Poor Miss Finch | Page 4

this book, in
remembrance of an uninterrupted friendship of many years?
More than one charming blind girl, in fiction and in the drama, has
preceded "Poor Miss Finch." But, so far as I know, blindness in these
cases has been always exhibited, more or less exclusively, from the
ideal and the sentimental point of view. The attempt here made is to
appeal to an interest of another kind, by exhibiting blindness as it really
is. I have carefully gathered the information necessary to the execution
of this purpose from competent authorities of all sorts. Whenever
"Lucilla" acts or speaks in these pages, with reference to her blindness,
she is doing or saying what persons afflicted as she is have done or said
before her. Of the other features which I have added to produce and
sustain interest in this central personage of my story, it does not
become me to speak. It is for my readers to say if "Lucilla" has found
her way to their sympathies. In this character, and more especially
again in the characters of "Nugent Dubourg" and "Madame
Pratolungo," I have tried to present human nature in its inherent
inconsistencies and self-contradictions--in its intricate mixture of good
and evil, of great and small--as I see it in the world about me. But the
faculty of observing character is so rare, the curiously mistaken

tendency to look for logical consistency in human motives and human
actions is so general, that I may possibly find the execution of this part
of my task misunderstood--sometimes even resented--in certain
quarters. However, Time has stood my friend in relation to other
characters of mine in other books--and who can say that Time may not
help me again here? Perhaps, one of these days, I may be able to make
use of some of the many interesting stories of events that have really
happened, which have been placed in my hands by persons who could
speak as witnesses to the truth of the narrative. Thus far, I have not
ventured to disturb the repose of these manuscripts in the locked drawer
allotted to them. The true incidents are so "far-fetched"; and the
conduct of the real people is so "grossly improbable"!
As for the object which I have had in view in writing this story, it is, I
hope, plain enough to speak for itself. I subscribe to the article of belief
which declares, that the conditions of human happiness are independent
of bodily affliction, and that it is even possible for bodily affliction
itself to take its place among the ingredients of happiness. These are the
views which "Poor Miss Finch" is intended to advocate--and this is the
impression which I hope to leave on the mind of the reader when the
book is closed.
W. C.
January 16th, 1872.
NOTE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.
IN expressing my acknowledgments for the favorable reception
accorded to the previous editions of this story, I may take the present
opportunity of adverting to one of the characters, not alluded to in the
Letter of Dedication. The German oculist--"Herr Grosse"--has
impressed himself so strongly as a real personage on the minds of some
of my readers afflicted with blindness, or suffering from diseases of the
eye, that I have received several written applications requesting me to
communicate his present address to patients desirous of consulting him!
Sincerely appreciating the testimony thus rendered to the truth of this
little study of character, I have been obliged to acknowledge to my

correspondents--and I may as well repeat it here--that Herr Grosse has
no (individual) living prototype. Like the other Persons of the Drama,
in this book and in the books which have preceded it, he is drawn from
my general observation of humanity. I have always considered it to be a
mistake in Art to limit the delineation of character in fiction to a
literary portrait taken from any one "sitter." The result of this process is
generally (to my mind) to produce a caricature instead of a character.
November 27th, 1872

POOR MISS FINCH
CHAPTER THE
FIRST
Madame Pratolungo presents Herself
You are here invited to read the story of an Event which occurred in an
out-of-the-way corner of England, some years since.
The persons principally concerned in the Event are:--a blind girl; two
(twin) brothers; a skilled surgeon; and a curious foreign woman. I am
the curious foreign woman. And I take it on myself--for reasons which
will presently appear--to tell the story.
So far we understand each other. Good. I may make myself known to
you as briefly as I can.
I am Madame Pratolungo--widow of that celebrated South American
patriot, Doctor Pratolungo. I am French by birth. Before I married the
Doctor, I went through many vicissitudes in my own country. They
ended in