in her readers and in the reception of her novels after they had been published, and probably of the reception within her family bedore they were published. I'm wondering how much these forces affected her while she was writing the novels. She did tell Clarissa, "I do not write for such dull elves who have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves." (Quoting from memory). Having published some minor fiction myself, I was glad to sell it, but at the time of writing I was just trying to express my ideas and feelings. And I do think you can tell when a piece of writing is written for a market. However, that doesn't preclude excellence.From all we can gather Shakespeare was often writing for a going taste. I don't want to be stuffy about this.