VOD HIGH SCHOOL , Girls' Modern Sc . . -ki v l Number CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND HER CIRCLE ' CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND HER CIRCLE BY CLEMENT K. SHORTER Second Edition Completing Fifth Thousand LONDON HODDER AND STOUGHTON 27 PATERNOSTER ROW 1896 CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND HER CIRCLE for having placed the many letters in her possession at my disposal, and for having furnished a great deal of interesting information. Without the letters from Charlotte Bronte to Mr. W. S. Williams, which were kindly lent to me by his son and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Thornton Williams, my book would have been the poorer. Sir Wemyss Reid, Mr. J. J. Stead, of Heckmondwike, Mr. Butler Wood, of Bradford, Mr. W. W. Yates, of Dewsbury, Mr. Erskine Stuart, Mr. Buxton Forman, and Mr. Thomas J. Wise are among the many Bronte specialists who have helped me with advice or with the loan of material. Mr. Wise, in particular, has lent me many valuable manuscripts. Finally, I have to thank my friend Dr. Robertson Nicoll for the kindly pressure which has practically compelled me to prepare this little volume amid a multitude of journalistic duties. CLEMENT K. SHORTER. 198 STBAUD, LONDON, September 1st, 1896. CONTENTS PRELIMINARY, ... .... CHAPTER I PATRICK BRONTE AND MARIA HIS WIFE, . . . . 27 CHAPTER II CHILDHOOD, 56 CHAPTER III SCHOOL AND GOVERNESS LIFE, ...... 74 CHAPTER IV PENSIONNAT HEGER, BRUSSELS, 96 CHAPTER V PATRICK BRANWELL BRONTE, 120 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS CHARLOTTE BRONTE, . .... Frontispiece PATRICK BRANWELL BRONTE, .... tofaCC page 120 FACSIMILE OF PAGE OF EMILY BRONTE* S DIARY, . 146 FACSIMILE OF TWO PAGES OF EMILY BRONTE'S DIARY, 154 ANNE BRONTE, ,, 182 MISS ELLEN NUSSEY AS A SCHOOLGIRL, : 207 MISS ELLEN NUSSEY TO-DAY, THE REV. ARTHUR BELL NICHOLLS, ... 46? CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND HER CIRCLE Anne Bronte born, , . . . . . . .1819 Removal to Incumbency of Harvorth, . . . February 1820 Mrs. Bronte died, 15 September 1821 Maria and Elizabeth Bronte at Cowan Bridge, . . July 1 824 Charlotte and Emily . September 1824 Leave Cowan Bridge, . . . . . . .1825 Maria Bronte died, 6 May 1825 Elisabeth Bronte died, 15 June 1825 Charlotte Bronte at School, Roe Head, . . January 1831 Leaves Roe Head School, . . . . . .1832 First Visit to Ellen Nussey at The Ry dings, . September 1 832 Returns to Roe Head as governess, ... 29 July 1 835 Branwell visits London, . . . . . . .1835 Emily spends three months at Roe Head, when Anne takes her place and she returns home, . .... 1835 Ellen Nussey visits Haworth in Holidays, , . . July 1836 Miss Wooler's School removed to Dewsbury Moor, . . 1836 Emily at a School at Halifax for six months (Miss Patchet of Law Hill), 1836 First Proposal of Marriage (Henry Nussey), . . March 1839 Anne Bronte becomes governess at Blake Hall, Mrs. Ingham's, ....... April 1839 Charlotte governess at Mrs. Sidgwick's at Stonegappe, and at Swarcliffe, Harrogate, . , . 1839 A BRONTE CHRONOLOGY Second Proposal of Marriage (Mr. Price), . . .1839 Charlotte and Emily at Haworth, Anne at Blake Hall, . 1840 Charlotte's second situation as governess with Mrs. White, Upperwood House, Rawdon, . . . . March 1841 Charlotte and Emily go to School at Brussels, . February 1842 Miss Branwell died at Haworth, . . . 29 Oct. 1842 Charlotte and Emily return to Haworth, . . . Nov. 1842 Charlotte returns to Brussels, ..... Jan. 1843 Returns to Haworth, ...... Jan. 1844 Anne and Branwell at Thorp Green, ..... 1845 Charlotte visits Mary Taylor at Hounsden, . . . 1845 Visits M iss Nussey at Brookroyd, . . . . .1845 Publication of Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, . 1846 Charlotte Bronte visits Manchester with her father for him to see an Oculist, Aug. 1846 ' Jane Eyre ' published (Smilh fy Elder), . . . Oct. 1847 ' Wuthering Heights' and 'Agnes Grey,' (Newby), . Dec. 1847 Charlotte and Anne visit London, .... June 1848 < Tenant of Wildfell Hall,' 1848 Branwell died, 24 Sept. 1848 Emily died, 19 Dec. 1848 Anne Bronte died at Scarborough, . . . 28 May 1849 ' Shirley ' published, ... . . 1849 Visit to London, first meeting with Thackeray, . AW 1849 CHARLOTTE BRONTfi AND HER CIRCLE Visit to London, sits for Portrait to Richmond, . . . 1850 Third 0/er of Marriage (James Taylor), . . . *4 1851 Visit to London for Exhibition, . '.. >.''--.<... ,- -..- .. 1851 'Villette ' published, . . . . r. ' ; . ; -./;Ui ,. . , -, . 1852 Visit to London, . . .'.. :a '.**' ; iy ' ; n^ 1853 Visit to Manchester to Mrs. Gaskell, . yiV "=..=''. . 1853 Marriage, . . . . . ~vv- . 29 June 1854 ........ 31 March 1855 Patrick Bronte died, ..... 7 /M we 186 1 PRELIMINARY MRS. GASKELL IN the whole of English biographical literature there is no book that can compare in widespread interest with the Life of Charlotte Bronte by Mrs. Gaskell. It has held a position of singular popularity for forty years ; and while biography after biography has come and gone, it still commands a place side by side with Boswell's Johnson and Lockharfs Scott. As far as mere readers are concerned, it may indeed claim its hundreds as against the tens of in- trinsically more important rivals. There are obvious reasons for this success. Mrs. Gaskell was herself a popular novelist, who commanded a very wide audience, and Cranford, at least, has taken a place among the classics of our literature. She brought to bear upon the biography of Charlotte Bronte all those literary gifts which had made the charm of her seven volumes of romance. And these gifts were employed upon a romance of real life, not less fascinating than any- thing which imagination could have furnished. Charlotte Bronte's success as an author turned the eyes of the world upon her. Thackeray had sent her his Vanity Fair before he knew her name or sex. The precious volume lies before me CHARLOTTE BRONTfi And Thackeray did not send many inscribed copies of his books even to successful authors. Speculation concerning the author of Jane Eyre was sufficiently rife during those seven sad years of literary renown to make a biography imperative when death came to Charlotte Bronte in 1855. All the world had heard something of the three marvellous sisters, daughters of a poor parson in Yorkshire, going one after another to their death with such melancholy swiftness, but leaving two of them, at least imperishable work be- hind them. The old blind father and the bereaved husband read the confused eulogy and criticism, sometimes with a sad pleasure at the praise, oftener with a sadder pain at the grotesque inaccuracy. Small wonder that it became impressed upon Mr. Bronte's mind that an authoritative biography was desirable. His son-in-law, Mr. Arthur Bell Nicholls, who lived with him in the Haworth parsonage during the six weary years which succeeded Mrs. Nicholls's death, was not so readily won to the unveiling of his wife's inner life ; and although we, who read Mrs. Gaskell's Memoir, have every reason to be thankful for Mr. Bronte's decision, peace of mind would undoubtedly have been more assured to Charlotte Bronte's surviving relatives had the most rigid silence been maintained. The book, when it appeared in 1857, gave infinite pain to a number of people, including Mr. Bronte and Mr. Nicholls ; and Mrs. Gaskell's subsequent experiences had the effect of persuading her that all biographical literature was intolerable and undesirable. She would seem to have given instructions that no bio- graphy of herself should be written ; and now that thirty years have passed since her death we have no substantial record of one of the most fascinating women of her age. The loss to literature has been forcibly brought home to the present writer, who has in his possession a bundle of letters written by Mrs. Gaskell to numerous friends of Charlotte Bronte during the progress of the biography. They serve, 2 AND HER CIRCLE all of them, to impress one with the singular charm of the woman, her humanity and breadth of sympathy. They make us think better of Mrs. Gaskell, as Thackeray's letters to Mrs. Brookfield make us think better of the author of Vanity Fair. Apart from these letters, a journey in the footsteps, as it were, of Mrs. Gaskell reveals to us the remarkable con- scientiousness with which she set about her task. It would have been possible, with so much fame behind her, to have secured an equal success, and certainly an equal pecuniary reward, had she merely written a brief mono- graph with such material as was voluntarily placed in her hands. Mrs. Gaskell possessed a higher ideal of a bio- grapher's duties. She spared no pains to find out the facts ; she visited every spot associated with the name of Charlotte Bronte Thornton, Haworth, Cowan Bridge, Birstall, Brussels and she wrote countless letters to the friends of Charlotte Bronte's earlier days. But why, it may be asked, was Mrs. Gaskell selected as biographer? The choice was made by Mr. Bronte, and not, as has been suggested, by some outside influence. When Mr. Bronte had once decided that there should be an authoritative biography and he alone was active in the matter there could be but little doubt upon whom the task would fall. Among all the friends whom fame had brought to Charlotte, Mrs. Gaskell stood prominent for her literary gifts and her large-hearted sympathy. She had made the acquaintance of Miss Bronte when the latter was on a visit to Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, in 1850; and a letter from Charlotte to her father, and others to Mr. W. S. Williams, indicate the beginning of a friendship which was to leave so permanent a record in literary history : TO W. S. WILLIAMS '20th November, 1849. 