“Marianne’s [letter] was finished in a very few minutes; in
length it could be no more than a note; it was then folded up,
sealed, and directed with eager rapidity. Elinor thought she
could distinguish a large W in the direction; and no sooner was
it complete than Marianne, ringing the bell, requested the
footman who answered it to get that letter conveyed for her to
the two-penny post. This decided the matter at once. – Jane
Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 26 Footmen appear
prominently in Sense and Sensiblity, 2008, and Emma 1996. They
stand at attention in a row with the other servants when John
and Fanny Dashwood arrive at Norland Park to take residence, and
flank a seated Mrs. Ferrars when she banishes Edward and Lucy
Steele from her sight. A footmen, as mentioned by Jane Austen,
conveyed Marianne’s first letter to Willoughby when she arrives
in London. In Emma 1997, the viewer is treated to the ridiculous
sight of footmen moving kneeling cushions among the rows of
strawberries as Mr. Knightley’s g