0:00

Welcome to The

0:02

Thing About Austin, a

0:05

podcast about Jane

0:07

Austin's world. I'm

0:09

Zan. And I'm Diane. And

0:12

this episode, we're

0:14

talking about pin money.

0:16

This episode takes us

0:19

quite close to the

0:22

very end of Pride

0:24

and Prejudice. Lizzy and

0:26

Darcy are engaged. And

0:29

Lizzy has just informed

0:31

her mother of this

0:33

momentous occasion. Mrs. Bennet,

0:35

at first speechless with

0:38

astonishment, recovers and is

0:40

able to properly express

0:42

her enthusiasm. So this is

0:44

from the text. Good gracious,

0:47

Lord bless me, only think

0:49

dear me, Mr. Darcy, who would

0:51

have thought it? And is it

0:53

really true? Oh, it's sweet as

0:55

Lizzy. How rich and how great

0:57

you will be. what pin money,

0:59

what jewels, what carriages you will

1:02

have. And Lizzy just skyrockets

1:04

to favor child, just like

1:06

in an instant. Oh, and this

1:08

is like all of the, this

1:10

is, she could have totally anticipated

1:12

all of those reactions as well.

1:14

She's like, she's like, nailed it,

1:17

called it. Well, that's what she's like,

1:19

I need to tell my mom when

1:21

he is not around. I love that

1:23

detail. She's like, please don't be

1:25

around when I tell my mother. Oh, so

1:27

good. Pin Money is defined as,

1:30

quote, a usually annual sum

1:32

allotted to a woman for

1:34

clothing and other personal expenses,

1:37

especially such an allowance provided

1:39

for a wife's private expenditure.

1:42

And we should clarify right at

1:44

the top that pin money, as

1:46

we will be discussing in this

1:48

episode, could be more norms or

1:51

traditions based, but we will be

1:53

focused more on the... on the legal and

1:55

documented side of things since that

1:57

is going to sort of encompass.

2:00

everything. We're covering all of

2:02

our bases that way. Yes, yes.

2:04

But just know that this is

2:06

the sort of thing where there

2:08

is a lot of variation, families

2:10

had their own traditions, and marriage

2:12

settlements were not all the same.

2:14

So, yeah. This is sort of

2:16

a broad overview, but we're coming

2:18

at this from the legal angle.

2:21

Right, yes. So the first illusion

2:23

to pin money comes as early

2:25

as 1542 in the testamenta Abora

2:27

Kensia, with the phrase, quote, quote,

2:29

I give my said daughter Margaret

2:31

my lease of the parsonage of

2:33

Kirkdale Church to buy her pins

2:35

with all. Now this is just

2:37

an illusion to money for pins

2:39

not the actual term. According to

2:41

the OED the first documented use

2:44

of the term pin money comes

2:46

in 1674 in a reference to

2:48

marriage settlements. It reads quote on

2:50

difference between him and his lady

2:52

about settlement of 200 pounds per

2:54

annum. Pin Money in case of

2:56

separation, she upon affidavit of hard

2:58

usage, prayed security of the peace

3:00

against him, which was granted. Yeah,

3:02

there's a lot going on in

3:05

just even that phrasing, honestly, the

3:07

fact that there's 200 pounds, but

3:09

also that like what it's being

3:11

used for is kind of being

3:13

overtly referenced here. So that jump

3:15

between our first kind of illusion

3:17

with personal allowance for one's daughter

3:19

to buy pins, and then this

3:21

very legal reference to pin money

3:23

in marriage in marriage contracts. is

3:25

pretty substantial. In this episode, again,

3:28

we are going to try and

3:30

cover some of those distinctions, but

3:32

it's very much so worth reminding

3:34

everyone up front that there's a

3:36

lot of unclear terrain in the

3:38

origin of the term as well

3:40

as the legal ramifications of pin

3:42

money. Getting into those murky waters.

3:44

Yes, the lawyers that we aren't

3:46

is really going to come to

3:49

the foreground here. Most people agree

3:51

that the term originated due to

3:53

the cost and importance of pins

3:55

in clothing. and especially women's clothing

3:57

during the 14th and 15th. centuries.

