“John (her brother) has now completed a bargain with Mr. Blackwood, by which I am to have L1000 for a novel now in hand, but which is not nearly finished, and possibly never may be.  Nevertheless he is desirous of announcing it in his magazine, and therefore I wish to prepare you for the shock. I can say nothing more than I have already said on the subject of vigilence, if not of secrecy.  I never will avow myself, and nothing can hurt and offend me so much as any of my friends doing it for me; this is not faron de parler, but my real and unalterable feeling; I could not bear the fuss of authorism!”

Secrecy as to her authorship seems to have been the great desire of her heart, and much of The Inheritance was written in privacy at Morningside House, old Mr. Ferrier’s summer retreat near Edinburgh, and she says, “This house is so small, it is very ill-calculated for concealment.”

It was not till 1851 that she publicly avowed herself by authorising her name to be prefixed to a revised and corrected edition of her works. [1] Sir Walter Scott was delighted with this second novel, a proof of which was conveyed to Miss Ferrier by Mr. Blackwood:—­

[1] Published by the late Mr. Richard Bentley, to whom she sold her copyrights in 1841.  A previous edition was published by him in 1841.

“On Wednesday I dined in company with Sir Walter Scott, and he spoke of the work in the very highest terms.  I do not always set the highest value on the baronet’s favourable opinion of a book, because he has so much kindness of feeling towards everyone, but in this case he spoke so much con amore, and entered so completely, and at such a length, to me, into the spirit of the book and of the characters, that showed me at once the impression it had made on him.  Everyone I have seen who has seen the book gives the some praise of it.  Two or three days ago I had a note from a friend, which I copy:  ’I have nearly finished a volume of The Inheritance. It is unquestionably the best novel of the class of the present day, in so far as I can yet judge.  Lord Rossville, Adam Ramsay, Bell Black and the Major, Miss Pratt and Anthony Whyte are capital, and a fine contrast to each other.  It is, I think, a more elaborate work than Marriage, better told, with greater variety, and displaying improved powers.  I congratulate you, and have no doubt the book will make a prodigious sough’." [1]

[1] Sensation.

Mr. Blackwood adds:  “I do not know a better judge nor a more frank and honest one than the writer of this note.”

Again he writes:—­

“On Saturday I lent in confidence to a very clever friend, on whose discretion I can rely, the two volumes of The Inheritance. This morning I got them back with the following note:  ’My dear Sir-I am truly delighted with The Inheritance. I do not find as yet anyone character quite equal to Dr. Redgill, [1] except, perhaps, the good-natured, old-tumbled (or troubled, I can’t make out which) maiden, [2] but as a novel it is a hundred miles above Marriage. It reminds me of Miss Austen’s very best things in every page.  And if the third volume be like these, no fear of success triumphant.’”