BRENDA S. COX, FASHIONABLE GOODNESS. CHRISTIANITY IN JANE AUSTEN'S WORLD.

 

Sydney Smith, Anglican Clergyman and Proponent of Catholic Rights: Potential Model for Henry Tilney

By Brenda S. Cox

Includes excerpts from Cox’s new book, Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England

 Jane Austen was committed to the Church of England (Anglican Church), and she worshiped in its churches and chapels regularly. Her father, two of her brothers, and many of her friends and relations were Anglican clergymen. The Church of England was a state church. Parliament made laws concerning worship and churches. The archbishops and bishops of the church sat in the House of Lords. (Much of this is still true.) Everyone was required to pay tithes (10% of their income or agricultural produce) to the clergyman of the parish where they lived. (This is no longer true.)