This is a charming letter, written by Jane Austen, April 1, 1816:
You are very, very kind in your hints as to the sort of Composition which might recommend me at present, & I am fully sensible than an Historical Romance, founded on the House of Saxe Coburg might be much more to the purpose of Profit or Popularity, than such pictures of domestic Life in Country Villages as I deal in–but I could no more write a Romance than an Epic Poem.–I could not sit seriously down to write a serious Romance under any other motive than to save my Life, & if it were indispensable for me to keep it up & never relax into laughing at myself or other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first Chapter.–No–I must keep to my own style & go on in my own Way …
Which confirms, to me, that Jane Austen was a comic writer above all else.
(The quote is from Jane Austin Today.)
