PREFACE
preface to the first edition of Jane Eyre being
unnecessary, I gave none: this second edition demands a
few words both of acknowledgment and miscellaneous
remark.
My thanks are due in three quarters.
To the Public, for the indulgent ear it has inclined to a plain tale
with few pretensions.
To the Press, for the fair field its honest suffrage has opened to
an obscure aspirant. To my Publishers, for the aid their tact, their
energy, their practical sense and frank liberality have afforded an
unknown and unrecommended Author.
The Press and the Public are but vague personifications for me,
and I must thank them in vague terms; but my Publishers are
definite: so are certain generous critics who have encouraged me
as only large-hearted and high-minded men know how to
encourage a struggling stranger; to them, i.e., to my Publishers
and the select Reviewers, I say cordially, Gentlemen, I thank you
from my heart.
Having thus acknowledged what I owe those who have aided
and approved me, I turn to another class; a small one, so far as I
know, but not, therefore, to be overlooked. I mean the timorous or
carping few who doubt the tendency of such books as Jane Eyre: in
whose eyes whatever is unusual is wrong; whose ears detect in
each protest against bigotry—that parent of crime—an insult to
piety, that regent of God on earth. I would suggest to such
doubters certain obvious distinctions; I would remind them of
certain simple truths.