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I have a friend who is an Austen expert and has written a series of "Jane Austen Mystery"
novels, and she provided the following tidbit:
 
"The fixed incomes were derived from money invested in the Government Funds--essentially
bonds that paid a fixed four percent per annum. Thus, a yearly income of 10K a year
probably represented the four percent interest Darcy derived from his investments, not the
rents from his estates. His actual inheritance/net worth would have been far more vast.
When a man in his position could easily spend 700 guineas on a good hunter (the guinea at
the time being a pound plus one shilling), and probably kept a stable of several, he'd
need a bit of blunt."
 
Steve Medema 
 
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