Jane Austen 
The Letters of Jane Austen 

The point of view of a woman with such an environment must naturally be circumscribed and narrow; and in this Miss Austen’s charm consists. Seeing little, she painted what she saw with absolute fidelity and a dexterity and perfection unequalled. ’On her was bestowed, though in a humble form, the gift which had been bestowed on Homer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Scott, and a few others, —the gift of creative power.’ Endowed with the keenest and most delicate insight and a vivid sense of humor, she depicted with exactitude what she observed and what she understood, giving to each fact and emotion its precise shade and value.