Ward, Mrs. Humphry, 1851-1920 / 2008-09-07 00:00:00
EBOOK MISS BRETHERTON ***
Produced by Andrew Templeton, Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
MISS BRETHERTON
BY MRS. HUMPHRY WARD
1888
PREFATORY NOTE
It ought to be stated that the account of the play _Elvira_, given in
Chapter VII. of the present story, is based upon an existing play, the
work of a little known writer of the Romantic time, whose short,
brilliant life came to a tragical end in 1836.
M. A. W.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
So many criticisms, not of a literary but of a personal kind, have been
made on this little book since its appearance, that I may perhaps be
allowed a few words of answer to them in the shape of a short preface to
this new edition. It has been supposed that because the book describes a
London world, which is a central and conspicuous world with interests and
activities of a public and prominent kind, therefore all the characters
in it are drawn from real persons who may be identified if the seeker is
only clever enough. This charge of portraiture is constantly brought
against the novelist, and it is always a difficult one to meet; but one
may begin by pointing out that, in general, it implies a radical
misconception of the story-teller's methods of procedure. An idea, a
situation, is suggested to him by real life, he takes traits and
peculiarities from this or that person whom he has known or seen, but
this is all.
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