It
encourages me to depend on the same share of general good opinion
which "Emma's" predecessors have experienced, and to believe that I
have not yet, as almost every writer of fancy does sooner or later,
overwritten myself.
'I am, Madam,
'Your obliged and faithful Servt.
'J. AUSTEN.'
'December 31, 1815.'
CHAPTER VIII.
_Slow growth of her fame--Ill success of first attempts at
publication--Two Reviews of her works contrasted_.
Seldom has any literary reputation been of such slow growth as that of
Jane Austen. Readers of the present day know the rank that is generally
assigned to her. They have been told by Archbishop Whately, in his
review of her works, and by Lord Macaulay, in his review of Madame
D'Arblay's, the reason why the highest place is to be awarded to Jane
Austen, as a truthful drawer of character, and why she is to be classed
with those who have approached nearest, in that respect, to the great
master Shakspeare. They see her safely placed, by such authorities, in
her niche, not indeed amongst the highest orders of genius, but in one
confessedly her own, in our British temple of literary fame; and it may
be difficult to make them believe how coldly her works were at first
received, and how few readers had any appreciation of their peculiar
merits.
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