Originally Posted by
Ecurb
Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen were both the daughters of impecunious clergymen. Charlotte married in her late 30s, and died soon after of runaway morning sickness. Jane died of (probably) Addison's disease. They were both 39 (I think) when they died. So they were both the single (for most of their adult lives) daughters of relatively poor clergy.
The Bronte family met tragic ends: only Charlotte lived to see 31. Austen's siblings were more successful financially (and in terms of their health); one of Austen's brothers rose to the rank of Admiral in the British navy. Economically, England was changing from a rural, Regency society (for Austen) to a more financially diverse society (for Bronte), so class consciousness was changing as well. Nonetheless, Elizabeth Bennet would have been almost as impoverished as Jane Eyre, once her father died, if she hadn't found a husband. We are invited to scoff at Mrs. Bennet's husband hunting, but what loving mother would do otherwise?
Clergymen, however, were "gentlemen" in both societies, however rich or poor they might be. A pound might have been worth $100 in Austen's days (and slightly less in Bronte's), based on today's American money. So Darcy's 10,000 ponds a year was equivalent to $1,000,000 a year. There can be no direct comparisons, however, because goods were relatively expensive, and labor and food (servants, etc.) very cheap. I remember in some Victorian novels a good horse might cost between 50 and 100 pounds, which is almost as much as a decent (used) car today.
