A Memoir of Jane Austen

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Observations on the Novels 117
on looking back to such a fixed landmark, can find that it has been
advancing instead of receding from it.
The long interval that elapsed between the completion of
‘Northanger Abbey’ in 1798,° and the commencement of ‘Mansfield
Park’ in 1811, may sufficiently account for any difference of
style which may be perceived between her three earlier and her
three later productions. If the former showed quite as much originality
and genius, they may perhaps be thought to have less of
the faultless finish and high polish which distinguish the latter.
The characters of the John Dashwoods, Mr. Collins, and the
Thorpes stand out from the canvas with a vigour and originality
which cannot be surpassed; but I think that in her last three
works are to be found a greater refinement of taste, a more nice
sense of propriety, and a deeper insight into the delicate anatomy
of the human heart, marking the difference between the brilliant
girl and the mature woman. Far from being one of those who
have over-written themselves, it may be affirmed that her fame
would have stood on a narrower and less firm basis, if she had not
lived to resume her pen at Chawton.
Some persons have surmised that she took her characters from
individuals with whom she had been acquainted. They were so
life-like that it was assumed that they must once have lived, and
have been transferred bodily, as it were, into her pages. But surely
such a supposition betrays an ignorance of the high prerogative
of genius to create out of its own resources imaginary characters,
who shall be true to nature and consistent in themselves. Perhaps,
however, the distinction between keeping true to nature and servilely
copying any one specimen of it is not always clearly apprehended.
It is indeed true, both of the writer and of the painter,
that he can use only such lineaments as exist, and as he has
observed to exist, in living objects; otherwise he would produce
monsters instead of human beings; but in both it is the office of
high art to mould these features into new combinations, and to
place them in the attitudes, and impart to them the expressions
which may suit the purposes of the artist; so that they are nature,
but not exactly the same nature which had come before his eyes;
just as honey can be obtained only from the natural flowers which