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it is difficult, isn't it?
Written by JulieW
(10/8/2008 9:36 a.m.)
in consequence of the missive, Kellynch Hall, penned by Patricia P
Look at this from Janet Todd's introduction to the Cambridge Edition of Persuasion: Austen's vision of prosperous Abbey Mill Farm in Emma epitomised the agricultural flourishing of landowners and richer tenants in the war's final years, when Napoleon's Continental System barred countries under French control from trading with England and when internal prices and rents were kept high. After 1815 as inflated prices fell rapidly, the British Goverment appeased worried landowners by bringing in the Corn law Act banning imports until the grain price reached£4 a quarter. This measure caused considerable hardship for the poor and made it clear to many that the landed gentry did not regard themselves as heading and defending communities but as looking after their class interset...Sir Walter's faliure in Pesruasion to manage his estates propely in the "good" years and his lack of concern for his tenants when he abandons Kellynch-hall need to be read against this background.... I suppose that Kellynch might not be on a par with Pemberley or Southerton, or even Mansfield Park which was made rich with monies from Antigua, but was probalby something between it and Netherfield or Barton Park ? |

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