BRONTE.'
TO W. S. WILLIAMS
'_April_ 2_nd_, 1849.
'MY DEAR SIR,--My critics truly deserve and have my genuine thanks
for the friendly candour with which they have declared their opinions
on my book. Both Mr. Williams and Mr. Taylor express and support
their opinions in a manner calculated to command careful
consideration. In my turn I have a word to say. You both of you
dwell too much on what you regard as the _artistic_ treatment of a
subject. Say what you will, gentlemen--say it as ably as you
will--truth is better than art. Burns' Songs are better than
Bulwer's Epics. Thackeray's rude, careless sketches are preferable
to thousands of carefully finished paintings. Ignorant as I am, I
dare to hold and maintain that doctrine.
'You must not expect me to give up Malone and Donne too suddenly--the
pair are favourites with me; they shine with a chastened and pleasing
lustre in that first chapter, and it is a pity you do not take
pleasure in their modest twinkle. Neither is that opening scene
irrelevant to the rest of the book, there are other touches in store
which will harmonise with it.
'No doubt this handling of the surplice will stir up such
publications as the _Christian Remembrancer_ and the
_Quarterly_--those heavy Goliaths of the periodical press; and if I
alone were concerned, this possibility would not trouble me a second.
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