'C. BRONTE.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_November_ 9_th_, 1850.

'MY DEAR SIR,--I have read Lord John Russell's letter with very great
zest and relish, and think him a spirited sensible little man for
writing it. He makes no old-womanish outcry of alarm and expresses
no exaggerated wrath. One of the best paragraphs is that which
refers to the Bishop of London and the Puseyites. Oh! I wish Dr.
Arnold were yet living, or that a second Dr. Arnold could be found!
Were there but ten such men amongst the hierarchs of the Church of
England she might bid defiance to all the scarlet hats and stockings
in the Pope's gift. Her sanctuaries would be purified, her rites
reformed, her withered veins would swell again with vital sap; but it
is not so.

'It is well that _truth_ is _indestructible_--that ruin cannot crush
nor fire annihilate her divine essence. While forms change and
institutions perish, "_truth_ is great and shall prevail."

'I am truly glad to hear that Miss Kavanagh's health is improved.
You can send her book whenever it is most convenient. I received
from Cornhill the other day a periodical containing a portrait of
Jenny Lind--a sweet, natural, innocent peasant-girl face, curiously
contrasted with an artificial fine-lady dress. I _do_ like and
esteem Jenny's character. Yet not long since I heard her torn to
pieces by the tongue of detraction--scarcely a virtue left--twenty
odious defects imputed.

'There was likewise a most faithful portrait of R. H. Home, with his
imaginative forehead and somewhat foolish-looking mouth and chin,
indicating that mixed character which I should think he owns. Mr.
Home writes well. That tragedy on the _Death of Marlowe_ reminds me
of some of the best of Dumas' dramatic pieces.--Yours very sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

'_January_, 1851.

'DEAR ELLEN,--I sent yesterday the _Leader_ newspaper, which you must
always send to Hunsworth as soon as you have done with it. I will
continue to forward it as long as I get it.

'I am trying a little Hydropathic treatment; I like it, and I thi