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WUTHERING HEIGHTS,

BY EMILY BRONTË;

AND

AGNES GREY,

BY ANNE BRONTË;

WITH A PREFACE, AND MEMOIR OF BOTH AUTHORS,

BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË.

A NEW EDITION.

LONDON:

SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15, WATERLOO PLACE.

1870.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE

OF

ELLIS AND ACTON BELL.

It has been thought that all the works published under the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, were, in reality, the production of one person. This mistake I endeavoured to rectify by a few words of disclaimer prefixed to the third edition of Jane Eyre. These, too, it appears, failed to gain general credence, and now, on the occasion of a reprint of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, I am advised distinctly to state how the case really stands.

Indeed, I feel myself that it is time the obscurity attending those two names-Ellis and Acton-was done away. The little mystery, which formerly yielded some harmless pleasure, has lost its interest; circumstances are changed. It becomes, then, my duty to explain briefly the origin and authorship of the books written by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.

About five years ago, my two sisters and myself, after a somewhat prolonged period of separation, found ourselves reunited, and at home. Resident in a remote district, where education had made little progress, and where, consequently, there was no inducement to seek

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