A Memoir of Jane Austen

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CHAPTER X
Observations on the Novels
IT is not the object of these memoirs to attempt a criticism on
Jane Austen’s novels. Those particulars only have been noticed
which could be illustrated by the circumstances of her own life;
but I now desire to offer a few observations on them, and especially
on one point, on which my age renders me a competent
witness––the fidelity with which they represent the opinions and
manners of the class of society in which the author lived early in
this century. They do this the more faithfully on account of the
very deficiency with which they have been sometimes charged––
namely, that they make no attempt to raise the standard of human
life, but merely represent it as it was. They certainly were not
written to support any theory or inculcate any particular moral,
except indeed the great moral which is to be equally gathered
from an observation of the course of actual life––namely, the
superiority of high over low principles, and of greatness over
littleness of mind. These writings are like photographs, in which
no feature is softened; no ideal expression is introduced, all is the
unadorned reflection of the natural object; and the value of such a
faithful likeness must increase as time gradually works more and
more changes in the face of society itself. A remarkable instance
of this is to be found in her portraiture of the clergy. She was the
daughter and the sister of clergymen, who certainly were not low
specimens of their order: and she has chosen three of her heroes
from that profession; but no one in these days can think that
either Edmund Bertram or Henry Tilney had adequate ideas of
the duties of a parish minister. Such, however, were the opinions
and practice then prevalent among respectable and conscientious
clergymen before their minds had been stirred, first by the Evangelical,
and afterwards by the High Church movement which this
century has witnessed. The country may be congratulated which,