It is an interesting question, isn't it? My take on that phrase has
always been that when she wrote Northanger Abbey in 1798-1799, pinning
up a train would have been necessary, particularly in the crowded
assembly rooms at Bath. It would have still been an accurate statement
when Austen revised the manuscript for potential publication in 1803.
The manuscript was revised again just before it's actual (and
posthumous) publication in 1817, but it's hard to imagine that anyone
would have a train on any gown by that time, so I had always assumed
that Austen simply left the earlier phrase stand during that last
revision. It captures Catherine and Isabella's relationship so
beautifully that I'm glad she left it in...
- Hope
Lavolta Press wrote:
Generally, I agree with you that early 19th-century ball gowns were
often shorter than other evening dresses. However, Jane Austen does
interestingly say in _Northanger Abbey_ that Catherine and her friend
Isabella "called each other by their Christian name, were always arm
in arm when they walked, pinned up each other's train for the dance,
and were not to be divided in the set."
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