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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1700-8.txt b/1700-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b1a439 --- /dev/null +++ b/1700-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8623 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Life of Charlotte Bronte, by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Life of Charlotte Bronte + +Author: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell + +Posting Date: February 27, 2013 [EBook #1700] +Release Date: April, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE *** + + + + + + + + + + + +The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell + +Volume 2 + +by ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO + + +CHAPTER I. + +Mr. Brontë afflicted with blindness, and relieved by a successful +operation for cataract--Charlotte Brontë's first work of fiction, "The +Professor"--She commences "Jane Eyre"--Circumstances attending its +composition--Her ideas of a heroine--Her attachment to home--Haworth in +December--A letter of confession and counsel. + + +CHAPTER II. + +State of Charlotte Brontë's health at the commencement of +1847--Family trials--"Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" accepted +by a publisher--"The Professor" rejected--Completion of "Jane Eyre", +its reception and publication--The reviews of "Jane Eyre", and the +author's comments on them--Her father's reception of the book--Public +interest excited by "Jane Eyre"--Dedication of the second edition to +Mr. Thackeray--Correspondence of Currer Bell with Mr. Lewes on "Jane +Eyre"--Publication of "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey"--Miss +Brontë's account of the authoress of "Wuthering Heights"--Domestic +anxieties of the Brontë sisters--Currer Bell's correspondence with Mr. +Lewes--Unhealthy state of Haworth--Charlotte Brontë on the revolutions +of 1848--Her repudiation of authorship--Anne Brontë's second tale, "The +Tenant of Wildfell Hall"--Misunderstanding as to the individuality +of the three Bells, and its results--Currer and Acton Bell visit +London--Charlotte Brontë's account of her visit--The Chapter Coffee +House--The Clergy Daughters' School at Casterton--Death of Branwell +Brontë--Illness and death of Emily Brontë. + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Quarterly Review on "Jane Eyre"--Severe illness of Anne Brontë--Her +last verses--She is removed to Scarborough--Her last hours, and death +and burial there--Charlotte's return to Haworth, and her loneliness. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Commencement and completion of "Shirley"--Originals of the characters, +and circumstances under which it was written--Loss on railway +shares--Letters to Mr. Lewes and other friends on "Shirley," and the +reviews of it--Miss Brontë visits London, meets Mr. Thackeray, and makes +the acquaintance of Miss Martineau--Her impressions of literary men. + + +CHAPTER V. + +"Currer Bell" identified as Miss Brontë at Haworth and the vicinity--Her +letter to Mr. Lewes on his review of "Shirley"--Solitude and +heavy mental sadness and anxiety--She visits Sir J. and Lady Kay +Shuttleworth--Her comments on critics, and remarks on Thackeray's +"Pendennis" and Scott's "Suggestions on Female Education"--Opinions of +"Shirley" by Yorkshire readers. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +An unhealthy spring at Haworth--Miss Brontë's proposed visit to +London--Her remarks on "The Leader"--Associations of her walks on the +moors--Letter to an unknown admirer of her works--Incidents of her visit +to London--Her impressions of a visit to Scotland--Her portrait, by +Richmond--Anxiety about her father. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Visit to Sir J. and Lady Kay Shuttleworth--The biographer's impressions +of Miss Brontë--Miss Brontë's account of her visit to the Lakes of +Westmoreland--Her disinclination for acquaintance and visiting--Remarks +on "Woman's Mission," Tennyson's "In Memoriam," etc.--Impressions of her +visit to Scotland--Remarks on a review in the "Palladium." + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Intended republication of "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey"--Reaction +after her visit to Scotland--Her first meeting with Mr. Lewes--Her +opinion of Balzac and George Sand--A characteristic incident--Account of +a friendly visit to Haworth Parsonage--Remarks on "The Roman," by Sydney +Dobell, and on the character of Dr. Arnold--Letter to Mr. Dobell. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Miss Brontë's visit to Miss Martineau, and estimate of her +hostess--Remarks on Mr. Ruskin's "Stones of Venice"--Preparations for +another visit to London--Letter to Mr. Sydney Dobell: the moors in +autumn--Mr. Thackeray's second lecture at Willis's Rooms, and sensation +produced by Currer Bell's appearance there--Her account of her visit to +London--She breakfasts with Mr. Rogers, visits the Great Exhibition, +and sees Lord Westminster's pictures--Return to Haworth and letter +thence--Her comment on Mr. Thackeray's Lecture--Counsel on development +of character. + + +CHAPTER X. + +Remarks on friendship--Letter to Mrs. Gaskell on her and Miss +Martineau's views of the Great Exhibition and Mr. Thackeray's +lecture, and on the "Saint's Tragedy"--Miss Brontë's feelings +towards children--Her comments on Mr. J. S. Mill's article on the +Emancipation of Women--More illness at Haworth Parsonage--Letter +on Emigration--Periodical returns of illness--Miss Wooler visits +Haworth--Miss Brontë's impressions of her visit to London--Her account +of the progress of Villette--Her increasing illness and sufferings +during winter--Her letter on Mr. Thackeray's Esmond--Revival of sorrows +and accessions of low spirits--Remarks on some recent books--Retrospect +of the winter of 1851-2--Letter to Mrs. Gaskell on "Ruth." + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Miss Brontë revisits Scarborough--Serious illness and ultimate +convalescence of her father--Her own illness--"Villette" nearly +completed--Further remarks on "Esmond" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin"--Letter +respecting "Villette"--Another letter about "Villette"--Instance of +extreme sensibility. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The biographer's difficulty--Deep and enduring attachment of Mr. +Nicholls for Miss Brontë--Instance of her self-abnegation--She +again visits London--Impressions of this visit--Letter to Mrs. +Gaskell--Reception of the critiques on "Villette"--Misunderstanding +with Miss Martineau--Letter on Mr. Thackeray's portrait--Visit of the +Bishop of Ripon to Haworth Parsonage--Her wish to see the unfavourable +critiques on her works--Her nervous shyness of strangers, and its +cause--Letter on Mr. Thackeray's lectures. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Letter to Mrs. Gaskell on writing fiction, etc.--The biographer's +account of her visit to Haworth, and reminiscences of conversations with +Miss Brontë--Letters from Miss Brontë to her friends--Her engagement to +Mr. Nicholls, and preparations for the marriage--The marriage ceremony +and wedding tour--Her happiness in the married state--New symptoms +of illness, and their cause--The two last letters written by Mrs. +Nicholls--An alarming change--Her death. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Mourners at the funeral--Conclusion. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +During this summer of 1846, while her literary hopes were waning, an +anxiety of another kind was increasing. Her father's eyesight had become +seriously impaired by the progress of the cataract which was forming. +He was nearly blind. He could grope his way about, and recognise the +figures of those he knew well, when they were placed against a strong +light; but he could no longer see to read; and thus his eager appetite +for knowledge and information of all kinds was severely balked. He +continued to preach. I have heard that he was led up into the pulpit, +and that his sermons were never so effective as when he stood there, a +grey sightless old man, his blind eyes looking out straight before him, +while the words that came from his lips had all the vigour and force of +his best days. Another fact has been mentioned to me, curious as showing +the accurateness of his sensation of time. His sermons had always lasted +exactly half an hour. With the clock right before him, and with his +ready flow of words, this had been no difficult matter as long as he +could see. But it was the same when he was blind; as the minute-hand +came to the point, marking the expiration of the thirty minutes, he +concluded his sermon. + +Under his great sorrow he was always patient. As in times of far greater +affliction, he enforced a quiet endurance of his woe upon himself. But +so many interests were quenched by this blindness that he was driven +inwards, and must have dwelt much on what was painful and distressing +in regard to his only son. No wonder that his spirits gave way, and +were depressed. For some time before this autumn, his daughters had +been collecting all the information they could respecting the probable +success of operations for cataract performed on a person of their +father's age. About the end of July, Emily and Charlotte had made a +journey to Manchester for the purpose of searching out an operator; and +there they heard of the fame of the late Mr. Wilson as an oculist. They +went to him at once, but he could not tell, from description, whether +the eyes were ready for being operated upon or not. It therefore became +necessary for Mr. Brontë to visit him; and towards the end of August, +Charlotte brought her father to him. He determined at once to undertake +the operation, and recommended them to comfortable lodgings, kept by an +old servant of his. These were in one of numerous similar streets of +small monotonous-looking houses, in a suburb of the town. From thence +the following letter is dated, on August 21st, 1846:-- + +"I just scribble a line to you to let you know where I am, in order +that you may write to me here, for it seems to me that a letter from +you would relieve me from the feeling of strangeness I have in this +big town. Papa and I came here on Wednesday; we saw Mr. Wilson, the +oculist, the same day; he pronounced papa's eyes quite ready for an +operation, and has fixed next Monday for the performance of it. Think of +us on that day! We got into our lodgings yesterday. I think we shall be +comfortable; at least our rooms are very good, but there is no mistress +of the house (she is very ill, and gone out into the country), and I am +somewhat puzzled in managing about provisions; we board ourselves. I +find myself excessively ignorant. I can't tell what to order in the way +of meat. For ourselves I could contrive, papa's diet is so very simple; +but there will be a nurse coming in a day or two, and I am afraid of +not having things good enough for her. Papa requires nothing, you know, +but plain beef and mutton, tea and bread and butter; but a nurse will +probably expect to live much better; give me some hints if you can. Mr. +Wilson says we shall have to stay here for a month at least. I wonder +how Emily and Anne will get on at home with Branwell. They, too, will +have their troubles. What would I not give to have you here! One is +forced, step by step, to get experience in the world; but the learning +is so disagreeable. One cheerful feature in the business is, that Mr. +Wilson thinks most favourably of the case." + +"August 26th, 1846. + +"The operation is over; it took place yesterday Mr. Wilson performed +it; two other surgeons assisted. Mr. Wilson says, he considers it +quite successful; but papa cannot yet see anything. The affair lasted +precisely a quarter of an hour; it was not the simple operation of +couching Mr. C. described, but the more complicated one of extracting +the cataract. Mr. Wilson entirely disapproves of couching. Papa +displayed extraordinary patience and firmness; the surgeons seemed +surprised. I was in the room all the time; as it was his wish that I +should be there; of course, I neither spoke nor moved till the thing +was done, and then I felt that the less I said, either to papa or the +surgeons, the better. Papa is now confined to his bed in a dark room, +and is not to be stirred for four days; he is to speak and be spoken to +as little as possible. I am greatly obliged to you for your letter, and +your kind advice, which gave me extreme satisfaction, because I found +I had arranged most things in accordance with it, and, as your theory +coincides with my practice, I feel assured the latter is right. I hope +Mr. Wilson will soon allow me to dispense with the nurse; she is well +enough, no doubt, but somewhat too obsequious; and not, I should think, +to be much trusted; yet I was obliged to trust her in some things. . . . + +"Greatly was I amused by your account of ----'s flirtations; and yet +something saddened also. I think Nature intended him for something +better than to fritter away his time in making a set of poor, unoccupied +spinsters unhappy. The girls, unfortunately, are forced to care for him, +and such as him, because, while their minds are mostly unemployed, their +sensations are all unworn, and, consequently, fresh and green; and he, +on the contrary, has had his fill of pleasure, and can with impunity +make a mere pastime of other people's torments. This is an unfair state +of things; the match is not equal. I only wish I had the power to +infuse into the souls of the persecuted a little of the quiet strength +of pride--of the supporting consciousness of superiority (for they are +superior to him because purer)--of the fortifying resolve of firmness to +bear the present, and wait the end. Could all the virgin population of +---- receive and retain these sentiments, he would continually have to +veil his crest before them. Perhaps, luckily, their feelings are not so +acute as one would think, and the gentleman's shafts consequently don't +wound so deeply as he might desire. I hope it is so." + +A few days later, she writes thus: "Papa is still lying in bed, in a +dark room, with his eyes bandaged. No inflammation ensued, but still it +appears the greatest care, perfect quiet, and utter privation of light +are necessary to ensure a good result from the operation. He is very +patient, but, of course, depressed and weary. He was allowed to try +his sight for the first time yesterday. He could see dimly. Mr. Wilson +seemed perfectly satisfied, and said all was right. I have had bad +nights from the toothache since I came to Manchester." + +All this time, notwithstanding the domestic anxieties which were +harassing them--notwithstanding the ill-success of their poems--the +three sisters were trying that other literary venture, to which +Charlotte made allusion in one of her letters to the Messrs. Aylott. +Each of them had written a prose tale, hoping that the three might be +published together. "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" are before +the world. The third--Charlotte's contribution--is yet in manuscript, +but will be published shortly after the appearance of this memoir. +The plot in itself is of no great interest; but it is a poor kind of +interest that depends upon startling incidents rather than upon dramatic +development of character; and Charlotte Brontë never excelled one or two +sketches of portraits which she had given in "The Professor", nor, in +grace of womanhood, ever surpassed one of the female characters there +described. By the time she wrote this tale, her taste and judgment had +revolted against the exaggerated idealisms of her early girlhood, and +she went to the extreme of reality, closely depicting characters as they +had shown themselves to her in actual life: if there they were strong +even to coarseness,--as was the case with some that she had met with in +flesh and blood existence,--she "wrote them down an ass;" if the scenery +of such life as she saw was for the most part wild and grotesque, +instead of pleasant or picturesque, she described it line for line. The +grace of the one or two scenes and characters, which are drawn rather +from her own imagination than from absolute fact stand out in exquisite +relief from the deep shadows and wayward lines of others, which call to +mind some of the portraits of Rembrandt. + +The three tales had tried their fate in vain together, at length they +were sent forth separately, and for many months with still-continued +ill success. I have mentioned this here, because, among the dispiriting +circumstances connected with her anxious visit to Manchester, Charlotte +told me that her tale came back upon her hands, curtly rejected by +some publisher, on the very day when her father was to submit to his +operation. But she had the heart of Robert Bruce within her, and failure +upon failure daunted her no more than him. Not only did "The Professor" +return again to try his chance among the London publishers, but she +began, in this time of care and depressing inquietude, in those grey, +weary, uniform streets; where all faces, save that of her kind doctor, +were strange and untouched with sunlight to her,--there and then, did +the brave genius begin "Jane Eyre". Read what she herself says:--"Currer +Bell's book found acceptance nowhere, nor any acknowledgment of merit, +so that something like the chill of despair began to invade his heart." +And, remember it was not the heart of a person who, disappointed in one +hope, can turn with redoubled affection to the many certain blessings +that remain. Think of her home, and the black shadow of remorse lying +over one in it, till his very brain was mazed, and his gifts and his +life were lost;--think of her father's sight hanging on a thread;--of +her sister's delicate health, and dependence on her care;--and then +admire as it deserves to be admired, the steady courage which could work +away at "Jane Eyre", all the time "that the one-volume tale was plodding +its weary round in London." + +I believe I have already mentioned that some of her surviving friends +consider that an incident which she heard, when at school at Miss +Wooler's, was the germ of the story of Jane Eyre. But of this nothing +can be known, except by conjecture. Those to whom she spoke upon +the subject of her writings are dead and silent; and the reader may +probably have noticed, that in the correspondence from which I have +quoted, there has been no allusion whatever to the publication of her +poems, nor is there the least hint of the intention of the sisters to +publish any tales. I remember, however, many little particulars which +Miss Brontë gave me, in answer to my inquiries respecting her mode of +composition, etc. She said, that it was not every day, that she could +write. Sometimes weeks or even months elapsed before she felt that she +had anything to add to that portion of her story which was already +written. Then, some morning, she would waken up, and the progress of +her tale lay clear and bright before her, in distinct vision, when this +was the case, all her care was to discharge her household and filial +duties, so as to obtain leisure to sit down and write out the incidents +and consequent thoughts, which were, in fact, more present to her mind +at such times than her actual life itself. Yet notwithstanding this +"possession" (as it were), those who survive, of her daily and household +companions, are clear in their testimony, that never was the claim of +any duty, never was the call of another for help, neglected for an +instant. It had become necessary to give Tabby--now nearly eighty years +of age--the assistance of a girl. Tabby relinquished any of her work +with jealous reluctance, and could not bear to be reminded, though ever +so delicately, that the acuteness of her senses was dulled by age. The +other servant might not interfere with what she chose to consider her +exclusive work. Among other things, she reserved to herself the right of +peeling the potatoes for dinner; but as she was growing blind, she often +left in those black specks, which we in the North call the "eyes" of the +potato. Miss Brontë was too dainty a housekeeper to put up with this; +yet she could not bear to hurt the faithful old servant, by bidding the +younger maiden go over the potatoes again, and so reminding Tabby that +her work was less effectual than formerly. Accordingly she would steal +into the kitchen, and quietly carry off the bowl of vegetables, without +Tabby's being aware, and breaking off in the full flow of interest +and inspiration in her writing, carefully cut out the specks in the +potatoes, and noiselessly carry them back to their place. This little +proceeding may show how orderly and fully she accomplished her duties, +even at those times when the "possession" was upon her. + +Any one who has studied her writings,--whether in print or in her +letters; any one who has enjoyed the rare privilege of listening to her +talk, must have noticed her singular felicity in the choice of words. +She herself, in writing her books, was solicitous on this point. One set +of words was the truthful mirror of her thoughts; no others, however +apparently identical in meaning, would do. She had that strong practical +regard for the simple holy truth of expression, which Mr. Trench has +enforced, as a duty too often neglected. She would wait patiently +searching for the right term, until it presented itself to her. It might +be provincial, it might be derived from the Latin; so that it accurately +represented her idea, she did not mind whence it came; but this care +makes her style present the finish of a piece of mosaic. Each component +part, however small, has been dropped into the right place. She never +wrote down a sentence until she clearly understood what she wanted to +say, had deliberately chosen the words, and arranged them in their right +order. Hence it comes that, in the scraps of paper covered with her +pencil writing which I have seen, there will occasionally be a sentence +scored out, but seldom, if ever, a word or an expression. She wrote +on these bits of paper in a minute hand, holding each against a piece +of board, such as is used in binding books, for a desk. This plan was +necessary for one so short-sighted as she was; and, besides, it enabled +her to use pencil and paper, as she sat near the fire in the twilight +hours, or if (as was too often the case) she was wakeful for hours +in the night. Her finished manuscripts were copied from these pencil +scraps, in clear, legible, delicate traced writing, almost as easy to +read as print. + +The sisters retained the old habit, which was begun in their aunt's +life-time, of putting away their work at nine o'clock, and beginning +their study, pacing up and down the sitting room. At this time, they +talked over the stories they were engaged upon, and described their +plots. Once or twice a week, each read to the others what she had +written, and heard what they had to say about it. Charlotte told me, +that the remarks made had seldom any effect in inducing her to alter +her work, so possessed was she with the feeling that she had described +reality; but the readings were of great and stirring interest to all, +taking them out of the gnawing pressure of daily-recurring cares, and +setting them in a free place. It was on one of these occasions, that +Charlotte determined to make her heroine plain, small, and unattractive, +in defiance of the accepted canon. + +The writer of the beautiful obituary article on "the death of Currer +Bell" most likely learnt from herself what is there stated, and which I +will take the liberty of quoting, about Jane Eyre. + +"She once told her sisters that they were wrong--even morally wrong--in +making their heroines beautiful as a matter of course. They replied that +it was impossible to make a heroine interesting on any other terms. Her +answer was, 'I will prove to you that you are wrong; I will show you a +heroine as plain and as small as myself, who shall be as interesting +as any of yours.' Hence 'Jane Eyre,' said she in telling the anecdote: +'but she is not myself, any further than that.' As the work went on, the +interest deepened to the writer. When she came to 'Thornfield' she could +not stop. Being short-sighted to excess, she wrote in little square +paper-books, held close to her eyes, and (the first copy) in pencil. On +she went, writing incessantly for three weeks; by which time she had +carried her heroine away from Thornfield, and was herself in a fever +which compelled her to pause." + +This is all, I believe, which can now be told respecting the conception +and composition of this wonderful book, which was, however, only at its +commencement when Miss Brontë returned with her father to Haworth, after +their anxious expedition to Manchester. + +They arrived at home about the end of September. Mr. Brontë was daily +gaining strength, but he was still forbidden to exercise his sight much. +Things had gone on more comfortably while she was away than Charlotte +had dared to hope, and she expresses herself thankful for the good +ensured and the evil spared during her absence. + +Soon after this some proposal, of which I have not been able to gain a +clear account, was again mooted for Miss Brontë's opening a school at +some place distant from Haworth. It elicited the following fragment of a +characteristic reply:-- + +"Leave home!--I shall neither be able to find place nor employment, +perhaps, too, I shall be quite past the prime of life, my faculties will +be rusted, and my few acquirements in a great measure forgotten. These +ideas sting me keenly sometimes; but, whenever I consult my conscience, +it affirms that I am doing right in staying at home, and bitter are its +upbraidings when I yield to an eager desire for release. I could hardly +expect success if I were to err against such warnings. I should like to +hear from you again soon. Bring ---- to the point, and make him give you +a clear, not a vague, account of what pupils he really could promise; +people often think they can do great things in that way till they have +tried; but getting pupils is unlike getting any other sort of goods." + +Whatever might be the nature and extent of this negotiation, the end of +it was that Charlotte adhered to the decision of her conscience, which +bade her remain at home, as long as her presence could cheer or comfort +those who were in distress, or had the slightest influence over him who +was the cause of it. The next extract gives us a glimpse into the cares +of that home. It is from a letter dated December 15th. + +"I hope you are not frozen up; the cold here is dreadful. I do not +remember such a series of North-Pole days. England might really have +taken a slide up into the Arctic Zone; the sky looks like ice; the earth +is frozen; the wind is as keen as a two-edged blade. We have all had +severe colds and coughs in consequence of the weather. Poor Anne has +suffered greatly from asthma, but is now, we are glad to say, rather +better. She had two nights last week when her cough and difficulty of +breathing were painful indeed to hear and witness, and must have been +most distressing to suffer; she bore it, as she bears all affliction, +without one complaint, only sighing now and then when nearly worn out. +She has an extraordinary heroism of endurance. I admire, but I certainly +could not imitate her." . . . "You say I am to 'tell you plenty.' What +would you have me say? Nothing happens at Haworth; nothing, at least, +of a pleasant kind. One little incident occurred about a week ago, to +sting us to life; but if it gives no more pleasure for you to hear, than +it did for us to witness, you will scarcely thank me for adverting to +it. It was merely the arrival of a Sheriff's officer on a visit to B., +inviting him either to pay his debts or take a trip to York. Of course +his debts had to be paid. It is not agreeable to lose money, time after +time, in this way; but where is the use of dwelling on such subjects? It +will make him no better." + +"December 28th. + +"I feel as if it was almost a farce to sit down and write to you now, +with nothing to say worth listening to; and, indeed, if it were not for +two reasons, I should put off the business at least a fortnight hence. +The first reason is, I want another letter from you, for your letters +are interesting, they have something in them; some results of experience +and observation; one receives them with pleasure, and reads them with +relish; and these letters I cannot expect to get, unless I reply to +them. I wish the correspondence could be managed so as to be all on one +side. The second reason is derived from a remark in your last, that you +felt lonely, something as I was at Brussels, and that consequently you +had a peculiar desire to hear from old acquaintance. I can understand +and sympathise with this. I remember the shortest note was a treat to +me, when I was at the above-named place; therefore I write. I have +also a third reason: it is a haunting terror lest you should imagine I +forget you--that my regard cools with absence. It is not in my nature to +forget your nature; though, I dare say, I should spit fire and explode +sometimes if we lived together continually; and you, too, would get +angry, and then we should get reconciled and jog on as before. Do you +ever get dissatisfied with your own temper when you are long fixed to +one place, in one scene, subject to one monotonous species of annoyance? +I do: I am now in that unenviable frame of mind; my humour, I think, +is too soon over-thrown, too sore, too demonstrative and vehement. I +almost long for some of the uniform serenity you describe in Mrs. ----'s +disposition; or, at least, I would fain have her power of self-control +and concealment; but I would not take her artificial habits and ideas +along with her composure. After all I should prefer being as I am. . . +You do right not to be annoyed at any maxims of conventionality you meet +with. Regard all new ways in the light of fresh experience for you: +if you see any honey gather it." . . . "I don't, after all, consider +that we ought to despise everything we see in the world, merely because +it is not what we are accustomed to. I suspect, on the contrary, that +there are not unfrequently substantial reasons underneath for customs +that appear to us absurd; and if I were ever again to find myself +amongst strangers, I should be solicitous to examine before I condemned. +Indiscriminating irony and faultfinding are just sumphishness, and that +is all. Anne is now much better, but papa has been for near a fortnight +far from well with the influenza; he has at times a most distressing +cough, and his spirits are much depressed." + +So ended the year 1846. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The next year opened with a spell of cold dreary weather, which told +severely on a constitution already tried by anxiety and care. Miss +Brontë describes herself as having utterly lost her appetite, and as +looking "grey, old, worn and sunk," from her sufferings during the +inclement season. The cold brought on severe toothache; toothache +was the cause of a succession of restless miserable nights; and long +wakefulness told acutely upon her nerves, making them feel with +redoubled sensitiveness all the harass of her oppressive life. Yet she +would not allow herself to lay her bad health to the charge of an uneasy +mind; "for after all," said she at this time, "I have many, many things +to be thankful for." But the real state of things may be gathered from +the following extracts from her letters. + +"March 1st. + +"Even at the risk of appearing very exacting, I can't help saying that I +should like a letter as long as your last, every time you write. Short +notes give one the feeling of a very small piece of a very good thing +to eat,--they set the appetite on edge, and don't satisfy it,--a letter +leaves you more contented; and yet, after all, I am very glad to get +notes; so don't think, when you are pinched for time and materials, that +it is useless to write a few lines; be assured, a few lines are very +acceptable as far as they go; and though I like long letters, I would +by no means have you to make a task of writing them. . . . I really +should like you to come to Haworth, before I again go to B----. And it +is natural and right that I should have this wish. To keep friendship in +proper order, the balance of good offices must be preserved, otherwise a +disquieting and anxious feeling creeps in, and destroys mutual comfort. +In summer and in fine weather, your visit here might be much better +managed than in winter. We could go out more, be more independent of +the house and of our room. Branwell has been conducting himself very +badly lately. I expect, from the extravagance of his behaviour, and from +mysterious hints he drops (for he never will speak out plainly), that we +shall be hearing news of fresh debts contracted by him soon. My health +is better: I lay the blame of its feebleness on the cold weather, more +than on an uneasy mind." + +"March 24th, 1847. + +"It is at Haworth, if all be well, that we must next see each other +again. I owe you a grudge for giving Miss M---- some very exaggerated +account about my not being well, and setting her on to urge my leaving +home as quite a duty. I'll take care not to tell you next time, when I +think I am looking specially old and ugly; as if people could not have +that privilege, without being supposed to be at the last gasp! I shall +be thirty-one next birthday. My youth is gone like a dream; and very +little use have I ever made of it. What have I done these last thirty +years? Precious little." + +The quiet, sad year stole on. The sisters were contemplating near at +hand, and for a long time, the terrible effects of talents misused and +faculties abused in the person of that brother, once their fond darling +and dearest pride. They had to cheer the poor old father, into whose +heart all trials sank the deeper, because of the silent stoicism of +his endurance. They had to watch over his health, of which, whatever +was its state, he seldom complained. They had to save, as much as they +could, the precious remnants of his sight. They had to order the frugal +household with increased care, so as to supply wants and expenditure +utterly foreign to their self-denying natures. Though they shrank from +overmuch contact with their fellow-beings, for all whom they met they +had kind words, if few; and when kind actions were needed, they were not +spared, if the sisters at the parsonage could render them. They visited +the parish-schools duly; and often were Charlotte's rare and brief +holidays of a visit from home shortened by her sense of the necessity of +being in her place at the Sunday-school. + +In the intervals of such a life as this, "Jane Eyre" was making +progress. "The Professor" was passing slowly and heavily from publisher +to publisher. "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" had been accepted by +another publisher, "on terms somewhat impoverishing to the two authors;" +a bargain to be alluded to more fully hereafter. It was lying in his +hands, awaiting his pleasure for its passage through the press, during +all the months of early summer. + +The piece of external brightness to which the sisters looked during +these same summer months, was the hope that the friend to whom so many +of Charlotte's letters are addressed, and who was her chosen companion, +whenever circumstances permitted them to be together, as well as a +favourite with Emily and Anne, would be able to pay them a visit at +Haworth. Fine weather had come in May, Charlotte writes, and they hoped +to make their visitor decently comfortable. Their brother was tolerably +well, having got to the end of a considerable sum of money which he +became possessed of in the spring, and therefore under the wholesome +restriction of poverty. But Charlotte warns her friend that she must +expect to find a change in his appearance, and that he is broken in +mind; and ends her note of entreating invitation by saying, "I pray for +fine weather, that we may get out while you stay." + +At length the day was fixed. + +"Friday will suit us very well. I DO trust nothing will now arise to +prevent your coming. I shall be anxious about the weather on that day; +if it rains, I shall cry. Don't expect me to meet you; where would be +the good of it? I neither like to meet, nor to be met. Unless, indeed, +you had a box or a basket for me to carry; then there would be some +sense in it. Come in black, blue, pink, white, or scarlet, as you like. +Come shabby or smart, neither the colour nor the condition signifies; +provided only the dress contain E----, all will be right." + +But there came the first of a series of disappointments to be borne. One +feels how sharp it must have been to have wrung out the following words. + +"May 20th. + +"Your letter of yesterday did indeed give me a cruel chill of +disappointment. I cannot blame you, for I know it was not your fault. I +do not altogether exempt ---- from reproach. . . . This is bitter, but I +feel bitter. As to going to B----, I will not go near the place till you +have been to Haworth. My respects to all and sundry, accompanied with a +large amount of wormwood and gall, from the effusion of which you and +your mother are alone excepted.--C. B. + +"You are quite at liberty to tell what I think, if you judge proper. +Though it is true I may be somewhat unjust, for I am deeply annoyed. I +thought I had arranged your visit tolerably comfortable for you this +time. I may find it more difficult on another occasion." + +I must give one sentence from a letter written about this time, as it +shows distinctly the clear strong sense of the writer. + +"I was amused by what she says respecting her wish that, when she +marries, her husband will, at least, have a will of his own, even should +he be a tyrant. Tell her, when she forms that aspiration again, she +must make it conditional if her husband has a strong will, he must also +have strong sense, a kind heart, and a thoroughly correct notion of +justice; because a man with a WEAK BRAIN and a STRONG WILL, is merely an +intractable brute; you can have no hold of him; you can never lead him +right. A TYRANT under any circumstances is a curse." + +Meanwhile, "The Professor" had met with many refusals from different +publishers; some, I have reason to believe, not over-courteously worded +in writing to an unknown author, and none alleging any distinct reasons +for its rejection. Courtesy is always due; but it is, perhaps, hardly to +be expected that, in the press of business in a great publishing house, +they should find time to explain why they decline particular works. Yet, +though one course of action is not to be wondered at, the opposite may +fall upon a grieved and disappointed mind with all the graciousness of +dew; and I can well sympathise with the published account which "Currer +Bell" gives, of the feelings experienced on reading Messrs. Smith and +Elder's letter containing the rejection of "The Professor". + +"As a forlorn hope, we tried one publishing house more. Ere long, in +a much shorter space than that on which experience had taught him +to calculate, there came a letter, which he opened in the dreary +anticipation of finding two hard hopeless lines, intimating that +'Messrs. Smith and Elder were not disposed to publish the MS.,' and, +instead, he took out of the envelope a letter of two pages. He read +it trembling. It declined, indeed, to publish that tale, for business +reasons, but it discussed its merits and demerits, so courteously, +so considerately, in a spirit so rational, with a discrimination so +enlightened, that this very refusal cheered the author better than a +vulgarly-expressed acceptance would have done. It was added, that a work +in three volumes would meet with careful attention." + +Mr. Smith has told me a little circumstance connected with the reception +of this manuscript, which seems to me indicative of no ordinary +character. It came (accompanied by the note given below) in a brown +paper parcel, to 65 Cornhill. Besides the address to Messrs. Smith and +Co., there were on it those of other publishers to whom the tale had +been sent, not obliterated, but simply scored through, so that Messrs. +Smith at once perceived the names of some of the houses in the trade to +which the unlucky parcel had gone, without success. + +To MESSRS. SMITH AND ELDER. + +"July 15th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen--I beg to submit to your consideration the accompanying +manuscript. I should be glad to learn whether it be such as you approve, +and would undertake to publish at as early a period as possible. +Address, Mr. Currer Bell, under cover to Miss Brontë, Haworth, Bradford, +Yorkshire." + +Some time elapsed before an answer was returned. + +A little circumstance may be mentioned here, though it belongs to a +somewhat earlier period, as showing Miss Brontë's inexperience of the +ways of the world, and willing deference to the opinion of others. She +had written to a publisher about one of her manuscripts, which she had +sent him, and, not receiving any reply, she consulted her brother as +to what could be the reason for the prolonged silence. He at once set +it down to her not having enclosed a postage-stamp in her letter. She +accordingly wrote again, to repair her former omission, and apologise +for it. + +To MESSRS. SMITH AND ELDER. + +"August 2nd, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--About three weeks since, I sent for your consideration a +MS. entitled "The Professor", a tale by Currer Bell. I should be glad +to know whether it reached your hands safely, and likewise to learn, at +your earliest convenience, whether it be such as you can undertake to +publish.