This fable of a strong matriarch and her hold over her daughters can feel as frustrating in the reading as the hero finds it, but don’t let that put you off : James’s means of achieving this repay a careful study. Mrs Temperly, who controls with a complete absence of temper, and her docile eldest daughter are drawn with sure strokes of sweet reasonableness.

For details of the text sources and subsequent critical discussion see the bibliography. You may be interested in details of any problems I encountered while editing the source text for its presentation here, which can be found on a separate page, otherwise just start reading.

Adrian Dover