Were they right to worry about Jane Fairfax’s health?

Emma is on my mind these days with the recent airing of the BBC’s new adaptation, so for my first post proper here  I thought it might be an idea to address some points regarding Jane Fairfax’s state of health: points that may be lost by many of us reading the book for the first time, or at a remove of nearly 200 years.

Throughout the book  people seem to be e genuinely concerned about Jane Fairfax’s health. Her aunt, Miss Bates in particular. Was that concern justified, or was Miss Bates in particular being just an irritating ,irrational, voluble ,silly woman…? What was all the fuss about? Let’s find out….

In the text we are given many hints that people’s concern for Jane’s health was justifiable and right. If we read this and at the same time take into consideration the state of medical knowledge at the time it is clear that Jane Austen intended us not to sympathise with those  who  ignored  Jane Fairfax’s symptoms-Mrs Elton is the prime culprit here , in my opinon- and instead to admire those who acted with due concern for Jane’s state of health, notably Mr Knightley.

The symptoms of her illness as related by Jane Austen were sufficiently alarming to give informed people of the early 19^th century pause for thought. In describing them as she did, together with the reactions of these around her Jane Austen has painted a faithful representation of a person who might very well be displaying early symptoms of consumption.

Let’s take look at a contemporary medical opinion regarding consumption.

This is the title page of  Dr William Buchan’s  book Domestic Medicine, taken from my 1819 edition.

An online version of the second edition, dating form 1785 is available here, and in essence it is very similar to the 1819 edition, so I will save my poor fingers and quote from it, if you have no objection.

First, do allow me to explain why I am referring to this book. This book was widely used as a home companion at a time when the domestic medicine cupboard was likely to contain home-made remedies( frequently given as part of recipe books of the era) as much as potions prescribed by the local apothecary. It is therefore very useful in indicating to us what would be  thought of as symptoms of  diseases at the time Jane Austen was writing: the advice  regarding treatment of the disease is also very relevant. As you shall see……

A little about Dr Buchan before we go on: William Buchan (1729–1805) was born at Ancrum in Roxburghshire in 1729. He was educated at Jedburgh grammar school and then went to the University of Edinburgh, intending to enter the church. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

He seems to have spent about nine years at the university, devoting much time to botany, astronomy, and mathematics. It is said that he supported himself to some extent by acting as a private tutor in mathematics. He also studied medicine. He most probably left Edinburgh in 1758. He practised first in rural Yorkshire and in 1759 was appointed medical officer to a branch of the Foundling Hospital at Ackworth, Yorkshire. There he wrote his MD thesis, ‘De infantum vita conservanda’, which was published in Edinburgh in 1761.

In 1769 he published Domestic Medicine, or, The Family Physician. It cost 6s. and the 5000 copies of the first edition rapidly sold out. And this pattern continued for many editions. Before the twentieth century, no single health guide enjoyed as much popularity as Domestic Medicine. Between 1769 and the last edition, which appeared in Philadelphia in 1871, there were at least 142 separate English-language editions. It was particularly popular in the United States, an American reprint first appearing in 1772.

Later editions were edited by others, some of whom added their names to the title pages. There were also French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Russian, and Swedish translations. The empress of Russia sent Buchan a gold medal and a commendatory letter. It was said that Buchan sold the copyright for £700, and that the booksellers made that profit annually by its sale.

Buchan sounds to have been a most excellent physician.  He was said to be of an athletic frame, convivial, full of anecdotes, and compassionate. He became ill about a year before his death, which occurred at his son’s house in Percy Street, Rathbone Place, London, on 25 February 1805 and he was buried in the west side of the cloisters of Westminster Abbey on 5 March.

If we look at his chapter on Consumption, we find that Jane Austen’s description of Jane Fairfax’s symptoms throughout “Emma’ coincide with his thoughts on the disease. First, she was known to come from a family that had already suffered from consumption:

“Jane Fairfax was an orphan, the only child of Mrs. Bates’s youngest daughter.The marriage of Lieut. Fairfax, of the — regiment of infantry, and Miss Jane Bates, had had its day of fame and pleasure, hope and interest; but nothing now remained of it, save the melancholy remembrance of him dying in action abroad, of his widow sinking under consumption and grief soon afterwards, and this girl.

