Where does Mr. Darcy’s money come from, anyway?
If you have wondered from whence came any of the mysteriously lovely dosh of all the rich folks in Jane Austen’s novels, wonder no longer. Alert Janeite Laura sent us a link to an article in the Economist about economics in Jane Austen’s time: income from landed property, income from the Funds, it’s all covered here.
Miss Austen was neither mercenary nor a snob. She was a daughter of her times. At the turn of the 19th century, wealth merited much discussion. Landed wealth, which dominated the 18th century, was being supplanted by monied wealth, which came to dominate the 19th. Between 1796, when Miss Austen began “Pride and Prejudice”, and 1817, when she died while writing “Sanditon”, land and money (or “funds” as Miss Austen’s peers called their investments) stood in rough and uncomfortable equality. In this shifting balance lay the foundations both of the Anglo-Saxon world’s commercial prosperity and much of the drama and humour of Miss Austen’s books.
