No governess! How was that possible? Five daughters brought up at home without a governess! I have never heard of such a thing. Your mother must have been quite a slave to your education.
– Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 29. The haughty Lady Catherine de Bourgh reacts with shock, on being told by Elizabeth that her family never employed a governess to educate her and her sisters. Every family with young girls needs a governess, she rudely suggests. She uses a metaphor to compare Mrs. Bennet to a slave because she herself had to take charge of her daughters’ education. Elizabeth is attending dinner at Rosings Park, Lady Catherine’s residence, with Charlotte and Mr. Collins.