'My DEAR SIR, You said that if I wished for any copies 3 CHARLOTTE BRONTE of Shirley to be sent to individuals I was to name the parties. I have thought of one person to whom 1 should much like a copy to be offered Harriet Martineau. For her character as revealed in her works I have a lively admiration, a deep esteem. Will you inclose with the volume the accompanying note? ' The letter you forwarded this morning was from Mrs. Gas- kell, authoress of Mary Barton ; she said I was not to answer it, but I cannot help doing so. The note brought the tears to my eyes. She is a good, she is a great woman. Proud am I that I can touch a chord of sympathy in souls so noble. In Mrs. Gaskell's nature it mournfully pleases me to fancy a remote affinity to my sister Emily. In Miss Martineau's mind I have always felt the same, though there are wide differences. Both these ladies are above me certainly far my superiors in attainments and experience. I think I could look up to them if I knew them. I am, dear sir, yours sincerely, 'C. BRONTE.' TO W. S. WILLIAMS ' November 23th, 1849. ' DEAR SIR, I inclose two notes for postage. The note you sent yesterday was from Harriet Martineau ; its contents were more than gratifying. I ought to be thankful, and I trust I am, for such testimonies of sympathy from the first order of minds. When Mrs. Gaskell tells me she shall keep my works as a treasure for her daughters, and when Harriet Martineau testifies affec- tionate approbation, I feel the sting taken from the strictures of another class of critics. My resolution of seclusion withholds me from communicating further with these ladies at present, but 1 now know how they are inclined to me I know how my writings have affected their wise and pure minds. The know- ledge is present support and, perhaps, may be future armour. ' I trust Mrs. Williams's health and, consequently, your spirits are by this time quite restored. If all be well, perhaps I shall see you next week. Yours sincerely, C. BRONTE.' 4 AND HER CIRCLE TO W. S. WILLIAMS ' January 1st, 1850. ' Mv DEAR Sm, May I beg that a copy of Wtdhering Heights may be sent to Mrs. Gaskell ; her present address is 3 Sussex Place, Regent's Park. She has just sent me the Moorland Cottage. I felt disappointed about the publication of that book, having hoped it would be offered to Smith, Elder & Co. ; but it seems she had no alternative, as it was Mr. Chapman himself who asked her to write a Christmas book. On my return home yesterday I found two packets from Cornhill directed in two well-known hands waiting for me. You are all very very good. 'I trust to have derived benefit from my visit to Miss Martineau. A visit more interesting I certainly never paid. If self-sustaining strength can be acquired from example, I ought to have got good. But my nature is not hers ; I could not make it so though I were to submit it seventy times seven to the furnace of affliction, and discipline it for an age under the hammer and anvil of toil and self-sacrifice. Perhaps if I was like her I should not admire her so much as I do. She is somewhat absolute, though quite unconsciously so ; but she is likewise kind, with an affection at once abrupt and constant, whose sincerity you cannot doubt. It was delightful to sit near her in the evenings and hear her converse, myself mute. She speaks with what seems to me a wonderful fluency and eloquence. Her animal spirits are as unflagging as her intellectual powers. I was glad to find her health excellent. I believe neither solitude nor loss of friends would break her down. I saw some faults in her, but somehow I liked them for the sake of her good points. It gave me no pain to feel insignificant, mentally and corporeally, in comparison with her. ( Trusting that you and yours are well, and sincerely wishing you all a happy new year, I am, my dear sir, yours sincerely, 'C. BRONTE.' TO REV. P. BRONTE 'THE BRIERY, WINDERMEBE, ' August IQth, 1850. ' DEAR PAPA, I reached this place yesterday evening at eight 5 CHARLOTTE BRONTE o'clock, after a safe though rather tedious journey. I had to change carriages three times and to wait an hour and a half at Lancaster. Sir James came to meet me at the station ; both he and Lady Shuttleworth gave me a very kind reception. This place is exquisitely beautiful, though the weather is cloudy, misty, and stormy ; but the sun bursts out occasionally and shows the hills and the lake. Mrs. Gaskell is coming here this evening, and one or two other people. Miss Martineau, I am sorry to say, I shall not see, as she is already gone from home for the autumn. ' Be kind enough to write by return of post and tell me how you are getting on and how you are. Give my kind regards to Tabby and Martha, and Believe me, dear papa, your affec- tionate daughter, C. BRONTE.' And this is how she writes to a friend from Haworth, on her return, after that first meeting : ' Lady Shuttleworth never got out, being confined to the house with a cold ; but fortunately there was Mrs. Gaskell, the authoress of Mary Barton, who came to the Briery the day after me. I was truly glad of her companionship. She is a woman of the most genuine talent, of cheerful, pleasing, and cordial manners, and, I believe, of a kind and good heart.' TO W. S. WILLIAMS ' September 2Qth, 1850. ' MY DEAR SIR, I herewith send you a very roughly written copy of what I have to say about my sisters. When you have read it you can better judge whether the word "Notice" or " Memoir " is the most appropriate. I think the former. Memoir seems to me to express a more circumstantial and different sort of account. My aim is to give a just idea of their identity, not to write any narration of their simple, uneventful lives. I depend on you for faithfully pointing out whatever may strike you as faulty. I could not write it in the con- ventional form that I found impossible. ' It gives me real pleasure to hear of your son's success. I 6 AND HER CIRCLE trust he may persevere and go on improving, and give his parents cause for satisfaction and honest pride. ' I am truly pleased, too, to learn that Miss Kavanagh has managed so well with Mr. Colburn. Her position seems to me one deserving of all sympathy. I often think of her. Will her novel soon be published ? Somehow I expect it to be interesting. e I certainly did hope that Mrs. Gaskell would offer her next work to Smith & Elder. She and I had some conversation about publishers a comparison of our literary experiences was made. She seemed much struck with the differences between hers and mine, though I did not enter into details or tell her all. Unless I greatly mistake, she and you and Mr. Smith would get on well together; but one does not know what causes there may be to prevent her from doing as she would wish in such a case. I think Mr. Smith will not object to my occasionally sending her any of the Cornhill books that she may like to see. I have already taken the liberty of lending her Wordsworth's Prelude, as she was saying how much she wished to have the opportunity of reading it. ' I do not tack remembrances to Mrs. Williams and your daughters and Miss Kavanagh to all my letters, because that makes an empty form of what should be a sincere wish, but I trust this mark of courtesy and regard, though rarely expressed, is always understood. Believe me, yours sincerely, 'C. BRONTE.' Miss Bronte twice visited Mrs. Gaskell in her Manches- ter home, first in 1851 and afterwards in 1853, and con- cerning this latter visit we have the following letter : TO MRS. GASKELL, MANCHESTER ' HAWOBTH, April 14Irs. Gaskell's husband came post-haste to Haworth to ask for proofs of Mrs. Robinson's complicity in BranwelTs down- fall, none were obtainable. I am assured by Mr. Leslie Stephen that his father, Sir James Stephen, was employed at the time to make careful inquiry, and that he and other eminent lawyers came to the conclusion that it was one long tissue of lies or hallucinations. The subject is sufficiently sordid, and indeed almost redundant in any biography of the Brontes ; but it is of moment, because Charlotte Bronte and her sisters were so thoroughly persuaded that a woman was at the bottom of their brother's ruin ; and this belief Char- lotte impressed upon all the friends who were nearest and dearest to her. Her letters at the time of her brother's i ' To this bold statement (i.e. that love-letters were fotmd in BranwelTs pockets) Martha Brown gave to me a fiat contradiction, declaring that she was employed in the sick room at the time, and had personal knowledge that not one letter, nor a vestige of one, from the lady in question, was so found.' Ley land. Tke Bronte Fa.in.tty, voL ii. p. 284. 