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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 845
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
¦ ^* Reprin Sail Ts . . B Mrs Y Acton . ...
the Isabella same . remark If there are may Frankenstein almost appl monster y to tlie s son o £ Heathcliff these charac and - among
ters , this Frankenstein never loses his power over them , but makes them strictly perform his bidding from first to last . The
descriptions in this book are admirable ; they are so told as to become real . Who can ever forget the bed with the panelled sides ? "With
regard to tlie moral of " Wuthering Heights ; " to those who think every book bad , which has not been written with one solemn ,
definite , and didactic purpose , we have nothing to say . To those "who look deeper , many morals will present themselves , many human
paradoxes and enigmas and theorems put forth for consideration , which are much better than the morals .
When we have read this strange , wild book , the question arises within us , What manner of person could have written it ? It is a
question which admits of no full answer . Even to her sisters , Emily seems seldom to have thawed that ice-surface of reserve -which
im-- prisoned one knows not what fire . The three sisters loved each other with an affection , the stronger that it was extended to so few
others . Charlotte's love for the other two had in it something of the motherly ; naturally arising from the fact of her being left when
so young the eldest of the family . Tlie mutual affection of Emily and Anne was like that of twins . Yet even in intercourse with
these sisters , Emily never put aside her reserve . Charlotte and Anne were shy ; Emily was not shy , "but reserved . She was almost
dumb . She never made friends ; she was impervious to the influence of any human being . She lived wholly within herself , and her
strong sisterly love was a part of that self . Silently and without sign she worked out her own convictions , and to those convictioDS
she clung with a tenacity which nothing could affect . Reason , argument , persuasion , fell on deaf ears . One might suppose that
her soul was imperfectly conjoined with the body , and so open to but slight influence through the ordinary sense-powers . What went
on within this opaque cage who can tell ? There are passages in her poems and in her one novel which lay open glimpses of depths
and heights explored , of life struggles in stormy seas , of gropings in thick darkness , and of blindness caused by miraculous lights . She
was not one to cry for help ; all the throes which a great true soul must undergo before it can solve for itself { sufficiently for itself ) the
mysteries of life , she underwent with outward quietness and calm . How she triumphed over such pains and perils , how the soul-throes
brought forth Faith , let the under-quoted glorious paean , written not long before her death , testify .
No trembler " No coward in the soul world is mine ' s storni , -troubled sphere : And faith I see shines Heaven _equal ' s g , lories arming shine me , from fear .
Almi ' g _' hty O Grod , ever within -present my D breast eity ! ,
As I—und Life y — ing that Life in — me have has power rest , in thee !
Notices Of Books. 845
NOTICES OF BOOKS . 845
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1860, page 345, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011860/page/57/
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