explore: and still less necessary to throw open to the vulgar curiosity and malevolent insinuations of a generation of critics, infected with hero-phobia, and the unwholesome delight of discovering '_a good deal to reprobate and even more to laugh at_,' in the sensibility of men and women of genius, who have honoured the human race, and enriched the world, _because_ they have possessed through power of feeling, power also of doing fine work, that the critics who find much in them 'to reprobate and more to laugh at' have not the power even to appreciate. Now, _if_ the point of view of Mrs. Gaskell and Mr. Clement Shorter were a correct one, with all my heart and soul I, for my part, should approve of their action in slamming the door in the face of invading facts that threatened to leave the way open for scandal-hunters and hero-phobists to enter with them, and to deal with the honoured reputation of Charlotte Brontë in the same way that--more to the discredit of English letters than to that of two French writers of genius--recent critics have dealt with the love-letters of Madame de Staël and George Sand. This point of view, however, is a mistaken one in the present case, because, to commence with, Charlotte Brontë's romantic love for M. Heger affords no game to the scandal-hunter; but, on the contrary, it is serviceable to the just appreciation of her character, as well as of her genius, that her true sentiment for her Professor--_that explains her attitude of mind when writing 'Villette'_--should be rightly understood. Then also, whilst Madame de Staël's infatuation for Benjamin Constant neither adds to nor diminishes her claims, as the authoress of _Corinne_ and _de l'Allemagne_, to the rank of a fine writer and a great critic, and while George Sand's tormenting and tormented love for the ill-fated, irresistible, unstable 'child of his century,' de Musset, is a poignant revelation of the passing weakness (through immense tenderness) of a splendidly strong and independent spirit, that one is almost ashamed to be made the spectator of, Charlotte Brontë's valorous martyrdom, undergone secretly and silently, and 'rewarded openly,' fills one with an extraordinary sentiment of respect for her: and justifies Mr. Clement Shorter's own fine and generous utterances upon the impression that the Letters that betray the anguish she endured, and overcame, alone, produces upon him. '_Charlotte Brontë_,' said Mr. Clement Shorter, by the report of an interviewer who recorded his opinions in the _Times_, 30th July, immediately after the publication of these Letters, '_is one of the noblest figures in life as well as in literature; and these Letters place her on a higher pedestal than ever_.' Let me quote from the same report in the _Times_ the further statement of his opinions given by this well-known critic, as to the sentiments revealed in these Letters: