Pride and Prejudice, chapter 1: ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged’
Mrs. Bennet’s news can’t wait: a young man with £4,000 or £5,000 a year has taken Netherfield Park, and Mr. Bennet’s 2.5-mile walk to call on him is the least she expects

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Jane Austen
Jane Austen Novelist
First published 1813

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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”

Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.

“But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”

View image in fullscreenIllustration: a woman in a bonnet talks to a man reading a newspaper by the fire
“But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.” Illustration: public domain
Mr. Bennet made no answer.

“Do not you want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife, impatiently.

“You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”

This was invitation enough.

“Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”

