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    Mansfield Park
    Mansfield Park
    Mansfield Park
    Ebook548 pages18 hours

    Mansfield Park

    By Jane Austen

    4/5

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    Raised at Mansfield Park by her rich aunt and uncle, Fanny Price does not have high hopes or great marital prospects. When the fashionable and exciting siblings Henry and Mary Crawford arrive to stay near Mansfield Park, Fanny and her cousins’ lives are thrown into disarray with romantic entanglements and personal jealousies.

    Published in 1814, Mansfield Park is considered to be the most controversial of Jane Austen’s novels, as Fanny Price is a less sympathetic character and Fanny’s family is depicted as coming from a lower social class than is typical in Austen’s other works.

    HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 30, 2013
    ISBN9781443430654
    Author

    Jane Austen

    Jane Austen (1775–1817) was an English novelist whose work centred on social commentary and realism. Her works of romantic fiction are set among the landed gentry, and she is one of the most widely read writers in English literature.

    Read more from Jane Austen

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    Reviews for Mansfield Park

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      Delightful
    • 3/5
      As with the Northanger Abbey, Austen’s writing and humor are all that stands between this book and a two star review. Our heroine, Fanny, is the perfect shy, obedient young woman and for that reason alone, it seems we are supposed to prefer her to Miss Crawford, her competition for Edmund’s heart. Although Miss Crawford can be superficial and even cruel, it seems her main flaw is not behaving as women were expected to behave at the time. As a modern reader, I sometimes found her more sympathetic than Fanny. Likewise, Fanny’s alternate love interest seemed a better match for her than Edmund in manys, starting with the fact that Edmund is her cousin and is sometimes very thoughtless of her feelings. My lack of enthusiasm for Austen’s romantic pairings was offset by my dislike of one particularly nasty character and my enjoyment at seeing her thwarted. That was second only my to my enjoyment at seeing the nastier characters made fun of with Austen’s characteristic wit. Overall, this book was very slow and I felt little interest in the outcome. Again, enjoyable only if you love Austen’s writing.

