Victorian Women Writers Project

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DEAR MR. DE FONBLANQUE—

In asking you to accept the dedication of this book, I do not wish to make it appear that you either share its opinions or sympathize with its aim. I merely wish to claim you as one who, like Christopher himself, loves honesty and practises sincerity, and who will therefore forgive even his defence of vivisection, to which you are so notoriously opposed. Neither do I seek to entangle your assent to that profound respect for man as the highest thing we know—that belief in his glorious future and infinite progress, page: v by the law of moral evolution working from within—which is my hero's support and consolation. This optimistic belief is a matter of faith; and faith, the result of temperament, is out of the control of the individual. The Pessimists, who see only the hopelessness of man's misery and the limitation of his powers, count as many strong brains among them as the Optimists, who judge of the future by the past, and recognize no barriers which may not be overcome. Each school is as sincere as the other in its creed; and as neither can prove its doctrines, neither has the right to scorn the other for its special gospel. Wherefore I trust that, differing in certain essentials though we do, you will none the less accept this dedication as an expression of my friendship and esteem.