Chapter 20

Buchan also thought it was hereditary, and if so there was little hope for the patient once the symptoms had manifested themselves:

WE shall only add, that this disease is often owing to an hereditary taint, or a scrophulous habit; in which case it is generally incurable.

The reason given for Jane’s  arrival in Highbury is to recover from a cold, which had lingered a long time. As Miss Bates , inevitably and at length, tells us:

“Jane caught a bad cold, poor thing! so long ago as the 7th November, (as I am going to read to you,) and has never been well since. A long time, is not it, for a cold to hang upon her? She never mentioned it before, because she would not alarm us. Just like her! so considerate! But however, she is so far from well, that her kind friends the Campbells think she had better come home, and try an air that always agrees with her; and they have no doubt that three or four months at Highbury will entirely cure her — and it is certainly a great deal better that she should come here, than go to Ireland, if she is unwell. Nobody could nurse her, as we should do.”

Chapter 19

Buchan considered one of the main causes of the disease was a cold or the cold:

COLD. More consumptive patients date the beginning of their disorders from wet feet, damp beds, night air, wet clothes, or catching cold after the body had been heated, than from all other causes..

The following symptoms, as described by Buchan, explain why Mr Knightley was concerned about Jane ‘s voice becoming hoarse when singing: Buchan also advices that singers are especially prone to the disease:

OCCUPATIONS in life. Those artificers who sit much, and are constantly leaning forward, or pressing upon the stomach and breast, as cutlers, taylors, seamstresses, &c. often die of consumptions. They likewise prove fatal to singers, and all who have occasion to make frequent and violent exertions of the lungs.

It seems that the people of Highbury were aware of the current medical opinion that singing and talking could strain a voice. Both Emma and Mr Elton indicate that a voice could become strained in company, through talking and singing, particularly if it was suspected that a throat was becoming infected: do look at this passage from Chapter 13 where Elton is afraid that Emma has contracted Harriet’s sore throat infection:

They joined company and proceeded together. Emma was just describing the nature of her friend’s complaint; — “a throat very much inflamed, with a great deal of heat about her, a quick low pulse, &c. and she was sorry to find from Mrs. Goddard that Harriet was liable to very bad sore-throats, and had often alarmed her with them.” Mr. Elton looked all alarm on the occasion, as he exclaimed,

“A sore-throat! I hope not infectious. I hope not of a putrid infectious sort. Has Perry seen her? Indeed you should take care of yourself as well as of your friend. Let me entreat you to run no risks. Why does not Perry see her?”

Emma, who was not really at all frightened herself, tranquillized this excess of apprehension by assurances of Mrs. Goddard’s experience and care; but as there must still remain a degree of uneasiness which she could not wish to reason away, which she would rather feed and assist than not, she added soon afterwards — as if quite another subject,

“It is so cold, so very cold — and looks and feels so very much like snow, that if it were to any other place or with any other party, I should really try not to go out to-day, and dissuade my father from venturing; but as he has made up his mind, and does not seem to feel the cold himself, I do not like to interfere, as I know it would be so great a disappointment to Mr. and Mrs. Weston. But upon my word, Mr. Elton, in your case, I should certainly excuse myself. You appear to me a little hoarse already, and when you consider what demand of voice and what fatigues to-morrow will bring, I think it would be no more than common prudence to stay at home and take care of yourself to-night.”

And Buchans’s reference does I think explain Mr Knightley’s anxiety surrounding Jane Fairfax at the Coles party. Mr Knightley is not just being kind because he thinks the girl is being made to sing and play unnecessarily. No,  he is being responsible in his concern for Jane Fairfax’s well-being especially when he asks Miss Bates to intervene when Frank is urging Jane onto what medical opinion of the time would consider a foolish course of action. He had evidence that her throat was becoming “thick”, remember and obviously knowing and remembering her family history he decided to act to preserve her health:

From that moment, Emma could have taken her oath that Mr. Knightley had had no concern in giving the instrument. But whether he were entirely free from peculiar attachment — whether there were no actual preference — remained a little longer doubtful. Towards the end of Jane’s second song, her voice grew thick.

