Abstract The meeting of the Bronte Society in Manchester naturally suggests the relation of the Bronte family, and of Charlotte Bronte in particular, to this city. For while her life and the lives of the members of her family were essentially not urban but rural, yet, if there is any city which may claim a direct and almost personal interest in her biography it is Manchester. Manchester was the home of the accomplished and distinguished lady, Mrs. Gaskell, who not only entertained Charlotte Bronte several times as a guest, but eventually, at the desire of her father, wrote her life. The Life of Charlotte Bronte has won a classical place in English literature. So far as I shall be able to supplement it by any letters or reminiscences which have not hitherto seen the light, you and I alike are debtors to the courtesy of Miss Gaskell, who still lives at Plymouth Grove in the house where Charlotte Bronte was wont to stay, and is the one intimate surviving link between her or her biographer and the city of Man...