The pay clerk who gives William Price the money to rush to Northamptonshire is John Dickens, Charles Dickens’ father.
A note about vocabulary and spelling: I have sometimes chosen to use the modern term instead of the historically accurate one, to avoid confusion. During the time period in which this novel is set, the word “fiancé” was not in use, and people referred to their relatives by marriage, that is, a sister or brother or daughter-in-law as their sister or brother or daughter, without the ‘in-law.’ I resisted the urge to spell “clues” as “clews.” Kru, the African tribesmen who assisted William Price and the abolitionists, were also called “Kroo.” The visitors’ gallery at the Houses of Parliament was referred to as the strangers’ gallery. Apart from those changes, I have tried to adhere to British spelling and idioms.
Dramatis Personae
Persons in bold face are real persons. Persons in italics are characters originally created by Jane Austen. The rest are fictional characters created for this variation.
At Thornton Lacey
Edmund Bertram, a clergyman and second son of Sir Thomas Bertram
Julia Bertram, his sister
Mrs. Peckover, the housekeeper
At Mansfield Village
David, Lord Delingpole, peer of the realm and influential Tory
Imogen, Lady Delingpole, a leading Tory hostess
James, Viscount Lynnon, their son and heir
Baddeley, the butler at Mansfield Park
Mrs. Norris, aunt to the Bertrams
Dr. Grant, clergyman
Mrs. Grant, his wife, half-sister to Mary Crawford Bertram
At Stoke Newington
Fanny Price, cousin to the Bertrams, now living with,
Mrs. Harriet Butters, a brusque but kindly widow and philanthropist
Madame Orly, her lady’s maid
Mrs. McIntosh, her housekeeper
Mr. Donald McIntosh, her coachman
Mr. George Butters, her son, a solicitor
Cecilia Butters, her daughter-in-law, an ardent horsewoman
Ethelinda, Rosamunde and Isabella, their three young daughters
Mr. James Stephen, member of parliament, lawyer, abolitionist and neighbour
At Camden Town
Mrs. Blodgett, sister in law to Mrs. Butters, manager of the Sewing Academy
Mr. Blodgett and Master Horace Blodgett, her husband and son
Mr. Frederick Edifice, a curate
Young students of the sewing academy
Eliza (Mary) Bellingham, a milliner with mysterious family problems
At London
John Price, Fanny’s younger brother, a clerk at the Thames River Police Station in Wapping
Mr. William Gibson, writer and admirer of Fanny Price
Mary Crawford Bertram, estranged wife of Edmund Bertram
Janet Fraser, a fashionable lady and friend to Mary Bertram
Margaret Fraser, her unwanted step-daughter
Mr. Nathaniel Meriwether, a very eligible widower
John Bellingham, a businessman with a grudge
Spencer Perceval, the prime minister
Mrs. Jane Perceval, his wife and the mother of his 12 children
John Harriott, founder and magistrate of the Thames River Police Office
Mr. Norton, police officer of the Thames River Police Office
Henry Laing, head judicial clerk of the Thames River Police Office
Lord Elsham, an admirer of Mary Crawford Bertram
George Gordon, Lord Byron, poet and member of the House of Lords
Lord Brougham, politician
In Africa and Gibraltar
William Price, brother to Fanny Price, admirer of Julia Bertram
Captain Columbine, his commanding officer
Jane (Anne Curry) Columbine, wife to Captain Columbine
Captain Frederick Irby, another commanding officer
Ruth, a devout and respectable Negress
Admiral and Mrs. Croft
At Portsmouth
Mr. Price, a disabled lieutenant of marines
Mrs. Frances Price, his wife, sister to Mrs. Norris and Lady Bertram
Susan and Betsey Price, their daughters
Charles Price, their youngest son still at home
Mr. Dickens, clerk at the Naval Pay Office
At Everingham, in Norfolk
Sir Thomas Bertram, baronet, who, owing to a severe financial setback, is currently living with his daughter,
Mrs. Maria Crawford, widow of Henry Crawford, daughter to Sir Thomas and
Lady Maria Bertram, wife of Sir Thomas
Henry Crawford (Junior) Maria’s young son
As well—mentioned in the book
Mr. Rivers, Sir Thomas Bertram’s steward
Mrs. Renfrew, Matron at the Sewing Academy
Richard Owen, a curate, and his three accomplished sisters, one a beauty
Mrs. Owen, their mother
Sam and Tom Price, additional Price sons
Lucy Gregory and her sisters, flirtatious girls of Portsmouth
Mrs. Priscilla Wakefield, noted philanthropist and author
Mr. Wilbraham Bootle, MP and abolitionist
Percy Bysshe Shelley, a poet and idealist
The victims of the Ratcliffe Highway murders
John Williams, the accused killer
Lord Castlereagh, a Tory politician
George, the Prince Regent
Peter Finerty, a journalist imprisoned for libel (criticising the government)
Sarah Wilberforce, second wife of James Stephen
Lord Mulgrave, First Lord of the Admiralty
Sailors, freed slaves and Kru tribesmen
Magistrates, police officers, clerks of the Wapping area
Various servants, charitable ladies, friends, etc.
Afterword: The Merits of Mansfield Park
There once lived, in the small village of Steventon, a lively and precocious girl, the daughter of an intelligent and well-educated clergyman. She was one of a large family, mostly boys, and she grew up in a household where reading and discussing books was an everyday activity. Just about everyone in the family enjoyed writing—they wrote letters, charades (what we would think of as riddles), poetry, editorials, plays, and stories, and they enjoyed sharing what they had written with one another.
Young Jane loved reading novels, but she laughed at their excessive sentimentality and their improbable plot contrivances; the unrestrained villainy of the villains, and the impossibly virtuous heroes and heroines. When she finished laughing at these things, she said to herself, “I can do better than this.” And she was right.
At first, she wrote satiric little pieces to entertain herself and her family; as she grew older she wrote several full-length novels, but did not seriously attempt to put them out into the world until she was in her thirties. Sense & Sensibility (1811) and Pride & Prejudice (1813) were well-received, but there were other authors, even female authors, who out-sold and out-earned her by a considerable margin, and one of these was Hannah More.
