Bronté, Charlotte

a distinguished English novelist, B. 1816. The daughter of a clergyman living secluded in the wild Yorkshire moors, she astounded the literary world in 1846 by the production of Jane Eyre, one of the most remarkable novels in the English language. She was at once placed on the pinnacle of popularity, and under the pseudonym of "Currer Bell," she, in con, junction with her two sisters Emily and Anne, who re spectively a umed the cognomens of "Ellis Bell" and Acton Bell," brought out a series of novels sufficiently meritorious to stamp them as writers of eminent mark; though, perhaps, no succeeding work from Charlotte's pen may justly rank with her first and most powerful effort. Villette; Shirley; Wuthering Heights; Agnes Grey; The Profe or, ., are the best known of the productions of the three sisters. Charlotte married in 1854, and D. in 1856. Her Life has been written by Mrs. Gaskell (2 vols., 1857), also by T. W. Reid (1877). Bron'tern, n. [Gr. bronte, thunder.] (Greek Arch.) Brazen ve els under the floor of a theatre, used for imitating thunder, by rolling stones in them.