How was Mr. Elliot connected to the mysterious Knights Templar? What violation of the Laws of Honor does Anne commit in this chapter and how is it related to Austen’s sister Cassandra? 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 9, or Chapter 21, depending on the copy you happen to be reading.
Chapter Summary
In brief
In this chapter, it’s the morning after the concert, and Anne is visiting her friend Mrs. Smith over in Westgate Buildings.
This chapter is interesting because at the beginning, when Mrs. Smith believes Anne is on the verge of marrying Mr. Elliot, she recommends him pretty highly, praising him in various ways, talking about how great his character is. Once she’s convinced that Anne is truly not interested in Mr. Elliot, she condemns pretty much everything about the man.
Mrs. Smith’s Motives
I have to admit, the first couple of times I read this chapter, I thought that either Austen was being a bit lazy with Mrs. Smith’s character, or that Mrs. Smith was pretty duplicitous. However, I think it comes down to two things.
First, Mrs. Smith does appear to sincerely believe that Anne is not being totally forthcoming about her relationship with Mr. Elliot. If Anne was truly going to marry Mr. Elliot, it would have been inappropriate of Mrs. Smith to speak against him at this point. If you consider, for example, Elizabeth Bennet’s comments to Mr. Wickham after he married Lydia, she says:
“Come, Mr. Wickham, we are brother and sister, you know. Do not let us quarrel about the past. Pride & Prejudice, Chapter 52
It’s pretty understandable that Mrs. Smith would not want to alienate her friend by speaking poorly about her future husband.
Second, as executor to her late husband’s will, Mrs. Smith probably saw Mr. Elliot as her only hope to escape poverty. She was probably trying to get into his good graces through Anne so that she could have some hope of financial relief. Perhaps after everything she’d been through, we can’t blame her for that.
Chambers in the Temple
I want to spend a moment talking about a comment she makes about the younger Mr. Elliot. Here’s a clip of that, and as always, our clips come courtesy of Karen Savage from LibriVox.org.
He was the intimate friend of my dear husband, who trusted and loved him, and thought him as good as himself. The intimacy had been formed before our marriage. I found them most intimate friends; and I, too, became excessively pleased with Mr Elliot, and entertained the highest opinion of him. At nineteen, you know, one does not think very seriously; but Mr Elliot appeared to me quite as good as others, and much more agreeable than most others, and we were almost always together. We were principally in town, living in very good style. He was then the inferior in circumstances; he was then the poor one; he had chambers in the Temple, and it was as much as he could do to support the appearance of a gentleman. Persuasion, Chapter 21
First of all, we know they’re in London, because when we talk about “in town” in Jane Austen’s works, that always means London. Mr. Elliot is mentioned as having “chambers in the Temple.” That’s the phrase I want to talk about.
The Temple area of London has an interesting history. It was an area of land originally owned by the Knights Templar, and it was eventually divided into the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple, both of which became primarily Inns of Court, which are professional associations for barristers, which Americans would refer to as trial lawyers.
Having chambers in the Temple could refer to two different things. It was either a small residential apartment for a barrister, or a barrister in training who was studying the law, or it was an office where a barrister worked in the practice of law, or it could be both.
Since we know that this description of Mr. Elliot was from when he was young and poor, he was probably a student studying law at the time, and having chambers in the Temple was all he could afford. He had a little bit of money left over to try to maintain the appearance of a gentleman, as Mrs. Smith says.
Aside from the fact that they were originally built by the Knights Templar, another interesting fact about the Temple area of London is that even though they’re located within the boundaries of the cities, the Inner Temple and Middle Temple are not technically part of London. They’re considered “liberties,” which are geographic areas in the United Kingdom that are not under the civil authority of the city or parish in which they’re found. Instead, they have their own governance.
Private Correspondence
In this chapter, Anne is reading some letters that Mrs. Smith kept that were written by Mr. Elliot to Mr. Smith. Anne reads some alarming information about Mr. Elliot’s opinion about his family, including Anne’s father. Something that Austen writes about this is pretty interesting. Let’s listen to this clip.
Anne could not immediately get over the shock and mortification of finding such words applied to her father. She was obliged to recollect that her seeing the letter was a violation of the laws of honour, that no one ought to be judged or to be known by such testimonies, that no private correspondence could bear the eye of others Persuasion, Chapter 21
That’s a pretty strong phrasing by Austen, “a violation of the laws of honour.”
If you’re a Jane Austen fan, you’ve probably heard that shortly after Jane’s death, her sister Cassandra burned almost all the letters Jane had written to her. In fact, this is what Cassandra Austen, unfortunately, is most well known for, the fact that she burned these letters.
Other letters that Jane Austen wrote to her brother Francis, who, again, we talked about, many people believe was the inspiration for Captain Wentworth, were destroyed by his daughter, Fanny-Sophia, after Francis died. She did this secretly without consulting the rest of the family, who many people think would have been against it at this point.
Over the years, many people have lamented and even criticized these women for the destruction of these letters as a terrible loss. However, in reading this passage on how Anne feels about other people reading and judging the private correspondence of others, I can’t help but think that the destruction of these letters is exactly what Austen would have wished for.
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.