      This review first published on Doing Dewey.
    • 4/5
      Some small spoilers lie below. As it turns out, I have never read (or listened to) Mansfield Park before, and somehow managed to know nothing about the characters or story – I don't know how I managed to remain completely unspoiled, but it was unexpected, and fun. The narration by Karen Savage lives up to the high standard she set with Persuasion: I like her work, very much. She creates a wide array of both male and female character voices which generally avoid being the least cartoonish but still manage to each be distinct and identifiable: the tone a little lighter and gentler than the narration is Fanny; Lady Bertram is breathy and indifferent; the slightly deeper, measured voice is Edmund; the pompous-sounding deeper voice is Tom. Mansfield is a leisurely tale following the Bertram family and its Price transplant through marital negotiations and trips to the country and financial threats no one seems to grasp the true dangers of. If the Antigua estates really had failed or been lost, it seems there would have been drastic repercussions; also, an ocean voyage in the 1800's was never anything to take lightly, much less travel in the third world. There was a strong underlying tone of menace to the Messrs. Bertram while they were away, but the at-home family seemed to continue perfectly sanguine. Except for Fanny, who is as gifted at Worrying as my mother, and that's pretty extraordinarily gifted. Fanny. Oh, Fanny. She's just so … nice. She's so nice I want to throw an expletival qualifier in there, and I can't; this is Jane Austen I'm talking about. She's timid and fragile and sweet, and obliging and not as delicate as she seems, and sweet. And meek, and … when I right-click on "meek", Word gives me synonyms: humble, submissive, gentle, docile, modest, compliant, and mild. And sweet. Far from a backbone, there isn't a vertebra in the girl's entire body. Her entire skeletal system seems to be made of cartilage. Jane Bennet is sweet and modest and docile too, but by golly she can stand up for herself or someone she loves if need be. I think in a confrontation Fanny might simply cry, and then faint. Not a character much admired in this day and age. But she's so sweet. I saw someone's Goodreads status update for P&P commenting on how much he appreciated the writing and the characters, but he was on such and such page and … nothing … was … happening. I have never found that with P&P. Mansfield Park, however … oh my. Fanny comes to Mansfield … nothing … Mr. Bertram and Tom go away … nothing … the Crawfords move in … nothing … Tom comes back … protracted space of nothing … Lovers' Vows and things happen for a few chapters and then Mr. Bertram comes home and everything comes to a screeching halt and … nothing … That, combined with the extreme meekness of Fanny, makes for a surprisingly leisurely and … well, dull story. For the most part we share no one's thoughts but Fanny's, and hers are so very athletically self-effacing and charitable – even to Mrs. Norris, one of the people least deserving of charity in this novel, if not ever – that events are not exactly moved along. It's a jolt when, briefly and rarely, we are made privy to conversations between Mary and Henry Crawford, laced with languorous malice.Perhaps the purpose of this day-to-day gentle unfolding of story is to focus the reader on the small things that do happen. In a modern setting, the concerns which beset Fanny would be almost nothing. Certainly the drama surrounding the play would be non-existent; it would trouble no one that a group of upper class young folk would do an amateur play, even if it was a bit racy. But given the placid pond that rock dropped into, there is a very real tension and concern about the morality of it all. And perhaps the intent in making Fanny so stunningly selfless was to make it so very ironic when Mr. Bertram berates her for selfishness. Her reasons for doing what she does are partly selfish, but only a very small part; she can't explain without telling him things he doesn't want to know, which she would consider a betrayal of others. From that moment on Fanny's life becomes a nightmare. The wrong interpretation is put on her actions, and every word she says to Edmund or her uncle is contradicted or ignored. Every. Single. Word. "I don't believe I can love him." "Certainly you can." "We are so very different." "No you're not." "I don't want to talk to you." "You say that, but what exactly do you mean? Tell me!""I don't want to talk about it." "Well, we must, and I must tell your aunts. Oh, and your cousin. His sister and their entire staff already knows. We won't talk to you about it if you wish, not above two or three times. A day.""I will never marry him!" "I wonder what we should give you as a wedding present …""No!" "You mean maybe!" It's horrifying. And, again, I've been there. You can say anything, and you might as well be speaking Aramaic from the response. Poor Fanny. My GR status update from Chapter 35: I'm 73% done with Mansfield Park: In the midst of Ch. 35; I don't know how this story ends. I've seen spoilers both ways: that she marries Edmund, and that she doesn't. And right now I can honestly say that if she marries him I ... shall be most provoked. I want to shoot him in this chapter. (Which makes a change from wanting to shake Fanny.)Oh well. A bit more is on my blog.
    • 5/5
      This girl does have a way with words.. Once you leave the 21st century and relax into the flow of of Fanny Price's world you are treated to a subtle and insightful view of the lives of the "rich and famous" albiet 200 years ago. Certainly not a fast paced story but the characters are interesting (if not always liked) and the good guys win.
    • 4/5
      A master storyteller at the height of her powers with Mansfield Park the superior textual quality of Austen's writing and her skill at distilling what possesses the heart & mind of each of her characters whilst exploring societal issues of the era alongside gracefully set out background is apparent on every page.My one reservation is this particular publication's really AWFUL Cover!
    • 4/5
      Nine-year-old Fanny Price is sent to live with more well off relatives. The book follows Fanny and her family over the next ten or so years. The plot is limited but the characters are rich - Fanny, her aunts and uncle, four cousins and a couple of neighbors are described and developed in full detail. Compared to some of Austen's other characters, Fanny is quite timid and frail. She has a champion in her cousin Edward, who looks out for her in many situations. Some have said this book is too subtle. I found it to be more direct than Pride and Prejudice. In spots it takes on an almost preachy tone, and all the preaching is done by speech of the various characters. Mansfield Park is a slow read, and wasn't a page turner for me. That said, Austen's reflections on human nature and the human experience are just as valid today as they were 200 years ago. Austen is quite the idealist, but not in a bad way. People do influence each other, for good or ill, and character counts, then and now.
    • 2/5
      While I admire Jane Austen’s eloquent language, a gripping plot is not in evidence here. I didn’t expect fast-paced excitement, but did hope for something deeper.Although I found the heroine of the piece endearing, she’s too placid and timid to add any sparkle to the tale.My attention was held by various interesting scenes, and because of these I intended to rate the book three stars, until I read the last chapter. Without giving anything away, this is among the poorest closing chapters I’ve read by any author. Not because of what happens, but because of how the final events are presented. Nothing is dramatized. The third-person narrator *tells* us what happened, so we don’t get to *see* any of it.
    • 5/5
      Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park has been on my bookshelves for years and I took it away on holiday thinking I might get round to reading it at last. A couple of novels later and I started in on Austen’s longest book and found that I could hardly put it down. A beach read, it is not as it presents problems for the modern reader that must be overcome, before enjoyment completely takes hold, but when it does it provides an immensely satisfying read. Banyuls-sur-Mere is a pretty little town on the French Mediterranean coast and one that I love to visit, but this trip will be remembered for the time I spent on the balcony of my holiday apartment clutching my copy of Mansfield Park. I had no internet connection and so there were no distractions, but this meant also that I could not google for background information and so this first reading was very much a first impression. I have read other novels by Jane Austen and so it was not a complete leap in the dark, but it did lead me to think of issues that modern readers might face, when approaching this book for the first time. Austen’s sentence structure and syntax can be a little confusing, especially when she is reporting conversation. It is not always easy to understand who is saying what to whom: she also writes the occasional word in a paragraph in italics which I presume is for emphasis, but this style is not much used today. An omniscient author writes the first three chapters and by this time Fanny Price (the heroine) is approaching seventeen; most of the subsequent events are seen through her eyes, however Austen does add her own commentary from time to time and the reader has to be aware whether the views expressed are authorial or those which Fanny might be saying or thinking.The novel was published in 1814 at a time when Europe was still engaged in the Napoleonic wars, the French revolution was still very much in the minds of many educated people and Austen’s novel reads for the most part like a celebration of English traditions and manners. It is almost as though the industrial revolution had not yet taken place as the novel is firmly situated amongst the genteel rich patrons of the English countryside. The class system is firmly in place and in Austen’s characters views, everybody should know their place and more importantly for the most part keep to it; rights according to birth are sacrosanct. It is a novel that looks backwards to a golden age rather than forward to a changing society, respect for ones betters according to birthright is the accepted norm.In Austen’s world family and property defines who you are and people are judged by their manners, politeness and how well they do by their family. The family grows rich together and marriages are seen as a means of enhancing a family’s connections: arrangements are made and while suitability is a consideration; love is something that may develop in time, but is mostly accepted as not being prerequisite for an ideal marriage. Feminism has no place in this society and although readers might be encouraged to admire the resolve of female characters, they will find them castigated if they stray too far from accepted family values.The profession of clergymen was still at this time the most likely avenue for the second son of a well to do family. In Mansfield Park the first son (Tom) will inherit everything and so it is Edmund who will follow the traditional career path as the second son. For Edmund being a clergyman is a vocation. He sees it as a unifying force within his community and he will do his best to succeed in guiding his flock for the betterment of mankind, prayers, sermons and preaching are essential requisites for the community. Edmund is the steady hand of tradition in his family and the son most admired. Throughout the novel there is resistance to change. The fashion for landscape gardens advocated by Henry Crawford is a step to far for Edmund. Sir Thomas Bertram head of the family is an authoritarian figure who immediately puts a stop to a theatrical event at his house. Fanny Price the adopted daughter of the Bertram household is perhaps the most resistant of all to change and it is she as the central character that seems to pose the most problems for readers. She is non-assertive, meek, mild and an upholder of family values. She seems always to put other people first and suffers in silence as a result. But this novel is essentially a bildungsroman and Fanny Price’s development as a person becomes a shinning example to some of those around her; Edmund, Tom, her brother William, Sir Thomas himself are all affected by her good heart, her respectability and finally an inner strength. She is the embodiment of all that a woman should be to fit into this patriarchal society and this in depth study demonstrates the qualities and strengths needed to uphold the values in which she instinctively believes.The raison d’être for the novel is of course a romance. The Bertram family have two sons and two daughters of marriageable age. Maria Bertram the beauty of the family marries for money and position, with the wholehearted support of the family, her sister Julia tries to make her own opportunities. Edmund falls in love with Miss Mary Crawford a society woman of independent means, but she does not wish to marry a clergyman. The central love story is Mary’s brother the forward looking wealthy Henry Crawford who falls in love with Fanny after a dalliance with the two Bertram sisters. A match that would seem to be a superb opportunity for an adopted daughter with few prospects. Fanny against all advice rejects Henry, she finds him fascinating, with some good qualities, but she does not love him and most seriously of all she cannot trust him. The third part of the novel is Henry’s continued pursuit of Fanny; a suit that causes her grief and pain. Austen takes her readers into the world of Regency splendour. The culture and manners of that society are brilliantly evoked. There are some amazing set pieces; the amateur production of the play Lovers Vows, Fanny’s first trip out with her new family to Sotherton, her coming out ball and her banishment back to her working class family in Portsmouth. At the centre of everything is Fanny Price’s world and inner world views. It is steady, respectable, dutiful and gracious, which makes her at times seem almost an anti-heroine, she is physically weak and lacks assertiveness, but her strength is her firm belief in tradition and family values.To appreciate this novel fully one must not judge Mansfield Park by modern standards or by equality of opportunity. It is a different world brought richly to life and full of characters whose human frailties can be ameliorated by a central character; a virtuous woman working away quietly amongst them. The story is a good one, once the reader gets used to the writing style and has got further into the novel than the story setting it becomes a page turner. So much to enjoy, a fabulous reading experience and five stars.
