This she has been induced to do by her knowledge of the urgent
desire on the part of Mr. Bronte that the life of his daughter should be
written, and in compliance with a request from her husband that I should
be permitted to have the use of these letters, without which such a task
could be but very imperfectly executed. In order to shield this friend,
however, from any blame or misconstruction, it is only right to state
that, 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.
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