Another language known,
Ere tongue or sound can publish round
Her charms of flesh and bone.

I believe that all this nonsense was nearly extempore, and that the fancy
of drawing the images from America arose at the moment from the obvious
rhyme which presented itself in the first stanza.

The following extracts are from letters addressed to a niece who was at
that time amusing herself by attempting a novel, probably never finished,
certainly never published, and of which I know nothing but what these
extracts tell. They show the good-natured sympathy and encouragement
which the aunt, then herself occupied in writing 'Emma,' could give to
the less matured powers of the niece. They bring out incidentally some
of her opinions concerning compositions of that kind:--

_Extracts_.

'Chawton, Aug. 10, 1814.

'Your aunt C. does not like desultory novels, and is rather fearful
that yours will be too much so; that there will be too frequent a
change from one set of people to another, and that circumstances will
be sometimes introduced, of apparent consequence, which will lead to
nothing. It will not be so great an objection to me. I allow much
more latitude than she does, and think nature and spirit cover many
sins of a wandering story. And people in general do not care much
about it, for your comfort . . .'

'Sept. 9.