| The Magic of Wealth | |
| Author: | Thomas Skinner Surr |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Publisher: | Cadell & Davies |
| Release Date: | 1815 |
| Media Type: | |
The Magic of Wealth is an 1815 novel by the British writer Thomas Skinner Surr, published in three volumes by Cadell & Davies in London. It focuses on the development of a new resort town by financial speculators. Surr negatively contrasts the speculative banker behind the development with the traditional elite represented by the local squire.[1] Thematically it is similar to Jane Austen's unfinished Sanditon (1817) and Walter Scott's Saint Ronan's Well (1823).[2] Surr's criticism of banks and financial speculation was a common theme in other novels of the era, including Thomas Gaspey's Calthorpe (1821).[3]