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Pride and Prejudice
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
Mr. Bennet jokes that Jane and Bingley are so alike that every servant will cheat them. Is their likeness a strength or a weakness?
The tension Elizabeth smiles at "the rapidity and ease with which an affair was finally settled, that had given them so many previous months of suspense and vexation," while her father blesses the match with a warning: "You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on."
Notice how Mrs. Bennet’s clumsy schemes to leave Jane and Bingley alone finally succeed, and how fast the neighbourhood changes its story about the family.
A few days after his last visit, Bingley calls again, alone; Darcy has gone to London for ten days. Mrs. Bennet invites him to dine, and the next day he comes so early that the ladies are not dressed. She runs to her daughters’ room half dressed herself to hurry Jane down, but Jane will not go down without a sister. After tea Mrs. Bennet winks at Elizabeth and Kitty to leave the room, and Kitty innocently asks what she is supposed to do. Mrs. Bennet takes Kitty out and then calls Elizabeth, who waits in the hall and slips back into the drawing-room. No proposal comes that evening. Bingley bears the mother’s silly remarks with patience, stays to supper and arranges to come shooting with Mr. Bennet the next morning. Finding nothing in Bingley to mock, Mr. Bennet is more agreeable than Bingley expected. That evening Elizabeth goes to write a letter while the others sit down to cards. When she comes back she finds Jane and Bingley standing close together by the fire; they turn away in confusion, and Bingley whispers to Jane and runs out. Jane embraces Elizabeth, says she is the happiest creature in the world, and hurries to tell her mother herself while Bingley speaks to her father. Left alone, Elizabeth smiles at how quickly the affair has been settled and calls it the end of Darcy’s caution and of the falsehood of Bingley’s sister. Bingley comes back, claims her as a sister and talks of Jane’s perfections, and Elizabeth believes his hopes are reasonable because of Jane’s character and their likeness of feeling and taste. Mr. Bennet says nothing until Bingley has gone. Then he congratulates Jane and jokes that they are so complying, so easy and so generous that nothing will be decided, the servants will cheat them and they will always spend more than they have. Jane answers that carelessness with money would be unforgivable in her, and Mrs. Bennet cries that Bingley has four or five thousand a year. Mary asks for the use of the library at Netherfield and Kitty for balls there. Bingley now visits every day. He tells Jane he never knew she was in London last spring, and Jane blames his sisters, saying they may be on good terms again but never as close as before. Elizabeth calls this the most unforgiving speech Jane ever made, and is glad Bingley has not told Jane of his friend’s interference. Jane wishes Elizabeth such another man; Elizabeth jokes that with luck she may meet another Mr. Collins. The news spreads through Meryton, and the Bennets, thought marked out for misfortune when Lydia ran away a few weeks before, are now called the luckiest family in the world.
Begin with the winking. Read aloud from “The same anxiety to get them by themselves” to “then returned into the drawing-room.” Ask what each person in the room wants, and who gets it. Then read the moment Elizabeth comes back from her letter, from “But on her returning to the drawing-room” to “ran out of the room,” and ask how much has changed in one evening. Then read Mr. Bennet’s blessing aloud, and leave his joke alone for now, because the last written question asks it.
Retell The student retells the chapter in order: Bingley’s call alone and his early arrival the next day; Mrs. Bennet’s rush upstairs and the winking evening; the morning’s shooting with Mr. Bennet; Elizabeth’s letter and her return to find Jane and Bingley by the fire; Jane’s joy and Elizabeth’s speech alone; Bingley’s talk with Elizabeth; Mr. Bennet’s blessing and joke, and Mrs. Bennet’s reply; the younger sisters’ requests; Bingley’s daily visits and Jane’s talk with Elizabeth about his sisters; and Meryton’s new verdict. Then the student picks the one moment that matters most and says what Austen uses it to show.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes a short toast on the model of Mr. Bennet’s last sentence: a blessing for two friends that names three good qualities they share, each in his pattern of “so” followed by “that”, and turns each good quality into a small comic danger. Keep the semicolons between the three parts, and put the longest part last.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that the likeness is a strength, and gathers Bingley’s “forbearance”, Jane’s “affectionate solicitude”, Elizabeth’s “rationally founded” and Mr. Bennet’s plain happiness at supper. The other side argues that it is a weakness, and gathers the months of “suspense and vexation”, Bingley’s “little mistake”, the mother who has to clear the room and Elizabeth’s fear that Jane will be a “dupe” again. Each side must answer the other’s strongest line. No side may say that Jane and Bingley will in fact be cheated or overspend, that Darcy approved the match, or that Jane knows of his interference.