--I am, gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +"CURRER BELL. + +"I enclose a directed cover for your reply." + +This time her note met with a prompt answer; for, four days later, she +writes (in reply to the letter which she afterwards characterised in the +Preface to the second edition of "Wuthering Heights", as containing a +refusal so delicate, reasonable, and courteous, as to be more cheering +than some acceptances): + +"Your objection to the want of varied interest in the tale is, I am +aware, not without grounds; yet it appears to me that it might be +published without serious risk, if its appearance were speedily followed +up by another work from the same pen, of a more striking and exciting +character. The first work might serve as an introduction, and accustom +the public to the author's the success of the second might thereby be +rendered more probable. I have a second narrative in three volumes, +now in progress, and nearly completed, to which I have endeavoured +to impart a more vivid interest than belongs to "The Professor". In +about a month I hope to finish it, so that if a publisher were found +for "The Professor", the second narrative might follow as soon as was +deemed advisable; and thus the interest of the public (if any interest +was aroused) might not be suffered to cool. Will you be kind enough to +favour me with your judgment on this plan?" + +While the minds of the three sisters were in this state of suspense, +their long-expected friend came to pay her promised visit. She was with +them at the beginning of the glowing August of that year. They were +out on the moors for the greater part of the day basking in the golden +sunshine, which was bringing on an unusual plenteousness of harvest, +for which, somewhat later, Charlotte expressed her earnest desire that +there should be a thanksgiving service in all the churches. August was +the season of glory for the neighbourhood of Haworth. Even the smoke, +lying in the valley between that village and Keighley, took beauty from +the radiant colours on the moors above, the rich purple of the heather +bloom calling out an harmonious contrast in the tawny golden light that, +in the full heat of summer evenings, comes stealing everywhere through +the dun atmosphere of the hollows. And up, on the moors, turning away +from all habitations of men, the royal ground on which they stood would +expand into long swells of amethyst-tinted hills, melting away into +aerial tints; and the fresh and fragrant scent of the heather, and the +"murmur of innumerable bees," would lend a poignancy to the relish with +which they welcomed their friend to their own true home on the wild and +open hills. + +There, too, they could escape from the Shadow in the house below. + +Throughout this time--during all these confidences--not a word was +uttered to their friend of the three tales in London; two accepted and +in the press--one trembling in the balance of a publisher's judgment; +nor did she hear of that other story "nearly completed," lying in +manuscript in the grey old parsonage down below. She might have her +suspicions that they all wrote with an intention of publication some +time; but she knew the bounds which they set to themselves in their +communications; nor could she, nor can any one else, wonder at their +reticence, when remembering how scheme after scheme had failed, just as +it seemed close upon accomplishment. + +Mr. Brontë, too, had his suspicions of something going on; but, never +being spoken to, he did not speak on the subject, and consequently his +ideas were vague and uncertain, only just prophetic enough to keep him +from being actually stunned when, later on, he heard of the success of +"Jane Eyre"; to the progress of which we must now return. + +To MESSRS. SMITH AND ELDER. + +"August 24th. + +"I now send you per rail a MS. entitled 'Jane Eyre,' a novel in three +volumes, by Currer Bell. I find I cannot prepay the carriage of +the parcel, as money for that purpose is not received at the small +station-house where it is left. If, when you acknowledge the receipt +of the MS., you would have the goodness to mention the amount charged +on delivery, I will immediately transmit it in postage stamps. It is +better in future to address Mr. Currer Bell, under cover to Miss Brontë, +Haworth, Bradford, Yorkshire, as there is a risk of letters otherwise +directed not reaching me at present. To save trouble, I enclose an +envelope." + +"Jane Eyre" was accepted, and printed and published by October 16th. + +While it was in the press, Miss Brontë went to pay a short visit to +her friend at B----. The proofs were forwarded to her there, and she +occasionally sat at the same table with her friend, correcting them; but +they did not exchange a word on the subject. + +Immediately on her return to the Parsonage, she wrote: + +"September. + +"I had a very wet, windy walk home from Keighley; but my fatigue quite +disappeared when I reached home, and found all well. Thank God for it. + +"My boxes came safe this morning. I have distributed the presents. +Papa says I am to remember him most kindly to you. The screen will be +very useful, and he thanks you for it. Tabby was charmed with her cap. +She said, 'she never thought o' naught o' t' sort as Miss sending her +aught, and, she is sure, she can never thank her enough for it.' I was +infuriated on finding a jar in my trunk. At first, I hoped it was empty, +but when I found it heavy and replete, I could have hurled it all the +way back to B----. However, the inscription A. B. softened me much. It +was at once kind and villainous in you to send it. You ought first to +be tenderly kissed, and then afterwards as tenderly whipped. Emily is +just now on the floor of the bed-room where I am writing, looking at +her apples. She smiled when I gave the collar to her as your present, +with an expression at once well-pleased and slightly surprised. All send +their love.--Yours, in a mixture of anger and love." + +When the manuscript of "Jane Eyre" had been received by the future +publishers of that remarkable novel, it fell to the share of a gentleman +connected with the firm to read it first. He was so powerfully struck +by the character of the tale, that he reported his impression in very +strong terms to Mr. Smith, who appears to have been much amused by the +admiration excited. "You seem to have been so enchanted, that I do not +know how to believe you," he laughingly said. But when a second reader, +in the person of a clear-headed Scotchman, not given to enthusiasm, had +taken the MS. home in the evening, and became so deeply interested in +it, as to sit up half the night to finish it, Mr. Smith's curiosity was +sufficiently excited to prompt him to read it for himself; and great as +were the praises which had been bestowed upon it, he found that they had +not exceeded the truth. + +On its publication, copies were presented to a few private literary +friends. Their discernment had been rightly reckoned upon. They were of +considerable standing in the world of letters; and one and all returned +expressions of high praise along with their thanks for the book. Among +them was the great writer of fiction for whom Miss Brontë felt so strong +an admiration; he immediately appreciated, and, in a characteristic note +to the publishers, acknowledged its extraordinary merits. + +The Reviews were more tardy, or more cautious. The Athenaeum and the +Spectator gave short notices, containing qualified admissions of the +power of the author. The Literary Gazette was uncertain as to whether it +was safe to praise an unknown author. The Daily News declined accepting +the copy which had been sent, on the score of a rule "never to review +novels;" but a little later on, there appeared a notice of the Bachelor +of the Albany in that paper; and Messrs. Smith and Elder again forwarded +a copy of "Jane Eyre" to the Editor, with a request for a notice. This +time the work was accepted; but I am not aware what was the character of +the article upon it. + +The Examiner came forward to the rescue, as far as the opinions of +professional critics were concerned. The literary articles in that paper +were always remarkable for their genial and generous appreciation of +merit nor was the notice of "Jane Eyre" an exception; it was full of +hearty, yet delicate and discriminating praise. Otherwise, the press in +general did little to promote the sale of the novel; the demand for it +among librarians had begun before the appearance of the review in the +Examiner; the power of fascination of the tale itself made its merits +known to the public, without the kindly finger-posts of professional +criticism; and, early in December, the rush began for copies. + +I will insert two or three of Miss Brontë's letters to her publishers, +in order to show how timidly the idea of success was received by one so +unaccustomed to adopt a sanguine view of any subject in which she was +individually concerned. The occasions on which these notes were written, +will explain themselves. + +"Oct. 19th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--The six copies of "Jane Eyre" reached me this morning. You +have given the work every advantage which good paper, clear type, and +a seemly outside can supply;--if it fails, the fault will lie with the +author,--you are exempt. + +"I now await the judgment of the press and the public.--I am, Gentlemen, +yours respectfully, + +C. BELL." + +MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Oct. 26th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--I have received the newspapers. They speak quite as +favourably of "Jane Eyre" as I expected them to do. The notice in the +Literary Gazette seems certainly to have been indited in rather a flat +mood, and the Athenaeum has a style of its own, which I respect, but +cannot exactly relish; still when one considers that journals of that +standing have a dignity to maintain which would be deranged by a too +cordial recognition of the claims of an obscure author, I suppose there +is every reason to be satisfied. + +"Meantime a brisk sale would be effectual support under the hauteur of +lofty critics.--I am, Gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +"C. BELL." + +MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Nov. 13th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--I have to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 11th +inst., and to thank you for the information it communicates. The notice +from the People's Journal also duly reached me, and this morning I +received the Spectator. The critique in the Spectator gives that view of +the book which will naturally be taken by a certain class of minds; I +shall expect it to be followed by other notices of a similar nature. The +way to detraction has been pointed out, and will probably be pursued. +Most future notices will in all likelihood have a reflection of the +Spectator in them. I fear this turn of opinion will not improve the +demand for the book--but time will show. If "Jane Eyre" has any solid +worth in it, it ought to weather a gust of unfavourable wind.--I am, +Gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +"C. BELL." + +MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Nov. 30th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--I have received the Economist, but not the Examiner; from +some cause that paper has missed, as the Spectator did on a former +occasion; I am glad, however, to learn through your letter, that its +notice of "Jane Eyre" was favourable, and also that the prospects of the +work appear to improve. + +"I am obliged to you for the information respecting "Wuthering +Heights".--I am, Gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +"C. BELL." + +To MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Dec. 1st, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--The Examiner reached me to-day; it had been missent on +account of the direction, which was to Currer Bell, care of Miss Brontë. +Allow me to intimate that it would be better in future not to put the +name of Currer Bell on the outside of communications; if directed simply +to Miss Brontë they will be more likely to reach their destination +safely. Currer Bell is not known in the district, and I have no wish +that he should become known. The notice in the Examiner gratified +me very much; it appears to be from the pen of an able man who has +understood what he undertakes to criticise; of course, approbation from +such a quarter is encouraging to an author, and I trust it will prove +beneficial to the work.--I am, Gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +C. BELL. + +"I received likewise seven other notices from provincial papers enclosed +in an envelope. I thank you very sincerely for so punctually sending me +all the various criticisms on "Jane Eyre"." + +TO MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Dec. 10th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter inclosing +a bank post bill, for which I thank you. Having already expressed my +sense of your kind and upright conduct, I can now only say that I trust +you will always have reason to be as well content with me as I am with +you. If the result of any future exertions I may be able to make should +prove agreeable and advantageous to you, I shall be well satisfied; and +it would be a serious source of regret to me if I thought you ever had +reason to repent being my publishers. + +"You need not apologise, Gentlemen, for having written to me so seldom; +of course I am always glad to hear from you, but I am truly glad to +hear from Mr. Williams likewise; he was my first favourable critic; he +first gave me encouragement to persevere as an author, consequently I +naturally respect him and feel grateful to him. + +"Excuse the informality of my letter, and believe me, Gentlemen, yours +respectfully, + +CURRER BELL." + +There is little record remaining of the manner in which the first news +of its wonderful success reached and affected the one heart of the three +sisters. I once asked Charlotte--we were talking about the description +of Lowood school, and she was saying that she was not sure whether she +should have written it, if she had been aware how instantaneously it +would have been identified with Cowan Bridge--whether the popularity +to which the novel attained had taken her by surprise. She hesitated +a little, and then said: "I believed that what had impressed me so +forcibly when I wrote it, must make a strong impression on any one who +read it. I was not surprised at those who read "Jane Eyre" being deeply +interested in it; but I hardly expected that a book by an unknown author +could find readers." + +The sisters had kept the knowledge of their literary ventures from their +father, fearing to increase their own anxieties and disappointment by +witnessing his; for he took an acute interest in all that befell his +children, and his own tendency had been towards literature in the days +when he was young and hopeful. It was true he did not much manifest +his feelings in words; he would have thought that he was prepared for +disappointment as the lot of man, and that he could have met it with +stoicism; but words are poor and tardy interpreters of feelings to those +who love one another, and his daughters knew how he would have borne +ill-success worse for them than for himself. So they did not tell him +what they were undertaking. He says now that he suspected it all along, +but his suspicions could take no exact form, as all he was certain +of was, that his children were perpetually writing--and not writing +letters. We have seen how the communications from their publishers were +received "under cover to Miss Brontë." Once, Charlotte told me, they +overheard the postman meeting Mr. Brontë, as the latter was leaving the +house, and inquiring from the parson where one Currer Bell could be +living, to which Mr. Brontë replied that there was no such person in +the parish. This must have been the misadventure to which Miss Brontë +alludes in the beginning of her correspondence with Mr. Aylott. + +Now, however, when the demand for the work had assured success to +"Jane Eyre," her sisters urged Charlotte to tell their father of its +publication. She accordingly went into his study one afternoon after +his early dinner, carrying with her a copy of the book, and one or two +reviews, taking care to include a notice adverse to it. + +She informed me that something like the following conversation took +place between her and him. (I wrote down her words the day after I heard +them; and I am pretty sure they are quite accurate.) + +"Papa, I've been writing a book." + +"Have you, my dear?" + +"Yes, and I want you to read it." + +"I am afraid it will try my eyes too much." + +"But it is not in manuscript: it is printed." + +"My dear! you've never thought of the expense it will be! It will be +almost sure to be a loss, for how can you get a book sold? No one knows +you or your name." + +"But, papa, I don't think it will be a loss; no more will you, if you +will just let me read you a review or two, and tell you more about it." + +So she sate down and read some of the reviews to her father; and then, +giving him the copy of "Jane Eyre" that she intended for him, she left +him to read it. When he came in to tea, he said, "Girls, do you know +Charlotte has been writing a book, and it is much better than likely?" + +But while the existence of Currer Bell, the author, was like a piece of +a dream to the quiet inhabitants of Haworth Parsonage, who went on with +their uniform household life,--their cares for their brother being its +only variety,--the whole reading-world of England was in a ferment to +discover the unknown author. Even the publishers of "Jane Eyre" were +ignorant whether Currer Bell was a real or an assumed name,--whether it +belonged to a man or a woman. In every town people sought out the list +of their friends and acquaintances, and turned away in disappointment. +No one they knew had genius enough to be the author. Every little +incident mentioned in the book was turned this way and that to answer, +if possible, the much-vexed question of sex. All in vain. People were +content to relax their exertions to satisfy their curiosity, and simply +to sit down and greatly admire. + +I am not going to write an analysis of a book with which every one who +reads this biography is sure to be acquainted; much less a criticism +upon a work, which the great flood of public opinion has lifted up from +the obscurity in which it first appeared, and laid high and safe on the +everlasting hills of fame. + +Before me lies a packet of extracts from newspapers and periodicals, +which Mr. Brontë has sent me. It is touching to look them over, and see +how there is hardly any notice, however short and clumsily-worded, in +any obscure provincial paper, but what has been cut out and carefully +ticketed with its date by the poor, bereaved father,--so proud when he +first read them--so desolate now. For one and all are full of praise +of this great, unknown genius, which suddenly appeared amongst us. +Conjecture as to the authorship ran about like wild-fire. People in +London, smooth and polished as the Athenians of old, and like them +"spending their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear +some new thing," were astonished and delighted to find that a fresh +sensation, a new pleasure, was in reserve for them in the uprising of an +author, capable of depicting with accurate and Titanic power the strong, +self-reliant, racy, and individual characters which were not, after all, +extinct species, but lingered still in existence in the North. They +thought that there was some exaggeration mixed with the peculiar force +of delineation. Those nearer to the spot, where the scene of the story +was apparently laid, were sure, from the very truth and accuracy of the +writing, that the writer was no Southeron; for though "dark, and cold, +and rugged is the North," the old strength of the Scandinavian races yet +abides there, and glowed out in every character depicted in "Jane Eyre." +Farther than this, curiosity, both honourable and dishonourable, was at +fault. + +When the second edition appeared, in the January of the following +year, with the dedication to Mr. Thackeray, people looked at each +other and wondered afresh. But Currer Bell knew no more of William +Makepeace Thackeray as an individual man--of his life, age, fortunes, or +circumstances--than she did of those of Mr. Michael Angelo Titmarsh. The +one had placed his name as author upon the title-page of Vanity Fair, +the other had not. She was thankful for the opportunity of expressing +her high admiration of a writer, whom, as she says, she regarded "as the +social regenerator of his day--as the very master of that working corps +who would restore to rectitude the warped state of things. . . . His wit +is bright, his humour attractive, but both bear the same relation to his +serious genius, that the mere lambent sheet-lightning, playing under the +edge of the summer cloud, does to the electric death-spark hid in its +womb." + +Anne Brontë had been more than usually delicate all the summer, and +her sensitive spirit had been deeply affected by the great anxiety of +her home. But now that "Jane Eyre" gave such indications of success, +Charlotte began to plan schemes of future pleasure,--perhaps relaxation +from care, would be the more correct expression,--for their darling +younger sister, the "little one" of the household. But, although Anne +was cheered for a time by Charlotte's success, the fact was, that +neither her spirits nor her bodily strength were such as to incline +her to much active exertion, and she led far too sedentary a life, +continually stooping either over her book, or work, or at her desk. "It +is with difficulty," writes her sister, "that we can prevail upon her to +take a walk, or induce her to converse. I look forward to next summer +with the confident intention that she shall, if possible, make at least +a brief sojourn at the sea-side." In this same letter, is a sentence, +telling how dearly home, even with its present terrible drawback, lay at +the roots of her heart; but it is too much blended with reference to the +affairs of others to bear quotation. + +Any author of a successful novel is liable to an inroad of letters +from unknown readers, containing commendation--sometimes of so +fulsome and indiscriminating a character as to remind the recipient +of Dr. Johnson's famous speech to one who offered presumptuous and +injudicious praise--sometimes saying merely a few words, which have +power to stir the heart "as with the sound of a trumpet," and in the +high humility they excite, to call forth strong resolutions to make +all future efforts worthy of such praise; and occasionally containing +that true appreciation of both merits and demerits, together with the +sources of each, which forms the very criticism and help for which an +inexperienced writer thirsts. Of each of these kinds of communication +Currer Bell received her full share; and her warm heart, and true +sense and high standard of what she aimed at, affixed to each its true +value. Among other letters of hers, some to Mr. G. H. Lewes have been +kindly placed by him at my service; and as I know Miss Brontë highly +prized his letters of encouragement and advice, I shall give extracts +from her replies, as their dates occur, because they will indicate the +kind of criticism she valued, and also because throughout, in anger, +as in agreement and harmony, they show her character unblinded by any +self-flattery, full of clear-sighted modesty as to what she really did +well, and what she failed in, grateful for friendly interest, and only +sore and irritable when the question of sex in authorship was, as she +thought, roughly or unfairly treated. As to the rest, the letters speak +for themselves, to those who know how to listen, far better than I can +interpret their meaning into my poorer and weaker words. Mr. Lewes has +politely sent me the following explanation of that letter of his, to +which the succeeding one of Miss Brontë is a reply. + +"When 'Jane Eyre' first appeared, the publishers courteously sent me +a copy. The enthusiasm with which I read it, made me go down to Mr. +Parker, and propose to write a review of it for Frazer's Magazine. +He would not consent to an unknown novel--for the papers had not yet +declared themselves--receiving such importance, but thought it might +make one on 'Recent Novels: English and French'--which appeared in +Frazer, December, 1847. Meanwhile I had written to Miss Brontë to +tell her the delight with which her book filled me; and seem to have +sermonised her, to judge from her reply." + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Nov. 6th, 1847. + +"Dear Sir,--Your letter reached me yesterday; I beg to assure you, that +I appreciate fully the intention with which it was written, and I thank +you sincerely both for its cheering commendation and valuable advice. + +"You warn me to beware of melodrama, and you exhort me to adhere to the +real. When I first began to write, so impressed was I with the truth of +the principles you advocate, that I determined to take Nature and Truth +as my sole guides, and to follow in their very footprints; I restrained +imagination, eschewed romance, repressed excitement; over-bright +colouring, too, I avoided, and sought to produce something which should +be soft, grave, and true. + +"My work (a tale in one volume) being completed, I offered it to a +publisher. He said it was original, faithful to nature, but he did not +feel warranted in accepting it; such a work would not sell. I tried +six publishers in succession; they all told me it was deficient in +'startling incident' and 'thrilling excitement,' that it would never +suit the circulating libraries, and, as it was on those libraries the +success of works of fiction mainly depended, they could not undertake to +publish what would be overlooked there. + +"'Jane Eyre' was rather objected to at first, on the same grounds, but +finally found acceptance. + +"I mention this to you, not with a view of pleading exemption from +censure, but in order to direct your attention to the root of certain +literary evils. If, in your forthcoming article in Frazer, you would +bestow a few words of enlightenment on the public who support the +circulating libraries, you might, with your powers, do some good. + +"You advise me, too, not to stray far from the ground of experience, as +I become weak when I enter the region of fiction; and you say, 'real +experience is perennially interesting, and to all men.' + +"I feel that this also is true; but, dear Sir, is not the real +experience of each individual very limited? And, if a writer dwells upon +that solely or principally, is he not in danger of repeating himself, +and also of becoming an egotist? Then, too, imagination is a strong, +restless faculty, which claims to be heard and exercised: are we to be +quite deaf to her cry, and insensate to her struggles? When she shows +us bright pictures, are we never to look at them, and try to reproduce +them? And when she is eloquent, and speaks rapidly and urgently in our +ear, are we not to write to her dictation? + +"I shall anxiously search the next number of Fraser for your opinions on +these points.--Believe me, dear Sir, yours gratefully, + +"C. BELL." + +But while gratified by appreciation as an author, she was cautious as +to the person from whom she received it; for much of the value of the +praise depended on the sincerity and capability of the person rendering +it. Accordingly, she applied to Mr. Williams (a gentleman connected +with her publishers' firm) for information as to who and what Mr. Lewes +was. Her reply, after she had learnt something of the character of her +future critic, and while awaiting his criticism, must not be omitted. +Besides the reference to him, it contains some amusing allusions to the +perplexity which began to be excited respecting the "identity of the +brothers Bell," and some notice of the conduct of another publisher +towards her sister, which I refrain from characterising, because I +understand that truth is considered a libel in speaking of such people. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Nov. 10th, 1847. + +"Dear Sir,--I have received the Britannia and the Sun, but not the +Spectator which I rather regret, as censure, though not pleasant, is +often wholesome. + +"Thank you for your information regarding Mr. Lewes. I am glad to hear +that he is a clever and sincere man: such being the case, I can await +his critical sentence with fortitude; even if it goes against me, I +shall not murmur; ability and honesty have a right to condemn, where +they think condemnation is deserved. From what you say, however, I trust +rather to obtain at least a modified approval. + +"Your account of the various surmises respecting the identity of the +brothers Bell, amused me much: were the enigma solved, it would probably +be found not worth the trouble of solution; but I will let it alone; it +suits ourselves to remain quiet, and certainly injures no one else. + +"The reviewer who noticed the little book of poems, in the Dublin +Magazine, conjectured that the soi-disant three personages were in +reality but one, who, endowed with an unduly prominent organ of +self-esteem, and consequently impressed with a somewhat weighty notion +of his own merits, thought them too vast to be concentrated in a +single individual, and accordingly divided himself into three, out of +consideration, I suppose, for the nerves of the much-to-be-astounded +public! This was an ingenious thought in the reviewer,--very original +and striking, but not accurate. We are three. + +"A prose work, by Ellis and Acton, will soon appear: it should have +been out, indeed, long since; for the first proof-sheets were already +in the press at the commencement of last August, before Currer Bell +had placed the MS. of "Jane Eyre" in your hands. Mr.----, however, +does not do business like Messrs. Smith and Elder; a different spirit +seems to preside at ---- Street, to that which guides the helm at +65, Cornhill. . . . My relations have suffered from exhausting delay +and procrastination, while I have to acknowledge the benefits of a +management at once business-like and gentleman-like, energetic and +considerate. + +"I should like to know if Mr. ---- often acts as he has done to my +relations, or whether this is an exceptional instance of his method. Do +you know, and can you tell me anything about him? You must excuse me +for going to the point at once, when I want to learn anything: if my +questions are importunate, you are, of course, at liberty to decline +answering them.--I am, yours respectfully, + +C. BELL." + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Nov. 22nd, 1847. + +"Dear Sir,--I have now read 'Ranthorpe.' I could not get it till a +day or two ago; but I have got it and read it at last; and in reading +'Ranthorpe,' I have read a new book,--not a reprint--not a reflection of +any other book, but a NEW BOOK. + +"I did not know such books were written now. It is very different to any +of the popular works of fiction: it fills the mind with fresh knowledge. +Your experience and your convictions are made the reader's; and to an +author, at least, they have a value and an interest quite unusual. I +await your criticism on 'Jane Eyre' now with other sentiments than I +entertained before the perusal of 'Ranthorpe.' + +"You were a stranger to me. I did not particularly respect you. I did +not feel that your praise or blame would have any special weight. I knew +little of your right to condemn or approve. NOW I am informed on these +points. + +"You will be severe; your last letter taught me as much. Well! I shall +try to extract good out of your severity: and besides, though I am now +sure you are a just, discriminating man, yet, being mortal, you must be +fallible; and if any part of your censure galls me too keenly to the +quick--gives me deadly pain--I shall for the present disbelieve it, and +put it quite aside, till such time as I feel able to receive it without +torture.--I am, dear Sir, yours very respectfully, + +C. BELL." + +In December, 1847, "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" appeared. The +first-named of these stories has revolted many readers by the power with +which wicked and exceptional characters are depicted. Others, again, +have felt the attraction of remarkable genius, even when displayed on +grim and terrible criminals. Miss Brontë herself says, with regard to +this tale, "Where delineation of human character is concerned, the case +is different. I am bound to avow that she had scarcely more practical +knowledge of the peasantry amongst whom she lived, than a nun has of +the country-people that pass her convent gates. My sister's disposition +was not naturally gregarious: circumstances favoured and fostered her +tendency to seclusion; except to go to church, or take a walk on the +hills, she rarely crossed the threshold of home. Though the feeling for +the people around her was benevolent, intercourse with them she never +sought, nor, with very few exceptions, ever experienced and yet she knew +them, knew their ways, their language, and 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 has 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 +Heathcliff, like Earnshaw, like Catherine. Having formed these beings, +she did not know what she had done. If the auditor of her work, when +read in manuscript, shuddered under the grinding influence of natures +so relentless and implacable--of spirits so lost and fallen; if it was +complained that the mere hearing of certain vivid and fearful scenes +banished sleep by night, and disturbed mental peace by day, Ellis Bell +would wonder what was meant, and suspect the complainant of affectation. +Had she but lived, her mind would of itself have grown like a strong +tree--loftier, straighter, wider-spreading--and its matured fruits +would have attained a mellower ripeness and sunnier bloom; but on that +mind time and experience alone could work; to the influence of other +intellects she was not amenable." + +Whether justly or unjustly, the productions of the two younger Miss +Brontës were not received with much favour at the time of their +publication. "Critics failed to do them justice. The immature, but very +real, powers revealed in 'Wuthering Heights,' were scarcely recognised; +its import and nature were misunderstood; the identity of its author was +misrepresented: it was said that this was an earlier and ruder attempt +of the same pen which had produced 'Jane Eyre.'" . . . "Unjust and +grievous error! We laughed at it at first, but I deeply lament it now." + +Henceforward Charlotte Brontë's existence becomes divided into two +parallel currents--her life as Currer Bell, the author; her life as +Charlotte Brontë, the woman. There were separate duties belonging to +each character--not opposing each other; not impossible, but difficult +to be reconciled. When a man becomes an author, it is probably merely +a change of employment to him. He takes a portion of that time which +has hitherto been devoted to some other study or pursuit; he gives up +something of the legal or medical profession, in which he has hitherto +endeavoured to serve others, or relinquishes part of the trade or +business by which he has been striving to gain a livelihood; and another +merchant or lawyer, or doctor, steps into his vacant place, and probably +does as well as he. But no other can take up the quiet, regular duties +of the daughter, the wife, or the mother, as well as she whom God has +appointed to fill that particular place: a woman's principal work in +life is hardly left to her own choice; nor can she drop the domestic +charges devolving on her as an individual, for the exercise of the most +splendid talents that were ever bestowed. And yet she must not shrink +from the extra responsibility implied by the very fact of her possessing +such talents. She must not hide her gift in a napkin; it was meant for +the use and service of others. In an humble and faithful spirit must she +labour to do what is not impossible, or God would not have set her to do +it. + +I put into words what Charlotte Brontë put into actions. + +The year 1848 opened with sad domestic distress. It is necessary, +however painful, to remind the reader constantly of what was always +present to the hearts of father and sisters at this time. It is well +that the thoughtless critics, who spoke of the sad and gloomy views +of life presented by the Brontës in their tales, should know how such +words were wrung out of them by the living recollection of the long +agony they suffered. It is well, too, that they who have objected to the +representation of coarseness and shrank from it with repugnance, as if +such conceptions arose out of the writers, should learn, that, not from +the imagination--not from internal conception--but from the hard cruel +facts, pressed down, by external life, upon their very senses, for long +months and years together, did they write out what they saw, obeying the +stern dictates of their consciences. They might be mistaken. They might +err in writing at all, when their affections were so great that they +could not write otherwise than they did of life. It is possible that it +would have been better to have described only good and pleasant people, +doing only good and pleasant things (in which case they could hardly +have written at any time): all I say is, that never, I believe, did +women, possessed of such wonderful gifts, exercise them with a fuller +feeling of responsibility for their use. As to mistakes, stand now--as +authors as well as women--before the judgment-seat of God. + +"Jan. 11th, 1848. + +"We have not been very comfortable here at home lately. Branwell has, +by some means, contrived to get more money from the old quarter, and +has led us a sad life. . . . Papa is harassed day and night; we have +little peace, he is always sick; has two or three times fallen down in +fits; what will be the ultimate end, God knows. But who is without their +drawback, their scourge, their skeleton behind the curtain? It remains +only to do one's best, and endure with patience what God sends." + +I suppose that she had read Mr. Lewes' review on "Recent Novels," when +it appeared in the December of the last year, but I find no allusion to +it till she writes to him on January 12th, 1848. + +"Dear Sir,--I thank you then sincerely for your generous review; and it +is with the sense of double content I express my gratitude, because I +am now sure the tribute is not superfluous or obtrusive. You were not +severe on 'Jane Eyre;' you were very lenient. I am glad you told me my +faults plainly in private, for in your public notice you touch on them +so lightly, I should perhaps have passed them over thus indicated, with +too little reflection. + +"I mean to observe your warning about being careful how I undertake +new works; my stock of materials is not abundant, but very slender; +and, besides, neither my experience, my acquirements, nor my powers, +are sufficiently varied to justify my ever becoming a frequent writer. +I tell you this, because your article in Frazer left in me an uneasy +impression that you were disposed to think better of the author of +'Jane Eyre' than that individual deserved; and I would rather you had a +correct than a flattering opinion of me, even though I should never see +you. + +"If I ever DO write another book, I think I will have nothing of what +you call 'melodrama;' I think so, but I am not sure. I THINK, too, I +will endeavour to follow the counsel which shines out of Miss Austen's +'mild eyes,' 'to finish more and be more subdued;' but neither am I +sure of that. When authors write best, or, at least, when they write +most fluently, an influence seems to waken in them, which becomes their +master--which will have its own way--putting out of view all behests but +its own, dictating certain words, and insisting on their being used, +whether vehement or measured in their nature; new-moulding characters, +giving unthought of turns to incidents, rejecting carefully-elaborated +old ideas, and suddenly creating and adopting new ones. + +"Is it not so? And should we try to counteract this influence? Can we +indeed counteract it? + +"I am glad that another work of yours will soon appear; most curious +shall I be to see whether you will write up to your own principles, +and work out your own theories. You did not do it altogether in +'Ranthorpe'--at least not in the latter part; but the first portion was, +I think, nearly without fault; then it had a pith, truth, significance +in it, which gave the book sterling value; but to write so, one must +have seen and known a great deal, and I have seen and known very little. + +"Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. +What induced you to say that you would have rather written "Pride and +Prejudice,' or 'Tom Jones,' than any of the 'Waverley Novels'? + +"I had not seen 'Pride and Prejudice' till I read that sentence of +yours, and then I got the book. And what did I find? An accurate, +daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face; a carefully-fenced, +highly-cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no +glance of a bright, vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no +blue hill, no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies +and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses. These observations +will probably irritate you, but I shall run the risk. + +"Now I can understand admiration of George Sand; for though I never saw +any of her works which I admired throughout (even 'Consuelo,' which is +the best, or the best that I have read, appears to me to couple strange +extravagance with wondrous excellence), yet she has a grasp of mind, +which, if I cannot fully comprehend, I can very deeply respect; she is +sagacious and profound;--Miss Austen is only shrewd and observant. + +"Am I wrong--or, were you hasty in what you said? If you have time, I +should be glad to hear further on this subject; if not, or if you think +the questions frivolous, do not trouble yourself to reply.--I am, yours +respectfully, + +C. BELL." + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Jan. 18th, 1848. + +"Dear Sir,--I must write one more note, though I had not intended to +trouble you again so soon. I have to agree with you, and to differ from +you. + +"You correct my crude remarks on the subject of the 'influence'; well, I +accept your definition of what the effects of that influence should be; +I recognise the wisdom of your rules for its regulation. . . . + +"What a strange lecture comes next in your letter! You say I must +familiarise my mind with the fact, that 'Miss Austen is not a poetess, +has no "sentiment" (you scornfully enclose the word in inverted commas), +no eloquence, none of the ravishing enthusiasm of poetry,'--and then you +add, I MUST 'learn to acknowledge her as ONE OF THE GREATEST ARTISTS, OF +THE GREATEST PAINTERS OF HUMAN CHARACTER, and one of the writers with +the nicest sense of means to an end that ever lived.' + +"The last point only will I ever acknowledge. + +"Can there be a great artist without poetry? + +"What I call--what I will bend to, as a great artist then--cannot be +destitute of the divine gift. But by POETRY, I am sure, you understand +something different to what I do, as you do by 'sentiment.' It is +POETRY, as I comprehend the word, which elevates that masculine George +Sand, and makes out of something coarse, something Godlike. It is +'sentiment,' in my sense of the term--sentiment jealously hidden, but +genuine, which extracts the venom from that formidable Thackeray, and +converts what might be corrosive poison into purifying elixir. + +"If Thackeray did not cherish in his large heart deep feeling for his +kind, he would delight to exterminate; as it is, I believe, he wishes +only to reform. Miss Austen being, as you say, without 'sentiment,' +without Poetry, maybe IS sensible, real (more REAL than TRUE), but she +cannot be great. + +"I submit to your anger, which I have now excited (for have I not +questioned the perfection of your darling?); the storm may pass over +me. Nevertheless, I will, when I can (I do not know when that will be, +as I have no access to a circulating library), diligently peruse all +Miss Austen's works, as you recommend. . . . You must forgive me for +not always being able to think as you do, and still believe me, yours +gratefully, + +C. BELL." + +I have hesitated a little, before inserting the following extract from +a letter to Mr. Williams, but it is strikingly characteristic; and the +criticism contained in it is, from that circumstance, so interesting +(whether we agree with it or not), that I have determined to do so, +though I thereby displace the chronological order of the letters, +in order to complete this portion of a correspondence which is very +valuable, as showing the purely intellectual side of her character. