Page:A note on Charlotte Brontë (IA note00swinoncharlottebrich).pdf/100

 brilliant study of Shirley Keeldar we should never have seen with the eye of our imagination any other than a misconceived and mutilated portrait, a disfigured and discoloured likeness of Emily Brontë; one curtailed of the fair proportions, if not diminished from the natural stature of her spirit; discrowned and disinherited of its livelier and gentler charm of living feature, though not degraded or dethroned from the august succession to their strength for endurance or rebellion most beseeming a lineal daughter of the earth-born giants, more ancient in their godlike lineage than all modern reigning gods.

The habit of direct study from life which has given us, among its finest and most precious results, these two contrasted figures of