JANE AUSTEN 65 



from the minute detail which the author's plan 

 comprehends. Characters of folly or simplicity, 

 such as those of old Woodhouse and Miss Bates, are 

 ridiculous when first presented, but if too often 

 brought forward, or too long dwelt on, their 

 prosing is apt to become as tiresome in fiction as in 

 real society." If ever a reviewer "damned himself 

 to everlasting fame," surely this writer did so ; but, 

 indeed, we need not have quoted so much, since 

 (in the words of Corporal Trim) "he is damned 

 already" for leaving out the * Mr.' before the name 

 Woodhouse. 



But six years later (1821) another Quarterly 

 reviewer (said to be Archbishop Whately) reversed 

 the above unfortunate judgment by singling out 

 the drawing of Miss Austen's fools as shining 

 examples of her skill. 



Jane Austen must surely be the most re-read 

 author of the last hundred years. Lord Holland is 

 said to have read her books when he had the gout, 

 and in that case he must have experienced what 

 smaller people have suffered during less picturesque 

 complaints, viz., from not being able to determine 

 which of her books they have most nearly forgotten. 

 In this frame of mind one longs for a new Miss 

 Austen more than for a new symphony of Beethoven, 

 or a play of Shakespeare, and much more than for 

 the lost books of Livy, which, indeed, I, for one, do 

 not desire at all. 



The power of endlessly re-reading the novels of 

 Miss Austen is the only advantage conferred by a 

 bad memory. I do not imagine that Macaulay, 

 greatly as he admired her, could have endured to 