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, BSQ. + +"April 26th, 1848. + +"My dear Sir,--I have now read 'Rose, Blanche, and Violet,' and I +will tell you, as well as I can, what I think of it. Whether it is an +improvement on 'Ranthorpe' I do not know, for I liked 'Ranthorpe' much; +but, at any rate, it contains more of a good thing. I find in it the +same power, but more fully developed. + +"The author's character is seen in every page, which makes the book +interesting--far more interesting than any story could do; but it is +what the writer himself says that attracts far more than what he puts +into the mouths of his characters. G. H. Lewes is, to my perception, +decidedly the most original character in the book. . . . The didactic +passages seem to me the best--far the best--in the work; very acute, +very profound, are some of the views there given, and very clearly they +are offered to the reader. He is a just thinker; he is a sagacious +observer; there is wisdom in his theory, and, I doubt not, energy in his +practice. But why, then, are you often provoked with him while you read? +How does he manage, while teaching, to make his hearer feel as if his +business was, not quietly to receive the doctrines propounded, but to +combat them? You acknowledge that he offers you gems of pure truth; why +do you keep perpetually scrutinising them for flaws? + +"Mr. Lewes, I divine, with all his talents and honesty, must have some +faults of manner; there must be a touch too much of dogmatism; a dash +extra of confidence in him, sometimes. This you think while you are +reading the book; but when you have closed it and laid it down, and sat +a few minutes collecting your thoughts, and settling your impressions, +you find the idea or feeling predominant in your mind to be pleasure at +the fuller acquaintance you have made with a fine mind and a true heart, +with high abilities and manly principles. I hope he will not be long +ere he publishes another book. His emotional scenes are somewhat too +uniformly vehement: would not a more subdued style of treatment often +have produced a more masterly effect? Now and then Mr. Lewes takes a +French pen into his hand, wherein he differs from Mr. Thackeray, who +always uses an English quill. However, the French pen does not far +mislead Mr. Lewes; he wields it with British muscles. All honour to him +for the excellent general tendency of his book! + +"He gives no charming picture of London literary society, and especially +the female part of it; but all coteries, whether they be literary, +scientific, political, or religious, must, it seems to me, have a +tendency to change truth into affectation. When people belong to a +clique, they must, I suppose, in some measure, write, talk, think, and +live for that clique; a harassing and narrowing necessity. I trust, +the press and the public show themselves disposed to give the book the +reception it merits, and that is a very cordial one, far beyond anything +due to a Bulwer or D'Israeli production." + +Let us return from Currer Bell to Charlotte Brontë. The winter in +Haworth had been a sickly season. Influenza had prevailed amongst the +villagers, and where there was a real need for the presence of the +clergyman's daughters, they were never found wanting, although they +were shy of bestowing mere social visits on the parishioners. They had +themselves suffered from the epidemic; Anne severely, as in her case it +had been attended with cough and fever enough to make her elder sisters +very anxious about her. + +There is no doubt that the proximity of the crowded church-yard rendered +the Parsonage unhealthy, and occasioned much illness to its inmates. +Mr. Brontë represented the unsanitary state at Haworth pretty forcibly +to the Board of Health; and, after the requisite visits from their +officers, obtained a recommendation that all future interments in the +churchyard should be forbidden, a new graveyard opened on the hill-side, +and means set on foot for obtaining a water-supply to each house, +instead of the weary, hard-worked housewives having to carry every +bucketful, from a distance of several hundred yards, up a steep street. +But he was baffled by the rate-payers; as, in many a similar instance, +quantity carried it against quality, numbers against intelligence. And +thus we find that illness often assumed a low typhoid form in Haworth, +and fevers of various kinds visited the place with sad frequency. + +In February, 1848, Louis Philippe was dethroned. The quick succession +of events at that time called forth the following expression of Miss +Brontë's thoughts on the subject, in a letter addressed to Miss Wooler, +and dated March 31st. + +"I remember well wishing my lot had been cast in the troubled times of +the late war, and seeing in its exciting incidents a kind of stimulating +charm, which it made my pulses beat fast to think of I remember even, +I think; being a little impatient, that you would not fully sympathise +with my feelings on those subjects; that you heard my aspirations and +speculations very tranquilly, and by no means seemed to think the +flaming swords could be any pleasant addition to Paradise. I have now +out-lived youth; and, though I dare not say that I have outlived all its +illusions--that the romance is quite gone from life--the veil fallen +from truth, and that I see both in naked reality--yet, certainly, many +things are not what they were ten years ago: and, amongst the rest, the +pomp and circumstance of war have quite lost in my eyes their fictitious +glitter. I have still no doubt that the shock of moral earthquakes +wakens a vivid sense of life, both in nations and individuals; that +the fear of dangers on a broad national scale, diverts men's minds +momentarily from brooding over small private perils, and for the time +gives them something like largeness of views; but, as little doubt have +I, that convulsive revolutions put back the world in all that is good, +check civilisation, bring the dregs of society to its surface; in short, +it appears to me that insurrections and battles are the acute diseases +of nations, and that their tendency is to exhaust, by their violence, +the vital energies of the countries where they occur. That England +may be spared the spasms, cramps, and frenzy-fits now contorting the +Continent, and threatening Ireland, I earnestly pray. With the French +and Irish I have no sympathy. With the Germans and Italians I think the +case is different; as different as the love of freedom is from the lust +for license." + +Her birthday came round. She wrote to the friend whose birthday was +within a week of hers; wrote the accustomed letter; but, reading it with +our knowledge of what she had done, we perceive the difference between +her thoughts and what they were a year or two ago, when she said "I have +done nothing." There must have been a modest consciousness of having +"done something" present in her mind, as she wrote this year:-- + +"I am now thirty-two. Youth is gone--gone,--and will never come back: +can't help it. . . . It seems to me, that sorrow must come some time to +everybody, and those who scarcely taste it in their youth, often have +a more brimming and bitter cup to drain in after life; whereas, those +who exhaust the dregs early, who drink the lees before the wine, may +reasonably hope for more palatable draughts to succeed." + +The authorship of "Jane Eyre" was as yet a close secret in the Brontë +family; not even this friend, who was all but a sister knew more about +it than the rest of the world. She might conjecture, it is true, both +from her knowledge of previous habits, and from the suspicious fact of +the proofs having been corrected at B----, that some literary project +was afoot; but she knew nothing, and wisely said nothing, until she +heard a report from others, that Charlotte Brontë was an author--had +published a novel! Then she wrote to her; and received the two following +letters; confirmatory enough, as it seems to me now, in their very +vehemence and agitation of intended denial, of the truth of the report. + +"April 28th, 1848. + +"Write another letter, and explain that last note of yours distinctly. +If your allusions are to myself, which I suppose they are, understand +this,--I have given no one a right to gossip about me, and am not to be +judged by frivolous conjectures, emanating from any quarter whatever. +Let me know what you heard, and from whom you heard it." + +"May 3rd, 1848. + +"All I can say to you about a certain matter is this: the report--if +report there be--and if the lady, who seems to have been rather +mystified, had not dreamt what she fancied had been told to her--must +have had its origin in some absurd misunderstanding. I have given NO +ONE a right either to affirm, or to hint, in the most distant manner, +that I was 'publishing'--(humbug!) Whoever has said it--if any one has, +which I doubt--is no friend of mine. Though twenty books were ascribed +to me, I should own none. I scout the idea utterly. Whoever, after +I have distinctly rejected the charge, urges it upon me, will do an +unkind and an ill-bred thing. The most profound obscurity is infinitely +preferable to vulgar notoriety; and that notoriety I neither seek nor +will have. If then any B--an, or G--an, should presume to bore you on +the subject,--to ask you what 'novel' Miss Brontë has been 'publishing,' +you can just say, with the distinct firmness of which you are perfect +mistress when you choose, that you are authorised by Miss Brontë to +say, that she repels and disowns every accusation of the kind. You may +add, if you please, that if any one has her confidence, you believe you +have, and she has made no drivelling confessions to you on the subject. +I am at a loss to conjecture from what source this rumour has come; and, +I fear, it has far from a friendly origin. I am not certain, however, +and I should be very glad if I could gain certainty. Should you hear +anything more, please let me know. Your offer of 'Simeon's Life' is a +very kind one, and I thank you for it. I dare say Papa would like to see +the work very much, as he knew Mr. Simeon. Laugh or scold A---- out of +the publishing notion; and believe me, through all chances and changes, +whether calumniated or let alone,--Yours faithfully, + +C. BRONTË." + +The reason why Miss Brontë was so anxious to preserve her secret, was, I +am told, that she had pledged her word to her sisters that it should not +be revealed through her. + +The dilemmas attendant on the publication of the sisters' novels, under +assumed names, were increasing upon them. Many critics insisted on +believing, that all the fictions published as by three Bells were the +works of one author, but written at different periods of his development +and maturity. No doubt, this suspicion affected the reception of the +books. Ever since the completion of Anne Brontë's tale of "Agnes Grey", +she had been labouring at a second, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall." It +is little known; the subject--the deterioration of a character, whose +profligacy and ruin took their rise in habits of intemperance, so slight +as to be only considered "good fellowship"--was painfully discordant +to one who would fain have sheltered herself from all but peaceful and +religious ideas. "She had" (says her sister of that gentle "little +one"), "in the course of her life, been called on to contemplate near +at hand, and for a long time, the terrible effects of talents misused +and faculties abused; hers was naturally a sensitive, reserved, and +dejected nature; what she saw sunk very deeply into her mind; it did her +harm. She brooded over it till she believed it to be a duty to reproduce +every detail (of course, with fictitious characters, incidents, and +situations), as a warning to others. She hated her work, but would +pursue it. When reasoned with on the subject, she regarded such +reasonings as a temptation to self-indulgence. She must be honest; she +must not varnish, soften, or conceal. This well-meant resolution brought +on her misconstruction, and some abuse, which she bore, as it was her +custom to bear whatever was unpleasant with mild steady patience. She +was a very sincere and practical Christian, but the tinge of religious +melancholy communicated a sad shade to her brief blameless life." + +In the June of this year, 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' was sufficiently +near its completion to be submitted to the person who had previously +published for Ellis and Acton Bell. + +In consequence of his mode of doing business, considerable annoyance +was occasioned both to Miss Brontë and to them. The circumstances, +as detailed in a letter of hers to a friend in New Zealand, were +these:--One morning, at the beginning of July, a communication was +received at the Parsonage from Messrs. Smith and Elder, which disturbed +its quiet inmates not a little, as, though the matter brought under +their notice was merely referred to as one which affected their literary +reputation, they conceived it to have a bearing likewise upon their +character. "Jane Eyre" had had a great run in America, and a publisher +there had consequently bid high for early sheets of the next work by +"Currer Bell." These Messrs. Smith and Elder had promised to let him +have. He was therefore greatly astonished, and not well pleased, to +learn that a similar agreement had been entered into with another +American house, and that the new tale was very shortly to appear. It +turned out, upon inquiry, that the mistake had originated in Acton and +Ellis Bell's publisher having assured this American house that, to the +best of his belief, "Jane Eyre", "Wuthering Heights", and "The Tenant of +Wildfell Hall" (which he pronounced superior to either of the other two) +were all written by the same author. + +Though Messrs. Smith and Elder distinctly stated in their letter that +they did not share in such "belief," the sisters were impatient till +they had shown its utter groundlessness, and set themselves perfectly +straight. With rapid decision, they resolved that Charlotte and Anne +should start, for London, that very day, in order to prove their +separate identity to Messrs. Smith and Elder, and demand from the +credulous publisher his reasons for a "belief" so directly at variance +with an assurance which had several times been given to him. Having +arrived at this determination, they made their preparations with +resolute promptness. There were many household duties to be performed +that day; but they were all got through. The two sisters each packed up +a change of dress in a small box, which they sent down to Keighley by +an opportune cart; and after early tea they set off to walk thither--no +doubt in some excitement; for, independently of the cause of their +going to London, it was Anne's first visit there. A great thunderstorm +overtook them on their way that summer evening to the station; but +they had no time to seek shelter. They only just caught the train at +Keighley, arrived at Leeds, and were whirled up by the night train to +London. + +About eight o'clock on the Saturday morning, they arrived at the Chapter +Coffee-house, Paternoster Row--a strange place, but they did not well +know where else to go. They refreshed themselves by washing, and had +some breakfast. Then they sat still for a few minutes, to consider what +next should be done. + +When they had been discussing their project in the quiet of Haworth +Parsonage the day before, and planning the mode of setting about the +business on which they were going to London, they had resolved to take +a cab, if they should find it desirable, from their inn to Cornhill; +but that, amidst the bustle and "queer state of inward excitement" in +which they found themselves, as they sat and considered their position +on the Saturday morning, they quite forgot even the possibility of +hiring a conveyance; and when they set forth, they became so dismayed by +the crowded streets, and the impeded crossings, that they stood still +repeatedly, in complete despair of making progress, and were nearly an +hour in walking the half-mile they had to go. Neither Mr. Smith nor Mr. +Williams knew that they were coming; they were entirely unknown to the +publishers of "Jane Eyre", who were not, in fact, aware whether the +"Bells" were men or women, but had always written to them as to men. + +On reaching Mr. Smith's, Charlotte put his own letter into his hands; +the same letter which had excited so much disturbance at Haworth +Parsonage only twenty-four hours before. "Where did you get this?" +said he,--as if he could not believe that the two young ladies dressed +in black, of slight figures and diminutive stature, looking pleased +yet agitated, could be the embodied Currer and Acton Bell, for whom +curiosity had been hunting so eagerly in vain. An explanation ensued, +and Mr. Smith at once began to form plans for their amusement and +pleasure during their stay in London. He urged them to meet a few +literary friends at his house; and this was a strong temptation to +Charlotte, as amongst them were one or two of the writers whom she +particularly wished to see; but her resolution to remain unknown induced +her firmly to put it aside. + +The sisters were equally persevering in declining Mr. Smith's +invitations to stay at his house. They refused to leave their quarters, +saying they were not prepared for a long stay. + +When they returned back to their inn, poor Charlotte paid for the +excitement of the interview, which had wound up the agitation and hurry +of the last twenty-four hours, by a racking headache and harassing +sickness. Towards evening, as she rather expected some of the ladies +of Mr. Smith's family to call, she prepared herself for the chance, +by taking a strong dose of sal-volatile, which roused her a little, +but still, as she says, she was "in grievous bodily case," when their +visitors were announced, in full evening costume. The sisters had not +understood that it had been settled that they were to go to the Opera, +and therefore were not ready. Moreover, they had no fine elegant dresses +either with them, or in the world. But Miss Brontë resolved to raise no +objections in the acceptance of kindness. So, in spite of headache and +weariness, they made haste to dress themselves in their plain high-made +country garments. + +Charlotte says, in an account which she gives to her friend of this +visit to London, describing the entrance of her party into the +Opera-house:-- + +"Fine ladies and gentlemen glanced at us, as we stood by the box-door, +which was not yet opened, with a slight, graceful superciliousness, +quite warranted by the circumstances. Still I felt pleasurably excited +in spite of headache, sickness, and conscious clownishness; and I saw +Anne was calm and gentle, which she always is. The performance was +Rossini's 'Barber of Seville,'--very brilliant, though I fancy there +are things I should like better. We got home after one o'clock. We had +never been in bed the night before; had been in constant excitement for +twenty-four hours; you may imagine we were tired. The next day, Sunday, +Mr. Williams came early to take us to church; and in the afternoon Mr. +Smith and his mother fetched us in a carriage, and took us to his house +to dine. + +"On Monday we went to the Exhibition of the Royal Academy, the National +Gallery, dined again at Mr. Smith's, and then went home to tea with Mr. +Williams at his house. + +"On Tuesday morning, we left London, laden with books Mr. Smith had +given us, and got safely home. A more jaded wretch than I looked, it +would be difficult to conceive. I was thin when I went, but I was meagre +indeed when I returned, my face looking grey and very old, with strange +deep lines ploughed in it--my eyes stared unnaturally. I was weak and +yet restless. In a while, however, these bad effects of excitement went +off, and I regained my normal condition." + +The impression Miss Brontë made upon those with whom she first became +acquainted during this visit to London, was of a person with clear +judgment and fine sense; and though reserved, possessing unconsciously +the power of drawing out others in conversation. She never expressed +an opinion without assigning a reason for it; she never put a question +without a definite purpose; and yet people felt at their ease in talking +with her. All conversation with her was genuine and stimulating; and +when she launched forth in praise or reprobation of books, or deeds, or +works of art, her eloquence was indeed burning. She was thorough in all +that she said or did; yet so open and fair in dealing with a subject, +or contending with an opponent, that instead of rousing resentment, she +merely convinced her hearers of her earnest zeal for the truth and right. + +Not the least singular part of their proceedings was the place at which +the sisters had chosen to stay. + +Paternoster Row was for many years sacred to publishers. It is a narrow +flagged street, lying under the shadow of St. Paul's; at each end there +are posts placed, so as to prevent the passage of carriages, and thus +preserve a solemn silence for the deliberations of the "Fathers of the +Row." The dull warehouses on each side are mostly occupied at present +by wholesale stationers; if they be publishers' shops, they show no +attractive front to the dark and narrow street. Half-way up, on the +left-hand side, is the Chapter Coffee-house. I visited it last June. +It was then unoccupied. It had the appearance of a dwelling-house, +two hundred years old or so, such as one sometimes sees in ancient +country towns; the ceilings of the small rooms were low, and had heavy +beams running across them; the walls were wainscotted breast high; the +staircase was shallow, broad, and dark, taking up much space in the +centre of the house. This then was the Chapter Coffee-house, which, a +century ago, was the resort of all the booksellers and publishers; and +where the literary hacks, the critics, and even the wits, used to go in +search of ideas or employment. This was the place about which Chatterton +wrote, in those delusive letters he sent to his mother at Bristol, +while he was starving in London. "I am quite familiar at the Chapter +Coffee-house, and know all the geniuses there." Here he heard of chances +of employment; here his letters were to be left. + +Years later, it became the tavern frequented by university men and +country clergymen, who were up in London for a few days, and, having +no private friends or access into society, were glad to learn what was +going on in the world of letters, from the conversation which they were +sure to hear in the Coffee-room. In Mr. Brontë's few and brief visits to +town, during his residence at Cambridge, and the period of his curacy in +Essex, he had stayed at this house; hither he had brought his daughters, +when he was convoying them to Brussels; and here they came now, from +very ignorance where else to go. It was a place solely frequented by +men; I believe there was but one female servant in the house. Few people +slept there; some of the stated meetings of the Trade were held in it, +as they had been for more than a century; and, occasionally country +booksellers, with now and then a clergyman, resorted to it; but it was +a strange desolate place for the Miss Brontës to have gone to, from its +purely business and masculine aspect. The old "grey-haired elderly man," +who officiated as waiter seems to have been touched from the very first +with the quiet simplicity of the two ladies, and he tried to make them +feel comfortable and at home in the long, low, dingy room up-stairs, +where the meetings of the Trade were held. The high narrow windows +looked into the gloomy Row; the sisters, clinging together on the most +remote window-seat, (as Mr. Smith tells me he found them, when he came, +that Saturday evening, to take them to the Opera,) could see nothing of +motion, or of change, in the grim, dark houses opposite, so near and +close, although the whole breadth of the Row was between. The mighty +roar of London was round them, like the sound of an unseen ocean, yet +every footfall on the pavement below might be heard distinctly, in that +unfrequented street. Such as it was, they preferred remaining at the +Chapter Coffee-house, to accepting the invitation which Mr. Smith and +his mother urged upon them, and, in after years, Charlotte says:-- + +"Since those days, I have seen the West End, the parks, the fine +squares; but I love the City far better. The City seems so much more +in earnest; its business, its rush, its roar, are such serious things, +sights, sounds. The City is getting its living--the West End but +enjoying its pleasure. At the West End you may be amused; but in the +City you are deeply excited." (Villette, vol. i. p. 89.) + +Their wish had been to hear Dr. Croly on the Sunday morning, and Mr. +Williams escorted them to St. Stephen's, Walbrook; but they were +disappointed, as Dr. Croly did not preach. Mr. Williams also took them +(as Miss Brontë has mentioned) to drink tea at his house. On the way +thither, they had to pass through Kensington Gardens, and Miss Brontë +was much "struck with the beauty of the scene, the fresh verdure of +the turf, and the soft rich masses of foliage." From remarks on the +different character of the landscape in the South to what it was in the +North, she was led to speak of the softness and varied intonation of the +voices of those with whom she conversed in London, which seem to have +made a strong impression on both sisters. All this time those who came +in contact with the "Miss Browns" (another pseudonym, also beginning +with B), seem only to have regarded them as shy and reserved little +country-women, with not much to say. Mr. Williams tells me that on the +night when he accompanied the party to the Opera, as Charlotte ascended +the flight of stairs leading from the grand entrance up to the lobby of +the first tier of boxes, she was so much struck with the architectural +effect of the splendid decorations of that vestibule and saloon, that +involuntarily she slightly pressed his arm, and whispered, "You know I +am not accustomed to this sort of thing." Indeed, it must have formed a +vivid contrast to what they were doing and seeing an hour or two earlier +the night before, when they were trudging along, with beating hearts and +high-strung courage, on the road between Haworth and Keighley, hardly +thinking of the thunder-storm that beat about their heads, for the +thoughts which filled them of how they would go straight away to London, +and prove that they were really two people, and not one imposter. It was +no wonder that they returned to Haworth utterly fagged and worn out, +after the fatigue and excitement of this visit. + +The next notice I find of Charlotte's life at this time is of a +different character to anything telling of enjoyment. + +"July 28th. + +"Branwell is the same in conduct as ever. His constitution seems much +shattered. Papa, and sometimes all of us, have sad nights with him. He +sleeps most of the day, and consequently will lie awake at night. But +has not every house its trial?" + +While her most intimate friends were yet in ignorance of the fact of +her authorship of "Jane Eyre," she received a letter from one of them, +making inquiries about Casterton School. It is but right to give her +answer, written on August 28th, 1848. + +"Since you wish to hear from me while you are from home, I will write +without further delay. It often happens that when we linger at first +in answering a friend's letter, obstacles occur to retard us to an +inexcusably late period. In my last, I forgot to answer a question which +you asked me, and was sorry afterwards for the omission. I will begin, +therefore, by replying to it, though I fear what information I can +give will come a little late. You said Mrs. ---- had some thoughts of +sending ---- to school, and wished to know whether the Clergy Daughters' +School at Casterton was an eligible place. My personal knowledge of that +institution is very much out of date, being derived from the experience +of twenty years ago. The establishment was at that time in its infancy, +and a sad rickety infancy it was. Typhus fever decimated the school +periodically; and consumption and scrofula, in every variety of form +bad air and water, bad and insufficient diet can generate, preyed on +the ill-fated pupils. It would not THEN have been a fit place for any +of Mrs. ----'s children; but I understand it is very much altered for +the better since those days. The school is removed from Cowan Bridge +(a situation as unhealthy as it was picturesque--low, damp, beautiful +with wood and water) to Casterton. The accommodations, the diet, the +discipline, the system of tuition--all are, I believe, entirely altered +and greatly improved. I was told that such pupils as behaved well, and +remained at the school till their education was finished, were provided +with situations as governesses, if they wished to adopt the vocation and +much care was exercised in the selection, it was added, that they were +also furnished with an excellent wardrobe on leaving Casterton. . . . +The oldest family in Haworth failed lately, and have quitted the +neighbourhood where their fathers resided before them for, it is said, +thirteen generations. . . . Papa, I am most thankful to say, continues +in very good health, considering his age; his sight, too, rather, I +think, improves than deteriorates. My sisters likewise are pretty well." + +But the dark cloud was hanging over that doomed household, and gathering +blackness every hour. + +On October the 9th, she thus writes:-- + +"The past three weeks have been a dark interval in our humble home. +Branwell's constitution had been failing fast all the summer; but still, +neither the doctors nor himself thought him so near his end as he was. +He was entirely confined to his bed but for one single day, and was in +the village two days before his death. He died, after twenty minutes' +struggle, on Sunday morning, September 24th. He was perfectly conscious +till the last agony came on. His mind had undergone the peculiar change +which frequently precedes death, two days previously; the calm of better +feelings filled it; a return of natural affection marked his last +moments. He is in God's hands now; and the All-Powerful is likewise +the All-Merciful. A deep conviction that he rests at last--rests well, +after his brief, erring, suffering, feverish life--fills and quiets +my mind now. The final separation, the spectacle of his pale corpse, +gave me more acute bitter pain than I could have imagined. Till the +last hour comes, we never how know much we can forgive, pity, regret a +near relative. All his vices were and are nothing now. We remember only +his woes. Papa was acutely distressed at first, but, on the whole, has +borne the event well. Emily and Anne are pretty well, though Anne is +always delicate, and Emily has a cold and cough at present. It was my +fate to sink at the crisis, when I should have collected my strength. +Headache and sickness came on first on the Sunday; I could not regain +my appetite. Then internal pain attacked me. I became at once much +reduced. It was impossible to touch a morsel. At last, bilious fever +declared itself. I was confined to bed a week,--a dreary week. But, +thank God! health seems now returning. I can sit up all day, and take +moderate nourishment. The doctor said at first, I should be very slow in +recovering, but I seem to get on faster than he anticipated. I am truly +MUCH BETTER." + +I have heard, from one who attended Branwell in his last illness, that +he resolved on standing up to die. He had repeatedly said, that as long +as there was life there was strength of will to do what it chose; and +when the last agony came on, he insisted on assuming the position just +mentioned. I have previously stated, that when his fatal attack came on, +his pockets were found filled with old letters from the woman to whom +he was attached. He died! she lives still,--in May Fair. The Eumenides, +I suppose, went out of existence at the time when the wail was heard, +"Great Pan is dead." I think we could better have spared him than those +awful Sisters who sting dead conscience into life. + +I turn from her for ever. Let us look once more into the Parsonage at +Haworth. + +"Oct. 29th, 1848. + +"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 sister than myself just now. +Emily's cold and cough are very obstinate. I fear she has pain in her +chest, and I sometimes catch a shortness in her breathing, when she has +moved at all quickly. She looks 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 Anne's great delicacy of +constitution. The late sad event has, I feel, made me more apprehensive +than common. I cannot help feeling much depressed 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 temperature, and cold penetrating winds have been frequent here. +Should the atmosphere become more settled, perhaps a favourable effect +might be produced on the general health, and these harassing colds and +coughs be removed. Papa has not quite escaped, but he has so far stood +it better than any of us. You must not mention my going to ---- this +winter. I could not, and would not, leave home on any account. Miss ---- +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. God restore health and +strength to all who need it!" + +I go on now with her own affecting words in the biographical notice of +her sisters. + +"But a great change approached. Affliction came in that shape which to +anticipate is dread; to look back on grief. In the very heat and burden +of the day, the labourers failed over their work. My sister Emily first +declined. . . . Never in all her life had she lingered over any task +that lay before her, and she did not linger now. She sank rapidly. +She made haste to leave us. . . . Day by day, when I, saw with what a +front she met suffering, I looked on her with an anguish of wonder and +love: I have seen nothing like it; but, indeed, I have never seen her +parallel in anything. Stronger than a man, simpler than a child, her +nature stood alone. The awful point was that, while full of ruth for +others, on herself she had no pity; the spirit was inexorable to the +flesh; from the trembling hands, the unnerved limbs, the fading eyes, +the same service was exacted as they had rendered in health. To stand by +and witness this, and not dare to remonstrate, was a pain no words can +render." + +In fact, Emily never went out of doors after the Sunday succeeding +Branwell's death. She made no complaint; she would not endure +questioning; she rejected sympathy and help. Many a time did Charlotte +and Anne drop their sewing, or cease from their writing, to listen with +wrung hearts to the failing step, the laboured breathing, the frequent +pauses, with which their sister climbed the short staircase; yet they +dared not notice what they observed, with pangs of suffering even deeper +than hers. They dared not notice it in words, far less by the caressing +assistance of a helping arm or hand. They sat, still and silent. + +"Nov. 23rd, 1848. + +"I told you Emily was ill, in my last letter. She has not rallied yet. +She is VERY ill. I believe, if you were to see her, your impression +would be that there is no hope. A more hollow, wasted, pallid aspect I +have not beheld. The deep tight cough continues; the breathing after the +least exertion is a rapid pant; and these symptoms are accompanied by +pains in the chest and side. Her pulse, the only time she allowed it be +to felt, was found to beat 115 per minute. In this state she resolutely +refuses to see a doctor; she will give no explanation of her feelings, +she will scarcely allow her feelings to be alluded to. Our position is, +and has been for some weeks, exquisitely painful. God only knows how +all this is to terminate. More than once, I have been forced boldly to +regard the terrible event of her loss as possible, and even probable. +But nature shrinks from such thoughts. I think Emily seems the nearest +thing to my heart in the world." + +When a doctor had been sent for, and was in the very house, Emily +refused to see him. Her sisters could only describe to him what symptoms +they had observed; and the medicines which he sent she would not take, +denying that she was ill. + +"Dec. 10th, 1848. + +"I hardly know what to say to you about the subject which now interests +me the most keenly of anything in this world, for, in truth, I hardly +know what to think myself. Hope and fear fluctuate daily. The pain in +her side and chest is better; the cough, the shortness of breath, the +extreme emaciation continue. I have endured, however, such tortures +of uncertainty on this subject that, at length, I could endure it +no longer; and as her repugnance to seeing a medical man continues +immutable,--as she declares 'no poisoning doctor' shall come near +her,--I have written unknown to her, to an eminent physician in London, +giving as minute a statement of her case and symptoms as I could draw +up, and requesting an opinion. I expect an answer in a day or two. I am +thankful to say, that my own health at present is very tolerable. It is +well such is the case; for Anne, with the best will in the world to be +useful, is really too delicate to do or bear much. She, too, at present, +has frequent pains in the side. Papa is also pretty well, though Emily's +state renders him very anxious. + +"The ----s (Anne Brontë's former pupils) were here about a week ago. +They are attractive and stylish-looking girls. They seemed overjoyed to +see Anne: when I went into the room, they were clinging round her like +two children--she, meantime, looking perfectly quiet and passive. . . . +I. and H. took it into their heads to come here. I think it probable +offence was taken on that occasion,--from what cause, I know not; and +as, if such be the case, the grudge must rest upon purely imaginary +grounds,--and since, besides, I have other things to think about, my +mind rarely dwells upon the subject. If Emily were but well, I feel +as if I should not care who neglected, misunderstood, or abused me. I +would rather you were not of the number either. The crab-cheese arrived +safely. Emily has just reminded me to thank you for it: it looks very +nice. I wish she were well enough to eat it." + +But Emily was growing rapidly worse. I remember Miss Brontë's shiver at +recalling the pang she felt when, after having searched in the little +hollows and sheltered crevices of the moors for a lingering spray of +heather--just one spray, however withered--to take in to Emily, she saw +that the flower was not recognised by the dim and indifferent eyes. Yet, +to the last, Emily adhered tenaciously to her habits of independence. +She would suffer no one to assist her. Any effort to do so roused the +old stern spirit. One Tuesday morning, in December, she arose and +dressed herself as usual, making many a pause, but doing everything for +herself, and even endeavouring to take up her employment of sewing: the +servants looked on, and knew what the catching, rattling breath, and +the glazing of the eye too surely foretold; but she kept at her work; +and Charlotte and Anne, though full of unspeakable dread, had still the +faintest spark of hope. On that morning Charlotte wrote thus--probably +in the very presence of her dying sister:-- + +"Tuesday. + +"I should have written to you before, if I had had one word of hope to +say; but I have not. She grows daily weaker. The physician's opinion was +expressed too obscurely to be of use. He sent some medicine, which she +would not take. Moments so dark as these I have never known. I pray for +God's support to us all. Hitherto He has granted it." + +The morning drew on to noon. Emily was worse: she could only whisper in +gasps. Now, when it was too late, she said to Charlotte, "If you will +send for a doctor, I will see him now." About two o'clock she died. + +"Dec. 21st, 1848. + +"Emily suffers no more from pain or weakness now. She never will suffer +more in this world. She is gone, after a hard short conflict. She died +on TUESDAY, the very day I wrote to you. I thought it very possible she +might be with us still for weeks; and a few hours afterwards, she was in +eternity. Yes; there is no Emily in time or on earth now. Yesterday we +put her poor, wasted, mortal frame quietly under the church pavement. +We are very calm at present. Why should we be otherwise? The anguish of +seeing her suffer is over; the spectacle of the pains of death is gone +by; the funeral day is past. We feel she is at peace. No need now to +tremble for the hard frost and the keen wind. Emily does not feel them. +She died in a time of promise. We saw her taken from life in its prime. +But it is God's will, and the place where she is gone is better than +that she has left. + +"God has sustained me, in a way that I marvel at, through such agony +as I had not conceived. I now look at Anne, and wish she were well and +strong; but she is neither; nor is papa. Could you now come to us for +a few days? I would not ask you to stay long. Write and tell me if you +could come next week, and by what train. I would try to send a gig for +you to Keighley. You will, I trust, find us tranquil. Try to come. I +never so much needed the consolation of a friend's presence. Pleasure, +of course, there would be none for you in the visit, except what your +kind heart would teach you to find in doing good to others." + +As the old, bereaved father and his two surviving children followed +the coffin to the grave, they were joined by Keeper, Emily's fierce, +faithful bull-dog. He walked alongside of the mourners, and into the +church, and stayed quietly there all the time that the burial service +was being read. When he came home, he lay down at Emily's chamber door, +and howled pitifully for many days. Anne Brontë drooped and sickened +more rapidly from that time; and so ended the year 1848. