had hoped to have had one
by this time ready to despatch. When I saw you and Mr. Smith in
London, I little thought of all that was to come between July and
Spring: how my thoughts were to be caught away from imagination,
enlisted and absorbed in realities the most cruel.

'I will tell you what I want to do; it is to show you the first
volume of my MS., which I have copied. In reading Mary Barton (a
clever though painful tale) I was a little dismayed to find myself in
some measure anticipated both in subject and incident. I should like
to have your opinion on this point, and to know whether the
resemblance appears as considerable to a stranger as it does to
myself. I should wish also to have the benefit of such general
strictures and advice as you choose to give. Shall I therefore send
the MS. when I return the first batch of books?

'But remember, if I show it to you it is on two conditions: the
first, that you give me a faithful opinion--I do not promise to be
swayed by it, but I should like to have it; the second, that you show
it and speak of it to _none_ but Mr. Smith. I have always a great
horror of premature announcements--they may do harm and can never do
good. Mr. Smith must be so kind as not to mention it yet in his
quarterly circulars. All human affairs are so uncertain, and my
position especially is at present so peculiar, that I cannot count on
the time, and would rather that no allusion should be made to a work
of which great part is yet to create.

'There are two volumes in the first parcel which, having seen, I
cannot bring myself to part with, and must beg Mr. Smith's permission
to retain: Mr. Thackeray's _Journey from Cornhill_, _etc_. and _The
testimony to the Truth_. That last is indeed a book after my own
heart. I _do_ like the mind it discloses--it is of a fine and high
order. Alexander Harris may be a clown by birth, but he is a
nobleman by nature. When I could read no other book, I read his and
derived comfort from it. No matter whether or not I can agree in all
his views, it is the principles, the feelings, the heart of the man I
admire.

'Write soon and tell me whether you think it advisable that I should
send the MS.--Yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'