Marriage | Page 8

all
over at length, but fear to invite you to my own bower for fear of
suspicion; but I trust you will soon come boldly, and face my whole
family. I do not think you need fear them much; of course, like other
people, they have their thoughts, but by no means speak with certainty,
and Margaret has this minute assured us that she does not think it Miss
Ferrier's."

Uncle Adam, with "his seventy thousand pounds," and as "cross as two
sticks," in some degree resembled old Mr. Ferrier, who was somewhat
brusque and testy in his manner, and alarmed many people who were
otherwise unacquainted with the true genuine worth and honesty of his
character. Miss Becky is a poor old maid, saddled with commissions
from all her friends of a most miscellaneous description.
"She was expected to attend all accouchements, christenings, deaths,
chestings, and burials, but she was seldom asked to a marriage, and
never to any party of pleasure."
She is an admirable pendant to the "Pratt," who is inseparable, however,
from her invisible nephew, Mr. Anthony Whyte. Miss Pratt is a sort of
female Paul Pry, always turning up at the most unexpected moment at
Lord Rossville's, and finally puts the finishing stroke to the pompous
old peer by driving up to his castle door in the hearse of Mr. M'Vitie,
the Radical distiller, being unable to procure any other mode of
conveyance during a heavy snow-storm, and assured every one that she
fancied she was the first person who thought herself in luck to have got
into a hearse, but considered herself still luckier in having got well out
of one.
Caroline, Duchess of Argyll, [1] expresses her appreciation of The
Inheritance to the author, for whom she entertained a warm
friendship:--
[1] Daughter of Lord Jersey, and wife of the first Marquis of Anglesea,
whom she divorced, when Lord Paget, in 1810: m. the same year
George, sixth Duke of Argyll.
"UPPER BROOK STREET, Monday Evening.
"What can I say sufficiently to express my thanks either to you, my
dear Miss Ferrier, or to the author of The Inheritance, whoever she
may be, for the most perfect edition of that most perfect book that was
ever written! and now that I may be allowed to have my suspicion, I
shall read it again with double pleasure. It was so kind of you to
remember your promise! When I received your kind letter and books

this morning I was quite delighted with my beautiful present, and to
find I was not forgotten by one of my best friends."
The Inheritance--a fact not generally known--was dramatised and
produced at Covent Garden, but had a very short run, and was an utter
failure, as might have been expected. Mrs. Gore was requested to adapt
it for the stage by the chief comic actors of the day, and she writes to
Miss Ferrier on the subject:--
"Since the management of Covent Garden Theatre fell into the hands of
Laporte, he has favoured me with a commission to write a comedy for
him, and the subject proposed by him is again the French novel of
L'Héretière, which turns out to be a literal translation of The
Inheritance. He is quite bent upon having Miss Pratt on the stage. I
have not chosen to give Monsieur Laporte any positive answer on the
subject without previously applying to yourself to know whether you
have any intention or inclination to apply to the stage those admirable
talents which are so greatly appreciated in London."
Mrs. Gore, meanwhile, had been forestalled in her attempt, as a play on
the subject had been held before the reader to Covent Garden, and she
writes again to Miss Ferrier:--
"I have since learned with regret that the play is the production of a
certain Mr. Fitzball, the distinguished author of the Flying Dutchman,
an sixty other successful melodramas, represented with great applause
at the Surrey, Coburg, City, and Pavilion Theatres, etc.; in short, a
writer of a very low class. The play of The Inheritance has been
accepted at Covent Garden; but, from my knowledge of the general
engagements of the theatre, I should say that it has not the slightest
chance of approaching to representation. For your sake it cannot be
better than in the black-box of the manager's room, which secures it at
least from performance at the Coburg Theatre."
We must let the curtain, so to speak, drop on The Inheritance, and pass
on to Destiny. This novel also appeared six years after, in 1831, and
was dedicated to Sir Walter Scott. And he acknowledges the
compliment as follows:--

Sir Walter Scott to Miss Ferrier.
"My DEAR MISS FERRIER--Ann returned to-day, and part of her
Edinburgh news informs me that you meditated honouring your present