19 CHARLOTTE BRONTE death are full of censure of the supposed wickedness of another. It was a cruel infamy that the word of this wretched boy should have been so powerful for mischief. Here, at any rate, Mrs. Gaskell did not show the caution which a masculine biographer, less prone to take literally a man's accounts of his amours, would undoubtedly have displayed. Yet, when all is said, Mrs. Gaskell had done her work thoroughly and well. Lockhart's Scott and Fronde's Car- tyle are examples of great biographies which called forth abundant censure upon their publication ; yet both these books will live as classics of their kind. To be interesting, it is perhaps indispensable that the biographer should be indiscreet, and certainly the Branwell incident a matter of two or three pages is the only part of Mrs. Gaskell's biography in which indiscretion becomes indefensible. And for this she suffered cruelly. * I did so try to tell the truth,' she said to a friend, ' and I believe now I hit as near to the truth as any one could do.' ' I weighed every line with my whole power and heart,' she said on another occasion, 'so that every line should go to its great purpose of making her known and valued, as one who had gone through such a terrible life with a brave and faithful heart. 1 And that clearly Mrs. Gaskell succeeded in doing. It is quite certain that Charlotte Bronte would not stand on so splendid a pedestal to-day but for the single-minded devotion of her accomplished biographer. It has sometimes been implied that the portrait drawn by Mrs. Gaskell was far too sombre, that there are passages in Charlotte's letters which show that ofttimes her heart was merry and her life sufficiently cheerful. That there were long periods of gaiety for all the three sisters, surely no one ever doubted. To few people, fortunately, is it given to have lives wholly without happiness. And yet, when this is acknowledged, how can one say that the 2O PATRICK BRAXWELL BROXTE From a SiifcoeK in j. - v^ . >vl ,11 fc...*- ...A. V-. FAC8IMILE OF PAGE OF EMILY BRONTE 8 DIARY AND HER CIRCLE only one possessed Solala Yemen's Life by Anne Bronte, or the Gondaland Chronicles by Emily ! A PAPER to be opened when Anne is 25 years old, or my next birthday after if all be well. Emily Jane Brontt. July the 30th, 1841. It is Friday evening, near 9 o^clock wild rainy weather. I am seated in the dining-room, having just concluded tidy- ing our desk boxes, writing this document. Papa is in the parlour aunt upstairs in her room. She has been reading BlackwoocTs Magazine to papa. Victoria and Adelaide are ensconced in the peat-house. Keeper is in the kitchen Hero in his cage. We are all stout and hearty, as I hope is the case with Charlotte, Branwell, and Anne, of whom the first is at John White, Esq., Upperwood House, Rawdon ; the second is at Luddenden Foot ; and the third is, I believe, at Scarborough, enditing perhaps a paper corresponding to this. A scheme is at present in agitation for setting us up in a school of our own; as yet nothing is determined, but I hope and trust it may go on and prosper and answer our highest expectations. This day four years I wonder whether we shall still be dragging on in our present condition or established to our hearts' 1 content. Time will show. I guess that at the time appointed for the opening of this paper we, i.e. Charlotte, Anne, and I, shall be all merrily seated in our own sitting-room in some pleasant and Jlourishing semi- nary, having just gathered in for the midsummer lady day. Our debts will be paid off, and we shall have cash in hand to a considerable amount. Papa, aunt, and Branwell will either 147 CHARLOTTE BRONTfi have been or be coming to visit us. It will be a fine warm summer evening, very different from this bleak look-out, and Anne and I will perchance slip out into the garden for a few minutes to peruse our papers, I hope either this or something better will be the case. The Gondaliand are at present in a threatening state, but there is no open rupture as yet. All the princes and princesses of the Royalty are at the Palace of Instruction. I have a good many books on hand, but I am sorry to say that as usual I make small progress with any. However, I have just made a new regularity paper ! and I must verb sap to do great things. And now I close, sending from Jar an exhortation of courage, boys! courage, to esciled and harassed Anne, wishing she was here. Anne, as I have said, writes from Thorp Green. July the 30th, A.D. 1841. This is Emilifs birthday. She has now completed her 23rd year, and is, I believe, at home. Charlotte is a governess in the family of Mr. White. Branwell is a clerk in the railroad station at Luddenden Foot, and I am a governess in the family of Mr. Robinson. I dislike the situation and wish to change it for another. I am now at Scarborough. My pupils are gone to bed and I am hastening tojinish this before I follow them. We are thinking of setting up a school of our own, but nothing definite is settled about it yet, and we do not know whether we shall be able to or not. I hope we shall. And I wonder what will be our condition and how or where we shall all be on this day four years hence ; at which time, if all be well, I shall be 25 years and 6 months old, Emily will be 27 years old, Branwell 28 years and 1 month, and Charlotte 29 years and a quarter. We are noiv all separate and not likely to meet again for many a weary week, but we are none of us ill 148 AND HER CIRCLE that I know of and all are doing something for our ozon livelihood except Emily, wJio, however, w as busy as any of us, and in reality earns her food and raiment as much as we do. How little know we what we are How less what we may be! Four years ago I was at school. Since then I have been a governess at Blake Hall, left it, come to Thorp Green, and seen the sea and York Minster. Emily has been a teacher at Miss Patchefs school, and left it. Charlotte has left Miss Wooler's, been a governess at Mrs. Sidgwick's, left her, and gone to Mrs. Willie's. Branwell has given up painting, been a tutor in Cumberland, left it, and become a clerk on the rail- road. Tabby has left us, Martha Brown has come in her place. We have got Keeper, got a sweet little cat and lost it, and also got a hawk. Got a wild goose which has Jlown away, and three tame ones, one of which has been killed. All these diversities, with many others, are things we did not expect or foresee in the July of 1837. What will the next four years bring forth ? Providence only knows. But we ourselves have sustained very little alteration sines that time. I have the same faults that I had then, only I have more wisdom and experience, and a little more self-possession than I then enjoyed. How will it be when we open this paper and the one Emily has written ? I wonder whether the Gondaliand will still be ^flourishing, and what will be their condition. I am now engaged in writing the fourth volume o/'Solala Vernon's Life. For some time I have looked upon 25 as a sort of era in my existence. It may prove a true presentiment, or it may be only a superstitious fancy ; the latter seems most likely, but time will show. Anne Bronte. Let us next take up the other two little scraps of paper. They are dated July the 30th, 1845, or Emily's twenty- seventh birthday. Many things have happened, as she says. 149 CHARLOTTE BRONT& She has been to Brussels, and she has settled definitely at home again. They are still keenly interested in literature, and we still hear of the Gondals. There is wonderfully little difference in the tone or spirit of the journals. The con- cluding ' best wishes for this whole house till July the 30th, 1848, and as much longer as may be,' contain no pre- monition of coming disaster. Yet July 1848 was to find Branwell Bronte on the verge of the grave, and Emily on her deathbed. She died on the 14th of December of that year. Haworth, Thursday, July 30th, 1845. My birthday showery, breezy, cool. I am twenty-seven years old to-day. This morning Anne and I opened the papers we wrote four years since, on my twenty-third birth- day. This paper we intend, if all