While this may he taken for granted, it is impossible
not to feel, even at the distance of half a century, a sense of Anne's
personal charm. Gentleness is a word always associated with her by those
who knew her. When Mr. Nicholls saw what professed to be a portrait of
Anne in a magazine article, he wrote: 'What an awful caricature of the
dear, gentle Anne Bronte!' Mr. Nicholls has a portrait of Anne in his
possession, drawn by Charlotte, which he pronounces to be an admirable
likeness, and this does convey the impression of a sweet and gentle
nature.
Anne, as we have seen, was taken in long clothes from Thornton to
Haworth. Her godmother was a Miss Outhwaite, a fact I learn from an
inscription in Anne's _Book of Common Prayer_. '_Miss Outhwaite to her
goddaughter_, _Anne Bronte_, _July _13_th_, 1827.' Miss Outhwaite was
not forgetful of her goddaughter, for by her will she left Anne 200
pounds.
There is a sampler worked by Anne, bearing date January 23rd, 1830, and
there is a later book than the Prayer Book, with Anne's name in it, and,
as might be expected, it is a good-conduct prize. _Prize for good
conduct presented to Miss A. Bronte with Miss Wooler's kind love_, _Roe
Head_, _Dec._ 14_th_, 1836, is the inscription in a copy of Watt _On the
Improvement of the Mind_.
Apart from the correspondence we know little more than this--that Anne
was the least assertive of the three sisters, and that she was more
distinctly a general favourite.
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