Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 4

Not all that Mrs. Bennet, however, with the assistance of her five daughters, could ask for in vain, was productive of any such alteration in the management of that business, as could be wished for by the daughters. Mrs. Bennet was quite confident that she had made the best possible choice, and that her dear Mr. Bennet would see the wisdom of her choice, in due time. She had seen him a great deal in love with her, indeed, and believed him to be her slave, and that his attachment was very strong. She had no doubt of his being a great favourite with her, and knew that he was more partial to the two eldest than to the rest, and had so much affection for them all, that he had not the smallest doubt of their being very happy with him.

Indeed, Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that her mother had a great deal of trouble in managing him. Her father, whose fortune was by no means large, had been the younger son of a father who, as well as his father before him, had been a man of consequence in some county, and had the honour of a pedigree of forty-two entailed estates, which, though neither so fine nor so complete as his neighbours, yet were of a very respectable nature. The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex, and had always been a great favourite with the younger sons of the house of Dashwood, who were all of them very fond of their relations, and exceedingly fond of their father, and who had always been very fond of the society of their relations, and exceedingly fond of their father.

Mr. Bennet was the younger of the two, and lived a great deal with his relations, and had always been very fond of the society of his relations, and exceedingly fond of his father. His father was of a respectable family in the north of England, and had left him his fortune, which was not very large, but enough to keep him a gentleman. He had two daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, who were his favourites; and Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that her mother had a great deal of trouble in managing him.

Mrs. Bennet had no more than five daughters. Her husband, Mr. Bennet, was a gentleman of ancient family, though not of large fortune. He had five daughters, of whom the eldest was exceedingly handsome, and possessed of all the softness and delicacy of her sex. The second daughter, Elizabeth, was of a much plainer disposition, and much more likely to be disagreeable in company than her sisters. The younger daughters were all of them very pretty, and very amiable, and very fond of their father, and very fond of their mother, and very fond of each other.

Such were the chief of Mr. Bennet's family, and such was the nature of his establishment. The estate was in Hertfordshire, about twenty-four miles from London. It was a very good estate, and a very good house, and a very good garden, and a very good park, and a very good set of servants, and a very good coach, and a very good pair of horses, and a very good establishment of all kinds. It was a very good house, and a very good garden, and a very good park, and a very good set of servants, and a very good coach, and a very good pair of horses, and a very good establishment of all kinds.