E-text prepared by Clare Graham & Laura McDonald
(http://www.girlebooks.com)
and Marc D'Hooghe
(http://www.freeliterature.org)
THE SECRET OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË
FOLLOWED BY
SOME REMINISCENCES OF THE REAL
MONSIEUR AND MADAME HEGER
BY
FREDERIKA MACDONALD, D.LITT.
AUTHORESS OF 'XAVIER AND I,' 'THE ILIAD OF THE EAST''A NEW CRITICISM OF J.-J. ROUSSEAU,'
'THE FLOWERAND THE SPIRIT,' 'THE HUMANE PHILOSOPHYOF ROUSSEAU,' ETC.
LONDON: T.C. & E.C. JACK
67 LONG ACRE, W.C.
AND EDINBURGH
1914
'And now I will rehearse the tale of Love, which I heardfrom Diotima of Mantineia, a woman wise in this, and manyother kinds of knowledge....
'... "What then is Love," I asked: "Is he mortal?" "He isneither mortal nor immortal, but in a mean between the two,"she replied. "He is a great Spirit, and, like all spirits,an intermediate between the divine and the mortal." "Andwhat," I said, "is his power?" "He interprets," she replied,"between gods and men; conveying to the gods the prayers andsacrifices of men; and to men the commands and replies ofthe gods." "And who," I said, "is his father? and who is hismother?" "His father," she replied, "was Plenty (Poros), andhis mother Poverty (Penia), and as his parentage is, so arehis fortunes. He is always poor, and has no shoes, nor ahouse to dwell in; on the bare earth exposed he lies underthe open heaven, in the streets, or at the doors of houses,taking his rest, and like his mother he is always indistress. Like his father, too, he is bold, enterprising,—aphilosopher at all times, terrible as an enchanter,sorcerer, sophist. As he is neither mortal nor immortal, heis alive and flourishing one moment, and dead anothermoment; and again alive, by reason of his father's nature."'
(Symposium. Plato's Dialogues. Translator, Jowett, vol.ii. pp. 54, 55.)
CONTENTS
PART I
CHARLOTTE BRONTË'S LETTERS TO M. HEGER
(These Letters supply the Key to the Secret of Charlotte Brontë)
CHAPTER I
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF CHARLOTTE
BRONTË, CREATED BY A FALSE CRITICAL METHOD
CHAPTER II
THE KEY TO THE PROBLEM
CHAPTER III
CHARLOTTE'S LAST YEAR AT BRUXELLES, 1842-43
CHAPTER IV
THE CONFESSION AT STE. GUDULE
CHAPTER V
THE LEAVE-TAKING—THE SCENE IN THE CLASS-ROOM
—'MY HEART WILL BREAK'
CHAPTER VI
THE LOVE-LETTERS OF A ROMANTIC
PART II
SOME REMINI