] I can't think of an instance in any of the novels where JA describes a character as talking with a mouth full of food. Can anyone else?

I have not "seen" it in the novels, only the adaptations, and I thought that since they usually tried to be accurate to the period that there might be something to this.

] J. Dillehay, where else have you seen this, and do you think it is being used in the films to characterize unsympathetic characters like Mrs. Bennet? I haven't seen any of the adaptations besides P&P2 so I could be way off here.

I remember that in Persuasion (P2) Charles Musgrove talks with his mouth full at Lyme when they see Mr. Elliot through the window, and also Captain Wentworth in the same scene when he says top Anne, "Lucky you didn't bump into him (Mr. Elliot) then." Since it was Captain Wentworth, the dashing hero, I just wondered if etiquette had changed in 200 years.

] But.... I just can't BEAR to think of Darcy and Lizzie together at Pemberley, shouting at each other across the table with their mouths full of dinner! ;-)

Now there's a funny thought. But a petty trifle like that wouldn't spoil Lizzy for me, nor do I imagine it would spoil Darcy for you. :)