was published not
long since.

_Mrs. Fletcher to Miss Ferrier._

"TADCASTER, _April_ 16, 1831.

"My DEAR MISS FERRIER--I should not have been so long in thanking you
for your kind present, had I not wished to subject _Destiny_ to a
severer test than that chosen by the French dramatist. _His_ old woman
probably partook of the vivacity of her nation, but my old aunt, as Mary
will tell you, is sick and often very sorrowful, and yet _Destiny_ has
made her laugh heartily, and cheated her of many wearisome hours of
lamentation. My grandson, Archibald Taylor, too, forsook football and
cricket for your fascinating book, and told me 'he could sit up all
night to see what had become of Ronald.' Mr. Ribley and 'Kitty, my
dear,' hit his comic fancy particularly. My two most bookish neighbours,
one an Oxford divine, and the other a Cambridge student, declare that,
Glenroy and M'Dow are exquisite originals.' My own favourite, 'Molly
Macaulay,' preserves her good-humour to the last, though I thought you
rather unmerciful in shutting her up so long in Johnnie's nursery. The
fashionable heartlessness of Lady Elizabeth and her daughter is coloured
to the life, and the refreshment of returning to nature, truth,
affection, and happiness at Inch Orran is admirably managed. Mary tells
me you have returned from Fife with fresh materials for future volumes.
Go on, dear Miss Ferrier, you are accountable for the talents entrusted
to you. Go on to detect selfishness in all its various forms and
foldings; to put pride and vanity to shame; to prove that vulgarity
belongs more to character than condition, and that all who make the
world their standard are essentially vulgar and low-minded, however
noble their exterior or refined their manners may be, and that true
dignity and elevation belong only to those to whom Milton's lines may be
applied:

"'Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends To fill thy odorous lamp with
deeds of light, And hope that reaps not shame.'"

The following letter from Joanna Baillie gives a very just and truthful
criticism on _Destiny:--_

_Miss Joanna Baillie to Miss Ferrier._

"Hampstead, _May_ 1831.

"My DEAR MADAM--I received your very kind present of your last work
about three weeks ago, and am very grateful for the pleasure I have had
in reading it, and for being thus remembered by you. I thank you also
for the pleasure and amusement which my sisters and some other friends
have drawn from it. The first volum