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +An article on "Vanity Fair" and "Jane Eyre" had appeared in the +Quarterly Review of December, 1848. Some weeks after, Miss Brontë +wrote to her publishers, asking why it had not been sent to her; and +conjecturing that it was unfavourable, she repeated her previous +request, that whatever was done with the laudatory, all critiques +adverse to the novel might be forwarded to her without fail. The +Quarterly Review was accordingly sent. I am not aware that Miss Brontë +took any greater notice of the article than to place a few sentences out +of it in the mouth of a hard and vulgar woman in "Shirley," where they +are so much in character, that few have recognised them as a quotation. +The time when the article was read was good for Miss Brontë; she was +numbed to all petty annoyances by the grand severity of Death. Otherwise +she might have felt more keenly than they deserved the criticisms which, +while striving to be severe, failed in logic, owing to the misuse of +prepositions; and have smarted under conjectures as to the authorship +of "Jane Eyre," which, intended to be acute, were merely flippant. But +flippancy takes a graver name when directed against an author by an +anonymous writer. We call it then cowardly insolence. + +Every one has a right to form his own conclusion respecting the merits +and demerits of a book. I complain not of the judgment which the +reviewer passes on "Jane Eyre." Opinions as to its tendency varied then, +as they do now. While I write, I receive a letter from a clergyman in +America in which he says: "We have in our sacred of sacreds a special +shelf, highly adorned, as a place we delight to honour, of novels which +we recognise as having had a good influence on character OUR character. +Foremost is 'Jane Eyre.'" + +Nor do I deny the existence of a diametrically opposite judgment. And so +(as I trouble not myself about the reviewer's style of composition) I +leave his criticisms regarding the merits of the work on one side. But +when--forgetting the chivalrous spirit of the good and noble Southey, +who said: "In reviewing anonymous works myself, when I have known the +authors I have never mentioned them, taking it for granted they had +sufficient reasons for avoiding the publicity"--the Quarterly reviewer +goes on into gossiping conjectures as to who Currer Bell really is, and +pretends to decide on what the writer may be from the book, I protest +with my whole soul against such want of Christian charity. Not even +the desire to write a "smart article," which shall be talked about in +London, when the faint mask of the anonymous can be dropped at pleasure +if the cleverness of the review be admired--not even this temptation +can excuse the stabbing cruelty of the judgment. Who is he that should +say of an unknown woman: "She must be one who for some sufficient +reason has long forfeited the society of her sex"? Is he one who has +led a wild and struggling and isolated life,--seeing few but plain and +outspoken Northerns, unskilled in the euphuisms which assist the polite +world to skim over the mention of vice? Has he striven through long +weeping years to find excuses for the lapse of an only brother; and +through daily contact with a poor lost profligate, been compelled into a +certain familiarity with the vices that his soul abhors? Has he, through +trials, close following in dread march through his household, sweeping +the hearthstone bare of life and love, still striven hard for strength +to say, "It is the Lord! let Him do what seemeth to Him good"--and +sometimes striven in vain, until the kindly Light returned? If through +all these dark waters the scornful reviewer have passed clear, refined, +free from stain,--with a soul that has never in all its agonies cried +"lama sabachthani,"--still, even then let him pray with the Publican +rather than judge with the Pharisee. + +"Jan. 10th, 1849. + +"Anne had a very tolerable day yesterday, and a pretty quiet night last +night, though she did not sleep much. Mr. Wheelhouse ordered the blister +to be put on again. She bore it without sickness. I have just dressed +it, and she is risen and come down-stairs. She looks somewhat pale and +sickly. She has had one dose of the cod-liver oil; it smells and tastes +like train oil. I am trying to hope, but the day is windy, cloudy, and +stormy. My spirits fall at intervals very low; then I look where you +counsel me to look, beyond earthly tempests and sorrows. I seem to get +strength, if not consolation. It will not do to anticipate. I feel that +hourly. In the night, I awake and long for morning; then my heart is +wrung. Papa continues much the same; he was very faint when he came down +to breakfast. . . . Dear E----, your friendship is some comfort to me. I +am thankful for it. I see few lights through the darkness of the present +time, but amongst them the constancy of a kind heart attached to me is +one of the most cheering and serene." + +"Jan. 15th, 1849. + +"I can scarcely say that Anne is worse, nor can I say she is better. She +varies often in the course of a day, yet each day is passed pretty much +the same. The morning is usually the best time; the afternoon and the +evening the most feverish. Her cough is the most troublesome at night, +but it is rarely violent. The pain in her arm still disturbs her. She +takes the cod-liver oil and carbonate of iron regularly; she finds them +both nauseous, but especially the oil. Her appetite is small indeed. +Do not fear that I shall relax in my care of her. She is too precious +not to be cherished with all the fostering strength I have. Papa, I am +thankful to say, has been a good deal better this last day or two. + +"As to your queries about myself, I can only say, that if I continue as +I am I shall do very well. I have not yet got rid of the pains in my +chest and back. They oddly return with every change of weather; and are +still sometimes accompanied with a little soreness and hoarseness, but I +combat them steadily with pitch plasters and bran tea. I should think it +silly and wrong indeed not to be regardful of my own health at present; +it would not do to be ill NOW. + +"I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward. +This is not the time to regret, dread, or weep. What I have and ought +to do is very distinctly laid out for me; what I want, and pray for, +is strength to perform it. The days pass in a slow, dark march; the +nights are the test; the sudden wakings from restless sleep, the revived +knowledge that one lies in her grave, and another not at my side, but in +a separate and sick bed. However, God is over all." + +"Jan. 22nd, 1849. + +"Anne really did seem to be a little better during some mild days last +week, but to-day she looks very pale and languid again. She perseveres +with the cod-liver oil, but still finds it very nauseous. + +"She is truly obliged to you for the soles for her shoes, and finds +them extremely comfortable. I am to commission you to get her just such +a respirator as Mrs. ---- had. She would not object to give a higher +price, if you thought it better. If it is not too much trouble, you may +likewise get me a pair of soles; you can send them and the respirator +when you send the box. You must put down the price of all, and we will +pay you in a Post Office order. "Wuthering Heights" was given to you. I +have sent ---- neither letter nor parcel. I had nothing but dreary news +to write, so preferred that others should tell her. I have not written +to ---- either. I cannot write, except when I am quite obliged." + +"Feb. 11th, 1849. + +"We received the box and its contents quite safely to-day. The penwipers +are very pretty, and we are very much obliged to you for them. I hope +the respirator will be useful to Anne, in case she should ever be well +enough to go out again. She continues very much in the same state--I +trust not greatly worse, though she is becoming very thin. I fear +it would be only self-delusion to fancy her better. What effect the +advancing season may have on her, I know not; perhaps the return of +really warm weather may give nature a happy stimulus. I tremble at the +thought of any change to cold wind or frost. Would that March were well +over! Her mind seems generally serene, and her sufferings hitherto are +nothing like Emily's. The thought of what may be to come grows more +familiar to my mind; but it is a sad, dreary guest." + +"March 16th, 1849. + +"We have found the past week a somewhat trying one; it has not been +cold, but still there have been changes of temperature whose effect +Anne has felt unfavourably. She is not, I trust, seriously worse, but +her cough is at times very hard and painful, and her strength rather +diminished than improved. I wish the month of March was well over. You +are right in conjecturing that I am somewhat depressed; at times I +certainly am. It was almost easier to bear up when the trial was at its +crisis than now. The feeling of Emily's loss does not diminish as time +wears on; it often makes itself most acutely recognised. It brings too +an inexpressible sorrow with it; and then the future is dark. Yet I am +well aware, it will not do either to complain, or sink, and I strive to +do neither. Strength, I hope and trust, will yet be given in proportion +to the burden; but the pain of my position is not one likely to lessen +with habit. Its solitude and isolation are oppressive circumstances, +yet I do not wish for any friends to stay with me; I could not do with +any one--not even you--to share the sadness of the house; it would rack +me intolerably. Meantime, judgment is still blent with mercy. Anne's +sufferings still continue mild. It is my nature, when left alone, to +struggle on with a certain perseverance, and I believe God will help me." + +Anne had been delicate all her life; a fact which perhaps made them less +aware than they would otherwise have been of the true nature of those +fatal first symptoms. Yet they seem to have lost but little time before +they sent for the first advice that could be procured. She was examined +with the stethoscope, and the dreadful fact was announced that her +lungs were affected, and that tubercular consumption had already made +considerable progress. A system of treatment was prescribed, which was +afterwards ratified by the opinion of Dr. Forbes. + +For a short time they hoped that the disease was arrested. +Charlotte--herself ill with a complaint that severely tried her +spirits--was the ever-watchful nurse of this youngest, last sister. One +comfort was that Anne was the patientest, gentlest invalid that could +be. Still, there were hours, days, weeks of inexpressible anguish to be +borne; under the pressure of which Charlotte could only pray and pray +she did, right earnestly. Thus she writes on March 24th;-- + +"Anne's decline is gradual and fluctuating; but its nature is not +doubtful. . . . In spirit she is resigned: at heart she is, I believe, +a true Christian. . . . May God support her and all of us through +the trial of lingering sickness, and aid her in the last hour when +the struggle which separates soul from body must be gone through! +We saw Emily torn from the midst of us when our hearts clung to her +with intense attachment. . . She was scarce buried when Anne's health +failed. . . . These things would be too much, if reason, unsupported by +religion, were condemned to bear them alone. I have cause to be most +thankful for the strength that has hitherto been vouchsafed both to my +father and to myself. God, I think, is especially merciful to old age; +and for my own part, trials, which in perspective would have seemed +to me quite intolerable, when they actually came I endured without +prostration. Yet I must confess that, in the time which has elapsed +since Emily's death, there have been moments of solitary, deep, inert +affliction, far harder to bear than those which immediately followed +our loss. The crisis of bereavement has an acute pang which goads to +exertion; the desolate after-feeling sometimes paralyses. I have learnt +that we are not to find solace in our own strength; we must seek it +in God's omnipotence. Fortitude is good; but fortitude itself must be +shaken under us to teach us how weak we are!" + +All through this illness of Anne's, Charlotte had the comfort of being +able to talk to her about her state; a comfort rendered inexpressibly +great by the contrast which it presented to the recollection of Emily's +rejection of all sympathy. If a proposal for Anne's benefit was made, +Charlotte could speak to her about it, and the nursing and dying sister +could consult with each other as to its desirability. I have seen but +one of Anne's letters; it is the only time we seem to be brought into +direct personal contact with this gentle, patient girl. In order to give +the requisite preliminary explanation, I must state that the family of +friends, to which E---- belonged, proposed that Anne should come to +them; in order to try what change of air and diet, and the company of +kindly people could do towards restoring her to health. In answer to +this proposal, Charlotte writes:-- + +"March 24th. + +"I read your kind note to Anne, and she wishes me to thank you sincerely +for your friendly proposal. She feels, of course, that it would not do +to take advantage of it, by quartering an invalid upon the inhabitants +of ----; but she intimates there is another way in which you might +serve her, perhaps with some benefit to yourself as well as to her. +Should it, a month or two hence, be deemed advisable that she should go +either to the sea-side, or to some inland watering-place--and should +papa be disinclined to move, and I consequently obliged to remain at +home--she asks, could you be her companion? Of course I need not add +that in the event of such an arrangement being made, you would be put +to no expense. This, dear E., is Anne's proposal; I make it to comply +with her wish; but for my own part, I must add that I see serious +objections to your accepting it--objections I cannot name to her. She +continues to vary; is sometimes worse, and sometimes better, as the +weather changes; but, on the whole, I fear she loses strength. Papa +says her state is most precarious; she may be spared for some time, or +a sudden alteration might remove her before we are aware. Were such an +alteration to take place while she was far from home, and alone with +you, it would be terrible. The idea of it distresses me inexpressibly, +and I tremble whenever she alludes to the project of a journey. In +short, I wish we could gain time, and see how she gets on. If she leaves +home it certainly should not be in the capricious month of May, which +is proverbially trying to the weak. June would be a safer month. If we +could reach June, I should have good hopes of her getting through the +summer. Write such an answer to this note as I can show Anne. You can +write any additional remarks to me on a separate piece of paper. Do not +consider yourself as confined to discussing only our sad affairs. I am +interested in all that interests you." + +FROM ANNE BRONTË + +"April 5th, 1849. + +"My dear Miss ----,--I thank you greatly for your kind letter, and your +ready compliance with my proposal, as far as the WILL can go at least. I +see, however, that your friends are unwilling that you should undertake +the responsibility of accompanying me under present circumstances. But +I do not think there would be any great responsibility in the matter. +I know, and everybody knows, that you would be as kind and helpful as +any one could possibly be, and I hope I should not be very troublesome. +It would be as a companion, not as a nurse, that I should wish for your +company; otherwise I should not venture to ask it. As for your kind and +often-repeated invitation to ----, pray give my sincere thanks to your +mother and sisters, but tell them I could not think of inflicting my +presence upon them as I now am. It is very kind of them to make so light +of the trouble, but still there must be more or less, and certainly +no pleasure, from the society of a silent invalid stranger. I hope, +however, that Charlotte will by some means make it possible to accompany +me after all. She is certainly very delicate, and greatly needs a change +of air and scene to renovate her constitution. And then your going with +me before the end of May, is apparently out of the question, unless you +are disappointed in your visitors; but I should be reluctant to wait +till then, if the weather would at all permit an earlier departure. +You say May is a trying month, and so say others. The earlier part is +often cold enough, I acknowledge, but, according to my experience, we +are almost certain of some fine warm days in the latter half, when the +laburnums and lilacs are in bloom; whereas June is often cold, and +July generally wet. But I have a more serious reason than this for my +impatience of delay. The doctors say that change of air or removal +to a better climate would hardly ever fail of success in consumptive +cases, if the remedy were taken IN TIME; but the reason why there are +so many disappointments is, that it is generally deferred till it is +too late. Now I would not commit this error; and, to say the truth, +though I suffer much less from pain and fever than I did when you were +with us, I am decidedly weaker, and very much thinner. My cough still +troubles me a good deal, especially in the night, and, what seems worse +than all, I am subject to great shortness of breath on going up-stairs +or any slight exertion. Under these circumstances, I think there is no +time to be lost. I have no horror of death: if I thought it inevitable, +I think I could quietly resign myself to the prospect, in the hope that +you, dear Miss ----, would give as much of your company as you possibly +could to Charlotte, and be a sister to her in my stead. But I wish it +would please God to spare me, not only for papa's and Charlotte's sakes, +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. +Remember me respectfully to your mother and sisters, and believe me, +dear Miss ----, yours most affectionately, + +"ANNE BRONTË." + +It must have been about this time that Anne composed her last verses, +before "the desk was closed, and the pen laid aside for ever." + + I. + + "I hoped that with the brave and strong + My portioned task might lie; + To toil amid the busy throng, + With purpose pure and high. + + II. + + "But God has fixed another part, + And He has fixed it well: + I said so with my bleeding heart, + When first the anguish fell. + + III. + + "Thou God, hast taken our delight, + Our treasured hope, away; + Thou bid'st us now weep through the night + And sorrow through the day. + + IV. + + "These weary hours will not be lost, + These days of misery,-- + These nights of darkness, anguish-tost,-- + Can I but turn to Thee. + + IV. + + "With secret labour to sustain + In humble patience every blow; + To gather fortitude from pain, + And hope and holiness from woe. + + VI. + + "Thus let me serve Thee from my heart, + Whate'er may be my written fate; + Whether thus early to depart, + Or yet a while to wait. + + VII. + + "If Thou should'st bring me back to life, + More humbled I should be; + More wise--more strengthened for the strife, + More apt to lean on Thee. + + VIII. + + "Should death be standing at the gate, + Thus should I keep my vow; + But, Lord, whatever be my fate, + Oh let me serve Thee now!" + +I take Charlotte's own words as the best record of her thoughts and +feelings during all this terrible time. + +"April 12th. + +"I read Anne's letter to you; it was touching enough, as you say. +If there were no hope beyond this world,--no eternity, no life +to come,--Emily's fate, and that which threatens Anne, would be +heart-breaking. I cannot forget Emily's death-day; it becomes a more +fixed, a darker, a more frequently recurring idea in my mind than ever. +It was very terrible. She was torn, conscious, panting, reluctant, +though resolute, out of a happy life. But it WILL NOT do to dwell on +these things. + +"I am glad your friends object to your going with Anne: it would never +do. To speak truth, even if your mother and sisters had consented, I +never could. It is not that there is any laborious attention to pay +her; she requires, and will accept, but little nursing; but there would +be hazard, and anxiety of mind, beyond what you ought to be subject +to. If, a month or six weeks hence, she continues to wish for a change +as much as she does now, I shall (D. V.) go with her myself. It will +certainly be my paramount duty; other cares must be made subservient to +that. I have consulted Mr. T----: he does not object, and recommends +Scarborough, which was Anne's own choice. I trust affairs may be so +ordered, that you may be able to be with us at least part of the +time. . . . Whether in lodgings or not, I should wish to be boarded. +Providing oneself is, I think, an insupportable nuisance. I don't like +keeping provisions in a cupboard, locking up, being pillaged, and all +that. It is a petty, wearing annoyance." + +The progress of Anne's illness was slower than that of Emily's had been; +and she was too unselfish to refuse trying means, from which, if she +herself had little hope of benefit, her friends might hereafter derive a +mournful satisfaction. + +"I began to flatter myself she was getting strength. But the change to +frost has told upon her; she suffers more of late. Still her illness has +none of the fearful rapid symptoms which appalled in Emily's case. Could +she only get over the spring, I hope summer may do much for her, and +then early removal to a warmer locality for the winter might, at least, +prolong her life. Could we only reckon upon another year, I should be +thankful; but can we do this for the healthy? A few days ago I wrote +to have Dr. Forbes' opinion. . . . He warned us against entertaining +sanguine hopes of recovery. The cod-liver oil he considers a peculiarly +efficacious medicine. He, too, disapproved of change of residence for +the present. There is some feeble consolation in thinking we are doing +the very best that can be done. The agony of forced, total neglect, +is not now felt, as during Emily's illness. Never may we be doomed +to feel such agony again. It was terrible. I have felt much less of +the disagreeable pains in my chest lately, and much less also of the +soreness and hoarseness. I tried an application of hot vinegar, which +seemed to do good." + +"May 1st. + +"I was glad to hear that when we go to Scarborough, you will be at +liberty to go with us, but the journey and its consequences still +continue a source of great anxiety to me, I must try to put it off two +or three weeks longer if I can; perhaps by that time the milder season +may have given Anne more strength,perhaps it will be otherwise; I cannot +tell. The change to fine weather has not proved beneficial to her so +far. She has sometimes been so weak, and suffered so much from pain +in the side, during the last few days, that I have not known what to +think. . . . She may rally again, and be much better, but there must be +SOME improvement before I can feel justified in taking her away from +home. Yet to delay is painful; for, as is ALWAYS the case, I believe, +under her circumstances, she seems herself not half conscious of the +necessity for such delay. She wonders, I believe, why I don't talk more +about the journey: it grieves me to think she may even be hurt by my +seeming tardiness. She is very much emaciated,--far more than when you +were with us; her arms are no thicker than a little child's. The least +exertion brings a shortness of breath. She goes out a little every day, +but we creep rather than walk. . . . Papa continues pretty well;--I hope +I shall be enabled to bear up. So far, I have reason for thankfulness to +God." + +May had come, and brought the milder weather longed for; but Anne was +worse for the very change. A little later on it became colder, and she +rallied, and poor Charlotte began to hope that, if May were once over, +she might last for a long time. Miss Brontë wrote to engage the lodgings +at Scarborough,--a place which Anne had formerly visited with the family +to whom she was governess. They took a good-sized sitting-room, and an +airy double-bedded room (both commanding a sea-view), in one of the best +situations of the town. Money was as nothing in comparison with life; +besides, Anne had a small legacy left to her by her godmother, and they +felt that she could not better employ this than in obtaining what might +prolong life, if not restore health. On May 16th, Charlotte writes: + +"It is with a heavy heart I prepare; and earnestly do I wish the +fatigue of the journey were well over. It may be borne better than I +expect; for temporary stimulus often does much; but when I see the +daily increasing weakness, I know not what to think. I fear you will +be shocked when you see Anne; but be on your guard, dear E----, not to +express your feelings; indeed, I can trust both your self-possession +and your kindness. I wish my judgment sanctioned the step of going to +Scarborough, more fully than it does. You ask how I have arranged about +leaving Papa. I could make no special arrangement. He wishes me to go +with Anne, and would not hear of Mr. N----'s coming, or anything of that +kind; so I do what I believe is for the best, and leave the result to +Providence." + +They planned to rest and spend a night at York; and, at Anne's desire, +arranged to make some purchases there. Charlotte ends the letter to her +friend, in which she tells her all this, with-- + +"May 23rd. + +"I wish it seemed less like a dreary mockery in us to talk of buying +bonnets, etc. Anne was very ill yesterday. She had difficulty of +breathing all day, even when sitting perfectly still. To-day she seems +better again. I long for the moment to come when the experiment of the +sea-air will be tried. Will it do her good? I cannot tell; I can only +wish. Oh! if it would please God to strengthen and revive Anne, how +happy we might be together: His will, however, be done!" + +The two sisters left Haworth on Thursday, May 24th. They were to +have done so the day before, and had made an appointment with their +friend to meet them at the Leeds Station, in order that they might all +proceed together. But on Wednesday morning Anne was so ill, that it was +impossible for the sisters to set out; yet they had no means of letting +their friend know of this, and she consequently arrived at Leeds station +at the time specified. There she sate waiting for several hours. It +struck her as strange at the time--and it almost seems ominous to her +fancy now--that twice over, from two separate arrivals on the line by +which she was expecting her friends, coffins were carried forth, and +placed in hearses which were in waiting for their dead, as she was +waiting for one in four days to become so. + +The next day she could bear suspense no longer, and set out for Haworth, +reaching there just in time to carry the feeble, fainting invalid into +the chaise which stood at the gate to take them down to Keighley. The +servant who stood at the Parsonage gates, saw Death written on her +face, and spoke of it. Charlotte saw it and did not speak of it,--it +would have been giving the dread too distinct a form; and if this last +darling yearned for the change to Scarborough, go she should, however +Charlotte's heart might be wrung by impending fear. The lady who +accompanied them, Charlotte's beloved friend of more than twenty years, +has kindly written out for me the following account of the journey--and +of the end. + +"She left her home May 24th, 1849--died May 28th. Her life was calm, +quiet, spiritual: SUCH was her end. Through the trials and fatigues of +the journey, she evinced the pious courage and fortitude of a martyr. +Dependence and helplessness were ever with her a far sorer trial than +hard, racking pain. + +"The first stage of our journey was to York; and here the dear invalid +was so revived, so cheerful, and so happy, we drew consolation, and +trusted that at least temporary improvement was to be derived from the +change which SHE had so longed for, and her friends had so dreaded for +her. + +"By her request we went to the Minster, and to her it was an +overpowering pleasure; not for its own imposing and impressive grandeur +only, but because it brought to her susceptible nature a vital and +overwhelming sense of omnipotence. She said, while gazing at the +structure, 'If finite power can do this, what is the . . . ?' and here +emotion stayed her speech, and she was hastened to a less exciting scene. + +"Her weakness of body was great, but her gratitude for every mercy was +greater. After such an exertion as walking to her bed-room, she would +clasp her hands and raise her eyes in silent thanks, and she did this +not to the exclusion of wonted prayer, for that too was performed on +bended knee, ere she accepted the rest of her couch. + +"On the 25th we arrived at Scarborough; our dear invalid having, during +the journey, directed our attention to every prospect worthy of notice. + +"On the 26th she drove on the sands for an hour; and lest the poor +donkey should be urged by its driver to a greater speed than her tender +heart thought right, she took the reins, and drove herself. When joined +by her friend, she was charging the boy-master of the donkey to treat +the poor animal well. She was ever fond of dumb things, and would give +up her own comfort for them. + +"On Sunday, the 27th, she wished to go to church, and her eye +brightened with the thought of once more worshipping her God amongst +her fellow-creatures. We thought it prudent to dissuade her from the +attempt, though it was evident her heart was longing to join in the +public act of devotion and praise. + +"She walked a little in the afternoon, and meeting with a sheltered and +comfortable seat near the beach, she begged we would leave her, and +enjoy the various scenes near at hand, which were new to us but familiar +to her. She loved the place, and wished us to share her preference. + +"The evening closed in with the most glorious sunset ever witnessed. +The castle on the cliff stood in proud glory gilded by the rays of +the declining sun. The distant ships glittered like burnished gold; +the little boats near the beach heaved on the ebbing tide, inviting +occupants. The view was grand beyond description. Anne was drawn in her +easy chair to the window, to enjoy the scene with us. Her face became +illumined almost as much as the glorious scene she gazed upon. Little +was said, for it was plain that her thoughts were driven by the imposing +view before her to penetrate forwards to the regions of unfading glory. +She again thought of public worship, and wished us to leave her, and +join those who were assembled at the House of God. We declined, gently +urging the duty and pleasure of staying with her, who was now so dear +and so feeble. On returning to her place near the fire, she conversed +with her sister upon the propriety of returning to their home. She did +not wish it for her own sake, she said she was fearing others might +suffer more if her decease occurred where she was. She probably thought +the task of accompanying her lifeless remains on a long journey was more +than her sister could bear--more than the bereaved father could bear, +were she borne home another, and a third tenant of the family-vault in +the short space of nine months. + +"The night was passed without any apparent accession of illness. She +rose at seven o'clock, and performed most of her toilet herself, by her +expressed wish. Her sister always yielded such points, believing it was +the truest kindness not to press inability when it was not acknowledged. +Nothing occurred to excite alarm till about 11 A. M. She then spoke of +feeling a change. She believed she had not long to live. Could she reach +home alive, if we prepared immediately for departure? A physician was +sent for. Her address to him was made with perfect composure. She begged +him to say how long he thought she might live;--not to fear speaking the +truth, for she was not afraid to die. The doctor reluctantly admitted +that the angel of death was already arrived, and that life was ebbing +fast. She thanked him for his truthfulness, and he departed to come +again very soon. She still occupied her easy chair, looking so serene, +so reliant there was no opening for grief as yet, though all knew the +separation was at hand. She clasped her hands, and reverently invoked +a blessing from on high; first upon her sister, then upon her friend, +to whom she said, 'Be a sister in my stead. Give Charlotte as much of +your company as you can.' She then thanked each for her kindness and +attention. + +"Ere long the restlessness of approaching death appeared, and she +was borne to the sofa; on being asked if she were easier, she looked +gratefully at her questioner, and said, 'It is not YOU who can give me +ease, but soon all will be well, through the merits of our Redeemer.' +Shortly after this, seeing that her sister could hardly restrain her +grief, she said, 'Take courage, Charlotte; take courage.' Her faith +never failed, and her eye never dimmed till about two o'clock, when +she calmly and without a sigh passed from the temporal to the eternal. +So still, and so hallowed were her last hours and moments. There was +no thought of assistance or of dread. The doctor came and went two or +three times. The hostess knew that death was near, yet so little was the +house disturbed by the presence of the dying, and the sorrow of those +so nearly bereaved, that dinner was announced as ready, through the +half-opened door, as the living sister was closing the eyes of the dead +one. She could now no more stay the welled-up grief of her sister with +her emphatic and dying 'Take courage,' and it burst forth in brief but +agonising strength. Charlotte's affection, however, had another channel, +and there it turned in thought, in care, and in tenderness. There was +bereavement, but there was not solitude;--sympathy was at hand, and it +was accepted. With calmness, came the consideration of the removal of +the dear remains to their home resting-place. This melancholy task, +however, was never performed; for the afflicted sister decided to lay +the flower in the place where it had fallen. She believed that to do so +would accord with the wishes of the departed. She had no preference for +place. She thought not of the grave, for that is but the body's goal, +but of all that is beyond it. + +"Her remains rest, + +'Where the south sun warms the now dear sod, Where the ocean billows +lave and strike the steep and turf-covered rock.'" + +Anne died on the Monday. On the Tuesday Charlotte wrote to her father; +but, knowing that his presence was required for some annual Church +solemnity at Haworth, she informed him that she had made all necessary +arrangements for the interment and that the funeral would take place so +soon, that he could hardly arrive in time for it. The surgeon who had +visited Anne on the day of her death, offered his attendance, but it was +respectfully declined. + +Mr. Brontë wrote to urge Charlotte's longer stay at the seaside. Her +health and spirits were sorely shaken; and much as he naturally longed +to see his only remaining child, he felt it right to persuade her to +take, with her friend, a few more weeks' change of scene,--though +even that could not bring change of thought. Late in June the friends +returned homewards,--parting rather suddenly (it would seem) from each +other, when their paths diverged. + +"July, 1849. + +"I intended to have written a line to you to-day, if I had not received +yours. We did indeed part suddenly; it made my heart ache that we were +severed without the time to exchange a word; and yet perhaps it was +better. I got here a little before eight o'clock. All was clean and +bright waiting for me. Papa and the servants were well; and all received +me with an affection which should have consoled. The dogs seemed in +strange ecstasy. I am certain they regarded me as the harbinger of +others. The dumb creatures thought that as I was returned, those who had +been so long absent were not far behind. + +"I left Papa soon, and went into the dining-room: I shut the door--I +tried to be glad that I was come home. I have always been glad +before--except once--even then I was cheered. But this time joy was +not to be the sensation. I felt that the house was all silent--the +rooms were all empty. I remembered where the three were laid--in what +narrow dark dwellings--never more to reappear on earth. So the sense of +desolation and bitterness took possession of me. The agony that WAS to +be undergone, and WAS NOT to be avoided, came on. I underwent it, and +passed a dreary evening and night, and a mournful morrow; to-day I am +better. + +"I do not know how life will pass, but I certainly do feel confidence +in Him who has upheld me hitherto. Solitude may be cheered, and made +endurable beyond what I can believe. The great trial is when evening +closes and night approaches. At that hour, we used to assemble in the +dining-room--we used to talk. Now I sit by myself--necessarily I am +silent. I cannot help thinking of their last days, remembering their +sufferings, and what they said and did, and how they looked in mortal +affliction. Perhaps all this will become less poignant in time. + +"Let me thank you once more, dear E----, for your kindness to me, which +I do not mean to forget. How did you think all looking at your home? +Papa thought me a little stronger; he said my eyes were not so sunken." + +"July 14th, 1849. + +"I do not much like giving an account of myself. I like better to go out +of myself, and talk of something more cheerful. My cold, wherever I got +it, whether at Easton or elsewhere, is not vanished yet. It began in my +head, then I had a sore throat, and then a sore chest, with a cough, but +only a trifling cough, which I still have at times. The pain between my +shoulders likewise amazed me much. Say nothing about it, for I confess +I am too much disposed to be nervous. This nervousness is a horrid +phantom. I dare communicate no ailment to Papa; his anxiety harasses me +inexpressibly. + +"My life is what I expected it to be. Sometimes when I wake in the +morning, and know that Solitude, Remembrance, and Longing are to be +almost my sole companions all day through--that at night I shall go to +bed with them, that they will long keep me sleepless--that next morning +I shall wake to them again,--sometimes, Nell, I have a heavy heart of +it. But crushed I am not, yet; nor robbed of elasticity, nor of hope, +nor quite of endeavour. I have some strength to fight the battle of +life. I am aware, and can acknowledge, I have many comforts, many +mercies. Still I can GET ON. But I do hope and pray, that never may you, +or any one I love, be placed as I am. To sit in a lonely room--the clock +ticking loud through a still house--and have open before the mind's eye +the record of the last year, with its shocks, sufferings, losses--is a +trial. + +"I write to you freely, because I believe you will hear me with +moderation--that you will not take alarm or think me in any way worse +off than I am." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +The tale of "Shirley" had been begun soon after the publication of +"Jane Eyre." If the reader will refer to the account I have given of +Miss Brontë's schooldays at Roe Head, he will there see how every +place surrounding that house was connected with the Luddite riots, and +will learn how stories and anecdotes of that time were rife among the +inhabitants of the neighbouring villages; how Miss Wooler herself, +and the elder relations of most of her schoolfellows, must have known +the actors in those grim disturbances. What Charlotte had heard there +as a girl came up in her mind when, as a woman, she sought a subject +for her next work; and she sent to Leeds for a file of the Mercuries +of 1812, '13, and '14; in order to understand the spirit of those +eventful times. She was anxious to write of things she had known and +seen; and among the number was the West Yorkshire character, for which +any tale laid among the Luddites would afford full scope. In "Shirley" +she took the idea of most of her characters from life, although the +incidents and situations were, of course, fictitious. She thought that +if these last were purely imaginary, she might draw from the real +without detection, but in this she was mistaken; her studies were too +closely accurate. This occasionally led her into difficulties. People +recognised themselves, or were recognised by others, in her graphic +descriptions of their personal appearance, and modes of action and +turns of thought; though they were placed in new positions, and figured +away in scenes far different to those in which their actual life had +been passed. Miss Brontë was struck by the force or peculiarity of the +character of some one whom she knew; she studied it, and analysed it +with subtle power; and having traced it to its germ, she took that germ +as the nucleus of an imaginary character, and worked outwards;--thus +reversing the process of analysation, and unconsciously reproducing +the same external development. The "three curates" were real living +men, haunting Haworth and the neighbouring district; and so obtuse in +perception that, after the first burst of anger at having their ways +and habits chronicled was over, they rather enjoyed the joke of calling +each other by the names she had given them. "Mrs. Pryor" was well known +to many who loved the original dearly. The whole family of the Yorkes +were, I have been assured, almost daguerreotypes. Indeed Miss Brontë +told me that, before publication, she had sent those parts of the novel +in which these remarkable persons are introduced, to one of the sons; +and his reply, after reading it, was simply that "she had not drawn +them strong enough." From those many-sided sons, I suspect, she drew +all that there was of truth in the characters of the heroes in her +first two works. They, indeed, were almost the only young men she knew +intimately, besides her brother. There was much friendship, and still +more confidence between the Brontë family and them,--although their +intercourse was often broken and irregular. There was never any warmer +feeling on either side. + +The character of Shirley herself, is Charlotte's representation of +Emily. I mention this, because all that I, a stranger, have been able +to learn about her has not tended to give either me, or my readers, +a pleasant impression of her. But we must remember how little we are +acquainted with her, compared to that sister, who, out of her more +intimate knowledge, says that she "was genuinely good, and truly great," +and who tried to depict her character in Shirley Keeldar, as what Emily +Brontë would have been, had she been placed in health and prosperity. + +Miss Brontë took extreme pains with "Shirley." She felt that the fame +she had acquired imposed upon her a double responsibility. She tried +to make her novel like a piece of actual life,--feeling sure that, if +she but represented the product of personal experience and observation +truly, good would come out of it in the long run. She carefully studied +the different reviews and criticisms that had appeared on "Jane Eyre," +in hopes of extracting precepts and advice from which to profit. + +Down into the very midst of her writing came the bolts of death. She had +nearly finished the second volume of her tale when Branwell died,--after +him Emily,--after her Anne;--the pen, laid down when there were three +sisters living and loving, was taken up when one alone remained. Well +might she call the first chapter that she wrote after this, "The Valley +of the Shadow of Death." + +I knew in part what the unknown author of "Shirley" must have suffered, +when I read those pathetic words which occur at the end of this and the +beginning of the succeeding chapter:-- + +"Till break of day, she wrestled with God in earnest prayer. + +"Not always do those who dare such divine conflict prevail. Night after +night the sweat of agony may burst dark on the forehead; the supplicant +may cry for mercy with that soundless voice the soul utters when its +appeal is to the Invisible. 'Spare my beloved,' it may implore. 