3:59

So we're going to make a

4:01

mini detour into the history of

4:03

pins just for a minute. Just

4:05

indulge us. Come on this this

4:07

little side quest. So according to

4:10

Eleanor Longman and Sophie Locks book,

4:12

pins and pin cushions, metal pins

4:14

were very expensive luxuries for some

4:16

time after they first made their

4:18

appearance in their present form. Largely

4:20

this is because of the amount

4:22

of hand labor that went into

4:24

making them. So for context, in

4:26

the 15th century, pins were imported

4:28

into England from France in such

4:30

large numbers that they had, quote,

4:33

become an article of sufficient importance

4:35

to warrant legislative notice, as in

4:37

1483, the importation of pins was

4:39

prohibited by statute. You know, it's

4:41

pretty big when the legal team

4:43

has to come in and say,

4:45

these pins were breaking us. While

4:47

that rule seems to have been

4:49

largely ignored, it demonstrates how significant

4:51

this cost was. And for additional

4:54

context, we have some prices listed

4:56

in the household accounts of Catherine,

4:58

Countess of Devon, in 1524. The

5:00

price of pins is as follows.

5:02

Necessaries for my lady, a pin

5:04

case, 16 shillings, 1,000 white pins,

5:06

8 shillings, ditto black, 7 shillings.

5:08

I love when we get those

5:10

little details like that. So Longman

5:12

and Locke also write that there

5:15

was, quote, an ancient tax in

5:17

France for providing the Queen with

5:19

pins, which also may have led

5:21

to the adoption of this term,

5:23

the term pin money here. The

5:25

makers of the pins were allowed

5:27

to sell them in open shops

5:29

only on January 1st and 2nd

5:31

when the court ladies and city

5:33

dames flocked to the depots to

5:35

buy them. It was a big

5:38

day. It is pin day. So

5:40

again, most people speculate that the

5:42

necessity and expense of pens initially

5:44

required a kind of dedicated fund.

5:46

And this gave rise to the

5:48

term pin money. This would have

5:50

been money that a husband would

5:52

set aside specifically for his wife's

5:54

use. And as the cost of

5:56

pins lessened, the term expanded to

5:59

reference a wife's fund for other

6:01

personal expenses. And all that being

6:03

said, this is still a blurry

6:05

area since even in 1712, Joseph

6:07

Addison wrote in The Spectator that

6:09

he was unsure of the origin

6:11

of quote, the doctrine of pin

6:13

money, going on to say that

6:15

it was quote, of a very

6:17

late date, unknown to our great-grandmothers,

6:20

and not yet received by many

6:22

of our modern ladies. By the

6:24

time of Jane Austin, however, we

6:26

do have pin money as a

6:28

common part of marriage contract negotiations.

6:30

In most cases, and certainly amongst

6:32

wealthy families, and if a woman

6:34

had a father or other guardian

6:36

who was looking out for her

6:38

financial interests, the amount of pin

6:40

money allotted would be stipulated in

6:43

the marriage settlements. So this was

6:45

a legal contract guaranteeing that a

6:47

woman who presumably brought a dowry

6:49

to the marriage would receive a

6:51

minimum amount of funds per year.

6:53

She's sort of like being paid

6:55

back for what she brought into

6:57

the marriage. Yeah. And it's especially

6:59

important to remember that during this

7:01

time, essentially all of a woman's

7:04

property became her husband upon marriage.

7:06

So a woman who doesn't have

7:08

her pin money written up in

7:10

the marriage settlements will be entirely

7:12

at the whims and hopeful generosity

7:14

of her husband for any superfluous

7:16

funds. The amounts that were contracted

7:18

for pin money could vary widely,

7:20

depending on a lot of factors,

7:22

including the amount of money a

7:25

woman brought to the marriage, the

7:27

generosity of her future spouse, the

7:29

acumen of the father and his

7:31

lawyers, and so on. So again,

7:33

a lot of variables. In the

7:35

latter half of the 18th century,

7:37

there were contracts that ran from

7:39

200 pounds to 1,500 pounds for

7:41

pin money per year. And those

7:43

are again, those are just some

7:45

examples. Yeah, that's not, I mean,

7:48

it could, it could go beyond

7:50

that on either end, but those

7:52

are just ones that we have.

