 4 iul 2020 9803 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Yorkshire Public Books – 4 iul 2020 9803 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Barclays Public Books – 4 iul 2020 9803 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Texas Public Domain – 4 iul 2020 9803 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Susan Publishing Ltd – 4 iul 2020 9803 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Barclays Public Books – 4 iul 2020 9803 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Public Publishing – 4 iul 2020 9803 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Martino Fine Books – 6 dec 2011 9929 lei  38-45 zile
  LIGHTNING SOURCE INC – 4 aug 2018 9973 lei  17-24 zile
  NuVision Publications – 6 aug 2007 10044 lei  38-45 zile
  1st World Publishing – 24 iul 2013 10118 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Bloomsbury Publishing – 3 noi 1996 10326 lei  6-8 săpt.
  TingleBooks – 28 iul 2020 10684 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Bottom of the Hill Publishing – 31 mai 2014 10794 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Delhi Open Books – 11 iun 2020 10925 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Martino Fine Books – 25 sep 2020 11201 lei  38-45 zile
  Lulu.Com – 9 mar 2020 12346 lei  6-8 săpt.
  13396 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Sovereign – 7 iul 2012 13734 lei  38-45 zile
  Simon & Brown – 21 oct 2018 14252 lei  38-45 zile
  Simon & Brown – 10 noi 2018 14663 lei  38-45 zile
  Wildhern Press – 14 sep 2009 15146 lei  38-45 zile
  Lulu – 11 mai 2013 17565 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Echo Library – 21 dec 2005 20784 lei  38-45 zile
Hardback (25) 4131 lei  3-5 săpt. +2697 lei  6-12 zile
  Pan Macmillan – 18 iul 2016 4131 lei  3-5 săpt. +2697 lei  6-12 zile
  WORDSWORTH EDITIONS LTD – sep 2020 4830 lei  3-5 săpt. +1067 lei  6-12 zile
  Flame Tree Publishing – 14 oct 2019 5171 lei  3-5 săpt. +1270 lei  6-12 zile
  Quarto Publishing Group USA, Inc. – 19 sep 2022 5690 lei  3-5 săpt. +2626 lei  6-12 zile
  Arcturus Publishing – iul 2024 7116 lei  3-5 săpt.
  UNION SQUARE & CO – 6 mar 2023 7681 lei  3-5 săpt. +2184 lei  6-12 zile
  EVERYMAN – 3 iun 1992 8206 lei  21-33 zile +3373 lei  6-12 zile
  Penguin Books – 2 noi 2011 9057 lei  21-33 zile +3414 lei  6-12 zile
  UNION SQUARE & CO – 20 mar 2024 10312 lei  3-5 săpt. +2464 lei  6-12 zile
  Mint Editions – 23 noi 2020 11126 lei  3-5 săpt.
  chiltern publishing – 26 sep 2018 12726 lei  3-5 săpt. +1870 lei  6-12 zile
  Everyman's Library – 31 mai 1992 13867 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Outlook Verlag – 24 sep 2019 35979 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Chump Change – 10 oct 2016 12103 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Akasha Classics – 29 mai 2008 16610 lei  6-8 săpt.
  SMK Books – 2 apr 2018 17372 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Mjp Publishers – 31 mai 2023 18564 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Throne Classics – 27 mai 2019 18842 lei  38-45 zile
  1st World Publishing – 24 iul 2013 19173 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Simon & Brown – 21 oct 2018 19571 lei  38-45 zile
  Simon & Brown – 10 noi 2018 20514 lei  38-45 zile
  Lulu – 23 dec 2015 21571 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Blurb – 8 ian 2019 24145 lei  38-45 zile
  Echo Library – 31 dec 2006 28982 lei  38-45 zile
  Cambridge University Press – 26 iul 2006 67208 lei  6-8 săpt.