be well, to open on my thirtieth three years hence, in 1848. Since the 1841 paper the following events have taken place. Our school scheme has been abandoned, and instead Charlotte and I went to Brussels on the 8th of February 1842. Branwell left his place at Luddenden Foot. C. and I returned from Brussels, November 8th 1842, in consequence ofaunfs death. Branwell went to Thorp Green as a tutor, where Anne still continued, January 1843. Charlotte returned to Brussels the same month, and, after staying a year, came bach again on New Year's Day 1844. Anne left her situation at Thorp Green of her own accord, June 1845. Anne and I went our Jirst long journey by ourselves together, leaving home on the 30th of June, Monday, sleeping at York, returning to Keighlcy Tuesday evening, sleeping there and walking home on Wednesday morning. Though the weather was broken we enjoyed ourselves very much, except during a few hours at Bradford. And during our 150 AND HER CIRCLE excursion we were, Ronald Macalgin, Henry Angora, Juliet Anguxteena, Rosabella Esmaldan, Ella and Julian Egremont, Catharine Navarre, and Cordelia Fitzaphnold, escaping from the palaces of instruction to join the Royalists who are hard driven at present by the victorious Republicans. The Gondals still Jlourish bright as ever. I am at present writing a work on the First War. Anne has been writing some articles on this, and a book by Henry Sophona. We intend sticking Jirm by tJie rascals as long as they delight us, which I am glad to say they do at present. I should have mentioned that last summer the school scheme was revived in full vigour. We had prospectuses printed, despatched letters to all acquaintances imparting our plans, and did our little all; but it was found no go. Now I don't desire a school at all, and none of us have any great longing for it. We have cash enough for our present wants, with a prospect of accumulation. We are all in decent health, only that papa has a complaint in his eyes, and with the exception of B., who, I hope, will be better and do better hereafter. I am quite contented for myself: not as idle as formerly, altogether as hearty, and having learnt to make the most of the present and long for the future with the Jldgetiness that I cannot do all I wish; seldom or ever troubled with nothing to do, and merely desiring that every- body could be as comfortable as myself and as undesponding, and then we should have a very tolerable world of it. By mistake I find we have opened the paper on the 3\st instead of the 30th. Yesterday was much such a day as this, but the morning zcas divine. Tabby, who was gone in our last paper, is come back, and lias lived with us two years and a half, and is in good health. Martha, who also departed, is here too. We have got Flossy ; got and lost Tiger; lost the hawk Hero, which, with the geese, was given away, and is doubtless dead, for when I came back from Brussels I inquired on all hands and could CHARLOTTE BRONTE hear nothing of him. Tiger died early last year. Keeper and Flossy are well, also the canary acquired four years since. We are now all at home, and likely to be there some time. Branwell went to Liverpool on Tuesday to stay a week. Tabby has just been teasing- me to turn as formerly to ( Pilloputate.' 1 Anne and I should have picked the black currants if it had been Jine and sunshiny. I must hurry off now to my turning and ironing. I have plenty of work on hands, and writing, and am altogether foil of business. With best wishes for the whole house till 1848, July 30th, and as much longer as may be, / conclude. Emily Bronte. Finally, I give Anne's last fragment, concerning which silence is essential. Interpretation of most of the references would be mere guess-work. Thursday, July the 3\st, 1845. Yesterday was Emilys birthday, and the time when we should have opened our 1845 paper, but by mistake we opened it to-day instead. How many things have happened since it was written some pleasant, some for otherwise. Yet I was then at Thorp Green, and now I am only just escaped from it. I was wishing to leave it then, and if I had known that I had four years longer to stay how wretched I should have been; but during my stay I have had some very unpleasant and undreamt-of experience of human nature. Others have seen more changes. Charlotte has left Mr. Whitens and been twice to Brussels, where she stayed each time nearly a year. Emily has been there too, and stayed nearly a year. Bran- well has left Luddenden Foot, and been a tutor at Thorp Green, and had much tribulation and ill health. He was very ill on Thursday, but he went with John Brown to Liverpool, where he now is, I suppose; and we hope lie will be better and do better in future. This is a dismal, cloudy, wet evening. We have had so for a very cold wet summer. Charlotte has lately been to Hathersage, in 152 AND HER CIRCLE Derbyshire, on a visit of three weeks to Ellen Nussey. She is now sitting sewing in the dining-room. Emily is ironing upstairs. I am sitting in the dining-room in the rocking- chair before thejire with my feet on the fender. Papa is in the parlour. Tabby and Martha are, I think, in the kitchen. Keeper and Flossy are, I do not know where. Little Dick is hopping- in his cage. When the last paper was written we were thinking of setting up a school. The scheme has been dropt, and long after taken up again and dropt again because we could not get pupils. Charlotte is thinking about getting another situation. She wishes to go to Paris. Will she go? She has let Flossy in, by-the-by, and he is now lying on the sofa. Emily is engaged in writing the Emperor Julius's life. She has read some of it, and I want very much to hear the rest. She is writing some poetry, too. I wonder what it is about? I have begun the third volume of Passages in the Life of an Individual. / wish I had ^finished it. This afternoon I began to set about making my grey Jigured silk frock that was dyed at Keighley. What sort of a hand shall I make of it? E. and I have a great deal of work to do. When shall ice sensibly diminish it ? I ivant to get a habit of early rising. Shall I succeed ? We have not yet Jinished our Gondal Chronicles that we began three years and a half ago. When will they be done? The Gondals are at pre- sent in a sad state. The Republicans are uppermost, but the Royalists are not quite overcome. The young sovereigns, with their brothers and sisters, are still at the Palace of Instruction. The Unique Society, above half a year ago, were wrecked on a desert island as they were returning from Gaul. They are still there, but we have not played at them much yet. The Gondals in general are not in Jirst-rate play- ing condition. Will they improve ? I wonder how we shall all be and wJiere and how situated on the thirtieth of July 1848, when, if we are all alive, Emily will be just 30. / shall 153 CHARLOTTE BRONTE be in my 9Qth year, Charlotte in her 33rd, and Branwell in his 32nd ; and what changes shall we have seen and known ; and shall we be much changed ourselves ? I hope not, for the worse at least. I for my part cannot well be flatter or older in mind than I am now. Hoping for the best, I conclude. Anne Bronte. Exactly fifty years were to elapse before these pieces of writing saw the light. The interest which must always centre in Emily Bronte amply justifies my publishing a fragment in facsimile; and it has the greater moment on account of the rough drawing which Emily has made of herself and of her dog Keeper. Emily's taste for drawing is a pathetic element in her always pathetic life. I have seen a number of her sketches. There is one in the pos- session of Mr. Nicholls of Keeper and Flossy, the former the bull-dog which followed her to the grave, the latter a little King Charlie which one of the Miss Robinsons gave to Anne. The sketch, however, like most of Emily's drawings, is technically full of errors. She was not a born artist, and possibly she had not the best opportunities of becoming one by hard work. Another drawing before me is of the hawk mentioned in the above fragment ; and yet another is of the dog Growler, a predecessor of Keeper, which is not, however, mentioned in the correspondence. Upon Emily Bronte, the poet, I do not propose to write here. She left behind her, and Charlotte preserved, a manuscript volume containing the whole of the poems in the two collec- tions of her verse, and there are other poems not yet pub- lished. Here, for example, are some verses in which the Gondals make a slight reappearance. 'MaySlst, 1838. GLENEDEN'S DREAM. ' Tell me, whether is it winter ? Say how long my sleep has been. 154 * * * 1 1 M AND HER CIRCLE Have the woods I left so lovely Lost their robes of tender green ? ' Is the morning slow in coming ? Is the night time loth to go ? Tell me, are the dreary mountains Drearier still with drifted snow ? '" Captive, since thou sawest the forest, All its leaves have died away, And another March has woven Garlands for another May. '" Ice has barred the Arctic waters ; Soft Southern winds have set it free ; And once more to deep green valley Golden flowers might welcome thee." 