Northanger Abbey (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

1 (p. 7) Her father was a clergyman ... and a very respectable man, though his name was Richard: Austen may be alluding playfully to either Richard II or Richard III, protagonists in Shakespeare’s historical tragedies that bear their names. In this case the reference is ambiguous, though Austen often seemed to find some connection (often ironic) between names and the historical figures who bore them. In a letter of October 14, 1813, she wrote: “They say his name is Henry, a proof how unequally the gifts of fortune are bestowed. I have seen many a John or Thomas much more agreeable.”

2 (p. 8) Her mother was three months in teaching her only to repeat the “Beggar’s Petition”: This is a reference to a 1766 poem by the Rev. Thomas Moss; in the poem, addressed to Prime Minister William Pitt, the Elder (1708-1778), a poor old man begs for aid.

3 (p. 8) she learnt the fable of “The Hare and many Friends,” as quickly as any girl in England: Austen is referring to a fable written by John Gay ( 1685-1732 ) , who is best known as the author of The Beggar’s Opera. This fable is a warning about having too many friends and being unable to rely on any of them.

4 (p. 10) From Pope, she learnt to censure those who “bear about the mockery of woe. ”...—“like Patience on a monument / Smiling at Grief”: These are quotes and near-quotes from a variety of English writers. The first is from a poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), “Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady.” The next (“Many a flower ...”) is from “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” by Thomas Gray ( 1716-1771 ) . The third example is from “Spring” in The Seasons, by James Thomson ( 1700-1748) . The final quotes are from William Shakespeare ( 1564-1616) : “Trifles light as air” is spoken by lago in Othello (act 3, scene 3); the lines beginning “the poor beetle” are spoken by Isabella in Measure for Measure (act 3, scene 1); and the lines beginning “like Patience” by Viola in Twelfth-Night; Or, What You Will (act 2, scene 4).

5 (p. 11) There was not one family among their acquaintance who had ... supported a boy accidentally found at their door. This is possibly a reference to Henry Fielding’s The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749). Austen was not fond of Fielding’s “indecent” side.

1 (p. 21) “I danced with a very agreeable young man, introduced by Mr. King”: As master of ceremonies, Mr. King not only made sure people danced in order of social status but also maintained a guest book where visitors left their names and addresses while in Bath. Catherine Morland will look up the Tilneys’ address in the guest book in chapter XII, p. 84.

2 (p. 24) no young lady can be justified in falling in love before the gentleman’s love is declared: Here a footnote by Austen reads: “Vide [see] a letter from Mr. Richardson, No. 97, vol. ii, Rambler.” The Rambler was a periodical published by Samuel Johnson between 1750 and 1752. It dealt with miscellaneous subjects, from literary criticism to character study.

1 (p. 29) again was Catherine disappointed in her hope of re-seeing her partner. He was no where to be met with: A similar situation occurs in A Sicilian Romance ( 1790 ) , by Ann Radcliffe ( 1764-1823) . Austen ironically juxtaposes scenes from romance with scenes in Catherine Morland’s life to show how fiction warps her perception of reality.

2 (p. 32) some dozen lines of Milton, Pope, and Prior: Austen refers here to three well-known English writers. John Milton (1608-1674), considered one of the greatest writers in English literature, is best known for the epic poem Paradise Lost. Alexander Pope ( 1688-1744) wrote the satirical poem The Dunciad. Matthew Prior ( 1664-1721 ) was a lyric poet and a diplomat.

3 (p. 32) with a paper from the Spectator: From March 1711 until December 1712, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele produced a daily periodical comprising essays purportedly written by a Mr. Spectator, a fictitious Londoner who commented on manners, morals, and literature.

4 (p. 32) a chapter from Sterne : Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) wrote the multi-volume novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy.

5 (p. 32) “Oh! It is only a novel! ... It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda”: Austen refers here to three novels noteworthy for their commentary on contemporary society. Fanny Burney (Madame d‘Arblay) wrote both Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress (1782) and Camilla ; Or, a Picture of Youth (1796) and was one of the first English novelists to use a girl’s first encounters with society as a subject. The Anglo-Irish writer Maria Edgeworth authored the novel Belinda (1801), which Austen is said to have admired.

