made Frettlby the criminal, but on
reading over the M.S. I found that his guilt was so obvious that I
wrote out the story for a second time, introducing the character of
Moreland as a scape-goat. Mother Guttersnipe I unearthed in the slums
off Little Bourke Street; and I gave what I am afraid was perhaps too
vivid a picture of her language and personality. These I have toned
down in the present edition. Calton and the two lodging-house keepers
were actual personages whom I knew very well, and I do not think I have
exaggerated their idiosyncracies, although many have, I believe,
doubted the existence of such oddities. All the scenes in the book,
especially the slums, are described from personal observation; and I
passed a great many nights in Little Bourke Street, gathering material.

Having completed the book, I tried to get it published, but every one
to whom I offered it refused even to look at the manuscript on the
ground that no Colonial could write anything worth reading. They gave
no reason for this extraordinary opinion, but it was sufficient for
them, and they laughed to scorn the idea that any good could come out
of Nazareth--i.e., the Colonies. The story thus being boycotted on all
hands, I determined to publish it myself, and accordingly an edition
of, I think, some five thousand copies was brought out at my own cost.
Contrary to the expectations of the publishers, and I must add to my
own, the whole edition went off in three weeks, and the public demanded
a second. This also sold rapidly, and after some months, proposals were
made to me that the book should be brought out in London. Later on I
parted with the book to several speculators, who formed themselves into
what they called "The Hansom Cab Publishing Company." Taking the book
to London, they published it there with great success, and it had a
phenomenal sale, which brought in a large sum of money. The success
was, in the first instance, due, in no small degree, to a very kind and
generous criticism written by Mr. Clement Scott. I may here state that
I had nothing to do with the Company, nor did I receive any money for
the English sale of the book beyond what I sold it for; and, as a
matter of fact, I did not arrive in England until a year after the
novel was published I have heard it declared that the plot is founded
on a real criminal case; but such a statement is utterly without
foundation, as the story is pure fiction from beginning to end. Several