It is a time of elegance, wit, and exacting decorum, and you, a handsome young lady of respectable family and pleasing address, have just completed the perusal of a most delightfully engaging novel. You begin to consider, were you a heroine upon such pages, whether your character would be marked by wit and charm, vigour and capability, honour and wealth. Amidst the genteel diversions and drawing-room delights so prettily described, your heart begins to fix not on the trifles, but on the heroine’s romance, and you find yourself, perhaps unwisely, wishing for a story not unlike her own.