'Heal my +life's life. Rend not from me what long affection entwines with my whole +nature. God of Heaven--bend--hear--be clement!' And after this cry and +strife, the sun may rise and see him worsted. That opening morn, which +used to salute him with the whispers of zephyrs, the carol of skylarks, +may breathe, as its first accents, from the dear lips which colour and +heat have quitted,--'Oh! I have had a suffering night. This morning I +am worse. I have tried to rise. I cannot. Dreams I am unused to have +troubled me.' + +"Then the watcher approaches the patient's pillow, and sees a new and +strange moulding of the familiar features, feels at once that the +insufferable moment draws nigh, knows that it is God's will his idol +should be broken, and bends his head, and subdues his soul to the +sentence he cannot avert, and scarce can bear. . . . + +"No piteous, unconscious moaning sound--which so wastes our strength +that, even if we have sworn to be firm, a rush of unconquerable tears +sweeps away the oath--preceded her waking. No space of deaf apathy +followed. The first words spoken were not those of one becoming +estranged from this world, and already permitted to stray at times into +realms foreign to the living." + +She went on with her work steadily. But it was dreary to write without +any one to listen to the progress of her tale,--to find fault or to +sympathise,--while pacing the length of the parlour in the evenings, +as in the days that were no more. Three sisters had done this,--then +two, the other sister dropping off from the walk,--and now one was left +desolate, to listen for echoing steps that never came,--and to hear the +wind sobbing at the windows, with an almost articulate sound. + +But she wrote on, struggling against her own feelings of illness; +"continually recurring feelings of slight cold; slight soreness in the +throat and chest, of which, do what I will," she writes, "I cannot get +rid." + +In August there arose a new cause for anxiety, happily but temporary. + +"Aug. 23rd, 1849. + +"Papa has not been well at all lately. He has had another attack of +bronchitis. I felt very uneasy about him for some days--more wretched +indeed than I care to tell you. After what has happened, one trembles +at any appearance of sickness; and when anything ails Papa, I feel too +keenly that he is the LAST--the only near and dear relative I have in +the world. Yesterday and to-day he has seemed much better, for which I +am truly thankful. . . . + +"From what you say of Mr. ----, I think I should like him very much. +---- wants shaking to be put out about his appearance. What does it +matter whether her husband dines in a dress-coat, or a market-coat, +provided there be worth, and honesty, and a clean shirt underneath?" + +"Sept. 10th, 1849. + +"My piece of work is at last finished, and despatched to its +destination. You must now tell me when there is a chance of your being +able to come here. I fear it will now be difficult to arrange, as it is +so near the marriage-day. Note well, it would spoil all my pleasure, if +you put yourself or any one else to inconvenience to come to Haworth. +But when it is CONVENIENT, I shall be truly glad to see you. . . . Papa, +I am thankful to say, is better, though not strong. He is often troubled +with a sensation of nausea. My cold is very much less troublesome, I am +sometimes quite free from it. A few days since, I had a severe bilious +attack, the consequence of sitting too closely to my writing; but it is +gone now. It is the first from which I have suffered since my return +from the sea-side. I had them every month before." + +"Sept. 13th, 1849. + +"If duty and the well-being of others require that you should stay at +home, I cannot permit myself to complain, still, I am very, VERY sorry +that circumstances will not permit us to meet just now. I would without +hesitation come to ----, if Papa were stronger; but uncertain as are +both his health and spirits, I could not possibly prevail on myself to +leave him now. Let us hope that when we do see each other our meeting +will be all the more pleasurable for being delayed. Dear E----, you +certainly have a heavy burden laid on your shoulders, but such burdens, +if well borne, benefit the character; only we must take the GREATEST, +CLOSEST, MOST WATCHFUL care not to grow proud of our strength, in case +we should be enabled to bear up under the trial. That pride, indeed, +would be sign of radical weakness. The strength, if strength we have, is +certainly never in our own selves; it is given us." + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Sept. 21st, 1849. + +"My dear Sir,--I am obliged to you for preserving my secret, being at +least as anxious as ever (MORE anxious I cannot well be) to keep quiet. +You asked me in one of your letters lately, whether I thought I should +escape identification in Yorkshire. I am so little known, that I think I +shall. Besides, the book is far less founded on the Real, than perhaps +appears. It would be difficult to explain to you how little actual +experience I have had of life, how few persons I have known, and how +very few have known me. + +"As an instance how the characters have been managed, take that of Mr. +Helstone. If this character had an original, it was in the person of +a clergyman who died some years since at the advanced age of eighty. +I never saw him except once--at the consecration of a church--when I +was a child of ten years old. I was then struck with his appearance, +and stern, martial air. At a subsequent period, I heard him talked +about in the neighbourhood where he had resided: some mention him with +enthusiasm--others with detestation. I listened to various anecdotes, +balanced evidence against evidence, and drew an inference. The original +of Mr. Hall I have seen; he knows me slightly; but he would as soon +think I had closely observed him or taken him for a character--he would +as soon, indeed, suspect me of writing a hook--a novel--as he would his +dog, Prince. Margaret Hall called "Jane Eyre" a 'wicked book,' on the +authority of the Quarterly; an expression which, coming from her, I will +here confess, struck somewhat deep. It opened my eyes to the harm the +Quarterly had done. Margaret would not have called it 'wicked,' if she +had not been told so. + +"No matter,--whether known or unknown--misjudged, or the contrary,--I +am resolved not to write otherwise. I shall bend as my powers tend. The +two human beings who understood me, and whom I understood, are gone: +I have some that love me yet, and whom I love, without expecting, or +having a right to expect, that they shall perfectly understand me. I am +satisfied; but I must have my own way in the matter of writing. The loss +of what we possess nearest and dearest to us in this world, produces +an effect upon the character we search out what we have yet left that +can support, and, when found, we cling to it with a hold of new-strung +tenacity. The faculty of imagination lifted me when I was sinking, three +months ago; its active exercise has kept my head above water since; its +results cheer me now, for I feel they have enabled me to give pleasure +to others. I am thankful to God, who gave me the faculty; and it is +for me a part of my religion to defend this gift, and to profit by its +possession.--Yours sincerely, + +"CHARLOTTE BRONTË." + +At the time when this letter was written, both Tabby and the young +servant whom they had to assist her were ill in bed; and, with the +exception of occasional aid, Miss Brontë had all the household work to +perform, as well as to nurse the two invalids. + +The serious illness of the younger servant was at its height, when a +cry from Tabby called Miss Brontë into the kitchen, and she found the +poor old woman of eighty laid on the floor, with her head under the +kitchen-grate; she had fallen from her chair in attempting to rise. When +I saw her, two years later, she described to me the tender care which +Charlotte had taken of her at this time; and wound up her account of +"how her own mother could not have had more thought for her nor Miss +Brontë had," by saying, "Eh! she's a good one--she IS!" + +But there was one day when the strung nerves gave way--when, as she +says, "I fairly broke down for ten minutes; sat and cried like a fool. +Tabby could neither stand nor walk. Papa had just been declaring that +Martha was in imminent danger. I was myself depressed with headache +and sickness. That day I hardly knew what to do, or where to turn. +Thank God! Martha is now convalescent: Tabby, I trust, will be better +soon. Papa is pretty well. I have the satisfaction of knowing that my +publishers are delighted with what I sent them. This supports me. But +life is a battle. May we all be enabled to fight it well!" + +The kind friend, to whom she thus wrote, saw how the poor over-taxed +system needed bracing, and accordingly sent her a shower-bath--a thing +for which she had long been wishing. The receipt of it was acknowledged +as follows:-- + +"Sept. 28th, 1849. ". . . Martha is now almost well, and Tabby much +better. A huge monster-package, from 'Nelson, Leeds,' came yesterday. +You want chastising roundly and soundly. Such are the thanks you get +for all your trouble. . . . Whenever you come to Haworth, you shall +certainly have a thorough drenching in your own shower-bath. I have not +yet unpacked the wretch.--"Yours, as you deserve, + +C. B." + +There was misfortune of another kind impending over her. There were +some railway shares, which, so early as 1846, she had told Miss Wooler +she wished to sell, but had kept because she could not persuade her +sisters to look upon the affair as she did, and so preferred running +the risk of loss, to hurting Emily's feelings by acting in opposition +to her opinion. The depreciation of these same shares was now +verifying Charlotte's soundness of judgment. They were in the York and +North-Midland Company, which was one of Mr. Hudson's pet lines, and had +the full benefit of his peculiar system of management. She applied to +her friend and publisher, Mr. Smith, for information on the subject; and +the following letter is in answer to his reply:-- + +"Oct. 4th, 1849. + +"My dear Sir,--I must not THANK you for, but acknowledge the receipt of +your letter. The business is certainly very bad; worse than I thought, +and much worse than my father has any idea of. In fact, the little +railway property I possessed, according to original prices, formed +already a small competency for me, with my views and habits. Now, +scarcely any portion of it can, with security, be calculated upon. I +must open this view of the case to my father by degrees; and, meanwhile, +wait patiently till I see how affairs are likely to turn. . . . However +the matter may terminate, I ought perhaps to be rather thankful than +dissatisfied. When I look at my own case, and compare it with that of +thousands besides, I scarcely see room for a murmur. Many, very many, +are by the late strange railway system deprived almost of their daily +bread. Such then as have only lost provision laid up for the future, +should take care how they complain. The thought that 'Shirley' has given +pleasure at Cornhill, yields me much quiet comfort. No doubt, however, +you are, as I am, prepared for critical severity; but I have good hopes +that the vessel is sufficiently sound of construction to weather a gale +or two, and to make a prosperous voyage for you in the end." + +Towards the close of October in this year, she went to pay a visit +to her friend; but her enjoyment in the holiday, which she had so +long promised herself when her work was completed, was deadened by a +continual feeling of ill-health; either the change of air or the foggy +weather produced constant irritation at the chest. Moreover, she was +anxious about the impression which her second work would produce on +the public mind. For obvious reasons an author is more susceptible to +opinions pronounced on the book which follows a great success, than he +has ever been before. Whatever be the value of fame, he has it in his +possession, and is not willing to have it dimmed or lost. + +"Shirley" was published on October 26th. + +When it came out, but before reading it, Mr. Lewes wrote to tell her of +his intention of reviewing it in the Edinburgh. Her correspondence with +him had ceased for some time: much had occurred since. + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Nov. 1st, 1849. + +"My dear Sir,--It is about a year and a half since you wrote to me; but +it seems a longer period, because since then it has been my lot to pass +some black milestones in the journey of life. Since then there have been +intervals when I have ceased to care about literature and critics and +fame; when I have lost sight of whatever was prominent in my thoughts +at the first publication of 'Jane Eyre;' but now I want these things +to come back vividly, if possible: consequently, it was a pleasure to +receive your note. I wish you did not think me a woman. I wish all +reviewers believed 'Currer Bell' to be a man; they would be more just to +him. You will, I know, keep measuring me by some standard of what you +deem becoming to my sex; where I am not what you consider graceful, you +will condemn me. All mouths will be open against that first chapter; and +that first chapter is true as the Bible, nor is it exceptionable. Come +what will, I cannot, when I write, think always of myself and of what is +elegant and charming in femininity; it is not on those terms, or with +such ideas, I ever took pen in hand: and if it is only on such terms my +writing will be tolerated, I shall pass away from the public and trouble +it no more. Out of obscurity I came, to obscurity I can easily return. +Standing afar off, I now watch to see what will become of 'Shirley.' My +expectations are very low, and my anticipations somewhat sad and bitter; +still, I earnestly conjure you to say honestly what you think; flattery +would be worse than vain; there is no consolation in flattery. As for +condemnation I cannot, on reflection, see why I should much fear it; +there is no one but myself to suffer therefrom, and both happiness and +suffering in this life soon pass away. Wishing you all success in your +Scottish expedition,--I am, dear Sir, yours sincerely, + +C. BELL." + +Miss Brontë, as we have seen, had been as anxious as ever to preserve +her incognito in "Shirley." She even fancied that there were fewer +traces of a female pen in it than in "Jane Eyre"; and thus, when the +earliest reviews were published, and asserted that the mysterious writer +must be a woman, she was much disappointed. She especially disliked the +lowering of the standard by which to judge a work of fiction, if it +proceeded from a feminine pen; and praise mingled with pseudo-gallant +allusions to her sex, mortified her far more than actual blame. + +But the secret, so jealously preserved, was oozing out at last. The +publication of "Shirley" seemed to fix the conviction that the writer +was an inhabitant of the district where the story was laid. And a clever +Haworth man, who had somewhat risen in the world, and gone to settle +in Liverpool, read the novel, and was struck with some of the names +of places mentioned, and knew the dialect in which parts of it were +written. He became convinced that it was the production of some one in +Haworth. But he could not imagine who in that village could have written +such a work except Miss Brontë. Proud of his conjecture, he divulged the +suspicion (which was almost certainty) in the columns of a Liverpool +paper; thus the heart of the mystery came slowly creeping out; and a +visit to London, which Miss Brontë paid towards the end of the year +1849, made it distinctly known. She had been all along on most happy +terms with her publishers; and their kindness had beguiled some of those +weary, solitary hours which had so often occurred of late, by sending +for her perusal boxes of books more suited to her tastes than any she +could procure from the circulating library at Keighley. She often writes +such sentences as the following, in her letters to Cornhill:-- + +"I was indeed very much interested in the books you sent 'Eckermann's +Conversations with Goethe,' 'Guesses as Truth,' 'Friends in Council,' +and the little work on English social life, pleased me particularly, +and the last not least. We sometimes take a partiality to books as +to characters, not on account of any brilliant intellect or striking +peculiarity they boast, but for the sake of something good, delicate, +and genuine. I thought that small book the production of a lady, and an +amiable, sensible woman, and I liked it. You must not think of selecting +any more works for me yet; my stock is still far from exhausted. + +"I accept your offer respecting the 'Athenaeum;' it is a paper I should +like much to see, providing that you can send it without trouble. It +shall be punctually returned." + +In a letter to her friend she complains of the feelings of illness from +which she was seldom or never free. + +"Nov. 16th, 1849. + +You are not to suppose any of the characters in 'Shirley' intended as +literal portraits. It would not suit the rules of art, nor of my own +feelings; to write in that style. We only suffer reality to SUGGEST, +never to DICTATE. The heroines are abstractions and the heroes also. +Qualities I have seen, loved, and admired, are here and there put in +as decorative gems, to be preserved in that sitting. Since you say you +could recognise the originals of all except the heroines, pray whom did +you suppose the two Moores to represent? I send you a couple of reviews; +the one is in the Examiner, written by Albany Fonblanque, who is called +the most brilliant political writer of the day, a man whose dictum is +much thought of in London. The other, in the Standard of Freedom, is +written by William Howitt, a Quaker! . . . I should be pretty well, if +it were not for headaches and indigestion. My chest has been better +lately." + +In consequence of this long-protracted state of languor, headache, and +sickness, to which the slightest exposure to cold added sensations of +hoarseness and soreness at the chest, she determined to take the evil +in time, as much for her father's sake as for her own, and to go up to +London and consult some physician there. It was not her first intention +to visit anywhere; but the friendly urgency of her publishers prevailed, +and it was decided that she was to become the guest of Mr. Smith. Before +she went, she wrote two characteristic letters about "Shirley," from +which I shall take a few extracts. + +"'Shirley' makes her way. The reviews shower in fast. . . . The best +critique which has yet appeared is in the Revue des deux Mondes, a +sort of European Cosmopolitan periodical, whose head-quarters are at +Paris. Comparatively few reviewers, even in their praise, evince a just +comprehension of the author's meaning. Eugene Forcarde, the reviewer +in question, follows Currer Bell through every winding, discerns every +point, discriminates every shade, proves himself master of the subject, +and lord of the aim. With that man I would shake hands, if I saw him. +I would say, 'You know me, Monsieur; I shall deem it an honour to +know you.' I could not say so much of the mass of the London critics. +Perhaps I could not say so much to five hundred men and women in all +the millions of Great Britain. That matters little. My own conscience I +satisfy first; and having done that, if I further content and delight a +Forsarde, a Fonblanque, and a Thackeray, my ambition has had its ration, +it is fed; it lies down for the present satisfied; my faculties have +wrought a day's task, and earned a day's wages. I am no teacher; to look +on me in that light is to mistake me. To teach is not my vocation. What +I AM, it is useless to say. Those whom it concerns feel and find it +out. To all others I wish only to be an obscure, steady-going, private +character. To you, dear E ----, I wish to be a sincere friend. Give me +your faithful regard; I willingly dispense with admiration." + +"Nov. 26th. + +"It is like you to pronounce the reviews not good enough, and belongs +to that part of your character which will not permit you to bestow +unqualified approbation on any dress, decoration, etc., belonging to +you. Know that the reviews are superb; and were I dissatisfied with +them, I should be a conceited ape. Nothing higher is ever said, FROM +PERFECTLY DISINTERESTED MOTIVES, of any living authors. If all be well, +I go to London this week; Wednesday, I think. The dress-maker has done +my small matters pretty well, but I wish you could have looked them +over, and given a dictum. I insisted on the dresses being made quite +plainly." + +At the end of November she went up to the "big Babylon," and was +immediately plunged into what appeared to her a whirl; for changes, and +scenes, and stimulus which would have been a trifle to others, were +much to her. As was always the case with strangers, she was a little +afraid at first of the family into which she was now received, fancying +that the ladies looked on her with a mixture of respect and alarm; but +in a few days, if this state of feeling ever existed, her simple, shy, +quiet manners, her dainty personal and household ways, had quite done +away with it, and she says that she thinks they begin to like her, and +that she likes them much, for "kindness is a potent heart-winner." She +had stipulated that she should not be expected to see many people. The +recluse life she had led, was the cause of a nervous shrinking from +meeting any fresh face, which lasted all her life long. Still, she +longed to have an idea of the personal appearance and manners of some of +those whose writings or letters had interested her. Mr. Thackeray was +accordingly invited to meet her, but it so happened that she had been +out for the greater part of the morning, and, in consequence, missed +the luncheon hour at her friend's house. This brought on a severe and +depressing headache in one accustomed to the early, regular hours of a +Yorkshire Parsonage; besides, the excitement of meeting, hearing, and +sitting next a man to whom she looked up with such admiration as she did +to the author of "Vanity Fair," was of itself overpowering to her frail +nerves. She writes about this dinner as follows:-- + +"Dec. 10th, 1849. + +"As to being happy, I am under scenes and circumstances of excitement; +but I suffer acute pain sometimes,--mental pain, I mean. At the moment +Mr. Thackeray presented himself, I was thoroughly faint from inanition, +having eaten nothing since a very slight breakfast, and it was then +seven o'clock in the evening. Excitement and exhaustion made savage work +of me that evening. What he thought of me I cannot tell." + +She told me how difficult she found it, this first time of meeting Mr. +Thackeray, to decide whether he was speaking in jest or in earnest, and +that she had (she believed) completely misunderstood an inquiry of his, +made on the gentlemen's coming into the drawing-room. He asked her "if +she had perceived the secret of their cigars;" to which she replied +literally, discovering in a minute afterwards, by the smile on several +faces, that he was alluding to a passage in "Jane Eyre". Her hosts took +pleasure in showing her the sights of London. On one of the days which +had been set apart for some of these pleasant excursions, a severe +review of "Shirley" was published in the Times. She had heard that her +book would be noticed by it, and guessed that there was some particular +reason for the care with which her hosts mislaid it on that particular +morning. She told them that she was aware why she might not see the +paper. Mrs. Smith at once admitted that her conjecture was right, and +said that they had wished her to go to the day's engagement before +reading it. But she quietly persisted in her request to be allowed to +have the paper. Mrs. Smith took her work, and tried not to observe the +countenance, which the other tried to hide between the large sheets; but +she could not help becoming aware of tears stealing down the face and +dropping on the lap. The first remark Miss Brontë made was to express +her fear lest so severe a notice should check the sale of the book, +and injuriously affect her publishers. Wounded as she was, her first +thought was for others. Later on (I think that very afternoon) Mr. +Thackeray called; she suspected (she said) that he came to see how she +bore the attack on "Shirley;" but she had recovered her composure, and +conversed very quietly with him: he only learnt from the answer to his +direct inquiry that she had read the Times' article. She acquiesced in +the recognition of herself as the authoress of "Jane Eyre," because she +perceived that there were some advantages to be derived from dropping +her pseudonym. One result was an acquaintance with Miss Martineau. +She had sent her the novel just published, with a curious note, in +which Currer Bell offered a copy of "Shirley" to Miss Martineau, as an +acknowledgment of the gratification he had received from her works. From +"Deerbrook" he had derived a new and keen pleasure, and experienced a +genuine benefit. In HIS mind "Deerbrook," etc. + +Miss Martineau, in acknowledging this note and the copy of "Shirley," +dated her letter from a friend's house in the neighbourhood of Mr. +Smith's residence; and when, a week or two afterwards, Miss Brontë +found how near she was to her correspondent, she wrote, in the name +of Currer Bell, to propose a visit to her. Six o'clock, on a certain +Sunday afternoon (Dec. 10th), was the time appointed. Miss Martineau's +friends had invited the unknown Currer Bell to their early tea; they +were ignorant whether the name was that of a man or a woman; and had +had various conjectures as to sex, age, and appearance. Miss Martineau +had, indeed, expressed her private opinion pretty distinctly by +beginning her reply, to the professedly masculine note referred to +above, with "Dear Madam;" but she had addressed it to "Currer Bell, +Esq." At every ring the eyes of the party turned towards the door. Some +stranger (a gentleman, I think) came in; for an instant they fancied he +was Currer Bell, and indeed an Esq.; he stayed some time--went away. +Another ring; "Miss Brontë was announced; and in came a young-looking +lady, almost child-like in stature, in a deep mourning dress, neat +as a Quaker's, with her beautiful hair smooth and brown, her fine +eyes blazing with meaning and her sensible face indicating a habit +of self-control." She came,--hesitated one moment at finding four or +five people assembled,--then went straight to Miss Martineau with +intuitive recognition, and, with the free-masonry of good feeling and +gentle breeding, she soon became as one of the family seated round the +tea-table; and, before she left, she told them, in a simple, touching +manner, of her sorrow and isolation, and a foundation was laid for her +intimacy with Miss Martineau. + +After some discussion on the subject, and a stipulation that she should +not be specially introduced to any one, some gentlemen were invited by +Mr. Smith to meet her at dinner the evening before she left town. Her +natural place would have been at the bottom of the table by her host; +and the places of those who were to be her neighbours were arranged +accordingly; but, on entering the dining-room, she quickly passed up +so as to sit next to the lady of the house, anxious to shelter herself +near some one of her own sex. This slight action arose out of the same +womanly seeking after protection on every occasion, when there was no +moral duty involved in asserting her independence, that made her about +this time write as follows: "Mrs. ---- watches me very narrowly when +surrounded by strangers. She never takes her eye from me. I like the +surveillance; it seems to keep guard over me." + +Respecting this particular dinner-party she thus wrote to the Brussels +schoolfellow of former days, whose friendship had been renewed during +her present visit to London:-- + +"The evening after I left you passed better than I expected. Thanks to +my substantial lunch and cheering cup of coffee, I was able to wait the +eight o'clock dinner with complete resignation, and to endure its length +quite courageously, nor was I too much exhausted to converse; and of +this I was glad, for otherwise I know my kind host and hostess would +have been much disappointed. There were only seven gentlemen at dinner +besides Mr. Smith, but of these five were critics--men more dreaded in +the world of letters than you can conceive. I did not know how much +their presence and conversation had excited me till they were gone, +and the reaction commenced. When I had retired for the night, I wished +to sleep--the effort to do so was vain. I could not close my eyes. +Night passed; morning came, and I rose without having known a moment's +slumber. So utterly worn out was I when I got to Derby, that I was again +obliged to stay there all night." + +"Dec. 17th. + +"Here I am at Haworth once more. I feel as if I had come out of an +exciting whirl. Not that the hurry and stimulus would have seemed much +to one accustomed to society and change, but to me they were very +marked. My strength and spirits too often proved quite insufficient to +the demand on their exertions. I used to bear up as long as I possibly +could, for, when I flagged, I could see Mr. Smith became disturbed; he +always thought that something had been said or done to annoy me--which +never once happened, for I met with perfect good breeding even from +antagonists--men who had done their best or worst to write me down. I +explained to him over and over again, that my occasional silence was +only failure of the power to talk, never of the will. . . . + +"Thackeray is a Titan of mind. His presence and powers impress one +deeply in an intellectual sense; I do not see him or know him as a man. +All the others are subordinate. I have esteem for some, and, I trust, +courtesy for all. I do not, of course, know what they thought of me, +but I believe most of them expected me to come out in a more marked, +eccentric, striking light. I believe they desired more to admire and +more to blame. I felt sufficiently at my ease with all but Thackeray; +with him I was fearfully stupid." + +She returned to her quiet home, and her noiseless daily duties. Her +father had quite enough of the spirit of hero-worship in him to make him +take a vivid pleasure in the accounts of what she had heard and whom she +had seen. It was on the occasion of one of her visits to London that +he had desired her to obtain a sight of Prince Albert's armoury, if +possible. I am not aware whether she managed to do this; but she went +to one or two of the great national armouries in order that she might +describe the stern steel harness and glittering swords to her father, +whose imagination was forcibly struck by the idea of such things; and +often afterwards, when his spirits flagged and the languor of old age +for a time got the better of his indomitable nature, she would again +strike on the measure wild, and speak about the armies of strange +weapons she had seen in London, till he resumed his interest in the old +subject, and was his own keen, warlike, intelligent self again. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Her life at Haworth was so unvaried that the postman's call was the +event of her day. Yet she dreaded the great temptation of centring all +her thoughts upon this one time, and losing her interest in the smaller +hopes and employments of the remaining hours. Thus she conscientiously +denied herself the pleasure of writing letters too frequently, because +the answers (when she received them) took the flavour out of the rest +of her life; or the disappointment, when the replies did not arrive, +lessened her energy for her home duties. + +The winter of this year in the north was hard and cold; it affected +Miss Brontë's health less than usual, however, probably because the +change and the medical advice she had taken in London had done her good; +probably, also, because her friend had come to pay her a visit, and +enforced that attention to bodily symptoms which Miss Brontë was too apt +to neglect, from a fear of becoming nervous herself about her own state +and thus infecting her father. But she could scarcely help feeling much +depressed in spirits as the anniversary of her sister Emily's death came +round; all the recollections connected with it were painful, yet there +were no outward events to call off her attention, and prevent them from +pressing hard upon her. At this time, as at many others, I find her +alluding in her letters to the solace which she found in the books sent +her from Cornhill. + +"What, I sometimes ask, could I do without them? I have recourse to +them as to friends; they shorten and cheer many an hour that would be +too long and too desolate otherwise; even when my tired sight will +not permit me to continue reading, it is pleasant to see them on the +shelf, or on the table. I am still very rich, for my stock is far from +exhausted. Some other friends have sent me books lately. The perusal +of Harriet Martineau's 'Eastern Life' has afforded me great pleasure; +and I have found a deep and interesting subject of study in Newman's +work on the Soul. Have you read this work? It is daring,--it may be +mistaken,--but it is pure and elevated. Froude's 'Nemesis of Faith' I +did not like; I thought it morbid; yet in its pages, too, are found +sprinklings of truth." + +By this time, "Airedale, Wharfedale, Calderdale, and Ribblesdale" +all knew the place of residence of Currer Bell. She compared herself +to the ostrich hiding its head in the sand; and says that she still +buries hers in the heath of Haworth moors; but "the concealment is but +self-delusion." Indeed it was. Far and wide in the West Riding had +spread the intelligence that Currer Bell was no other than a daughter +of the venerable clergyman of Haworth; the village itself caught up the +excitement. + +"Mr. ----, having finished 'Jane Eyre,' is now crying out for the +'other book;' he is to have it next week. . . . Mr. R ---- has finished +'Shirley;' he is delighted with it. John ----'s wife seriously thought +him gone wrong in the head, as she heard him giving vent to roars of +laughter as he sat alone, clapping and stamping on the floor. He would +read all the scenes about the curates aloud to papa." . . . "Martha came +in yesterday, puffing and blowing, and much excited. 'I've heard sich +news!' she began. 'What about?' 'Please, ma'am, you've been and written +two books--the grandest books that ever was seen. My father has heard it +at Halifax, and Mr. G---- T---- and Mr. G---- and Mr. M---- at Bradford; +and they are going to have a meeting at the Mechanics' Institute, and to +settle about ordering them.' 'Hold your tongue, Martha, and be off.' I +fell into a cold sweat. "Jane Eyre" will be read by J---- B----, by Mrs. +T----, and B----. Heaven help, keep, and deliver me!" . . . "The Haworth +people have been making great fools of themselves about Shirley; they +have taken it in an enthusiastic light. When they got the volumes at the +Mechanics' Institute, all the members wanted them. They cast lots for +the whole three, and whoever got a volume was only allowed to keep it +two days, and was to be fined a shilling per diem for longer detention. +It would be mere nonsense and vanity to tell you what they say." + +The tone of these extracts is thoroughly consonant with the spirit of +Yorkshire and Lancashire people, who try as long as they can to conceal +their emotions of pleasure under a bantering exterior, almost as if +making fun of themselves. Miss Brontë was extremely touched in the +secret places of her warm heart by the way in which those who had known +her from her childhood were proud and glad of her success. All round +about the news had spread; strangers came "from beyond Burnley" to see +her, as she went quietly and unconsciously into church and the sexton +"gained many a half-crown" for pointing her out. + +But there were drawbacks to this hearty and kindly appreciation which +was so much more valuable than fame. The January number of the Edinburgh +Review had contained the article on Shirley, of which her correspondent, +Mr. Lewes, was the writer. I have said that Miss Brontë was especially +anxious to be criticised as a writer, without relation to her sex as a +woman. Whether right or wrong, her feeling was strong on this point. Now +in this review of Shirley, the heading of the first two pages ran thus: +"Mental Equality of the Sexes?" "Female Literature," and through the +whole article the fact of the author's sex is never forgotten. + +A few days after the review appeared, Mr. Lewes received the following +note,--rather in the style of Anne Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and +Montgomery. + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"I can be on my guard against my enemies, but God deliver me from my +friends! + +CURRER BELL." + +In some explanatory notes on her letters to him, with which Mr. Lewes +has favoured me, he says:-- + +"Seeing that she was unreasonable because angry, I wrote to remonstrate +with her on quarrelling with the severity or frankness of a review, +which certainly was dictated by real admiration and real friendship; +even under its objections the friend's voice could be heard." + +The following letter is her reply:-- + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Jan. 19th, 1850. + +"My dear Sir,--I will tell you why I was so hurt by that review in the +Edinburgh; not because its criticism was keen or its blame sometimes +severe; not because its praise was stinted (for, indeed, I think you +give me quite as much praise as I deserve), but because after I had said +earnestly that I wished critics would judge me as an AUTHOR, not as a +woman, you so roughly--I even thought so cruelly--handled the question +of sex. I dare say you meant no harm, and perhaps you will not now be +able to understand why I was so grieved at what you will probably deem +such a trifle; but grieved I was, and indignant too. + +"There was a passage or two which you did quite wrong to write. + +"However, I will not bear malice against you for it; I know what your +nature is: it is not a bad or unkind one, though you would often jar +terribly on some feelings with whose recoil and quiver you could not +possibly sympathise. I imagine you are both enthusiastic and implacable, +as you are at once sagacious and careless; you know much and discover +much, but you are in such a hurry to tell it all you never give yourself +time to think how your reckless eloquence may affect others; and, what +is more, if you knew how it did affect them, you would not much care. + +"However, I shake hands with you: you have excellent points; you can be +generous. I still feel angry, and think I do well to be angry; but it is +the anger one experiences for rough play rather than for foul play.