“My Dear Sir,
I am honoured by the Prince’s thanks and very much obliged to yourself for the kind manner in which you mention the work. …
You are very kind in your hints as to the sort of composition which might recommend me at present, and I am fully sensible that an historical romance, founded on the House of Saxe-Cobourg, 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; and if it were indispensable for me to keep it up and never relax into laughing at myself or at other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first chapter. No, I must keep to my own style and go on in my own way; and though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.
I remain, my dear Sir,
Your very much obliged, and sincere friend,
J. AUSTEN.
Chawton, near Alton, April 1, 1816.”
— Jane Austen, letter to J. S. Clarke
More letters from the Brabourne edition of Jane Austen’s letters.
Go Jane! Much more eloquent than: Thank you, kind sir, but none of your business.