This was a bolder novel than appears on the
surface. Long before this the wicked heroine
had been banished from fiction. The leading
lady must be virtuous to keep the love of the
hero. Richardson laid down that law of the
novel. Mary Brunton asserted the same rule
for the hero, and maintained that a gentleman,
handsome, noble, accomplished, could not re-
tain the love of a pure woman, if he were not
virtuous.
Mary Brunton 155

The book gave rise to heated discussions.
Two gentlemen had a violent dispute over it:
one said it ought to be burnt by the common
hangman; the other, that it ought to be written
in letters of gold. Beyond its ethical import,
the novel has no literary value.
The kind reception given to Self-Control led
the author to begin her second novel, Discipline.
This was intended to show how the mind must
be trained by suffering before it can hope for
true enjoyment when self-control is lacking.
Mary Brunton had read Miss Edgeworth's
description of the Irish people with pleasure;
so she planned to set forth in this novel the
manners of the Scottish Highlands and of the
Orkneys, where she herself had been born.
But before it was finished, Waverley was pub-
lished. There the Scottish Highlands stood
forth on a large canvas, distinct and truthful,
and Mrs. Brunton realised at once how weak
her own attempts were compared with Scott's
masterly work. Her interest in her book
flagged, although it was published in December
of that year. Some of the Highland scenes
are interesting because accurately described,
and her account of a mad-house in Edinburgh
is said to be an exact representation of an
asylum for the insane in that city.
