Produced by Sigal Alon, Robert Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) HOURS IN A LIBRARY VOL. III. HOURS IN A LIBRARY BY LESLIE STEPHEN _NEW EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS_ IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. III. LONDON SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 1892 [_All rights reserved_] CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME PAGE CHARLOTTE BRONTË 1 CHARLES KINGSLEY 31 GODWIN AND SHELLEY 64 GRAY AND HIS SCHOOL 101 STERNE 139 COUNTRY BOOKS 175 GEORGE ELIOT 207 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 237 CARLYLE'S ETHICS 271 THE STATE TRIALS 306 COLERIDGE 339 HOURS IN A LIBRARY _CHARLOTTE BRONTË_ Mr. Swinburne, in his recent essay upon Miss Brontë, has, as usual, bestowed the most enthusiastic and generous praise with a lavish hand, and bestowed it upon worthy objects. And, as usual, he seems to be a little too much impressed with the necessary connection between illuminating in honour of a hero and breaking the windows or burning the effigies of the hero's rivals. I do not wish to examine the justice of his assaults, and still less to limp on halting and prosaic feet after his eloquent discourse. I propose only to follow an inquiry suggested by a part of his argument. After all, though criticism cannot boast of being a science, it ought to aim at something like a scientific basis, or at least to proceed in a scientific spirit. The critic, therefore, before abandoning himself to the oratorical impulse, should endeavour to classify the phenomena with which he is dealing as calmly as if he were ticketing a fossil in a museum. The most glowing eulogy, the most bitter denunciation, have their proper place; but they belong to the art of persuasion, and form no part of scientific method. Our literary, like our religious, creed should rest upon a purely rational ground, and be exposed to logical tests. Our faith in an author must, in the first instance, be the product of instinctive sympathy, instead of deliberate reason. It may be propagated by the contagion of enthusiasm, and preached with all the fervour of proselytism. But when we are seeking to justify our emotions, we must endeavour to get for the time into the position of an independent spectator, applying with rigid impartiality such methods as are best calculated to free us from the influence of personal bias.