In letter 42 (Brabourne), JA considers offering a lady (her sister-in-law? I'm very confused by all these names and abbreviations!), a silver knife.

This reminds of Mansfield Park where Fanny's sisters squabble over a silver knife, which had originally been given to another (deceased) sister by her godmother.

Now this has always puzzled me because in my country at least, giving a knife as a present is a no-no. It seems in JA's time it was often done though, even as a present to a child. What sort of knife was it likely to be, a buttering knife? Or a knife to peel and cut fruit?

Did women use to carry a knife with them, to use during meals, for instance?