SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
by Jane Austen
1811

CHAPTER I

    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 Mr. 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
Mr. and Mrs. 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, Mr. 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. Mr. 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 apiece.
    Mr. 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
Mr. Dashwood recommended, with all the strength and urgency which
illness could command, the interest of his mother-in-law and sisters.
    Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mrs. 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 apiece. 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! be 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 Mrs. 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 Mrs. 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. Mrs. John
Dashwood had never been a favorite 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 Mrs. Dashwood feel this ungracious behavior, 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 Mrs. 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 Mrs. 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.

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Academic year 1999/2000
©a.r.e.a./Dr. Vicente Forés López
© Sandra Esplugues Mullor
Universitat de València Press