thout it. It was one of
my vanities, like your not reading _Patronage_.

* * * * *

Is not this all that can have happened or been
arranged? Not quite. Henry wants me to see more of
his Hanwell favourite, and has written to invite
her to spend a day or two here with me. His scheme
is to fetch her on Saturday. I am more and more
convinced that he will marry again soon, and like
the idea of _her_ better than of anybody else, at
hand.

Yours very truly and affectionately,
JANE.

Miss Austen, Chawton.
By favour of Mr. Gray.

All through this year and the early part of the next, _Emma_ (begun
January 1814, finished March 29, 1815) was assiduously worked at.
Although polished to the highest degree, it was more quickly composed
than any previous work and gave evidence of a practised hand. It was
also the most 'Austenish' of all her novels, carrying out most
completely her idea of what was fitted to her tastes and capacities. She
enjoyed having a heroine 'whom no one would like but herself,' and
working on 'three or four families in a country village.' _Emma_ appeals
therefore more exclusively than any of the others to an inner circle of
admirers: but such admirers may possibly place it at the head of her
compositions. There are no stirring incidents; there is no change of
scene. The heroine, whose society we enjoy throughout, never sleeps away
from home, and even there sees only so much company as an invalid father
can welcome. No character in the book is ill, no one is ruined, there
is no villain, and no paragon. On the other hand, the plot is admirably
contrived and never halts; while the mysteries--exclusively mysteries of
courtship and love--are excellently maintained. Emma never expresses any
opinion which is thoroughly sound, and seldom makes any forecast which
is not belied by the event, yet we always recognise her acuteness, and
she by degrees obtains our sympathy. The book also illustrates to the
highest degree the author's power of drawing humorous characters; Miss
Bates, Mr. Woodhouse, and Mrs. Elton in the first class, and Harriet
Smith in the second. And the humour is always essential to the
delineation of character--it is never an excrescence. It also depends
more on what is said than