Tumblr crosspost (11 July 2019)

[anghraine]

Not at all related to the former vagueblogging, and not actually vague:

I gather that Courtney Milan writes good books, but she’s arguing on Twitter that “in trade” == “in the slave trade” and ???

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It's all the weirder because the context was P&P, where 'in trade' includes figures like Mrs Bennet's father—a rural attorney. Darcy's grandfather would be much more likely to be involved in slavery, IMO.

Comments

[anghraine]

Yeah, I don't know much about economics per se, but IMO the literary usage is perfectly clear on that point. Someone in trade could be involved in the slave trade, but most of the time it refers to lawyers/attorneys and moderately prosperous shopkeepers and such. And she was specifically talking about the Bingley fortune, when we know the Bingleys come from the North—you don't have to make much of a leap to guess at how a family in the North could come by a large fortune in trade.