HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO BE AN ACCOMPLISHED LADY

Very hard indeed. Unless you embrace some of these Austen tactics, that is

“It is amazing to me,” says Bingley, “how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are.” We entirely agree. So, set aside your net purse or your dancing practice, and follow these nifty accomplishment shortcuts to fool polite society – or, at least, win sufficient time to make a successful marriage.

Forsake originality.

Your role model here, is Persuasion’s Lady Dalrymple, known as a “charming woman,” simply “because she had a smile and a civil answer for every body”.

Be prepared to pay.

At Mrs Goddard’s school in Emma, note that, “a reasonable quantity of accomplishments” are “sold at a reasonable price”.

Pick a becoming accessory.

Miss Crawford’s harp adds to her “beauty, wit and good humour” and allows “something clever to be said at the close of every air.”

Specialise.

The Miss Bertrams can “exercise their memories, practise their duets, and grow tall and womanly”, with the small sacrifice of becoming “entirely deficient in the less common acquirements of self-knowledge, generosity, and humility.”