7:54

kind of concrete examples of for

7:56

this podcast. So let's get into

7:58

marriage contract negotiations. So according to

8:00

Daniel Poole in his book, what

8:02

Jane Austin ate and Charles Dickens

8:04

knew, typically the bride's family would

8:06

have their lawyers negotiate with the

8:09

husband's lawyers to get the husband

8:11

to agree to guarantee her pin

8:13

money, which was a small personal

8:15

annual allowance while he lived. A

8:17

jointure, a hefty chunk of property

8:19

or money to support her after

8:21

he died. and portions of money

8:23

for their children. All this would

8:25

be written up into the marriage

8:27

settlement by the lawyers before anyone

8:29

walked down any aisles. Very important.

8:32

You gotta dot those eyes and

8:34

cross those t's. According to Susan

8:36

Staves' excellent journal article, Pin Money,

8:38

there were two primary aims for

8:40

creating arrangements for pin money. First

8:42

was to, quote, increase the security

8:44

of the wife and the minor

8:46

children should her husband prove feckless

8:48

and unlucky. Great phrasing there. The

8:50

second reason was to essentially protect

8:53

the money, quote, without risking it's

8:55

being swallowed up in the husband's

8:57

estate. To add a little bit

8:59

more context into these contracts, Rory

9:01

Muir in his book, Love and

9:03

Marriage in the Age of Jane

9:05

Austin, argues that, quote, The most

9:07

important provision of a settlement was

9:09

that the wife's portion and the

9:11

contribution from the groom or his

9:14

father should be placed in the

9:16

hands of trustees who would invest

9:18

it conservatively. Part of the income

9:20

from these investments would pay the

9:22

wife's pin money and the rest

9:24

would usually be available to the

9:26

couple which legally meant the husband.

9:28

However, not all settlements included this

9:30

provision. In some cases, the whole

9:32

capital was paid to the groom

9:34

or his father in return for

9:37

a legal commitment to pay pin

9:39

money, jointure, and children's fortunes. Such

9:41

an arrangement was obviously dangerous, providing

9:43

far less security than having the

9:45

capital sequestered in the hands of

9:47

trustees. lawyers on the bride's side

9:49

should have opposed it as strongly

9:51

as possible. So essentially he's saying

9:53

it's best to have a third

9:55

party overseeing all of this because

9:58

when that isn't the case the

10:00

woman is in a more risky

10:02

financial situation. Really we can't stress

10:04

enough how important it was to

10:06

have a good lawyer and a

10:08

male guardian operating in aggressive good

10:10

faith on the woman's behalf when

10:12

drafting these settlements. It could have

10:14

a profound impact on that woman's

10:16

future financial well-being. Definitely, yeah. There's

10:19

a reason that these contracts come

10:21

up so often, even in fiction,

10:23

right? It's because it's the one

10:25

chance that you have to really

10:27

solidify this idea of financial security.

10:29

And should he turn out to

10:31

be feckless and unlucky, like, you're

10:33

screwed. So. Yeah, absolutely. I mean,

10:35

she has no recourse after this.

