She speaks slightingly of the clergy. She is quite without respect for the Admiral uncle in whose household she was brought up, and to whom therefore she should be grateful. She says she has a large acquaintance of various Admirals; she knows too much about their bickerings and jealousies, and of Rears and Vices she has seen all too many. ‘Now,’ she says, ‘do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat.’ But of course we do. Rears and Vices! Strong stuff! Miss Crawford mocks religious feeling. She remarks, on being shown round the Rushworth Elizabethan chapel, ‘Cannot you imagine with what unwilling feelings the former belles of the house of Rushworth did many a time repair to this chapel? The young Miss Eleanors and Miss Bridgets — starched up into seeming piety, but with their heads full of something very different — especially if the poor chaplain were not worth looking at — and, in those days, I fancy parsons were inferior even to what they are now.’ That makes Fanny angry.