Purpose Close on where the chapter stops. It ends not with Jane or Bingley but with the neighbours, who call the Bennets “the luckiest family in the world” a few weeks after calling them “marked out for misfortune.” Ask why Austen gives the last word to Meryton, and what the reader knows about this happiness that Meryton does not.
Easier Read aloud the winking evening, from “The same anxiety to get them by themselves” to “then returned into the drawing-room”; Jane’s news, from “Jane could have no reserves from Elizabeth” to “how shall I bear so much happiness?”; and Mr. Bennet’s blessing, from “Jane, I congratulate you” to “very likely more.” Talk about what “forbearance”, “solicitude”, “circumspection”, “panegyric”, “diffidence” and “felicity” mean in the chapter. Talk through the questions on Elizabeth’s two nights and on Jane’s two names for her mother, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.
On level Talk through all four discussion questions in order, then write all three written questions as a thesis, the strongest objection and a revised thesis, each with lines from the chapter.
Harder Ask for one argued essay on what this happiness rests on. It should weigh the explanations the chapter offers (Elizabeth’s likeness of temper, Mr. Bennet’s warning, Mrs. Bennet’s pride in Jane’s beauty, Jane’s “I do not deserve it” and Meryton’s luck), decide which one Austen trusts most, and meet the strongest objection. It must not draw on anything that happens later in the book.
1. Elizabeth slips back into the room on the first night, so the pair are not left alone; on the second she leaves to write a letter, and Bingley proposes. Which night does she do more for Jane?Plot structure
What it asks It asks the student to weigh Elizabeth’s part in the two evenings. On the first, “Two obstacles of the five being thus removed, Mrs. Bennet sat looking and winking at Elizabeth and Catherine for a considerable time, without making any impression on them.” Kitty asks, “What is the matter, mamma? What do you keep winking at me for? What am I to do?” When Mrs. Bennet takes Kitty out, “Jane instantly gave a look at Elizabeth which spoke her distress at such premeditation, and her entreaty that _she_ would not give in to it.” Called into the hall, Elizabeth “remained quietly in the hall till she and Kitty were out of sight, then returned into the drawing-room.” The narrator: “Mrs. Bennet’s schemes for this day were ineffectual.” On the second evening Elizabeth goes to write a letter, “for as the others were all going to sit down to cards, she could not be wanted to counteract her mother’s schemes.” She comes back to fear “that her mother had been too ingenious for her,” and finds that “_Their_ situation was awkward enough; but _hers_ she thought was still worse.” The card does not say that Darcy sent Bingley back or approved the match.
The first. Jane asked her by a look not to give in, and Elizabeth kept faith with her sister rather than her mother. The schemes were what the narrator calls “the ill-judged officiousness of the mother”: the winks made Jane a show, and Kitty’s innocent question made the plan plain to everyone. By coming back, Elizabeth spared Jane from being pushed at Bingley and left him to come forward in his own time, which he did the next day. On this reading her loyalty was right, and the second night only shows what was ready to happen anyway.
Jane instantly gave a look at Elizabeth which spoke her distress at such premeditation, and her entreaty that she would not give in to it.
Elizabeth made no attempt to reason with her mother, but remained quietly in the hall till she and Kitty were out of sight, then returned into the drawing-room.
The second, though by accident. The narrator counts the family as “obstacles,” and on the first night Elizabeth makes herself one: with her back in the room, nothing happens. On the second she leaves only because she thinks the card game will keep everyone there, and the proposal comes while she is gone. When she returns she fears her mother has been “too ingenious” for her, and she finds her own place in the room worse than theirs. On this reading Jane’s wish, honoured, kept her waiting another day, and the match needed someone to clear the room.
Two obstacles of the five being thus removed
Their situation was awkward enough; but hers she thought was still worse.
A strong answer A strong response picks a night and grounds it in both. One reader credits the first: Elizabeth honours Jane’s plea not to be pushed at Bingley, and the proposal still comes a day later, in its own time. Another credits the second: the narrator calls the family “obstacles,” nothing happens while Elizabeth is in the room, and the match comes once she is gone, which she half admits when she finds her own situation “still worse” than theirs. The best answers notice that the pair become engaged only when everyone else has left the room, and ask what that says about the two of them.
