elucidation of the characters of great men. Though there is scarcely a page in this work episodical to the main design, there may be much that may seem to thee wearisome and prolix, if thou wilt not lend thyself, in a kindly spirit, and with a generous trust, to the guidance of the Author. In the hero of this tale thou wilt find neither a majestic demigod, nor a fascinating demon. He is a man with the weaknesses derived from humanity, with the strength that we inherit from the soul; not often obstinate in error, more often irresolute in virtue; sometimes too aspiring, sometimes too despondent; influenced by the circumstances to which he yet struggles to be superior, and changing in character with the changes of time and fate; but never wantonly rejecting those great principles by which alone we can work out the Science of Life-a desire for the Good, a passion for the Honest, a yearning after the True. From such principles, Experience, that severe Mentor, teaches us at length, the safe and practical philosophy which consists of Fortitude to bear, Serenity to enjoy, and Faith to look beyond!

It would have led, perhaps, to more striking incidents, and have furnished an interest more

intense, if I had cast Maltravers, the Man of Genius, amidst those fierce but ennobling struggles with poverty and want to which genius is so often condemned. But wealth and lassitude have their temptations as well as penury and toil. And for the rest-I have taken much of my tale and many of my characters from real life, and would not unnecessarily seek other fountains when the Well of Truth was in my reach.

The Author has said his say, he retreats once more into silence and into shade; he leaves you alone with the creations he has called to lifethe representatives of his emotions and his thoughts-the intermediators between the individual and the crowd:-Children not of the clay, but of the spirit, may they be faithful to their origin!-so should they be monitors, not loud but deep, of the world into which they are cast, struggling against the obstacles that will beset them, for the heritage of their parent-the right to survive the grave!

London, August 12, 1837.

PREFACE

TO THE EDITION OF 1840.

HOWEVER numerous the works of fiction with which, my dear Reader, I have trespassed on your attention, I have published but three, of any account, in which the plot has been cast amidst the events, and coloured by the manner, of our own times. The first of these, "Pelham," composed when I was little more than a boy, has the faults, and perhaps the merits, natural to a very early age,— when the novelty itself of life quickens the observation, when we see distinctly, and represent vividly, what lies upon the surface of the world,— and when, half sympathizing with the follies we satirize, there is a gusto in our paintings which atones for their exaggeration. As we grow older we observe less, we reflect more; and, like Frankenstein, we dissect in order to create.

*

The second novel of the present day, which, after an interval of some years, I submitted to the world, was one I now, for the first time, acknowledge, and which (revised and corrected) will be included in this series, viz., " Godolphin;-a work devoted to a particular portion of society, and the development of a peculiar class of character. The third, which I now reprint, is "Ernest Maltravers," the most mature, and, on the whole, the most comprehensive, of all that I have hitherto written.

For the original idea, which, with humility, I will venture to call the philosophical design, of a moral education or apprenticeship, I have left it easy to be seen that I am indebted to Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister." But, in " Wilhelm Meister," the apprenticeship is rather that of theoretical art. In the more homely plan that I set before myself, the apprenticeship is rather that of practical life. And, with this view, it has been especially my study to avoid all those attractions lawful in romance, or tales of pure humour or unbridled

*For "The Disowned" is cast in the time of our grandfathers, and "The Pilgrims of the Rhine" has nothing to do with actual life, and is not, therefore, to be called a novel.

† At the date of this preface "Night and Morning" had not appeared.