With the Compliments of Mr Collins

There is an art to making one’s compliments seem artless.

1813

Introduction

Mr Bennet delights in meeting ridiculous people. His cousin, the Revd Mr Collins, is a revelation, singing the praises of his snobbish neighbour Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and her smothered, chronically ill daughter Anne.

by Jane Austen 1775-1817

“HER indifferent state of health unhappily prevents her being in town; and by that means, as I told Lady Catherine one day, has deprived the British court of its brightest ornament. These are the kind of little things which please her ladyship, and it is a sort of attention which I conceive myself peculiarly bound to pay.”

“You judge very properly,” said Mr. Bennet, “and it is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study?”

“They arise chiefly from what is passing at the time, and though I sometimes amuse myself with suggesting and arranging such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions, I always wish to give them as unstudied an air as possible.”

Mr. Bennet’s expectations were fully answered. His cousin was as absurd as he had hoped.

by Jane Austen 1775-1817

From Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

Précis

Mr Bennet suspected that his cousin, a clergyman named Mr Collins, was a rather silly man. When he found out how Mr Collins shamelessly buttered up his aristocratic employer, Mr Bennet’s suspicions were confirmed.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate her ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Why was Lady Catherine’s daughter unable to visit London?

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Silly people amused Mr Bennet. He enjoyed Mr Collins’s visit.