2. The night before, Jane’s look showed distress at her mother’s “premeditation,” but after the proposal she hurries to that same mother and speaks of her “affectionate solicitude.” Has happiness made Jane see her mother more truly, or less?Character
What it asks It asks the student to set Jane’s two views of her mother side by side. On the first evening, when Mrs. Bennet takes Kitty out, “Jane instantly gave a look at Elizabeth which spoke her distress at such premeditation, and her entreaty that _she_ would not give in to it.” That morning Jane “would not be prevailed on to go down without one of her sisters.” After the proposal Jane cries, “I must go instantly to my mother,” and “I would not on any account trifle with her affectionate solicitude, or allow her to hear it from anyone but myself.” The narrator’s name for the same mother’s behaviour is “the ill-judged officiousness of the mother.” The card does not decide which of the three names is the true one.
Less truly. The night before, Jane saw the winks for what they were, a plan, and she was distressed enough to plead with Elizabeth by a look and to refuse to go down alone. Now that the plan has worked, she gives it a kinder name. On this reading happiness makes Jane generous past the point of seeing clearly: what shamed her yesterday is “affectionate solicitude” today. It is the easy, forgiving temper her father will joke about that night.
which spoke her distress at such premeditation
Jane would not be prevailed on to go down without one of her sisters.
More truly. Both views are true, but the second goes deeper. The schemes were clumsy, and Jane was right to be embarrassed by them; under them, though, was a mother’s anxious wish for her daughter’s happiness, and Jane names that. She will let no one else carry the news, because she knows how much it will mean to her mother. On this reading Jane’s kindness is not blindness: she saw the plotting and can still honour the love in it.
I would not on any account trifle with her affectionate solicitude
to know that what I have to relate will give such pleasure to all my dear family!
A strong answer A strong response takes a side and grounds it in both moments. One reader says less truly: Jane saw the scheme plainly the night before, and now happiness lends it a kinder name. Another says more truly: the schemes were clumsy, but the love under them was real, and Jane honours it without denying the rest. The best answers notice that the narrator calls the same behaviour “ill-judged officiousness,” so the chapter offers three names for one mother, and they ask what Jane’s choice of name shows about her temper.
3. Left alone, Elizabeth says out loud that this is “the happiest, wisest, and most reasonable end!” Whose victory is she cheering?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to hear Elizabeth’s private speech as her own words, not the narrator’s verdict. “Elizabeth, who was left by herself, now smiled at the rapidity and ease with which an affair was finally settled, that had given them so many previous months of suspense and vexation.” Then: “And this,” said she, “is the end of all his friend’s anxious circumspection! of all his sister’s falsehood and contrivance! the happiest, wisest, and most reasonable end!” “His friend” is Darcy and “his sister” is Bingley’s sister; later Elizabeth names “Miss Bingley’s pretended regard.” The night before, Elizabeth “felt tolerably persuaded that all this must have taken place with that gentleman’s concurrence.” The card does not say that Darcy approved the match or sent Bingley back.
Jane’s. The smile comes first, at how quickly and easily a long trouble has ended, and the speech is a sister’s relief after months of “suspense and vexation.” She has just given Jane congratulations warmer than words “could but poorly express.” On this reading the three glad words at the end are joy, and the schemers are named only because their schemes are what made the waiting so long.
now smiled at the rapidity and ease with which an affair was finally settled
Elizabeth’s congratulations were given with a sincerity, a warmth, a delight, which words could but poorly express.
Her own. Most of the speech is about the losers, not about Jane: Darcy’s caution and the “falsehood and contrivance” of Bingley’s sister. She says it alone, with no one to hear, like someone who has been proved right. To call a match settled so quickly “most reasonable” is odd, unless it means reasonable against those who argued the other way. On this reading the speech is a small private triumph, and it is Elizabeth’s verdict, not the narrator’s.
is the end of all his friend’s anxious circumspection!
the happiest, wisest, and most reasonable end!
