The next morning

 

The next morning Miss Benn came again to hear the reading, but this time Jane was not as much pleased as she had been before. She thought that perhaps the work did not make its proper impression owing to Mrs. Austen's reading too rapidly and without giving the conversations their proper emphasis. 'Though she perfectly understood the characters herself, she cannot speak as they ought.' 'Upon the whole, however,' Jane said, 'I am quite vain enough and well satisfied enough. 'In the fullness of her glee, she added:  '(It) is rather too light, and bright, and sparkling; it wants shade; it wants to be stretched out here and there with a long chapter of sense, if it could be had; if not, of solemn specious nonsense, about something unconnected with the story; an essay on writing, a critique of Walter Scott, or the history of Bonaparte, or anything that would form a contrast and bring the reader with increased delight to the playfulness and epigrammatism of the general style.'

from Jane Austen:  a biography, by Elizabeth Jenkins

{perfect book launch party present found, accidentally!, here}