Charlotte Brontë was born in Yorkshire in 1816. A generation ago everybody was reading and talking about _Jane Eyre_, her most popular novel. The life of the author was not a happy one. She was compelled to teach for a living, and her position as governess was at times humiliating to her proud spirit. Her two sisters, whom she tenderly loved, died young; her brother was no credit to the family, and the life surrounding the parsonage--she was the daughter of a clergyman--was not particularly cheery, yet her many trials but enriched a rare and beautiful character.
While living at the parsonage she would occasionally receive a box of books from her publisher. The following letter is self-explanatory:
"Do not ask me to mention what books I should like to read. Half the pleasure of receiving a parcel from Cornhill consists in having its contents chosen for us. We like to discover, too, by the leaves cut here and there that the ground has been traveled before us. I took up Leigh Hunt's book, _The Town_, with the impression that it would be interesting only to Londoners, and I was surprised, ere I had read many pages, to find myself enchained by his pleasant, graceful, easy style, varied knowledge, just views, and kindly spirit. There is something peculiarly anti-melancholic in Leigh Hunt's writings, and yet they are never boisterous--they resemble sunshine, being at once bright and tranquil.
I like Carlyle better and better. His style I do _not_ like, nor do I always concur in his opinions, nor quite fall in with his hero-worship; but there is a manly love of truth, an honest recognition and fearless vindication of intrinsic greatness, of intellectual and moral worth considered apart from birth, rank, or wealth, which commands my sincere admiration. Carlyle would never do for a contributor to the _Quarterly_. I have not read his _French Revolution_. Carlyle is a great man, but I always wish he would write plain English. Emerson's _Essays_ I read with much interest and often with admiration, but they are of mixed gold and clay,--deep, invigorating truth, dreary and depressing fallacy, seem to me combined therein.
Scott's _Suggestions on Female Education_ I read with unalloyed pleasure; it is justly, clearly, and felicitously expressed. The girls of this generation have great advantages--it seems to me that they receive much encouragement in the acquisition of knowledge and the cultivation of their minds. In these days women may be thoughtful and well read, without being stigmatized as "blues" or pedants.