indeed--but still I should not like them all to come to nothing, and myself to have lived to so little purpose. But God's will be done. Remember me respectfully to your mother and sisters, and believe me, dear Miss ----, yours most affectionately, "ANNE BRONTË." It must have been about this time that Anne composed her last verses, before "the desk was closed, and the pen laid aside for ever." I. "I hoped that with the brave and strong My portioned task might lie; To toil amid the busy throng, With purpose pure and high. II. "But God has fixed another part, And He has fixed it well: I said so with my bleeding heart, When first the anguish fell. III. "Thou God, hast taken our delight, Our treasured hope, away; Thou bid'st us now weep through the night And sorrow through the day. IV. "These weary hours will not be lost, These days of misery,-- These nights of darkness, anguish-tost,-- Can I but turn to Thee. IV. "With secret labour to sustain In humble patience every blow; To gather fortitude from pain, And hope and holiness from woe. VI. "Thus let me serve Thee from my heart, Whate'er may be my written fate; Whether thus early to depart, Or yet a while to wait. VII. "If Thou should'st bring me back to life, More humbled I should be; More wise--more strengthened for the strife, More apt to lean on Thee. VIII. "Should death be standing at the gate, Thus should I keep my vow; But, Lord, whatever be my fate, Oh let me serve Thee now!" I take Charlotte's own words as the best record of her thoughts and feelings during all this terrible time. "April 12th. "I read Anne's letter to you; it was touching enough, as you say. If there were no hope beyond this world,--no eternity, no life to come,--Emily's fate, and that which threatens Anne, would be heart-breaking. I cannot forget Emily's death-day; it becomes a more fixed, a darker, a more frequently recurring idea in my mind than ever. It was very terrible. She was torn, conscious, panting, reluctant, though resolute, out of a happy life. But it WILL NOT do to dwell on these things.