BookRix

"Lucretia; Or, The Children Of Night," Was Begun Simultaneously With
"The Caxtons: A Family Picture." The Two Fictions Were Intended As
Pendants; Both Serving, Amongst Other Collateral Aims And Objects, To
Show The Influence Of Home Education, Of Early Circumstance And Example,
Upon After Character And Conduct. "Lucretia" Was Completed And Published
Before "The Caxtons." The Moral Design Of The First Was Misunderstood
And Assailed; That Of The Last Was Generally Acknowledged And Approved:
The Moral Design In Both Was Nevertheless Precisely The Same. But In
One It Was Sought Through The Darker Side Of Human Nature; In The Other
Through The More Sunny And Cheerful: One Shows The Evil, The Other The
Salutary Influences, Of Early Circumstance And Training. Necessarily,
Therefore, The First Resorts To The Tragic Elements Of Awe And
Distress,--The Second To The Comic Elements Of Humour And Agreeable
Emotion