'Watcher in this lonely prison, Shut from joy and kindly air, Heaven descending in a vision Taught my soul to do and bear. ' It was night, a night of winter, I lay on the dungeon floor, And all other sounds were silent All, except the river's roar. 'Over Death and Desolation, Fireless hearths, and lifeless homes ; Over orphans' heartsick sorrows, Patriot fathers' bloody tombs; ' Over friends, that my arms never Might embrace in love again; Memory ponderous until madness Struck its poniard in my brain. ' Deepest slumbers followed raving, Yet, methought, I brooded still ; Still I saw my country bleeding, Dying for a Tyrant's will. 155 CHARLOTTE BRONTE * Not because my bliss was blasted, Burned within the avenging flame ; Not because my scattered kindred Died in woe or lived in shame. ' God doth know I would have given Every bosom dear to me, Could that sacrifice have purchased Tortured Gondal's liberty ! ' But that at Ambition's bidding All her cherished hopes should wane, That her noblest sons should muster, Strive and fight and fall in vain. ' Hut and castle, hall and cottage, Roofless, crumbling to the ground, Mighty Heaven, a glad Avenger Thy eternal Justice found. ' Yes, the arm that once would shudder Even to grieve a wounded deer, I beheld it, unrelenting, Clothe in blood its sovereign's prayer. ' Glorious Dream ! I saw the city Blazing in Imperial shine, And among adoring thousands Stood a man of form divine. f None need point the princely victim Now he smiles with royal pride ! Now his glance is bright as lightning, Now the knife is in his side ! ' Ah ! I saw how death could darken, Darken that triumphant eye ! His red heart's blood drenched my dagger ; My ear drank his dying sigh ! I 5 6 AND HER CIRCLE 'Shadows come ! what means this midnight ? O my God, I know it all ! Know the fever dream is over, Unavenged, the Avengers fall ! ' There are, indeed, a few fragments, all written in that tiny handwriting which the girls affected, and bearing various dates from 1833 to 1840. A new edition of Emily's poems, will, by virtue of these verses, have a singular interest for her admirers. With all her gifts as a poet, however, it is by Wuthering Heights that Emily Bronte is best known to the world ; and the weirdness and force of that book suggest an inquiry concerning the influences which produced it. Dr. Wright, in his entertaining book, The Brontes in Ireland, recounts the story of Patrick Bronte's origin, and insists that it was in listening to her father's anecdotes of his own Irish experiences that Emily obtained the weird material of Wuthering Heights. It is not, of course, enough to point out that Dr. Wright's story of the Irish Brontes is full of contradictions. A number of tales picked up at random from an illiterate peasantry might very well abound in inconsistencies, and yet contain some measure of truth. But nothing in Dr. Wright's narrative is confirmed, save only the fact that Patrick Bronte con- tinued throughout his life in some slight measure of corre- spondence with his brothers and sisters a fact rendered sufficiently evident by a perusal of his will. Dr. Wright tells of many visits to Ireland in order to trace the Bronte traditions to their source ; and yet he had not in his first edition marked the elementary fact that the registry of births in County Down records the existence of innumerable Bruntys and of not a single Bronte. Dr. Wright probably made his inquiries with the stories of Emily and Charlotte well in mind. He sought for similar traditions, and the quick-witted Irish peasantry gave him all that he wanted. 157 CHARLOTTE BRONTE They served up and embellished the current traditions of the neighbourhood for his benefit, as the peasantry do everywhere for folklore enthusiasts. Charlotte Bronte's uncle Hugh, we are told, read the Quarterly Review article upon Jane Eyre, and, armed with a shillelagh, came to England, in order to wreak vengeance upon the writer of the bitter attack. He landed at Liverpool, walked from Liverpool to Haworth, saw his nieces, who ' gathered round him,' and listened to his account of his mission. He then went to London and made abundant inquiries but why pursue this ludicrous story further ? In the first place, the Quarterly Review article was published in December 1848 after Emily was dead, and while Anne was dying. Very soon after the review appeared Charlotte was informed of its authorship, and references to Miss Rigby and the Quarterly are found more than once in her correspondence with Mr. Williams. 1 This is a lengthy digression from the story of Emily's life, but it is of moment to discover whether there is any evi- dence of influences other than those which her Yorkshire home afforded. I have discussed the matter with Miss Ellen Nussey, and with Mr. Nicholls. Miss Nussey never, in all her visits to Haworth, heard a single reference to the Irish legends related by Dr. Wright, and firmly believes them to be mythical. Mr. Nicholls, during the six years that he lived alone at the parsonage with his father-in- law, never heard one single word from Mr. Bronte who was by no means disposed to reticence about these stories, and is also of opinion that they are purely legendary. It has been suggested that Emily would have been guilty almost of a crime to have based the more sordid part of her narrative upon her brother's transgressions. This is sheer nonsense. She wrote Wuihering Heights because she was impelled thereto, and the book, with all its morbid force 1 See chap, xiii., page 346. I 5 8 AND HER CIRCLE and fire, will remain, for all time, as a monument of the most striking genius that nineteenth century womanhood has given us. It was partly her life in Yorkshire the local colour was mainly derived from her brief experience as a governess at Halifax but it was partly, also, the German fiction which she had devoured during the Brussels period, that inspired Withering Heights. 1 Here, however, is a glimpse of Emily Bronte on a more human side. TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY ' March 25th, 1844. 'DEAR NELL, I got home safely, and was not too much tired on arriving at Haworth. I feel rather better to-day than I have been, and in time I hope to regain more strength. I found Emily and Papa well, and a letter from Branwell intimating that he and Anne are pretty well too. Emily is much obliged to you for the flower seeds. She wishes to know if the Sicilian pea and crimson corn-flower are hardy flowers, or if they are delicate, and should be sown in warm and sheltered situations ? Tell me also if you went to Mrs. John Swain's on Friday, and if you enjoyed yourself; talk to me, in short, as you would do if 1 The most effective reply to Dr. Wright's book that I have seen was pub- lished in The Westminster Review for October 1895. The author, the Rev. Angus Mackay, emphasises with effect the inconsistencies in Dr. Wright's account of the Bronte ancestry; and concerning the suggestion that Emily founded Wuthering Heights upon certain Irish family traditions, has the following pregnant remarks: ' The truth-loving Charlotte's account of the matter must necessarily be final. She might blamelessly have kept silence about the origin of "\Yuthering Heights, but she would never have deliberately misled us ; and she tells us distinctly in her preface to her sister's book that the materials of Wuthering Heights were gathered in Yorkshire. Speaking of Emily's aloofness from all her neighbours she says: " Yet she knew them; knew their ways, their language, their family histories ; she could hear of them with interest, and talk of them with detail, minute, graphic, and accurate ; but with them she rarely exchanged a word. Hence it ensued that what her mind had gathered of the real concerning them was too exclusively confined to those tragic and terrible traits of which, in listening to the secret annals of every rude vicinage, the memory is sometimes compelled to receive the impress. Her imagination, which was a spirit more sombre than sunny, more powerful than sportive, found in such traits material whence it wrought creations like Heathcliffe, like Earnshaw, like Catherine." To all who really know Charlotte's character this is conclusive and final. Had both plot and characters been derived from the history of an ancestor these words would never have been written.' 