Quotation from: Villette

Written by: Charlotte Bronte


I remember one capital inducement to apostacy was held out in the fact
that the Catholic who had lost dear friends by death could enjoy the
unspeakable solace of praying them out of purgatory. The writer did
not touch on the firmer peace of those whose belief dispenses with
purgatory altogether: but I thought of this; and, on the whole,
preferred the latter doctrine as the most consolatory. The little book
amused, and did not painfully displease me. It was a canting,
sentimental, shallow little book, yet something about it cheered my
gloom and made me smile; I was amused with the gambols of this
unlicked wolf-cub muffled in the fleece, and mimicking the bleat of a
guileless lamb. Portions of it reminded me of certain Wesleyan
Methodist tracts I had once read when a child; they were flavoured
with about the same seasoning of excitation to fanaticism. He that had
written it was no bad man, and while perpetually betraying the trained
cunning--the cloven hoof of his system--I should pause before accusing
himself of insincerity. His judgment, however, wanted surgical props;
it was rickety.

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Old Dominion University CS Dept
Designed by Joan A. Smith for the CRATE project
Created: 2007-2-22T12:35:29Z
Part of the CratePreservation Project
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Part of a series of experiments in web preservation under the direction of Michael L. Nelson, Ph.D.