MANUSCRIPT: AC. Ink.

PUBLICATION: L (1894) 137; LL 136; L (1931) 136.

The date given by Mrs. Todd, December 1849, is confirmed by the handwriting. A penciled note on the third page of the folded sheet, in Bowdoin's hands, reads: "On returning Jane Eyre. The leaves mentioned were box Leaves, sent to me in a little bouquet." ED cannot be alluding to an illness of Charlotte Bronte (who died in 1855), for the book had been published only the year before, and the identity of the writer was still unknown. Her plea simply expresses her hope that Currer Bell will live long and write many more books.