, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_October_ 16_th_, 1850.

'MY DEAR SIR,--On the whole it is perhaps as well that the last
paragraph of the Preface should be omitted, for I believe it was not
expressed with the best grace in the world. You must not, however,
apologise for your suggestion--it was kindly meant and, believe me,
kindly taken; it was not _you_ I misunderstood--not for a moment, I
never misunderstand you--I was thinking of the critics and the
public, who are always crying for a moral like the Pharisees for a
sign. Does this assurance quite satisfy you?

'I forgot to say that I had already heard, first from Miss Martineau,
and subsequently through an intimate friend of Sydney Yendys (whose
real name is Mr. Dobell) that it was to the author of the _Roman_ we
are indebted for that eloquent article in the _Palladium_. I am glad
you are going to send his poem, for I much wished to see it.

'May I trouble you to look at a sentence in the Preface which I have
erased, because on reading it over I was not quite sure about the
scientific correctness of the expressions used. Metal, I know, will
burn in vivid-coloured flame, exposed to galvanic action, but whether
it is consumed, I am not sure. Perhaps you or Mr. Taylor can tell me
whether there is any blunder in the term employed--if not, it might
stand.--I am, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

Miss Bronte would seem to have corresponded with Mr. George Smith, and
not with Mr. Williams, over her third novel, _Villette_, and that
correspondence is to be found in Mrs. Gaskell's biography.

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_February_ 1_st_, 1851.

'MY DEAR SIR,--I cannot lose any time in telling you that your
letter, after all, gave me heart-felt satisfaction, and such a
feeling of relief as it would be difficult to express in words. The
fact is, what goads and tortures me is not any anxiety of my own to
publish another book, to have my name before the public, to get cash,
etc., but a haunting fear that my dilatoriness disappoints others.
Now the "others" whose wish o