The society immediately round Steventon when Jane Austen was growing up was neither above nor below the average of country society seventy miles from London, at a time when Squire Western was by no means an extinct character, nor Mr. B. a very uncommon one.
Even now it is not unusual for a country clergyman to find himself the only educated gentleman within a radius of some miles round his parsonage; but the dense ignorance of country gentlemen a hundred years ago is a thing of the past, and it could scarcely happen to any clergyman now to be asked, as Mr. Austen was once by a wealthy squire, "You know all about these things. Do tell us. Is Paris in France, or France in Paris? for my wife has been disputing with me about it." The Austens were not, however, dependent entirely on neighbours of this class for their social intercourse, and whether, like Mrs. Bennet, they dined with four-and-twenty families or not, they certainly managed to have a good deal of pleasant society. By birth and position the Austens were entitled to mix with the best society of their county, and though not rich, their