10:37

Yeah. So even though we kind

10:39

of are talking about why it's

10:42

so important to have these settlements

10:44

kind of nailed down. There is

10:46

still some really blurry lines about

10:48

legal contracts and the functionality of

10:50

pin money, especially in the 18th

10:52

and early 19th century. Staves writes,

10:54

the 18th century idea of pin

10:56

money, while in some ways simple

10:58

enough, was, in other ways, almost

11:00

hopelessly tortuous and contradictory. For example,

11:03

in the early 18th century, courts

11:05

were skeptical about whether a husband's

11:07

legal promise to pay his wife

11:09

pin money could even hold up

11:11

in court. This was in part

11:13

because of the legal doctrine of

11:15

coveture, which was when a married

11:17

woman's legal existence was considered to

11:19

be merged into that of her

11:21

husband. Once she married, she has

11:24

no independent legal existence and her

11:26

husband was supposed to provide for

11:28

her. So this raised the question

11:30

of whether contracts on her behalf

11:32

could actually ever be enforced. So

11:34

eventually... Pin money did become recognized

11:36

as a contract debt and that's

11:38

mostly because it became a relatively

11:40

common practice in legal. contracts, but

11:42

the courts still struggled with the

11:44

fact that the purpose of pin

11:47

money, which is to allow women

11:49

some financial independence, clashed with the

11:51

societal expectations that women's finances were

11:53

ultimately tied to her husband. Staves

11:55

points out that the courts seem

11:57

to run into one major ideological

11:59

problem when it came to pin

12:01

money. She writes, these new forms

12:03

of property under contract logic did

12:05

not seem to provide the social

12:08

control over women that had been

12:10

part of the customary and other

12:12

earlier systems of maintaining women and

12:14

children. So she's not pulling punches

12:16

there. Basically, men do not want

12:18

women to have control over their

12:20

own money, since that can lead

12:22

to a lot of autonomy, and

12:24

that is obviously not okay. And

12:26

QRI-roll. Yes, so very hard. So

12:28

we see this coming up as

12:31

an issue when we think about

12:33

how women might have chosen to

12:35

spend. their pin money. Ostensibly, this

12:37

was supposed to be money that

12:39

she had personal discretion over, right?

12:41

She can spend it on whatever

12:43

she wants. Muir explains that in

12:45

an ideal context, pin money was,

12:47

quote, commonly used for clothes, decorations,

12:49

presents, and charity, but the essential

12:52

point was that how she spent

12:54

it was her own concern. But

12:56

that's not how this always played

12:58

out, unfortunately. For example, while the

13:00

money was technically the wife's separate

13:02

property, If she spent it on

13:04

certain things like furniture or property

13:06

or investments, those items might belong

13:08

to her husband under the legal

13:10

doctrine of coverature. So like saving

13:13

up your pin money to buy

13:15

yourself a little property, little cottage,

13:17

very risky. Yeah, yeah, if you

13:19

were to do that, the fact

13:21

that it could be just taken

13:23

away from you because it could

13:25

legally belong to your husband. Yeah,

13:27

it's like even the money that

13:29

you do have really has to

13:31

be spent on. Like, oh, just,

13:33

my husband has no interest. Like,

13:36

okay. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, oftentimes

13:38

women would be restricted to purchasing

13:40

what would fall under this legal

13:42

category of paraphernalia. which staves describes

13:44

as quote a particular kind of

13:46

thing namely the wife's clothes and

13:48

personal ornaments such as jewels such

13:50

things are appropriately usable by a

13:52

woman and not by a man

13:54

and are owned by the wife

13:57

in a particular sense so you

13:59

know as long as he doesn't

14:01

have any use for it then

14:03

go ahead yeah so again don't

14:05

buy yourself that property because he

14:07

might be like, oh, that's a

14:09

pretty solid investment. But, you know,

14:11

as long as you're spending it

14:13

on your bonnets or whatever that

14:15

he doesn't have any interest in.

14:18

Great. Good, good, good. But even

14:20

this got blurry since there is

14:22

a 1674 court case in which

14:24

a lady Terrell bought jewels with

14:26

her pin money and attempted to

14:28

retain them as part of her

14:30

paraphernalia when her husband's creditors came

14:32

to collect. However, the Lordkeeper ruled

14:34

that the jewels would go to

14:36

the creditor. Since that was superfluous

14:38

money to her maintenance. Okay, technically

14:41

those jewels work for yourself. Like

14:43

your husband wasn't wanting to wear

14:45

that particular necklace or set of

14:47

earies, but they are also worth

14:49

a lot of money. So we're

14:51

getting into dangerous territory now. Yep.

14:53

And so in this case, they

14:55

were like, no, we're going to

14:57

take those back. Yeah. So even

14:59

when a woman's pin money was

15:02

secured within a contract and the

15:04

paraphernalia agreed upon, Staves points out

15:06

that quote, It frequently happened that

15:08

despite separate property being secured to

15:10

them, women were unwilling or unable

15:12

even to hang on to it,

15:14

being, as contemporary said, kissed or

15:16

kicked, bullied or coaxed, out of

15:18

it by husbands who had physical

15:20

or emotional power that rendered their

15:23

wives legal powers nugatory. There were

15:25

also some rules that required a

15:27

woman to be actively cohabitating with

15:29

her husband in order to collect

15:31

pin money. Here are some details

15:33

from James Clancy. who was a

15:35

barrister at law and wrote a

15:37

book titled, Are we all ready

15:39

for this, an essay on the

15:41

equitable rights of married women with

15:43

respect to their separate property and

15:46

also to their claimed a provision

15:48

called the wife's equity, to which

15:50

is added the law of pin

15:52

money, separate maintenance, and of the

15:54

other separate provisions of married women,

15:56

published in 1819. Yeah, but that

15:58

man had a title in mind,

16:00

and it's very descriptive. I appreciate

16:02

that. Yeah. So Clancy writes, a

16:04

separate maintenance is that provision which

16:07

a husband makes for the support

16:09

of his wife, when he and

16:11

she have agreed to separate and

16:13

to live apart from each other.

