Produced by Carl W. Goss
A Novel by Susan Ferrier
"Life consists not of a series ofillustrious actions; the greater part of our time passes incompliance with necessities—in the performance of daily duties—inthe removal of small inconveniences—in the procurement of pettypleasures; and we are well or ill at ease, as the main stream of lifeglides on smoothly, or is ruffled by small and frequentinterruption."—JOHNSON.
Edinburgh Edition
RICHARD BENTLEY & SON
Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen
1881
Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh.
MISS FERRIER'S Novels have, since their first appearance, sufferedcurtailment in all subsequent Editions. The present Edition is the firstreprint from the original Editions, and contains the whole of theomissions in other reprints. It is, therefore, the only perfect Editionof these Novels.
Works which have received the praise of Sir Walter Scott and Sir JamesMackintosh, and been thought worthy of discussion in the NoctesAmbrosianae, require no further introduction to the reader. The almostexceptional position which they occupy as satirizing the foibles ratherthan the more serious faults of human nature, and the caustic characterof that satire, mingled with such bright wit and genial humour, giveMiss Ferrier a place to herself in English fiction; and it is felt thata time has come to recognize this by producing her works in a form whichfits them for the library, and in a type which enables them to be readwith enjoyment.
December1881.
In November 1854 there died in Edinburgh one who might, with truth, becalled almost the last, if not the last, of that literary galaxy thatadorned Edinburgh society in the days of Scott, Jeffrey, Wilson, andothers. Distinguished by the friendship and confidence of Sir WalterScott, the name of Susan Edmonstone Ferrier is one that has becomefamous from her three clever, satirical, and most amusing novels ofMarriage, The Inheritance, and Destiny. They exhibit, besides, akeen sense of the ludicrous almost unequalled. She may be said to havedone for Scotland what Jane Austen and Maria Edgeworth have respectivelydone for England and Ireland—left portraits, painted in undyingcolours, of men and women that will live for ever in the hearts andminds of her readers. In the present redundant age of novel writers andnovel-readers, and when one would suppose the supply must far exceed thedemand from the amount of puerile and often at the same time prurientliterature in the department of fiction that daily flows from the press,it is refreshing to turn to the vigorous and, above all, healthy moraltone of this lady's works. To the present generation they are as if theyhad never been, and to the question, "Did you ever read Marriage?" itis not uncommon in these times to get such an answer as, "No, never. Whowrote it?" "Miss Ferrier." "I never heard of her or her novels." It iswith the view, therefore, of enlightening such benighted ones that I penthe following pages.
[1] Reprinted from the Temple Bar Magazine for November 1878, Vol I.
Miss Ferrier was the fourth and youngest daughter