A Small, Well-Built, & Convenient Clergy House in Hunsford, Kent
It turns out that Hunsford parsonage is quite comfortable when Mr. Collins can be forgotten.
Allow Mr. & Mrs. Collins to show you their humble abode!
Home type: Village cottage Location: Hunsford, Kent, England Bedrooms: Enough to invite at least 3 houseguests for an extended stay Square feet: Not disclosed Style: Minimalist, Modest, Sensible
When Mr. William Collins was bequeathed his clergy home by the uncommonly generous Lady Catherine de Bourgh of Rosings Park—which is but a short distance from the parsonage & can be viewed through an opening of trees that border the garden—his patroness advised him to choose a wife who might be a compliment to his humble abode.
“It is the particular advice & recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling patroness to set the example of matrimony in my parish,” Mr. Collins tells me. “‘Mr. Collins,’ said she, ‘a clergyman like you must marry.— Chuse properly, chuse a gentlewoman for my sake; and for your own, let her be an active, useful sort of person, not brought up high, but able to make a small income go a good way.’”1
Such a wife he has found in Charlotte Lucas (now Collins) of Lucas Lodge in Hertfordshire, daughter of Sir Willam Lucas who was formerly in trade in Meryton before rising to the distinction of knighthood.2
While Mr. Collins praises Lady Catherine for every update that’s been made to his home, Mrs. Collins is deserving of credit for the neatness & consistency with which everything is arranged.— At least that’s the opinion of Miss Elizabeth Bennet,3 the cousin of Mr. Collins & best friend of his wife, who shared this with me in confidence during her six-week stay with the newlyweds.
Mr. Collins flatters himself that Lady Catherine approves of all the alterations the couple has come up with themselves, but they are nothing to the suggestions that only his noble patroness could conceive.— Who but Lady Catherine de Bourgh would think of putting shelves in the closets upstairs?4
“Lady Catherine is a very respectable, sensible woman indeed,” Mrs. Lucas says, “& a most attentive neighbor.”
“Very true, my dear, that is exactly what I say,” Mr. Collins echoes his wife’s praise. “She is the sort of woman whom one cannot regard with too much deference.”
The parsonage stands in a garden, & my carriage stops at a small gate in order to take the short walk to where I’m greeted by Mr. & Mrs. Collins. The former is quick to draw my attention to the “neatness” of the entrance before we step into the parlour. I suppose it is important for a clergyman’s home to have the appearance of orderliness. That’s the impression one has of Hunsford—that everything has & is always in its place.
The parlour
Here, Mr. Collins must say something about the “good proportion of the room.” It is proportional! It may seem an odd quality to appeal for compliments on, & I can’t help but feel that Miss Bennet is the true intended audience of this tour. It’s as though he wants to rub her face in every element of the home—no matter how small—that lends itself to his & Charlotte’s comfort. (Miss Bennet seems unfazed.)
To get this same proportional quality in your own parlour, here’s what you should consider:
The room’s “aspect” or positioning to the rest of the rooms in your home
The size & fit of the furniture, particularly the sideboard & fender in front of the fireplace
The garden
There’s no doubt that Mr. Collins takes a lot of pleasure in his garden. He cultivates it himself, an activity Mrs. Collins encourages as much as possible for the “healthfulness of the exercise.”
The garden would be more enjoyable without Mr. Collins’s narration, but he would walk us through every cross & cross walk, number every field, list the many use cases for all the clumps of trees & other plants that could be seen. He makes it impossible to simply enjoy the views, of which the one of Rosings Park, where Lady Catherine resides, is the most impressive. It is a handsome estate, certainly designed to make every other structure in its vicinity appear inferior.
What Mr. Collins wants you to know about his garden:
Cultivating the grounds is his most “respectable pleasure.”
The garden is well laid out with several walks & cross walks.
There are many fields, but I wasn’t paying attention if he gave the exact number.
Mrs. Collins approves of his spending so much time in his garden, & I’m certain Lady Catherine does, too.
Other rooms of note include the dining-room with a window which offers a clear view of the lane; Mr. Collins’s book room, where he sits to read, write, & look out onto the road to watch for the carriages of important people; & the drawing room where Mrs. Collins spends most of her time. One might wonder why Mrs. Collins prefers this small room for common use to the dining parlour, but it’s clear that she wouldn’t have a moment’s peace sitting in a livelier room with such an easily-distracted husband.
It’s true that Mrs. Collins doesn’t have a clear view of the lane when sitting in the drawing room, but she can always rely on her husband to report whenever a carriage worthy of their notice drives by.
Is there an estate you’d like to see on House Tours? Submit your idea to modernaustenblog@gmail.com.
This quote is originally from Mr. Collins’s proposal to Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth refuses her cousin’s proposal, which is when Charlotte Lucas chooses to turn Mr. Collins’s affections toward herself. You can find Mr. Collins’s full proposal in volume I, chapter xix, pg. 103 of the Penguin Classics edition of P&P.
Dr. Octavia Cox has a great analysis of Sir William Lucas & where knights sit in the social hierarchy over on her YouTube Channel Close Reading Classic Literature.
The narrative voice tells us that Elizabeth gave Charlotte all the credit for the cottage’s “neatness” & “consistency.” P&P, volume II, chapter v, p. 155.
Interestingly, “shelves in the closet” is only briefly mentioned in volume I, chapter xiv, p. 65: “[Lady Catherine] had even condescended to advise him to marry as soon as he could, provided he chose with discretion; & had once paid him a visit in his humble parsonage, where she had perfectly approved all the alterations he had been making, & had even vouchsafed to suggest some herself,—some shelves in the closet up stairs.” I just love how the 1995 miniseries picks up on this line & moves it to the scene where Mr. Collins is giving Sir William, Elizabeth, & Maria a tour of the parsonage.