Joking with Jane

 

Jane Austen’s novels and the tone of her letters have always given me the feeling that she was a lot like Elizabeth Bennet.

I can’t help thinking that she modelled Elizabeth on herself, but it was unconsciously done. Otherwise she would have been too modest to jot down her famous description of Elizabeth in one of her letters to Cassandra:

‘I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least...