Pride and Prejudice (TV Mini Series)

Episode 1 (1995)

Anna Chancellor: Miss Bingley

Quotes 

• Miss Bingley : I fear this latest escapade may have lessened your regard for her "fine eyes".

  Mr. Darcy : Not at all. They were brightened by the exercise.

• Miss Bingley : And now the mother! Are we to be invaded by every Bennet in the country? Oh, too much to be borne.

  Mr. Hurst : Oh, lord!

  [the door opens and Mrs. Bennet, Lizzy, Kitty and Lydia enter] 

  Mr. Bingley : Mrs. Bennet, you are very welcome.

  [He and Darcy bow] 

  Mr. Bingley : I hope you do not find Miss Bennet worse than you expected.

  Mrs. Bennet : Indeed I do, sir. She is very ill indeed, and suffers a vast deal...

  [Lizzy looks down, mortified; Bingley looks worried] 

  Mrs. Bennet : ...though with the greatest patience in the world, for she has the sweetest temper, Mr. Bingley. But she is a great deal too ill to be moved.

  [Bingley's sisters, off to the side, look furious at this imposition] 

  Mrs. Bennet : We must trespass, a little longer, on your kindness.

  Mr. Bingley : But of course.

  Miss Bingley : Miss Bennet will receive every possible attention, ma'am, I assure you.

  Mrs. Bennet : You are very good.

  [She laughs, and then immediately dismisses the matter of Jane's health] 

  Mrs. Bennet : Well, you have a sweet room here! I think you will never want to leave Netherfield, now you are come here.

  Mr. Bingley : I believe I should be happy to live in the country forever! Wouldn't you, Darcy?

  Mr. Darcy : You would? You don't find the society somewhat confined and unvarying for your taste?

  Mrs. Bennet : "Confined and unvarying?" Indeed, it is not, sir! The country is a vast deal pleasanter than town, whatever *you* may say about it!

  [Darcy turns his back and walks over to look out the window. Lizzy feels humiliated] 

  Elizabeth Bennet : Mama, you mistake Mr. Darcy's meaning.

  Mrs. Bennet : Do I? Do I? He seems to think the country nothing at all!

  Elizabeth Bennet : Mama!

  Mrs. Bennet : "Confined!" "Unvarying!" I would have him know we dine with four-and-twenty families!

  [the Bingley sisters try unsuccessfully to contain their sniggers; Bingley looks at them in anger and distress] 

• [At the party at Lucas Lodge, Sir William Lucas endeavors to make conversation with Mr. Bingley's two sisters] 

  Sir William Lucas : No doubt you attend assemblies at St. James's Court, Miss Bingley?

  Miss Bingley : We go but rarely, sir.

  Sir William Lucas : Indeed, I am surprised. I should be happy to introduce you there, you know, at any time when I'm in town.

  [Mrs. Hurst looks in suppressed shock and mirth at her sister] 

  Miss Bingley : You are too kind, sir.

  [She curtsies, and the two sisters move away] 

  Sir William Lucas : [Feeling awkward, but not quite sure why]  Well, well, good, good! Capital, capital!

  Miss Bingley : Insufferable conceit! To imagine that we'd need *his* assistance in society.

  Mrs. Hurst : I am sure he is a very good kind of man, Caroline.

  Miss Bingley : And I am sure he kept a very good kind of *shop* before his elevation to the Knighthood.

  [They both giggle maliciously] 

• Mr. Bingley : All young ladies are accomplished. They sing, they draw, they dance, speak French and German, cover screens and I know not what.

  Mr. Darcy : But not half a dozen would satisfy my notion of an accomplished woman.

  Miss Bingley : Oh, certainly. No woman can be really esteemed accomplished who does not also possess a certain something in her air, in her manner of walking, in the tone of her voice, her address and expressions.

  Mr. Darcy : And to all this she must yet add something more substantial in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.

  Elizabeth Bennet : I am no longer surprised at you knowing only *six* accomplished women, Mr. Darcy. I rather wonder at your knowing *any*.

• Miss Bingley : Miss Eliza Bennet, let me persuade you to follow my example and take a turn about the room. It's so refreshing. - Will you not join us, Mr Darcy?

  Mr. Darcy : That would defeat the object.

  Miss Bingley : What do you mean, sir? What on earth can he mean?

  Elizabeth Bennet : I think we would do better not to inquire.

  Miss Bingley : Nay, we insist on knowing your meaning, sir.

  Mr. Darcy : Well, that your figures appear to best advantage when walking and that I might best admire them from my present position.

  Miss Bingley : Shocking, abominable reply! How shall we punish him, Miss Eliza?

  Elizabeth Bennet : Nothing so easy. Tease him, laugh at him.

  Miss Bingley : Laugh at Mr. Darcy? Impossible, he is a man without fault.