‘Pride and Prejudice’ at 200

Last Monday marked the 200th anniversary of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and to celebrate the fact Mr Darcy graced the cover of ‘The Lady’. Little was made of the anniversary in the Church of England, which would probably prefer to forget the novel’s portrayal of Mr Collins, the man who never ceases to praise his patroness, Lady Catherine de Burgh. Jane Austin was the daughter of an Anglican priest and would have married another had he not died first. Behind her humorous sketch of Mr Collins lies a serious point about the way lay patrons and patronesses exerted so much power in the Church, not always for the good. Darcy declines to appoint Wickham to a living because he is unsuitable but that was not a common practice. Livings provided income and employment for younger sons. Jane’s own religion was middle-of-the-way Anglicanism and she distrusted too much enthusiasm and outward display. In 1806 she wrote to her sister: “I do not like the evangelicals,” and refused to read a work by Hannah Moore. But there are signs that her opinion changed. In 1814 she told a niece: “I am by no means convinced that we ought not all to be evangelicals,” and a more serious tone can be seen in her later novels Mansfield Park and Persuasion. She may not always have put on an outward display, but there is good evidence that Jane Austen was a loyal and committed Anglican Christian despite her unflattering portrayal of Mr Collins.