ill-judged, insolent, and
indefensible, and would have shunned it accordingly.--Believe me, my
dear sir, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_August_ 14_th_, 1848.

'MY DEAR SIR,--My sister Anne thanks you, as well as myself, for your
just critique on _Wildfell Hall_. It appears to me that your
observations exactly hit both the strong and weak points of the book,
and the advice which accompanies them is worthy of, and shall
receive, our most careful attention.

'The first duty of an author is, I conceive, a faithful allegiance to
Truth and Nature; his second, such a conscientious study of Art as
shall enable him to interpret eloquently and effectively the oracles
delivered by those two great deities. The Bells are very sincere in
their worship of Truth, and they hope to apply themselves to the
consideration of Art, so as to attain one day the power of speaking
the language of conviction in the accents of persuasion; though they
rather apprehend that whatever pains they take to modify and soften,
an abrupt word or vehement tone will now and then occur to startle
ears polite, whenever the subject shall chance to be such as moves
their spirits within them.

'I have already told you, I believe, that I regard Mr. Thackeray as
the first of modern masters, and as the legitimate high priest of
Truth; I study him accordingly with reverence. He, I see, keeps the
mermaid's tail below water, and only hints at the dead men's bones
and noxious slime amidst which it wriggles; _but_, his hint is more
vivid than other men's elaborate explanations, and never is his
satire whetted to so keen an edge as when with quiet mocking irony he
modestly recommends to the approbation of the public his own
exemplary discretion and forbearance. The world begins to know
Thackeray rather better than it did two years or even a year ago, but
as yet it only half knows him. His mind seems to me a fabric as
simple and unpretending as it is deep-founded and enduring--there is
no meretricious ornament to attract or fix a superficial glance; his
great distinction of the genuine is one that can only be fully
appreciated with time. There is something, a sort of "stil