16:15

Pin money is payable only during

16:17

cohabitation, while separate maintenance is to

16:19

be paid during the period of

16:21

separation between husband and wife as

16:23

they're living asunder, is always the

16:25

motive and the consideration of such

16:28

a settlement. Nope, you must live

16:30

together in order to collect that

16:32

pin money. In other situations, women

16:34

could live apart from their husbands

16:36

and collect pin money, but according

16:38

to Clancy, she could be subsequently

16:40

barred access if she quote, quote,

16:42

be guilty of criminal conversation or

16:44

quote if she elope from her

16:46

husband without good cause. See our

16:48

episode on the rush worst divorce

16:51

for more on crimcon and all

16:53

of that. Yeah, yeah, this is

16:55

adultery. BT debts. Yep. So it

16:57

is worth mentioning that the greatest

16:59

resources that we still have with

17:01

regard to documentation of pin money

17:03

is not the marriage settlements themselves.

17:05

That would seem like a logical

17:07

place for us to find archival

17:09

information about pin money, but rather

17:12

the greatest resource we have. comes

17:14

from court cases in which women,

17:16

through trustees, were trying to enforce

17:18

the contracts to get their pin

17:20

money. A large number of these

17:22

cases are when a husband was

17:24

in arrears or withholding the pin

17:26

money for some reason, which clearly

17:28

demonstrates the difficulties many women had

17:30

in easily and consistently gaining control

17:32

over their own money. It's not

17:35

a great situation. No, no. And

17:37

again, the fact that that's what

17:39

that's our archive is court cases.

17:41

It says a lot. When summing

17:43

up her article on pin money,

17:45

Staves writes, the development of the

17:47

legal doctrines concerning pin money between

17:49

the restoration and the early 19th

17:51

century shows that the law, having

17:53

created a potentially threatening source of

17:56

women's power in the married woman's

17:58

separate estate, soon appreciated that threat

18:00

and responded by creating idiosyncratic rules

18:02

for pin money and other forms

18:04

of married women's separate property, which

18:06

minimized the possibility that such property

18:08

could become a source of women's

18:10

power or the material basis for

18:12

equality between men and women. Yeah,

18:14

she nailed it, honestly. That's it.

18:17

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So all of

18:19

this information tells us that basically

18:21

pin money was never fully standardized

18:23

as a legal practice, meaning that

18:25

there were a bajillion loopholes. And

18:27

from the legal records we have,

18:29

contracts were often interpreted on a

18:31

case-by-case basis. So the way that

18:33

the pin money was defined and

18:35

explained within the contract... could often

18:37

be the determining factor on whether

18:40

women were able to enforce the

18:42

payment of their pin money when

18:44

it came to a legal dispute.

18:46

So, as we said at the

18:48

beginning, you really wanted a fantastic

18:50

lawyer and ironclad contract writing and

18:52

negotiation on your behalf when it

18:54

came to drafting a marriage contract.

18:56

Okay, so now bringing it back

18:58

to Pride and Prejudice. It's pretty

19:01

revealing that Mrs. primarily thinks of

19:03

Lizzy's marriage to Mr. Darcy in

19:05

these monetary terms. While it makes

19:07

sense to some extent, the Bennett's

19:09

finances are front and center from

19:11

the get-go, it possibly makes her

19:13

a bit silly, mostly just like

19:15

in her reaction in that in

19:17

that moment. It's so over the

19:19

top, right? It's so over the

19:22

top. She's so excited. But at

19:24

the same time, even though it's,

19:26

you know, clearly meant to be

19:28

a little bit of comic relief

19:30

and it's like a like a

19:32

moment that Lizzy's kind of like,

19:34

It also for the context of

19:36

the time it says a lot

19:38

about how important this all was

19:40

right and that she is the

19:42

key about the finances and since

19:45

Mr. Bennet clearly never is like

19:47

somebody has to yes so the

19:49

money really does matter. Yes, it's

19:51

so easy I think for us

19:53

to often just roll her eyes

19:55

with her. Mrs. Bennet does something

19:57

really over the top like that,

19:59

but it really does it really

20:01

does make a lot of sense

20:03

that you know she has been

20:06

from the beginning really focused on

20:08

getting her daughter's married because because

20:10

finances are such a relevant conversation

20:12

for her to have. Again Mr.