159 CHARLOTTE BRONTE we were together. Good-morning, dear Nell ; I shall say no more to you at present. C. BRONTE.' Earlier than this Emily had herself addressed a letter to Miss Nussey, and, indeed, the two letters from Emily Bronte to Ellen Nussey which I print here are, I imagine, the only letters of Emily's in existence. Mr. Nicholls informs me that he has never seen a letter in Emily's handwriting. The following letter is written during Charlotte's second stay in Brussels, and at a time when Ellen Nussey contemplated joining her there a project never carried out. TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY 'May IS, 1843. ' DEAR Miss NUSSEY, I should be wanting in common civility if I did not thank you for your kindness in letting me know of an opportunity to send postage free. 'I have written as you directed, though if next Tuesday means to-morrow I fear it will be too late. Charlotte has never mentioned a word about coming home. If you would go over for half-a-year, perhaps you might be able to bring her back with you otherwise, she might vegetate there till the age of Methuselah for mere lack of courage to face the voyage. ' All here are in good health ; so was Anne according to her last account. The holidays will be here in a week or two, and then, if she be willing, I will get her to write you a proper letter, a feat that I have never performed. With love and good wishes, EMILY J. BRONTE/ The next letter is written at the time that Charlotte is staying with her friend at Mr. Henry Nussey's house at Hathersage in Derbyshire. TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY ' HAWORTH, February 9th, 1846. 'DEAR Miss NUSSEY, I fancy this note will be too late to decide one way or other with respect to Charlotte's stay. Yours 160 AND HER CIRCLE only came this morning (Wednesday), and unless mine travels faster you will not receive it till Friday. Papa, of course, misses Charlotte, and will be glad to have her back. Anne and I ditto ; but as she goes from home so seldom, you may keep her a day or two longer, if your eloquence is equal to the task of persuading her that is, if she still be with you when you get this per- mission. Love from Anne. Yours truly, ' EMILY J. BRONTE.' Wuihering Heights and Agnes Grey, ' by Ellis and Acton Bell, 1 were published together in three volumes in 1847. The former novel occupied two volumes, and the latter one. By a strange freak of publishing, the book was issued as Wuihering Heights, vol. i. and n., and Agnes Grey, vol. in., in deference, it must be supposed, to the passion for the three volume novel. Charlotte refers to the publication in the next letter, which contained as inclosure the second preface to Jane Eyre the preface actually published. 1 An earlier preface, entitled 'A Word to the Quarterly J was cancelled. TO W. S. WILLIAMS 'December 2lst, 1847. ' DEAR SIR, I am, for my own part, dissatisfied with the preface I sent I fear it savours of flippancy. If you see no objection I should prefer substituting the inclosed. It is rather more lengthy, but it expresses something I have long wished to express. ' Mr. Smith is kind indeed to think of sending me The Jar of Honey. When I receive the book I will write to him. I cannot thank you sufficiently for your letters, and I can give you but a faint idea of the pleasure they afford me; they seem to introduce such light and life to the torpid retirement where we live like dormice. But, understand this distinctly, you must never write to me except when you have both leisure 1 It was sent to Mr. "Williams on six half -sheets of note-paper and was preserved by him. L l6l CHARLOTTE BRONTE and inclination. I know your time is too fully occupied and too valuable to be often at the service of any one individual. ' You are not far wrong in your judgment respecting Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. Ellis has a strong, original mind, full of strange though sombre power. When he writes poetry that power speaks in language at once condensed, elaborated, and refined, but in prose it breaks forth in scenes which shock more than they attract. Ellis will improve, however, because he knows his defects. Agnes Grey is the mirror of the mind of the writer. The orthography and punctuation of the books are mortifying to a degree : almost all the errors that were corrected in the proof- sheets appear intact in what should have been the fair copies. If Mr. Newby always does business in this way, few authors would like to have him for their publisher a second time. Believe me, dear sir, yours respect- fully, C. BEI.L.' When Jane Eyre was performed at aLondon theatre and it has been more than once adapted for the stage, and performed many hundreds of times in England and America Charlotte Bronte wrote to her friend Mr. Williams as follows : TO W. S. WILLIAMS ' February 5th, 1848. 'DEAR SIR, A representation of Jane Eyre at a minor theatre would no doubt be a rather afflicting spectacle to the author of that work. I suppose all would be wofully exaggerated and painfully vulgarised by the actors and actresses on such a stage. What, I cannot help asking myself, would they make of Mr. Rochester? And the picture my fancy conjures up by way of reply is a somewhat humiliating one. What would they make of Jane Eyre ? I see something very pert and very affected as an answer to that query. ' Still, were it in my power, I should certainly make a point of being myself a witness of the exhibition. Could I go quietly and alone, I undoubtedly should go; I should endeavour to endure both rant and whine, strut and grimace, for the sake of the useful observations to be collected in such a scene, 162 AND HER CIRCLE ' As to whether I wish you to go, that is another question. I am afraid I have hardly fortitude enough really to wish it. One can endure being disgusted with one's own work, but that a friend should share the repugnance is unpleasant. Still, I know it would interest me to hear both your account of the exhibition and any ideas which the effect of the various parts on the spectators might suggest to you. In short, I should like to know what you would think, and to hear what you would say on the subject. But you must not go merely to satisfy my curiosity ; you must do as you think proper. Whatever you decide on will content me : if you do not go, you will be spared a vulgarising impression of the book; if you do go, I shall perhaps gain a little information either alternative has its advantage. 1 ' I am glad to hear that the second edition is selling, for the sake of Messrs. Smith & Elder. I rather feared it would remain on hand, and occasion loss. Wuthenng Heights it appears is selling too, and consequently Mr. Newby is getting into marvellously good tune with his authors. I remain, my dear sir, yours faithfully, CURRER BELL.' I print the above letter here because of its sequel, which has something to say of Ellis of Emily Bronte. 1 Although Jane Eyre has been dramatised by several hands, the play has never been as popular as one might suppose from a story of such thrilling incident. I can find no trace of the particular version which is referred to in this letter, but in the next year the novel was dramatised by John Brougham, the actor and dramatist, and produced in New York on March 26, 1849. Brougham is rather an interesting figure. An Irishman by birth, he had a chequered experience of every phase of theatrical life both in London and New York. It was he who adapted 'The Queen's Motto' and 'Lady Audley's Secret,' and he collaborated with Dion Boucicault in 'London Assurance.' In 1849 he seems to have been managing Niblo's Garden in New York, and in the following year the Lyceum Theatre in Broadway. Miss "VVemyss took the title role in Jane Eyre, J. Gilbert was Rochester, and Mrs. J. Gilbert was Lady Ingram ; and though the play proved only moderately successful, it was revived in 1856 at Laura Keen e's Varieties at New York, with Laura Keene as Jane Eyre. This version has been published by Samuel French, and is also in Dick's Penny Plays. Divided into five Acts and twelve Scenes, Brougham starts the story at Lowood Academy. The second Act introduces us to Rochester's house, and the curtain descends in the fourth as Jane announces that the house is in flames. At the end of the fifth, Brougham repro- 163 CHARLOTTE BRONTE TO W. S. WILLIAMS ' February 15th, 1848. ' DEAR SIR, Your letter, as you may fancy, has given me something to think about. It has presented to my mind a curious picture, for the description you give is so vivid, I seem to realise it all. I wanted information and I have got it. You have raised the veil from a corner of your great world your London and have shown me a glimpse of what I might call loathsome, but which I prefer calling strange. Such, then, is a sample of what amuses the metropolitan populace ! Such is a view of one of their haunts ! ' Did I not say that I would have gone to this theatre and witnessed this exhibition if it had been in my power ? What absurdities people utter when they speak of they know not what ! ' You must