394 OUR HYMNS :
from the public gaze. At length, in the year 1846, the three sisters, under the assumed names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, sent forth a small volume of poems on secular and religious subjects. The pieces were contributed about equally by each of the three sisters, and have never excited any special attention. Soon after, they each wrote a tale. These, after meeting with neglect at first, took their place as works of fiction of the highest talent, and were followed by others, and especially by the works of Charlotte, "Jane Eyre," &c., which have achieved a great name. Anne s works were, in addition to her poems, " Agnes Grey," 1847, and in the same year, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," a work of intense truthfulness, but too sad to please the public mind.
The circumstances of the Bronte family rendered it necessary that the daughters should contribute something to the common support, and in April, 1839, Anne went out as a governess. In this capacity she bore with Christian fortitude much that was very painful to a nature so sensitive as hers. After a few years, the family disease made its appearance, and she began to sink by a gradual decline. In a letter written April 5th, 1849, about a month before her death, she writes, " I wish it would please God to spare me, not only for papa s and Charlotte s sake, but because I long to do some good in the world before I leave it. I have many schemes in my head for future practice humble and limited 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." Shortly before her departure, she was removed to Scar borough, where she died, May 28th, 1849, aged twenty-nine.
When near her end, she was asked whether she felt easier, and she replied, " It is not you who can give me ease, but soon all will be well, through the merits of our Redeemer." Her poems and hymns are very beautiful and spiritual. One especially, be cause of its connection with her brief career as well as because of its intrinsic excellence, cannot fail to awaken interest. It begins " I hoped that with the brave and strong."
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