No subject

few words outside a modern formal English vocabulary (if any) and a
very clear, Augustan sentence structure.  We're not talking Sterne
here, or even Henry James.  If _Jonatahn Strange and Mr Norrell can
get published, then novels with Austen-level prose should be
publishable as well.

I simply suspect that this trick fell afoul of a simple pair of
alternatives.  There are lots of markets which aren't particularly
interested in the general category (Regency period comedy of manners
with New Comedy structure), so you'd get rejections there
automatically.  And on the other hand, I find it hard to believe that
editors in markets which _are_ interested in that category would not
recognize at least the opening to _Pride and Prejudice_ (and probably
_Persuasion_ -- I'll grant _Northanger Abbey_) so you get a rejection
based on plagiarism without wanting to get into fights with the
submitter, whence the generic letters.

James