In letter 63, JA wrote:

"James means to keep three horses on this increase of income; at present he has but one... We have now pretty well ascertained James's income to be eleven hundred pounds, curate paid, which makes us very happy -- the ascertainment as well as the income."

I may be remembering this wrong, but was it James and Mary who tended to live beyond their income? It sounds like 1100 pounds (per year?) was a nice increase, but was it enough to go from one horse to three? It seems James had the 1100 *after* paying his curate, which was pleasant! I also notice that 1100 was well below the 2000 pounds per year that seemed to be the required minimum in JA's novels.