20:14

Mr. Bennet is not bothered. But

20:16

she's like, I've got five daughters,

20:18

this needs to get settled. So

20:20

the fact that Darcy comes along,

20:22

she's like, yes, you are my

20:24

favorite child now, I love it.

20:27

Yeah, and the fact that the

20:29

first, you know, she's like, what

20:31

pin money, what jewels? Like, the

20:33

first things that she's talking about

20:35

are ostensibly will be Lizzy's property,

20:37

right? Yeah, showing an awareness there.

20:39

Yeah. And in kind of a

20:41

weird way by having her kind

20:43

of focused so much on the

20:45

pin money and stuff like that.

20:47

It's kind of like a sideways

20:50

way of looking at her affection

20:52

for her daughter, right? Because she's

20:54

saying, I realize that you, my

20:56

daughter, are going to have financial

20:58

security. It's not just like, oh,

21:00

Darcy's super wealthy. It's that you,

21:02

Lizzy, are going to have money

21:04

and autonomy in a certain kind

21:06

of context, which is kind of

21:08

incredible, right? And so when she

21:11

says these sorts of things, it's

21:13

suggesting or presuming that Lizzy will

21:15

have a substantial amount of money.

21:17

at her disposal, and that's a

21:19

very big deal. So she's obviously

21:21

assuming that Darcy will be very

21:23

generous with doping on that pin

21:25

money, regardless of the amount that

21:27

Elizabeth is bringing into the marriage.

21:29

And if Mr. Bennet is going

21:32

to be smart, he will make

21:34

sure that that is the case.

21:36

Because we might all love Darcy,

21:38

but yeah, we do hope that

21:40

Mr. Bennet goes to the mats

21:42

to get her a sizable pin

21:44

money budget. Let's hope that he

21:46

emerges from his library long enough

21:48

to get that done, you know.

21:50

Yes. And we might just all

21:52

have to trust in Darcy that

21:55

he's going to start with a

21:57

big number to begin. He's going

21:59

to be like, how's this for

22:01

pin money? And Mr. Bennett's going

22:03

to be like, great. That looks

22:05

great. That looks great. But again,

22:07

this is assuming, like, this is

22:09

a lot of assumed generosity and

22:11

willingness to put this into a

22:13

legal contract. So we're assuming that

22:16

on Darcy's part. Because he's our

22:18

hero. And we want this for

22:20

both him and Lizzy. But like,

22:22

yes. But in all reality, getting

22:24

it on paper is that is

22:26

not a small thing. Regardless of

22:28

how much like, oh, they're a

22:30

love match. This is going to

22:32

be great. Yeah. Yeah. You still

22:34

get the contract. That being said,

22:36

there are a couple of cultural

22:39

references to pin money beyond Austin

22:41

that we wanted to mention before

22:43

we wrapped up. As always, there

22:45

are way more than we could

22:47

ever detail in this episode. Yeah.

22:49

I mean, just the fact that

22:51

if you've ever read any Regency

22:53

romance, historical romance, this does come

22:55

up. Often in a more kind

22:57

of just colloquial, like, oh, here's

23:00

my pin money. Right. Yeah, we

23:02

really did go heavy on the

23:04

legal side, but we do want

23:06

to highlight one specific example. And

23:08

that is the fact that there

23:10

was an actual novel titled Pin

23:12

Money, which was published in 1831,

23:14

and this novel is by Catherine

23:16

Gore. And the reason that we

23:18

really wanted to mention that is

23:21

because Staves actually has a really

23:23

good summary of what's going on

23:25

in a novel and why it's

23:27

maybe significant to this idea of

23:29

Pin Money. So this is from

23:31

Staves. propaganda against pin money reached

23:33

a nearly melodramatic climax in Mrs.

