Page:Fragment of a novel written by Jane Austen.pdf/12

 were already sketched in with a vigorous hand, I will try to give an idea of them, illustrated by extracts from the work.

In the account which follows, the fragment is described in some detail; the verbatim quotations amount to perhaps twenty pages of this edition. The present owner of the manuscript has reached the conclusion that, since so much has long been before the public, it is right that the whole should no longer be withheld.

Some explanation may be thought necessary of the way in which the fragment is printed. It approximates to the manner of 1817, and the result is somewhat less in bulk than one of the three volumes in which Mr. Egerton or Mr. Murray would doubtless have issued the work if it had been completed for publication. The printer, however, would have made certain departures from his copy: he would have expanded the contractions; he would have broken