A writer in _The Critic_ says:
I once saw it recorded of George Eliot, as a thing marvelous,
incredible, and unique, that she actually wept over her own
creations. This fact, so stated, made me wonder at the ignorance
of the writer. Does anybody suppose that a moving situation was
ever yet depicted, the writing of which did not cost the author
anguish and tears? How could he move his readers if he were not
first moved himself? It is an elementary maxim; you may find it
in Horace. But it is a sign that one possesses imagination if
one can laugh over the fortunes of one’s own puppets.
(3158)