<P> In a letter to Ellen Nussey she wrote: </P> <P> If I could always live with you, and "daily" read the (B) ible with you, if your lips and mine could at the same time, drink the same draught from the same pure fountain of Mercy - I hope, I trust, I might one day become better, far better, than my evil wandering thoughts, my corrupt heart, cold to the spirit, and warm to the flesh will now permit me to be . </P> <P> Elizabeth Gaskell's biography The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857 . It was an important step for a leading female novelist to write a biography of another, and Gaskell's approach was unusual in that, rather than analysing her subject's achievements, she concentrated on private details of Brontë's life, emphasising those aspects that countered the accusations of "coarseness" that had been levelled at her writing . The biography is frank in places, but omits details of Brontë's love for Héger, a married man, as being too much of an affront to contemporary morals and a likely source of distress to Brontë's father, widower, and friends . Mrs Gaskell also provided doubtful and inaccurate information about Patrick Brontë, claiming that he did not allow his children to eat meat . This is refuted by one of Emily Brontë's diary papers, in which she describes preparing meat and potatoes for dinner at the parsonage . It has been argued that Gaskell's approach transferred the focus of attention away from the' difficult' novels, not just Brontë's, but all the sisters', and began a process of sanctification of their private lives . </P> <P> On 29 July 1913 The Times of London printed four letters Brontë had written to Constantin Héger after leaving Brussels in 1844 . Written in French except for one postscript in English, the letters broke the prevailing image of Brontë as an angelic martyr to Christian and female duties that had been constructed by many biographers, beginning with Gaskell . The letters, which formed part of a larger and somewhat one - sided correspondence in which Héger frequently appears not to have replied, reveal that she had been in love with a married man, although they are complex and have been interpreted in numerous ways, including as an example of literary self - dramatisation and an expression of gratitude from a former pupil . </P>

Victorian novelist who wrote the life of charlotte bronte