Quote:
Originally Posted by FlorenceArt
Re-re-re-reading Pride and Prejudice  And wondering, not for the first time, what one is supposed to do in a drawing room (draw, maybe?), and how exactly an estate gets to be "entailed". |
A drawing room is the room into which the ladies withdraw after dinner, leaving the men to discuss things at the table over brandy and cigars.
An estate (real property - land) is entailed under feudal laws dating back to the thirteenth century. A person in possession of an entailed estate has only a life interest - he cannot sell, mortgage or give it away. It had to be kept intact to be passed on to the next (usually male) heir.
In 1833 the UK Parliament enabled the person in possession of an entailed estate to convert it to an ordinary estate, and so be able to dispose of it as they wished. So who knows - if Mr Bennet lived long enough, Mr Collins might not have inherited Longbourn after all!