The times., 1899-11-12
Thc Rrontc RcrirnI.

people ten, fifteen, twenty years ago are
forgotten, but there is a disposition 10 re
turn 10 those which engrossed the atten-
ton OF the reading public fifty years ago.
First we had the Thackeray revival and
this season we have books on the Bronte
sisters The latest edition 10 the list is
the "HawOrth Edition" Of Jane Eyre,
with an introduction by Mrs. Humphry
Ward. and several illustrations from pho
tographs taken in the region described by
''Currer Bell" There is a portrait of the
author. a fac-simile Of the title page of the
first edition picture of Rochester and
Jane Eyre from a Water-coloT drawing by
that talented youth, Frederick Walker, and
pictures of buildings and scenery scat
tered through the story. Especial mention
should be made of the illustration from
Walkers drawing. Il looks exactly as one
would suppose the TWO leading characters
in this romance TO look.
The introduction could, perhaps, have
been written by no more competent per-
son than Mrs. Humphry Ward Mrs. Ward
is by temperament and experience fitted
TO appreciate the somewhat peculiar char
acter OF Charlotte Br0nte. and her charac-
ter sketch is both sympathetic and inter
esting.
Since the first publication Of this novel
in serial form, hfty-two years have gone
by: and as Mrs Ward remarks, ii is time
that the place Of the Bronte sisters in Eng
lish literature should be fully known. She
herself says Of their work and influence:
There are some names Of the past-Byron-
N0ltaire-that are far greater now. more full oi
magic. and Cf spell, than the books associated
with them-that are. IN fact. separable from the
books, and could almost live on without them
But ChariOtye Bruute is Jane Eyre and Lucy
Sn0We- You cannot think Of her apart from
what she has written. and everything that she
wrote has the challenging quality OF personal
emotion or OF passion. moving IN a narrow range
among very concrete things, and intimately fused
throughout with the incidents and feelings Of
one small, intense experience 50 that II one
finds. as one does find abundantly. that the
Broutes are remembered, 1t must be that their
books are read, that people stih sit mp into the
night with '..ane Eyre and are still as angry
as they were at the first that they can get no
one 10 assure them Of Paul Emmanuels safe
return.
Mrs. Ward then goes on TO point out the
Iooseness and improbability Of the plot,
and the crudity of some Of the character
work II may be doubted, however wheth-
er some of the passages which she quotes
as being unnatural are anything more than
unconventional. OF course. il is not usual
for a man 10 tell the story OF his lie TO
z girl of twenty. governess under his own
roof but il is not al all impossible. for
the fact remains that people do IN real
life many strange things which they would
not be allowed TO do in the average real
istic work of fiction.
The writer. however. also points out the
qualities which assured the success Of
Miss Broute's work. chief Of which was
her power OF putting herself into IT, Her
whole passionate. melancholy, poetic, con-
Trajectory nature was there And, II IS
further remarked, this temperament IS
that of the Irishwoman, the Celt, yet not
altogether this, for there was Yorkshire
strain also. The analysis Of the character
OF the sisters. which follows, must prove
Of general interest:
Tie Irish and Celtic element in Charlotte
Brorte however IS mot an. Far from IT, Cross-
irg controlling the wild impetuCus temper OF
the IIishw0man is an influence from aholAe
world an influence of habit ana long aasoclalioIt'
breathsd from Yorkshire, and the EaTd, uue4i'
persistent North one has pdi 70 e4-ii-7 neg
Haw8rth hills 10 feel IL Sowing around one.