Preț: 8669 lei

Nou

Puncte Express: 130

Preț estimativ în valută:
1659 1750$ 1383£

Carte tipărită la comandă

Livrare economică 30 decembrie 24 - 06 ianuarie 25

Preluare comenzi: 021 569.72.76

Specificații

ISBN-13: 9786069832974
ISBN-10: 6069832973
Pagini: 220
Dimensiuni: 148 x 210 x 12 mm
Greutate: 0.27 kg
Editura: SC Active Business Development SRL

Descriere

Descriere de la o altă ediție sau format:

Persuasion (1817) is the final novel written by English author Jane Austen--and the first to be attributed to her name. Persuasion was published posthumously to widespread critical acclaim, and has since been recognized as an understated and mature work of fiction from one of history's finest writers. Like most of Austen's novels, Persuasion involves an intricate network of characters and relationships, illustrating its author's peerless attention to the inner workings of aristocratic society and the nuances of human communication.

Persuaded by her wealthy family to break off her engagement to the young Frederick Wentworth, Anne Elliot finds herself unmarried nearly eight years later. By now, with the Elliot family all but ruined by the spendthrift Sir Walter and his enabling daughter Elizabeth, the prospect of marriage is not only a distant hope for Anne, but a bitter reminder of what could have been. When chance reunites her with Frederick, now the esteemed Captain Wentworth for his accomplishments in the Napoleonic Wars, she will have to navigate feelings both old and new with the reversal brought on by their opposing fortunes. As the two are drawn closer together, they will have to decide if it is possible to rekindle a love that has lain dormant much longer than their engagement was allowed to last.

Jane Austen's Persuasion is a perceptive and entertaining novel that raises timeless questions regarding the inequity of social life, the disparate opportunities available to men and woman, and the indomitable feelings which work to draw them together--and threaten to drive them apart.

With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Jane Austen's Persuasion is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.


Notă biografică

Emma es una novela cómica escrita por Jane Austen, en inglés, publicada por vez primera en 1815 por el editor John Murray, sobre los peligros de malinterpretar el romance. El personaje principal, Emma Woodhouse, se describe como "hermosa, lista y rica" pero también es bastante mimada. Antes de comenzar la novela, Austen escribió: "Voy a elegir una heroína que, excepto a mí, no gustará mucho".Sinopsis El significado de Emma desciende del significado "Diosa de amor y de la fertilidad" y de "Diosa del deseo".Emma Woodhouse es una joven en la Inglaterra de la Regencia. Vive con su padre, un hipocondríaco caracterizado principalmente por su excesiva preocupación por la salud y el bienestar de aquellos a los que ama. La señorita Woodhouse está empeñada en hacer de casamentera de sus amistades y relaciones. Pero al ocuparse de los asuntos de sus amigas se olvida de atender sus propios sentimientos. El amigo de Emma y la única persona que la critica es el caballeroso señor Knightley, su "vecino" y cuñado (hermano del marido de su hermana), dieciséis años mayor que ella.Cuando su institutriz, la señorita Taylor, que era prácticamente su amiga y confidente, decide casarse, Emma se queda sola ante sus propios sentimientos. Emma, pagada de sí misma, cree que el matrimonio se debe a ella, por haber sido quien presentó a la señorita Taylor su futuro marido, el señor Weston. Emma se enfrenta a un vacío en su vida y con un gran dilema: cómo ayudar a los demás a tener una vida tan perfecta como la suya.En contra del consejo de Knightley, busca posibles novios para su nueva amiga, Harriet Smith, una joven sencilla y modesta, alejada del estilo de vida de la alta sociedad. Es una dulce chica de 17 años, no muy brillante, descrita como "la hija natural de alguien". La convence para que rechace un ventajoso matrimonio con un respetable y joven granjero, el señor Martin, pues Emma quiere emparejarla con el vicario local, el señor Elton. Su intriga casamentera va mal cuando resulta que el señor Elton, un trepador social, quiere casarse con la propia Emma. Después de que Emma rechace su proposición, el señor Elton se va de vacaciones. Harriet se imagina que está con el corazón destrozado, aunque Emma hace todo lo que puede por convencerla de que el señor Elton (que se revelará más arrogante y pomposo conforme avanza la historia) está por debajo de ellas dos.

