Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen
CHAPTER 1.
The family of Dashwood had long been
settled in Sussex. Their estate was large,
and their residence was at Norland Park,
in the centre of their property, where, for
many generations, they had lived in so
respectable a manner as to engage the
general good opinion of their surrounding
acquaintance. The late owner of this
estate was a single man, who lived to a
very advanced age, and who for many
years of his life, had a constant
companion and housekeeper in his
sister.
But her death, which happened ten years
before his own, produced a great
alteration in his home; for to supply her
loss, he invited and received into his
house the family of his nephew Mister
Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the
Norland estate, and the person to whom
he intended to bequeath it. In the society
of his nephew and niece, and their
children, the old Gentleman's days were
comfortably spent. His attachment to them
all increased.
The constant attention of Mister and
Missis Henry Dashwood to his wishes,
which proceeded not merely from interest,
but from goodness of heart, gave him
every degree of solid comfort which his
age could receive; and the cheerfulness of
the children added a relish to his
existence.
By a former marriage, Mister Henry
Dashwood had one son: by his present
lady, three daughters. The son, a steady
respectable young man, was amply
provided for by the fortune of his mother,
which had been large, and half of which
devolved on him on his coming of age. By
his own marriage, likewise, which
happened soon afterwards, he added to
his wealth. To him therefore the
succession to the Norland estate was not
so really important as to his sisters; for
their fortune, independent of what might
arise to them from their father's inheriting
that property, could be but small.
Their mother had nothing, and their
father only seven thousand pounds in
his own disposal; for the remaining
moiety of his first wife's fortune was
also secured to her child, and he had
only a life-interest in it.
The old gentleman died: his will was
read, and like almost every other will,
gave as much disappointment as
pleasure. He was neither so unjust, nor
so ungrateful, as to leave his estate
from his nephew;—but he left it to him
on such terms as destroyed half the
value of the bequest.
Mister Dashwood had wished for it more
for the sake of his wife and daughters than
for himself or his son;—but to his son, and
his son's son, a child of four years old, it
was secured, in such a way, as to leave to
himself no power of providing for those
who were most dear to him, and who most
needed a provision by any charge on the
estate, or by any sale of its valuable
woods.
The whole was tied up for the benefit of this
child, who, in occasional visits with his father
and mother at Norland, had so far gained on the
affections of his uncle, by such attractions as
are by no means unusual in children of two or
three years old; an imperfect articulation, an
earnest desire of having his own way, many
cunning tricks, and a great deal of noise, as to
outweigh all the value of all the attention which,
for years, he had received from his niece and
her daughters. He meant not to be unkind,
however, and, as a mark of his affection for the
three girls, he left them a thousand pounds
a-piece.
Mister Dashwood's disappointment was, at
first, severe; but his temper was cheerful
and sanguine; and he might reasonably
hope to live many years, and by living
economically, lay by a considerable sum
from the produce of an estate already
large, and capable of almost immediate
improvement. But the fortune, which had
been so tardy in coming, was his only one
twelvemonth. He survived his uncle no
longer; and ten thousand pounds,
including the late legacies, was all that
remained for his widow and daughters.
His son was sent for as soon as his
danger was known, and to him Mister
Dashwood recommended, with all the
strength and urgency which illness could
command, the interest of his mother-in-law
and sisters.
Mister John Dashwood had not the strong
feelings of the rest of the family; but he
was affected by a recommendation of
such a nature at such a time, and he
promised to do every thing in his power to
make them comfortable. His father was
rendered easy by such an assurance, and
Mister John Dashwood had then leisure to
consider how much there might prudently
be in his power to do for them.
He was not an ill-disposed young man,
unless to be rather cold hearted and rather
selfish is to be ill-disposed: but he was, in
general, well respected; for he conducted
himself with propriety in the discharge of his
ordinary duties. Had he married a more
amiable woman, he might have been made
still more respectable than he was:—he might
even have been made amiable himself; for
he was very young when he married, and
very fond of his wife. But Missis John
Dashwood was a strong caricature of
himself;—more narrow-minded and selfish.
