proved. Browning made his way to her in a
strange manner, and they fell mutually in love. She rose up from her
sick-bed with recovered strength and agility, and was now, it was
understood, tolerably well. They married and were living together in
Italy, like the hero and heroine of a mediaeval romance.

XXXVIII

THE AUTHOR OF "JANE EYRE"

Charlotte Bronte was born in Yorkshire in 1816. A generation ago
everybody was reading and talking about _Jane Eyre_, her most popular
novel. The life of the author was not a happy one. She was compelled
to teach for a living, and her position as governess was at times
humiliating to her proud spirit. Her two sisters, whom she tenderly
loved, died young; her brother was no credit to the family, and the
life surrounding the parsonage--she was the daughter of a
clergyman--was not particularly cheery, yet her many trials but
enriched a rare and beautiful character.

While living at the parsonage she would occasionally receive a box of
books from her publisher. The following letter is self-explanatory:

"Do not ask me to mention what books I should like to read. Half the
pleasure of receiving a parcel from Cornhill consists in having its
contents chosen for us. We like to discover, too, by the leaves cut
here and there that the ground has been traveled before us. I took up
Leigh Hunt's book, _The Town_, with the impression that it would be
interesting only to Londoners, and I was surprised, ere I had read
many pages, to find myself enchained by his pleasant, graceful, easy
style, varied knowledge, just views, and kindly spirit. There is
something peculiarly anti-melancholic in Leigh Hunt's writings, and
yet they are never boisterous--they resemble sunshine, being at once
bright and tranquil.

I like Carlyle better and better. His style I do _not_ like, nor do I
always concur in his opinions, nor quite fall in with his
hero-worship; but there is a manly love of truth, an honest
recognition and fearless vindication of intrinsic greatness, of
intellectual and moral worth considered apart from birth, rank, or
wealth, which commands my sincere admiration. Carlyle would never do
for a contributor to the _Quarterly_. I have not read his _French
Revolution_. Carlyle is a great man, but I always wish he would write
plain English. Emerson's _Essays_ I read with much interest and often
with admiration, but they are of mixed gold and clay,--deep,
invigorating truth, dreary and depressi