Low tide at Telscombe Cliffs near Brighton, East Sussex. Brighton features prominently in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ as (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) a place of dissipation and seduction.
MR. Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners. His sisters were fine women, with an air of decided fashion.
His brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, merely looked the gentleman; but his friend Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year.*
The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.
That is, investments yielding £10,000 profit each year, equivalent to more than half a million pounds today in terms of purchasing power, and giving him the social status enjoyed today by someone with an annual income in the region of £10m. See Measuring Worth.
Précis
After two handsome and rich gentleman took Netherfield Park, their neighbours were eager to meet them, and their curiosity was soon satisfied at a ball in Meryton. At first, Mr Darcy was voted the handsomer of the two, but his manner proved so haughty that before the evening was over his friend, Mr Bingley, was declared quite the better-looking. (59 / 60 words)