The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell Volume 2 by ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO CHAPTER I. Mr. Brontë afflicted with blindness, and relieved by a successful operation for cataract--Charlotte Brontë's first work of fiction, "The Professor"--She commences "Jane Eyre"--Circumstances attending its composition--Her ideas of a heroine--Her attachment to home--Haworth in December--A letter of confession and counsel. CHAPTER II. State of Charlotte Brontë's health at the commencement of 1847--Family trials--"Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" accepted by a publisher--"The Professor" rejected--Completion of "Jane Eyre", its reception and publication--The reviews of "Jane Eyre", and the author's comments on them--Her father's reception of the book--Public interest excited by "Jane Eyre"--Dedication of the second edition to Mr. Thackeray--Correspondence of Currer Bell with Mr. Lewes on "Jane Eyre"--Publication of "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey"--Miss Brontë's account of the authoress of "Wuthering Heights"--Domestic anxieties of the Brontë sisters--Currer Bell's correspondence with Mr. Lewes--Unhealthy state of Haworth--Charlotte Brontë on the revolutions of 1848--Her repudiation of authorship--Anne Brontë's second tale, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall"--Misunderstanding as to the individuality of the three Bells, and its results--Currer and Acton Bell visit London--Charlotte Brontë's account of her visit--The Chapter Coffee House--The Clergy Daughters' School at Casterton--Death of Branwell Brontë--Illness and death of Emily Brontë. CHAPTER III. The Quarterly Review on "Jane Eyre"--Severe illness of Anne Brontë--Her last verses--She is removed to Scarborough--Her last hours, and death and burial there--Charlotte's return to Haworth, and her loneliness. CHAPTER IV. Commencement and completion of "Shirley"--Originals of the characters, and circumstances under which it was written--Loss on railway shares--Letters to Mr. Lewes and other friends on "Shirley," and the reviews of it--Miss Brontë visits London, meets Mr. Thackeray, and makes the acquaintance of Miss Martineau--Her impressions of literary men. CHAPTER V. "Currer Bell" identified as Miss Brontë at Haworth and the vicinity--Her letter to Mr. Lewes on his review of "Shirley"--Solitude and heavy mental sadness and anxiety--She visits Sir J. and Lady Kay Shuttleworth--Her comments on critics, and remarks on Thackeray's "Pendennis" and Scott's "Suggestions on Female Education"--Opinions of "Shirley" by Yorkshire readers. CHAPTER VI. An unhealthy spring at Haworth--Miss Brontë's proposed visit to London--Her remarks on "The Leader"--Associations of her walks on the moors--Letter to an unknown admirer of her works--Incidents of her visit to London--Her impressions of a visit to Scotland--Her portrait, by Richmond--Anxiety about her father. CHAPTER VII.