Late reply: In addition to the interest...
Posted by Jill on December 03, 1997 at 18:47:14:
In response to My Q, written by Nora on November 21, 1997 at 18:48:52
] What I never understood is what does it really mean to have for exampel the wellknown income of ten thousand ayear? I mean, I could quite easily calculate my yearly income but these persons had no profession, no monthly income. What I'm trying to say is how do you know how much of that large sum you inherited you will have every year. I wonder if anyone will understand what I am trying to say here. Oh well, economy never was my thing.
] Another question that has bugged me for some time: I have seen that some people in the republic sometimes use the symbol *__*. What does it mean?
] Nora (incase there is another Nora on this board, I am not her. I am new on the S&S board).
] ] ] Also, too, when I think that families lived on their estates for centuries, it's easy to imagine that other people in the town could estimate how much the estate and its current proprietor were worth in the currency of the day.
] ]
] ] When they talk about someone's income ("Ten thousand a year!") what they're talking about is the interest on the principal they've inherited. People didn't shop around for different rates for different terms--you weren't going to spend the principal (unless disaster struck), you would keep the money invested theoretically forever, so everyone knew that you were getting five percent or whatever of your principal annually.
] ] The question, of course, is how the amount of the principal becomes common knowledge, but probably when a will was read the information was made public, among other things.
] ] Jessamyn
]
I, too, have often wondered just how these people hold on to their money from generation to generation. This question came to mind again after having just completed re-reading S&S last night. It seems that in S&S there are many gentlemen shown in detail to be hanging around doing essentially nothing except buying expensive toothpick cases and the lot. Is it not the case that, in addition to living off the interest , the lands they hold are used for farming and breeding? Do threy have tenant farmers, breed horses etc. which are sold and increase the monies of these estates? Does anyone know? I'll try to do a bit of research about the times,but suspect that this subject may have already been discussed in the past. Edward, of course, was very explicit in stating that he had been trained for nothing and regretted his idle state.
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