    • 5/5
      (Contain spoilers.) I firmly believe no librarian ever read Mansfield Park, otherwise Lord Bertram’s burning all the copies of Lover’s Vows he found would have banished it from libraries! (Chuckle) This book has all Miss Austin’s talented penmanship, but very little—or nothing, rather—of the comic situations I found in Pride and Prejudice and most especially in Emma. This is a deeper, more serious novel, highly moralizing, with lots of inner thoughts and questionings, which sometimes might get a bit long to the modern reader unused to this kind of literature. Through this book—as in all her others—she makes very clear what she expected (not only society), that “girls should be quiet and modest” and “perfectly feminine.” She condemned, on people in general, the “want of that higher species of self-command, that just consideration of others.” In the story 10 year-old Fanny Price, goes to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt, Lord and Lady Bertram, in their beautiful and tranquil estate of Mansfield Park. There she meets four cousins, two girls and two boys, of which, second son, the mature and highly honorable Edmund, becomes her ideal since the beginning. (Edmund was not a priest, but was ordained a couple of chapters before the end of the book.) The story evolves through ups and downs, lots of misunderstandings, to culminate in a happy ending. Unlike what is portrayed in movies inspired by Mansfield Park, Fanny is not treated unkindly, nor relegated to a dungeon-like room. Her sleeping quarters were a “little white attic” with connection to the old “school-room” which contained her plants, her books—of which she had been a collector from the first hour of her commanding a shilling—her writing desk, and her works of charity.” The lack of fire in that room was due to her Aunt Norris constant meddling and a shocked Lord Bertrand belatedly corrects this injurious situation. British society was then divided into classes and Fanny, while enjoying much of the benefits of living with the family, belonged to a very poor branch—hence the differed treatment she received. “If tenderness could be ever supposed wanting, good sense and good breeding supplied its place,” Jane Austen writes about the Bertrand family in relation to Fanny. Miss Austen’s high moral standards permeate the entire book, it is full of Fanny’s eagerness to do what is right and proper, to think good thoughts and do good deeds. Good and evil were clearly discerned and exposed in the situations Austen weaves; the elopement of a married woman with a bachelor is to her a “sin of the first magnitude.” I feel sure Jane Austen, whose heroines were invariably highly principled, moral young women, would have been devastated had she a chance to see the state of today’s youth, particularly of girls. I only wish young women would read more of this kind of literature instead of the filth available now in all American libraries.
    • 3/5
      "Here's harmony!" said she; "here's repose! Here's what may leave all painting and all music behind, and what poetry only can attempt to describe! Here's what may tranquilize every care, and lift the heart to rapture! When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such a scene."In “Mansfield Park” by Jane AustenMany eons ago I was reading Austen's "Mansfield Park" in high school when the leader of a group of teenagers commented on the "puff with the specs reading girlie books." I paid him no mind at that particular moment. I waited till I could catch him alone in the playground without his bunch of cronies around him. I asked him then if he'd care to repeat what he'd said before. He said he didn't. The old adage you can't judge a book by its cover surely applies to the title as well. What's next? Nick Hornby's "About a Boy" should only appeal to paedophiles? "Animal Farm" to sheep-shaggers (or more accurately pig-shaggers). Such immature, hating comments belong in the 1970s.My favourite books? "Jane Eyre", "Madame Bovary" and "Sister Wendy's Book of Saints" are in my top 100. And, yes, I am male. And yes, I would happily walk into a crowded bookshop and order the aforementioned books without feeling emasculated. Personally I am not sure the supposed "girly" title of a book has ever made me sneak up to the counter ashamedly to buy the book, nor has an overtly "mannish" title made be puff out my chest and slam in down on the counter. It seems a long time ago now since such base gender divisions have mattered. With the rise of the metro-sexual, moisturising cream and Russell Brand dictating what half of London wears, I just can't think that a lot of modern men would be concerned by a title such as "Persuasion", or "Emma". Not enough to not consider reading past the title and at least having a glance at the back cover anyhow. If I think back, I was never embarrassed to read a "girly" title on the tube and they were the formative years of my teens. However, at the time, I also had long hair, Doc Martens and listened to Queensrÿche. I am man. I eat meat, sleep and breed. I don't like pink and I don't like art galleries. I like football. - We don't all think like this, just a few men but don't worry these men don't read books, they read glossy magazines at the dentist. So next time someone grunts when you offer him two titles, don't entertain his masculinity - he'll only like that. Instead point him to the magazine rack. There'll he can read Zoo to his hearts content.To see Jane Austen's novel as romantic rubbish is pretty short-sighted. On the surface some readers may be right but what she really was writing about was the society she lived in and how it worked. It's a depiction of her reality and in many instances, and it's also critique of that world. Not in your face but most her novels have a strong ironic tone. She wrote novels of behaviour and about society in the early 1800s. People misunderstand her books because she paints on such a small canvas. It's like comparing a jewelled miniature by Nicholas Hilliard to a huge Titian canvas, full of life and swagger. The small scale makes it easy to overlook things or to misunderstand them, but in fact there's an awful lot more going on in an Austen book than meets the casual eye. I like Fanny Price, although she's not a character I'd like to have a cuppa with but a great one to read about. I always admired her for refusing Henry Crawford without spilling the beans. Fanny Price is not "prim". Repressed and dutiful certainly. There is a different word beginning with "p" that describes her to a tee: petrified. She knows she isn't a full member of the family, hence her repression and dutifulness, and at all times feels and is made to feel that she could be dismissed back to her parents' over full house at a moments notice. That is why I believe she opposes and is expected to oppose the staging of the play while her uncle is away. In a sense she has been trained to be the guardian, governess and companion but never the full complete member of the household. Emma, though is a prize cow, a big fish in a little pond and I always skip her in my annual Jane Austen re-read.NB: I like football. But I'm a rugger at heart.
    • 3/5
      Historisch de meest interessante roman van Austen, met diverse dimensies.Zeker niet zo geconcentreerd, zo scherp en zo witty als P&P, maar toch verdienstelijk op zich. Wel teleurstellend slot, veel te doorzichtig happy end.De roman leent zich tot antropologische studie van de Britse society, begin XIXZeer beschrijvende roman, vooral in het begin (veel te lange aanloop), weinig dialogen en nauwelijks of geen witFanny is wel een van de zuiverste karakters uit de wereldliteratuur: ze heeft een natuurlijk aanvoelen voor wat menselijk scheef zit, maar houdt zich tegelijk volledig op de achtergrond; zelfs haar structurele vernedering door de Bertrams (ze heeft geen vuur op haar kamer), deert haar niet; een echte Assepoester dus!In essentie een moraal studie.
    • 5/5
      I adored Mansfield Park! Yes -- the story gets off to a slow start, but you will reap an abundance of rewards in return for your patience. The book is downright funny at times. Mrs. Norris amuses as a stuffy, obsequious, and presumptuous busy-body, and Austen does a great job painting lazy Lady Bertram. Whatever did Sir Thomas see in her? In her usual understated manner, the author allows us to witness how Edmond and Fanny grow and become more self-aware and complete people. Austen brings to life the day-to-day emotional hyper-emotional drama of a small, closed society of early 18C Britain. From a modern perspective, it's fascinating to bring the author's account of those times to the mind's eye and contemplate how people endured it without repeatedly slitting their throats.
    • 4/5
      I first read this book when I was 14 - it was the second Jane Austen book I read after Pride and Prejudice, which I loved. However, I found Mansfield Park dull and lacking the humour of Pride and Prejudice, and I didn't manage to finish it.I have read it again recently and this time I found that I enjoyed it. It's true that Fanny Price is not very interesting as a main character, but the book is still worth reading, particularly if you're a fan of Austen's other works.
    • 4/5
      Poor Fanny Price! Jane really puts her through the mill in this book! But I guess "all's well that ends well." ;)IMO, there were lots of details about everyone's feelings, conversations, and correspondence through the first 47 chapters. Then, it seemed to me like, Jane just got tired and decided to sum up the story in one final chapter. And "Bob's your uncle" the book's finished! Oh well, I enjoyed it overall. A traditional Jane Austen novel :)Also, I listened on my LibriVox app and the reader, Karen Savage, did a fantastic job!
    • 4/5
      It was a little slow to get into.I found Edmund a bit of a prig.But I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      This Jane Austen novel tends to be talked of rather less than some of the others. I enjoyed it though it took me nine days to get through, as it's a slow burn novel, lacking a strong narrative drive. The heroine, Fanny Price, is the eldest daughter of one of three sisters (the poor one, who was deemed to have married beneath her, and who isn't given the dignity of having a first name here) At the age of ten Fanny is sent to live with her aunt, another sister Maria who married an MP, Sir Thomas Bertram, and who live on the eponymous estate in Northamptonshire. The Bertrams have two sons, Tom and Edmund, and two daughters, Maria and Julia; and the third sister, Frances Norris, is also around, especially after the death of her clergyman husband. The novel is essentially about the relationships between these people, and a brother and sister who arrive on the scene, Henry and Mary Crawford. There are the usual sharp Austen observations about social situations and class pretentiousness, and some passages of great humour, especially over their private theatricals, putting on a performance for their own amusement of a real life bawdy play, Lovers' Vows (which sounds great fun and which I've downloaded). Fanny rejects a marriage proposal from Henry Crawford, which seems to echo Austen's rejection of the only such proposal she received, when she initially accepted the offer and then changed her mind after sleeping on it. Fanny is unhappy at Mansfield Park, but then when she returns to the family home in Portsmouth, she rejects the chaos there and starts to long to return to the estate. The last part of the novel contains two elopements and a resetting of a number of the relationships between the characters, plus a happy ending for Fanny. Fanny is a less interesting character than other heroines of Austen's novels, and comes across sometimes as a bit annoyingly priggish, but the reader basically sympathises with her predicament living with the eclectic bunch of self-centred characters that largely comprise the Mansfield Park household.
