3 JULY 2004, Page 27

Darcy and Devonshire

From CA Latimer Sir: It seems unlikely that Chatsworth could have been Jane Austen's inspiration for Pemberley (Life and Letters. 26 June). It would have been impossible for Mr Darcy to run such an establishment on a measly £10,000 a year, even 200 years ago. I don't know what the late Duke of Devonshire's income was, but I believe that in the 1870s the duke of the day enjoyed, from land alone, some £180,000 p.a., on which, no doubt. he jogged along quite nicely.

Some years ago there was a television adaptation which used the more suitable Sitwell house. Renishaw, as Pemberley — also in Derbyshire.

CA. Latimer

Woodbridge, Suffolk