] But it's such a humourless portrait: it doesn't do justice either to Jane or to Henry, both of whom were very witty people. Of course you wouldn't want to set people rolling in the aisles about an obituary, but all the same...

] We've been pointing the finger at sister Cassandra or niece Caroline for presenting the respectable premature-Victorian Jane, but surely this biography of Henry's started the trend: a brighter genius or a sincerer Christian .

I consider this a very sweet eulogy from a devoted brother. Surely in later times he was able to give a more comprehensive assessment of his sister, but for that time this "biography" just seems to fit. I admire him for it, and can only wish that I am able to be half so eloquent when called upon for someone I care about. Remember, JA may have been not only his closest sibling, but also his strongest supporter throughout his lifelong ups and downs.

] Henry probably thought he was making an ambitious claim when he wrote those novels, which by many have been placed on the same shelf as the works of a D'Arblay and an Edgeworth . He couldn't know that he wasn't being ambitious enough.

Yes! The surest support for your point is the resounding cry (by all of us who are not lit professors): "D'Arblay and Edgeworth who?"