    • 4/5
      favorite austen novel
    • 2/5
      Another Austen romance.Fanny Price, about age 9, is "invited" to live with her Bertram cousins--her parents have too many kids in too small a space in the city of Portsmouth. Her mother married down. Her oldest sister married up, to a Bertram, and lives at Mansfield Park. Her other sister, Mrs Norris, now widowed, married laterally to a minister, and now lives within walking distance of the Bertrams. It is Mrs Norris' idea that the Bertram's should offer to house one of the sister's daughters.Mrs Norris makes sure Fanny knows her place. She is expected to stay home and help Aunt Bertram, who is the most mild and boring woman ever. Mrs Norris is the cruel aunt, and constantly reminds Fanny of her position. She is more helper than cousin.And this goes on for years. As they age, their relationships shift, though Mrs Norris always blames Fanny and thinks she doesn't deserve anything. The Bertram family has a bit of an implosion, with illness, elopement, running off, and unrequited love. Because of course, this is a romance.And in the end, exactly what I expected to happen happened. Because it's a romance!
    • 3/5
      I almost didn't finish. Volumes 2 and 3 got more interesting. The narrative has a very slow build, lots of exposition about being a clergyman and landscaping and Fanny and Edmund having long talks about whatever. Lots of unneeded description about how Fanny is thinking or feeling or entire paragraphs basically telling the reader that Lady Bertram does nothing all day but sit on a sofa with her dog. And the play! Going on and on about wheter to do a play and which play and who was to do what parts and Fanny not wanting to participate in the fun. Not much action. I think the subtly of Fanny and the characterization is difficult for modern readers. We can't imagine a time where the residents of Mansfield Park have servants to do menial tasks yet manage to do nothing all day long while dressed up in fancy clothes! Boring. Fanny is quiet and passive. The dramatic tension at the end where you come down to who will marry who is more interesting. Austen writes with too much understatement and if you are not trained you miss it. For instance, I almost missed how awful Mrs Norris is and how lazy and indifferent Lady Bertram is. Fanny herself will certainly not point out any faults in her "dear" aunts. Yes, the reader admires Fanny for her virtue and the fact that she saw that Henry Crawford was a fake before everyone else and that she grows to love Mansfield and she would not marry for simply marrying or for money, and you are happy that she is patient and kind and Edmund realizes how she is perfect for him and they live happily ever after at Mansfield Park. But that does not redeem the novel, it should of been 200 pages. I would not recommend this book unless you are an Austen fan already, stick with pride and prejudice or sense and sensibility which have faster narratives, less pages and more interesting heroines
    • 3/5
      Historisch de meest interessante roman van Austen, met diverse dimensies.Zeker niet zo geconcentreerd, zo scherp en zo witty als P&P, maar toch verdienstelijk op zich. Wel teleurstellend slot, veel te doorzichtig happy end.De roman leent zich tot antropologische studie van de Britse society, begin XIXZeer beschrijvende roman, vooral in het begin (veel te lange aanloop), weinig dialogen en nauwelijks of geen witFanny is wel een van de zuiverste karakters uit de wereldliteratuur: ze heeft een natuurlijk aanvoelen voor wat menselijk scheef zit, maar houdt zich tegelijk volledig op de achtergrond; zelfs haar structurele vernedering door de Bertrams (ze heeft geen vuur op haar kamer), deert haar niet; een echte Assepoester dus!In essentie een moraal studie.
    • 4/5
      My favorite Austen book. I know I am in the minority for disliking Mr. Darcy and Lizzy and liking Fanny and Edmund, but having re-read both I still stand by my opinion.
    • 3/5
      Couldn't finish this one when I tried in the midst of teaching duties, despite hearing a UK expert expound on it a Breadloaf. One problem with the expert, her British tic of LOWERING her voice on important points--utterly eliminating my hearing them. But I find this un-Austenian, expansive, landscape-oriented, with various writing complications in addition to her great irony. Now in retirement, I am slowly making my way through, find it larger scale, like a lesser Middlemarch. Less compact than Austen's others, and more diffuse in characters: three principal sisters, two of them birthing sisters. Even the sisters meet other sisters. After half the novel, the plot focuses on the Priceless Miss Price. Fanny Price emerges from a shy and withdrawn young girl who loves reading, to an unexpected authority and teacher for her younger sister Susan, the only one of multiple siblings who values her elder sister's independence and insights. Fanny's loud-voiced father drinks during the day, and from 6:30 to 9:30 PM, "there was little intermission of noise and grog"(Ch.42, p. 554). Sir Tom Bertram'seldest son Tom also drinks, which causes a fall and leads to his long sickness (560). Perhaps this novel satirizes drinking more than her others, and portrays the clergy, Edmund, better.Loving reading, the author quotes writers she grew up with, like Goldsmith; she even adapts Samuel Johnson to contrast Fanny's two residences: "Fanny was tempted to apply to them Dr. Johnson's celebrated judgement as to matrimony and celibacy, and say, that though Mansfield Park might have some pains, Portsmouth could have no pleasures"(Ch.39, end, p.544).Not just less focused and longer than other Austen novels, Mansfield Park grows difficult as she applies too many of her usual abstractions:"...might be supposed to have in her wish for a complete reconciliation. This was not an agreeable intimation. Nature resisted it for a while. It would have been a vast deal pleasanter to have had her more disinterested in her attachment; but his vanity was not of a strength to fight long against reason"(577*).Our novel starts abundantly, with Austen's lifelong irony on knowledge versus self-knowledge in three sisters: "with all their promising talents, [that] they should be entirely deficient in the less common acquirements of self-knowledge. In everything but disposition, they were admirably taught"(371). One of three sisters catches Sir Tom Bertram, a baronet, the next finds a clergyman Rev. Norris, destined to be hired by her brother in law, and the third, Miss Frances throws herself away on a military man, and has, we later learn to our dismay, nine children. In Austen social position and fiscal relations are always part of identity.Then comes the disaster of land improvers, landscape architects, which doom the less astute, and maybe the story as a whole (386). A certain Mr Rushworth has recently visited Compton (we live near "Little Compton" in RI) whose grounds were laid out "by an improver. Mr. Rushworth was returned with his head full of the subject, and very eager to be improving his own place." Gaining general conversation in few pages, "the subject of improving grounds, was still under consideration by the others"(390). Mansfield Park includes a real park, five miles around.Austen delights with almost a legal definition of seduction, "A young woman, pretty, lively, with a harp as elegant as herself, and both placed near a window cut down to the ground and opening on a little lawn, surrounded by shrubs in the rich foliage of summer, was enough to catch any man's heart"(392).When the rich competitor keeps Fanny Price's horse--and her admired Edmund-- too long, she brings it the half mile home from the Parsonage, with the Janey irony, "Selfishness must always be forgiven, you know, because there is no hope of a cure"(394). (Sounds rather Trumpy to an American in 2021.)One learns English social customs of the period, where a young man must not speak to the younger of two daughters, "I had been giving all my attention to the youngest, who was not 'out,' and had most excessively offended the eldest"(386). The custom of public libraries grew from subscription libraries, which Fanny joins in her birthplace Portsmouth when away from Mansfield's library for three months. Austen portrays many ceremonies, as "the solemn procession of teaboard, urn and cake-bearers"(521). After dinner there are cards, whist and others, which surprised me by always involving gambling (shillings then substantial, pence for the others).Austen shows evil and good largely imbued in conversation: listening to her fiancée, "Maria [was] doomed to the repeated details of his day's sport, his boast of his dogs, his jealousy of his neighbors, his zeal after poachers"(Ch.12, 416).The daughter and sister of a cleric, Austen often satirizes priests, less so in this novel, where the admirable younger son Edmund Bertram is ordained in Peterborough cathedral, near where we met our great friend on the Dutch barge pub. Fanny's Naval brother William, who sails from Portsmouth, has cold pork and mustard for breakfast to his rich cousin's eggs. Others stay in Weymouth, where we have lived a month five times. The novel has a "happy ending" which is illegal in twenty-four US states, and criminal in five.PS: As always in Austen, British words have different, and specific, meaning: "toilet" is make-up; "living" is a clerical benefice (in this novel, Dr. Grant moves to another church, but retains the previous benefice until he dies and it transfers to Edmund); "want" is lack; "complacency" often means pleasure; the verb to "frank" is to attach postage; "knocked up" not pregnant, just tired. In prepositional usage, to go "down" dances, rather than to go "through" them, game "on" cards, for game "of" cards.*Pagination from the Crown hardback of all her novels, "Jane Austen: Her Complete Novels" (Avenel: NY, 1981) which I bought in Princeton, 24 Mar 1984.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely my favorite of all the Jane Austens. Her sense of characterization really has come a long way by this book!
    • 4/5
      One of the lesser known novels by Jane Austen. The film made in 1999 was very poor and gives a false impression of Fanny Price's character and of the main action of the book. Anyone who has ever had an interfering or overbearing relative will appreciate the delineation of Aunt Norris. Anyone who has a weak, vacillating, self-indulgent friend or relative will appreciate the delineation of Aunt Bertram. This edition includes the text of the play, Lover's Vows, which became a bone of contention during an extended house party, as well as footnote, illustrations and an essay about the difficulties of travel by coach during this period.
    • 4/5
      Fanny is definitely my favourite Austen woman...we'll definitely top 3. This book meant more to me this time around than any previous time if read it. As always Austen seems to go on about parts that truly do not add to the story and sometimes a lackluster ending ensues. I adore this novel but I am not immune to the facts that it's not always the strongest. Also Ed took his sweet time and I'll admit it wasn't as glamorous a admittance of love as some of other Austen's leading men
    • 4/5
      I LOVE LOVE LOVE this story. If I had more leisure time to read, it would have been more enjoyable. It, or the language I should say, is quite florid. It was pretty language but a bit much at times. I'm no writer but I believe I oculd have said in 2 or 3 pages what Jane Austen said in 6...though not as beautifully of course.I'm glad I read it though. Fanny Price and Edmond Bertram are great examples of what a human being should be. Everybody else just needs a good spanking!...okay except of course for William and Susan.
    • 5/5
      Listening on CD -- the reader is very good at distinguishing the characters' voices. So far (1/4 in)I'm finding it to be just as entertaining as every other Jane Austen I've read. Can't wait to find out what happens next....
    • 3/5
      Austen knows her relational psychology, but I found this book less compelling because the characters are so static. Fanny is wholesome and moral and she is always wholesome and moral; she doesn't change and she is rewarded for staying the same. I get that moralizing this way was popular and right at the time, but it isn't interesting to read about.
    • 3/5
      Yes its brilliantly written and for its time I guess it was a masterpiece. But I base my reviews on my enjoyment of a book, not on its brilliance as literature. I was bored and didn't find myself caring about anyone at all. Mrs Norris had some great lines, but that is it for my enjoyment of the novel (and she was a nasty piece of work) Fanny Price is one of the most dull characters of all time and I wanted to smack her for her lack of spirit. Feel free to say all unpleasant things about my lack of intelligence, it won't bother me at all. Her use of the english language is utterly brilliant and she really had a knack for human understanding but this tale will not stay with me.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this, though I wasn't as drawn in by the characters as I usually am while reading this type of book. I found Edmund a bit of a dolt in the Edward Ferrars mold.

