Whately also addressed Austen 's position as a female writer . He wrote : `` we suspect one of Miss Austin 's ( sic ) great merits in our eyes to be , the insight she gives us into the peculiarities of female heroines are what one knows women must be , though one never can get them to acknowledge ( admit ) it . '' Whately also addressed Austen 's position as a female writer , writing : `` we suspect one of Miss Austin 's ( sic ) great merits in our eyes to be , the insight she gives us into the peculiarities of female heroines are what one knows women must be , though one never can get them to acknowledge it . ''