You are a great man. Unless you’re a chick. In that case you’re a great woman. I knew your gender once but frankly I wasn’t paying attention and have forgotten, and I’m too lazy to check and see at the Doper Gallery, because you might not be there and then I’d have wasted about a hundredth of a calorie, though in fact I’ve used twice that much energy with this long stupid sentence that no sane man, woman, child, or Etruscan could find amusing. Anyway, your post rocks.
Austen is actually really good at some very applicable 21st century ideas…marry for mutual respect, not for sex or a pretty face or security. Preferably marry someone you know (in Austen’s time this didn’t mean for very long, but her quick engagements don’t tend to end well - its love that has stood the test of time that works). Practice economy - even if you can afford not to. Be civil, but don’t encourage intimacy until you are ready to accept the obligations.
The “fee tail” is an ownership status – it is the property that is said to be “entailed.”
In property law you study the different ways to own something. The term “fee” descended from “fief” to refer to land use. The fee tail is an ownership that excludes the right to bequeath the property in a manner of your choosing. Instead, the land can ONLY pass to a male blood relation, no matter how distant.
This is what happened in P&P. They family appeared to be well off but their land was entailed. Because the girls could not inherit the house, nor could their mother, (nor could their husbands if they married) they would be immediately destitute if their father died. The mother, who most people interpret as overbearing, has a very serious and legitimate concern that her daughters marry into their station while they still can.
