The Field: ‘A close, sympathetic, and thoroughly sensible study of rural life in the early nineteenth-century days. It is an admirably constructed story.’ The Morning Post: ‘The author knows her country and its inhabitants by heart. Neither she nor Mr. Hardy need blush because their relationship in letters cannot be overlooked. Both the people of the valley and the hill people who live and love and die in the fascination of the gigantic hill are creatures of reasonable flesh and blood--creatures as real as any to be found in the shadow-haunted granges of Wessex.’ LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 21 BEDFORD STREET, W.C. Transcriber’s Note This transcription is based on scans of the Heinemann edition, which are available through the National Library of Scotland: https://digital.nls.uk/128693605 The following changes were made to the printed text: • The advertisement for _The Sheep-Stealers_ has been moved from the front of the text to the end. • The footnotes have been moved from the bottom of a page to right after the paragraph to which they refer. • Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). • p. 26: The expensive taste was hers table--Changed “hers table” to “her stable”. • p. 63: continued Jimmy; ’twas i’ the airm, too.--Inserted an opening single quotation mark before “’twas”. • p. 78: laid it deftly across his cheekbone.--Changed “cheekbone” to “cheek-bone” for consistency. • p. 115: ‘How glad I am that I spoke to you about it--Inserted a period and a closing single quotation mark after “about it”. • p. 133: I am sorry,’ said Lady Eliza, too much cast down--Inserted an opening single quotation mark at the beginning of the sentence. Inconsistencies of spelling and hyphenation were not changed, except where otherwise noted.