ABSTRACT
I have spoken elsewhere of Miss Tytler’s Life of Jane Austen as being little more than a reproduction of Mr. Austen Leigh’s ‘Memoir.’ I have, I confess, a much greater objection to her manner of treating the novels; for, although she speaks of touching them ‘with a reverent hand,’ she appears to me to have done just the reverse, and to have given an account of each book, sometimes in Jane Austen’s words, with a running commentary, but generally in her own words, paraphrasing the original in such a manner as to spoil the symmetry of the work and destroy much of the beauty of the literary structure. Jane Austen’s works did not, and do not, require this kind of handling. They should be read just as they were written, and it may be truly said of them that no books are more suitable for reading aloud. If well read, by a person who can understand the characters, 82and is in sympathy with the spirit of the book, they are admirably adapted for this purpose; but as a great number of people dislike anything of the kind, it is a comfort to be able to add that they are equally delightful to read to oneself. The reviews of these books which have already appeared, and the general knowledge of them which is possessed by the public, deter me from entering into any lengthy criticism of their peculiar excellences or occasional defects, nor do I think it either necessary or desirable to introduce quotations from novels which are so well known and appreciated by the great body of the readers of fiction. There are, however, some few remarks which occur to me which may not be out of place, when we are considering the life and character of the gifted authoress of these works, and the circumstances under which they were written.
