After mentioning the likelihood of this marriage to her ladyship last night, she immediately, with her usual condescension, expressed what she felt on the occasion; when it became apparent that, on the score of some family objections on the part of my cousin, she would never give her consent to what she termed so disgraceful a match. I thought it my duty to give the speediest intelligence of this to my cousin, that she and her noble admirer may be aware of what they are about, and not run hastily into a marriage which has not been properly sanctioned.
– Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57. Mr. Bennet continues reading Mr. Collins’s letter about a rumored marriage between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. Mr. Collins warns that Lady Catherine would never approve of such a match and urges Elizabeth and her admirer not to rush into this unsanctioned marriage. In Lady Catherine’s eyes marriages between the upper and lower classes is strictly forbidden – by her! She is quite the interfering busybody, aided and abetted by Mr. Collins.