--I +am yours, with a certain respect, and more chagrin, + +CURRER BELL." + +As Mr. Lewes says, "the tone of this letter is cavalier." But I thank +him for having allowed me to publish what is so characteristic of +one phase of Miss Brontë's mind. Her health, too, was suffering at +this time. "I don't know what heaviness of spirit has beset me of +late" (she writes, in pathetic words, wrung out of the sadness of her +heart), "made my faculties dull, made rest weariness, and occupation +burdensome. Now and then, the silence of the house, the solitude of the +room, has pressed on me with a weight I found it difficult to bear, and +recollection has not failed to be as alert, poignant, obtrusive, as +other feelings were languid. I attribute this state of things partly +to the weather. Quicksilver invariably falls low in storms and high +winds, and I have ere this been warned of approaching disturbance in +the atmosphere by a sense of bodily weakness, and deep, heavy mental +sadness, such as some would call PRESENTIMENT,--presentiment indeed it +is, but not at all super-natural. . . . I cannot help feeling something +of the excitement of expectation till the post hour comes, and when, day +after day, it brings nothing, I get low. This is a stupid, disgraceful, +unmeaning state of things. I feel bitterly vexed at my own dependence +and folly; but it is so bad for the mind to be quite alone, and to have +none with whom to talk over little crosses and disappointments, and to +laugh them away. If I could write, I dare say I should be better, but +I cannot write a line. However (by God's help), I will contend against +this folly. + +"I had rather a foolish letter the other day from ----. Some things in +it nettled me, especially an unnecessarily earnest assurance that, in +spite of all I had done in the writing line, I still retained a place in +her esteem. My answer took strong and high ground at once. I said I had +been troubled by no doubts on the subject; that I neither did her nor +myself the injustice to suppose there was anything in what I had written +to incur the just forfeiture of esteem. . . . + +"A few days since, a little incident happened which curiously +touched me. Papa put into my hands a little packet of letters and +papers,--telling me that they were mamma's, and that I might read them. +I did read them, in a frame of mind I cannot describe. The papers were +yellow with time, all having been written before I was born it was +strange now to peruse, for the first time, the records of a mind whence +my own sprang; and most strange, and at once sad and sweet, to find +that mind of a truly fine, pure, and elevated order. They were written +to papa before they were married. There is a rectitude, a refinement a +constancy, a modesty, a sense, a gentleness about them indescribable. I +wished that she had lived, and that I had known her. . . . All through +this month of February, I have had a crushing time of it. I could not +escape from or rise above certain most mournful recollections,--the +last days, the sufferings, the remembered words--most sorrowful to me, +of those who, Faith assures me, are now happy. At evening and bed-time, +such thoughts would haunt me, bringing a weary heartache." + +The reader may remember the strange prophetic vision, which dictated a +few words, written on the occasion of the death of a pupil of hers in +January, 1840: + +"Wherever I seek for her now in this world, she cannot be found; no more +than a flower or a leaf which withered twenty years ago. A bereavement +of this kind gives one a glimpse of the feeling those must have, who +have seen all drop round them--friend after friend, and are left to end +their pilgrimage alone." + +Even in persons of naturally robust health, and with no + +"Ricordarsi di tempo felice Nella miseria--" + +to wear, with slow dropping but perpetual pain, upon their spirits, +the nerves and appetite will give way in solitude. How much more must +it have been so with Miss Brontë, delicate and frail in constitution, +tried by much anxiety and sorrow in early life, and now left to face +her life alone. Owing to Mr. Brontë's great age, and long-formed habits +of solitary occupation when in the house, his daughter was left to +herself for the greater part of the day. Ever since his serious attacks +of illness, he had dined alone; a portion of her dinner, regulated by +strict attention to the diet most suitable for him, being taken into +his room by herself. After dinner she read to him for an hour or so, +as his sight was too weak to allow of his reading long to himself. He +was out of doors among his parishioners for a good part of each day; +often for a longer time than his strength would permit. Yet he always +liked to go alone, and consequently her affectionate care could be no +check upon the length of his walks to the more distant hamlets which +were in his cure. He would come back occasionally utterly fatigued; +and be obliged to go to bed, questioning himself sadly as to where all +his former strength of body had gone to. His strength of will was the +same as ever. That which he resolved to do he did, at whatever cost of +weariness; but his daughter was all the more anxious from seeing him +so regardless of himself and his health. The hours of retiring for the +night had always been early in the Parsonage; now family prayers were +at eight o'clock; directly after which Mr. Brontë and old Tabby went to +bed, and Martha was not long in following. But Charlotte could not have +slept if she had gone,--could not have rested on her desolate couch. She +stopped up,--it was very tempting,--late and later, striving to beguile +the lonely night with some employment, till her weak eyes failed to read +or to sew, and could only weep in solitude over the dead that were not. +No one on earth can even imagine what those hours were to her. All the +grim superstitions of the North had been implanted in her during her +childhood by the servants, who believed in them. They recurred to her +now,--with no shrinking from the spirits of the Dead, but with such an +intense longing once more to stand face to face with the souls of her +sisters, as no one but she could have felt. It seemed as if the very +strength of her yearning should have compelled them to appear. On windy +nights, cries, and sobs, and wailings seemed to go round the house, +as of the dearly-beloved striving to force their way to her. Some one +conversing with her once objected, in my presence, to that part of "Jane +Eyre" in which she hears Rochester's voice crying out to her in a great +crisis of her life, he being many, many miles distant at the time. I +do not know what incident was in Miss Brontë's recollection when she +replied, in a low voice, drawing in her breath, "But it is a true thing; +it really happened." + +The reader, who has even faintly pictured to himself her life at this +time,--the solitary days,--the waking, watching nights,--may imagine to +what a sensitive pitch her nerves were strung, and how such a state was +sure to affect her health. + +It was no bad thing for her that about this time various people began to +go over to Haworth, curious to see the scenery described in "Shirley," +if a sympathy with the writer, of a more generous kind than to be called +mere curiosity, did not make them wish to know whether they could not in +some way serve or cheer one who had suffered so deeply. + +Among this number were Sir James and Lady Kay Shuttleworth. Their house +lies over the crest of the moors which rise above Haworth, at about a +dozen miles' distance as the crow flies, though much further by the +road. But, according to the acceptation of the word in that uninhabited +district, they were neighbours, if they so willed it. Accordingly, Sir +James and his wife drove over one morning, at the beginning of March, to +call upon Miss Brontë and her father. Before taking leave, they pressed +her to visit them at Gawthorpe Hall, their residence on the borders +of East Lancashire. After some hesitation, and at the urgency of her +father, who was extremely anxious to procure for her any change of scene +and society that was offered, she consented to go. On the whole, she +enjoyed her visit very much, in spite of her shyness, and the difficulty +she always experienced in meeting the advances of those strangers whose +kindness she did not feel herself in a position to repay. + +She took great pleasure in the "quiet drives to old ruins and old +halls, situated among older hills and woods; the dialogues by the old +fireside in the antique oak-panneled drawing-room, while they suited +him, did not too much oppress and exhaust me. The house, too, is much +to my taste; near three centuries old, grey, stately, and picturesque. +On the whole, now that the visit is over, I do not regret having paid +it. The worst of it is, that there is now some menace hanging over my +head of an invitation to go to them in London during the season. This, +which would be a great enjoyment to some people, is a perfect terror to +me. I should highly prize the advantages to be gained in an extended +range of observation; but I tremble at the thought of the price I must +necessarily pay in mental distress and physical wear and tear." + +On the same day on which she wrote the above, she sent the following +letter to Mr. Smith. + +"March 16th, 1850. + +"I return Mr. H----'s note, after reading it carefully. I tried very +hard to understand all he says about art; but, to speak truth, my +efforts were crowned with incomplete success. There is a certain jargon +in use amongst critics on this point through which it is physically +and morally impossible to me to see daylight. One thing however, I +see plainly enough, and that is, Mr. Currer Bell needs improvement, +and ought to strive after it; and this (D. V.) he honestly intends to +do--taking his time, however, and following as his guides Nature and +Truth. If these lead to what the critics call art, it is all very well; +but if not, that grand desideratum has no chance of being run after or +caught. The puzzle is, that while the people of the South object to +my delineation of Northern life and manners, the people of Yorkshire +and Lancashire approve. They say it is precisely the contrast of rough +nature with highly artificial cultivation which forms one of their +main characteristics. Such, or something very similar, has been the +observation made to me lately, whilst I have been from home, by members +of some of the ancient East Lancashire families, whose mansions lie on +the hilly border-land between the two counties. The question arises, +whether do the London critics, or the old Northern squires, understand +the matter best? + +"Any promise you require respecting the books shall be willingly +given, provided only I am allowed the Jesuit's principle of a mental +reservation, giving licence to forget and promise whenever oblivion +shall appear expedient. The last two or three numbers of Pendennis will +not, I dare say, be generally thought sufficiently exciting, yet I like +them. Though the story lingers, (for me) the interest does not flag. +Here and there we feel that the pen has been guided by a tired hand, +that the mind of the writer has been somewhat chafed and depressed by +his recent illness, or by some other cause; but Thackeray still proves +himself greater when he is weary than other writers are when they are +fresh. The public, of course, will have no compassion for his fatigue, +and make no allowance for the ebb of inspiration; but some true-hearted +readers here and there, while grieving that such a man should be +obliged to write when he is not in the mood, will wonder that, under +such circumstances, he should write so well. The parcel of books will +come, I doubt not, at such time as it shall suit the good pleasure of +the railway officials to send it on,--or rather to yield it up to the +repeated and humble solicitations of Haworth carriers;--till when I wait +in all reasonable patience and resignation, looking with docility to +that model of active self-helpfulness Punch friendly offers the 'Women +of England,' in his 'Unprotected Female.'" + +The books lent her by her publishers were, as I have before said, a +great solace and pleasure to her. There was much interest in opening +the Cornhill parcel. But there was pain too; for, as she untied the +cords, and took out the volumes one by one, she could scarcely fail +to be reminded of those who once, on similar occasions, looked on so +eagerly. "I miss familiar voices, commenting mirthfully and pleasantly; +the room seems very still--very empty; but yet there is consolation in +remembering that Papa will take pleasure in some of the books. Happiness +quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste." She +goes on to make remarks upon the kind of books sent. + +"I wonder how you can choose so well; on no account would I forestall +the choice. I am sure any selection I might make for myself would be +less satisfactory than the selection others so kindly and judiciously +make for me; besides, if I knew all that was coming, it would be +comparatively flat. I would much rather not know. + +"Amongst the especially welcome works are 'Southey's Life', the 'Women +of France,' Hazlitt's 'Essays,' Emerson's 'Representative Men;' but it +seems invidious to particularise when all are good. . . . I took up a +second small book, Scott's 'Suggestions on Female Education;' that, +too, I read, and with unalloyed pleasure. It is very good; justly +thought, and clearly and felicitously expressed. The girls of this +generation have great advantages; it seems to me that they receive much +encouragement in the acquisition of knowledge, and the cultivation of +their minds; in these days, women may be thoughtful and well read, +without being universally stigmatised as 'Blues' and 'Pedants.' Men +begin to approve and aid, instead of ridiculing or checking them in +their efforts to be wise. I must say that, for my own part, whenever I +have been so happy as to share the conversation of a really intellectual +man, my feeling has been, not that the little I knew was accounted a +superfluity and impertinence, but that I did not know enough to satisfy +just expectation. I have always to explain, 'In me you must not look for +great attainments: what seems to you the result of reading and study +is chiefly spontaneous and intuitive.' . . . Against the teaching of +some (even clever) men, one instinctively revolts. They may possess +attainments, they may boast varied knowledge of life and of the world; +but if of the finer perceptions, of the more delicate phases of feeling, +they be destitute and incapable, of what avail is the rest? Believe me, +while hints well worth consideration may come from unpretending sources, +from minds not highly cultured, but naturally fine and delicate, from +hearts kindly, feeling, and unenvious, learned dictums delivered with +pomp and sound may be perfectly empty, stupid, and contemptible. No +man ever yet 'by aid of Greek climbed Parnassus,' or taught others to +climb it. . . . I enclose for your perusal a scrap of paper which came +into my hands without the knowledge of the writer. He is a poor working +man of this village--a thoughtful, reading, feeling being, whose mind +is too keen for his frame, and wears it out. I have not spoken to him +above thrice in my life, for he is a Dissenter, and has rarely come in +my way. The document is a sort of record of his feelings, after the +perusal of "Jane Eyre;" it is artless and earnest; genuine and generous. +You must return it to me, for I value it more than testimonies from +higher sources. He said, 'Miss Brontë, if she knew he had written it, +would scorn him;' but, indeed, Miss Brontë does not scorn him; she +only grieves that a mind of which this is the emanation, should be +kept crushed by the leaden hand of poverty--by the trials of uncertain +health, and the claims of a large family. + +"As to the Times, as you say, the acrimony of its critique has proved, +in some measure, its own antidote; to have been more effective, it +should have been juster. I think it has had little weight up here in +the North it may be that annoying remarks, if made, are not suffered +to reach my ear; but certainly, while I have heard little condemnatory +of Shirley, more than once have I been deeply moved by manifestations +of even enthusiastic approbation. I deem it unwise to dwell much on +these matters; but for once I must permit myself to remark, that +the generous pride many of the Yorkshire people have taken in the +matter, has been such as to awake and claim my gratitude--especially +since it has afforded a source of reviving pleasure to my father in +his old age. The very curates, poor fellows! show no resentment each +characteristically finds solace for his own wounds in crowing over his +brethren. Mr. Donne was at first a little disturbed; for a week or two +he was in disquietude, but he is now soothed down; only yesterday I had +the pleasure of making him a comfortable cup of tea, and seeing him +sip it with revived complacency. It is a curious fact that, since he +read 'Shirley,' he has come to the house oftener than ever, and been +remarkably meek and assiduous to please. Some people's natures are +veritable enigmas I quite expected to have had one good scene at least +with him; but as yet nothing of the sort has occurred." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +During the earlier months of this spring, Haworth was extremely +unhealthy. The weather was damp, low fever was prevalent, and the +household at the Parsonage suffered along with its neighbours. Charlotte +says, "I have felt it (the fever) in frequent thirst and infrequent +appetite; Papa too, and even Martha, have complained." This depression +of health produced depression of spirits, and she grew more and more +to dread the proposed journey to London with Sir James and Lady Kay +Shuttleworth. "I know what the effect and what the pain will be, how +wretched I shall often feel, and how thin and haggard I shall get; but +he who shuns suffering will never win victory. If I mean to improve, I +must strive and endure. . . . Sir James has been a physician, and looks +at me with a physician's eye: he saw at once that I could not stand much +fatigue, nor bear the presence of many strangers. I believe he would +partly understand how soon my stock of animal spirits was brought to a +low ebb; but none--not the most skilful physician--can get at more than +the outside of these things: the heart knows its own bitterness, and the +frame its own poverty, and the mind its own struggles. Papa is eager and +restless for me to go; the idea of a refusal quite hurts him." + +But the sensations of illness in the family increased; the symptoms were +probably aggravated, if not caused, by the immediate vicinity of the +church-yard, "paved with rain-blackened tomb-stones." On April 29th she +writes:-- + +"We have had but a poor week of it at Haworth. Papa continues far +from well; he is often very sickly in the morning, a symptom which I +have remarked before in his aggravated attacks of bronchitis; unless +he should get much better, I shall never think of leaving him to go +to London. Martha has suffered from tic-douloureux, with sickness and +fever, just like you. I have a bad cold, and a stubborn sore throat; in +short, everybody but old Tabby is out of sorts. When ---- was here, he +complained of a sudden headache, and the night after he was gone I had +something similar, very bad, lasting about three hours." + +A fortnight later she writes:-- + +"I did not think Papa well enough to be left, and accordingly begged +Sir James and Lady Kay Shuttleworth to return to London without me. +It was arranged that we were to stay at several of their friends' and +relatives' houses on the way; a week or more would have been taken +up on the journey. I cannot say that I regret having missed this +ordeal; I would as lief have walked among red-hot plough-shares; but +I do regret one great treat, which I shall now miss. Next Wednesday +is the anniversary dinner of the Royal Literary Fund Society, held in +Freemasons' Hall. Octavian Blewitt, the secretary, offered me a ticket +for the ladies' gallery. I should have seen all the great literati and +artists gathered in the hall below, and heard them speak; Thackeray and +Dickens are always present among the rest. This cannot now be. I don't +think all London can afford another sight to me so interesting." + +It became requisite, however, before long, that she should go to London +on business; and as Sir James Kay Shuttleworth was detained in the +country by indisposition, she accepted Mrs. Smith's invitation to stay +quietly at her house, while she transacted her affairs. + +In the interval between the relinquishment of the first plan and the +adoption of the second, she wrote the following letter to one who was +much valued among her literary friends:-- + +"May 22nd. + +"I had thought to bring the Leader and the Athenaeum myself this time, +and not to have to send them by post, but it turns out otherwise; my +journey to London is again postponed, and this time indefinitely. Sir +James Kay Shuttleworth's state of health is the cause--a cause, I fear, +not likely to be soon removed. . . . Once more, then, I settle myself +down in the quietude of Haworth Parsonage, with books for my household +companions, and an occasional letter for a visitor; a mute society, but +neither quarrelsome, nor vulgarising, nor unimproving. + +"One of the pleasures I had promised myself consisted in asking you +several questions about the Leader, which is really, in its way, an +interesting paper. I wanted, amongst other things, to ask you the +real names of some of the contributors, and also what Lewes writes +besides his Apprenticeship of Life. I always think the article headed +'Literature' is his. Some of the communications in the 'Open Council' +department are odd productions; but it seems to me very fair and right +to admit them. Is not the system of the paper altogether a novel one? I +do not remember seeing anything precisely like it before. + +"I have just received yours of this morning; thank you for the enclosed +note. The longings for liberty and leisure which May sunshine wakens +in you, stir my sympathy. I am afraid Cornhill is little better than a +prison for its inmates on warm spring or summer days. It is a pity to +think of you all toiling at your desks in such genial weather as this. +For my part, I am free to walk on the moors; but when I go out there +alone, everything reminds me of the times when others were with me, and +then the moors seem a wilderness, featureless, solitary, saddening. +My sister Emily had a particular love for them, and there is not a +knoll of heather, not a branch of fern, not a young bilberry leaf, +not a fluttering lark or linnet, but reminds me of her. The distant +prospects were Anne's delight, and when I look round, she is in the blue +tints, the pale mists, the waves and shadows of the horizon. In the +hill-country silence, their poetry comes by lines and stanzas into my +mind: once I loved it; now I dare not read it, and am driven often to +wish I could taste one draught of oblivion, and forget much that, while +mind remains, I never shall forget. Many people seem to recall their +departed relatives with a sort of melancholy complacency, but I think +these have not watched them through lingering sickness, nor witnessed +their last moments: it is these reminiscences that stand by your bedside +at night, and rise at your pillow in the morning. At the end of all, +however, exists the Great Hope. Eternal Life is theirs now." + +She had to write many letters, about this time, to authors who sent her +their books, and strangers who expressed their admiration of her own. +The following was in reply to one of the latter class, and was addressed +to a young man at Cambridge:-- + +"May 23rd, 1850. + +"Apologies are indeed unnecessary for a 'reality of feeling, for a +genuine unaffected impulse of the spirit,' such as prompted you to write +the letter which I now briefly acknowledge. + +"Certainly it is 'something to me' that what I write should be +acceptable to the feeling heart and refined intellect; undoubtedly it is +much to me that my creations (such as they are) should find harbourage, +appreciation, indulgence, at any friendly hand, or from any generous +mind. You are very welcome to take Jane, Caroline, and Shirley for your +sisters, and I trust they will often speak to their adopted brother +when he is solitary, and soothe him when he is sad. If they cannot +make themselves at home in a thoughtful, sympathetic mind, and diffuse +through its twilight a cheering, domestic glow, it is their fault; +they are not, in that case, so amiable, so benignant, not so real as +they ought to be. If they CAN, and can find household altars in human +hearts, they will fulfil the best design of their creation, in therein +maintaining a genial flame, which shall warm but not scorch, light but +not dazzle. + +"What does it matter that part of your pleasure in such beings has its +source in the poetry of your own youth rather than in any magic of +theirs? What, that perhaps, ten years hence, you may smile to remember +your present recollections, and view under another light both 'Currer +Bell' and his writings? To me this consideration does not detract from +the value of what you now feel. Youth has its romance, and maturity its +wisdom, as morning and spring have their freshness, noon and summer +their power, night and winter their repose. Each attribute is good in +its own season. Your letter gave me pleasure, and I thank you for it. + +"CURRER BELL." + +Miss Brontë went up to town at the beginning of June, and much enjoyed +her stay there; seeing very few persons, according to the agreement she +made before she went; and limiting her visit to a fortnight, dreading +the feverishness and exhaustion which were the inevitable consequences +of the slightest excitement upon her susceptible frame. + +"June 12th. + +"Since I wrote to you last, I have not had many moments to myself, +except such as it was absolutely necessary to give to rest. On the +whole, however, I have thus far got on very well, suffering much less +from exhaustion than I did last time. + +"Of course I cannot give you in a letter a regular chronicle of how my +time has been spent. I can only--just notify. what I deem three of its +chief incidents: a sight of the Duke of Wellington at the Chapel Royal +(he is a real grand old man), a visit to the House of Commons (which I +hope to describe to you some day when I see you), and last, not least, +an interview with Mr. Thackeray. He made a morning call, and sat above +two hours. Mr. Smith only was in the room the whole time. He described +it afterwards as a 'queer scene,' and--I suppose it was. The giant sate +before me; I was moved to speak to him of some of his short-comings +(literary of course); one by one the faults came into my head, and one +by one I brought them out, and sought some explanation or defence. He +did defend himself, like a great Turk and heathen; that is to say, the +excuses were often worse than the crime itself. The matter ended in +decent amity; if all be well, I am to dine at his house this evening. + +"I have seen Lewes too. . . . I could not feel otherwise to him than +half-sadly, half-tenderly,--a queer word that last, but I use it +because the aspect of Lewes's face almost moves me to tears; it is +so wonderfully like Emily,--her eyes, her features, the very nose, +the somewhat prominent mouth, the forehead, even, at moments, the +expression: whatever Lewes says, I believe I cannot hate him. Another +likeness I have seen, too, that touched me sorrowfully. You remember +my speaking of a Miss K., a young authoress, who supported her mother +by writing? Hearing that she had a longing to see me, I called on her +yesterday. . . . She met me half-frankly, half-tremblingly; we sate +down together, and when I had talked with her five minutes, her face +was no longer strange, but mournfully familiar;--it was Martha in every +lineament. I shall try to find a moment to see her again. . . . I do not +intend to stay here, at the furthest, more than a week longer; but at +the end of that time I cannot go home, for the house at Haworth is just +now unroofed; repairs were become necessary." + +She soon followed her letter to the friend to whom it was written; but +her visit was a very short one, for, in accordance with a plan made +before leaving London, she went on to Edinburgh to join the friends +with whom she had been staying in town. She remained only a few days in +Scotland, and those were principally spent in Edinburgh, with which she +was delighted, calling London a "dreary place" in comparison. + +"My stay in Scotland" (she wrote some weeks later) "was short, and +what I saw was chiefly comprised in Edinburgh and the neighbourhood, +in Abbotsford and in Melrose, for I was obliged to relinquish my first +intention of going from Glasgow to Oban, and thence through a portion +of the Highlands; but though the time was brief, and the view of +objects limited, I found such a charm of situation, association, and +circumstance, that I think the enjoyment experienced in that little +space equalled in degree, and excelled in kind, all which London yielded +during a month's sojourn. Edinburgh, compared to London, is like a vivid +page of history compared to a large dull treatise on political economy; +and as to Melrose and Abbotsford, the very names possess music and +magic." + +And again, in a letter to a different correspondent, she says:-- + +"I would not write to you immediately on my arrival at home, because +each return to this old house brings with it a phase of feeling which it +is better to pass through quietly before beginning to indite letters. +The six weeks of change and enjoyment are past, but they are not lost; +memory took a sketch of each as it went by, and, especially, a distinct +daguerreotype of the two days I spent in Scotland. Those were two +very pleasant days. I always liked Scotland as an idea, but now, as a +reality, I like it far better; it furnished me with some hours as happy +almost as any I ever spent. Do not fear, however, that I am going to +bore you with description; you will, before now, have received a pithy +and pleasant report of all things, to which any addition of mine would +be superfluous. My present endeavours are directed towards recalling my +thoughts, cropping their wings, drilling them into correct discipline, +and forcing them to settle to some useful work: they are idle, and +keep taking the train down to London, or making a foray over the +Border--especially are they prone to perpetrate that last excursion; and +who, indeed, that has once seen Edinburgh, with its couchant crag-lion, +but must see it again in dreams, waking or sleeping? My dear sir, I +do not think I blaspheme, when I tell you that your great London, as +compared to Dun-Edin, 'mine own romantic town,' is as prose compared +to poetry, or as a great rumbling, rambling, heavy epic compared to a +lyric, brief, bright, clear and vital as a flash of lightning. You have +nothing like Scott's monument, or, if you had that, and all the glories +of architecture assembled together, you have nothing like Arthur's Seat, +and, above all, you have not the Scotch national character; and it is +that grand character after all which gives the land its true charm, its +true greatness. + +On her return from Scotland, she again spent a few days with her +friends, and then made her way to Haworth. + +"July 15th. + +I got home very well, and full glad was I that no insuperable obstacle +had deferred my return one single day longer. Just at the foot of +Bridgehouse hill, I met John, staff in hand; he fortunately saw me in +the cab, stopped, and informed me he was setting off to B----, by Mr. +Brontë's orders, to see how I was, for that he had been quite miserable +ever since he got Miss ----'s letter. I found, on my arrival, that Papa +had worked himself up to a sad pitch of nervous excitement and alarm, +in which Martha and Tabby were but too obviously joining him. . . . The +house looks very clean, and, I think, is not damp; there is, however, +still a great deal to do in the way of settling and arranging,--enough +to keep me disagreeably busy for some time to come. I was truly thankful +to find Papa pretty well, but I fear he is just beginning to show +symptoms of a cold: my cold continues better. . . . An article in a +newspaper I found awaiting me on my arrival, amused me; it was a paper +published while I was in London. I enclose it to give you a laugh; it +professes to be written by an Author jealous of Authoresses. I do not +know who he is, but he must be one of those I met. . . . The 'ugly men,' +giving themselves 'Rochester airs,' is no bad hit; some of those alluded +to will not like it." + +While Miss Brontë was staying in London, she was induced to sit for +her portrait to Richmond. It is a crayon drawing; in my judgment an +admirable likeness, though of course there is some difference of opinion +on the subject; and, as usual, those best acquainted with the original +were least satisfied with the resemblance. Mr. Brontë thought that it +looked older than Charlotte did, and that her features had not been +flattered; but he acknowledged that the expression was wonderfully good +and life-like. She sent the following amusing account of the arrival of +the portrait to the donor:-- + +"Aug. 1st. + +"The little box for me came at the same time as the large one for Papa. +When you first told me that you had had the Duke's picture framed, and +had given it to me, I felt half provoked with you for performing such +a work of supererogation, but now, when I see it again, I cannot but +acknowledge that, in so doing, you were felicitously inspired. It is +his very image, and, as Papa said when he saw it, scarcely in the least +like the ordinary portraits; not only the expression, but even the form +of the head is different, and of a far nobler character. I esteem it a +treasure. The lady who left the parcel for me was, it seems, Mrs. Gore. +The parcel contained one of her works, 'The Hamiltons,' and a very civil +and friendly note, in which I find myself addressed as 'Dear Jane.' Papa +seems much pleased with the portrait, as do the few other persons who +have seen it, with one notable exception; viz., our old servant, who +tenaciously maintains that it is not like--that it is too old-looking; +but as she, with equal tenacity, asserts that the Duke of Wellington's +picture is a portrait of 'the Master' (meaning Papa), I am afraid not +much weight is to be ascribed to her opinion: doubtless she confuses +her recollections of me as I was in childhood with present impressions. +Requesting always to be very kindly remembered to your mother and +sisters, I am, yours very thanklessly (according to desire), + +"C. BRONTË." + +It may easily be conceived that two people living together as Mr. +Brontë and his daughter did, almost entirely dependent on each +other for society, and loving each other deeply (although not +demonstratively)--that these two last members of a family would have +their moments of keen anxiety respecting each other's health. There +is not one letter of hers which I have read, that does not contain +some mention of her father's state in this respect. Either she thanks +God with simple earnestness that he is well, or some infirmities of +age beset him, and she mentions the fact, and then winces away from +it, as from a sore that will not bear to be touched. He, in his turn, +noted every indisposition of his one remaining child's, exaggerated +its nature, and sometimes worked himself up into a miserable state of +anxiety, as in the case she refers to, when, her friend having named +in a letter to him that his daughter was suffering from a bad cold, he +could not rest till he despatched a messenger, to go, "staff in hand" a +distance of fourteen miles, and see with his own eyes what was her real +state, and return and report. + +She evidently felt that this natural anxiety on the part of her father +and friend increased the nervous depression of her own spirits, whenever +she was ill; and in the following letter she expresses her strong +wish that the subject of her health should be as little alluded to as +possible. + +"Aug. 7th. + +"I am truly sorry that I allowed the words to which you refer to escape +my lips, since their effect on you has been unpleasant; but try to +chase every shadow of anxiety from your mind, and, unless the restraint +be very disagreeable to you, permit me to add an earnest request that +you will broach the subject to me no more. It is the undisguised and +most harassing anxiety of others that has fixed in my mind thoughts and +expectations which must canker wherever they take root; against which +every effort of religion or philosophy must at times totally fail; and +subjugation to which is a cruel terrible fate--the fate, indeed, of him +whose life was passed under a sword suspended by a horse-hair. I have +had to entreat Papa's consideration on this point. My nervous system +is soon wrought on. I should wish to keep it in rational strength and +coolness; but to do so I must determinedly resist the kindly-meant, but +too irksome expression of an apprehension, for the realisation or defeat +of which I have no possible power to be responsible. At present, I am +pretty well. Thank God! Papa, I trust, is no worse, but he complains of +weakness." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Her father was always anxious to procure every change that was +possible for her, seeing, as he did, the benefit which she derived +from it, however reluctant she might have been to leave her home and +him beforehand. This August she was invited to go for a week to the +neighbourhood of Bowness, where Sir James Kay Shuttleworth had taken a +house; but she says, "I consented to go, with reluctance, chiefly to +please Papa, whom a refusal on my part would much have annoyed; but I +dislike to leave him. I trust he is not worse, but his complaint is +still weakness. It is not right to anticipate evil, and to be always +looking forward with an apprehensive spirit; but I think grief is a +two-edged sword, it cuts both ways; the memory of one loss is the +anticipation of another." + +It was during this visit at the Briery--Lady Kay Shuttleworth having +kindly invited me to meet her there--that I first made acquaintance with +Miss Brontë. If I copy out part of a letter, which I wrote soon after +this to a friend, who was deeply interested in her writings, I shall +probably convey my first impressions more truly and freshly than by +amplifying what I then said into a longer description. + +"Dark when I got to Windermere station; a drive along the level road +to Low-wood; then a stoppage at a pretty house, and then a pretty +drawing-room, in which were Sir James and Lady Kay Shuttleworth, and +a little lady in a black-silk gown, whom I could not see at first for +the dazzle in the room; she came up and shook hands with me at once. I +went up to unbonnet, etc.; came down to tea; the little lady worked away +and hardly spoke but I had time for a good look at her. She is (as she +calls herself) UNDEVELOPED, thin, and more than half a head shorter than +I am; soft brown hair, not very dark; eyes (very good and expressive, +looking straight and open at you) of the same colour as her hair; a +large mouth; the forehead square, broad and rather over-hanging. She has +a very sweet voice; rather hesitates in choosing her expressions, but +when chosen they seem without an effort admirable, and just befitting +the occasion; there is nothing overstrained, but perfectly simple. . . . +After breakfast, we four went out on the lake, and Miss Brontë agreed +with me in liking Mr. Newman's Soul, and in liking Modern Painters, +and the idea of the Seven Lamps; and she told me about Father Newman's +lectures at the Oratory in a very quiet, concise, graphic way. . . . +She is more like Miss ---- than any one in her ways--if you can fancy +Miss ---- to have gone through suffering enough to have taken out every +spark of merriment, and to be shy and silent from the habit of extreme, +intense solitude. Such a life as Miss Brontë's I never heard of before. +---- described her home to me as in a village of grey stone houses, +perched up on the north side of a bleak moor, looking over sweeps of +bleak moors, etc., etc. + +"We were only three days together; the greater part of which was +spent in driving about, in order to show Miss Brontë the Westmoreland +scenery, as she had never been there before. We were both included in an +invitation to drink tea quietly at Fox How; and I then saw how severely +her nerves were taxed by the effort of going amongst strangers. We knew +beforehand that the number of the party would not exceed twelve; but she +suffered the whole day from an acute headache brought on by apprehension +of the evening. + +"Brierly Close was situated high above Low-wood, and of course commanded +an extensive view and wide horizon. I was struck by Miss Brontë's +careful examination of the shape of the clouds and the signs of the +heavens, in which she read, as from a book, what the coming weather +would be. I told her that I saw she must have a view equal in extent +at her own home. She said that I was right, but that the character of +the prospect from Haworth was very different; that I had no idea what a +companion the sky became to any one living in solitude,--more than any +inanimate object on earth,--more than the moors themselves." + +The following extracts convey some of her own impressions and feelings +respecting this visit:-- + +"You said I should stay longer than a week in Westmoreland; you ought +by this time to know me better. Is it my habit to keep dawdling at a +place long after the time I first fixed on for departing? I have got +home, and I am thankful to say Papa seems,--to say the least,--no worse +than when I left him, yet I wish he were stronger. My visit passed off +very well; I am glad I went. The scenery is, of course, grand; could I +have wandered about amongst those hills ALONE, I could have drank in +all their beauty; even in a carriage with company, it was very well. +Sir James was all the while as kind and friendly as he could be: he is +in much better health. . . . Miss Martineau was from home; she always +leaves her house at Ambleside during the Lake season, to avoid the +influx of visitors to which she would otherwise be subject. + +"If I could only have dropped unseen out of the carriage, and gone away +by myself in amongst those grand hills and sweet dales, I should have +drank in the full power of this glorious scenery. In company this can +hardly be. Sometimes, while ---- was warning me against the faults of +the artist-class, all the while vagrant artist instincts were busy in +the mind of his listener. + +"I forget to tell you that, about a week before I went to Westmoreland, +there came an invitation to Harden Grange; which, of course, I declined. +Two or three days after, a large party made their appearance here, +consisting of Mrs. F---- and sundry other ladies and two gentlemen; one +tall and stately, black haired and whiskered, who turned out to be Lord +John Manners,--the other not so distinguished-looking, shy, and a little +queer, who was Mr. Smythe, the son of Lord Strangford. I found Mrs. F. +a true lady in manners and appearance, very gentle and unassuming. Lord +John Manners brought in his hand a brace of grouse for Papa, which was a +well-timed present: a day or two before Papa had been wishing for some." + +To these extracts I must add one other from a letter referring to this +time. It is addressed to Miss Wooler, the kind friend of both her +girlhood and womanhood, who had invited her to spend a fortnight with +her at her cottage lodgings. + +"Haworth, Sept. 27th, 1850. + +"When I tell you that I have already been to the Lakes this season, +and that it is scarcely more than a month since I returned, you will +understand that it is no longer within my option to accept your kind +invitation. I wish I could have gone to you. I have already had my +excursion, and there is an end of it. Sir James Kay Shuttleworth is +residing near Windermere, at a house called the 'Briery,' and it was +there I was staying for a little time this August. He very kindly showed +me the neighbourhood, as it can be seen from a carriage, and I discerned +that the Lake country is a glorious region, of which I had only seen the +similitude in dreams, waking or sleeping. Decidedly I find it does not +agree with me to prosecute the search of the picturesque in a carriage. +A waggon, a spring-cart, even a post-chaise might do; but the carriage +upsets everything. I longed to slip out unseen, and to run away by +myself in amongst the hills and dales. Erratic and vagrant instincts +tormented me, and these I was obliged to control or rather suppress for +fear of growing in any degree enthusiastic, and thus drawing attention +to the 'lioness'--the authoress. + +"You say that you suspect I have formed a large circle of acquaintance +by this time. No: I cannot say that I have. I doubt whether I possess +either the wish or the power to do so. A few friends I should like +to have, and these few I should like to know well; If such knowledge +brought proportionate regard, I could not help concentrating my +feelings; dissipation, I think, appears synonymous with dilution. +However, I have, as yet, scarcely been tried. During the month I spent +in London in the spring, I kept very quiet, having the fear of lionising +before my eyes. I only went out once to dinner; and once was present at +an evening party; and the only visits I have paid have been to Sir James +Kay Shuttleworth's and my publisher's. From this system I should not +like to depart; as far as I can see, Indiscriminate visiting tends only +to a waste of time and a vulgarising of character. Besides, it would +be wrong to leave Papa often; he is now in his seventy-fifth year, the +infirmities of age begin to creep upon him; during the summer he has +been much harassed by chronic bronchitis, but I am thankful to say that +he is now somewhat better. I think my own health has derived benefit +from change and exercise. + +"Somebody in D---- professes to have authority for saying, that 'when +Miss Brontë was in London she neglected to attend Divine service on +the Sabbath, and in the week spent her time in going about to balls, +theatres, and operas.' On the other hand, the London quidnuncs make my +seclusion a matter of wonder, and devise twenty romantic fictions to +account for it. Formerly I used to listen to report with interest, and a +certain credulity; but I am now grown deaf and sceptical: experience has +taught me how absolutely devoid of foundation her stories may be." + +I must now quote from the first letter I had the privilege of receiving +from Miss Brontë. It is dated August the 27th. + +"Papa and I have just had tea; he is sitting quietly in his room, and I +in mine; 'storms of rain' are sweeping over the garden and churchyard: +as to the moors, they are hidden in thick fog. Though alone, I am not +unhappy; I have a thousand things to be thankful for, and, amongst the +rest, that this morning I received a letter from you, and that this +evening I have the privilege of answering it. + +"I do not know the 'Life of Sydney Taylor;' whenever I have the +opportunity I will get it. The little French book you mention shall also +take its place on the list of books to be procured as soon as possible. +It treats a subject interesting to all women--perhaps, more especially +to single women; though, indeed, mothers, like you, study it for the +sake of their daughters. The Westminster Review is not a periodical I +see regularly, but some time since I got hold of a number--for last +January, I think--in which there was an article entitled 'Woman's +Mission' (the phrase is hackneyed), containing a great deal that seemed +to me just and sensible. Men begin to regard the position of woman in +another light than they used to do; and a few men, whose sympathies +are fine and whose sense of justice is strong, think and speak of it +with a candour that commands my admiration. They say, however--and, +to an extent, truly--that the amelioration of our condition depends +on ourselves. Certainly there are evils which our own efforts will +best reach; but as certainly there are other evils--deep-rooted in the +foundation of the social system--which no efforts of ours can touch: +of which we cannot complain; of which it is advisable not too often to +think. + +"I have read Tennyson's 'In Memoriam,' or rather part of it; I closed +the book when I had got about half way. It is beautiful; it is mournful; +it is monotonous. Many of the feelings expressed bear, in their +utterance, the stamp of truth; yet, if Arthur Hallam had been somewhat +nearer Alfred Tennyson, his brother instead of his friend,--I should +have distrusted this rhymed, and measured, and printed monument of +grief. What change the lapse of years may work I do not know; but it +seems to me that bitter sorrow, while recent, does not flow out in verse. + +"I promised to send you Wordsworth's 'Prelude,' and, accordingly, +despatch it by this post; the other little volume shall follow in a +day or two. I shall be glad to hear from you whenever you have time to +write to me, but you are never, on any account, to do this except when +inclination prompts and leisure permits. I should never thank you for a +letter which you had felt it a task to write." + +A short time after we had met at the Briery, she sent me the volume of +Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell's poems; and thus alludes to them in the +note that accompanied the parcel:-- + +"The little book of rhymes was sent by way of fulfilling a rashly-made +promise; and the promise was made to prevent you from throwing away four +shillings in an injudicious purchase. I do not like my own share of the +work, nor care that it should be read: Ellis Bell's I think good and +vigorous, and Acton's have the merit of truth and simplicity. Mine are +chiefly juvenile productions; the restless effervescence of a mind that +would not be still. In those days, the sea too often 'wrought and was +tempestuous,' and weed, sand, shingle--all turned up in the tumult. This +image is much too magniloquent for the subject, but you will pardon it." + +Another letter of some interest was addressed, about this time, to a +literary friend, on Sept. 5th:-- + +"The reappearance of the Athenaeum is very acceptable, not merely +for its own sake,--though I esteem the opportunity of its perusal +a privilege,--but because, as a weekly token of the remembrance of +friends, it cheers and gives pleasure. I only fear that its regular +transmission may become a task to you; in this case, discontinue it at +once. + +"I did indeed enjoy my trip to Scotland, and yet I saw little of the +face of the country; nothing of its grandeur or finer scenic features; +but Edinburgh, Melrose, Abbotsford--these three in themselves sufficed +to stir feelings of such deep interest and admiration, that neither at +the time did I regret, nor have I since regretted, the want of wider +space over which to diffuse the sense of enjoyment. There was room and +variety enough to be very happy, and 'enough,' the proverb says, 'is +as good as a feast.' The queen, indeed, was right to climb Arthur's +Seat with her husband and children. I shall not soon forget how I felt +when, having reached its summit, we all sat down and looked over the +city--towards the sea and Leith, and the Pentland Hills. No doubt you +are proud of being a native of Scotland,--proud of your country, her +capital, her children, and her literature. You cannot be blamed. + +"The article in the Palladium is one of those notices over which an +author rejoices trembling. He rejoices to find his work finely, fully, +fervently appreciated, and trembles under the responsibility such +appreciation seems to devolve upon him. I am counselled to wait and +watch--D. V. I will do so; yet it is harder to wait with the hands +bound, and the observant and reflective faculties at their silent and +unseen work, than to labour mechanically. + +"I need not say how I felt the remarks on 'Wuthering Heights;' they +woke the saddest yet most grateful feelings; they are true, they +are discriminating, they are full of late justice, but it is very +late--alas! in one sense, TOO late. Of this, however, and of the pang +of regret for a light prematurely extinguished, it is not wise to speak +much. Whoever the author of this article may be, I remain his debtor. + +"Yet, you see, even here, Shirley is disparaged in comparison with "Jane +Eyre"; and yet I took great pains with Shirley. I did not hurry; I tried +to do my best, and my own impression was that it was not inferior to +the former work; indeed, I had bestowed on it more time, thought, and +anxiety: but great part of it was written under the shadow of impending +calamity; and the last volume, I cannot deny, was composed in the eager, +restless endeavour to combat mental sufferings that were scarcely +tolerable. + +"You sent the tragedy of 'Galileo Galilei,' by Samuel Brown, in one +of the Cornhill parcels; it contained, I remember, passages of very +great beauty. Whenever you send any more books (but that must not be +till I return what I now have) I should be glad if you would include +amongst them the 'Life of Dr. Arnold.' Do you know also the 'Life of +Sydney Taylor?' I am not familiar even with the name, but it has been +recommended to me as a work meriting perusal. Of course, when I name any +book, it is always understood that it should be quite convenient to send +it." