in an attempt to prove to you all that characters like Mary Bennet were not total caricatures, I attach below an extract from an early 19th century commonplace book I have in my possession.

This book is full of pious and sometimes sanctimonious sentiments copied dilligently by the owner (anonymous, sadly) in her careful handwriting. I have not detected an error at all, and the book runs to 120 pages.

I get the impression she might not be able to say anything original so she had cultivated a very beautiful "hand" to make up for her lack of intellectual liveliness and rigor: rather like poor Mary Bennet who, though she was a young lady of deep reflection who read great books and made extracts:

... wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.
Chapter 2.

This book is a work of many years- you can detect her handwriting becoming less childlike as the book progresses.