It is not at all unlikely--in fact it is almost certain--that she might have enlarged this range, and that of her incident, with perfect safety and to the great profit and delight of her readers.

But these actual things she knew she could do consummately; and she would not risk the production of anything not consummate.
The value of her, artistically, is of course in the perfection of what she did; but the value of her historically is in the way in which she showed that, given the treatment, any material could be perfected.

It was in this way, as has been pointed out, that the possibilities of the novel were shown to be practically illimitable.

Tragedy is not needed: and the most ordinary transactions, the most everyday characters, develop into an infinite series of comedies with which the novelist can amuse himself and his readers.

The _ludicrum humani seculi_ on the one hand, and the artist's power of extracting and arranging it on the other--these two things supply all that is wanted.