I looked up the definition of "condescension" both in Merriam-Webster and the Oxford dictionary, both of which imply a negative connotation to the meaning, where the act of emphasizing one's superiority seems important.
However, in Pride and Prejudice, Austen used this in quite a different setting. Mr. Collins often uses this as a seemingly positive adjective to describe Lady Catherine and even in the narrator parts, it is used in a relatively positive light. Out of the several usages, here's an example:
Mr. Collin's triumph, in consequence of this invitation was complete.
The power of displaying the grandeur of his patroness to his wondering
visitors, and of letting them see her civility towards himself and his
wife, was exactly what he had wished for; and that an opportunity of
doing it should be given so soon, was such an instance of Lady
Catherine's condescension, as he knew not how to admire enough.
Another example:
She is all affability and condescension, and I doubt not but you will
be honoured with some portion of her notice when service is over
I don't understand the meaning in the context here. Is this a known alternative meaning?
Best Answer
Perhaps the more interesting question that emerges from the posted question is, When did condescension acquire the meaning of—as the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fifth edition (2010) puts it—
There is no such meaning in Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), which offers this entry for the word:
The definition of condescension in Todd's 1818 revision of Johnson's dictionary, published five years after the first publication of Pride and Prejudice, retains Johnson's wording from 1755 to the letter.
Nor does Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) break any new ground toward arrogance or patronizing behavior in a negative sense:
The same entry appears in the 1847 edition of Webster's dictionary and virtually the same one appears in the 1864 edition, as well.
In Webster's International Dictionary (1890), however, a new element cautiously emerges:
The definition of condescend takes on a new tone, too:
Even more striking is the discussion in Webster's New International Dictionary (1909) of the difference in sense between condescend, deign, and vouchsafe:
The Byron quotation is particularly striking, since it comes from a letter to Mr. Murray, dated April 6, 1819:
So on the one hand we have mainstream dictionaries taking no formal notice of any undercurrent of presumptuous superiority in the idea of condescension until around 1890; but on the other we have a letter by the celebrated Byron in 1819 (and published by 1831) in which condescension fairly drips with unwarranted patronization.
It is quite possible that Jane Austen had never heard condescension used with an ironical or hostile implication at the time that she wrote Pride and Prejudice; but nevertheless, the seeds of what amounts to a 180-degree reversal of the original "courteous and voluntarily egalitarian" sense of the word may already have sprouted in some parts of the English-speaking world.