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +It was thought desirable about this time, to republish "Wuthering +Heights" and "Agnes Grey", the works of the two sisters, and Charlotte +undertook the task of editing them. + +She wrote to Mr. Williams, September 29th, 1850, "It is my intention +to write a few lines of remark on 'Wuthering Heights,' which, however, +I propose to place apart as a brief preface before the tale. I am +likewise compelling myself to read it over, for the first time of +opening the book since my sister's death. Its power fills me with +renewed admiration; but yet I am oppressed: the reader is scarcely +ever permitted a taste of unalloyed pleasure; every beam of sunshine +is poured down through black bars of threatening cloud; every page +is surcharged with a sort of moral electricity; and the writer was +unconscious of all this--nothing could make her conscious of it. + +"And this makes me reflect,--perhaps I am too incapable of perceiving +the faults and peculiarities of my own style. + +"I should wish to revise the proofs, if it be not too great an +inconvenience to send them. It seems to me advisable to modify the +orthography of the old servant Joseph's speeches; for though, as it +stands, it exactly renders the Yorkshire dialect to a Yorkshire ear, +yet, I am sure Southerns must find it unintelligible; and thus one of +the most graphic characters in the book is lost on them. + +"I grieve to say that I possess no portrait of either of my sisters." + + +To her own dear friend, as to one who had known and loved her sisters, +she writes still more fully respecting the painfulness of her task. + + +"There is nothing wrong, and I am writing you a line as you desire, +merely to say that I AM busy just now. Mr. Smith wishes to reprint some +of Emily's and Annie's works, with a few little additions from the +papers they have left; and I have been closely engaged in revising, +transcribing, preparing a preface, notice, etc. As the time for doing +this is limited, I am obliged to be industrious. I found the task at +first exquisitely painful and depressing; but regarding it in the light +of a SACRED DUTY, I went on, and now can bear it better. It is work, +however, that I cannot do in the evening, for if I did, I should have no +sleep at night. Papa, I am thankful to say, is in improved health, and +so, I think, am I; I trust you are the same. + +"I have just received a kind letter from Miss Martineau. She has got +back to Ambleside, and had heard of my visit to the Lakes. She expressed +her regret, etc., at not being at home. + +"I am both angry and surprised at myself for not being in better +spirits; for not growing accustomed, or at least resigned, to the +solitude and isolation of my lot. But my late occupation left a +result for some days, and indeed still, very painful. The reading +over of papers, the renewal of remembrances brought back the pang +of bereavement, and occasioned a depression of spirits well nigh +intolerable. For one or two nights, I scarcely knew how to get on till +morning; and when morning came, I was still haunted with a sense of +sickening distress. I tell you these things, because it is absolutely +necessary to me to have some relief. You will forgive me, and not +trouble yourself, or imagine that I am one whit worse than I say. It is +quite a mental ailment, and I believe and hope is better now. I think +so, because I can speak about it, which I never can when grief is at its +worst. + +"I thought to find occupation and interest in writing, when alone at +home, but hitherto my efforts have been vain; the deficiency of every +stimulus is so complete. You will recommend me, I dare say, to go from +home; but that does no good, even could I again leave Papa with an easy +mind (thank God! he is better). I cannot describe what a time of it I +had after my return from London, Scotland, etc. There was a reaction +that sunk me to the earth; the deadly silence, solitude, desolation, +were awful; the craving for companionship, the hopelessness of relief, +were what I should dread to feel again. + +"Dear ----, when I think of you, it is with a compassion and tenderness +that scarcely cheer me. Mentally, I fear, you also are too lonely and +too little occupied. It seems our doom, for the present at least. May +God in His mercy help us to bear it!" + + +During her last visit to London, as mentioned in one of her letters, +she had made the acquaintance of her correspondent, Mr. Lewes. That +gentleman says:-- + +"Some months after" (the appearance of the review of "Shirley" in the +Edinburgh), "Currer Bell came to London, and I was invited to meet her +at your house. You may remember, she asked you not to point me out to +her, but allow her to discover me if she could. She DID recognise me +almost as soon as I came into the room. You tried me in the same way; +I was less sagacious. However, I sat by her side a great part of the +evening and was greatly interested by her conversation. On parting we +shook hands, and she said, 'We are friends now, are we not?' 'Were we +not always, then?' I asked. 'No! not always,' she said, significantly; +and that was the only allusion she made to the offending article. I lent +her some of Balzac's and George Sand's novels to take with her into the +country; and the following letter was written when they were returned:"-- + +"I am sure you will have thought me very dilatory in returning the books +you so kindly lent me. The fact is, having some other books to send, I +retained yours to enclose them in the same parcel. + +"Accept my thanks for some hours of pleasant reading. Balzac was for me +quite a new author; and in making big acquaintance, through the medium +of 'Modeste Mignon,' and 'Illusions perdues,' you cannot doubt I have +felt some interest. At first, I thought he was going to be painfully +minute, and fearfully tedious; one grew impatient of his long parade +of detail, his slow revelation of unimportant circumstances, as he +assembled his personages on the stage; but by and bye I seemed to enter +into the mystery of his craft, and to discover, with delight, where +his force lay: is it not in the analysis of motive; and in a subtle +perception of the most obscure and secret workings of the mind? Still, +admire Balzac as we may, I think we do not like him; we rather feel +towards him as towards an ungenial acquaintance who is for ever holding +up in strong light our defects, and who rarely draws forth our better +qualities. + +"Truly, I like George Sand better. + +"Fantastic, fanatical, unpractical enthusiast as she often is--far from +truthful as are many of her views of life--misled, as she is apt to be, +by her feelings--George Sand has a better nature than M. de Balzac; her +brain is larger, her heart warmer than his. The 'Lettres d'un Voyageur' +are full of the writer's self; and I never felt so strongly, as in the +perusal of this work, that most of her very faults spring from the +excess of her good qualities: it is this excess which has often hurried +her into difficulty, which has prepared for her enduring regret. + +"But I believe her mind is of that order which disastrous experience +teaches, without weakening or too much disheartening; and, in that case, +the longer she lives the better she will grow. A hopeful point in all +her writings is the scarcity of false French sentiment; I wish I could +say its absence; but the weed flourishes here and there, even in the +'Lettres.'" + +I remember the good expression of disgust which Miss Brontë made use of +in speaking to me of some of Balzac's novels: "They leave such a bad +taste in my mouth." + +The reader will notice that most of the letters from which I now quote +are devoted to critical and literary subjects. These were, indeed, her +principal interests at this time; the revision of her sister's works, +and writing a short memoir of them, was the painful employment of every +day during the dreary autumn of 1850. Wearied out by the vividness +of her sorrowful recollections, she sought relief in long walks on +the moors. A friend of hers, who wrote to me on the appearance of the +eloquent article in the Daily News upon the "Death of Currer Bell," +gives an anecdote which may well come in here. + +"They are mistaken in saying she was too weak to roam the hills for +the benefit of the air. I do not think any one, certainly not any +woman, in this locality, went so much on the moors as she did, when the +weather permitted. Indeed, she was so much in the habit of doing so, +that people, who live quite away on the edge of the common, knew her +perfectly well. I remember on one occasion an old woman saw her at a +little distance, and she called out, 'How! Miss Brontë! Hey yah (have +you) seen ought o' my cofe (calf)?' Miss Brontë told her she could not +say, for she did not know it. 'Well!' she said, 'Yah know, it's getting +up like nah (now), between a cah (cow) and a cofe--what we call a stirk, +yah know, Miss Brontë; will yah turn it this way if yah happen to see't, +as yah're going back, Miss Brontë; nah DO, Miss Brontë.'" + + +It must have been about this time that a visit was paid to her by +some neighbours, who were introduced to her by a mutual friend. This +visit has been described in a letter from which I am permitted to +give extracts, which will show the impression made upon strangers by +the character of the country round her home, and other circumstances. +"Though the weather was drizzly, we resolved to make our long-planned +excursion to Haworth; so we packed ourselves into the buffalo-skin, +and that into the gig, and set off about eleven. The rain ceased, and +the day was just suited to the scenery,--wild and chill,--with great +masses of cloud glooming over the moors, and here and there a ray of +sunshine covertly stealing through, and resting with a dim magical +light upon some high bleak village; or darting down into some deep +glen, lighting up the tall chimney, or glistening on the windows and +wet roof of the mill which lies couching in the bottom. The country got +wilder and wilder as we approached Haworth; for the last four miles we +were ascending a huge moor, at the very top of which lies the dreary +black-looking village of Haworth. The village-street itself is one of +the steepest hills I have ever seen, and the stones are so horribly +jolting that I should have got out and walked with W----, if possible, +but, having once begun the ascent, to stop was out of the question. +At the top was the inn where we put up, close by the church; and the +clergyman's house, we were told, was at the top of the churchyard. So +through that we went,--a dreary, dreary place, literally PAVED with +rain-blackened tombstones, and all on the slope, for at Haworth there +is on the highest height a higher still, and Mr. Brontë's house stands +considerably above the church. There was the house before us, a small +oblong stone house, with not a tree to screen it from the cutting wind; +but how were we to get at it from the churchyard we could not see! +There was an old man in the churchyard, brooding like a Ghoul over the +graves, with a sort of grim hilarity on his face. I thought he looked +hardly human; however, he was human enough to tell us the way; and +presently we found ourselves in the little bare parlour. Presently the +door opened, and in came a superannuated mastiff, followed by an old +gentleman very like Miss Brontë, who shook hands with us, and then went +to call his daughter. A long interval, during which we coaxed the old +dog, and looked at a picture of Miss Brontë, by Richmond, the solitary +ornament of the room, looking strangely out of place on the bare walls, +and at the books on the little shelves, most of them evidently the gift +of the authors since Miss Brontë's celebrity. Presently she came in, and +welcomed us very kindly, and took me upstairs to take off my bonnet, +and herself brought me water and towels. The uncarpeted stone stairs +and floors, the old drawers propped on wood, were all scrupulously +clean and neat. When we went into the parlour again, we began talking +very comfortably, when the door opened and Mr. Brontë looked in; seeing +his daughter there, I suppose he thought it was all right, and he +retreated to his study on the opposite side of the passage; presently +emerging again to bring W---- a country newspaper. This was his last +appearance till we went. Miss Brontë spoke with the greatest warmth of +Miss Martineau, and of the good she had gained from her. Well! we talked +about various things; the character of the people,--about her solitude, +etc., till she left the room to help about dinner, I suppose, for she +did not return for an age. The old dog had vanished; a fat curly-haired +dog honoured us with his company for some time, but finally manifested a +wish to get out, so we were left alone. At last she returned, followed +by the maid and dinner, which made us all more comfortable; and we had +some very pleasant conversation, in the midst of which time passed +quicker than we supposed, for at last W---- found that it was half-past +three, and we had fourteen or fifteen miles before us. So we hurried +off, having obtained from her a promise to pay us a visit in the spring; +and the old gentleman having issued once more from his study to say +good-bye, we returned to the inn, and made the best of our way homewards. + +"Miss Brontë put me so in mind of her own 'Jane Eyre.' She looked +smaller than ever, and moved about so quietly, and noiselessly, just +like a little bird, as Rochester called her, barring that all birds are +joyous, and that joy can never have entered that house since it was +first built; and yet, perhaps, when that old man married, and took home +his bride, and children's voices and feet were heard about the house, +even that desolate crowded grave-yard and biting blast could not quench +cheerfulness and hope. Now there is something touching in the sight of +that little creature entombed in such a place, and moving about herself +like a spirit, especially when you think that the slight still frame +encloses a force of strong fiery life, which nothing has been able to +freeze or extinguish." + + +In one of the preceding letters, Miss Brontë referred to am article in +the Palladium, which had rendered what she considered the due meed of +merit to "Wuthering Heights", her sister Emily's tale. Her own works +were praised, and praised with discrimination, and she was grateful for +this. But her warm heart was filled to the brim with kindly feelings +towards him who had done justice to the dead. She anxiously sought out +the name of the writer; and having discovered that it was Mr. Sydney +Dobell he immediately became one of her + + "Peculiar people whom Death had made dear." + +She looked with interest upon everything he wrote; and before long we +shall find that they corresponded. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Oct. 25th. + +"The box of books came last night, and, as usual, I have only gratefully +to admire the selection made: 'Jeffrey's Essays,' 'Dr. Arnold's Life,' +'The Roman,' 'Alton Loche,' these were all wished for and welcome. + +"You say I keep no books; pardon me--I am ashamed of my own +rapaciousness I have kept 'Macaulay's History,' and Wordsworth's +'Prelude', and Taylor's 'Philip Van Artevelde.' I soothe my conscience +by saying that the two last,--being poetry--do not count. This is a +convenient doctrine for me I meditate acting upon it with reference to +the Roman, so I trust nobody in Cornhill will dispute its validity or +affirm that 'poetry' has a value, except for trunk-makers. + +"I have already had 'Macaulay's Essays,' 'Sidney Smith's Lectures +on Moral Philosophy,' and 'Knox on Race.' Pickering's work on the +same subject I have not seen; nor all the volumes of Leigh Hunt's +Autobiography. However, I am now abundantly supplied for a long time to +come. I liked Hazlitt's Essays much. + +"The autumn, as you say, has been very fine. I and solitude and memory +have often profited by its sunshine on the moors. + +"I had felt some disappointment at the non-arrival of the proof-sheets +of 'Wuthering Heights;' a feverish impatience to complete the revision +is apt to beset me. The work of looking over papers, etc., could not be +gone through with impunity, and with unaltered spirits; associations too +tender, regrets too bitter, sprang out of it. Meantime, the Cornhill +books now, as heretofore, are my best medicine,--affording a solace +which could not be yielded by the very same books procured from a common +library. + +"Already I have read the greatest part of the 'Roman;' passages in +it possess a kindling virtue such as true poetry alone can boast; +there are images of genuine grandeur; there are lines that at once +stamp themselves on the memory. Can it be true that a new planet has +risen on the heaven, whence all stars seemed fast fading? I believe +it is; for this Sydney or Dobell speaks with a voice of his own, +unborrowed, unmimicked. You hear Tennyson, indeed, sometimes, and Byron +sometimes, in some passages of the Roman; but then again you have a new +note,--nowhere clearer than in a certain brief lyric, sang in a meeting +of minstrels, a sort of dirge over a dead brother;--THAT not only +charmed the ear and brain, it soothed the heart." + +The following extract will be read with interest as conveying her +thoughts after the perusal of Dr. Arnold's Life:-- + +"Nov. 6th. + +"I have just finished reading the 'Life of Dr. Arnold;' but now when I +wish, according to your request, to express what I think of it, I do +not find the task very easy; proper terms seem wanting. This is not +a character to be dismissed with a few laudatory words; it is not a +one-sided character; pure panegyric would be inappropriate. Dr. Arnold +(it seems to me) was not quite saintly; his greatness was cast in a +mortal mould; he was a little severe, almost a little hard; he was +vehement and somewhat oppugnant. Himself the most indefatigable of +workers, I know not whether he could have understood, or made allowance +for, a temperament that required more rest; yet not to one man in twenty +thousand is given his giant faculty of labour; by virtue of it he seems +to me the greatest of working men. Exacting he might have been, then, on +this point; and granting that he were so, and a little hasty, stern, and +positive, those were his sole faults (if, indeed, that can be called a +fault which in no shape degrades the individual's own character; but is +only apt to oppress and overstrain the weaker nature of his neighbours). +Afterwards come his good qualities. About these there is nothing +dubious. Where can we find justice, firmness, independence, earnestness, +sincerity, fuller and purer than in him? + +"But this is not all, and I am glad of it. Besides high intellect and +stainless rectitude, his letters and his life attest his possession of +the most true-hearted affection. WITHOUT this, however one might admire, +we could not love him; but WITH it I think we love him much. A hundred +such men--fifty--nay, ten or five such righteous men might save any +country; might victoriously champion any cause. + +"I was struck, too, by the almost unbroken happiness of his life; a +happiness resulting chiefly, no doubt, from the right use to which he +put that health and strength which God had given him, but also owing +partly to a singular exemption from those deep and bitter griefs which +most human beings are called on to endure. His wife was what he wished; +his children were healthy and promising; his own health was excellent; +his undertakings were crowned with success; even death was kind,--for, +however sharp the pains of his last hour, they were but brief. God's +blessing seems to have accompanied him from the cradle to the grave. One +feels thankful to know that it has been permitted to any man to live +such a life. + +"When I was in Westmoreland last August, I spent an evening at Fox How, +where Mrs. Arnold and her daughters still reside. It was twilight as +I drove to the place, and almost dark ere I reached it; still I could +perceive that the situation was lovely. The house looked like a nest +half buried in flowers and creepers: and, dusk as it was, I could FEEL +that the valley and the hills round were beautiful as imagination could +dream." + + +If I say again what I have said already before, it is only to impress +and re-impress upon my readers the dreary monotony of her life at this +time. The dark, bleak season of the year brought back the long evenings, +which tried her severely: all the more so, because her weak eyesight +rendered her incapable of following any occupation but knitting by +candle-light. For her father's sake, as well as for her own, she found +it necessary to make some exertion to ward off settled depression of +spirits. She accordingly accepted an invitation to spend a week or ten +days with Miss Martineau at Ambleside. She also proposed to come to +Manchester and see me, on her way to Westmoreland. But, unfortunately, +I was from home, and unable to receive her. The friends with whom I +was staying in the South of England (hearing me express my regret that +I could not accept her friendly proposal, and aware of the sad state +of health and spirits which made some change necessary for her) wrote +to desire that she would come and spend a week or two with me at their +house. She acknowledged this invitation in a letter to me, dated-- + +"Dec. 13th, 1850. + +"My dear Mrs. Gaskell,--Miss ----'s kindness and yours is such that I am +placed in the dilemma of not knowing how adequately to express my sense +of it. THIS I know, however, very well-that if I COULD go and be with +you for a week or two in such a quiet south-country house, and with such +kind people as you describe, I should like it much. I find the proposal +marvellously to my taste; it is the pleasantest, gentlest, sweetest, +temptation possible; but, delectable as it is, its solicitations are by +no means to be yielded to without the sanction of reason, and therefore +I desire for the present to be silent, and to stand back till I have +been to Miss Martineau's, and returned home, and considered well whether +it is a scheme as right as agreeable. + +"Meantime, the mere thought does me good." + +On the 10th of December, the second edition of "Wuthering Heights" was +published. She sent a copy of it to Mr. Dobell, with the following +letter:-- + +To MR. DOBELL. + +"Haworth, near Keighley, Yorkshire, + +"Dec. 8th, 1850. + +"I offer this little book to my critic in the 'Palladium,' and he must +believe it accompanied by a tribute of the sincerest gratitude; not so +much for anything he has said of myself, as for the noble justice he +has rendered to one dear to me as myself--perhaps dearer; and perhaps +one kind word spoken for her awakens a deeper, tenderer, sentiment +of thankfulness than eulogies heaped on my own head. As you will see +when you have read the biographical notice, my sister cannot thank +you herself; she is gone out of your sphere and mine, and human blame +and praise are nothing to her now. But to me, for her sake, they are +something still; it revived me for many a day to find that, dead as she +was, the work of her genius had at last met with worthy appreciation. + +"Tell me, when you have read the introduction, whether any doubts still +linger in your mind respecting the authorship of 'Wuthering Heights,' +'Wildfell Hall,' etc. Your mistrust did me some injustice; it proved a +general conception of character such as I should be sorry to call mine; +but these false ideas will naturally arise when we only judge an author +from his works. In fairness, I must also disclaim the flattering side +of the portrait. I am no 'young Penthesilea mediis in millibus,' but a +plain country parson's daughter. + +"Once more I thank you, and that with a full heart. + +"C. BRONTË." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Immediately after the republication of her sisters' book she went to +Miss Martineau's. + +"I can write to you now, dear E----, for I am away from home) and +relieved, temporarily, at least, by change of air and scene, from the +heavy burden of depression which, I confess, has for nearly three months +been sinking me to the earth. I never shall forget last autumn! Some +days and nights have been cruel; but now, having once told you this, I +need say no more on the subject. My loathing of solitude grew extreme; +my recollection of my sisters intolerably poignant. I am better now. +I am at Miss Martineau's for a week. Her house is very pleasant, both +within and without; arranged at; all points with admirable neatness and +comfort. Her visitors enjoy the most perfect liberty; what she claims +for herself she allows them. I rise at my own hour, breakfast alone +(she is up at five, takes a cold bath, and a walk by starlight, and +has finished breakfast and got to her work by seven o'clock). I pass +the morning in the drawing-room--she, in her study. At two o'clock we +meet--work, talk, and walk together till five, her dinner-hour, spend +the evening together, when she converses fluently and abundantly, +and with the most complete frankness. I go to my own room soon after +ten,--she sits up writing letters till twelve. She appears exhaustless +in strength and spirits, and indefatigable in the faculty of labour. She +is a great and a good woman; of course not without peculiarities, but I +have seen none as yet that annoy me. She is both hard and warm-hearted, +abrupt and affectionate, liberal and despotic. I believe she is not at +all conscious of her own absolutism. When I tell her of it, she denies +the charge warmly; then I laugh at her. I believe she almost rules +Ambleside. Some of the gentry dislike her, but the lower orders have +a great regard for her. . . . I thought I should like to spend two or +three days with you before going home, so, if it is not inconvenient +to you, I will (D. V.) come on Monday and stay till Thursday. . . . I +have truly enjoyed my visit here. I have seen a good many people, and +all have been so marvellously kind; not the least so, the family of Dr. +Arnold. Miss Martineau I relish inexpressibly." + +Miss Brontë paid the visit she here proposes to her friend, but only +remained two or three days. She then returned home, and immediately +began to suffer from her old enemy, sickly and depressing headache. This +was all the more trying to bear, as she was obliged to take an active +share in the household work,--one servant being ill in bed, and the +other, Tabby, aged upwards of eighty. + +This visit to Ambleside did Miss Brontë much good, and gave her a +stock of pleasant recollections, and fresh interests, to dwell upon in +her solitary life. There are many references in her letters to Miss +Martineau's character and kindness. + +"She is certainly a woman of wonderful endowments, both intellectual +and physical; and though I share few of her opinions, and regard her +as fallible on certain points of judgment, I must still award her my +sincerest esteem. The manner in which she combines the highest mental +culture with the nicest discharge of feminine duties filled me with +admiration; while her affectionate kindness earned my gratitude." "I +think her good and noble qualities far outweigh her defects. It is my +habit to consider the individual apart from his (or her) reputation, +practice independent of theory, natural disposition isolated from +acquired opinions. Harriet Martineau's person, practice, and character, +inspire me with the truest affection and respect."You ask me whether +Miss Martineau made me a convert to mesmerism? Scarcely; yet I heard +miracles of its efficacy, and could hardly discredit the whole of +what was told me. I even underwent a personal experiment; and though +the result was not absolutely clear, it was inferred that in time I +should prove an excellent subject. The question of mesmerism will be +discussed with little reserve, I believe, in a forthcoming work of Miss +Martineau's; and I have some painful anticipations of the manner in +which other subjects, offering less legitimate ground for speculation, +will be handled." + +"Your last letter evinced such a sincere and discriminating admiration +for Dr. Arnold, that perhaps you will not be wholly uninterested in +hearing that, during my late visit to Miss Martineau, I saw much more of +Fox How and its inmates, and daily admired, in the widow and children +of one of the greatest and best men of his time, the possession of +qualities the most estimable and endearing. Of my kind hostess herself, +I cannot speak in terms too high. Without being able to share all her +opinions, philosophical, political, or religious,--without adopting +her theories,--I yet find a worth and greatness in herself, and a +consistency, benevolence, perseverance in her practice, such as wins the +sincerest esteem and affection. She is not a person to be judged by her +writings alone, but rather by her own deeds and life, than which nothing +can be more exemplary or nobler. She seems to me the benefactress of +Ambleside, yet takes no sort of credit to herself for her active and +indefatigable philanthropy. The government of her household is admirably +administered: all she does is well done, from the writing of a history +down to the quietest female occupation. No sort of carelessness or +neglect is allowed under her rule, and yet she is not over-strict, nor +too rigidly exacting: her servants and her poor neighbours love as well +as respect her. + +"I must not, however, fall into the error of talking too much about +her merely because my own mind is just now deeply impressed with what +I have seen of her intellectual power and moral worth. Faults she has; +but to me they appear very trivial weighed in the balance against her +excellences." + +"Your account of Mr. A---- tallies exactly with Miss M----'s. She, too, +said that placidity and mildness (rather than originality and power) +were his external characteristics. She described him as a combination of +the antique Greek sage with the European modern man of science. Perhaps +it was mere perversity in me to get the notion that torpid veins, and +a cold, slow-beating heart, lay under his marble outside. But he is a +materialist: he serenely denies us our hope of immortality, and quietly +blots from man's future Heaven and the Life to come. That is why a +savour of bitterness seasoned my feeling towards him. + +"All you say of Mr. Thackeray is most graphic and characteristic. He +stirs in me both sorrow and anger. Why should he lead so harassing +a life? Why should his mocking tongue so perversely deny the better +feelings of his better moods?" + +For some time, whenever she was well enough in health and spirits, she +had been employing herself upon Villette; but she was frequently unable +to write, and was both grieved and angry with herself for her inability. +In February, she writes as follows to Mr. Smith:-- + +"Something you say about going to London; but the words are dreamy, +and fortunately I am not obliged to hear or answer them. London and +summer are many months away: our moors are all white with snow just +now, and little redbreasts come every morning to the window for crumbs. +One can lay no plans three or four months beforehand. Besides, I don't +deserve to go to London; nobody merits a change or a treat less. I +secretly think, on the contrary, I ought to be put in prison, and kept +on bread and water in solitary confinement--without even a letter from +Cornhill--till I had written a book. One of two things would certainly +result from such a mode of treatment pursued for twelve months; either +I should come out at the end of that time with a three-volume MS. in my +hand, or else with a condition of intellect that would exempt me ever +after from literary efforts and expectations." + +Meanwhile, she was disturbed and distressed by the publication of Miss +Martineau's "Letters," etc.; they came down with a peculiar force and +heaviness upon a heart that looked, with fond and earnest faith, to a +future life as to the meeting-place with those who were "loved and lost +awhile." + +"Feb. 11th, 1851. + +"My dear Sir,--Have you yet read Miss Martineau's and Mr. Atkinson's new +work, 'Letters on the Nature and Development of Man'? If you have not, +it would be worth your while to do so. + +"Of the impression this book has made on me, I will not now say much. +It is the first exposition of avowed atheism and materialism I have +ever read; the first unequivocal declaration of disbelief in the +existence of a God or a future life I have ever seen. In judging of +such exposition and declaration, one would wish entirely to put aside +the sort of instinctive horror they awaken, and to consider them in an +impartial spirit and collected mood. This I find it difficult to do. The +strangest thing is, that we are called on to rejoice over this hopeless +blank--to receive this bitter bereavement as great gain--to welcome this +unutterable desolation as a state of pleasant freedom. Who COULD do this +if he would? Who WOULD do it if he could? + +"Sincerely, for my own part, do I wish to find and know the Truth; but +if this be Truth, well may she guard herself with mysteries, and cover +herself with a veil. If this be Truth, man or woman who beholds her +can but curse the day he or she was born. I said, however, I would not +dwell on what I thought; I wish to hear, rather, what some other person +thinks,--some one whose feelings are unapt to bias his judgment. Read +the book, then, in an unprejudiced spirit, and candidly say what you +think of it. I mean, of course, if you have time--NOT OTHERWISE." + +And yet she could not bear the contemptuous tone in which this work +was spoken of by many critics; it made her more indignant than almost +any other circumstance during my acquaintance with her. Much as she +regretted the publication of the book, she could not see that it had +given any one a right to sneer at an action, certainly prompted by no +worldly motive, and which was but one error--the gravity of which she +admitted--in the conduct of a person who had, all her life long, been +striving, by deep thought and noble words, to serve her kind. + +"Your remarks on Miss Martineau and her book pleased me greatly, from +their tone and spirit. I have even taken the liberty of transcribing for +her benefit one or two phrases, because I know they will cheer her; she +likes sympathy and appreciation (as all people do who deserve them); and +most fully do I agree with you in the dislike you express of that hard, +contemptuous tone in which her work is spoken of by many critics." + +Before I return from the literary opinions of the author to the domestic +interests of the woman, I must copy out what she felt and thought about +"The Stones of Venice". + +"'The Stones of Venice' seem nobly laid and chiselled. How grandly the +quarry of vast marbles is disclosed! Mr. Ruskin seems to me one of the +few genuine writers, as distinguished from book-makers, of this age. +His earnestness even amuses me in certain passages; for I cannot help +laughing to think how utilitarians will fume and fret over his deep, +serious (and as THEY will think), fanatical reverence for Art. That pure +and severe mind you ascribed to him speaks in every line. He writes like +a consecrated Priest of the Abstract and Ideal. + +"I shall bring with me 'The Stones of Venice'; all the foundations of +marble and of granite, together with the mighty quarry out of which they +were hewn; and, into the bargain, a small assortment of crotchets and +dicta--the private property of one John Ruskin, Esq." + +As spring drew on, the depression of spirits to which she was subject +began to grasp her again, and "to crush her with a day- and night-mare." +She became afraid of sinking as low as she had done in the autumn; and +to avoid this, she prevailed on her old friend and schoolfellow to come +and stay with her for a few weeks in March. She found great benefit from +this companionship,--both from the congenial society in itself, and from +the self-restraint of thought imposed by the necessity of entertaining +her and looking after her comfort. On this occasion, Miss Brontë said, +"It will not do to get into the habit offrom home, and thus temporarily +evading an running away oppression instead of facing, wrestling with and +conquering it or being conquered by it." + +I shall now make an extract from one of her letters, which is purposely +displaced as to time. I quote it because it relates to a third offer of +marriage which she had, and because I find that some are apt to imagine, +from the extraordinary power with which she represented the passion of +love in her novels, that she herself was easily susceptible of it. + +"Could I ever feel enough for ----, to accept of him as a husband? +Friendship--gratitude--esteem--I have; but each moment he came near me, +and that I could see his eyes fastened on me, my veins ran ice. Now +that he is away, I feel far more gently towards him, it is only close +by that I grow rigid, stiffening with a strange mixture of apprehension +and anger, which nothing softens but his retreat, and a perfect subduing +of his manner. I did not want to be proud, nor intend to be proud, but +I was forced to be so. Most true it is, that we are over-ruled by One +above us; that in His hands our very will is as clay in the hands of the +potter." + +I have now named all the offers of marriage she ever received, until +that was made which she finally accepted. The gentle-man referred to in +this letter retained so much regard for her as to be her friend to the +end of her life; a circumstance to his credit and to hers. + +Before her friend E---- took her departure, Mr. Brontë caught cold, +and continued for some weeks much out of health, with an attack of +bronchitis. His spirits, too, became much depressed; and all his +daughter's efforts were directed towards cheering him. + +When he grew better, and had regained his previous strength, she +resolved to avail herself of an invitation which she had received some +time before, to pay a visit in London. This year, 1851, was, as every +one remembers, the time of the great Exhibition; but even with that +attraction in prospect, she did not intend to stay there long; and, as +usual, she made an agreement with her friends, before finally accepting +their offered hospitality, that