I was so vexed to see him stand up with her; but, however, he did not admire her at all: indeed, nobody can, you know; and he seemed quite struck with Jane as she was going down the dance.31 So, he enquired who she was, and got intro duced, and asked her for the two next.32 Then, the two third he danced with Miss King, and the two fourth with Maria Lucas, and the two fifth with Jane again, and the two sixth with Lizzy, and the Boulanger ———”33

“If he had had any compassion for me,” cried her husband impatiently, “he would not have danced half so much! For God's sake, say no more of his partners. Oh! that he had sprained his ancle in the first dance!”

“Oh! my dear” continued Mrs. Bennet, “I am quite delighted with him. He is so excessively handsome! and his sisters are charming women. I never in my life saw any thing more elegant than their dresses. I dare say the lace upon Mrs. Hurst's gown——”

Here she was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet protested against any description of finery. She was therefore obliged to seek another branch of the subject, and related, with much bitterness of spirit and some exaggeration, the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy.

“But I can assure you,” she added, “that Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high34 and so conceited that there was no enduring him!35 He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great!36 Not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to have given him one of your set downs.371 quite detest the man.”

1. Libraries, which had become a standard feature of wealthy families' houses during the eighteenth century, were usually sitting rooms as well as places for books and reading.

2. Mr. Bingley, as a man, would call on the father of the family; it would then be up to the father to decide whether to introduce the visitor to the rest of the family at this time.

3. blue coat: blue was considered fashionable. It was during this period that darker, more sober colors were coming to be considered preferable for men's attire. In letters written when she was near the Bennet sisters' age, Jane Austen jokes that a man who admired her had a morning coat that was “a great deal too light,” and that she will refuse any marriage offer from him “unless he promises to give away his white Coat” (January 9 and 14, 1796). For an example of men's clothing from this period, including the sort of coat at issue, see p. 13.

4. town: London.

5. Oc: etc. This is a way of abbreviating the standard apologies and courtesies that Bingley would include in his note.

6. Hertfordshire: the county in England where the action is taking place (see maps on pp. 742 and 745). Its not being mentioned until this point, and now only in passing, indicates its relative lack of importance for the story. Place matters little to Jane Austen compared to many novelists; she sets her novels in various parts of England, but the characters rarely, if ever, exhibit any particular regional characteristics. In part this reflects the reality among the class of people she portrays, for an important trend over the century preceding her novels was for regional differences among the wealthy classes in England to diminish or disappear, thanks to such factors as improved communication and transportation and the increased size and influence of London.

In choosing a setting for her stories, Jane Austen's main consideration seems to be how the geographic position of the place, particularly its proximity to other places, facilitates the plot. In this case, Hertfordshire, which is immediately north of London, may have been chosen in part because it allows a number of characters, such as Mr. Bingley, to travel easily to and from the capital (for another possible source of the Hertfordshire setting, see p. 51, note 8).

7. The inaccuracy of these initial rumors about Mr. Bingley's party gives the first glimpse of the fickleness and unreliability of public opinion, something that will be seen frequently in the novel. It also indicates the general danger of relying on initial impressions, which is one of the main themes of the book (the earliest version of the novel was entitled First Impressions).

8. fine: elegant, refined.

9. fashion: high social standing. It could also mean the expected elegant behavior and demeanor of those belonging to upper-class society. The word will be used often in the novel, almost always with these meanings.

10. ten thousand a year: a sum that places him among the one or two hundred wealthiest men in England then. Since he also possesses a lavish house, with its grounds and contents, he may have at least three times the wealth of Bingley.

11. gentlemen: this is the third use of gentlemen/man in this paragraph.