for the
first time. She told Mr. Bronte how much she felt the difficulty of the
task she had undertaken. Nevertheless, she sincerely desired to make his
daughter's character known to all who took deep interest in her writings.
Both Mr. Bronte and Mr. Nicholls agreed to help to the utmost, although
Mrs. Gaskell was struck by the fact that it was Mr. Nicholls, and not Mr.
Bronte, who was more intellectually alive to the attraction which such a
book would have for the public. His feelings were opposed to any
biography at all; but he had yielded to Mr. Bronte's 'impetuous wish,'
and he brought down all the materials he could find, in the shape of
about a dozen letters. Mr. Nicholls, moreover, told Mrs. Gaskell that
Miss Nussey was the person of all others to apply to; that she had been
the friend of his wife ever since Charlotte was fifteen, and that he was
writing to Miss Nussey to beg her to let Mrs. Gaskell see some of the
correspondence.

But here is Mr. Nicholls's actual letter, unearthed after forty years, as
well as earlier letters from and to Miss Nussey, which would seem to
indicate a suggestion upon the part of 'E' that some attempt should be
made to furnish a biography of her friend--if only to set at rest, once
and for all, the speculations of the gossiping community with whom
Charlotte Bronte's personality was still shrouded in mystery; and indeed
it is clear from these letters that it is to Miss Nussey that we really
owe Mrs. Gaskell's participation in the matter:--

TO REV. A. B. NICHOLLS

'BROOKROYD, _June_ 6_th_, 1855.

'DEAR MR. NICHOLLS,--I have been much hurt and pained by the perusal
of an article in _Sharpe_ for this month, entitled "A Few Words about
_Jane Eyre_." You will be certain to see the article, and I am sure
both you and Mr. Bronte will feel acutely the misrepresentations and
the malignant spirit which characterises it. Will you suffer the
article to pass current without any refutations? The writer merits
the contempt of silence, but there will be readers and believers.
Shall such be left to imbibe a tissue of malignant falsehoods, or
shall an attempt be made to do justice to one who so highly deserved
justice, whose very name those who best knew her but speak with
reverence and affection? Should not her aged father be defended from
the reproach the writer coarsel