Charlotte hade – uppenbarligen – inte mycket till övers för Jane Austen. Så här skrev hon idag för 169 år sedan, 1848, till kritikern G.H. Lewes: ’Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point … what did I find? An accurate daguerrotyped portrait of a common-place face; a carefully-fenced, highly cultivated garden with neat borders and delicate flowers – but no glance of a bright vivid physiognomy – no open country – no fresh air – no blue hill – no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined houses … I am wrong – or were you hasty in what you said?’