      The great thing about Austen for me is that you know you are in safe hands as a reader--things always work out well for the righteous and poorly for the guilty. Very satisfying!

    Book preview

    Mansfield Park - Jane Austen

    Chapter I

    About thirty years ago Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet’s lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income. All Huntingdon exclaimed on the greatness of the match, and her uncle, the lawyer, himself, allowed her to be at least three thousand pounds short of any equitable claim to it. She had two sisters to be benefited by her elevation; and such of their acquaintance as thought Miss Ward and Miss Frances quite as handsome as Miss Maria, did not scruple to predict their marrying with almost equal advantage. But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them. Miss Ward, at the end of half a dozen years, found herself obliged to be attached to the Rev. Mr. Norris, a friend of her brother-in-law, with scarcely any private fortune, and Miss Frances fared yet worse. Miss Ward’s match, indeed, when it came to the point, was not contemptible: Sir Thomas being happily able to give his friend an income in the living of Mansfield; and Mr. and Mrs. Norris began their career of conjugal felicity with very little less than a thousand a year. But Miss Frances married, in the common phrase, to disoblige her family, and by fixing on a lieutenant of marines, without education, fortune, or connections, did it very thoroughly. She could hardly have made a more untoward choice. Sir Thomas Bertram had interest, which, from principle as well as pride—from a general wish of doing right, and a desire of seeing all that were connected with him in situations of respectability, he would have been glad to exert for the advantage of Lady Bertram’s sister; but her husband’s profession was such as no interest could reach; and before he had time to devise any other method of assisting them, an absolute breach between the sisters had taken place. It was the natural result of the conduct of each party, and such as a very imprudent marriage almost always produces. To save herself from useless remonstrance, Mrs. Price never wrote to her family on the subject till actually married. Lady Bertram, who was a woman of very tranquil feelings, and a temper remarkably easy and indolent, would have contented herself with merely giving up her sister, and thinking no more of the matter; but Mrs. Norris had a spirit of activity, which could not be satisfied till she had written a long and angry letter to Fanny, to point out the folly of her conduct, and threaten her with all its possible ill consequences. Mrs. Price, in her turn, was injured and angry; and an answer, which comprehended each sister in its bitterness, and bestowed such very disrespectful reflections on the pride of Sir Thomas as Mrs. Norris could not possibly keep to herself, put an end to all intercourse between them for a considerable period.

    Their homes were so distant, and the circles in which they moved so distinct, as almost to preclude the means of ever hearing of each other’s existence during the eleven following years, or, at least, to make it very wonderful to Sir Thomas that Mrs. Norris should ever have it in her power to tell them, as she now and then did, in an angry voice, that Fanny had got another child. By the end of eleven years, however, Mrs. Price could no longer afford to cherish pride or resentment, or to lose one connection that might possibly assist her. A large and still increasing family, an husband disabled for active service, but not the less equal to company and good liquor, and a very small income to supply their wants, made her eager to regain the friends she had so carelessly sacrificed; and she addressed Lady Bertram in a letter which spoke so much contrition and despondence, such a superfluity of children, and such a want of almost everything else, as could not but dispose them all to a reconciliation. She was preparing for her ninth lying-in; and after bewailing the circumstance, and imploring their countenance as sponsors to the expected child, she could not conceal how important she felt they might be to the future maintenance of the eight already in being. Her eldest was a boy of ten years old, a fine spirited fellow, who longed to be out in the world; but what could she do? Was there any chance of his being hereafter useful to Sir Thomas in the concerns of his West Indian property? No situation would be beneath him; or what did Sir Thomas think of Woolwich? or how could a boy be sent out to the East?

    The letter was not unproductive. It re-established peace and kindness. Sir Thomas sent friendly advice and professions, Lady Bertram dispatched money and baby linen, and Mrs. Norris wrote the letters.

    Such were its immediate effects, and within a twelvemonth a more important advantage to Mrs. Price resulted from it. Mrs. Norris was often observing to the others that she could not get her poor sister and her family out of her head, and that, much as they had all done for her, she seemed to be wanting to do more; and at length she could not but own it to be her wish that poor Mrs. Price should be relieved from the charge and expense of one child entirely out of her great number. What if they were among them to undertake the care of her eldest daughter, a girl now nine years old, of an age to require more attention than her poor mother could possibly give? The trouble and expense of it to them would be nothing, compared with the benevolence of the action. Lady Bertram agreed with her instantly. I think we cannot do better, said she; let us send for the child.

    Sir Thomas could not give so instantaneous and unqualified a consent. He debated and hesitated;—it was a serious charge;—a girl so brought up must be adequately provided for, or there would be cruelty instead of kindness in taking her from her family. He thought of his own four children, of his two sons, of cousins in love, etc.;—but no sooner had he deliberately begun to state his objections, than Mrs. Norris interrupted him with a reply to them all, whether stated or not.

    "My dear Sir Thomas, I perfectly comprehend you, and do justice to the generosity and delicacy of your notions, which indeed are quite of a piece with your general conduct; and I entirely agree with you in the main as to the propriety of doing everything one could by way of providing for a child one had in a manner taken into one’s own hands; and I am sure I should be the last person in the world to withhold my mite upon such an occasion. Having no children of my own, who should I look to in any little matter I may ever have to bestow, but the children of my sisters?—and I am sure Mr. Norris is too just—but you know I am a woman of few words and professions. Do not let us be frightened from a good deed by a trifle. Give a girl an education, and introduce her properly into the world, and ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without farther expense to anybody. A niece of ours, Sir Thomas, I may say, or at least of yours, would not grow up in this neighbourhood without many advantages. I don’t say she would be so handsome as her cousins. I dare say she would not; but she would be introduced into the society of this country under such very favourable circumstances as, in all human probability, would get her a creditable establishment. You are thinking of your sons—but do not you know that, of all things upon earth, that is the least likely to happen, brought up as they would be, always together like brothers and sisters? It is morally impossible. I never knew an instance of it. It is, in fact, the only sure way of providing against the connection. Suppose her a pretty girl, and seen by Tom or Edmund for the first time seven years hence, and I dare say there would be mischief. The very idea of her having been suffered to grow up at a distance from us all in poverty and neglect, would be enough to make either of the dear, sweet-tempered boys in love with her. But breed her up with them from this time, and suppose her even to have the beauty of an angel, and she will never be more to either than a sister."

    There is a great deal of truth in what you say, replied Sir Thomas, and far be it from me to throw any fanciful impediment in the way of a plan which would be so consistent with the relative situations of each. I only meant to observe that it ought not to be lightly engaged in, and that to make it really serviceable to Mrs. Price, and creditable to ourselves, we must secure to the child, or consider ourselves engaged to secure to her hereafter, as circumstances may arise, the provision of a gentlewoman, if no such establishment should offer as you are so sanguine in expecting.

    I thoroughly understand you, cried Mrs. Norris, "you are everything that is generous and considerate, and I am sure we shall never disagree on this point. Whatever I can do, as you well know, I am always ready enough to do for the good of those I love; and, though I could never feel for this little girl the hundredth part of the regard I bear your own dear children, nor consider her, in any respect, so much my own, I should hate myself if I were capable of neglecting her. Is not she a sister’s child? and could I bear to see her want while I had a bit of bread to give her? My dear Sir Thomas, with all my faults I have a warm heart; and, poor as I am, would rather deny myself the necessaries of life than do an ungenerous thing. So, if you are not against it, I will write to my poor sister tomorrow, and make the proposal; and, as soon as matters are settled, I will engage to get the child to Mansfield; you shall have no trouble about it. My own trouble, you know, I never regard. I will send Nanny to London on purpose, and she may have a bed at her cousin the saddler’s, and the child be appointed to meet her there. They may easily get her from Portsmouth to town by the coach, under the care of any creditable person that may chance to be going. I dare say there is always some reputable tradesman’s wife or other going up."

