Life itself, as soon as it gets beyond mere vegetation, is notoriously full of irony: and no imitation of it which dispenses with the seasoning can be worth much.

That Miss Austen's irony is consummate can hardly be said to be matter of serious contest.
It has sometimes been thought--perhaps mistakenly--that the exhibition of it in _Northanger Abbey_ is, though a very creditable essay, _not_ consummate.

But _Pride and Prejudice_ is known to be, in part, little if at all later than _Northanger Abbey_: and there can again be very little dispute among judges in any way competent as to the quality of the irony there.

Nor does it much matter what part of this wonderful book was written later and what earlier: for its ironical character is all-pervading, in almost every character, except Jane and her lover who are mere foils to Elizabeth and Darcy, and even in these to some extent; and in the whole story, even in the at least permitted suggestion that the sight of Pemberley, and Darcy's altered demeanour, had something to do with Elizabeth's resignation of the old romantic part of _Belle dame sans merci_.

It may further be admitted, even by those who protest against the undervaluation of _Northanger Abbey_, that _Pride and Prejudice_ flies higher, and maintains its flight triumphantly.