A strong answer A strong response chooses and grounds the choice in the speech. One reader hears joy for Jane: the smile at how quickly months of “suspense and vexation” have ended spills over into words. Another hears Elizabeth’s own triumph: two of the speech’s three parts are about people whose plans have failed, and she says it alone, as if scoring a point. The best answers notice that this is Elizabeth’s verdict and not Austen’s, since the chapter soon gives her father a very different forecast of the same match.
4. Elizabeth says “Good girl!” when Jane turns cool toward Bingley’s sisters, yet she is glad Jane has not heard of Darcy’s “interference.” How far does Elizabeth trust Jane’s forgiving heart?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks the student to work out how far Elizabeth trusts Jane’s judgment of other people, from two moments that pull opposite ways. Jane on Bingley’s sisters: “But when they see, as I trust they will, that their brother is happy with me, they will learn to be contented, and we shall be on good terms again: though we can never be what we once were to each other.” Elizabeth: “That is the most unforgiving speech,” said Elizabeth, “that I ever heard you utter. Good girl! It would vex me, indeed, to see you again the dupe of Miss Bingley’s pretended regard.” Then: “Elizabeth was pleased to find that he had not betrayed the interference of his friend; for, though Jane had the most generous and forgiving heart in the world, she knew it was a circumstance which must prejudice her against him.” In the first moment Elizabeth cheers Jane for being less forgiving; in the second she is glad Jane is spared a truth that would make her less forgiving still. The card does not say that Jane knows of the interference. That last sentence is the only reason the chapter gives for Elizabeth’s relief; any other must be built from her own words.
Not far where there is falsehood. Elizabeth’s worry is that Jane forgives too easily: it would “vex” her to see Jane “again the dupe” of the sisters, so she cheers the first cool word Jane has spoken. Darcy’s part she calls “anxious circumspection”: caution, not deceit, so there is nothing there for Jane to guard against. On this reading Elizabeth trusts Jane’s heart in everything but one thing: it is slow to see a lie.
It would vex me, indeed, to see you again the dupe of Miss Bingley’s pretended regard.
is the end of all his friend’s anxious circumspection!
Not far in either direction. Elizabeth thinks that even “the most generous and forgiving heart in the world” could not hear of Darcy’s part and stay fair to him: the news “must prejudice her against him.” So Jane’s heart is too soft for the sisters and, Elizabeth fears, too easily turned against Darcy. On this reading Elizabeth does not quite trust Jane to judge for herself: she is glad when Jane agrees with her, and glad of a silence where Jane might not. The silence keeps the peace of the new family, but it rests on Elizabeth’s doubt.
though Jane had the most generous and forgiving heart in the world, she knew it was a circumstance which must prejudice her against him.
That is the most unforgiving speech
A strong answer A strong response says how far, and grounds the limit in both moments. One reader finds the limit at falsehood: Jane forgives too easily to see through “pretended regard,” so Elizabeth cheers her first cool word, while Darcy, as Elizabeth sees him, was cautious rather than false and needs no guard. Another finds Elizabeth trusting Jane’s heart in neither direction: too soft for the sisters, and, by Elizabeth’s own account, sure to be set against Darcy by a truth that “must prejudice her against him.” The best answers notice that the narrator’s praise of Jane’s heart and Elizabeth’s doubt of it sit in the same sentence, and that this is the same easy temper her father has already joked about.
1. Jane answers only one of her father’s three warnings about their good tempers: the one about money. Why might she answer that one, and not the other two?
What it asks It asks the student to explain Jane’s reply to her father’s joke. Mr. Bennet says nothing until Bingley has gone, then: “Jane, I congratulate you. You will be a very happy woman.” And: “You are a good girl,” he replied, “and I have great pleasure in thinking you will be so happily settled. I have not a doubt of your doing very well together. Your tempers are by no means unlike. You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income.” Jane: “I hope not so. Imprudence or thoughtlessness in money matters would be unpardonable in _me_.” Mrs. Bennet answers the money too: “Why, he has four or five thousand a year, and very likely more.” The card does not say that Jane and Bingley will in fact be cheated or overspend; that is Mr. Bennet’s joke.
Because money is the fault she can guard against. Being “complying” and “easy” are matters of temper, but spending is a matter of conduct, and a rule can mend it. Jane hears a warning and answers with a resolve: carelessness would be “unpardonable” in her. On this reading her reply shows her strength: she takes her father seriously and turns his joke into a duty she means to keep.
Imprudence or thoughtlessness in money matters would be unpardonable in me.
