"My Dear Sir,
I am honoured by the Prince's thanks and very much obliged to yourself for the kind manner in which you mention the work. ...
You are very kind in your hints as to the sort of composition which might recommend me at present, and I am fully sensible that an historical romance, founded on the House of Saxe-Cobourg, might be much more to the purpose of profit or popularity than such pictures of domestic life in country villages as I deal in. But I could no more write a romance than an epic poem. I could not sit seriously down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life; and if it were indispensable for me to keep it up and never relax into laughing at myself or at other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first chapter. No, I must keep to my own style and go on in my own way; and though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.
I remain, my dear Sir,
Your very much obliged, and sincere friend,
J. AUSTEN.
Chawton, near Alton, April 1, 1816."
-- Jane Austen, letter to J. S. Clarke
More letters from the Brabourne edition of Jane Austen's letters.
Erotica author, aka Elspeth Potter, on Writing from the Inside
Sunday, October 25, 2009
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Go Jane! Much more eloquent than: Thank you, kind sir, but none of your business.
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