Page:A note on Charlotte Brontë (IA note00swinoncharlottebrich).pdf/55

 of such reptile amorists as debase by the indecent exposure of their dastardly and rancorous egotism the moral value of such otherwise admirable masterpieces as 'Locksley Hall' and 'The Mill on the Floss.' An eminent historian, notable alike as a reviler of Frenchmen and a champion of Bulgarians, has written a paper to show that the law of honour as understood by our forefathers is an obsolete and artificial invention of depraved or barbarous times; an opinion which may help to explain, if not to justify, his national antipathies and sympathies; and some at least among our living elders in the field of imaginative letters would seem to have adopted, with more than historic ardour, a creed which nullifies the foolish traditions and explodes the simple doctrines