ABSTRACT
Dulce est desipere in loco; 1 and a good Novel is now and then an agreeable relaxation from severer studies. Of this description was Pride and Prejudice; and from the entertainment which those volumes afforded us, we were desirous to peruse the present work; nor have our expectations been disappointed. If Emma has not the highly-drawn characters in superior life which are so interesting in Pride and Prejudice; it delineates with great accuracy the habits and the manners of a middle class of gentry; and of the inhabitants of a country village at one degree of rank and gentility beneath them. Every character throughout the work, from the heroine to the most subordinate, is a portrait which comes home to the heart and feelings of the Reader; who becomes familiarly acquainted with each of them, nor loses sight of a single individual till the completion of the work. The unities of time and place are well preserved; the language is chaste and correct; and if Emma be not allowed to rank in the very highest class of modern Novels, it certainly may claim at least a distinguished degree of eminence in that species of composition. It is amusing, if not instructive; and has no tendency to deteriorate the heart.
