[307] Memoir, pp. 122-4.
[308] Life of King James II, from the Stuart MSS. in Carlton House, published 1816.
[309] At Brighton.
[310] Published, 1804.
[311] The article would, of course, have been an impossibility had the Review been published punctually, Emma not appearing till late in December 1815.
[312] From information kindly supplied by Mr. John Murray.
[313] After a short mention of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice (in which Sir Walter unkindly suggests that Lizzie Bennet in refusing Darcy 'does not perceive that she has done a foolish thing until she accidentally visits a very handsome seat and grounds belonging to her admirer'), the critic devotes considerable space, including a long quotation, to Emma. Summing up, he declares as follows:—
'Perhaps the reader may collect, from the preceding specimen, both the merits and faults of the author. The former consist much in the force of a narrative, conducted with much neatness and point, and a quiet yet comic dialogue, in which the characters of the speakers evolve themselves with dramatic effect. The faults, on the contrary, arise 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 upon, their prosing is apt to become as tiresome in fiction as in real society.'
Had not Sir Walter found it necessary to be somewhat apologetic in commending in public anything so frivolous as a novel, his praise would probably have been more whole-hearted, as in the well-known passage in his diary, under date March 14, 1826:—
'Read again, for the third time at least, Miss Austen's finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice. That young lady has a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The big Bow-Wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me. What a pity such a gifted creature died so early!'