'Oh! my dear,' continued Mrs. Bennet, 'I am quite
delighted with him. He is so excessively handsome!
and his sisters are charming women. I never in my
life saw anything more elegant than their dresses.
I dare say the lace upon Mrs. Hurst's gown----'

Here she was interrupted again. Mr. Bennet
protested against any description of finery, &c.

Now, here there can be little doubt that we should read, as in Bentley's
edition,[372] 'and the two sixth with Lizzie, and the _Boulanger_----'
(i.e. Bingley danced the _Boulanger_ with another partner, whose name
Mrs. Bennet would have given but for her husband interrupting her). In
the first place, there is every reason to suppose that Mr. Bingley
danced no more than 'the two sixth' (each dance seems to have been
divided into two parts, but without any change of partners) with Lizzie,
for Mrs. Bennet has already said that Jane 'was the only creature in the
room that he asked a second time.' Secondly, the reading of the first
edition destroys the point of 'Here she was interrupted again.'

2. The next passage which is frequently misprinted is in Chapter XIX,
where Mr. Collins in the course of his proposal to Elizabeth quotes the
advice of his very noble patroness. Bentley's edition here reads:--

'Mr. Collins, you must marry. A clergyman like you
must marry---- Choose properly, choose a
gentlewoman for my sake, and for your own; let her
be an active, useful sort of person not brought up
high, but able to make a small income go a good
way.'

By transposing a comma and a semicolon, the printer has here succeeded
in perverting a most characteristic bit of advice of Lady Catherine's.
The first three editions, followed by Mr. Johnson; all read 'Choose
properly, choose a gentlewoman for my sake; and for your own, let her be
an active, useful sort of person,' &c., and there can hardly be two
opinions as to which reading is the right one.

3. In Chapter XXXVI, where Elizabeth is reviewing her conduct towards
Darcy, Bentley's edition, following the first and second editions, makes
her exclaim:--

'How despicably have I acted,' she cried; 'I, who
have prided myself on my discernment! I, who have
valued myself on my abilities! who have often
disdained the generous candour of my sister, and
gratified my