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Miss Bates came to the carriage door
Hugh Thomson
1905
Photomechanical reproduction of a pen-and-ink drawing
12 by 7.5 cm (4 ⅜ by 3 inches), vignetted
Jane Austen, Emma, facing page 347.
See below for passage illustrated, and commentary.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Emma felt that her own note had deserved something better; but it was impossible to quarrel with words, whose tremulous inequality shewed indisposition so plainly, and she thought only of how she might best counteract this unwillingness to be seen or assisted. In spite of the answer, therefore, she ordered the carriage, and drove to Mrs. Bates’s, in the hope that Jane would be induced to join her — but it would not do; — Miss Bates came to the carriage door, all gratitude, and agreeing with her most earnestly in thinking an airing might be of the greatest service — and every thing that message could do was tried — but all in vain. Miss Bates was obliged to return without success; Jane was quite unpersuadable; the mere proposal of going out seemed to make her worse. — Emma wished she could have seen her, and tried her own powers; but, almost before she could hint the wish, Miss Bates made it appear that she had promised her niece on no account to let Miss Woodhouse in. “Indeed, the truth was, that poor dear Jane could not bear to see any body — any body at all — Mrs. Elton, indeed, could not be denied — and Mrs. Cole had made such a point — and Mrs. Perry had said so much — but, except them, Jane would really see nobody.” [Chapter XLV, 352]
Aware that Jane may have been disturbed by the news of Mrs. Churchill's death, Emma attempts to pay Jane a visit at the Bateses', invites her to spend the day at Hartfield, even offers to take her for a carriage ride, and later sends nourishing food from her own kitchen. Jane's medical symptoms — "severe headaches and nervous fever" — may suggest that she has contracted tuberculosis. Regretting her past coldness, Emma concludes that Jane is avoiding her. Despite this scene's emotional backstory, the illustrator has not communicated Emma's state of mind. Austen resolves something of Jane's mysterious conduct in the next chapter, when, some ten days after Mrs. Churchill's death, Mrs. Weston summons Emma to Randalls, indicating that Frank and Jane have been secretly engaged since October.
Austen, Jane. Emma. Ed. Austin Dobson. With forty pen-and-ink illustrations by Hugh Thomson. The Novels of Jane Austen. London: Macmillan, 1896, rpt. 1905.
Austen, Jane. Emma. Ed. R. Brimley Johnson. With coloured illustrations by C. E. Brock. The Novels and Letters of Jane Austen. 2 vols. New York & Philadelphia: Frank S. Holby, 1906.
Austen, Jane. Emma. Ed. George Justice. 4th edition. New York: W. W. Norton, 2011.
Austen, Jane. Emma: An Annotated Edition. Ed. Bharat Tandon. Cambridge, Mass., and London: Belknap Press of Harvard U. P., 2012.
Last modified 30 May 2026