"How many after having, as they thought, discovered the word friend in the mental volume, have afterwards found that they have read false friend!"
— Brontë, Charlotte (1816-1855)
Work Title
Date
June 19, 1834
Metaphor
"How many after having, as they thought, discovered the word friend in the mental volume, have afterwards found that they have read false friend!"
Metaphor in Context
I know my own sentiments, because I can read my own mind, but the minds of the rest of man and woman-kind are to me as sealed volumes, hieroglyphical scrolls, which I can not easily unseal or decipher. Yet time, careful study, long acquaintance overcome most difficulties; and in your case, I think they have succeeded well in bringing to light, and construing that hidden language, whose turnings, windings inconsistencies and obscurities so frequently baffle the researches of the honest observer of human nature. How many after having, as they thought, discovered the word friend in the mental volume, have afterwards found that they have read false friend! I have long seen "friend" in your mind, in your words and actions, but now distinctly visible, and clearly written in characters that cannot be distrusted, I discern true friend. [...]
(vol. 1, 128)
(vol. 1, 128)
Categories
Provenance
Contributed by Barbara Heritage
Citation
See The Letters of Charlotte Brontë, Vol 1: 1829-1847, ed Margaret Smith (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1995).
Date of Entry
11/17/2014
