In 2013, when details of the new note were announced, The Guardian was prompted to wonder whether the Governor of the Bank of England had actually read Pride and Prejudice.
The trouble, said The Grauniad, is that Caroline Bingley is "one of Austen's most deceitful characters, a woman who has no interest in books at all. She is sidling up to Mr Darcy, whom she would like to hook as a husband, and pretending that she shares his interests. He is reading a book, so she sits next to him and pretends to read one too. She is, Austen writes, 'as much engaged in watching Mr Darcy's progress through his book, as in reading her own' and 'perpetually either making some inquiry, or looking at his page'. He will not be distracted, so 'exhausted by the attempt to be amused with her own book, which she had only chosen because it was the second volume of his', she gives a great yawn and says the words that will appear on the bank note.
"She is interested in books in one way. She and her brother are nouveaux riches, who have inherited their wealth from a father who was 'in trade'. Now they have a big rented house – but no books to put in it. You can display your status with an impressive library (Mr Darcy has one), so she is keen that her brother procure some volumes as soon as possible. 'When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.' But" (says The Grauniad), "she won't be reading any of its contents."
© Macclesfield Quiz League 2017