try now to forget entirely what you saw. ' As to my next book, I suppose it will grow to maturity in duced verbatim much of the conversation of the dialogue between Rochester and Jane. Perhaps the best-known dramatisation of the novel was that by the late W. G. Wills, who divided the story into four Acts. His play was produced on Saturday, December 23, 1882, at the Globe Theatre, by Mrs. Bernard-Beere, with the following cast : Jane Eyre, Mrs. Bernard-Beere. Lady Ingram, Miss Carlotta Leclercq. Blanche Ingram, .... Miss Kate Bishop. Mary Ingram, . .... Miss Maggie Hunt. Miss Beechey, . . .... Miss Nellie Jordan. Mrs. Fairfax, ...... Miss Alexes Leighton. Grace Poole, Miss Masson. Bertha, Miss D'Almaine. Adelc, Mdlle. Clemence Colle. Mr. Rochester, ...... Mr. Charles Kelly. Lord Desmond, Mr. A. M. Denison. Rev. Mr. Price, Mr. H. E. Russel. Nat Lee, Mr. H. H. Cameron. James, ..,,... Mr. C. Stevens. Mr. Wills confined the story to Thornfield Hall. One critic described the drama at the time as 'not so much a play as a long conversation.' A few years ago James Willing made a melodrama of Jane Eyre under the title of Poor Relations. This piece was performed at the Standard, Surrey, and Park Theatres. A version of the story, dramatised by Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer, called Die Waise von Lowood, has been rather popular in Germany. 164 AND HER CIRCLE time, as grass grows or corn ripens ; but I cannot force it. It makes slow progress thus far : it is not every day, nor even every week that I can write what is worth reading; but I shall (if not hindered by other matters) be industrious when the humour comes, and in due time I hope to see such a result as I shall not be ashamed to offer you, my publishers, and the public. ' Have you not two classes of writers the author and the bookmaker? And is not the latter more prolific than the former ? Is he not, indeed, wonderfully fertile ; but does the public, or the publisher even, make much account of his productions ? Do not both tire of him in time ? 'Is it not because authors aim at a style of living better suited to merchants, professed gain-seekers, that they are often compelled to degenerate to mere bookmakers, and to find the great stimulus of their pen in the necessity of earning money ? If they were not ashamed to be frugal, might they not be more independent ? ' I should much very much like to take that quiet view of the "great world" you allude to, but I have as yet won no right to give myself such a treat : it must be for some future day when, I don't know. Ellis, I imagine, would soon turn aside from the spectacle in disgust. I do not think he admits it as his creed that " the proper study of mankind is man " at least not the artificial man of cities. In some points I consider Ellis somewhat of a theorist : now and then he broaches ideas which strike my sense as much more daring and original than practical ; his reason may be in advance of mine, but certainly it often travels a different road. I should say Ellis will not be seen in his full strength till he is seen as an essayist. 'I return to you the note inclosed under your cover, it is from the editor of the Berwick Warder; he wants a copy of Jane Eyre to review. ' With renewed thanks for your continued goodness to me, I remain, my dear sir, yours faithfully, CURRER BELL.' A short time afterwards the illness came to Emily from which she died the same year. Branwell died in September I6 5 CHARLOTTE BRONTE 1848, and a month later Charlotte writes with a heart full of misgivings : TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY ' October 29fe, 1848. ' DEAR ELLEN, I am sorry you should have been uneasy at my not writing to you ere this, but you must remember it is scarcely a week since I received your last, and my life is not so varied that in the interim much should have occurred worthy of mention. You insist that I should write about myself ; this puts me in straits, for I really have nothing interesting to say about myself. I think I have now nearly got over the effects of my late illness, and am almost restored to my normal condition of health. I sometimes wish that it was a little higher, but we ought to be content with such blessings as we have, and not pine after those that are out of our reach. I feel much more uneasy about my sisters than myself just now. Emily's cold and cough are very obstinate. I fear she has pain in the chest, and I sometimes catch a shortness in her breathing, when she has moved at all quickly. She looks very, very thin and pale. Her reserved nature occasions me great uneasiness of mind. It is useless to question her you get no answers. It is still more useless to recommend remedies they are never adopted. Nor can I shut my eyes to the fact of Anne's great delicacy of constitution. The late sad event has, I feel, made me more apprehensive than common. I cannot help feeling much de- pressed sometimes. I try to leave all in God's hands ; to trust in His goodness ; but faith and resignation are difficult to practise under some circumstances. The weather has been most unfavourable for invalids of late : sudden changes of tem- perature, and cold penetrating winds have been frequent here. Should the atmosphere become settled, perhaps a favourable effect might be produced on the general health, and those harassing coughs and colds be removed. Papa has not quite escaped, but he has, so far, stood it out better than any of us. You must not mention my going to Brookroyd this winter. I could not, and would not, leave home on any account. I am 166 AND HER CIRCLE truly soiiy to hear of Miss Heald's serious illness, it seems to me she has been for some years out of health now. These things make one feel as well as know, that this world is not our abiding-place. We should not knit human ties too close, or clasp human affections too fondly. They must leave us, or we must leave them, one day. Good-bye for the present. God restore health and strength to you and to all who need it. Yours faithfully, C. BRONTE.' TO W. S. WILLIAMS 'November 2nd, 1848. 'My DEAR SIR, I have received, since I last wrote to you, two papers, the Standard of Freedom and the Morning Herald, both containing notices of the Poems ; which notices, I hope, will at least serve a useful purpose to Mr. Smith in attracting public attention to the volume. As critiques, I should have thought more of them had they more fully recognised Ellis Bell's merits ; but the lovers of abstract poetry are few in number. ' Your last letter was very welcome, it was written with so kind an intention : you made it so interesting in order to divert my mind. I should have thanked you for it before now, only that I kept waiting for a cheerful day and mood in which to address you, and I grieve to say the shadow which has fallen on our quiet home still lingers round it. I am better, but others are ill now. Papa is not well, my sister Emily has something like a slow inflammation of the lungs, and even our old servant, who has lived with us nearly a quarter of a century, is suffering under serious indisposition. ' I would fain hope that Emily is a little better this evening, but it is difficult to ascertain this. She is a real stoic in illness : she neither seeks nor will accept sympathy. To put any questions, to offer any aid, is to annoy ; she will not yield a step before pain or sickness till forced ; not one of her ordinary avocations will she voluntarily renounce. You must look on and see her do what she is unfit to do, and not dare to say a word a painful necessity for those to whom her health and existence are as precious as the life in their veins. When she is ill there seems to 167 CHARLOTTE BRONTE be no sunshine in the world for me. The tie of sister is near and dear indeed, and I think a certain harshness in her powerful and peculiar character only makes me cling to her more. But this is all family egotism (so to speak) excuse it, and, above all, never allude to it, or to the name Emily, when you write to me. I do not always show your letters, but I never withhold them when they are inquired after. 'I am sorry I cannot claim for the name Bronte the honour of being connected with the notice in the Bradford Observer. That paper is in the hands of dissenters, and I should think the best articles are usually written by one or two intelligent dissenting ministers in the town. Alexander Harris l is fortunate in your encouragement, as Currer Bell once was. He has not forgotten the first letter he received from you, declining indeed his MS. of The Professor, but in terms so different from those in which the rejections of the other publishers had been expressed with so much more sense and kind feeling, it took away the sting of disappointment and kindled new hope in his mind. ' Currer Bell might expostulate with you again about thinking too well of him, but he refrains ; he prefers acknowledging that the expression of a fellow creature's regard even if more than he deserves does him good : it gives him a sense of content. Whatever portion of the tribute is unmerited on his part, would, he is aware, if exposed to the test of daily acquaintance, dis- perse like a broken bubble, but he has confidence that a portion, however minute, of solid friendship would remain behind, and that portion he reckons amongst his treasures. ' I am glad, by-the-bye, to hear that Madeline is come out at last, and was happy to see a favourable notice of that work and of The Three Paths in the Morning Herald. I wish Miss Kavanagh all success. 