Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 13

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds I flatter myself that my present overtures of good-will are highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my being next in the entail of Longbourn estate will be kindly overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the offered olive branch. I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologize for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends; but of this hereafter.

No, my dear; I think not. I have great hopes of finding him quite the reverse. There is a mixture of servility and self-importance in his letter which promises well. I am impatient to see him.

Read both passages aloud, the first in Mr. Collins’s voice and the second in Mr. Bennet’s. Which words would each man lean on hardest?

For the educator Two passages, six sentences: the heart of Mr. Collins’s letter, and Mr. Bennet’s verdict on it when Elizabeth asks whether the writer can be a sensible man. Set side by side, they are two styles, and each tells on its speaker. The first of the two letter sentences opens on a phrase that names his role (“As a clergyman”), sets “moreover” between commas, and gives his duty as a pair of verbs, “to promote and establish”. After a semicolon and “and”, it turns to himself: “I flatter myself” governs two clauses in parallel, each opening on “that”. The second of them holds a possessive before a gerund (“my being next in the entail”) and runs on to two verbs that share “will”, the second negative (“will be kindly overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject”). It ends on its one figure, “the offered olive branch”, the old sign of peace. The second sentence opens on a negative phrase that means “I must be” (“I cannot be otherwise than concerned”), adds a second verb with “and beg leave”, which takes two infinitives, “to apologize” and, after “as well as”, “to assure”, and after a semicolon stops on a short phrase with no verb at all: “but of this hereafter.” Both sentences are correct; the comedy is in their length, their ceremony, and how often the subject is “I” or “my”. Mr. Bennet answers in four short sentences. The first sets a semicolon after a plain “No, my dear”. The second puts his joke in a polite form: “great hopes” of finding the reverse of sense. The third is the longest and the only one with a relative clause: it opens on “There is”, names an antithesis in one phrase, “a mixture of servility and self-importance”, and lets the clause turn the fault into a promise (“which promises well”). The fourth is six plain words. For mechanics, notice that this edition indents the letter, the semicolons in both letter sentences and in Mr. Bennet’s first, the commas around “moreover”, the comma that sets off the address in “No, my dear”, and the hyphens in “good-will” and “self-importance”. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who has Mr. Collins lean on “I flatter myself” and “highly commendable”, a man admiring his own offer; one who has him lean on “the offered olive branch”, the phrase Mary will praise; and one who has him lean on “every possible amends”, the words that soften Mrs. Bennet. For Mr. Bennet, listen for “great hopes”, said with a straight face, and for “promises well”. No answer may say that Mr. Collins means to marry one of the daughters: “but of this hereafter” leaves his plan untold.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from Mr. Bennet’s news at breakfast to Mr. Collins’s apology at dinner.

When Mrs. Bennet complains about the entail, Mr. Bennet says that “nothing can clear Mr. Collins from the guilt of inheriting Longbourn.” Who is the joke on? Character
Mrs. Bennet would rather Mr. Collins had kept up his father’s quarrel. What would a quarrel give her that his peace offering does not? Character
Mr. Collins writes that his mind is now made up about making peace, “for” he has been ordained and Lady Catherine has given him a church. What does that have to do with ending his father’s quarrel? Author's choice
Mr. Bennet says he is “impatient to see him”. Yet when Mr. Collins comes, Mr. Bennet says little. What is he doing while he is quiet? Inference
When Mr. Collins praises the hall, the dining-room and the furniture, Mrs. Bennet suspects he is looking at his own future property. How fair is she to him? Moral reasoning

Make a Connection Think of a message you have read, in a book or in your own life, whose style told you something about the writer. Which words told you the most?

Vocabulary

filial: Why, indeed, he does seem to have had some filial scruples on that head, as you will hear. Owed by a son or daughter to a father or mother (from Latin filius, son). Mr. Bennet speaks of Mr. Collins’s “filial scruples”, his doubts about making peace with a man his father quarrelled with. The solemn word suits the letter he is about to read, and he uses it with a straight face.
beneficence: My mind, however, is now made up on the subject; for, having received ordination at Easter, I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her Ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of England. Active kindness; doing good to others (from Latin bene, well, and facere, to do). Mr. Collins praises Lady Catherine’s “bounty and beneficence”, two grand words for one gift, his church. The pair shows how he speaks of his patroness, and tells the reader nothing yet of what she is like.
hereafter: I cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable daughters, and beg leave to apologize for it, as well as to assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends; but of this hereafter. Later on; at some time after now (from here, meaning this point, and after). Mr. Collins ends his apology with “but of this hereafter”: he promises the daughters “amends” and then puts off saying what they are. The word leaves the family, and the reader, waiting.
servility: There is a mixture of servility and self-importance in his letter which promises well. Too much eagerness to obey and please someone above you (from Latin servus, slave). Mr. Bennet hears it in the letter’s bowing to Lady Catherine and pairs it with its opposite, “self-importance”. His joke is that one man can be both at once.
asperity: But here he was set right by Mrs. Bennet, who assured him, with some asperity, that they were very well able to keep a good cook, and that her daughters had nothing to do in the kitchen. Sharpness or harshness of tone (from Latin asper, rough). Mrs. Bennet answers Mr. Collins’s question about the cook “with some asperity”: her pride in a household that can keep a good cook is stung by the hint that her daughters cook.

Critical thinking

The Bennets hear Mr. Collins’s letter at breakfast and meet the man at four o’clock. What does he show in person that the letter had not already shown?
Mr. Collins apologizes for being next in the entail and offers to make amends to the daughters. Is his letter a sincere olive branch, or a display of his own importance?