] Come to think of it, perhaps Mrs Austen was unusual in suckling her babies herself in those days. I thought that it was all that Rousseau back-to-nature movement that encouraged gentlewomen to breastfeed, and that was somewhat later. Do we see Mrs Austen as a premature Rousseauist?

Amanda Vickery in "The Gentleman's Daughter" examines this issue in detail, looking at a specific cohort of genteel women in Northern England from around 1730 to 1820. She says that while "growing expectations that the ideal mother would breast-feed her own baby" can be found, wet-nursing, artificial feeding, and breast-feeding were all looked upon as acceptable alternatives during this period, largely up to the choice of the mother. The supposed or actual contraceptive effect was one reason cited for choosing to suckle one's own child.