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[Illustration: REV. PATRICK BRONTE.]


CHARLOTTE BRONTE.

A Monograph.


BY
T. WEMYSS REID.


_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._


London:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1877.

[_All Rights Reserved._]


_THIRD EDITION._

CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.



TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE LORD HOUGHTON, D.C.L. F.R.S. &c.
THIS MEMORIAL OF A LIFE
WHICH HAS ADDED A NEW GLORY TO THE
LITERARY HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY HIS GRATEFUL FRIEND
THE AUTHOR.




PREFACE.


I have spoken so freely in the opening chapter of this Monograph of
the circumstances under which it has been written, that very little
need be said by way of introduction here. This attempt to throw some
fresh light upon the character of one of the most remarkable women of
our age has not been a task lightly taken up, or hastily performed.
The life and genius of Charlotte Bronte had long engaged my attention
before I undertook, at the request of the lady to whom I am indebted
for most of the original materials I have employed in these pages, the
work which I have now completed. In executing that work I have had
ample reason to feel and acknowledge my own deficiencies. With the
knowledge that I was treading in the footsteps of so consummate a
literary