MY MISCELLANIES.

By WILKIE COLLINS,

AUTHOR OF 'THE WOMAN IN WHITE,' 'NO NAME,' 'THE DEAD SECRET,'
&c.      &c.      &c.

IN TWO VOLUMES.—Vol. I.

LONDON:

SAMPSON LOW, SON, & CO., LUDGATE HILL.

1863.

The Author reserves the right of Translation.

LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.

Affectionately Inscribed

TO

HENRY BULLAR

(OF THE WESTERN CIRCUIT).

v

PREFACE.

The various papers of which the following collectionis composed, were most of them written some yearssince, and were all originally published—with manymore, which I have not thought it desirable to reprint—in'Household Words,' and in the earliervolumes of 'All the Year Round.' They were fortunateenough to be received with favour by thereader, at the period of their first appearance, andwere thought worthy in many instances of beinglargely quoted from in other journals. After carefulselection and revision, they are now collected inbook-form; having been so arranged, in contrastwith each other, as to present specimens of all theshorter compositions which I have contributed in pastyears to periodical literature.

My object in writing most of these papers—especiallythose collected under the general heads of'Sketches of Character' and 'Social Grievances'—wasto present what I had observed and what I hadthought, in the lightest and the least pretentiousform; to address the public (if I could) with somethingviof the ease of letter writing, and something ofthe familiarity of friendly talk. The literary Pulpitappeared to me at that time—as it appears to mestill—to be rather overcrowded with the Preachersof Lay Sermons. Views of life and society to set usthinking penitently in some cases, or doubting contemptuouslyin others, were, I thought, quite plentifulenough already. More freshness and novelty ofappeal to the much-lectured and much-enduringreader, seemed to lie in views which might put us oneasier terms with ourselves and with others; andwhich might encourage us to laugh good-humouredlyover some of the lighter eccentricities of character,and some of the more palpable absurdities of custom—withoutany unfair perversion of truth, or anyneedless descent to the lower regions of vulgarityand caricature. With that idea, all the lightercontributions to these Miscellanies were originallywritten; and with that idea they are now againdismissed from my desk, to win what approval theymay from new readers.

Harley Street, London.
September, 1863.

vii

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.