23:35

Catherine Gore's novel Pin Money in

23:37

1831. Her basically good heroin spends

23:39

her allowance on progressively disastrous things,

23:41

beginning with a white marble fountain

23:44

for their garden, progressing through a

23:46

subscription to the opera which exposes

23:48

her to the attentions of a

23:50

peer who thinks nothing of trying

23:52

to seduce married women. And finally,

23:54

ending by incurring before she's aware

23:56

of it. a debt of £280

23:58

at the ACART table. Distressing experience

24:00

leads her to understand the moral

24:02

quote had I found it necessary

24:05

to have recourse to my husband

24:07

for the detailed payments of my

24:09

debts had the full and entire

24:11

confidence been established between us in

24:13

the deframent of my personal expenses

24:15

never never should I have been

24:17

plunged into the excesses which embitter

24:19

my destiny when by referring to

24:21

my husband for the immediate payment

24:23

of my bills I exposed myself

24:26

to reprehension for any prodigal or

24:28

frivolous action. I shall be ensured

24:30

from all danger of further extravagance.

24:32

Oh, some classic didactic fiction. We

24:34

just love it, you know. Although,

24:36

Diane and I did enjoy the

24:38

fact that apparently this novel has

24:40

a lot of product placement in

24:42

it. Yes. Yeah. And we were

24:44

just like, so is it just

24:46

like, oh, and I must go

24:49

to... Jay Tupperman's to procure my

24:51

new bonnet. Like how... So I

24:53

kind of want to read it

24:55

now. Yes, yes. Apparently that's a

24:57

big part of the novel. Oh,

24:59

it's just delightful. The other example

25:01

that some of you may be

25:03

familiar with comes from Abigail Adams,

25:05

writing to John Adams on June

25:07

16, 1775. And in this letter,

25:10

she requests that he bring her

25:12

back pins due to their high

25:14

cost locally. She's like, they're a

25:16

lot cheaper where you're at, so

25:18

because you just... toss a few

25:20

of those into your trunk, please

25:22

and thank you. And you will

25:24

sometimes see Adam's request and along

25:26

with that her clear awareness of

25:28

the cost and financial worth of

25:31

pins cited as the origin of

25:33

the phrase, pin money, like that's

25:35

the kind of thing you can

25:37

definitely find if you Google a

25:39

pin money like that will come

25:41

up on the internet. As a

25:43

result, yeah. But it had definitely

25:45

been in usage long before that.

25:47

So Abigail Adams, not the origin

25:49

of the term, pin money. Well,

25:51

if you have any thoughts. or

25:54

related anecdotes on pin money, we

25:56

would love to hear them. You

25:58

can reach out to us on,

26:00

I don't know. If you have

26:02

some like family lore about some

26:04

great aunt, great great, great aunt

26:06

who had just great negotiation for

26:08

pin money, please do tell. Absolutely,

26:10

I'm into it. You can reach

26:12

out to us on Instagram at

26:15

The Thing About Austin and on

26:17

Twitter at Austin underscore things. You

26:19

can also check out our website,

26:21

The Thing About Austin. And you

26:23

can also check out our merch

26:25

for the podcast on Red Bubble,

26:27

go to about Austin. Red Bubble.com.

26:29

And before we wrap up, we

26:31

just wanted to take a moment

26:33

to thank all of you who

26:36

have left such nice reviews for

26:38

us on Apple Podcasts. Yes, thank

26:40

you. Really over the last, I

26:42

mean, it's been a while since

26:44

we've taken the moment to read

26:46

some of those on the podcast,

26:48

but just a couple that have

26:50

come in recently. Coraline Jones loves

26:52

these succinct deep dives and lit

26:54

nerd forever. can't get enough of

26:56

this material culture context on Austin's

26:59

novels and specifically shouts out our

27:01

niche nerdery and you know we

27:03

love to hear that so that's

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like our tagline right niche nerdery

27:07

so if you would like to

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appreciated and it really does help

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us out and you know it

27:34

also just warms our hearts right

27:36

it does that's the most important

27:38

thing obviously all of the feels.

27:40

Stay tuned for next episode when

27:43

we'll be talking about elegant extracts

27:45

extracts. Thanks for listening. Bye!