The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-28 00:00:00

" TEN TTIOTTSAYD A YEAR."

f 11:2.

e6ition. U /'CII, .1
ItOUSaii.Cl a Y hll r,.;•_LLI. wiLa
peculiar interest by its not easily numerable ad-
mirers—in other words, by a very considerable
proportion of the reading population. By none,
however, will it be perused with more plea-Sure than
by those who may formerly have been disposed to
quarrel with the biting severity of its pungent
and acrid satire. By a few inimitable touches.
Mr. WaVren .demolishes many enormous webs of
misapprehension.
The "Preface" is as follows :
"The author having now bestowed upon this work a
rigorous and final revision, hopes ho may be allowed to
say a word to the reader, before it leaves his hand for
ever, to take its chance of appearing before posterity.
"Ten Thousand a Year is a fiction, the plot of which
was contrived with great care for the purpose' of '44.: once
exerting and sustaining, as far as possible, the reader's
interest, and exhibiting in a .course of natural events,
and by the agei.cy of natural
.characterS, the aspect
socially, professionally, politically, and religiously of
English society in the' nineteenth centuiy; For this
reason the tale travels over a great space of ground,
and deals with almost every class of society. With-.
out sharing the opinion attributed to Mr. Titmouse
(vol. i., p. 9), that the only real distinction between
Mankind is that effected by money'—the author considers
it an enormous engine :for developing and testing the
character of man, individually and collectively. With
this view, having called up before his mind's eye.a con-
siderable number of widely dissimilar characters, in
different positions in life, he described the sudden loss of
a splendid fortune by one, and its acquisition and sub-
sequent loss by another, with all their agitating and
vividly illustrating incidents ; his object being to teach,
by the form of action and events, important moral les-
sons. How this is brought. about, and how far the at-
tempt may be deemed successful, must now be deter-
mined by a candid and competent reader.
" Some parts of Ten Thousand a Year have been
written with a pen dipped freely and deeply into satire ;
but never with any other object than to disoriminate be-
tween virtue and vice, between sincerity and hypocrisy.
Every institution has its defects, every ordor of men its
unworthy members; and that writer deserves no serious
attention, and will produce no salutary effect, on his
reader's mind, who confounds individuals with the class
to which they belong, and exhibits derogatory views of
a system or institution, instead of tracing out, as with a
caustic pencil, what are deemed the faulty parts.
"The author hopes that he will not be judged in too
harsh and exacting a spirit in respect of anything to be
found in this work; but that some licence may be allowed
to one whose aim is not alone to instruct, but to amuse.
He has received, from time to time, a great number of
letters, one or two of them suggesting that he has sinned
in respect of some of the matters above referred to. A
Peer wrote to him to complain of his having intended
to ridicule the aristocracy by the character, sayings, and
doings attributed to the Earl of Dredlington and Lady
Cecilia ; and some months afterwards he received an
extremely violent letter from a linendraper, accusing
him of an intention to render that respectable calling.
odious. To charges such as these he is not concerned
to give an answer. As reasonably might members of
either House of Parliament, or of 'either branch of
the legal profession, deem themselves wrongett
and misrepresented, because certain unworthy and con-
temptible individuals belonging to them are placed in
unfavourable contrast to those constituting the great
body of worthy and honourable members of these classes.
The Author lately, however, received an earnest and
courteous remonstrance from 'an eminent Dissenting
minister against the alleged tendency of Ten Thousand
a Year, to exhibit disparaging views of Dissenters gene-
rally. The Author solemnly disclaims having ever been
actuated by such unjust, and unchristian feelings and
intentions. He knows much and great to the honour
of the' Dissenters ; and would consider himself acting
unworthily as a member of the Church of England, if
he presumed to speak, or leave on record, a single disre-
spectful word concerning any denomination whatever
of professing Christians. If the Reverend Dismal
Horror,' and the Reverend Smirk Mudflint,'
typify bad specimens of Dissenting thiniAters, surely the
Reverend Morphine Velvet,' and the Reverend Gideon
Fleshpot,' are by no means desirable representatives of
the Church of England clergy.
" Amongst many letters of a 'different character, the
Author received-one, a few years ago; from a town in
the state of kentucky, U.S., of which the following,
with the suppression of several enthusiastic expressions,
is an exact copy. The letter is subscribed with the
writer's name, and found its way, addressed simply
To the Author of Ten Thousand a Year, London, Eng-
land.' He lately discovered the writer to be a gentle-
man now occupying a high position in American society,
and who recently filled an important and responsible
office in the State :

" < Kentucky, U.S.

" Sir,—Permit an humble individual, and a stranger,
to express to you the gratification and delight your in-
structive work Ten Thousand a Year has afforded
Mtn. Instructive it was ; for, at the time I
had the pleasure of perusing it, misfortune had
laid her heavy hand upon me, and sometimes when
those who instead of aiding rather assisted in oppressing
me, my heart would fail me ; but when I thought of
Charles Aubrey, as portrayed by you, who, though
born to affluence, and reared in luxury, how he bore his
misfortunes, I felt ashamed that I, but a mechanic, ono
of the toiling millions to whom God had given health
and strength, should so far forget his goodness as to
despair ; so I put my shoulder to the wheel right man-
fully, and turned neither to the right nor to the left,
and with a firm reliance on His providence, determined
to extricate myself from the pecuniary embarrassments
I was surrounded with, and have succeeded.
" 'As to glorious Kate, I cannot tell you how I appre-
ciate" her character, more than by saying that I hope
sincerely the little stranger born to me some few nights
ago, whom I have taken the liberty of naming Kate
Aubrey,' will take her namesake as a pattern of excel-
lence, and follow it.
" You will please accept these few lines in the spirit
they are sent, from one who may never see your face,
and has no motive in addressing you but the pleasure of
paying homage, not to kings, or to high birth, but where
it is due. Believe me, sir, I wish you happiness and
prosperity, "
C C
" If the writer of this letter should see these pages,
he is assured that the author of this work has been per-
haps more gratified by the foregoing communication,
than by any that have hitherto reached him with refer-
ence to Ten Thousand Year.
"'lnner Temple, London, April, 1854."