, before granting me this privilege, she throughout most carefully
and completely effaced the names of the persons and places which occurred
in them; and also that such information as I have obtained from her bears
reference solely to Miss Bronte and her sisters, and not to any other
individuals whom I may find it necessary to allude to in connection with
them.

In looking over the earlier portion of this correspondence, I am struck
afresh by the absence of hope, which formed such a strong characteristic
in Charlotte. At an age when girls, in general, look forward to an
eternal duration of such feelings as they or their friends entertain, and
can therefore see no hindrance to the fulfilment of any engagements
dependent on the future state of the affections, she is surprised that
"E." keeps her promise to write. In after-life, I was painfully
impressed with the fact, that Miss Bronte never dared to allow herself to
look forward with hope; that she had no confidence in the future; and I
thought, when I heard of the sorrowful years she had passed through, that
it had been this this pressure of grief which had crushed all buoyancy of
expectation out of her. But it appears from the letters, that it must
have been, so to speak, constitutional; or, perhaps, the deep pang of
losing her two elder sisters combined with a permanent state of bodily
weakness in producing her hopelessness. If her trust in God had been
less strong, she would have given way to unbounded anxiety, at many a
period of her life. As it was, we shall see, she made a great and
successful effort to leave "her times in His hands."

After her return home, she employed herself in teaching her sisters, over
whom she had had superior advantages. She writes thus, July 21st, 1832,
of her course of life at the parsonage:--

"An account of one day is an account of all. In the morning, from nine
o'clock till half-past twelve, I instruct my sisters, and draw; then we
walk till dinner-time. After dinner I sew till tea-time, and after tea I
either write, read, or do a little fancy-work, or draw, as I please.
Thus, in one delightful, though somewhat monotonous course, my life is
passed. I have been only out twice to tea since I came home. We are
expecting company this afternoon, and on Tuesday next we shall have all
the female teachers of the Sunday-school to tea."

I may here introduce a quotation from a letter which I have received from
"Mary" since the publi