'Jane
Eyre,' declares without hesitation or doubt that he had always
known that Lady Eastlake was the author of the 'Quarterly'
article, and that he had declined to meet her at dinner on account
of it.

"The fact that the brilliant Miss Rigby was the writer of the
review greatly strengthens my interpolation theory. To me it seems
beyond the range of things probable, that the pharisaic part of
the article could have come from the same source as 'Livonian
Tales' and the 'Letters from the Shores of the Baltic.'

"The article is therefore of a composite character. It was written
by Miss Rigby the year before her marriage with Sir Charles Lock
Eastlake, and heavily edited during the reign of Lockhart. I know
it will be said that the genial Lockhart would not have added the
objectionable fustian to the superior material supplied by Miss
Rigby; but I must repeat that it was his duty, as a mere matter of
business, and a purely editorial affair, to maintain the
traditional tone of the 'Review.'"

[2] The Reverend David McKee of Ballynaskeagh, a very successful
school teacher, who prepared hundreds of boys for college. Among
them was Captain Mayne Reid, who afterwards dedicated his book,
"The White Chief," to Mr. McKee. Ballynaskeagh, was the centre
of mental activity for the country round about. Its master was
the friend and neighbor of the Irish Brontes. He himself wrote
several books, one of which led to the beginning of a temperance
movement in Ireland. The writer of this article was his pupil at
the time of the publication of "Jane Eyre," and tells whereof he
knows personally, as well as some things of which he was
informed by Mr. McKee.

[3] The December number of the "Quarterly Review" of 1848 is perhaps
the most famous of the entire series. Its fame rests on a
mystery which has baffled literary curiosity for close on half a
century. "Who wrote the review of 'Jane Eyre'?" is a question
that has been asked by every contributor to English literature
since the critique appeared. But thus far the question has been
asked in vain.

The descendant and namesake of the eminent projector and
proprietor of "The Quarterly" does not feel at liberty to solve
the mystery by revealing the writer. I admire the loyalty of
John Murray to a servant whose work has attained an evil