Darcy is not so well worth listening to as his friend, is he? —Poor Eliza!—to be only just tolerable.”

“I beg you would not put it into Lizzy's head to be vexed by his ill-treatment; for he is such a disagreeable man that it would be quite a misfortune to be liked by him. Mrs. Long told me last night that he sat close to her for half an hour without once opening his lips.”

“Are you quite sure, Ma'am? —is not there a little mistake?” said Jane. —”I certainly saw Mr. Darcy speaking to her.”

“Aye—because she asked him at last how he liked Netherfield, and he could not help answering her; —but she said he seemed very angry at being spoke to.”

“Miss Bingley told me,” said Jane, “that he never speaks much unless among his intimate acquaintance. With them he is remarkably agreeable.”11

“I do not believe a word of it, my dear. If he had been so very agreeable he would have talked to Mrs. Long. But I can guess how it was; every body says that he is ate up with pride, and I dare say he had heard somehow that Mrs. Long does not keep a carriage, and had come to the ball in a hack chaise.”12

“I do not mind his not talking to Mrs. Long,” said Miss Lucas, “but I wish he had danced with Eliza.”

“Another time, Lizzy,” said her mother, “I would not dance with him, if I were you.”

“I believe, Ma'am, I may safely promise you never to dance with him.”

“His pride” said Miss Lucas, “does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, every thing in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud.”13

“That is very true,” replied Elizabeth, “and I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.”14

“Pride,” observed Mary, who piqued15 herself upon the solidity of her reflections, “is a very common failing I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed, that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonimously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”16

“If I were as rich as Mr. Darcy,” cried a young Lucas who came with his sisters, “I should not care how proud I was. I would keep a pack of foxhounds,17 and drink a bottle of wine every day.”18

“Then you would drink a great deal more than you ought,” said Mrs. Bennet; “and if I were to see you at it I should take away your bottle directly.”19

The boy protested that she should not; she continued to declare that she would, and the argument ended only with the visit.20

1. Meryton: the main town in the area. The assembly would have been at Meryton.

2. the King: King George III, who reigned from 1760 to 1820, though in 1811 mental incapacity caused his son to become Regent and thus effectively the ruler.

3. The mayor was the head of the municipal corporation, the body that governed most towns at the time. The corporation was normally in the hands of the leading citizens of the town, who often would be merchants, so it would make sense for one of their number to be mayor. Knighthood is an honor conferred by the monarch for some meritorious service; an address to the monarch, which meant a formal speech of respect or thanks, was a frequent means then of attaining the honor. During the time when Jane Austen lived the number of new knighthoods increased significantly, with a particular flood in the years 1811-1815, the period when the novel was published.

4. Giving their home such a name is a sign of pretentiousness. The Ben-nets, who appear to be wealthier than the Lucases, seem not to have given a special name to their residence, though on occasion it is called Longbourn House by the narrator on account of the village where it is located.

5. elated: puffed up, raised in pride.

6. St. James's: the royal court. The ceremony of being knighted involved being presented there.

7. In some respects this course of action conformed to the current ideal of the gentleman, who was considered to be able to cultivate superior qualities, such as courtesy, precisely because he was free from the sordid tasks of making money and getting ahead. Sir William, however, represents a rather silly example of this ideal, for he is described here as being “solely” devoted to the one virtue of being civil, and in fact he never displays any other virtue over the course of the novel.

8. civil self-command: a polite willingness to compliment Charlotte Lucas rather than her own daughters. It takes very little to make Mrs. Bennet drop such self-command.

9. Once again a character's first lines are revealing.