] I certainly don't dispute the fact that the Bennets are reasonably well off, and to the servants you have enumerated you can add the footman who brought Miss Bingley's message to Jane early on in the book. However, they are not "rich" in comparison to the Bingleys or the Darcys, and there definitely would be a limit on how much they could spend for clothes.

We cannot compare the Bennets with Bingley or Darcy. It's easy to do, yes, but wealth is so much more than the monetary bit, especially in England during the early 19th century. Still, Mr Bennet (roughly) estimates Lydia's upkeep at £100 pa +$50 in pinmoney. Of those £150 I'd hazard a guess and say at least a quarter went to clothes. The Bennets would have made most of their own clothes, which brings down costs. They would probably be good enough at dressmaking to construct patterns, so that they could copy the fashions from any magazines they might get their hands on. This too brings down costs. In addition, the price of muslin, as you see below, was rather low. Say inflation had brought the price up 50%, the Bennet girls would still only have to pay 8s/yard. One dress takes 6yrds. That's £2, 8s a dress. All in all, I still do not find it odd that the women in P&P2 are dressed predominantly in white. (I'd forgot about the footman)

] (snip)but I DID suggest that they would be unlikely to wear their best white outfits around the house when no company was present or expected. Remember that we're talking of an age when rooms were heated by open coal fires and lit by smoky candles

Excellent point. I do agree with you about travelling in white, it was a dirty business.

] (snip)Even if a family was wealthy enough to employ a fulltime laundress, it was very difficult to dry laundry in bad weather, and I suspect that ballrooms may have sometimes been utilized as places to hang the washing during wet weather.

I am old enough to remember life before tumble-driers. I do know how long washing takes to dry, sir. I have also washed sheets and rugs by hand, it is a very arduous business. I would not be surprised to hear that unused rooms were used to dry washing.

] I guess the whole point of this is to say that it's likely that ANY lady, no matter how wealthy, would probably have taken care to protect her clothes, especially the white ones.

Ladies still do, sir. White clothes are a pain.

] And thank you for the link to Jack's article. It's very informative, but I just can't see Mr. Gardiner as a "minor tradesman" with an income of less than Mr. Bennet's. The way I read it, the Gardiners are quite well off, and probably richer than the Bennets (though their perfectly-matched team of four white horses in PP2 IS a bit over the top).

This I agree wholeheartedly with! I see Mr Gardiner as very early bourgeoise, and considering Mr Bennet thought he had roughly £10000 on hand to pay Wickhams debts and commission. Not quite as rich as Bingley's father, but getting there. (I even agree about the horses ;))