elves to believe
that the interest of the public is yet exhausted.

FOOTNOTES:

[363] _Memoir_, p. 162.

[364] _Memoir_, p. 163.

[365] Preface to original edition of _Northanger Abbey_.

[366] _Memoir_, p. 165.

[367] _Brabourne_, vol. ii. p. 333, &c.

[368] _Brabourne_, vol. ii. p. 338, &c.

[369] _Memoir_, p. 87.

[370] _Sailor Brothers_, chap. xviii.

[371] His two sisters and himself.

APPENDIX

_The Text of Jane Austen's Novels._

In the course of frequent reprinting, various errors have crept into the
text of the novels, which seem in danger of becoming perpetuated. We
therefore make no apology for pointing these out and for giving our
reasons why we prefer any particular reading.

In arriving at the correct text of Jane Austen, common sense will be our
best guide. It is of no use to assume, as some editors have done, that
the latest edition which appeared in the author's lifetime, and which
might naturally have had the benefit of her corrections, is any more
correct than the earliest. Jane Austen was no skilled proofreader, and
it is a melancholy fact that the second edition of _Mansfield Park_,
which she returned to Mr. Murray 'as ready for press' as she could make
it, contains more misprints than any of the other novels, including one
or two that do not appear in the first edition. But as the type was
evidently re-set, this may have been as much the printer's fault as the
author's. Again, though in one of her letters she points out a misprint
in the first edition of _Pride and Prejudice_, the passage is not
corrected in either the second or third edition, both of which
subsequently appeared in her lifetime.

Before noticing the various discrepancies, it is necessary to say a few
words about the chief editions of note. During the author's lifetime
three editions appeared of _Pride and Prejudice_, two of _Sense and
Sensibility_ and of _Mansfield Park_, and one of _Emma_. _Northanger
Abbey_ and _Persuasion_ were published soon after her death. No other
edition of the novels seems to have been published until Bentley bought
up the copyrights of all the novels in 1832, and included them in his
'Standard Novels' series.

In process of time, Bentley's edition adopted various emendations in the
text. It held the field to all intents and purposes for sixty years
(apart from cheap reprints in the 'Parlour Series,' 'Railway Library,'
&c.), and its text has largely been followed in later edit