Recenzii

"In Persuasion, Jane Austen picks up the pen to tell us who we are and what we want" Independent "Everyone has their Austen, and this is mine. Sparer, more savage - and also more poignant than Pride and Prejudice, this is a novel that tells us wisely and wittily about the nature of romantic entanglements and the follies of being human. It isn't riven with the deep, muscular ironies of, say, Emma, but there is something about the dry lightness of Persuasion that is deceptive. It stays with you long after you've read it" -- Nigella Lawson "I worship all of Austen's novels, but if I have to choose one over the others, I plump for the autumnal pleasures of Persuasion. This is the last work Austen completed before her death in 1817, and it is rather more tender and melancholy in tone than the novels that preceded it. I read it once or twice a year, whenever I feel in need of a good cry" -- Zoe Heller "A subtle and elegiac novel - more heartfelt than some of her earlier romances and with a truly appealing heroine" -- Joanna Trollope "Female self-worth could have been invented by Jane Austen. No wonder we still value her" -- Germaine Greer Guardian

Caracteristici

Beautiful package with spot-UV and super-matt lamination

Cuprins

General Editor's preface; Acknowledgments; Chronology; Introduction; Note on the text; Persuasion; Appendices; Emendations; Abbreviations; Explanatory notes.

Extras

Chapter One


SIR WALTER Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs, changed naturally into pity and contempt, as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century-and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed-this was the page at which the favourite volume always opened:
ELLIOT OF KELLYNCH HALL

Walter Elliot, born March 1, 1760, married, July 15, 1784, Elizabeth, daughter of James Stevenson, Esq. of South Park, in the county of Gloucester; by which lady (who died 1800) he has issue Elizabeth, born June 1, 1785; Anne, born August 9, 1787; a still-born son, Nov. 5, 1789; Mary, born Nov. 20, 1791.

Precisely such had the paragraph originally stood from the printer's hands; but Sir Walter had improved it by adding, for the information of himself and his family, these words, after the date of Mary's birth-"married, Dec. 16, 1810, Charles, son and heir of Charles Musgrove, Esq. of Uppercross, in the county of Somerset,"-and by inserting most accurately the day of the month on which he had lost his wife.

Then followed the history and rise of the ancient and respectable family, in the usual terms: how it had been first settled in Cheshire; how mentioned in Dugdale-serving the office of High Sheriff, representing a borough in three successive parliaments, exertions of loyalty, and dignity of baronet, in the first year of Charles II, with all the Marys and Elizabeths they had married; forming altogether two handsome duodecimo pages, and concluding with the arms and motto: "Principal seat, Kellynch Hall, in the county of Somerset," and Sir Walter's hand-writing again in this finale:

"Heir presumptive, William Walter Elliot, Esq., great grandson of the second Sir Walter."

Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot's character: vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man. Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did; nor could the valet of any new made lord be more delighted with the place he held in society. He considered the blessing of beauty as inferior only to the blessing of a baronetcy; and the Sir Walter Elliot, who united these gifts, was the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion.

His good looks and his rank had one fair claim on his attachment; since to them he must have owed a wife of very superior character to any thing deserved by his own. Lady Elliot had been an excellent woman, sensible and amiable; whose judgment and conduct, if they might be pardoned the youthful infatuation which made her Lady Elliot, had never required indulgence afterwards.-She had humoured, or softened, or concealed his failings, and promoted his real respectability for seventeen years; and though not the very happiest being in the world herself, had found enough in her duties, her friends, and her children, to attach her to life, and make it no matter of indifference to her when she was called on to quit them.-Three girls, the two eldest sixteen and fourteen, was an awful legacy for a mother to bequeath; an awful charge rather, to confide to the authority and guidance of a conceited, silly father. She had, however, one very intimate friend, a sensible, deserving woman, who had been brought, by strong attachment to herself, to settle close by her, in the village of Kellynch; and on her kindness and advice, Lady Elliot mainly relied for the best help and maintenance of the good principles and instruction which she had been anxiously giving her daughters.

This friend, and Sir Walter, did not marry, whatever might have been anticipated on that head by their acquaintance.-Thirteen years had passed away since Lady Elliot's death, and they were still near neighbours and intimate friends; and one remained a widower, the other a widow.

