hree years dead. Dr. Whately deals mainly
with _Mansfield Park_ and _Persuasion_; his predecessor professed to
review _Emma_, though he also gives brief summaries of _Sense and
Sensibility_ and _Pride and Prejudice_. Mr. Austen Leigh, we think,
speaks too contemptuously of this initial notice of 1815. If, at
certain points, it is half-hearted and inadequate, it is still fairly
accurate in its recognition of Miss Austen's supreme merit, as
contrasted with her contemporaries--to wit, her skill in investing the
fortunes of ordinary characters and the narrative of common
occurrences with all the sustained excitement of romance. The Reviewer
points out very justly that this kind of work, 'being deprived of all
that, according to Bayes, goes "to elevate and surprise," must make
amends by displaying depth of knowledge and dexterity of execution.'
And in these qualities, even with such living competitors of her own
sex as Miss Edgeworth and Miss Brunton (whose _Self-control_ came out
in the same year as _Sense and Sensibility_), he does not scruple to
declare that 'Miss Austen stands almost alone.' If he omits to lay
stress upon her judgment, her nice sense of fitness, her restraint,
her fine irony, and the delicacy of her artistic touch, something must
be allowed for the hesitations and reservations which invariably beset
the critical pioneer.

To contend, however, for a moment that the present volume is Miss
Austen's greatest, as it was her first published, novel, would be a
mere exercise in paradox. There are, who swear by _Persuasion_; there
are, who prefer _Emma_ and _Mansfield Park_; there is a large
contingent for _Pride and Prejudice_; and there is even a section
which advocates the pre-eminence of _Northanger Abbey_. But no one, as
far as we can remember, has ever put _Sense and Sensibility_ first,
nor can we believe that its author did so herself. And yet it is she
herself who has furnished the standard by which we judge it, and it is
by comparison with _Pride and Prejudice_, in which the leading
characters are also two sisters, that we assess and depress its merit.
The Elinor and Marianne of _Sense and Sensibility_ are only inferior
when they are contrasted with the Elizabeth and Jane of _Pride and
Prejudice_; and even then, it is probably because we personally like
the handsome and amiable Jane Bennet rather better than the obsolete
survival of the sentimental novel represented by Marianne Dashwood.
Darcy and Bingl