1 (p. 33) “what have you been doing with yourself all this morning?—Have you gone on with Udolpho?”: Isabella is asking about the gothic romance novel The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), by Ann Radcliffe.

2 (p. 34) “what is behind the black veil.... I am sure it is Laurentina’s skeleton”: Emily, Radcliffe’s heroine in The Mysteries of Udolpho, discovers a wax figure behind the veil and thinks it’s a corpse. Lau rentina is Signora Laurentini, an evil character in the same romance.

3 (p. 34) “when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together’: The Italian: Or, the Confessional of the Black Penitents (1797) is another of Mrs. Radcliffe’s romance novels, this one dealing with the Inquisition.

4 (p. 34) ”here they are, in my pocket-book. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries“: Catherine is reciting a list of popular romance novels of the period: Eliza Parson’s Castle of Wolfenbach (1793); Clermont: A Tale (1798), by Regina Maria Roche; Mysterious Warnings (1796), also by Eliza Parsons; The Necromancer; Or, the Tale of the Black Forest: Founded on Facts (1794), by Lawrence Flammenberg; The Midnight Bell: A German Story Founded on Incidents in Real Life (1798), by Francis Lathom; Eleanor Sleath’s The Orphan of the Rhine: A Romance (1798); and Horrid Mysteries: A Story from the German of the Marquis of Grosse (1796), by Carl Grosse.

5 (p. 34) ” for a particular friend of mine, a Miss Andrews“: Pamela Andrews is the heroine of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela ; Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740). The reference here to ”Miss Andrews“ may have been an in-joke between Austen and the readers of her day.

6 (p. 35) ”She very often reads Sir Charles Grandison herself. “... ”That is an amazing horrid book“: The novel Sir Charles Grandison (1753-1754), by Samuel Richardson, tells the story of a model eighteenth-century gentleman. When Isabella Thorpe asks if it is ”horrid,“ she is referring not to the delightful chills of gothic romances, but to the boring moralism of Richardson’s novel.

1 (p. 43) ”Novels are all so full of nonsense ... there has not been a tolerably decent one come out since Tom Jones, except the Monk“: The Monk (1796) is a gothic romance by Matthew Gregory Lewis. Austen may be playfully comparing the monk Ambrosio’s infatuation with a young woman (whom he ultimately murders) with John Thorpe’s pursuit of Catherine Morland.

2 (p. 43) ”I was thinking of that other stupid book.“ ... ”I suppose you mean Camilla!“: See note 5 to chapter V. Like Northanger Abbey, Burney’s Camilla is a novel about a young woman’s entry into society and her eventual marriage. John Thorpe is suspicious of Burney for having married General d‘Arblay, a French refugee in England, in 1793.

1 (p. 55) she sat quietly down to her book after breakfast, resolving to remain in the same place and the same employment till the clock struck one: Note the textual muddle: Just a few lines above, Catherine vows to be in the Pump-room at noon.

2 (p. 58) a fine mild day of February: This is one of the novel’s rare references to month or season. For other references, see note 3 to chapter XXII and note 1 to chapter XXIX.

3 (p. 58) ”Old Allen is as rich as a Jew“: John Thorpe’s anti-Semitism reflects his spendthrift ways, which would oblige him to borrow money. Moneylenders were often Jews, needed but despised.

1 (p. 76) ”Oh! that we had such weather here as they had at Udolpho“: Catherine refers here to the setting of Ann Radcliffe’s romance novel The Mysteries of Udolpho ( 1794) . In this chapter, Catherine’s fusing of fiction with reality intensifies. The possibility of visiting a castle (pp. 77-79) like the ones in the gothic romances en-thralls her.

2 (p. 76) ”the night that poor St. Aubin“: Catherine muddles the last name of Monsieur St. Aubert, father of Emily, the heroine of The Mysteries of Udolpho.

1 (p. 101) ”Miss Morland, he is treating you exactly as he does his sister“: Henry Tilney’s treatment of Catherine is a sign that their relationship will go beyond infatuation or passion.

