had recommended it, and that when Mr. W. was last there, he had brought them a bottle of wine and jar of preserves.  She added, that he was always good-natured to poor folks, and seemed to have a deal of feeling and kindheartedness about him.  No doubt, there are defects in his character, but there are also good qualities . . .  God bless him!  I wonder who, with his advantages, would be without his faults.  I know many of his faulty actions, many of his weak points; yet, where I am, he shall always find rather a defender than an accuser.  To be sure, my opinion will go but a very little way to decide his character; what of that?  People should do right as far as their ability extends.  You are not to suppose, from all this, that Mr. W. and I are on very amiable terms; we are not at all.  We are distant, cold, and reserved.  We seldom speak; and when we do, it is only to exchange the most trivial and common-place remarks.”

The Mrs. B. alluded to in this letter, as in want of a governess, entered into a correspondence with Miss Bronte, and expressed herself much pleased with the letters she received from her, with the “style and candour of the application,” in which Charlotte had taken care to tell her, that if she wanted a showy, elegant, or fashionable person, her correspondent was not fitted for such a situation.  But Mrs. B. required her governess to give instructions in music and singing, for which Charlotte was not qualified:  and, accordingly, the negotiation fell through.  But Miss Bronte was not one to sit down in despair after disappointment.  Much as she disliked the life of a private governess, it was her duty to relieve her father of the burden of her support, and this was the only way open to her.  So she set to advertising and inquiring with fresh vigour.

In the meantime, a little occurrence took place, described in one of her letters, which I shall give, as it shows her instinctive aversion to a particular class of men, whose vices some have supposed she looked upon with indulgence.  The extract tells all that need be known, for the purpose I have in view, of the miserable pair to whom it relates.

“You remember Mr. and Mrs. —–?  Mrs. —–­ came here the other day, with a most melancholy tale of her wretched husband’s drunken, extravagant, profligate habits.  She asked Papa’s advice; there was nothing she said but ruin before them.  They owed debts which they could never pay.  She expected Mr. —–­’s instant dismissal from his curacy; she knew, from bitter experience, that his vices were utterly hopeless.  He treated her and her child savagely; with much more to the same effect.  Papa advised her to leave him for ever, and go home, if she had a home to go to.  She said, this was what she had long resolved to do; and she would leave him directly, as soon as Mr. B. dismissed him.  She expressed great disgust and contempt towards him, and did not affect to have the shadow of regard in any way.  I do