Austen Said:

Patterns of Diction in Jane Austen's Major Novels

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"But I always thought I SHOULD. I was almost sure you would not leave London yet awhile; though you TOLD me, you know, at Barton, that you should not stay above a MONTH. But I thought, at the time, that you would most likely change your mind when it came to the point. It would have been such a great pity to have went away before your brother and sister came. And now to be sure you will be in no hurry to be gone. I am amazingly glad you did not keep to YOUR WORD."
"Not in the stage, I assure you,"
"we came post all the way, and had a very smart beau to attend us. Dr. Davies was coming to town, and so we thought we'd join him in a post-chaise; and he behaved very genteelly, and paid ten or twelve shillings more than we did."
"There now,"
"everybody laughs at me so about the Doctor, and I cannot think why.
My cousins say
but for my part I declare I never think about him from one hour's end to another.
my cousin said t'other day,
when she saw him crossing the street to the house. My beau, indeed! said I — I cannot think who you mean. The Doctor is no beau of mine."
"No, indeed!"
"and I beg you will contradict it, if you ever hear it talked of."
"I suppose you will go and stay with your brother and sister, Miss Dashwood, when they come to town,"
"Oh, yes, I dare say you will."
"What a charming thing it is that Mrs. Dashwood can spare you both for so long a time together!"
"I am sorry we cannot see your sister, Miss Dashwood,"
"I am sorry she is not well — "
"Oh, dear, that is a great pity! but such old friends as Lucy and me! — I think she might see US; and I am sure we would not speak a word."
"Oh, if that's all,"
"we can just as well go and see HER."
"Pity me, dear Miss Dashwood!"
"There is nobody here but you, that can feel for me. — I declare I can hardly stand. Good gracious! — In a moment I shall see the person that all my happiness depends on — that is to be my mother!" —
"My dear friend,"
"I come to talk to you of my happiness. Could anything be so flattering as Mrs. Ferrars's way of treating me yesterday? So exceeding affable as she was! — You know how I dreaded the thoughts of seeing her; — but the very moment I was introduced, there was such an affability in her behaviour as really should seem to say, she had quite took a fancy to me. Now was not it so? — You saw it all; and was not you quite struck with it?"
"Civil! — Did you see nothing but only civility? — I saw a vast deal more. Such kindness as fell to the share of nobody but me! — No pride, no hauteur, and your sister just the same — all sweetness and affability!"
"I guessed you would say so," —
"but there was no reason in the world why Mrs. Ferrars should seem to like me, if she did not, and her liking me is every thing. You shan't talk me out of my satisfaction. I am sure it will all end well, and there will be no difficulties at all, to what I used to think. Mrs. Ferrars is a charming woman, and so is your sister. They are both delightful women, indeed! — I wonder I should never hear you say how agreeable Mrs. Dashwood was!"
"Are you ill, Miss Dashwood? — you seem low — you don't speak; — sure you an't well."
"I am glad of it with all my heart; but really you did not look it. I should be sorry to have YOU ill; you, that have been the greatest comfort to me in the world! — Heaven knows what I should have done without your friendship." —
"Indeed I am perfectly convinced of your regard for me, and next to Edward's love, it is the greatest comfort I have. — Poor Edward! — But now there is one good thing, we shall be able to meet, and meet pretty often, for Lady Middleton's delighted with Mrs. Dashwood, so we shall be a good deal in Harley Street, I dare say, and Edward spends half his time with his sister — besides, Lady Middleton and Mrs. Ferrars will visit now; — and Mrs. Ferrars and your sister were both so good to say more than once, they should always be glad to see me. — They are such charming women! — I am sure if ever you tell your sister what I think of her, you cannot speak too high."
"I am sure I should have seen it in a moment, if Mrs. Ferrars had took a dislike to me. If she had only made me a formal courtesy, for instance, without saying a word, and never after had took any notice of me, and never looked at me in a pleasant way — you know what I mean — if I had been treated in that forbidding sort of way, I should have gave it all up in despair. I could not have stood it. For where she DOES dislike, I know it is most violent."
"Perhaps, Miss Marianne,"
"you think young men never stand upon engagements, if they have no mind to keep them, little as well as great."
"Upon my soul,"
"I believe it is nothing more; and so I often tell my mother, when she is grieving about it. 'My dear Madam,' I always say to her, 'you must make yourself easy. The evil is now irremediable, and it has been entirely your own doing. Why would you be persuaded by my uncle, Sir Robert, against your own judgment, to place Edward under private tuition, at the most critical time of his life? If you had only sent him to Westminster as well as myself, instead of sending him to Mr. Pratt's, all this would have been prevented.' This is the way in which I always consider the matter, and my mother is perfectly convinced of her error."
"You reside in Devonshire, I think," —
"in a cottage near Dawlish."
"For my own part,"
"I am excessively fond of a cottage; there is always so much comfort, so much elegance about them. And I protest, if I had any money to spare, I should buy a little land and build one myself, within a short distance of London, where I might drive myself down at any time, and collect a few friends about me, and be happy. I advise every body who is going to build, to build a cottage. My friend Lord Courtland came to me the other day on purpose to ask my advice, and laid before me three different plans of Bonomi's. I was to decide on the best of them. 'My dear Courtland,' said I, immediately throwing them all into the fire, 'do not adopt either of them, but by all means build a cottage.' And that I fancy, will be the end of it.
"Some people imagine that there can be no accommodations, no space in a cottage; but this is all a mistake. I was last month at my friend Elliott's, near Dartford. Lady Elliott wished to give a dance.
said she;
I immediately saw that there could be no difficulty in it, so I said, 'My dear Lady Elliott, do not be uneasy. The dining parlour will admit eighteen couple with ease; card-tables may be placed in the drawing-room; the library may be open for tea and other refreshments; and let the supper be set out in the saloon.' Lady Elliott was delighted with the thought. We measured the dining-room, and found it would hold exactly eighteen couple, and the affair was arranged precisely after my plan. So that, in fact, you see, if people do but know how to set about it, every comfort may be as well enjoyed in a cottage as in the most spacious dwelling."
"I am so glad to meet you;"
"for I wanted to see you of all things in the world."
"I suppose Mrs. Jennings has heard all about it. Is she angry?"
"That is a good thing. And Lady Middleton, is SHE angry?"
"I am monstrous glad of it. Good gracious! I have had such a time of it! I never saw Lucy in such a rage in my life.
She vowed at first
but now she is quite come to, and we are as good friends as ever. Look, she made me this bow to my hat, and put in the feather last night. There now, YOU are going to laugh at me too. But why should not I wear pink ribbons? I do not care if it IS the Doctor's favourite colour. I am sure, for my part, I should never have known he DID like it better than any other colour, if he had not happened to say so. My cousins have been so plaguing me! I declare sometimes I do not know which way to look before them."
"Well, but Miss Dashwood,"
"people may say what they chuse about Mr. Ferrars's declaring he would not have Lucy, for it is no such thing I can tell you; and it is quite a shame for such ill-natured reports to be spread abroad. Whatever Lucy might think about it herself, you know, it was no business of other people to set it down for certain."