    Except to the attack on Nanny’s cousin, Sir Thomas no longer made any objection, and a more respectable, though less economical rendezvous being accordingly substituted, everything was considered as settled, and the pleasures of so benevolent a scheme were already enjoyed. The division of gratifying sensations ought not, in strict justice, to have been equal; for Sir Thomas was fully resolved to be the real and consistent patron of the selected child, and Mrs. Norris had not the least intention of being at any expense whatever in her maintenance. As far as walking, talking, and contriving reached, she was thoroughly benevolent, and nobody knew better how to dictate liberality to others; but her love of money was equal to her love of directing, and she knew quite as well how to save her own as to spend that of her friends. Having married on a narrower income than she had been used to look forward to, she had, from the first, fancied a very strict line of economy necessary; and what was begun as a matter of prudence, soon grew into a matter of choice, as an object of that needful solicitude which there were no children to supply. Had there been a family to provide for, Mrs. Norris might never have saved her money; but having no care of that kind, there was nothing to impede her frugality, or lessen the comfort of making a yearly addition to an income which they had never lived up to. Under this infatuating principle, counteracted by no real affection for her sister, it was impossible for her to aim at more than the credit of projecting and arranging so expensive a charity; though perhaps she might so little know herself as to walk home to the Parsonage, after this conversation, in the happy belief of being the most liberal-minded sister and aunt in the world.

    When the subject was brought forward again, her views were more fully explained; and, in reply to Lady Bertram’s calm inquiry of Where shall the child come to first, sister, to you or to us? Sir Thomas heard with some surprise that it would be totally out of Mrs. Norris’s power to take any share in the personal charge of her. He had been considering her as a particularly welcome addition at the Parsonage, as a desirable companion to an aunt who had no children of her own; but he found himself wholly mistaken. Mrs. Norris was sorry to say that the little girl’s staying with them, at least as things then were, was quite out of the question. Poor Mr. Norris’s indifferent state of health made it an impossibility: he could no more bear the noise of a child than he could fly; if, indeed, he should ever get well of his gouty complaints, it would be a different matter: she should then be glad to take her turn, and think nothing of the inconvenience; but just now, poor Mr. Norris took up every moment of her time, and the very mention of such a thing she was sure would distract him.

    Then she had better come to us, said Lady Bertram, with the utmost composure. After a short pause Sir Thomas added with dignity, Yes, let her home be in this house. We will endeavour to do our duty by her, and she will, at least, have the advantage of companions of her own age, and of a regular instructress.

    Very true, cried Mrs. Norris, which are both very important considerations; and it will be just the same to Miss Lee whether she has three girls to teach, or only two—there can be no difference. I only wish I could be more useful; but you see I do all in my power. I am not one of those that spare their own trouble; and Nanny shall fetch her, however it may put me to inconvenience to have my chief counsellor away for three days. I suppose, sister, you will put the child in the little white attic, near the old nurseries. It will be much the best place for her, so near Miss Lee, and not far from the girls, and close by the housemaids, who could either of them help to dress her, you know, and take care of her clothes, for I suppose you would not think it fair to expect Ellis to wait on her as well as the others. Indeed, I do not see that you could possibly place her anywhere else.

    Lady Bertram made no opposition.

    I hope she will prove a well-disposed girl, continued Mrs. Norris, and be sensible of her uncommon good fortune in having such friends.

    Should her disposition be really bad, said Sir Thomas, "we must not, for our own children’s sake, continue her in the family; but there is no reason to expect so great an evil. We shall probably see much to wish altered in her, and must prepare ourselves for gross ignorance, some meanness of opinions, and very distressing vulgarity of manner; but these are not incurable faults; nor, I trust, can they be dangerous for her associates. Had my daughters been younger than herself, I should have considered the introduction of such a companion as a matter of very serious moment; but, as it is, I hope there can be nothing to fear for them, and everything to hope for her, from the association."

    That is exactly what I think, cried Mrs. Norris, "and what I was saying to my husband this morning. It will be an education for the child, said I, only being with her cousins; if Miss Lee taught her nothing, she would learn to be good and clever from them."

    I hope she will not tease my poor pug, said Lady Bertram; I have but just got Julia to leave it alone.

    There will be some difficulty in our way, Mrs. Norris, observed Sir Thomas, "as to the distinction proper to be made between the girls as they grow up: how to preserve in the minds of my daughters the consciousness of what they are, without making them think too lowly of their cousin; and how, without depressing her spirits too far, to make her remember that she is not a Miss Bertram. I should wish to see them very good friends, and would, on no account, authorise in my girls the smallest degree of arrogance towards their relation; but still they cannot be equals. Their rank, fortune, rights, and expectations will always be different. It is a point of great delicacy, and you must assist us in our endeavours to choose exactly the right line of conduct."

    Mrs. Norris was quite at his service; and though she perfectly agreed with him as to its being a most difficult thing, encouraged him to hope that between them it would be easily managed.

    It will be readily believed that Mrs. Norris did not write to her sister in vain. Mrs. Price seemed rather surprised that a girl should be fixed on, when she had so many fine boys, but accepted the offer most thankfully, assuring them of her daughter’s being a very well-disposed, good-humoured girl, and trusting they would never have cause to throw her off. She spoke of her farther as somewhat delicate and puny, but was sanguine in the hope of her being materially better for change of air. Poor woman! she probably thought change of air might agree with many of her children.

    Chapter II

    The little girl performed her long journey in safety; and at Northampton was met by Mrs. Norris, who thus regaled in the credit of being foremost to welcome her, and in the importance of leading her in to the others, and recommending her to their kindness.

    Fanny Price was at this time just ten years old, and though there might not be much in her first appearance to captivate, there was, at least, nothing to disgust her relations. She was small of her age, with no glow of complexion, nor any other striking beauty; exceedingly timid and shy, and shrinking from notice; but her air, though awkward, was not vulgar, her voice was sweet, and when she spoke her countenance was pretty. Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram received her very kindly; and Sir Thomas, seeing how much she needed encouragement, tried to be all that was conciliating: but he had to work against a most untoward gravity of deportment; and Lady Bertram, without taking half so much trouble, or speaking one word where he spoke ten, by the mere aid of a good-humoured smile, became immediately the less awful character of the two.

    The young people were all at home, and sustained their share in the introduction very well, with much good humour, and no embarrassment, at least on the part of the sons, who, at seventeen and sixteen, and tall of their age, had all the grandeur of men in the eyes of their little cousin. The two girls were more at a loss from being younger and in greater awe of their father, who addressed them on the occasion with rather an injudicious particularity. But they were too much used to company and praise to have anything like natural shyness; and their confidence increasing from their cousin’s total want of it, they were soon able to take a full survey of her face and her frock in easy indifference.

    They were a remarkably fine family, the sons very well-looking, the daughters decidedly handsome, and all of them well-grown and forward of their age, which produced as striking a difference between the cousins in person, as education had given to their address; and no one would have supposed the girls so nearly of an age as they really were. There were in fact but two years between the youngest and Fanny. Julia Bertram was only twelve, and Maria but a year older. The little visitor meanwhile was as unhappy as possible. Afraid of everybody, ashamed of herself, and longing for the home she had left, she knew not how to look up, and could scarcely speak to be heard, or without crying. Mrs. Norris had been talking to her the whole way from Northampton of her wonderful good fortune, and the extraordinary degree of gratitude and good behaviour which it ought to produce, and her consciousness of misery was therefore increased by the idea of its being a wicked thing for her not to be happy. The fatigue, too, of so long a journey, became soon no trifling evil. In vain were the well-meant condescensions of Sir Thomas, and all the officious prognostications of Mrs. Norris that she would be a good girl; in vain did Lady Bertram smile and make her sit on the sofa with herself and pug, and vain was even the sight of a gooseberry tart towards giving her comfort; she could scarcely swallow two mouthfuls before tears interrupted her, and sleep seeming to be her likeliest friend, she was taken to finish her sorrows in bed.

    This is not a very promising beginning, said Mrs. Norris, when Fanny had left the room. "After all that I said to her as we came along, I thought she would have behaved better; I told her how much might depend upon her acquitting herself well at first. I wish there may not be a little sulkiness of temper—her poor mother had a good deal; but we must make allowances for such a child—and I do not know that her being sorry to leave her home is really against her, for, with all its faults, it was her home, and she cannot as yet understand how much she has changed for the better; but then there is moderation in all things."

    It required a longer time, however, than Mrs. Norris was inclined to allow, to reconcile Fanny to the novelty of Mansfield Park, and the separation from everybody she had been used to. Her feelings were very acute, and too little understood to be properly attended to. Nobody meant to be unkind, but nobody put themselves out of their way to secure her comfort.

    The holiday allowed to the Miss Bertrams the next day, on purpose to afford leisure for getting acquainted with, and entertaining their young cousin, produced little union. They could not but hold her cheap on finding that she had but two sashes, and had never learned French; and when they perceived her to be little struck with the duet they were so good as to play, they could do no more than make her a generous present of some of their least valued toys, and leave her to herself, while they adjourned to whatever might be the favourite holiday sport of the moment, making artificial flowers or wasting gold paper.

