New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-08-31
The Bronte Letters
WHY THE TIMES" PUBLISHED THEM AND WHY THEY OUGHT
NEVER TO HAVE SEEN THE Ii CHIT
Copyright, 1913 by George W. smaney)


Into matters concerning the Bronte
family he has for years made a critica,
research. He bought from Charlotte's
literary executor all legal rights in her
| unpublished correspondence. He has
/ edited Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Charlotte
+ Bronte and has written some half
/ dozen volumes on her and her family
/ He may be deemed a sort of trustee for
4 the posthumous fame OF her and her
/ sisters; self-appointed. bus pursuing his
| duties with zeal and with a knowledge
/ OF all the minuti8 of the subject. He
| bestows his blessing on hese letters.
! They are he holds. "a complete vindi-
! cation" Of her and Of her relations with
! HegCr Does he think they needed vim
| dicatinE? There have been slurs. but
only abroad; never in England. or
never any Of which any serious writer
would take notice. is. then. the purity
of an English woman % he the sport OF
a prurient Continental imagination.
and is modesty to be put aside solely
/ 20 dlspel a non-cXistent belief?
The renown Of great writer is a
/ possession forever. 1t is one Of the
chief glores of a nation and OF race.
Charlotte Bronte has taken her place
! in English fiction: that permanent
! place which is conceded 10 genius only:
! and always reluctantly TO woman.
/ But is this immortality 10 be a thing
apart from the personality Of the
woman? is the author OF Jane Eyre
/ 10 be treated with reverence denied
/ TO Charlotte Bronte? Would she have
/ bought her fame at that price? Is one
/ {. he sacrificed 10 the other. and need
! lessly sacrifced? II she were living
could the letters have been printed?
/ She died at thirty-ninc in 1880. Does
/ the lapse Of less than sixty years re-
! verse the rules Of morality: Of the
morality which ordains first OF oil re-
! spect for the woman because she was
woman? The answer 10 those ques
I lions is the answer To the suggestion
| that the revelation Of woman's pri-
vate letters is or can be in the interests
1 Cf literature. You cannot divorce lit
/ Crature from morals
AS 10 the vague suspicion the silenc-
| ing OF which is put forward as tho
chief excuse for this indiscretion. il Is
rot enough TO dismiss IT as unfounded.
or TO brand IL as unclean. Heger was
married. There is suggestion that
/ his wife was Jealous. Charlotte Bron.e
/ has given her own version Of the story
/ in "Villette." and il is hnal because
/ frank. To discuss il you need, as The
| Times" well says. a chastity of thought
and language equal 10 her own. study
the portrait Of Heger as Paul Manuel
i'm that light; it disposes Of the whole
fabric built up by the imagnations or
writer's who were not English and per-
haps could not read English. out OF
choleric little Professor she made
J hero because in him she found some
thing heroic. In real life as IN the
portrait she paints she idealizes tho
man: il was the ideal and not tie man
10 whom her homage was given. N
her loneliness he became a companion
and d friend. OF passion in the ordi-
nary sense Of the word there is no
hint. OF devotion there is much; and
Of worship: and Of an unsatistled long
ing for a return OF the affection she
gave him. Neither in "Nillette" nor in
these letters does she go beyond that
/ What "The Times" has done is to
bring 10 the knowledge Of a great and
select public the suspicion that there
was something else. That IL the dis
service II renders TO a memory 1t means
TO honor. That is the stain II leaves
on the woman. With that calumny In
mind people read these perfectly inno-
cent letters: written with a freedom OF
phrase which is itself the best proof
~ the writer's purity. II is wrong
there are now no means of redressing.
All one can do is TO protest. You can
not compel people to forget. You can
not quite restore the state Of mind or
the bIissfulness of ignorance which pre-
vailed before. And If you could is II
worth the price? I appeal to women
who are the surest judges for their
own sex: which would they rather en-
dure. the suspicion or the distress OF
such a vindication as this? / do not
dream Of questioning the good faith OF
/ ",rhe Times" or the sincerity OF its
motives. but I think the publication OF
the letters a grave and melancholy err
ror % Judgment. G. w. s.
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