You are very, 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. FOOTNOTES: [288] _Chawton Manor and its Owners_, p. 171. [289] Page 84. [290] _Life of Mary Russell Mitford_, by the Rev. A. G. L'Estrange (Bentley, 1870). We ought to add that Miss Mitford's admiration increased with time. Thus, in August 1816, she speaks of _Emma_ 'the best, I think, of all her charming works'; and, at a later date, of her 'exquisite' _Persuasion_. In September 1817 she mentions her death as a 'terrible loss'; and a year afterwards, calls her 'our dear Miss Austen.' [291] Box Hill, however, was seven miles from Highbury, whereas it is only three miles from Leatherhead. [292] _Highways and Byways in Surrey_, by Eric Parker. [293] In support of Cobham, it has been suggested that in chapter xi., where mention is made of this village, the author had forgotten to alter the name to Highbury. Jane knew Cobham as a halting-place on the way from Chawton to London (p. 292). Bookham is another possible claimant. [294] Emperor of Russia, who with the King of Prussia was then visiting England. [295] See p. 26. [296] A visit of Jane to Scotland, of which no record is left in family tradition, is so improbable that we must imagine her to be referring to some joke, or possibly some forgotten tale of her own. [297] One of our author's few inaccuracies is to be found in chapter xlii., where an 'orchard in blossom' is made to coincide with ripe strawberries. When her brother Edward next saw her, he said 'Jane, I wish you would tell me where you get those apple-trees of yours that come into bloom in July!' W. H. Pollock's _Jane Austen, etc._, pp. 90-91. [298] No doubt the father of Sir Seymour Haden, and the introducer into England of the stethoscope. He lived at the corner of Hans Street and Sloane Street.