    Fanny, whether near or from her cousins, whether in the schoolroom, the drawing room, or the shrubbery, was equally forlorn, finding something to fear in every person and place. She was disheartened by Lady Bertram’s silence, awed by Sir Thomas’s grave looks, and quite overcome by Mrs. Norris’s admonitions. Her elder cousins mortified her by reflections on her size, and abashed her by noticing her shyness: Miss Lee wondered at her ignorance, and the maid-servants sneered at her clothes; and when to these sorrows was added the idea of the brothers and sisters among whom she had always been important as playfellow, instructress, and nurse, the despondence that sunk her little heart was severe.

    The grandeur of the house astonished, but could not console her. The rooms were too large for her to move in with ease: whatever she touched she expected to injure, and she crept about in constant terror of something or other; often retreating towards her own chamber to cry; and the little girl who was spoken of in the drawing room when she left it at night as seeming so desirably sensible of her peculiar good fortune, ended every day’s sorrows by sobbing herself to sleep. A week had passed in this way, and no suspicion of it conveyed by her quiet passive manner, when she was found one morning by her cousin Edmund, the youngest of the sons, sitting crying on the attic stairs.

    My dear little cousin, said he, with all the gentleness of an excellent nature, what can be the matter? And sitting down by her, he was at great pains to overcome her shame in being so surprised, and persuade her to speak openly. Was she ill? or was anybody angry with her? or had she quarrelled with Maria and Julia? or was she puzzled about anything in her lesson that he could explain? Did she, in short, want anything he could possibly get her, or do for her? For a long while no answer could be obtained beyond a no, no—not at all—no, thank you; but he still persevered; and no sooner had he begun to revert to her own home, than her increased sobs explained to him where the grievance lay. He tried to console her.

    You are sorry to leave Mama, my dear little Fanny, said he, which shows you to be a very good girl; but you must remember that you are with relations and friends, who all love you, and wish to make you happy. Let us walk out in the park, and you shall tell me all about your brothers and sisters.

    On pursuing the subject, he found that, dear as all these brothers and sisters generally were, there was one among them who ran more in her thoughts than the rest. It was William whom she talked of most, and wanted most to see. William, the eldest, a year older than herself, her constant companion and friend; her advocate with her mother (of whom he was the darling) in every distress. William did not like she should come away; he had told her he should miss her very much indeed. But William will write to you, I dare say. "Yes, he had promised he would, but he had told her to write first. And when shall you do it? She hung her head and answered hesitatingly, she did not know; she had not any paper."

    If that be all your difficulty, I will furnish you with paper and every other material, and you may write your letter whenever you choose. Would it make you happy to write to William?

    Yes, very.

    Then let it be done now. Come with me into the breakfast room, we shall find everything there, and be sure of having the room to ourselves.

    But, cousin, will it go to the post?

    Yes, depend upon me it shall: it shall go with the other letters; and, as your uncle will frank it, it will cost William nothing.

    My uncle! repeated Fanny, with a frightened look.

    Yes, when you have written the letter, I will take it to my father to frank.

    Fanny thought it a bold measure, but offered no further resistance; and they went together into the breakfast room, where Edmund prepared her paper, and ruled her lines with all the goodwill that her brother could himself have felt, and probably with somewhat more exactness. He continued with her the whole time of her writing, to assist her with his penknife or his orthography, as either were wanted; and added to these attentions, which she felt very much, a kindness to her brother which delighted her beyond all the rest. He wrote with his own hand his love to his cousin William, and sent him half a guinea under the seal. Fanny’s feelings on the occasion were such as she believed herself incapable of expressing; but her countenance and a few artless words fully conveyed all their gratitude and delight, and her cousin began to find her an interesting object. He talked to her more, and, from all that she said, was convinced of her having an affectionate heart, and a strong desire of doing right; and he could perceive her to be farther entitled to attention by great sensibility of her situation, and great timidity. He had never knowingly given her pain, but he now felt that she required more positive kindness; and with that view endeavoured, in the first place, to lessen her fears of them all, and gave her especially a great deal of good advice as to playing with Maria and Julia, and being as merry as possible.

    From this day Fanny grew more comfortable. She felt that she had a friend, and the kindness of her cousin Edmund gave her better spirits with everybody else. The place became less strange, and the people less formidable; and if there were some amongst them whom she could not cease to fear, she began at least to know their ways, and to catch the best manner of conforming to them. The little rusticities and awkwardnesses which had at first made grievous inroads on the tranquility of all, and not least of herself, necessarily wore away, and she was no longer materially afraid to appear before her uncle, nor did her aunt Norris’s voice make her start very much. To her cousins she became occasionally an acceptable companion. Though unworthy, from inferiority of age and strength, to be their constant associate, their pleasures and schemes were sometimes of a nature to make a third very useful, especially when that third was of an obliging, yielding temper; and they could not but own, when their aunt inquired into her faults, or their brother Edmund urged her claims to their kindness, that Fanny was good-natured enough.

    Edmund was uniformly kind himself; and she had nothing worse to endure on the part of Tom than that sort of merriment which a young man of seventeen will always think fair with a child of ten. He was just entering into life, full of spirits, and with all the liberal dispositions of an eldest son, who feels born only for expense and enjoyment. His kindness to his little cousin was consistent with his situation and rights: he made her some very pretty presents, and laughed at her.

    As her appearance and spirits improved, Sir Thomas and Mrs. Norris thought with greater satisfaction of their benevolent plan; and it was pretty soon decided between them that, though far from clever, she showed a tractable disposition, and seemed likely to give them little trouble. A mean opinion of her abilities was not confined to them. Fanny could read, work, and write, but she had been taught nothing more; and as her cousins found her ignorant of many things with which they had been long familiar, they thought her prodigiously stupid, and for the first two or three weeks were continually bringing some fresh report of it into the drawing room. Dear mama, only think, my cousin cannot put the map of Europe together—or my cousin cannot tell the principal rivers in Russia—or, she never heard of Asia Minor—or she does not know the difference between watercolours and crayons!—How strange!—Did you ever hear anything so stupid?

    My dear, their considerate aunt would reply, it is very bad, but you must not expect everybody to be as forward and quick at learning as yourself.

    "But, aunt, she is really so very ignorant!—Do you know, we asked her last night which way she would go to get to Ireland; and she said, she should cross to the Isle of Wight. She thinks of nothing but the Isle of Wight, and she calls it the Island, as if there were no other island in the world. I am sure I should have been ashamed of myself, if I had not known better long before I was so old as she is. I cannot remember the time when I did not know a great deal that she has not the least notion of yet. How long ago it is, aunt, since we used to repeat the chronological order of the kings of England, with the dates of their accession, and most of the principal events of their reigns!"

    Yes, added the other; and of the Roman emperors as low as Severus; besides a great deal of the heathen mythology, and all the metals, semi-metals, planets, and distinguished philosophers.

    Very true indeed, my dears, but you are blessed with wonderful memories, and your poor cousin has probably none at all. There is a vast deal of difference in memories, as well as in everything else, and therefore you must make allowance for your cousin, and pity her deficiency. And remember that, if you are ever so forward and clever yourselves, you should always be modest; for, much as you know already, there is a great deal more for you to learn.

    Yes, I know there is, till I am seventeen. But I must tell you another thing of Fanny, so odd and so stupid. Do you know, she says she does not want to learn either music or drawing.

    To be sure, my dear, that is very stupid indeed, and shows a great want of genius and emulation. But, all things considered, I do not know whether it is not as well that it should be so, for, though you know (owing to me) your papa and mama are so good as to bring her up with you, it is not at all necessary that she should be as accomplished as you are;—on the contrary, it is much more desirable that there should be a difference.

    Such were the counsels by which Mrs. Norris assisted to form her nieces’ minds; and it is not very wonderful that, with all their promising talents and early information, they should be entirely deficient in the less common acquirements of self-knowledge, generosity and humility. In everything but disposition they were admirably taught. Sir Thomas did not know what was wanting, because, though a truly anxious father, he was not outwardly affectionate, and the reserve of his manner repressed all the flow of their spirits before him.

    To the education of her daughters Lady Bertram paid not the smallest attention. She had not time for such cares. She was a woman who spent her days in sitting, nicely dressed, on a sofa, doing some long piece of needlework, of little use and no beauty, thinking more of her pug than her children, but very indulgent to the latter when it did not put herself to inconvenience, guided in everything important by Sir Thomas, and in smaller concerns by her sister. Had she possessed greater leisure for the service of her girls, she would probably have supposed it unnecessary, for they were under the care of a governess, with proper masters, and could want nothing more. As for Fanny’s being stupid at learning, "she could only say it was very unlucky, but some people were stupid, and Fanny must take more pains: she did not know what else was to be done; and, except her being so dull, she must add she saw no harm in the poor little thing, and always found her very handy and quick in carrying messages, and fetching what she wanted."

