"...because all the best things about the Bronte's have been said already, I have had to fall back on the humble day-labour of clearing away some of the rubbish that has gathered round them.

"Round Charlotte it has gathered to such an extent that it is difficult to see her plainly through the mass of it. Much has been cleared away; much remains. Mrs. Oliphant's dreadful theories are still on record. The excellence of Madame Duclaux's monograph perpetuates her one serious error. Mr. Swinburne's Note immortalises his. M. Heger was dug up again the other day.

"It may be said that I have been calling up ghosts for the mere fun of laying them; and there might be something in it, but that really these ghosts still walk. At any rate many people believe in them, even at this time of day. M. Dimnet believes firmly that poor Mrs. Robinson was in love with Branwell Bronte. Some of us still think that Charlotte was in love with M. Heger. They cannot give him up any more than M. Dimnet can give up Mrs. Robinson.

"Such things would be utterly unimportant but that they tend to obscure the essential quality and greatness of Charlotte Bronte's genius. ..."