“That will do,” said he, when it was finished, thinking aloud “You have sung quite enough for one evening; now, be quiet.”

Another song, however, was soon begged for. “One more; they would not fatigue Miss Fairfax on any account, and would only ask for one more.” And Frank Churchill was heard to say, “I think you could manage this without effort; the first part is so trifling. The strength of the song falls on the second.”

Mr. Knightley grew angry.

“That fellow,” said he, indignantly, “thinks of nothing but showing off his own voice. This must not be.” And touching Miss Bates, who at that moment passed near “Miss Bates, are you mad, to let your niece sing herself hoarse in this manner? Go, and interfere. They have no mercy on her.”

Jane Fairfax is also the right age and also of the physical type who was thought likely to become consumptive:

YOUNG persons, betwixt the age of fifteen and thirty, of a slender make, long neck, high shoulders, and flat breasts, are most liable to this disease.

Jane Fairfax fits in the age bracket here : she is young at the time of the novel, being only 21 years of age. She is also famously elegant, remarkably elegant in Emma’s description of her in Chapter 20 Her height Emma describes as “pretty, just as almost every body would think tall ,and nobody could think very tall.” I interpret this to mean she was above average height but not freakishly so. Her figure Emma describes as “particularly graceful; her size a most becoming medium, between fat and thin”_ so we can, I think, rightly conclude from this that she must have been slender, not fat or thin .We learn, later in the  novel via Frank Churchill, that Jane has an elegant turn of her throat, which I construe to mean a “long” neck:

“True, true,” he answered, warmly. “No, not true on your side. You can have no superior, but most true on mine. She is a complete angel. Look at her. Is not she an angel in every gesture? Observe the turn of her throat. Observe her eyes, as she is looking up at my father. You will be glad to hear (inclining his head, and whispering seriously) that my uncle means to give her all my aunt’s jewels. They are to be new set. I am resolved to have some in an ornament for the head. Will not it be beautiful in her dark hair?”

Chapter 54

But the most telling part of Emma’s depiction of Jane in Chapter 20 is that Jane Fairfax possessed :

A slight appearance of ill-health”.

She was therefore of the age and physical type to be thought prone to this disease, and has  a family history  that could cause alarm, and indulges in a hobby-singing- which might also put her at risk.

Jane Austen is consistent with regard to Buchan’s advice vis-avis- treating any appearance of this disease, by the way she introduces Jane Fairfax into Highbury society  in Chapter 20. Jane comes to spend time with the Bates’s in the good , clean air of Highbury :

The good sense of Colonel and Mrs. Campbell could not oppose such a resolution, though their feelings did. As long as they lived, no exertions would be necessary, their home might be her’s for ever; and for their own comfort they would have retained her wholly; but this would be selfishness: — what must be at last, had better be soon. Perhaps they began to feel it might have been kinder and wiser to have resisted the temptation of any delay, and spared her from a taste of such enjoyments of ease and leisure as must now be relinquished. Still, however, affection was glad to catch at any reasonable excuse for not hurrying on the wretched moment. She had never been quite well since the time of their daughter’s marriage; and till she should have completely recovered her usual strength, they must forbid her engaging in duties, which, so far from being compatible with a weakened frame and varying spirits, seemed, under the most favourable circumstances, to require something more than human perfection of body and mind to be discharged with tolerable comfort.

With regard to her not accompanying them to Ireland, her account to her aunt contained nothing but truth, though there might be some truths not told. It was her own choice to give the time of their absence to Highbury; to spend, perhaps, her last months of perfect liberty with those kind relations to whom she was so very dear: and the Campbells, whatever might be their motive or motives, whether single, or double, or treble, gave the arrangement their ready sanction, and said, that they depended more on a few months spent in her native air, for the recovery of her health, than on any thing else. Certain it was that she was to come; and that Highbury, instead of welcoming that perfect novelty which had been so long promised it — Mr. Frank Churchill — must put up for the present with Jane Fairfax, who could bring only the freshness of a two years absence.

We have it on Mr Woodhouse’s authority that the Highbury air is good, and on this point he must be the best authority we can have. Look at this conversation he has with Isabella in Chapter 12, disputing the value of the air  in Brunswick Square

” Mr. Wingfield thinks the vicinity of Brunswick Square decidedly the most favourable as to air.”

“Ah! my dear, it is not like Hartfield. You make the best of it — but after you have been a week at Hartfield, you are all of you different creatures; you do not look like the same. Now I cannot say, that I think you are any of you looking well at present.”

This is what Buchan has to say:

REGIMEN. – On the first appearance of a consumption, if the patient lives in a large town, or any place where the air is confined, he ought immediately to quit it, and to make choice of a situation in the country, where the air is pure and free.

In addition Buchan makes the point that the consumptive patient should be active:

Here he must not remain inactive, but take every day as much exercise as he can bear.

Jane Fairfax walking to the Post Office every day was in fact ,was not only assisting her in her clandestine correspondence with Frank Churchill but was considered as good for her health. No wonder then that Jane Austen portrays Jane’s somewhat “false” friend ,Mrs Elton as advising her not to exercise:

“Oh! she shall not do such a thing again,” eagerly rejoined Mrs. Elton. “We will not allow her to do such a thing again:” — and nodding significantly — “there must be some arrangement made, there must indeed. I shall speak to Mr. E.. The man who fetches our letters every morning (one of our men, I forget his name) shall inquire for your’s too and bring them to you. That will obviate all difficulties you know; and from us I really think, my dear Jane, you can have no scruple to accept such an accommodation.”

“You are extremely kind,” said Jane; “but I cannot give up my early walk. I am advised to be out of doors as much as I can, I must walk somewhere, and the post-office is an object; and upon my word, I have scarcely ever had a bad morning before.”

“My dear Jane, say no more about it. The thing is determined, that is (laughing affectedly) “as far as I can presume to determine any thing without the concurrence of my lord and master. You know, Mrs. Weston, you and I must be cautious how we express ourselves. But I do flatter myself, my dear Jane, that my influence is not entirely worn out. If I meet with no insuperable difficulties therefore, consider that point as settled.”

“Excuse me,” said Jane earnestly, “I cannot by any means consent to such an arrangement, so needlessly troublesome to your servant. If the errand were not a pleasure to me, it could be done, as it always is when I am not here, by my grandmamma’s.”

“Oh! my dear; but so much as Patty has to do! And it is a kindness to employ our men.”

Jane looked as if she did not mean to be conquered; but instead of answering, she began speaking again to Mr. John Knightley

Chapter 34

In fact, if you have the time  I advise you to read again the exchange in Chapter 34 between Jane Fairfax, John Knightley , Mr Woodhouse , Mrs Weston and Mrs Elton quite closely, as reading it with knowledge of the medical attitudes and knowledge of the day indicates to us those with true concerns for Jane Fairfax’s health and contrasts them with the very bad advice and misguided and officious meddling of Mrs Elton.

Buchan’s advice regarding her diet was also followed in the book.  Remember Jane’s preference for baked apples?

Only three of us — besides dear Jane at present — and she really eats nothing — makes such a shocking breakfast, you would be quite frightened if you saw it. I dare not let my mother know how little she eats — so I say one thing and then I say another, and it passes off. But about the middle of the day she gets hungry, and there is nothing she likes so well as these baked apples, and they are extremely wholesome, for I took the opportunity the other day of asking Mr. Perry; I happened to meet him in the street. Not that I had any doubt before — I have so often heard Mr. Woodhouse recommend a baked apple. I believe it is the only way that Mr. Woodhouse thinks the fruit thoroughly wholesome. We have apple dumplings, however, very often. Patty makes an excellent apple-dumpling. Well, Mrs. Weston, you have prevailed, I hope, and these ladies will oblige us.”