2 (p. 101 ) ”He is for ever finding fault with me.... or we shall be overpowered with Johnson and Blair all the rest of the way“: Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), one of Austen’s favorite authors, was the compiler of the Dictionary of the English Language, often referred to as Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary. Scottish clergyman Hugh Blair (1718-1800) authored Lectures on Rhetoric and five volumes of celebrated sermons.

3 (p. 102) ”If a speech be well drawn up, I read it with pleasure, ... if the production of Mr. Hume or Mr. Robertson“: The Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) was also the author of The History of Great Britain. William Robertson (1721-1793), also a Scot, wrote The History of Scotland, During the Reigns of Queen Mary and of James VI and The History of the Reign of Emperor Charles V. Historians often wrote speeches for historical figures. Austen may also be including a family joke; she had produced the facetious History of England: From the Reign of Henry the 4th to the Death of Charles the 1st as a holiday amusement in 1791.

4 (p. 102) ”than if the genuine words of Caractacus, Agricola, or Alfred the Great“: Caractacus, or Caradoc, an early British king, led a rebellion against Rome and was taken there as a prisoner in A.D. 51. Gnaeus Julius Agricola (A.D. 37?-93) was Roman governor of Britain. Alfred the Great (849-901), king of Wessex, revived literacy in southwest England.

5 (p. 104) The advantages of natural folly in a beautiful girl have been already set forth by the capital pen of a sister author: Austen here refers to Fanny Burney and her novel Camilla. See note 5 to chapter V.

6 (p. 106) ”gallant Capt. Frederick Tilney“ : This is the brother of Henry and Eleanor, introduced in Henry’s mock-romance: He combines Catherine’s ambiguous news about a new gothic novel soon to arrive with Eleanor’s fears that a riot may break out in London which her brother may be called upon to crush.

1 (p. 115) ”I am glad you are no enemy to matrimony however.... I say, you will come to Belle’s wedding, I hope“: Weddings at the time were not the matters of great pomp and circumstance that they came to be.

2 (p. 116) ”Not but that I shall be down again by the end of a fortnight“: In other words: ”Of course I’ll be back in two weeks.“

3 (p. 117) she hurried away, leaving him to the undivided consciousness of his own happy address: In other words, John Thorpe was aware only that he was courting Catherine Morland, sounding her out about marriage.

1 (p. 123) He cannot be the instigator of the three villains in horsemen’s great coats, by whom she will hereafter be forced into a travelling chaise and four: The narrator falls into the mode of gothic romance, complete with a damsel in distress. This melodrama is deflated in chapters XXVIII and XXIX, when General Tilney, having learned Catherine Morland is no heiress, summarily expels her from Northanger Abbey.

1 (p. 132) Northanger Abbey having been a richly endowed convent at the time of the Reformation: In the sixteenth-century, a movement began that came to be known as the Reformation. Originally a criticism of certain practices of the Catholic Church, it ended with the establishment of Protestantism.

1 (p. 149) ”This is just like a book!“: Starting on page 148, Austen interpolates material from several of Ann Radcliffe’s romances, especially The Mysteries of Udolpho. That novel also features a housekeeper named Dorothy (Dorothée) and a gloomy chamber ; its heroine, Emily, resembles a portrait. Here, and on the next page, Henry Tilney also includes references to Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest ( 1791 ) : the tunnel, the lute, the dagger, the cabinet, and the sheaf of papers. Matildas (p. 150) also abound in gothic romances, from Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764) to Sophia Lee’s The Recess ( 1785) .

2 (p. 150) ”Oh! no, no—do not say so. Well, go on“: Catherine is intrigued by Henry’s pastiche melodrama, like a child listening to a bedtime story who wants to hear it all. The charm of the gothic romance is the reader’s (or listener’s) participation in the dangers of the heroine or hero.

3 (p. 152) The fire-place, where she had expected the ample width and ponderous carving of former times, was contracted to a Rumford: Sir Benjamin Thompson, count von Rumford (1753-1814), reformed fireplace design in order to provide more heat. Thompson’s Essays: Political, Economical, and Philosophical appeared in 1796.