Lei K Be 81 The winter some frosty Wnlle-
rimed day, when tile tops ~ the IlaaIs are jest
In tre caId mist. while dim sun steals along
their sides showing the great mills I'D l-e nor
lows. the ice-tlrEC4 streams, the bare hail-Ios-
Uncd woods, tle TOMS ei stone e9l1ases, Ntl-t
the horses holts ru1 sharp Oh iAe paving stones
a this EawaltL Street Liat mounts stern alt
steep. without relentinE slope or zlg-zasr aeeo-
les ~ Tie strained muscles Of man OF beast.
from the busy factories below 20 the lowered
church and the little parsonage on the hilltop
The small stone houses mount with you on eltAeT
hand low, ugly solid, without trace oi
color or ornament, the decent vet uL-yFe-t MONIES
of a STURDY. industrious race. The Chlmneys pour
out their smoke, ihe valley huns with lie and
toll lou stand at ING Top q tne hlA ana
look around sou. Manchester and the teeming
Lancashire world are behind you Bradford and
Leeds iu trout of sou. ACu can see nothing
through the slrlit fog save the rolling forms
q the mgCrE bearing their dim eFeT-Sr9Elts
burden of houses. but YOU know that you stand
5n the heart Of working England. the England
that goes through IFS labor and lis play lls
trade-uui0lism and its football, It's weaving OF
1ts coal mining with equal FlgoT ana telt@elts'
with al tie English love qt gam and TIE
English ThErs- for sIceess-Ey4tcAtulr jealous
thrifty absorbed in this very tangible earth, and
The Struggle 10 subdue IT. stained with many
coarse and brutal Things, scorntul Of the dreamer
and the ralker. aId .get, by virtue OF It's very
rough force ard vil holding u its deep breast
poweH &. passion and q drama unsupported even
Amid +rfs ride. flIl-bTooded keen-brained world
grew up .;he four wonderful children who had
survived their fragile mother and their tVo elder
sisters From the beginning they showed the
Celtic qlsliues-tEo Celtic vision that remakes
The world, throws it lHto groups and pictures
seen with 8 magical edge and sharpness. Are
they gathered ou winters night round a
kitchen FIRE with Iahig for q Camp4uioIz Char
iCtte-a mere ciild-eres- tfa little scene - q
whole. poet lr painter would see IT,
notes thc winter storm and wind outside the
gov Ultia. the qlieEE children. Tie OLD
servant throws li al unto fragment ot WHO
dialect and writes IS ugHl-reallzed, on record,
fer ever Yet au tre time there are secret
bor. between these four small c.eatures-the
children 9f an Irish father and Cornish mother
and tle stern practical Yorkshire world about
them. For they come not from the typical and
Catholic Ireland hut from tGt ireland of the
North, ul which commerce and Professionalism
have 81 their grasp. The Ireland which has half
yielded itself 10 England Do the girls. any
rate the Bible ana PurtaUlsG have mingled
with their Celtic blood Economy sall-discIp.iue,
c0us-anrE, seis-Iepressi0u. Crter-tHeTe things
cone easier 10 them 90 far as the outer con-
duct of life is concerned They take their re-
VeuRc iu 6rramE-thc wlIms and passions a
the imagination But they cook and clean and
eew. they Learn 1I The t.ous.laln aEiE tlat tHelI
aunt and Tabhy teach tEem. They are
docile hard working, haFd-lving. They are poor
saving industrious. keeuiy alive to the value q
mcney and q WORK iihe the world about them.
More interesting even than Mrs Ward,
Introduction viii be the preface which
Charlotte Bronte herself wrote for The
second edition Of Jane Eyre" II viii bl
remembered that this novel, by an un-
known writer burst upon the reading
world unheralded and unexpected; and
achieved for the time more popularity thar
Vanity Fair, which was then running q:
a serial In an English magazine. and repre-
sented some OF the deepest thought and
most careful work Of Thaekcrays life. II
view OF this. the dedication Of Miss Bronte'l
work 10 her great contemporary takes oI
an additional interest The preface j,
worth quoting entire being not particularly
familiar 10 the public
preface 10 the first edition of Jane Eyre
beng unnecessary, J gave uoEfi TINS second eli
zion demands a feE words both d acLuoviedg
mont and misoe. .lauecus remark.
Nf thanks are due lH three qlaTteIrs
~ tie public ior the ilduiseii car it has IN
Gliued 20 plain jlie uith few pIcteEslola-
d Trres- tlfr TeIQ honest