Chapter 15 72
Chapter 15
Mr . Collins was not a sensible man , and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society ; the greatest part of his life having been spent under the guidance of an illiterate and miserly father ; and though he belonged to one of the universities , he had merely kept the necessary terms , without forming at it any useful acquaintance . The subjection in which his father had brought him up had given him originally great humility of manner ; but it was now a good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head , living in retirement , and the consequential feelings of early and unexpected prosperity . A fortunate chance had recommended him to Lady Catherine de Bourgh when the living of Hunsford was vacant ; and the respect which he felt for her high rank , and his veneration for her as his patroness , mingling with a very good opinion of himself , of his authority as a clergyman , and his right as a rector , made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness , self-importance and humility .
Having now a good house and a very sufficient income , he intended to marry ; and in seeking a reconciliation with the Longbourn family he had a wife in view , as he meant to choose one of the daughters , if he found them as handsome and amiable as they were represented by common report . This was his plan of amends--of atonement--for inheriting their father ' s estate ; and he thought it an excellent one , full of eligibility and suitableness , and excessively generous and disinterested on his own part .
His plan did not vary on seeing them . Miss Bennet ' s lovely face confirmed his views , and established all his strictest notions of what was due to seniority ; and for the first evening she was his settled choice . The next morning , however , made an alteration ; for in a quarter of an hour ' s tete-a-tete with Mrs . Bennet before breakfast , a conversation beginning with his parsonage-house , and leading naturally to the avowal of his hopes , that a mistress might be found for it at Longbourn , produced from her , amid very complaisant smiles and general encouragement , a caution against the very Jane he had fixed on . " As to her younger daughters , she could not take upon her to say--she could not positively answer--but she did not know of