r, and then something more than surprise seized me--a deep conviction
that these were not common effusions, not at all like the poetry a woman
generally writes. I thought them condensed and terse, vigorous and
genuine. To my ear they had also a peculiar music, wild, melancholy, and
elevating. I took hours to reconcile my sister to the discovery I had
made, and days to persuade her that such poems merited publication.
Meantime, my younger sister quietly produced some of her own
compositions, intimating that since Emily's had given me pleasure I
might like to look at hers. I thought that these verses too had a sweet
sincere pathos of their own. We had very early cherished the dream of
one day being authors. We agreed to arrange a small selection of our
poems, and if possible get them printed."

The "Poems" obtained no sale until the authors became otherwise known.

During the summer of 1846 the three sisters made attempts to find a
publisher for a volume that was to consist of three prose tales,
"Wuthering Heights," by Emily, "Agnes Grey" by Anne, and "The Professor"
by Charlotte. Eventually the two former were accepted for a three-volume
issue, though eighteen months passed and much happened before the book
was actually circulated. Meantime, "The Professor" was plodding its way
round London through many rejections. Under these circumstances, her
brother's brain mazed and his gifts and life lost, her father's sight
hanging on a thread, her sisters in delicate health and dependent on her
care, did the brave genius begin, with steady courage, the writing of
"Jane Eyre." While refusing to publish "The Professor," Messrs. Smith,
Elder & Co. expressed their willingness to consider favourably a new
work in three volumes which "Currer Bell" informed them he was writing;
and by October 16, 1847, the tale--"Jane Eyre"--was accepted, printed,
and published.

_V.--The Coming of Success_

The gentleman connected with the firm who first read the manuscript was
so powerfully struck by the character of the tale that he reported his
impressions in very strong terms to Mr. Smith, who appears to have been
much amused by the admiration excited. "You seem to have been so
enchanted that I do not know how to believe you," he laughingly said.
But when a second reader, in the person of a clear-headed Scotsman, not
given to enthusiasm, had taken the manuscript home in the evening, and
became so deeply interested in it as to sit up half the