ABSTRACT
(a) Sir James Mackintosh (1765–1832) wrote on philosophical and historical topics. His particular interest in French affairs brought him into contact with Madame de Staël. The novel he recommended may have been Pride and Prejudice, published in January 1813; he met her in London that year: ‘Something recalled to his mind the traits of character which are so delicately touched in Miss Austen’s novels. ‘There was a genius in the sketching out that new kind of novel.’ He was vexed for the credit of the Edinburgh Review, that it had left her unnoticed; the Quarterly had done her more justice. It was impossible for a foreigner to understand fully the merit of her works. Madame de Staël to whom he had recommended one of her novels, found no interest in it, and in her note to him in reply said it was “vulgaire”, and yet he said nothing could be more true than what he wrote in answer,—“there is no book which that word would suit so little…. Every village could furnish matter for a novel to Jane Austen. She did not need the common materials for a novel—strong passion, or strong incident.”’ (Memoirs of Sir James Mackintosh (1835), R.J. Mackintosh, ii, 471; this recollection is dated about 1830.)
