PREFACE
his little book was written before either “Jane Eyre” or
“Shirley,” and yet no indulgence can be solicited for it on
the plea of a first attempt. A first attempt it certainly was
not, as the pen which wrote it had been previously worn a good
deal in a practice of some years. I had not indeed published
anything before I commenced “The Professor,” but in many a
crude effort, destroyed almost as soon as composed, I had got over
any such taste as I might once have had for ornamented and
redundant composition, and come to prefer what was plain and
homely. At the same time I had adopted a set of principles on the
subject of incident, &c., such as would be generally approved in
theory, but the result of which, when carried out into practice,
often procures for an author more surprise than pleasure.
I said to myself that my hero should work his way through life
as I had seen real living men work theirs—that he should never
get a shilling he had not earned—that no sudden turns should lift
him in a moment to wealth and high station; that whatever small
competency he might gain, should be won by the sweat of his
brow; that, before he could find so much as an arbour to sit down
in, he should master at least half the ascent of “the Hill of
Difficulty;” that he should not even marry a beautiful girl or a lady
of rank. As Adam’s son he should share Adam’s doom, and drain
throughout life a mixed and moderate cup of enjoyment.