hich I hardly know how to
answer.'

8. Chapter LV, when Jane's engagement to Bingley had been arranged,
Bentley's edition, following the third edition, reads:--

Elizabeth, who was left by herself, now smiled at
the rapidity and ease with which an affair was
finally settled, that had given them so many
previous months of surprise and vexation.

'Surprise' does not seem nearly so suitable a word as 'suspense,' which
is found in the first and second editions.

9. Chapter LV, where Jane is talking to Elizabeth about Bingley. Mr.
Johnson's editions, following the first three editions, read:--

'Would you believe it, Lizzie, that when he went
to town last November, he really loved me, and
nothing but a persuasion of my being indifferent
would have prevented his coming down again!'

'He made a little mistake, to be sure; but it is
to the credit of his modesty.'

This naturally introduced a panegyric from Jane on
his diffidence, and the little value he put on his
own good qualities.

Elizabeth was pleased to find that he had not
betrayed the interference of his friends; for,
though Jane had the most generous and forgiving
heart in the world, she knew it was a circumstance
which must prejudice her against him.

As this last paragraph stands, 'him' can hardly refer to anyone else but
Bingley, which makes nonsense. Nothing was likely to prejudice Jane
against him; besides, it was not his 'friends' who had interfered, but
his 'friend' Darcy. There can be no doubt, therefore, that we ought to
read, with Bentley's edition, 'friend,' and then 'him' will refer to
Darcy, against whom Lizzie was very anxious on her own account that Jane
should not be prejudiced.

10. Chapter LVI, when Lady Catherine is trying to browbeat Elizabeth,
Mr. Johnson reads, in his edition of 1892, following the first two
editions (which, however, have a comma after 'accomplished'):--

'While in their cradles, we planned the union: and
now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters
would be accomplished in their marriage, to be
prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of
no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to
the family?'

Most editions, however, following the third, merely alte