"But I hope you will get over it, and live to see many young men of four thousand a year come into the neighbourhood."
"It will be no use to us, if twenty such should come, since you will not visit them."
"Depend upon it, my dear, that when there are twenty, I will visit them all."
– Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 1. Young single men are not safe when Mrs. Bennet is around. Their bachelor status is in great jeopardy from the mother of five eligible daughters, who is obsessed with finding husbands for them. But before that can happen the father Mr. Bennet needs to call on a potential husband and make the first move. In this exchange Mr. Bennet teases Mrs. Bennet, promising that if twenty young and wealthy bachelors move into the area he will visit them all. But his tone is ironic, for he doesn’t commit to visiting any less than that number, and Mrs. Bennet is still trying to persuade him to call on one such bachelor Mr. Bingley.