That Lady Russell, of steady age and character, and extremely well provided for, should have no thought of a second marriage, needs no apology to the public, which is rather apt to be unreasonably discontented when a woman does marry again, than when she does not; but Sir Walter's continuing in singleness requires explanation.-Be it known then, that Sir Walter, like a good father, (having met with one or two private disappointments in very unreasonable applications) prided himself on remaining single for his dear daughter's sake. For one daughter, his eldest, he would really have given up any thing, which he had not been very much tempted to do. Elizabeth had succeeded, at sixteen, to all that was possible, of her mother's rights and consequence; and being very handsome, and very like himself, her influence had always been great, and they had gone on together most happily. His two other children were of very inferior value. Mary had acquired a little artificial importance, by becoming Mrs. Charles Musgrove; but Anne, with an elegance of mind and sweetness of character, which must have placed her high with any people of real understanding, was nobody with either father or sister: her word had no weight; her convenience was always to give way;-she was only Anne.

To Lady Russell, indeed, she was a most dear and highly valued god-daughter, favourite and friend. Lady Russell loved them all; but it was only in Anne that she could fancy the mother to revive again.
A few years before, Anne Elliot had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early; and as even in its height, her father had found little to admire in her, (so totally different were her delicate features and mild dark eyes from his own); there could be nothing in them now that she was faded and thin, to excite his esteem. He had never indulged much hope, he had now none, of ever reading her name in any other page of his favourite work. All equality of alliance must rest with Elizabeth; for Mary had merely connected herself with an old country family of respectability and large fortune, and had therefore given all the honour, and received none: Elizabeth would, one day or other, marry suitably.

It sometimes happens, that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before; and, generally speaking, if there has been neither ill health nor anxiety, it is a time of life at which scarcely any charm is lost. It was so with Elizabeth; still the same handsome Miss Elliot that she had begun to be thirteen years ago; and Sir Walter might be excused, therefore, in forgetting her age, or, at least, be deemed only half a fool, for thinking himself and Elizabeth as blooming as ever, amidst the wreck of the good looks of every body else; for he could plainly see how old all the rest of his family and acquaintance were growing. Anne haggard, Mary coarse, every face in the neighbourhood worsting; and the rapid increase of the crow's foot about Lady Russell's temples had long been a distress to him.

Elizabeth did not quite equal her father in personal contentment. Thirteen years had seen her mistress of Kellynch Hall, presiding and directing with a self-possession and decision which could never have given the idea of her being younger than she was. For thirteen years had she been doing the honours, and laying down the domestic law at home, and leading the way to the chaise and four, and walking immediately after Lady Russell out of all the drawing-rooms and dining-rooms in the country. Thirteen winters' revolving frosts had seen her opening every ball of credit which a scanty neighbourhood afforded; and thirteen springs shewn their blossoms, as she travelled up to London with her father, for a few weeks' annual enjoyment of the great world. She had the remembrance of all this; she had the consciousness of being nine-and-twenty, to give her some regrets and some apprehensions. She was fully satisfied of being still quite as handsome as ever; but she felt her approach to the years of danger, and would have rejoiced to be certain of being properly solicited by baronet-blood within the next twelvemonth or two. Then might she again take up the book of books with as much enjoyment as in her early youth; but now she liked it not. Always to be presented with the date of her own birth, and see no marriage follow but that of a youngest sister, made the book an evil; and more than once, when her father had left it open on the table near her, had she closed it, with averted eyes, and pushed it away.

She had had a disappointment, moreover, which that book, and especially the history of her own family, must ever present the remembrance of. The heir presumptive, the very William Walter Elliot, Esq. whose rights had been so generously supported by her father, had disappointed her.

She had, while a very young girl, as soon as she had known him to be, in the event of her having no brother, the future baronet, meant to marry him; and her father had always meant that she should. He had not been known to them as a boy, but soon after Lady Elliot's death Sir Walter had sought the acquaintance, and though his overtures had not been met with any warmth, he had persevered in seeking it, making allowance for the modest drawing back of youth; and in one of their spring excursions to London, when Elizabeth was in her first bloom, Mr. Elliot had been forced into the introduction.

