The following gracious answer was returned by Mr. Clarke, together with a
suggestion which must have been received with some surprise:--

'Carlton House, Nov. 16, 1815.

'DEAR MADAM,--It is certainly not _incumbent_ on you to dedicate your
work now in the press to His Royal Highness; but if you wish to do the
Regent that honour either now or at any future period I am happy to
send you that permission, which need not require any more trouble or
solicitation on your part.

'Your late works, Madam, and in particular "Mansfield Park," reflect
the highest honour on your genius and your principles. In every new
work your mind seems to increase its energy and power of
discrimination. The Regent has read and admired all your
publications.

'Accept my best thanks for the pleasure your volumes have given me. In
the perusal of them I felt a great inclination to write and say so.
And I also, dear Madam, wished to be allowed to ask you to delineate
in some future work the habits of life, and character, and enthusiasm
of a clergyman, who should pass his time between the metropolis and
the country, who should be something like Beattie's Minstrel--

Silent when glad, affectionate tho' shy,
And in his looks was most demurely sad;
And now he laughed aloud, yet none knew why.

Neither Goldsmith, nor La Fontaine in his "Tableau de Famille," have