ng herself under
the wing of some taller friend. A resident of Haworth, still alive,
remembers the girls passing him frequently on the way down to the shops,
and their hands would involuntarily be lifted to the face on the side
nearest to him, with a view to avoid observation. This was not
affectation; it was absolute timidity. Miss Wheelwright always thought
George Richmond's portrait--for which Charlotte sat during a stay at Dr.
Wheelwright's in Phillimore Place--entirely flattering. Many of
Charlotte's friends were pleased that it should be so, but there can be
no doubt that the magnificent expanse of forehead was an exaggeration.
Charlotte's forehead was high, but very narrow.

All this is comparatively unimportant. Charlotte certainly was under no
illusion; and we who revere her to-day as one of the greatest of
Englishwomen need have no illusions. It is sufficient that, if not
beautiful, Charlotte possessed a singular charm of manner, and, when
interested, an exhilarating flow of conversation which carried
intelligent men off their feet. She had at least four offers of
marriage. The three lovers she refused have long since gone to their
graves, and there can be no harm now in referring to the actual facts as
they present themselves in Charlotte's letters. Two of these offers of
marriage were made in one year, when she was twenty-three years of age.
Her first proposal came from the brother of her friend Ellen Nussey.
Henry Nussey was a curate at Donnington when he asked Charlotte Bronte to
be his wife. Two letters on the subject, one of which is partly printed
in a mangled form in Mrs. Gaskell's Memoir, speak for themselves.

TO REV. HENRY NUSSEY

'HAWORTH, _March_ 5_th_, 1839.

'MY DEAR SIR,--Before answering your letter I might have spent a long
time in consideration of its subject; but as from the first moment of
its reception and perusal I determined on what course to pursue, it
seemed to me that delay was wholly unnecessary. You are aware that I
have many reasons to feel grateful to your family, that I have
peculiar reasons for affection towards one at least of your sisters,
and also that I highly esteem yourself--do not therefore accuse me of
wrong motives when I say that my answer to your proposal must be a
_decided negative_. In forming this decision, I trust I have
listened to the