'C. BRONTE.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'HAWORTH, _July_ 13_th_, 1848.

'MY DEAR SIR,--We reached home safely yesterday, and in a day or two
I doubt not we shall get the better of the fatigues of our journey.

'It was a somewhat hasty step to hurry up to town as we did, but I do
not regret having taken it. In the first place, mystery is irksome,
and I was glad to shake it off with you and Mr. Smith, and to show
myself to you for what I am, neither more nor less--thus removing any
false expectations that may have arisen under the idea that Currer
Bell had a just claim to the masculine cognomen he, perhaps somewhat
presumptuously, adopted--that he was, in short, of the nobler sex.

'I was glad also to see you and Mr. Smith, and am very happy now to
have such pleasant recollections of you both, and of your respective
families. My satisfaction would have been complete could I have seen
Mrs. Williams. The appearance of your children tallied on the whole
accurately with the description you had given of them. Fanny was the
one I saw least distinctly; I tried to get a clear view of her
countenance, but her position in the room did not favour my efforts.

'I had just read your article in the _John Bull_; it very clearly and
fully explains the cause of the difference obvious between ancient
and modern paintings. I wish you had been with us when we went over
the Exhibition and the National Gallery; a little explanation from a
judge of art would doubtless have enabled us to understand better
what we saw; perhaps, one day, we may have this pleasure.

'Accept my own thanks and my sister's for your kind attention to us
while in town, and--Believe me, yours sincerely,

'CHARLOTTE BRONTE.

'I trust Mrs. Williams is quite recovered from her indisposition.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'HAWORTH, _July_ 31_st_, 1848.

'MY DEAR SIR,--I have lately been reading _Modern Painters_, and I
have derived from the work much genuine pleasure and, I hope, some
edification; at any rate, it made me feel how ignorant I had
previously been on the subject which it treats. Hitherto I have only
had instinct to guide me in judging of a