I hope not so.
Because the other two describe her, and she does not see them. A daughter who has just called her mother’s plotting “affectionate solicitude” may not hear “nothing will ever be resolved on” as being about herself. She answers the one part a rule can fix and lets the charge about her temper pass. Her mother does the same from the other side, with Bingley’s income. On this reading no one in the room answers the sharpest line, because no one there takes it for a fault.
You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on
Why, he has four or five thousand a year, and very likely more.
A strong answer A strong response might argue that Jane answers the money because it is the one fault a rule can mend, and her “unpardonable” turns her father’s joke into a duty. Key evidence to consider includes that word itself, a word of conscience, given in reply to a father who is joking. The strongest objection is that her reply leaves the sharpest line, “nothing will ever be resolved on,” untouched, and that her mother does the same, so the whole table hears only the part about money. A revised thesis might hold that Jane’s earnest answer is both her strength and her father’s point: she takes up what she can mend and does not see the part of the joke that is about who she is.
2. Jane says she does not deserve her happiness, Elizabeth says it comes from Jane’s “goodness,” and Meryton calls the Bennets “the luckiest family in the world.” Who comes closest to the truth?
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the chapter’s explanations of Jane’s happiness. Jane: “’Tis too much!” she added, “by far too much. I do not deserve it. Oh, why is not everybody as happy?” Later: “I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever existed!” cried Jane. “Oh, Lizzy, why am I thus singled from my family, and blessed above them all?” Elizabeth: “If you were to give me forty such men I never could be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness.” Mrs. Bennet: “I was sure you could not be so beautiful for nothing!” The last sentence: “The Bennets were speedily pronounced to be the luckiest family in the world; though only a few weeks before, when Lydia had first run away, they had been generally proved to be marked out for misfortune.” The card does not say that Elizabeth will marry; her hope of “another Mr. Collins” is a jest.
Elizabeth. The happiness in this chapter grows out of temper. Bingley’s “ease and cheerfulness” carry him through Mrs. Bennet’s evenings, Jane’s generosity sees love in her mother’s plotting, and Elizabeth believes the match “rationally founded” on Jane’s “super-excellent disposition” and their “similarity of feeling and taste.” Meryton’s luck is only the neighbours’ word, and the chapter mocks it: the same people “proved” misfortune a few weeks before. On this reading goodness is the ground, and luck is gossip’s name for it.
they had for basis the excellent understanding and super-excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself.
they had been generally proved to be marked out for misfortune.
Meryton, though not for Meryton’s reasons. Jane was just as good while Bingley stayed away, and her goodness did not bring him back. What changed was outside her: Bingley came back, and her mother’s schemes found their moment. Jane’s own “I do not deserve it” and “singled from my family” treat her happiness as a gift, not a wage. On this reading the chapter keeps showing how much hangs on chance, and its last line, swinging from “misfortune” to “luckiest,” is a quiet joke on anyone who thinks happiness is earned.
I do not deserve it.
why am I thus singled from my family, and blessed above them all?
A strong answer A strong response might argue that Elizabeth comes closest: the chapter rests the match on temper, on Bingley’s “ease and cheerfulness” and Jane’s “super-excellent disposition,” and its last sentence makes fun of a town that calls things misfortune one week and luck the next. Key evidence to consider includes Elizabeth’s belief that Bingley’s hopes are “rationally founded.” The strongest objection is that Jane was as good while he stayed away as she is now, and it did not bring Bingley back; what changed was outside her, which is why she herself calls it more than she deserves. A revised thesis might hold that goodness makes the match a happy one but chance made it happen, and that Meryton is wrong less in its word than in how fast it changes it.
3. Mr. Bennet jokes that Jane and Bingley are so alike that every servant will cheat them. Is their likeness a strength or a weakness?
What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter. Mr. Bennet: “Your tempers are by no means unlike. You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income.” Against it, Elizabeth believes Bingley’s “expectations of felicity to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding and super-excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself.” Earlier she smiles at “the rapidity and ease with which an affair was finally settled, that had given them so many previous months of suspense and vexation.” Bingley’s easy temper shows in his “forbearance” with Mrs. Bennet; Jane’s in her “generous and forgiving heart” and her talk of her mother’s “affectionate solicitude.” Bingley stayed away for months on “a persuasion” that Jane did not care. The card does not say that Jane and Bingley will in fact be cheated or overspend, that Darcy approved the match, or that Jane knows of his interference.
