first cousins
Posted by Laura Wallace on November 18, 1997 at 13:50:22:
In response to Hey, I think I finally figured it out!, written by Mark on November 17, 1997 at 17:57:34
The eldest married a Bennet, the younger sister married a Collins. They each produced one boy, our Mr. Bennet and Mr. Collins. They are first cousins. This makes Mr. Collins the Bennet girls' first cousin, once removed.
After some thought I have a small criticism to make of this scenario: Austen says: "Mr. Bennet's property . . . unfortunately for his daughters, was entailed, in default of heirs male, on a distant relation" (thanks, HC). Would you consider--or, more importantly, would Austen consider--a first cousin to be a "distant relation"?
Would it be possible to make this scenario work out if we pushed it back a generation, thereby making the cousin relationships more distant? (That gets tricky because entails are limited in length to "a life in being plus 21 years," but it's possible.)
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