It is merely the first step in a process that, quite independently of the other external evidence, thrusts the composition of the Gospels backwards and backwards to a date certainly as early as that which is claimed for them.

How vainely then do ydle wits invent That Beautie is nought else but mixture made 65 Of colours faire, and goodly temp'rament Of pure complexions, that shall quickly fade And passe away, like to a sommers shade; Or that it is but comely composition Of parts well measurd, with meet disposition!

Altogether the auto-biography of Jane Eyre is pre-eminently an anti-Christian composition.