A strength. Their likeness makes the match easy and kind. Bingley bears Mrs. Bennet’s “silly remarks” with “forbearance,” Jane meets her mother’s plotting with love, and Elizabeth, the family’s sharpest judge, finds his hopes “rationally founded” on “a general similarity of feeling and taste.” Mr. Bennet’s warning is a joke from a father whose “voice and manner plainly showed how really happy he was.” On this reading two people who will never quarrel may lose a little money and keep what matters.
a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself
heard all her silly remarks with a forbearance and command of countenance
A weakness. The chapter has already shown its cost. The “months of suspense and vexation” passed while Bingley let a belief about Jane keep him away, and Jane spoke of her “indifference” until the day before he proposed. Even now the engagement needs a mother to clear the room, and Elizabeth is glad Jane has not been told of the interference and fears she will be a “dupe” again. On this reading their likeness doubles their goodness and their danger: with no one in the marriage to push back, other people will decide for them.
so many previous months of suspense and vexation
After this day, Jane said no more of her indifference.
A strong answer A strong response might argue that their likeness is a strength: two generous, easy tempers make a peaceful match, Bingley bears even Mrs. Bennet with “forbearance,” and Elizabeth, no easy judge, finds his hopes “rationally founded” on their “similarity of feeling and taste.” Key evidence to consider includes Mr. Bennet’s own happiness at supper, which suggests his warning is a joke made in love. The strongest objection is that the chapter has already shown the cost: months of “suspense and vexation” passed while neither of them acted, and even now a scheming mother and a watchful sister do what the pair will not. A revised thesis might hold that the likeness makes them happy with each other but easy for others to manage, and that the danger lies less inside the marriage than around it.
His ease and cheerfulness rendered him a most agreeable addition to their evening party; and he bore with the ill-judged officiousness of the mother, and heard all her silly remarks with a forbearance and command of countenance particularly grateful to the daughter.Patient self-control; holding back from showing an annoyance one has every right to feel (from forbear: for-, away, and bear). Bingley hears Mrs. Bennet’s “silly remarks” with a forbearance Jane is grateful for. It is his easy temper at its best, the same easiness Mr. Bennet will joke about that night.
I would not on any account trifle with her affectionate solicitude, or allow her to hear it from anyone but myself.Anxious, caring concern for someone’s welfare (from Latin sollicitus, troubled or anxious). Jane speaks of her mother’s “affectionate solicitude”, a generous name for the plotting that distressed her the night before, and a sign of how kindly Jane’s temper reads other people.
“And this,” said she, “is the end of all his friend’s anxious circumspection! of all his sister’s falsehood and contrivance! the happiest, wisest, and most reasonable end!”Caution; looking all around before acting (from Latin circum, around, and specere, to look, the root of inspect and spectator). Elizabeth mocks Darcy’s “anxious circumspection” and calls the quick engagement its defeat. The word sets careful looking against easy trusting, the very choice the chapter leaves open.
This naturally introduced a panegyric from Jane on his diffidence, and the little value he put on his own good qualities.A speech or piece of writing full of high praise (from Greek panegyris, a public festival where such speeches were made: pan-, all, and agyris, gathering). Austen gives a grand public word to Jane’s private praise of Bingley, and the joke is in what she praises: his “diffidence, and the little value he put on his own good qualities.”
This naturally introduced a panegyric from Jane on his diffidence, and the little value he put on his own good qualities.Shyness that comes from doubting oneself (from Latin dis-, not, and fidere, to trust, the root of confidence). Jane praises Bingley’s diffidence, and Elizabeth puts his long absence down to “his modesty”. In Elizabeth’s account, the same self-doubt that Jane loves in him is what kept him away, so the word can be praise or a warning.
They shook hands with great cordiality; and then, till her sister came down, she had to listen to all he had to say of his own happiness, and of Jane’s perfections; and in spite of his being a lover, Elizabeth really believed all his expectations of felicity to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding and super-excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself.Great and settled happiness (from Latin felicitas, which meant both happiness and good luck). Elizabeth believes Bingley’s “expectations of felicity” are “rationally founded” on character. The word’s old double sense fits the chapter, which ends with Meryton putting all of it down to luck.