Look at Buchan’s recommendations as to food:

… a diet consisting chiefly of milk and vegetables, which the sooner the patient can be brought to bear, the better. Rice and milk, or barley and milk boiled, with a little sugar, is very proper food. Ripe fruits roasted, baked, or boiled, are likewise proper, as goose or currant berry tarts, apples roasted, or boiled in milk, &c. The jellies, conserves, and preserves, &c. of ripe subacid fruits, ought to be eat plentifully, as the jelly of currants, conserve of roses, preserved plums, cherries, &c.

This gives an altogether different view of Mrs Knighltey’s self sacrificing gift of his last barrel of apples, doesn’t it? It was done not merely because Jane had a fancy for apples or  as a “romantic” or quixotic  gesture on his part, but, I consider,  because he knew that some roasted apples were just the medically recommended tonic she required.

Another factor that must have played on Miss Bates mind, is Jane’s mental state of health. The  first evidence of how unhappy she truly is, is evidenced by her outburst at the Donwell strawberry picking party in Chapter 42:

“I am,” she answered, “I am fatigued; but it is not the sort of fatigue — quick walking will refresh me. Miss Woodhouse, we all know at times what it is to be wearied in spirits. Mine, I confess, are exhausted. The greatest kindness you can show me, will be to let me have my own way, and only say that I am gone when it is necessary.”

But this is surely exacerbated  after the dreadful Box Hill outing and the termination of her secret engagement to Frank Churchill,thereby necessitating her application to be a governess at Mrs Smallridge:

“Ah! Miss Woodhouse, how kind you are! I suppose you have heard — and are come to give us joy. This does not seem much like joy, indeed, in me — (twinkling away a tear or two) — but it will be very trying for us to part with her, after having had her so long, and she has a dreadful headach just now, writing all the morning: — such long letters, you know, to be written to Colonel Campbell, and Mrs. Dixon. ‘My dear,’ said I, ‘you will blind yourself’ — for tears were in her eyes perpetually. One cannot wonder, one cannot wonder. It is a great change; and though she is amazingly fortunate — such a situation, I suppose, as no young woman before ever met with on first going out — do not think us ungrateful, Miss Woodhouse, for such surprising good fortune — (again dispersing her tears) — but, poor dear soul! if you were to see what a headach she has. When one is in great pain, you know one cannot feel any blessing quite as it may deserve. She is as low as possible. To look at her, nobody would think how delighted and happy she is to have secured such a situation. You will excuse her not coming to you — she is not able — she is gone into her own room — I want her to lie down upon the bed. ‘My dear,’ said I, ‘I shall say you are laid down upon the bed:’ but, however, she is not; she is walking about the room..

Chapter 44

Miss Bates must surely have been familiar with this passage from Buchan:

IF the patient’s strength and spirits flag, he must be supported by strong broths, jellies, and such like. Some recommend shell-fish in this disorder, and with some reason, as they are nourishing and restorative. I have often known persons of a consumptive habit, where the symptoms were not violent, reap great benefit from the use of oysters. They generally eat them raw, and drank the juice along with them. All the food and drink ought however to be taken in small quantities, lest an overcharge of fresh chyle should oppress the lungs, and too much accelerate the circulation of the blood.

THE patient’s mind ought to be kept as easy and cheerful as possible. Consumptions are often occasioned, and always aggravated, by a melancholy cast of mind; for which reason, music, cheerful company, and every thing that inspires mirth, are highly beneficial. The patient ought seldom to be left alone, as brooding over his calamities is sure to render them worse.

Poor talented, accomplished, elegant woman. Had she a large portion, not just a few hundred from her parents, she would have attracted , no doubt, many offers of marriage. No one really expected that now, and as she had repudiated Frank Churchill’s secret engagement, she had no option but to make her own way in life . She must have been mentally devastated contemplating working as a governess in order to be able to support herself.

Working as a governess was,remember, one of the few ways in which a respectable genteel woman could earn her living in Jane Austen’s era. But it did have social consequences for her: the likelihood of her ever marrying well once she had become a governess was a very remote possibility . As Mr Knightley so acutely observes, Miss Taylor was the exception that proved that rule and her friends should rejoice in her new position as Mistress of her own household .

Also, Jane Fairfax would be leaving behind any little independence such as she now had. She would be at the beck and call of her employers and her charges. Given the evidence in the book, I think she would find this very difficult.