When he gave his promise to his father, he
meditated within himself to increase the
fortunes of his sisters by the present of a
thousand pounds a-piece. He then really
thought himself equal to it. The prospect of
four thousand a-year, in addition to his
present income, besides the remaining half of
his own mother's fortune, warmed his heart,
and made him feel capable of generosity.
"Yes, he would give them three thousand
pounds: it would be liberal and handsome! It
would be enough to make them completely
easy. Three thousand pounds!
he could spare so considerable a sum with little
inconvenience." He thought of it all day long,
and for many days successively, and he did not
repent.
No sooner was his father's funeral over, than
Missis John Dashwood, without sending any
notice of her intention to her mother-in-law,
arrived with her child and their attendants.
No one could dispute her right to come; the
house was her husband's from the moment of
his father's decease; but the indelicacy of her
conduct was so much the greater, and to a
woman in Missis Dashwood's situation, with only
common feelings, must have been highly
unpleasing;—but in her mind there was a sense
of honor so keen, a generosity so romantic, that
any offence of the kind, by whomsoever given or
received, was to her a source of immovable
disgust.
Missis John Dashwood had never been
a favourite with any of her husband's
family; but she had had no opportunity,
till the present, of showing them with
how little attention to the comfort of
other people she could act when
occasion required it.
So acutely did Missis Dashwood feel this
ungracious behaviour, and so earnestly did she
despise her daughter-in-law for it, that, on the
arrival of the latter, she would have quitted the
house for ever, had not the entreaty of her
eldest girl induced her first to reflect on the
propriety of going, and her own tender love for
all her three children determined her afterwards
to stay, and for their sakes avoid a breach with
their brother.
Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was
so effectual, possessed a strength of
understanding, and coolness of judgment, which
qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the
counsellor of her mother, and enabled her
frequently to counteract, to the advantage of
them all, that eagerness of mind in Missis
Dashwood which must generally have led to
imprudence.
She had an excellent heart;—her disposition
was affectionate, and her feelings were strong;
but she knew how to govern them: it was a
knowledge which her mother had yet to learn;
and which one of her sisters had resolved never
to be taught.
Marianne's abilities were, in many respects,
quite equal to Elinor's. She was sensible and
clever; but eager in everything: her sorrows, her
joys, could have no moderation. She was
generous, amiable, interesting: she was
everything but prudent. The resemblance
between her and her mother was strikingly
great.
Elinor saw, with concern, the excess of her
sister's sensibility; but by Missis Dashwood it
was valued and cherished. They encouraged
each other now in the violence of their
affliction. The agony of grief which
overpowered them at first, was voluntarily
renewed, was sought for, was created again
and again. They gave themselves up wholly
to their sorrow, seeking increase of
wretchedness in every reflection that could
afford it, and resolved against ever admitting
consolation in future. Elinor, too, was deeply
afflicted; but still she could struggle, she
could exert herself.
She could consult with her brother, could
receive her sister-in-law on her arrival, and
treat her with proper attention; and could
strive to rouse her mother to similar
exertion, and encourage her to similar
forbearance.
Margaret, the other sister, was a
good-humored, well-disposed girl; but as
she had already imbibed a good deal of
Marianne's romance, without having much
of her sense, she did not, at thirteen, bid
fair to equal her sisters at a more
advanced period of life.
CHAPTER 2.
Missis John Dashwood now installed herself
mistress of Norland; and her mother and
sisters-in-law were degraded to the condition
of visitors. As such, however, they were
treated by her with quiet civility; and by her
husband with as much kindness as he could
feel towards anybody beyond himself, his
wife, and their child. He really pressed them,
with some earnestness, to consider Norland
as their home; and, as no plan appeared so
eligible to Missis Dashwood as remaining
there till she could accommodate herself with
a house in the neighbourhood, his invitation
was accepted.
A continuance in a place where everything
reminded her of former delight, was
exactly what suited her mind. In seasons
of cheerfulness, no temper could be more
cheerful than hers, or possess, in a
greater degree, that sanguine expectation
of happiness which is happiness itself. But
in sorrow she must be equally carried
away by her fancy, and as far beyond
consolation as in pleasure she was
beyond alloy.