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view which she calls thoroughly English, though never hav-

ing been out of England she could hardly judge of its

scenery by contrast. She was deeply impressed by the sea,

on which, she says, "all must linger and gaze, on their first

return to it, who ever deserves to look on it at all." But

admiration of the picturesque had "become a mere jargon,"

from which Jane Austen recoiled. One of her characters

is made to say that he likes a fine prospect, but not on pic-

turesque principles; that he prefers tall and flourishing trees

to those which are crooked and blasted; neat to ruined cot-

tages, snug farmhouses to watchtowers, and a troop of tidy,

happy villagers to the finest banditti in the world...

Jane Austen held the mirror up to her time, or at least

to a certain class of the people of her time; and her time

was two generations and more before ours. We are re-

minded of this as we read her works by a number of little

touches of manners and customs belonging to the early part

of the century, and anterior to the rush of discovery and

development which the century has brought with it. There

are no railroads, and no lucifer matches. It takes you two

days and a half, even when you are flying on the wings

of love or remorse, to get from Somersetshire to London.

A young lady who has snuffed her candle out has to go to

bed in the dark. The watchman calls the hours of the night.

Magnates go about in chariots and four with outriders,

their coachmen wearing wigs. People dine at five, and in-

stead of spending the evening in brilliant conversation as

we do, they spend it in an unintellectual rubber of whist,

or a round game. Life is unelectric, untelegraphic; it is

spent more quietly and it is spent at home. If you are capa-

ble of enjoying tranquillity, at least by way of occasional

contrast to the stir and stress of the present age, you will

find in these tales the tranquillity of a rural neighborhood

and a little country town in England a century ago.

That Jane Austen held up the mirror to her time must be

remembered when she is charged with want of delicacy

in dealing with the relations between the sexes, and espe-

cially in speaking of the views of women with regard to

matrimony. Women in those days evidently did consider a

happy marriage as the best thing that destiny could have in

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