How did the mail work in Regency times? Was Jane Austen an epistolary novelist? Why is Bath the place to go for Gout? Learn the answers to these questions and more in this episode of My Cousin Jane.
Welcome back to My Cousin Jane. Today we’re going to be talking about Persuasion, Volume 2, Chapter 6, or Chapter 18, depending on how your copy of Persuasion is numbered.
As always, we try to avoid discussion of things like literary theme, and instead focus on what you might think of as behind-the-scenes featurettes of your favorite movie.
Chapter Summary
In brief
In this chapter, the Crofts arrive in Bath with some shocking news for Anne. Despite Anne’s earlier fears that Captain Wentworth might be falling in love with Louisa, it turns out that it’s Captain Benwick who was falling in love with Louisa, and they are now engaged.
Anne finds this out thanks to a letter from Mary. Let’s listen to a clip about that letter, read by Karen Savage and courtesy of LibriVox.org:
It was the beginning of February; and Anne, having been a month in Bath, was growing very eager for news from Uppercross and Lyme. She wanted to hear much more than Mary had communicated. It was three weeks since she had heard at all. She only knew that Henrietta was at home again; and that Louisa, though considered to be recovering fast, was still in Lyme; and she was thinking of them all very intently one evening, when a thicker letter than usual from Mary was delivered to her; and, to quicken the pleasure and surprise, with Admiral and Mrs Croft’s compliments.
The Crofts must be in Bath! A circumstance to interest her. They were people whom her heart turned to very naturally.
“What is this?” cried Sir Walter. “The Crofts have arrived in Bath? The Crofts who rent Kellynch? What have they brought you?”
“A letter from Uppercross Cottage, Sir.”
“Oh! those letters are convenient passports. They secure an introduction. I should have visited Admiral Croft, however, at any rate. I know what is due to my tenant.”
Anne could listen no longer; she could not even have told how the poor Admiral’s complexion escaped; her letter engrossed her. It had been begun several days back. Persuasion, Chapter 18
Letter Writing, Delivery, and Cost
During the Regency era, the cost of a letter was based on the distance it had to travel. According to the book What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool, that cost was fourpence for the first fifteen miles, eightpence for up to eighty miles, and seventeen pence for letters going up to seven hundred miles, which would pretty much get you a letter from one end of the country to any other place in the country.
To give you some idea of what that costs, twelve pence equals a shilling, and a shilling in today’s money would be worth about $3 or two and a half British pounds.
The cost was double if there was more than one sheet of paper involved, so most people would use the letter itself as the envelope, folding it on itself and sealing it with either beeswax or a wafer made of paste.
Another interesting thing about Regency-era mail is that the postage was paid not by the sender, but by the recipient. Before the recipient could take possession of the letter, the postage due had to be paid. The exception to this was if the letter had been franked by a member of Parliament, which would absolve the recipient from having to pay for the postage.
You can see this in Mansfield Park when Fanny’s worried about her brother not being able to afford the postage if she writes him a letter, and Edmund then assuring her that it will be okay because he’ll get Sir Thomas to frank it for her.
Even though Sir Walter was a baronet, and technically the same rank as Sir Thomas in Mansfield Park, being a baronet is by no means a guarantee that you will serve in Parliament. We know from the text in the book of baronet histories discussed in Chapter 1 that some of Sir Walter’s ancestors had been elected to the House of Commons, but we don’t have any evidence that Sir Walter himself had been elected to the House of Commons, and it would be pretty surprising considering how he was regarded by most of his acquaintance.
Either way, Mary felt she was able to include more writing because the letter was being conveyed by the Crofts rather than by the Royal Mail, saving Anne some money.
Epistolary Novels vs Not
Speaking of letters, some people regard Jane Austen as an epistolary novelist, and this isn’t just because her novels tend to contain a lot of letters, but because some of her earlier writings were entirely composed of letters written between the main characters.
For example, Sense and Sensibility’s first draft was written in this form, but was revised to a third-person narrative form when it was finally published.
As you might know, both Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously by Jane Austen’s sister, Cassandra, who inherited Austen’s work.
The only adult work of Jane Austen that was actually published in epistolary form is Lady Susan, which Cassandra had, interestingly, chosen not to publish. It was then passed on to Jane Austen’s niece, Fanny, who also chose not to publish it, and it remained unpublished until Jane Austen’s nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, approached Fanny to secure the manuscript for publication.
This caused a bit of a divide in the family, as many of them didn’t feel Austen wanted that book published, and others were keen to capitalize on Austen’s rising fame for their own benefit.
The book was finally published in 1871 with a disclaimer by her nephew that it wasn’t her best work and that she may not have actually wanted it published in the first place.
I guess the moral of this story is that if you’re an author with embarrassing trunk novels you don’t want published, make sure you destroy those before you die.
Gout
What brings the Crofts to Bath in the first place? Let’s listen to a clip to find out.
“How is Mary?” said Elizabeth; and without waiting for an answer, “And pray what brings the Crofts to Bath?”
“They come on the Admiral’s account. He is thought to be gouty.”
“Gout and decrepitude!” said Sir Walter. “Poor old gentleman.” Persuasion, Chapter 18
Regency gout is the same condition that we refer to as gout, an arthritic condition that results in painful joint inflammation, usually in the toes. It’s caused by an excessive amount of uric acid that causes crystals to form in the joints, and sometimes in the kidneys.
This is most commonly a result of the combination of diet, such as eating too much red meat, drinking too much alcohol, drinking too many sugary drinks, as well as being overweight. There are some medications you can take to help with the inflammation, but the only sure treatment is diet and exercise.
It was common for people in Regency times with gout to go to Bath to “take the waters,” that is, to soak in the hot springs. It’s unlikely that this did anything actually to treat the gout, but it probably helps soothe the pain and inflammation.
The real benefit to going to Bath, as we see in the Admiral’s behavior throughout this chapter, is that being in Bath had a tendency to lead people to walk much more than they otherwise would, which is probably what led to Bath’s reputation as an effective treatment for gout.
“Too Piano for Me”
Speaking of the Admiral, I want to wrap up by talking about a phrase he uses to describe Captain Benwick when he and Anne are talking about the news of Captain Benwick and Louisa’s engagement.
“I thought Captain Benwick a very pleasing young man,” said Anne, “and I understand that he bears an excellent character.”
“Oh! yes, yes, there is not a word to be said against James Benwick. He is only a commander, it is true, made last summer, and these are bad times for getting on, but he has not another fault that I know of. An excellent, good-hearted fellow, I assure you; a very active, zealous officer too, which is more than you would think for, perhaps, for that soft sort of manner does not do him justice.”
“Indeed you are mistaken there, sir; I should never augur want of spirit from Captain Benwick’s manners. I thought them particularly pleasing, and I will answer for it, they would generally please.”
“Well, well, ladies are the best judges; but James Benwick is rather too piano for me Persuasion, Chapter 18
You can probably infer this from the rest of the conversation, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term piano in the early 1800s was generally used as an adjective, and it meant soft, low, gentle, or mild, all of which are apt descriptions for Captain Benwick, who was a little too piano for the Admiral’s taste.
Conclusion
That wraps up this episode of My Cousin Jane. As always, if you enjoy the show and would like to help support us, please consider clicking the little donate button or subscribing to our newsletter. Either way, thanks so much for listening.