4 (p. 152) he stopped short, to pronounce it with surprize within twenty minutes of five!: General Tilney eats his dinner at five, so everyone must hurry to dress for dinner.

1 (p. 153) when her eye suddenly fell on a large high chest: Here is yet another fixture of gothic literature, the mysterious chest, this one borrowed from Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest (1791). The phrase ”midnight assassins or drunken gallants“ on page 156 derives from Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho.

1 (p. 164) He... thought it right to encourage the manufacture of his country; ... the tea was as well flavoured from the clay of Staffordshire as from that of Dresden or Sèvres: General Tilney expresses his patriotism by buying Wedgwood china made in Staffordshire factories and disdaining German or French china, which would probably be much more expensive. He also refers to his as an ”old set, purchased two years ago,“ which is Austen’s ironic comment about the General’s preference for modern things.

2 (p. 165) ”I am sure your father, Miss Morland, would agree with me in thinking it expedient to give every young man some employment“: General Tilney’s ideas about requiring his sons to have professions link him to the educational theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), though Rousseau thought everyone should know some manual trade.

3 (p. 166) beautiful even in the leafless month of March: It was February when Catherine Morland reached Bath. See note 2 to chapter IX and note 1 to chapter XXIX.

1 (p. 171) ”This lengthened absence, these solitary rambles, did not speak a mind at ease, or a conscience void of reproach“: In William Godwin’s The Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794), Mr. Faulkner, a tyrannical man plagued by guilt, is much given to long, solitary walks and extended absences. Caleb Williams hovers between the novel of ideas (denunciation of social inequities) and the novel of character, but uses the melodrama of the gothic romance to enhance reader interest. Godwin, husband of the proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), was the father of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus (1818), yet another novel of ideas masquerading as a gothic romance.

2 (p. 175) It was no wonder that the General should shrink from the sight of such objects as that room must contain; ... and left him to the stings of conscience: Catherine imagines General Tilney a guilt-ridden murderer, much in the style of Mr. Faulkner in Caleb Williams (see note directly above).

3 (p. 176) It was the air and attitude of a Montoni!: In Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, Count Montoni is the villain who locks up the heroine’s aunt.

1 (p. 180) She could remember dozens who had persevered in every possible vice... till a violent death or a religious retirement closed their black career: Catherine has transformed General Tilney into a villain from gothic romance.

2 (p. 180) Catherine had read too much not to be perfectly aware of the ease with which a waxen figure might be introduced: On page 34 Catherine is anxiously wondering what Radcliffe’s character Emily will find behind the black veil. What she finds is a life-like wax figure, a memento mori, or reminder to the living of the proximity of death.

3 (p. 184) ”A faithful promise!—That puzzles me“: Henry teases Catherine, as on page 100, about a lax use of language. Here he hints that Isabella’s promises and her fidelity may be unreliable.

4 (p. 186) ”consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained. What have you been judging from?“: Henry tries to show Catherine that her literary suspicions about General Tilney are absurd. He seeks to disabuse her of the delusions she has created as a result of transposing gothic romance into life. He reminds her, and the reader, that life is not like that. The narrator confirms Catherine’s restoration to reality on page 187.

1 (p. 188) a mind which... had been craving to be frightened: One of the main intentions of gothic romance was to frighten; that was also one of its principle pleasures.

2 (p. 188) Charming as were all Mrs. Radcliffe’s works... it was not in them perhaps that human nature, at least in the midland counties of England, was to be looked for: Here is Austen’s strongest indictment of the utility of gothic romance as a tool to gauge reality. Setting, action, and character in that genre belong to a world far away from the ”midland counties of England.“ At the same time that she liberates Catherine from the melodrama of romance, Austen opens the way for her to observe and evaluate those around her. Catherine will no longer see them as angels or devils (that is, as characters in a romance), but as people with virtues and defects.

3 (p. 190) Thank God! I am undeceived in time!: James’s eyes are opened to Isabella’s fortune-hunting ways, so he is no longer ”deceived“ by false love. His awakening parallels Catherine’s own in regard to gothic romance.

