Jane Austen along with her heroines never sat home and waited for their fate to come at last. They danced with soldiers while selecting their husbands carefully.

“Finding love on the Internet isn’t the first mating method to be criticized for its resemblance to the crass marketplace,” writes Elizabeth Kantor in USA Today. “In a 1751 letter to the editor, Samuel Richardson, Austen’s favorite novelist, groused about the new-fangled “assembly” balls, the kind of dance where Austen would bring Elizabeth and Darcy together.”

The singles went to assembly balls in hopes of encountering new town comers of a good fortune. And just like in internet dating, the guests knew about the society standing of everyone in the room before the introductions were even made.

For those who say they’re old-fashioned to look for love online, you can’t possibly be older than fashionably bright Ms. Austen.

Photo from Entertainment Weekly, showing Jane Austen taking a phone call by the poolside while reading a script.