2 1 Alexander Harris wrote A Converted Atheist's Testimony to the Truth of Christianity, and other now forgotten works. 2 Julia Kavanagh (1824-1877). Her father, M. P. Kavanagh, wrote The Wanderings of Lucan and Dinah, a poetical romance, and other works. Miss Kavanagh was born at Thurles and died at Nice. Her first book, The Three Paths, a tale for children, was published in 1847. Madeline, a story founded on the life of a peasant girl of Auvergne, in 1848. Women in France during the 168 AND HER CIRCLE 'Trusting that Mrs. Williams's health continues strong, and that your own and that of all your children is satisfactory, for without health there is little comfort, I am, my dear sir, yours sincerely, C. BRONTE.' The next letter gives perhaps the most interesting glimpse of Emily that has been afforded us. TO W. S. WILLIAMS ' November 22nd, 1848. ' MY DEAR SIR, I put your most friendly letter into Emily's hands as soon as I had myself perused it, taking care, however, not to say a word in favour of homoeopathy that would not have answered. It is best usually to leave her to form her own judg- ment, and especially not to advocate the side you wish her to favour ; if you do, she is sure to lean in the opposite direction, and ten to one will argue herself into non-compliance. Hither- to she has refused medicine, rejected medical advice; no reasoning, no entreaty, has availed to induce her to see a physician. After reading your letter she said, " Mr. Williams's intention was kind and good, but he was under a delusion : Homoeopathy was only another form of quackery." Yet she may reconsider this opinion and come to a different conclusion ; her second thoughts are often the best. ' The North American Review is worth reading ; there is no mincing the matter there. What a bad set the Bells must be ! What appalling books they write ! To-day, as Emily appeared a little easier, I thought the Review would amuse her, so I read it aloud to her and Anne. As I sat between them at our quiet but now somewhat melancholy fireside, I studied the two fero- cious authors. Ellis, the " man of uncommon talents, but dog- ged, brutal, and morose," sat leaning back in his easy chair drawing his impeded breath as he best could, and looking, alas! piteously pale and wasted ; it is not his wont to laugh, but he smiled half-amused and half in scorn as he listened. Acton Eighteenth Century appeared in 1850, Nathalie the same year. In the succeed- ing years she wrote innumerable atones and biographical sketches. 169 CHARLOTTE BRONT& was sewing, no emotion ever stirs him to loquacity, so he only smiled too, dropping at the same time a single word of calm amazement to hear his character so darkly pourtrayed. I wonder what the reviewer would have thought of his own sagacity could he have beheld the pair as I did. Vainly, too, might he have looked round for the masculine partner in the firm of "Bell & Co." How I laugh in my sleeve when I read the solemn assertions that Jane Eyre was written in part- nership, and that it "bears the marks of more than one mind and one sex." ' The wise critics would certainly sink a degree in their own estimation if they knew that yours or Mr. Smith's was the first masculine hand that touched the MS. of Jane Eyre, and that till you or he read it no masculine eye had scanned a line of its con- tents, no masculine ear heard a phrase from its pages. How- ever, the view they take of the matter rather pleases me than otherwise. If they like, I am not unwilling they should think a dozen ladies and gentlemen aided at the compilation of the book. Strange patchwork it must seem to them this chapter being penned by Mr., and that by Miss or Mrs. Bell ; that character or scene being delineated by the husband, that other by the wife ! The gentleman, of course, doing the rough work, the lady getting up the finer parts. I admire the idea vastly. ' I have read Madeline. It is a fine pearl in simple setting. Julia Kavanagh has my esteem ; I would rather know her than many far more brilliant personages. Somehow my heart leans more to her than to Eliza Lynn, for instance. Not that I have read either Amymone or Azeth, but I have seen extracts from them which 1 found it literally impossible to digest. They presented to my imagination Lytton Bulwer in petticoats an overwhelming vision. By-the-bye, the American critic talks admirable sense about Bulwer candour obliges me to confess that. ' I must abruptly bid you good-bye for the present. Yours sincerely, CURRER BELL.' 170 AND HER CIRCLE TO W. S. WILLIAMS ' December 7th, 1848. ( MY DEAR SIR, I duly received Dr. Curie's work on Homoe- opathy, and ought to apologise for having forgotten to thank you for it. I will return it when I have given it a more attentive perusal than I have yet had leisure to do. My sister has read it, but as yet she remains unshaken in her former opinion : she will not admit there can be efficacy in such a system. Were I in her place, it appears to me that I should be glad to give it a trial, confident that it can scarcely do harm and might do good. ' I can give no favourable report of Emily's state. My father is very despondent about her. Anne and I cherish hope as well as we can, but her appearance and her symptoms tend to crush that feeling. Yet I argue that the present emaciation, cough, weakness, shortness of breath are the results of inflamma- tion, now, I trust, subsided, and that with time these ailments will gradually leave her. But my father shakes his head and speaks of others of our family once similarly afflicted, for whom he likewise persisted in hoping against hope, and who are now removed where hope and fear fluctuate no more. There were, however, differences between their case and hers im- portant differences I think. I must cling to the expectation of her recovery, I cannot renounce it. ' Much would I give to have the opinion of a skilful profes- sional man. It is easy, my dear sir, to say there is nothing in medicine, and that physicians are useless, but we naturally wish to procure aid for those we love when we see them suffer ; most painful is it to sit still, look on, and do nothing. Would that my sister added to her many great qualities the humble one of tractability ! I have again and again incurred her dis- pleasure by urging the necessity of seeking advice, and I fear I must yet incur it again and again. Let me leave the subject ; I have no right thus to make you a sharer in our sorrow. ' I am indeed surprised that Mr. Newby should say that he is to publish another work by Ellis and Acton Bell. Acton has had quite enough of him. I think I have before intimated that that 171 CHARLOTTE BRONTE author never more intends to have Mr. Newby for a publisher. Not only does he seem to forget that engagements made should be fulfilled, but by a system of petty and contemptible man- oeuvring he throws an air of charlatanry over the works of which he has the management. This does not suit the " Bells " : they have their own rude north-country ideas of what is delicate, honourable, and gentlemanlike. ' Newby's conduct in no sort corresponds with these notions ; they have found him I will not say what they have found him. Two words that would exactly suit him are at my pen point, but I shall not take the trouble to employ them. 'Ellis Bell is at present in no condition to trouble himself with thoughts either of writing or publishing. Should it please Heaven to restore his health and strength, he reserves to himself the right of deciding whether or not Mr. Newby has forfeited every claim to his second work. ' I have not yet read the second number of Pendennis. The first I thought rich in indication of ease, resource, promise ; but it is not Thackeray's way to develop his full power all at once. Vanity Fair began very quietly it was quiet all through, but the stream as it rolled gathered a resistless volume and force. Such, I doubt not, will be the case with Pendennis. ' You must forget what I said about Eliza Lynn. She may be the best of human beings, and I am but a narrow-minded fool to express prejudice against a person I have never seen. ' Believe me, my dear sir, in haste, yours sincerely,