    Fanny, with all her faults of ignorance and timidity, was fixed at Mansfield Park, and learning to transfer in its favour much of her attachment to her former home, grew up there not unhappily among her cousins. There was no positive ill-nature in Maria or Julia; and though Fanny was often mortified by their treatment of her, she thought too lowly of her own claims to feel injured by it.

    From about the time of her entering the family, Lady Bertram, in consequence of a little ill-health, and a great deal of indolence, gave up the house in town, which she had been used to occupy every spring, and remained wholly in the country, leaving Sir Thomas to attend his duty in Parliament, with whatever increase or diminution of comfort might arise from her absence. In the country, therefore, the Miss Bertrams continued to exercise their memories, practise their duets, and grow tall and womanly: and their father saw them becoming in person, manner, and accomplishments, everything that could satisfy his anxiety. His eldest son was careless and extravagant, and had already given him much uneasiness; but his other children promised him nothing but good. His daughters, he felt, while they retained the name of Bertram, must be giving it new grace, and in quitting it, he trusted, would extend its respectable alliances; and the character of Edmund, his strong good sense and uprightness of mind, bid most fairly for utility, honour, and happiness to himself and all his connections. He was to be a clergyman.

    Amid the cares and the complacency which his own children suggested, Sir Thomas did not forget to do what he could for the children of Mrs. Price: he assisted her liberally in the education and disposal of her sons as they became old enough for a determinate pursuit; and Fanny, though almost totally separated from her family, was sensible of the truest satisfaction in hearing of any kindness towards them, or of anything at all promising in their situation or conduct. Once, and once only, in the course of many years, had she the happiness of being with William. Of the rest she saw nothing: nobody seemed to think of her ever going amongst them again, even for a visit, nobody at home seemed to want her; but William determining, soon after her removal, to be a sailor, was invited to spend a week with his sister in Northamptonshire before he went to sea. Their eager affection in meeting, their exquisite delight in being together, their hours of happy mirth, and moments of serious conference, may be imagined; as well as the sanguine views and spirits of the boy even to the last, and the misery of the girl when he left her. Luckily the visit happened in the Christmas holidays, when she could directly look for comfort to her cousin Edmund; and he told her such charming things of what William was to do, and be hereafter, in consequence of his profession, as made her gradually admit that the separation might have some use. Edmund’s friendship never failed her: his leaving Eton for Oxford made no change in his kind dispositions, and only afforded more frequent opportunities of proving them. Without any display of doing more than the rest, or any fear of doing too much, he was always true to her interests, and considerate of her feelings, trying to make her good qualities understood, and to conquer the diffidence which prevented their being more apparent; giving her advice, consolation, and encouragement.

    Kept back as she was by everybody else, his single support could not bring her forward; but his attentions were otherwise of the highest importance in assisting the improvement of her mind, and extending its pleasures. He knew her to be clever, to have a quick apprehension as well as good sense, and a fondness for reading, which, properly directed, must be an education in itself. Miss Lee taught her French, and heard her read the daily portion of history; but he recommended the books which charmed her leisure hours, he encouraged her taste, and corrected her judgment: he made reading useful by talking to her of what she read, and heightened its attraction by judicious praise. In return for such services she loved him better than anybody in the world except William: her heart was divided between the two.

    Chapter III

    The first event of any importance in the family was the death of Mr. Norris, which happened when Fanny was about fifteen, and necessarily introduced alterations and novelties. Mrs. Norris, on quitting the Parsonage, removed first to the Park, and afterwards to a small house of Sir Thomas’s in the village, and consoled herself for the loss of her husband by considering that she could do very well without him; and for her reduction of income by the evident necessity of stricter economy.

    The living was hereafter for Edmund; and, had his uncle died a few years sooner, it would have been duly given to some friend to hold till he were old enough for orders. But Tom’s extravagance had, previous to that event, been so great as to render a different disposal of the next presentation necessary, and the younger brother must help to pay for the pleasures of the elder. There was another family living actually held for Edmund; but though this circumstance had made the arrangement somewhat easier to Sir Thomas’s conscience, he could not but feel it to be an act of injustice, and he earnestly tried to impress his eldest son with the same conviction, in the hope of its producing a better effect than anything he had yet been able to say or do.

    I blush for you, Tom, said he, in his most dignified manner; I blush for the expedient which I am driven on, and I trust I may pity your feelings as a brother on the occasion. You have robbed Edmund for ten, twenty, thirty years, perhaps for life, of more than half the income which ought to be his. It may hereafter be in my power, or in yours (I hope it will), to procure him better preferment; but it must not be forgotten that no benefit of that sort would have been beyond his natural claims on us, and that nothing can, in fact, be an equivalent for the certain advantage which he is now obliged to forego through the urgency of your debts.

    Tom listened with some shame and some sorrow; but escaping as quickly as possible, could soon with cheerful selfishness reflect, firstly, that he had not been half so much in debt as some of his friends; secondly, that his father had made a most tiresome piece of work of it; and, thirdly, that the future incumbent, whoever he might be, would, in all probability, die very soon.

    On Mr. Norris’s death the presentation became the right of a Dr. Grant, who came consequently to reside at Mansfield; and on proving to be a hearty man of forty-five, seemed likely to disappoint Mr. Bertram’s calculations. But no, he was a short-necked, apoplectic sort of fellow, and, plied well with good things, would soon pop off.

    He had a wife about fifteen years his junior, but no children; and they entered the neighbourhood with the usual fair report of being very respectable, agreeable people.

    The time was now come when Sir Thomas expected his sister-in-law to claim her share in their niece, the change in Mrs. Norris’s situation, and the improvement in Fanny’s age, seeming not merely to do away any former objection to their living together, but even to give it the most decided eligibility; and as his own circumstances were rendered less fair than heretofore, by some recent losses on his West India estate, in addition to his eldest son’s extravagance, it became not undesirable to himself to be relieved from the expense of her support, and the obligation of her future provision. In the fullness of his belief that such a thing must be, he mentioned its probability to his wife; and the first time of the subject’s occurring to her again happening to be when Fanny was present, she calmly observed to her, So, Fanny, you are going to leave us, and live with my sister. How shall you like it?

    Fanny was too much surprised to do more than repeat her aunt’s words, Going to leave you?

    Yes, my dear; why should you be astonished? You have been five years with us, and my sister always meant to take you when Mr. Norris died. But you must come up and tack on my patterns all the same.

    The news was as disagreeable to Fanny as it had been unexpected. She had never received kindness from her aunt Norris, and could not love her.

    I shall be very sorry to go away, said she, with a faltering voice.

    "Yes, I dare say you will; that’s natural enough. I suppose you have had as little to vex you since you came into this house as any creature in the world."

    I hope I am not ungrateful, aunt, said Fanny modestly.

    No, my dear; I hope not. I have always found you a very good girl.

    And am I never to live here again?

    Never, my dear; but you are sure of a comfortable home. It can make very little difference to you, whether you are in one house or the other.

    Fanny left the room with a very sorrowful heart; she could not feel the difference to be so small, she could not think of living with her aunt with anything like satisfaction. As soon as she met with Edmund she told him her distress.

    Cousin, said she, something is going to happen which I do not like at all; and though you have often persuaded me into being reconciled to things that I disliked at first, you will not be able to do it now. I am going to live entirely with my aunt Norris.

    Indeed!

    Yes; my aunt Bertram has just told me so. It is quite settled. I am to leave Mansfield Park, and go to the White House, I suppose, as soon as she is removed there.

    Well, Fanny, and if the plan were not unpleasant to you, I should call it an excellent one.

    Oh, cousin!

    It has everything else in its favour. My aunt is acting like a sensible woman in wishing for you. She is choosing a friend and companion exactly where she ought, and I am glad her love of money does not interfere. You will be what you ought to be to her. I hope it does not distress you very much, Fanny?

    Indeed it does: I cannot like it. I love this house and everything in it: I shall love nothing there. You know how uncomfortable I feel with her.

    "I can say nothing for her manner to you as a child; but it was the same with us all, or nearly so. She never knew how to be pleasant to children. But you are now of an age to be treated better; I think she is behaving better already; and when you are her only companion, you must be important to her."

    I can never be important to anyone.

    What is to prevent you?

    Everything. My situation, my foolishness and awkwardness.

    "As to your foolishness and awkwardness, my dear Fanny, believe me, you never have a shadow of either, but in using the words so improperly. There is no reason in the world why you should not be important where you are known. You have good sense,

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