4 (pp. 192-193) ”Frederick will not be the first man who has chosen a wife with less sense than his family expected“: Henry’s observation will soon haunt him; Catherine, in the eyes of General Tilney, will cease to be a proper match for him.

1 (p. 196) Their persuasion that the General would ... oppose the connexion, turned her feelings moreover with some alarm towards herself: Catherine realizes the General’s likelihood of rejecting Isabella on economic grounds could affect her future with Henry. Now she is behaving as a novelistic character should.

2 (p. 198) ”our pleasures in this world are always to be paid for, ...giving ready-monied actual happiness for a draft on the future, that may not be honoured“: Henry says he must sacrifice the happiness he has (being with Catherine and Eleanor), which he equates with cash in hand (ready money), for the sake of a future happiness that may not materialize (the trip to Woodston, which could be canceled because of bad weather).

3 (p. 200) there was nothing so charming to her imagination as the unpretending comfort of a well-connected parsonage: Austen is describing a smaller, more manageable house than General Tilney’s, one that fits in with the landscape and did not seek to change it. The term ”well-connected“ was used in contemporary landscape theory to imply a harmonious balance between human need (buildings and farms) and managed nature.

1 (p. 213) What could all this mean but an intentional affront?: Catherine correctly concludes that General Tilney deliberately intends to insult her. She cannot understand that he thought her family and his were equals in fortune; learning they are not, he treats her as a social inferior to whom no courtesy is due. She treats the incident personally when in fact it is a social matter.

1 (p. 217) even after an absence such as her‘s—an eleven weeks absence: Catherine has been away from her family in Fullerton for more than two months. See above note 2 to chapter IX (p. 240) and note 3 to chapter XXII (p. 243) for other references to the passage of time.

2 (p. 218) she travelled on for about eleven hours ... and between six and seven o’clock in the evening found herself entering Fullerton: In other words, Catherine left Northanger Abbey at about seven A.M. and spent more than eleven hours in traveling 70 miles.

3 (p. 222) ”it could not be a desirable thing to have him engaged to a girl ... so entirely without fortune“: Mrs. Morland reacts with relief that James did not marry Isabella Thorpe. Her reaction is clearly a parallel to General Tilney’s reaction to the news that Catherine is not wealthy.

1 (p. 226) ”There is a very clever Essay in one of the books up stairs upon much such a subject... ‘The Mirror’ “: The Mirror was a publication aimed at helping the emerging middle classes deal with problems of decorum. It was presented as a series of letters. In this case, Mr. Homespun’s daughters turn into snobs after visiting with an aristocratic lady. See number 12 (March 6, 1779), a letter from Mr. Homespun: ”Consequence to Little Folks of Intimacy with Great Ones.“

2 (p. 228) his affection originated in nothing better than gratitude, or, in other words, that a persuasion of her partiality for him had been the only cause of giving her a serious thought: He loves her because she loved him, in other words. This is an idea that resonates in English literature : Shakespeare’s Desdemona falls in love with Othello listening to his war stories, and he falls in love with her because of her rapture. What is clearly removed from such a relationship is erotic passion.

3 (p. 230) he almost instantly determined to spare no pains ... ruining his dearest hopes: General Tilney’s behavior toward John Thorpe with regard to Catherine parallels his son Frederick’s behavior toward Isabella and Catherine’s brother James. Each seeks to break up a relationship, the General to make a good match for his son Henry, Frederick for sport.

4 (p. 231) confessed himself to have been totally mistaken in his opinion of their circumstances ... by the rhodomontade: Rhodomontade (also spelled rodomontade) means pretentious boasting. The word derives from the name of a character (Rodomonte) in the verse romance Orlando Innamorato (Roland in Love; c.1506), by Matteo Maria Boiardo. The character also appears in the sequel Orlando Furioso (Roland Insane, 1532), by Ludovico Ariosto.

1 (p. 235) the rules of composition forbid the introduction of a character not connected with my fable: A fable is often a moral tale in which animals have the main roles, as in Aesop’s Fables. Here Austen alludes to fiction as make-believe.