He was at that time a very young man, just engaged in the study of the law; and Elizabeth found him extremely agreeable, and every plan in his favour was confirmed. He was invited to Kellynch Hall; he was talked of and expected all the rest of the year; but he never came. The following spring he was seen again in town, found equally agreeable, again encouraged, invited and expected, and again he did not come; and the next tidings were that he was married. Instead of pushing his fortune in the line marked out for the heir of the house of Elliot, he had purchased independence by uniting himself to a rich woman of inferior birth.

Sir Walter had resented it. As the head of the house, he felt that he ought to have been consulted, especially after taking the young man so publicly by the hand: "For they must have been seen together," he observed, "once at Tattersal's, and twice in the lobby of the House of Commons." His disapprobation was expressed, but apparently very little regarded. Mr. Elliot had attempted no apology, and shewn himself as unsolicitous of being longer noticed by the family, as Sir Walter considered him unworthy of it: all acquaintance between them had ceased.

This very awkward history of Mr. Elliot, was still, after an interval of several years, felt with anger by Elizabeth, who had liked the man for himself, and still more for being her father's heir, and whose strong family pride could see only in him, a proper match for Sir Walter Elliot's eldest daughter. There was not a baronet from A to Z, whom her feelings could have so willingly acknowledged as an equal. Yet so miserably had he conducted himself, that though she was at this present time (the summer of 1814), wearing black ribbons for his wife, she could not admit him to be worth thinking of again. The disgrace of his first marriage might, perhaps, as there was no reason to suppose it perpetuated by offspring, have been got over, had he not done worse; but he had, as by the accustomary intervention of kind friends they had been informed, spoken most disrespectfully of them all, most slightingly and contemptuously of the very blood he belonged to, and the honours which were hereafter to be his own. This could not be pardoned.

Such were Elizabeth Elliot's sentiments and sensations; such the cares to alloy, the agitations to vary, the sameness and the elegance, the prosperity and the nothingness, of her scene of life-such the feelings to give interest to a long, uneventful residence in one country circle, to fill the vacancies which there were no habits of utility abroad, no talents or accomplishments for home, to occupy.

But now, another occupation and solicitude of mind was beginning to be added to these. Her father was growing distressed for money. She knew, that when he now took up the Baronetage, it was to drive the heavy bills of his tradespeople, and the unwelcome hints of Mr. Shepherd, his agent, from his thoughts. The Kellynch property was good, but not equal to Sir Walter's apprehension of the state required in its possessor. While Lady Elliot lived, there had been method, moderation, and economy, which had just kept him within his income; but with her had died all such right-mindedness, and from that period he had been constantly exceeding it. It had not been possible for him to spend less; he had done nothing but what Sir Walter Elliot was imperiously called on to do; but blameless as he was, he was not only growing dreadfully in debt, but was hearing of it so often, that it became vain to attempt concealing it longer, even partially, from his daughter. He had given her some hints of it the last spring in town; he had gone so far even as to say, "Can we retrench? does it occur to you that there is any one article in which we can retrench?"-and Elizabeth, to do her justice, had, in the first ardour of female alarm, set seriously to think what could be done, and had finally proposed these two branches of economy: to cut off some unnecessary charities, and to refrain from new-furnishing the drawing-room; to which expedients she afterwards added the happy thought of their taking no present down to Anne, as had been the usual yearly custom. But these measures, however good in themselves, were insufficient for the real extent of the evil, the whole of which Sir Walter found himself obliged to confess to her soon afterwards. Elizabeth had nothing to propose of deeper efficacy. She felt herself ill-used and unfortunate, as did her father; and they were neither of them able to devise any means of lessening their expenses without compromising their dignity, or relinquishing their comforts in a way not to be borne.

There was only a small part of his estate that Sir Walter could dispose of; but had every acre been alienable, it would have made no difference. He had condescended to mortgage as far as he had the power, but he would never condescend to sell. No; he would never disgrace his name so far. The Kellynch estate should be transmitted whole and entire, as he had received it.

Their two confidential friends, Mr. Shepherd, who lived in the neighbouring market town, and Lady Russell, were called on to advise them; and both father and daughter seemed to expect that something should be struck out by one or the other to remove their embarrassments and reduce their expenditure, without involving the loss of any indulgence of taste or pride.


From the Paperback edition.