The "Thornton Edition of the Novels of the Sisters Brontë,"
edited by Temple Scott (Downey and Co., 55. per vol.), is hand- some, with liberal margins, large print, and a general air of dignity. The first two volumes are occupied by Jane Byre, Vol. I. having for frontispiece a very pleasing portrait of Char- lotte Bronte, reproduced from an oil-painting by Mr. J. H. Thompson. We are not told how many volumes there are to be, in what order or at what intervals they are to appear. The editing is somewhat slight. Mr. Temple Scott supplies three notes to the preface to the second edition, amounting to twenty lines in all. The literary history of the book is so very interesting that we cannot help regretting that the opportunity of an edition so likely to be widely circulated—for the value given for the price is quite remarkable—has not been utilised in this way. Something in the way of criticism would not have been out of place. What a marvellous piece of work is the story of Jane's wanderings when she has fled from Mr. Rochester's house ! Few
passages more powerful and pathetic can be found in English fiction. Yet the style is often cumbrous and the words ill. chosen. In this respect Charlotte BrontS greatly improved, though she never equalled her first effort. "First," we call it ; but it had really many predecessors, of which one only survives. The blindness of publishers, or publishers' readers, lost to the world, one cannot but think, some good work, for these unsuc- cessful MSS. were ruthlessly burnt.
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