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Houses and improvements   Written by bridget D (3/16/2013 8:17 a.m.) in consequence of the missive, John and Isabella's money, penned by Thérèse
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I dont see that at all. We are not told that She will only get it at her father's death.. We are told that the Woodhouses are very well off, so they may well have capital amounting to £60k for the daughters, plus the Hartfield estate(which is small) and more capital to come to them after Mr W's death. In Emma, we are told that Miss Hawkins has only a "moderate" dowry of almost £10,000, so clearly the Woodhouses are a lot better off.


In SOME of JA's novels, however £10,000 woudl be a very handsome dowry...

As for John Knightley he wasn't "entitled" to anything at his fahters death.. the usual practice was though for the landed estate to go to the eldest son, and for younger sons and daughers to get cash settlements either on marriage or coming of age or soemtimes allowances. So probalby he did inherit some cash when his father died and DA went to George as the older brother.
There is no evidence that "the management of Donwell Abbey had been somehow deficient the few previous generations, and his mother was not very rich".

We are not told how rich his mother was, nor can I see any signs that Donwell Abbey isn't well managed and has been for generations. Emma clearly thinks of it as a well managed and beautiful estate when she is visiting it later in the book. Probably Mr Knightley is improving it, and has ploughed a lot of money into improvements, to make it more profitable later on. But that doesnt mean that it wasn't well run before, just that he is following the trend for agricultural improvement that was current at the time and which would appeal to a serious hard working farming minded man like Knightley.


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