'I have been going through a course of novels by lady authors, beginning with Mrs Brooke and ending with Miss Austen, who is my especial favourite. I had always wished, not daring to hope, that I might be something like Miss Austen; and, having finished her works, I took to my own, to see if I could find any resemblance. I am not certain that I have read any of mine since the time of their publication; if I have it is so long since that I have forgotten it, and I was surprised to find in the first leaf of The Miser Married the critic's opinion'.