I found that tidbit of information quite fascinating because I had the impression from JA novels and Georgette Heyer books that the average bride was much, much younger! I would have guessed the average bride was around nineteen or so....did you find that surprising, too?

It also thwarts the idea of all those marriage-crazy women you so often read about in novels (not Jane Austen novels though), the woman reluctant to marry who rejected suitors (as Jane Austen herself for example!) was much more common than I thought.

It also explains Fanny Price's reaction to Henry Crawford, any sensible woman of the Georgian era would have very much reacted the same way. To me it seemed unrealistic when I read it but now I see it in a different light. If a woman was trapped with a dissolute rogue there was no escape for her, especially in Fanny's case who had no money of her own and no family who would have supported her in case of a dramatic failure. It was less self-rightiousness on Fanny's part to act as she did act than simple prudence.