Here’s a contemporary description of the duties and expectations of a governess from Samuel and Sarah Adams’s excellent book The Complete Servant (1825):

As many mothers have an aversion to public education for their daughters, the system of PRIVATE INSTRUCTION, by a respectable and well-educated female, is very generally adopted, in many families of moderate fortune, and in all of rank and opulence. Hence there is a constant demand for females of genteel manners, and finished education, at salaries which vary according to qualifications, and number and age of pupils, between £25 and £120 per annum, and often improved, on certain great length of service, by some provision for life.

Teachers in seminaries, half-boarders, educated for the purpose, and the unsettled daughters of respectable families of moderate fortune, who have received a finished education, are usually selected for this important duty; and the engagement is made either through an advertisement in the newspapers, or by agents who arrange between the parties for a moderate fee. But, in general, families apply to the governesses of public seminaries, who have young women in training for these employments.

The qualifications, of course, are various, and may vary with the age of the pupils. Good temper, and good manners, with a genteel exterior, are indispensable: for more is leant by example than precept. Besides, the governess who desires to be on a footing with the family, ought to be able to conduct herself in such manner, as never to render an apology necessary for her presence at family parties.

In addition to a thorough knowledge of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE, and to the power of being able to write a letter in a graceful and accurate style, the governess ought to be moderately acquainted with the FRENCH LANGUAGE; and it would be an advantage if she knew something of ITALIAN, as the language of music. She ought also to be able to play on the PIANOFORTE, so as to give the first lessons, and to superintend the practice directed in the lessons of a master; and in cases where great perfection is not desired, to render a master unnecessary. If she can perform on the harp or guitar, these instruments will qualify her to accommodate her instructions to various tastes. It will be also expected that she shall be able to teach the elements of DANCING, at least, the steps and ordinary figures of fashionable practice. Nor ought she to be ignorant of the useful art of ARITHMETIC, the constant exercise of which, will so much improve the reasoning powers of her pupils. NEEDLE-WORK of various descriptions, from the plain to the ornamental, will, as matter of course, be expected; and there can be no reason why she should omit to introduce to her pupils the geographical copy books, and other elementary books of GEOGRAPHY, by Goldsmith; and the familiar keys to the POPULAR SCIENCES, published by Blair and Barrow, such as the Universal Preceptor, the Class Book, the Grammar of Natural Philosophy, the Key to General Knowledge, by Barrow, and other superior works of the same kind; the selection of which, will distinguish her good sense: while the answering of questions,and filling up the copy books on the admirable Interrogative System, will be the means of incalculable advantage to her pupils, and a source of infinite gratification to their parents. The branches of ELEGANT LITERATURE are also within her reach, in such books as Aikin’s Poetry for Children, and Pratt’s Selection of Classical Poetry; and if she chooses to expand their intelligence, she can provide them with Blair’s Belles Lettres, Shaw’s Nature Displayed (a book which ought to be found in every family), and with a pair of globes, a microscope, and a telescope. DRAWING is also so essential an accomplishment, that its constant exercise should be kept up by means of Hamilton’s Elementary Examples, or those of Chalons and Calvert.

No young persons who are born to the enjoyment of fortune, and destined to fill any stations in society with credit and advantage, ought to have these accomplishments and sources of knowledge withheld from them; and the governess who contents herself with mere personal attainments, without at the same time addressing instruction to the MIND of her pupils, and who lays before them old-fashioned books, and obsolete systems of knowledge, compromises her own character, and sacrifices through their lives, the interests, welfare, and reputation, of her pupils.

In the sub-division of time, prolonged application is wearisome, and too frequent renewals are irksome. The best time for learning is in the morning before breakfast, and one hour and a half, or two hours, between seven and nine, will always be worth the three hours, which should be industriously passed, between eleven and two. The rest of the day should be devoted, in fine weather, to EXERCISE and AMUSEMENTS in the open air; and in bad weather to such amusements as induce exercise, of which, dancing, the skipping-rope, and dumb-bells, should form a part, and certain games which are practised in genteel society, as chess and cards, may be advantageously introduced in winter evenings.

