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The final chapter of "Pride and Prejudice" is rather an epilogue telling what happens to the main characters after the two couples get married. Is it meant that Mrs Bennet never visits Pemberley? Father, Kitty, even Lydia (without her husband) go to Pemberley, but not mother?

With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs. Bingley, and talked of Mrs. Darcy, may be guessed.

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This sentence doesn’t mean that Mrs. Bennet only visited Jane: it means that when she did visit Jane she talked with “delighted pride” of Elizabeth’s position at Pemberley, and the reader should be able to guess with what effect.

You’ll recall that the Bingleys “remained at Netherfield a twelvemonth” after their marriage, and Netherfield was three miles from Longbourn; whereas the Darcys repaired to Pemberley in Derbyshire, which was two or three days’ journey. Given these distances, we can imagine that Mrs. Bennet visited the Darcys once or twice a year, but the Bingleys once or twice a week. Whatever her other qualities, Mrs. Bennet was not outstanding for her tact and discretion, so that the reader should be able to guess that the “delighted pride” with which she talked of Elizabeth’s success in marrying a man with £10,000 a year might have come eventually to impose even upon the good nature of Jane and Mr. Bingley, who had but half that income.

The narrator goes on to say that Mrs. Bennet’s frequent visits were eventually too much for the Bingleys, and after a year they moved to a safer distance from Longbourn:

Mr. Bingley and Jane remained at Netherfield only a twelvemonth. So near a vicinity to her mother and Meryton relations was not desirable even to his easy temper, or her affectionate heart. The darling wish of his sisters was then gratified; he bought an estate in a neighbouring county to Derbyshire, and Jane and Elizabeth, in addition to every other source of happiness, were within thirty miles of each other.

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  • Thank you for your answer! It is interesting that you consider that "when she did visit Jane she talked with". Btw, I, as a non-native English speaker, understand it differently: that visiting Jane and talking of Elisabeth are two independent parts in the sentence.
    – Andra
    Jun 29, 2021 at 17:18
  • Moreover, I just read a German translation and listened to an audio book of another German translation (I'm not a native German speaker either), and in both of them the sentence is like I mean, in fact, they both mention first talking of D. and then visiting B.: 1) sprach sie von Mrs. Darcy und besuchte Mrs. Bingley; 2) sie späterhin von Mrs. Darcy sprach oder Mrs. Bingley besuchte.
    – Andra
    Jun 29, 2021 at 17:19
  • Grammatically the sentence can also be read your way, but I prefer my reading in the context of the novel, because it helps explain why the Bingleys had to move away from Netherfield. Jun 30, 2021 at 20:04

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