Mansfield Park, Part 7 of 36

The Sleepy Bookshelf: Just Jane

In this episode of The Sleepy Bookshelf: Just Jane, Elizabeth continues reading Chapter 9, Part 2 of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. The group arrives at Southerton Park and tours the estate, including its newly built chapel. Fanny Price expresses

Key takeaways

• Fanny's disappointment in the chapel reveals her idealized view of tradition and spirituality, contrasting with the practical realities of modern domestic life.
• The conversation about religious observance critiques performative piety and highlights how personal devotion is often undermined by social expectations.

Main topics

• Religious tradition vs. modern secularism
• Social class and domestic life in Regency England

Notable quotes

"This is not my idea of a chapel. There is nothing awful here, nothing melancholy, nothing grand." – Fanny Price

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Fanny resting contentedly, observing Edmund's care for her, while Miss Crawford and

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) Good evening and welcome to the sleepy bookshelf just Jane, where we put down our worries from the day and pick up a good Jane Austen book. I'm your host, Elizabeth. Thank you so much for coming tonight as we continue with Mansfield Park. But before we do anything, take a moment here to get ready for sleep by having a deep breath. Perhaps the deepest you've taken all day. Speaker 2 (0:40) In through your nose and Speaker 1 (0:45) out through your mouth. Speaker 2 (0:54) Last time, the group began to travel to Southerton. They all gathered together and were to ride in Henry Crawford's baroche. Speaker 2 (1:08) But because there were so many of them, the box seat had to be utilised and was reserved for Julia, to Mariah's great dismay, who now got to ride, sat next to Henry, chatting and flirting all the way to Southerton Park. Fanny was overjoyed at being invited along, as the group had decided it would be strange for her to remain at home. Speaker 2 (1:38) So, when they arrived, they were greeted by Mr. Rushworth and his mother with great enthusiasm and shown around the grand estate, Speaker 1 (1:49) beginning with the inside of the house. Fanny was curious and interested in Speaker 2 (1:57) everything. Having never been inside another house as grand as Mansfield Park, she listened with eagerness at the stories of the people who had lived there. the descriptions of the paintings and the architecture, until it was decided that they should go out to the chapel. And that is just where we pick up tonight, with the tour continuing to the outside of the house. So just lie back and relax as I turn to the next pages of Mansfield Park. Chapter 9 continued. Speaker 1 (2:56) They entered. Fanny's imagination had prepared her for something grander than a mere, Speaker 2 (3:04) spacious, oblong room, fitted up for the purpose of devotion, with nothing more striking or more solemn than the profusion of mahogany and the crimson, velvet cushions appearing over the ledge of the family gallery above. I'm Speaker 1 (3:27) disappointed, cousin. Speaker 2 (3:30) said she, in a low voice to Edmund. This Speaker 1 (3:35) is not my idea of a chapel. There is nothing awful here, nothing melancholy, nothing grand. Here are no aisles, no arches, no inscriptions, no banners. No banners, cousin, to be blown by the night wind of heaven. No signs that a Scottish monarch sleeps below. Speaker 1 (4:04) We Speaker 2 (4:04) forget, Fanny, how lately this has all been built, and for how confined a purpose, compared with the old chapels of castles and monasteries. It was only for the private use of the family. They've been buried, I suppose, in the parish church. There you must look for the banners and act to... There you must look for the banners and the achievements. Speaker 1 (4:32) It was foolish of me not to think of all that, but I am disappointed. Speaker 2 (4:40) Mrs. Rushworth began her Speaker 1 (4:42) relation. This chapel was fitted up, as you see it, in St. James II's time. Before that period, as I understand, the pews were only wainscot, and there is some reason to think that the linings and cushions of the pulpit and family seat were only purple cloth, but this is not quite certain. "'Tis a handsome chapel, and was formerly in constant use both morning and evening. "'Prayers were always read in it by the domestic chaplain, within the memory of many. "'But the late Mr. Rushworth left it off. "'Every generation has its improvements,' said Miss Crawford with a smile to Edmund. Speaker 1 (5:33) Mrs. Rushworth was gone to repeat her lesson to Mr. Crawford and Edmund. Fanny and Miss Crawford remained in a cluster together. It is a pity, cried Fanny, that the custom should have been discontinued. It was a valuable part of former times. There is something in a chapel and chaplain so much in character with a great house, with one's ideas of what such a household should be. A whole family assembling regularly for the purpose of prayer is fine. Very fine indeed, said Speaker 2 (6:15) Miss Crawford, laughing. It Speaker 1 (6:17) must do the heads of the family a very great deal of good to force all the poor housemaids and footmen to leave business and pleasure and say their prayers here twice a day while they are inventing excuses themselves for staying away. Speaker 2 (6:35) But that is hardly Fanny's idea of a family assembling, said Edmund. If the master and mistress do not attend themselves, there must be more harm than good in the custom. Speaker 1 (6:46) At any rate, it is safer to leave people to their own devices on such subjects. Everybody likes to go their own way, to choose their own time and manner of devotion. The obligation of attendance, the formality, the restraint, the length of time, altogether it is a formidable thing, and what nobody likes. And if the good people who used to kneel and gape in that gallery could have foreseen that the time would ever come when men and women might lie another ten minutes in bed when they woke with a headache, without danger of rep... probation because chapel was missed, they would have jumped with joy and envy. Can you not imagine with what unwilling feelings the former bells of the house of Rushworth did, many a time repair to this chapel? The young Mrs. Eleanor's and Miss Bridget's starched up into the seeming piety, but with heads full of something very different, especially if the poor chaplain were not worth looking at, and in those days I fancy Parsons were very inferior, even to what they are now. Speaker 2 (8:03) For a few moments, she was unanswered. Fanny coloured and looked at Edmund, but felt too angry for speech, and he needed a little recollection before he could say, Your lively mind can hardly be serious, even on serious subjects. You have given us an amusing sketch, and human nature cannot say it was so. We must all feel, at times, the difficulty of fixing our thoughts as we would wish. But if you were supposing it a frequent thing, that is to say, a weakness, grown into a habit from neglect, what could be expected from the private devotions of such persons? Do you think the minds which are suffered, which are indulged in wanderings in a chapel, would be more collected in a closet? Speaker 1 (8:54) Yes, very likely. They would have two chances at least in their favour. There would be less to