#cranford

The Bates would have to do this too. They don't ever host Mr. Woodhouse because of his eccentricities, but if they are invited to dinner they would be expected to host back. That pork that Emma sent them likely was shared with Mrs. Elton or Mrs. Cole or whomever they needed to invite back to dinner. Or their neighbours might come up with clever excuses and then just come for tea.

The only Austen character at risk of real, actual poverty, is Mrs. Smith in Persuasion. She is unable to keep even a servant and is selling handmaid goods to support herself.

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell is all about this: a small town mostly inhabited by spinsters and widows who mostly have incomes similar to the Bates's, and how they all collectively pretend that they can afford to be gentry. Like baking the treats for your friends yourself but pretending that your maid did it. Or pretending you have candles burning at night but actually rushing to light them when someone knocks on the door. They all find ways to save in other areas of their lives so they can maintain the trappings of gentry.

But the point is: they can afford to eat and clothe themselves and have a maid of all work, an income of 100ish pounds a year is something you can live on and they don't have to work. They are poor in comparison, not actually poor. The majority of the population of England at that time had incomes similar to or lower than the Bates and worked 12-14 hours per day for it.