Part 43 (1/2)

_Mrs dickson_ did not ht it very inferior to _P and P_ Liked it the less fro a Mr and Mrs Dixon in it

_Mrs Brandreth_ thought the third volu I had ever written--quite beautiful!

_Mr B Lefroy_ thought that if there had been more incident it would be equal to any of the others The characters quite as well-drawn and supported as in any, and fro Did not like the heroine so well as any of the others Miss Bates excellent, but rather too htley a sensible man

_Mrs B Lefroy_ ranked _Emma_ as a composition with _S and S_ Not so _brilliant_ as _P and P_ nor so _equal_ as _M P_ Preferred Emma herself to all the heroines The characters, like all the others, adly marked than sohtley, Mrs Elton, and Miss Bates her favourites Thought one or two of the conversations too long

_Mrs Lefroy_ preferred it to _M P_, but liked _M P_ the least of all

_Mr Fowle_ read only the first and last chapters, because he had heard it was not interesting

_Mrs Lutley Sclater_ liked it very ht it all about very cleverly in the last volureat hted with I like it better than any Every character is thoroughly kept up I ain with Charles Miss Bates is incomparable, but I was nearly killed with those precious treasures They are unique, and really with hbury all day, and I can't help feeling I have just got into a new set of acquaintance No one writes such good sense, and so very cohton_ did not like it so well as _P

and P_ Thought the authoress wrong, in such tiyht it much inferior to the others

_Mr Jeffrey_ (of the _Edinburgh Revieas kept up by it three nights

_Miss Murden_--Certainly inferior to all the others

_Captain C Austen_ wrote: '_Ehted with her, more so I think than even with my favourite, _Pride and Prejudice_, and have read it three tiht it very clever, but did not like it so well as either of the others

We do not kno Mr Jeffrey's involuntary tribute of admiration was conveyed to the author, but we are sure she hly It was not the first time she had collected acritiques on _Mansfield Park_--apparently from two ladies of the same family--will illustrate the sort of want of coot outside the limits of her own immediate circle

_Mrs B_--Much pleased with it: particularly with the character of fanny as being so very natural

Thought Lady Bertrained _that_ ht be want of taste, as she did not understand wit

_Mrs Augusta B_ owned that she thought _S and S_ and _P and P_ downright nonsense, but expected to like _M P_ better, and having finished the first voluh the worst

Meanwhile, the banking-house of Austen, Maunde, and Tilson, had closed its doors; and on March 23, 1816, Henry Austen was declared a bankrupt: the i the failure of an Alton bank which the London firainst Henry; but he had the unpleasant sensation of starting life over again, and of having caused serious loss to several of his fah Perrot, who had gone sureties for him on his appointment as Receiver-General for Oxfordshi+re

Jane herself was fortunate in losing no more than thirteen pounds--a portion of the profits of _Mansfield Park_[314]

Henry Austen possessed an extraordinary elasticity of nature which made a rebound from depression easy--indeed, almost inevitable--in his case

He returned at once to his original intention of taking Orders, as if the interveningmore than an interruption of his normal course Nor was it merely perfunctory performance of clerical duties to which he looked forward: he was in earnest, and began by e to take up a serious study of the New Testae

He seee in this respect; for when he went to be exa hiht desirable, put his hand on a book which lay near him on the table, and which happened to be a Greek Testament, and said: 'As for _this_ book, Mr Austen, I dare say it is some years since either you or I looked into it'

Henry Austen becaelical school, and was for many years perpetual curate of Bentley, near Alton

He did not marry the 'Hanwell favourite,' but found a wife after some years in Miss Eleanor Jackson, who survived him