A Memoir of Jane Austen

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Other Opinions
It may be amusing to contrast with these testimonies from the
great, the opinions expressed by other readers of more ordinary
intellect. The author herself has left a list of criticisms° which it
had been her amusement to collect, through means of her friends.
This list contains much of warm-hearted sympathising praise,
interspersed with some opinions which may be considered
surprising.
One lady could say nothing better of ‘Mansfield Park,’ than
that it was ‘a mere novel.’
Another owned that she thought ‘Sense and Sensibility’ and
‘Pride and Prejudice’ downright nonsense; but expected to like
‘Mansfield Park’ better, and having finished the first volume,
hoped that she had got through the worst.
Another did not like ‘Mansfield Park.’ Nothing interesting in
the characters. Language poor.
One gentleman read the first and last chapters of ‘Emma,’ but
did not look at the rest, because he had been told that it was not
interesting.
The opinions of another gentleman about ‘Emma’ were so bad
that they could not be reported to the author.
‘Quot homines, tot sententiæ.’°
Thirty-five years after her death there came also a voice of
praise from across the Atlantic. In 1852 the following letter was
received by her brother Sir Francis Austen:––
‘Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
6th Jan. 1852.
‘Since high critical authority has pronounced the delineations
of character in the works of Jane Austen second only to those of
Shakspeare, transatlantic admiration appears superfluous; yet it
may not be uninteresting to her family to receive an assurance
that the influence of her genius is extensively recognised in the
American Republic, even by the highest judicial authorities. The
late Mr. Chief Justice Marshall, of the supreme Court of the
United States, and his associate Mr. Justice Story, highly estimated
and admired Miss Austen, and to them we owe our introduction
to her society. For many years her talents have brightened