Volume One, Chapter One

It is very interesting that the dates are significant to JA (I would love to know more) because I was actually wondering about them—I think they are unusual, I cannot think of anything so specific in any of the other novels. The excerpt from the Baronetage tells a lot very quickly about the Elliot family that we normally do not know about characters and families in other JA books—such as birthdays, the death of Anne’s mother and the in-depth family background which I do not think is ever referred to again specifically. At first I thought this was only used to help show how foolish, vain and status conscious Sir Walter is but then, I also think it tells us that the Elliot family (as represented by Sir Walter) has fallen from those who deserved the distinction to those who do not. The Baronetage tells us that previous Elliot’s were “…serving the office of High Sheriff, representing a borough in three successive parliaments, exertions of loyalty…”—this is very different from the indolent Sir Walter, I can hardly imagine him doing anything more strenuous than getting dressed in front of a mirror.