' I do not think that
she was herself much mortified by the want of early success. She wrote
for her own amusement. Money, though acceptable, was not necessary for
the moderate expenses of her quiet home. Above all, she was blessed with
a cheerful contented disposition, and an humble mind; and so lowly did
she esteem her own claims, that when she received 150_l_. from the sale
of 'Sense and Sensibility,' she considered it a prodigious recompense for
that which had cost her nothing. It cannot be supposed, however, that
she was altogether insensible to the superiority of her own workmanship
over that of some contemporaries who were then enjoying a brief
popularity. Indeed a few touches in the following extracts from two of
her letters show that she was as quicksighted to absurdities in
composition as to those in living persons.
'Mr. C.'s opinion is gone down in my list; but as my paper relates
only to "Mansfield Park," I may fortunately excuse myself from
entering Mr. D's. I will redeem my credit with him by writing a close
imitation of "Self-Control," as soon as I can.
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