Sense and Sensibility | Page 4

be unkind, however, and, as a mark of
his affection for the three girls, he left them a thousand pounds a-piece.
Mr. Dashwood's disappointment was, at first, severe; but his temper
was cheerful and sanguine; and he might reasonably hope to live many
years, and by living economically, lay by a considerable sum from the
produce of an estate already large, and capable of almost immediate
improvement. But the fortune, which had been so tardy in coming, was
his only one twelvemonth. He survived his uncle no longer; and ten
thousand pounds, including the late legacies, was all that remained for
his widow and daughters.
His son was sent for as soon as his danger was known, and to him Mr.
Dashwood recommended, with all the strength and urgency which
illness could command, the interest of his mother-in-law and sisters.
Mr. John Dashwood had not the strong feelings of the rest of the family;
but he was affected by a recommendation of such a nature at such a
time, and he promised to do every thing in his power to make them
comfortable. His father was rendered easy by such an assurance, and
Mr. John Dashwood had then leisure to consider how much there might
prudently be in his power to do for them.
He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather cold hearted
and rather selfish is to be ill-disposed: but he was, in general, well
respected; for he conducted himself with propriety in the discharge of
his ordinary duties. Had he married a more amiable woman, he might
have been made still more respectable than he was:--he might even
have been made amiable himself; for he was very young when he
married, and very fond of his wife. But Mrs. John Dashwood was a
strong caricature of himself;-- more narrow-minded and selfish.
When he gave his promise to his father, he meditated within himself to
increase the fortunes of his sisters by the present of a thousand pounds
a-piece. He then really thought himself equal to it. The prospect of four

thousand a-year, in addition to his present income, besides the
remaining half of his own mother's fortune, warmed his heart, and
made him feel capable of generosity.-- "Yes, he would give them three
thousand pounds: it would be liberal and handsome! It would be
enough to make them completely easy. Three thousand pounds! he
could spare so considerable a sum with little inconvenience."-- He
thought of it all day long, and for many days successively, and he did
not repent.
No sooner was his father's funeral over, than Mrs. John Dashwood,
without sending any notice of her intention to her mother-in-law,
arrived with her child and their attendants. No one could dispute her
right to come; the house was her husband's from the moment of his
father's decease; but the indelicacy of her conduct was so much the
greater, and to a woman in Mrs. Dashwood's situation, with only
common feelings, must have been highly unpleasing;-- but in HER
mind there was a sense of honor so keen, a generosity so romantic, that
any offence of the kind, by whomsoever given or received, was to her a
source of immoveable disgust. Mrs. John Dashwood had never been a
favourite with any of her husband's family; but she had had no
opportunity, till the present, of shewing them with how little attention
to the comfort of other people she could act when occasion required it.
So acutely did Mrs. Dashwood feel this ungracious behaviour, and so
earnestly did she despise her daughter-in-law for it, that, on the arrival
of the latter, she would have quitted the house for ever, had not the
entreaty of her eldest girl induced her first to reflect on the propriety of
going, and her own tender love for all her three children determined her
afterwards to stay, and for their sakes avoid a breach with their brother.
Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a
strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified
her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother, and
enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that
eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to
imprudence. She had an excellent heart;--her disposition was
affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern

them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which
one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.
Marianne's abilities were, in many respects, quite equal to Elinor's. She
was sensible and clever; but eager in everything: her sorrows, her joys,
could have no moderation. She was generous, amiable, interesting: she
was everything but prudent. The resemblance between her and her
mother was