Religion, morals, and temper, should be specially studied, and the essays of Mrs. Chapone, and Mrs. Hannah More, Barrow’s Questions, his School Bible, and School Sermons, with Blair’s or Enfield’s Sermons, are suitable auxiliaries. Bad habits should be watched and corrected, and graceful ones, cleanliness and neatness of person, be stimulated. Blair’s Governess’s Register of Study and Conduct, will prove an excellent auxiliary. Superstitions, and vulgar faith in dreams, signs, omens, fortunetelling, and other weaknesses of mind, should be constantly exposed.

A governess, influenced by these practices and principles, will entitle herself to live on a footing with a family, when there are no special parties; and she must possess good sense enough not to intrude on that domestic privacy, and personal independence, which, without offence, is often desirable. Her own apartment, or that of her pupils, ought to be at once the scene of her pleasure and amusement, and if she mingles with the parties of the families, she must, of course, not make herself too familiar with the domestic servants.

Thus conducting herself with propriety, and identifying herself with the growing minds and affections of her pupils, she may secure their personal friendship to the end of their mutual lives, and if their moral feelings are not blunted, she may calculate on their gratitude in her old age, or if she survive them, in their last will. Pages 92-4

Do note that rather chilling piece of advice: if she mixed with the family she was not expected to mix with the servants: she was in effect not really part of either sphere. This situation would be rather isolating,and not conducive to her future health in my humble opinion.

Imagine the type of people she would live with if she did begin to work as a governess: Mrs Smallridge is probably of the same nouveau riche clique from which Mrs Elton and her brother have arisen. It would seem unlikely they would respect a governess’ privacy or indeed limit her working hours. This is precisely what Jane Fairfax feared by way of exploitation, IMHO when she had her fling, indirectly, at the slave trade in Chapter 35 :

“Excuse me, ma’am, but this is by no means my intention; I make no inquiry myself, and should be sorry to have any made by my friends. When I am quite determined as to the time, I am not at all afraid of being long unemployed. There are places in town, offices, where inquiry would soon produce something — offices for the sale, not quite of human flesh, but of human intellect.”

“Oh! my dear, human flesh! You quite shock me; if you mean a fling at the slave-trade, I assure you Mr. Suckling was always rather a friend to the abolition.”

“I did not mean, I was not thinking of the slave-trade,” replied Jane; “governess-trade, I assure you, was all that I had in view; widely different certainly, as to the guilt of those who carry it on; but as to the greater misery of the victims, I do not know where it lies. But I only mean to say that there are advertising offices, and that by applying to them I should have no doubt of very soon meeting with something that would do.”

Jane Austen was most probably very sympathetic to Jane Fairfax’s plight. Indeed rather in the way Elinor Tilney  really qualifies to be the  ”conventional heroine ” of Northanger Abbey, I think the argument can be made for Jane Fairfax being the  ” conventional heroine” of Emma.  Jane Austen was ,remember, very friendly with Anne Sharp who was governess to her brother  Edward Austen Knight’s children. Poor Miss Sharp had to leave Edward’s employ due to ill-health. She eventually ran her own boarding school in Liverpool. I can’t help but think Jane Austen was very sympathetic in her portrait of Jane Fairfax because her friendship with Miss Sharp was foremost in her mind.

Thus, bearing in mind the loss of status involved in becoming a governess and everyone’s justifiable concern for Jane Fairfax’s health( including Emma by this time in the novel) there is little wonder that Emma is outraged when the truth of the secret engagement /applying to be a governess is revealed to her in Chapter 46:

“Good God!” cried Emma, not attending to her. “Mrs. Smallridge, too Jane actually on the point of going as governess! What could he mean by such horrible indelicacy? To suffer her to engage herself — to suffer her even to think of such a measure!”

So, I do hope that the clues as to why Highbury people are so worried about Jane are  now  a little more clearly defined: but they can easily be missed if we read the text  without any knowledge of the medical advice of the time.

I hope this  post might  have thrown some light on the justifiable anxiety surrounding Jane Fairfax and explained some of the actions of those around her who cared for her health.