her sojourn at their house was to be as +quiet as ever, since any other way of proceeding disagreed with her both +mentally and physically. She never looked excited except for a moment, +when something in conversation called her out; but she often felt so, +even about comparative trifles, and the exhaustion of reaction was sure +to follow. Under such circumstances, she always became extremely thin +and haggard; yet she averred that the change invariably did her good +afterwards. + +Her preparations in the way of dress for this visit, in the gay time of +that gay season, were singularly in accordance with her feminine taste; +quietly anxious to satisfy her love for modest, dainty, neat attire, and +not regardless of the becoming, yet remembering consistency, both with +her general appearance and with her means, in every selection she made. + +"By the bye, I meant to ask you when you went to Leeds, to do a small +errand for me, but fear your hands will be too full of business. It +was merely this: in case you chanced to be in any shop where the lace +cloaks, both black and white, of which I spoke, were sold, to ask their +price. I suppose they would hardly like to send a few to Haworth to be +looked at; indeed, if they cost very much, it would be useless, but +if they are reasonable and they would send them, I should like to see +them; and also some chemisettes of small size (the full woman's size +don't fit me), both of simple style for every day and good quality for +best.". . . ."It appears I could not rest satisfied when I was well off. +I told you I had taken one of the black lace mantles, but when I came to +try it with the black satin dress, with which I should chiefly want to +wear it, I found the effect was far from good; the beauty of the lace +was lost, and it looked somewhat brown and rusty; I wrote to Mr. ----, +requesting him to change it for a WHITE mantle of the same price; he +was extremely courteous, and sent to London for one, which I have got +this morning. The price is less, being but 1 pound 14s.; it is pretty, +neat and light, looks well on black; and upon reasoning the matter over, +I came to the philosophic conclusion, that it would be no shame for a +person of my means to wear a cheaper thing; so I think I shall take it, +and if you ever see it and call it 'trumpery' so much the worse." + +"Do you know that I was in Leeds on the very same day with you--last +Wednesday? I had thought of telling you where I was going, and having +your help and company in buying a bonnet, etc., but then I reflected +this would merely be making a selfish use of you, so I determined to +manage or mismanage the matter alone. I went to Hurst and Hall's for the +bonnet, and got one which seemed grave and quiet there amongst all the +splendours; but now it looks infinitely too gay with its pink lining. I +saw some beautiful silks of pale sweet colours, but had not the spirit +nor the means to launch out at the rate of five shillings per yard, and +went and bought a black silk at three shillings after all. I rather +regret this, because papa says he would have lent me a sovereign if he +had known. I believe, if you had been there, you would have forced me +to get into debt. . . . I really can no more come to B---- before I go +to London than I can fly. I have quantities of sewing to do, as well as +household matters to arrange, before I leave, as they will clean, etc., +in my absence. Besides, I am grievously afflicted with headache, which I +trust to change of air for relieving; but meantime, as it proceeds from +the stomach, it makes me very thin and grey; neither you nor anybody +else would fatten me up or put me into good condition for the visit; it +is fated otherwise. No matter. Calm your passion; yet I am glad to see +it. Such spirit seems to prove health. Good-bye, in haste. + +"Your poor mother is like Tabby, Martha and Papa; all these fancy I +am somehow, by some mysterious process, to be married in London, or +to engage myself to matrimony. How I smile internally! How groundless +and improbable is the idea! Papa seriously told me yesterday, that +if I married and left him he should give up housekeeping and go into +lodgings!" + +I copy the following, for the sake of the few words describing the +appearance of the heathery moors in late summer. + +TO SYDNEY DOBELL, ESQ. + +"May 24th, 1851. + +"My dear Sir,--I hasten to send Mrs. Dobell the autograph. It was the +word 'Album' that frightened me I thought she wished me to write a +sonnet on purpose for it, which I could not do. + +"Your proposal respecting a journey to Switzerland is deeply kind; it +draws me with the force of a mighty Temptation, but the stern Impossible +holds me back. No! I cannot go to Switzerland this summer. + +"Why did the editor of the 'Eclectic' erase that most powerful and +pictorial passage? He could not be insensible to its beauty; perhaps he +thought it profane. Poor man! + +"I know nothing of such an orchard-country as you describe. I have never +seen such a region. Our hills only confess the coming of summer by +growing green with young fern and moss, in secret little hollows. Their +bloom is reserved for autumn; then they burn with a kind of dark glow, +different, doubtless, from the blush of garden blossoms. About the close +of next month, I expect to go to London, to pay a brief and quiet visit. +I fear chance will not be so propitious as to bring you to town while I +am there; otherwise, how glad I should be if you would call. With kind +regards to Mrs. Dobell,--Believe me, sincerely yours, + +C. BRONTË." + +Her next letter is dated from London. + +"June 2nd. + +"I came here on Wednesday, being summoned a day sooner than I expected, +in order to be in time for Thackeray's second lecture, which was +delivered on Thursday afternoon. This, as you may suppose, was a genuine +treat to me, and I was glad not to miss it. It was given in Willis' +Rooms, where the Almacks balls are held--a great painted and gilded +saloon with long sofas for benches. The audience was said to be the +cream of London society, and it looked so. I did not at all expect the +great lecturer would know me or notice me under these circumstances, +with admiring duchesses and countesses seated in rows before him; but he +met me as I entered--shook hands--took me to his mother, whom I had not +before seen, and introduced me. She is a fine, handsome, young-looking +old lady; was very gracious, and called with one of her grand-daughters +next day. + +"Thackeray called too, separately. I had a long talk with him, and I +think he knows me now a little better than he did: but of this I cannot +yet be sure; he is a great and strange man. There is quite a furor +for his lectures. They are a sort of essays, characterised by his own +peculiar originality and power, and delivered with a finished taste and +ease, which is felt, but cannot be described. Just before the lecture +began, somebody came behind me, leaned over and said, 'Permit me, as a +Yorkshireman, to introduce myself.' I turned round--saw a strange, not +handsome, face, which puzzled me for half a minute, and then I said, +'You are Lord Carlisle.' He nodded and smiled; he talked a few minutes +very pleasantly and courteously. + +"Afterwards came another man with the same plea, that he was a +Yorkshireman, and this turned out to be Mr. Monckton Milnes. Then came +Dr. Forbes, whom I was sincerely glad to see. On Friday, I went to the +Crystal Palace; it is a marvellous, stirring, bewildering sight--a +mixture of a genii palace, and a mighty bazaar, but it is not much in +my way; I liked the lecture better. On Saturday I saw the Exhibition +at Somerset House; about half a dozen of the pictures are good and +interesting, the rest of little worth. Sunday--yesterday--was a day to +be marked with a white stone; through most of the day I was very happy, +without being tired or over-excited. In the afternoon, I went to hear +D'Aubigne, the great Protestant French preacher; it was pleasant--half +sweet, half sad--and strangely suggestive to hear the French language +once more. For health, I have so far got on very fairly, considering +that I came here far from well." + +The lady, who accompanied Miss Brontë to the lecture at Thackeray's +alluded to, says that, soon after they had taken their places, she +was aware that he was pointing out her companion to several of his +friends, but she hoped that Miss Brontë herself would not perceive +it. After some time, however, during which many heads had been turned +round, and many glasses put up, in order to look at the author of "Jane +Eyre", Miss Brontë said, "I am afraid Mr. Thackeray has been playing +me a trick;" but she soon became too much absorbed in the lecture to +notice the attention which was being paid to her, except when it was +directly offered, as in the case of Lord Carlisle and Mr. Monckton +Milnes. When the lecture was ended, Mr. Thackeray came down from the +platform, and making his way towards her, asked her for her opinion. +This she mentioned to me not many days afterwards, adding remarks almost +identical with those which I subsequently read in 'Villette,' where a +similar action on the part of M. Paul Emanuel is related. + +"As our party left the Hall, he stood at the entrance; he saw and knew +me, and lifted his hat; he offered his hand in passing, and uttered +the words 'Qu'en dites-vous?'--question eminently characteristic, and +reminding me, even in this his moment of triumph, of that inquisitive +restlessness, that absence of what I considered desirable self-control, +which were amongst his faults. He should not have cared just then to ask +what I thought, or what anybody thought; but he DID care, and he was too +natural to conceal, too impulsive to repress his wish. Well! if I blamed +his over-eagerness, I liked his naivete. I would have praised him; I had +plenty of praise in my heart; but alas I no words on my lips. Who HAS +words at the right moment? I stammered some lame expressions; but was +truly glad when other people, coming up with profuse congratulations, +covered my deficiency by their redundancy." + +As they were preparing to leave the room, her companion saw with dismay +that many of the audience were forming themselves into two lines, on +each side of the aisle down which they had to pass before reaching the +door. Aware that any delay would only make the ordeal more trying, her +friend took Miss Brontë's arm in hers, and they went along the avenue +of eager and admiring faces. During this passage through the "cream +of society," Miss Brontë's hand trembled to such a degree, that her +companion feared lest she should turn faint and be unable to proceed; +and she dared not express her sympathy or try to give her strength by +any touch or word, lest it might bring on the crisis she dreaded. + +Surely, such thoughtless manifestation of curiosity is a blot on the +scutcheon of true politeness! The rest of the account of this, her +longest visit to London, shall be told in her own words. + +"I sit down to write to you this morning in an inexpressibly flat state; +having spent the whole of yesterday and the day before in a gradually +increasing headache, which grew at last rampant and violent, ended with +excessive sickness, and this morning I am quite weak and washy. I hoped +to leave my headaches behind me at Haworth; but it seems I brought them +carefully packed in my trunk, and very much have they been in my way +since I came. . . . Since I wrote last, I have seen various things worth +describing; Rachel, the great French actress, amongst the number. But +to-day I really have no pith for the task. I can only wish you good-bye +with all my heart." + +"I cannot boast that London has agreed with me well this time; the +oppression of frequent headache, sickness, and a low tone of spirits, +has poisoned many moments which might otherwise have been pleasant. +Sometimes I have felt this hard, and been tempted to murmur at Fate, +which compels me to comparative silence and solitude for eleven months +in the year, and in the twelfth, while offering social enjoyment, takes +away the vigour and cheerfulness which should turn it to account. But +circumstances are ordered for us, and we must submit." + +"Your letter would have been answered yesterday, but I was already gone +out before post time, and was out all day. People are very kind, and +perhaps I shall be glad of what I have seen afterwards, but it is often +a little trying at the time. On Thursday, the Marquis of Westminster +asked me to a great party, to which I was to go with Mrs. D----, a +beautiful, and, I think, a kind woman too; but this I resolutely +declined. On Friday I dined at the ----'s, and met Mrs. D---- and Mr. +Monckton Milnes. On Saturday I went to hear and see Rachel; a wonderful +sight--terrible as if the earth had cracked deep at your feet, and +revealed a glimpse of hell. I shall never forget it. She made me shudder +to the marrow of my bones; in her some fiend has certainly taken up an +incarnate home. She is not a woman; she is a snake; she is the ----. +On Sunday I went to the Spanish Ambassador's Chapel, where Cardinal +Wiseman, in his archiepiscopal robes and mitre, held a confirmation. +The whole scene was impiously theatrical. Yesterday (Monday) I was +sent for at ten to breakfast with Mr. Rogers, the patriarch-poet. Mrs. +D---- and Lord Glenelg were there; no one else:this certainly proved a +most calm, refined, and intellectual treat. After breakfast, Sir David +Brewster came to take us to the Crystal Palace. I had rather dreaded +this, for Sir David is a man of profoundest science, and I feared it +would be impossible to understand his explanations of the mechanism, +etc.; indeed, I hardly knew how to ask him questions. I was spared all +trouble without being questioned, he gave information in the kindest and +simplest manner. After two hours spent at the Exhibition, and where, as +you may suppose, I was VERY tired, we had to go to Lord Westminster's, +and spend two hours more in looking at the collection of pictures in his +splendid gallery." + +To another friend she writes:-- + +"----may have told you that I have spent a month in London this summer. +When you come, you shall ask what questions you like on that point, and +I will answer to the best of my stammering ability. Do not press me much +on the subject of the 'Crystal Palace.' I went there five times, and +certainly saw some interesting things, and the 'coup d'oeil' is striking +and bewildering enough; but I never was able to get any raptures on the +subject, and each renewed visit was made under coercion rather than my +own free will. It is an excessively bustling place; and, after all, its +wonders appeal too exclusively to the eye, and rarely touch the heart +or head. I make an exception to the last assertion, in favour of those +who possess a large range of scientific knowledge. Once I went with Sir +David Brewster, and perceived that he looked on objects with other eyes +than mine." + +Miss Brontë returned from London by Manchester, and paid us a visit of +a couple of days at the end of June. The weather was so intensely hot, +and she herself so much fatigued with her London sight-seeing, that we +did little but sit in-doors, with open windows, and talk. The only thing +she made a point of exerting herself to procure was a present for Tabby. +It was to be a shawl, or rather a large handkerchief, such as she could +pin across her neck and shoulders, in the old-fashioned country manner. +Miss Brontë took great pains in seeking out one which she thought +would please the old woman. On her arrival at home, she addressed +the following letter to the friend with whom she had been staying in +London:-- + +"Haworth, July 1st, 1851. + +"My dear Mrs. Smith,--Once more I am at home, where, I am thankful to +say, I found my father very well. The journey to Manchester was a little +hot and dusty, but otherwise pleasant enough. The two stout gentlemen, +who filled a portion of the carriage when I got in, quitted it at Rugby, +and two other ladies and myself had it to ourselves the rest of the +way. The visit to Mrs. Gaskell formed a cheering break in the journey. +Haworth Parsonage is rather a contrast, yet even Haworth Parsonage does +not look gloomy in this bright summer weather; it is somewhat still, +but with the windows open I can hear a bird or two singing on certain +thorn-trees in the garden. My father and the servants think me looking +better than when I felt home, and I certainly feel better myself for +the change. You are too much like your son to render it advisable I +should say much about your kindness during my visit. However, one cannot +help (like Captain Cuttle) making a note of these matters. Papa says +I am to thank you in his name, and offer you his respects, which I do +accordingly.--With truest regards to all your circle, believe me very +sincerely yours, + +C. BRONTË." + +"July 8th, 1851. + +"My dear Sir,--Thackeray's last lecture must, I think, have been his +best. What he says about Sterne is true. His observations on literary +men, and their social obligations and individual duties, seem to me +also true and full of mental and moral vigour. . . . The International +Copyright Meeting seems to have had but a barren result, judging from +the report in the Literary Gazette. I cannot see that Sir E. Bulwer and +the rest DID anything; nor can I well see what it is in their power to +do. The argument brought forward about the damage accruing to American +national literature from the present piratical system, is a good and +sound argument; but I am afraid the publishers--honest men--are not +yet mentally prepared to give such reasoning due weight. I should +think, that which refers to the injury inflicted upon themselves, by +an oppressive competition in piracy, would influence them more; but, I +suppose, all established matters, be they good or evil, are difficult +to change. About the 'Phrenological Character' I must not say a word. +Of your own accord, you have found the safest point from which to view +it: I will not say 'look higher!' I think you see the matter as it is +desirable we should all see what relates to ourselves. If I had a right +to whisper a word of counsel, it should be merely this: whatever your +present self may be, resolve with all your strength of resolution, never +to degenerate thence. Be jealous of a shadow of falling off. Determine +rather to look above that standard, and to strive beyond it. Everybody +appreciates certain social properties, and likes his neighbour for +possessing them; but perhaps few dwell upon a friend's capacity for +the intellectual, or care how this might expand, if there were but +facilities allowed for cultivation, and space given for growth. It seems +to me that, even should such space and facilities be denied by stringent +circumstances and a rigid fate, still it should do you good fully to +know, and tenaciously to remember, that you have such a capacity. When +other people overwhelm you with acquired knowledge, such as you have not +had opportunity, perhaps not application, to gain--derive not pride, but +support from the thought. If no new books had ever been written, some of +these minds would themselves have remained blank pages: they only take +an impression; they were not born with a record of thought on the brain, +or an instinct of sensation on the heart. If I had never seen a printed +volume, Nature would have offered my perceptions a varying picture of +a continuous narrative, which, without any other teacher than herself, +would have schooled me to knowledge, unsophisticated, but genuine. + +"Before I received your last, I had made up my mind to tell you that I +should expect no letter for three months to come (intending afterwards +to extend this abstinence to six months, for I am jealous of becoming +dependent on this indulgence: you doubtless cannot see why, because you +do not live my life). Nor shall I now expect a letter; but since you say +that you would like to write now and then, I cannot say 'never write,' +without imposing on my real wishes a falsehood which they reject, and +doing to them a violence, to which they entirely refuse to submit. I +can only observe that when it pleases you to write, whether seriously +or for a little amusement, your notes, if they come to me, will come +where they are welcome. Tell----I will try to cultivate good spirits, as +assiduously as she cultivates her geraniums." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Soon after she returned home, her friend paid her a visit. While she +stayed at Haworth, Miss Brontë wrote the letter from which the following +extract is taken. The strong sense and right feeling displayed in it on +the subject of friendship, sufficiently account for the constancy of +affection which Miss Brontë earned from all those who once became her +friends. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"July 21th, 1851. + +". . . I could not help wondering whether Cornhill will ever change for +me, as Oxford has changed for you. I have some pleasant associations +connected with it now--will these alter their character some day? + +"Perhaps they may--though I have faith to the contrary, because, I +THINK, I do not exaggerate my partialities; I THINK I take faults along +with excellences--blemishes together with beauties. And, besides, in the +matter of friendship, I have observed that disappointment here arises +chiefly, NOT from liking our friends too well, or thinking of them too +highly, but rather from an over-estimate of THEIR liking for and opinion +of US; and that if we guard ourselves with sufficient scrupulousness of +care from error in this direction, and can be content, and even happy +to give more affection than we receive--can make just comparison of +circumstances, and be severely accurate in drawing inferences thence, +and never let self-love blind our eyes--I think we may manage to get +through life with consistency and constancy, unembittered by that +misanthropy which springs from revulsions of feeling. All this sounds a +little metaphysical, but it is good sense if you consider it. The moral +of it is, that if we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we +must love our friends for THEIR sakes rather than for OUR OWN; we must +look at their truth to THEMSELVES, full as much as their truth to US. In +the latter case, every wound to self-love would be a cause of coldness; +in the former, only some painful change in the friend's character +and disposition--some fearful breach in his allegiance to his better +self--could alienate the heart. + +"How interesting your old maiden-cousin's gossip about your parents +must have been to you; and how gratifying to find that the reminiscence +turned on none but pleasant facts and characteristics! Life must, +indeed, be slow in that little decaying hamlet amongst the chalk hills. +After all, depend upon it, it is better to be worn out with work in a +thronged community, than to perish of inaction in a stagnant solitude: +take this truth into consideration whenever you get tired of work and +bustle." + +I received a letter from her a little later than this; and though there +is reference throughout to what I must have said in writing to her, all +that it called forth in reply is so peculiarly characteristic, that I +cannot prevail upon myself to pass it over without a few extracts:-- + +"Haworth, Aug. 6th, 1851. + +"My dear Mrs. Gaskell,--I was too much pleased with your letter, when I +got it at last, to feel disposed to murmur now about the delay. + +"About a fortnight ago, I received a letter from Miss Martineau; also +a long letter, and treating precisely the same subjects on which yours +dwelt, viz., the Exhibition and Thackeray's last lecture. It was +interesting mentally to place the two documents side by side--to study +the two aspects of mind--to view, alternately, the same scene through +two mediums. Full striking was the difference; and the more striking +because it was not the rough contrast of good and evil, but the more +subtle opposition, the more delicate diversity of different kinds of +good. The excellences of one nature resembled (I thought) that of +some sovereign medicine--harsh, perhaps, to the taste, but potent to +invigorate; the good of the other seemed more akin to the nourishing +efficacy of our daily bread. It is not bitter; it is not lusciously +sweet: it pleases, without flattering the palate; it sustains, without +forcing the strength. + +"I very much agree with you in all you say. For the sake of variety, I +could almost wish that the concord of opinion were less complete. + +"To begin with Trafalgar Square. My taste goes with yours and Meta's +completely on this point. I have always thought it a fine site (and +SIGHT also). The view from the summit of those steps has ever struck +me as grand and imposing--Nelson Column included the fountains I could +dispense with. With respect, also, to the Crystal Palace, my thoughts +are precisely yours. + +"Then I feel sure you speak justly of Thackeray's lecture. You do well +to set aside odious comparisons, and to wax impatient of that trite +twaddle about 'nothing newness'--a jargon which simply proves, in those +who habitually use it, a coarse and feeble faculty of appreciation; an +inability to discern the relative value of ORIGINALITY and NOVELTY; a +lack of that refined perception which, dispensing with the stimulus of +an ever-new subject, can derive sufficiency of pleasure from freshness +of treatment. To such critics, the prime of a summer morning would +bring no delight; wholly occupied with railing at their cook for not +having provided a novel and piquant breakfast-dish, they would remain +insensible to such influences as lie in sunrise, dew, and breeze: +therein would be 'nothing new.' + +"Is it Mr. ----'s family experience which has influenced your feelings +about the Catholics? I own, I cannot be sorry for this commencing +change. Good people--VERY good people--I doubt not, there are amongst +the Romanists, but the system is not one which would have such sympathy +as YOURS. Look at Popery taking off the mask in Naples! + +"I have read the 'Saints' Tragedy.' As a 'work of art' it seems to me +far superior to either 'Alton Locke' or 'Yeast.' Faulty it may be, +crude and unequal, yet there are portions where some of the deep chords +of human nature are swept with a hand which is strong even while it +falters. We see throughout (I THINK) that Elizabeth has not, and never +had, a mind perfectly sane. From the time that she was what she herself, +in the exaggeration of her humility, calls 'an idiot girl,' to the hour +when she lay moaning in visions on her dying bed, a slight craze runs +through her whole existence. This is good: this is true. A sound mind, +a healthy intellect, would have dashed the priest-power to the wall; +would have defended her natural affections from his grasp, as a lioness +defends her young; would have been as true to husband and children, as +your leal-hearted little Maggie was to her Frank. Only a mind weak with +some fatal flaw COULD have been influenced as was this poor saint's. +But what anguish what struggles! Seldom do I cry over books; but here, +my eyes rained as I read. When Elizabeth turns her face to the wall--I +stopped--there needed no more. + +"Deep truths are touched on in this tragedy--touched on, not fully +elicited; truths that stir a peculiar pity--a compassion hot with wrath, +and bitter with pain. This is no poet's dream: we know that such things +HAVE been done; that minds HAVE been thus subjugated, and lives thus +laid waste. + +"Remember me kindly and respectfully to Mr. Gaskell, and though I +have not seen Marianne, I must beg to include her in the love I send +the others. Could you manage to convey a small kiss to that dear, but +dangerous little person, Julia? She surreptitiously possessed herself of +a minute fraction of my heart, which has been missing, ever since I saw +her.--Believe me, sincerely and affectionately yours, + +C. BRONTË." + +The reference which she makes at the end of this letter is to my +youngest little girl, between whom and her a strong mutual attraction +existed. The child would steal her little hand into Miss Brontë's +scarcely larger one, and each took pleasure in this apparently +unobserved caress. Yet once when I told Julia to take and show her the +way to some room in the house, Miss Brontë shrunk back: "Do not BID her +do anything for me," she said; "it has been so sweet hitherto to have +her rendering her little kindnesses SPONTANEOUSLY." + +As illustrating her feelings with regard to children, I may give what +she says ill another of her letters to me. + +"Whenever I see Florence and Julia again, I shall feel like a fond but +bashful suitor, who views at a distance the fair personage to whom, in +his clownish awe, he dare not risk a near approach. Such is the clearest +idea I can give you of my feeling towards children I like, but to +whom I am a stranger;--and to what children am I not a stranger? They +seem to me little wonders; their talk, their ways are all matter of +half-admiring, half-puzzled speculation." + +The following is part of a long letter which I received from her, dated +September 20th, 1851:-- + +". . . Beautiful are those sentences out of James Martineau's sermons; +some of them gems most pure and genuine; ideas deeply conceived, finely +expressed. I should like much to see his review of his sister's book. +Of all the articles respecting which you question me, I have seen none, +except that notable one in the 'Westminster' on the Emancipation of +Women. But why are you and I to think (perhaps I should rather say to +FEEL) so exactly alike on some points that there can be no discussion +between us? Your words on this paper express my thoughts. Well-argued +it is,--clear, logical,--but vast is the hiatus of omission; harsh +the consequent jar on every finer chord of the soul. What is this +hiatus? I think I know; and, knowing, I will venture to say. I think +the writer forgets there is such a thing as self-sacrificing love and +disinterested devotion. When I first read the paper, I thought it was +the work of a powerful-minded, clear-headed woman, who had a hard, +jealous heart, muscles of iron, and nerves of bend[*] leather; of a +woman who longed for power, and had never felt affection. To many women +affection is sweet, and power conquered indifferent--though we all like +influence won. I believe J. S. Mill would make a hard, dry, dismal +world of it; and yet he speaks admirable sense through a great portion +of his article--especially when he says, that if there be a natural +unfitness in women for men's employment, there is no need to make laws +on the subject; leave all careers open; let them try; those who ought +to succeed will succeed, or, at least, will have a fair chance--the +incapable will fall back into their right place. He likewise disposes of +the 'maternity' question very neatly. In short, J. S. Mill's head is, +I dare say, very good, but I feel disposed to scorn his heart. You are +right when you say that there is a large margin in human nature over +which the logicians have no dominion; glad am I that it is so. + +[*] "Bend," in Yorkshire, is strong ox leather. + + +"I send by this post Ruskin's 'Stones of Venice,' and I hope you +and Meta will find passages in it that will please you. Some parts +would be dry and technical were it not for the character, the marked +individuality which pervades every page. I wish Marianne had come to +speak to me at the lecture; it would have given me such pleasure. What +you say of that small sprite Julia, amuses me much. I believe you don't +know that she has a great deal of her mama's nature (modified) in her; +yet I think you will find she has as she grows up. + +"Will it not be a great mistake, if Mr. Thackeray should deliver his +lectures at Manchester under such circumstances and conditions as will +exclude people like you and Mr. Gaskell from the number of his audience? +I thought his London-plan too narrow. Charles Dickens would not thus +limit his sphere of action. + +"You charge me to write about myself. What can I say on that precious +topic? My health is pretty good. My spirits are not always alike. +Nothing happens to me. I hope and expect little in this world, and am +thankful that I do not despond and suffer more. Thank you for inquiring +after our old servant; she is pretty well; the little shawl, etc., +pleased her much. Papa likewise, I am glad to say, is pretty well; with +his and my kindest regards to you and Mr. Gaskell--Believe me sincerely +and affectionately yours, + +C. BRONTË." + +Before the autumn was far advanced, the usual effects of her solitary +life, and of the unhealthy situation of Haworth Parsonage, began to +appear in the form of sick headaches, and miserable, starting, wakeful +nights. She does not dwell on this in her letters; but there is an +absence of all cheerfulness of tone, and an occasional sentence forced +out of her, which imply far more than many words could say. There was +illness all through the Parsonage household--taking its accustomed forms +of lingering influenza and low fever; she herself was outwardly the +strongest of the family, and all domestic exertion fell for a time upon +her shoulders. + +TO W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Sept. 26th. + +"As I laid down your letter, after reading with interest the graphic +account it gives of a very striking scene, I could not help feeling with +renewed force a truth, trite enough, yet ever impressive; viz., that it +is good to be attracted out of ourselves--to be forced to take a near +view of the sufferings, the privations, the efforts, the difficulties +of others. If we ourselves live in fulness of content, it is well to be +reminded that thousands of our fellow-creatures undergo a different lot; +it is well to have sleepy sympathies excited, and lethargic selfishness +shaken up. If, on the other hand, we be contending with the special +grief,--the intimate trial,--the peculiar bitterness with which God has +seen fit to mingle our own cup of existence,--it is very good to know +that our overcast lot is not singular; it stills the repining word and +thought,--it rouses the flagging strength, to have it vividly set before +us that there are countless afflictions in the world, each perhaps +rivalling--some surpassing--the private pain over which we are too prone +exclusively to sorrow. + +"All those crowded emigrants had their troubles,--their untoward causes +of banishment; you, the looker-on, had 'your wishes and regrets,'--your +anxieties, alloying your home happiness and domestic bliss; and the +parallel might be pursued further, and still it would be true,--still +the same; a thorn in the flesh for each; some burden, some conflict for +all. + +"How far this state of things is susceptible of amelioration from +changes in public institutions,--alterations in national habits,--may +and ought to be earnestly considered: but this is a problem not easily +solved. The evils, as you point them out, are great, real, and most +obvious; the remedy is obscure and vague; yet for such difficulties as +spring from over-competition, emigration must be good; the new life +in a new country must give a new lease of hope; the wider field, less +thickly peopled, must open a new path for endeavour. But I always think +great physical powers of exertion and endurance ought to accompany such +a step. . . . I am truly glad to hear that an ORIGINAL writer has fallen +in your way. Originality is the pearl of great price in literature,--the +rarest, the most precious claim by which an author can be recommended. +Are not your publishing prospects for the coming season tolerably rich +and satisfactory? You inquire after 'Currer Bell.' It seems to me that +the absence of his name from your list of announcements will leave +no blank, and that he may at least spare himself the disquietude of +thinking he is wanted when it is certainly not his lot to appear. + +"Perhaps Currer Bell has his secret moan about these matters; but if so, +he will keep it to himself. It is an affair about which no words need +be wasted, for no words can make a change: it is between him and his +position, his faculties and his fate." + +My husband and I were anxious that she should pay us a visit before +the winter had set completely in; and she thus wrote, declining our +invitation:-- + +"Nov. 6th. + +"If anybody would tempt me from home, you would; but, just now, from +home I must not, will not go. I feel greatly better at present than +I did three weeks ago. For a month or six weeks about the equinox +(autumnal or vernal) is a period of the year which, I have noticed, +strangely tries me. Sometimes the strain falls on the mental, sometimes +on the physical part of me; I am ill with neuralgic headache, or I am +ground to the dust with deep dejection of spirits (not, however, such +dejection but I can keep it to myself). That weary time has, I think +and trust, got over for this year. It was the anniversary of my poor +brother's death, and of my sister's failing health: I need say no more. + +"As to running away from home every time I have a battle of this sort +to fight, it would not do besides, the 'weird' would follow. As to +shaking it off, that cannot be. I have declined to go to Mrs. ----, to +Miss Martineau, and now I decline to go to you. But listen do not think +that I throw your kindness away; or that it fails of doing the good you +desire. On the contrary, the feeling expressed in your letter,--proved +by your invitation--goes RIGHT HOME where you would have it to go, and +heals as you would have it to heal. + +"Your description of Frederika Bremer tallies exactly with one I read +somewhere, in I know not what book. I laughed out when I got to the +mention of Frederika's special accomplishment, given by you with a +distinct simplicity that, to my taste, is what the French would call +'impayable.' Where do you find the foreigner who is without some little +drawback of this description? It is a pity." + +A visit from Miss Wooler at this period did Miss Brontë much good for +the time. She speaks of her guest's company as being very pleasant,"like +good wine," both to her father and to herself. But Miss Wooler could +not remain with her long; and then again the monotony of her life +returned upon her in all its force; the only events of her days and +weeks consisting in the small changes which occasional letters brought. +It must be remembered that her health was often such as to prevent her +stirring out of the house in inclement or wintry weather. She was liable +to sore throat, and depressing pain at the chest, and difficulty of +breathing, on the least exposure to cold. + +A letter from her late visitor touched and gratified her much; it was +simply expressive of gratitude for attention and kindness shown to her, +but it wound up by saying that she had not for many years experienced +so much enjoyment as during the ten days passed at Haworth. This little +sentence called out a wholesome sensation of modest pleasure in Miss +Brontë's mind; and she says, "it did me good." + +I find, in a letter to a distant friend, written about this time, a +retrospect of her visit to London. It is too ample to be considered as +a mere repetition of what she had said before; and, besides, it shows +that her first impressions of what she saw and heard were not crude and +transitory, but stood the tests of time and after-thought. + +"I spent a few weeks in town last summer, as you have heard; and was +much interested by many things I heard and saw there. What now chiefly +dwells in my memory are Mr. Thackeray's lectures, Mademoiselle Rachel's +acting, D'Aubigne's, Melville's, and Maurice's preaching, and the +Crystal Palace. + +"Mr. Thackeray's lectures you will have seen mentioned and commented on +in the papers; they were very interesting. I could not always coincide +with the sentiments expressed, or the opinions broached; but I admired +the gentlemanlike ease, the quiet humour, the taste, the talent, the +simplicity, and the originality of the lecturer. + +"Rachel's acting transfixed me with wonder, enchained me with interest, +and thrilled me with horror. The tremendous force with which she +expresses the very worst passions in their strongest essence forms an +exhibition as exciting as the bull fights of Spain, and the gladiatorial +combats of old Rome, and (it seemed to me) not one whit more moral +than these poisoned stimulants to popular ferocity. It is scarcely +human nature that she shows you; it is something wilder and worse; the +feelings and fury of a fiend. The great gift of genius she undoubtedly +has; but, I fear, she rather abuses it than turns it to good account. + +"With all the three preachers I was greatly pleased. Melville seemed to +me the most eloquent, Maurice the most in earnest; had I the choice, it +is Maurice whose ministry I should frequent. + +"On the Crystal Palace I need not comment. You must already have heard +too much of it. It struck me at the first with only a vague sort of +wonder and admiration; but having one day the privilege of going over it +in company with an eminent countryman of yours, Sir David Brewster, and +hearing, in his friendly Scotch accent, his lucid explanation of many +things that had been to me before a sealed book, I began a little better +to comprehend it, or at least a small part of it: whether its final +results will equal expectation, I know not." + +Her increasing indisposition subdued her at last, in spite of all her +efforts of reason and will. She tried to forget oppressive recollections +in writing. Her publishers were importunate for a new book from her pen. +"Villette" was begun, but she lacked power to continue it. + +"It is not at all likely" (she says) "that my book will be ready at the +time you mention. If my health is spared, I shall get on with it as +fast as is consistent with its being done, if not WELL, yet as well as +I can do it. NOT ONE WHIT FASTER. When the mood leaves me (it has left +me now, without vouchsafing so much as a word or a message when it will +return) I put by the MS. and wait till it comes back again. God knows, +I sometimes have to wait long--VERY long it seems to me. Meantime, if +I might make a request to you, it would be this. Please to say nothing +about my book till it is written, and in your hands. You may not like +it. I am not myself elated with it as far as it is gone, and authors, +you need not be told, are always tenderly indulgent, even blindly +partial to their own. Even if it should turn out reasonably well, still +I regard it as ruin to the prosperity of an ephemeral book like a novel, +to be much talked of beforehand, as if it were something great. People +are apt to conceive, or at least to profess, exaggerated expectation, +such as no performance can realise; then ensue disappointment and the +due revenge, detraction, and failure. If when I write, I were to think +of the critics who, I know, are waiting for Currer Bell, ready 'to break +all his bones or ever he comes to the bottom of the den,' my hand would +fall paralysed on my desk. However, I can but do my best, and then +muffle my head in the mantle of Patience, and sit down at her feet and +wait." + +The "mood" here spoken of did not go off; it had a physical origin. +Indigestion, nausea, headache, sleeplessness,--all combined to produce +miserable depression of spirits. A little event which occurred about +this time, did not tend to cheer her. It was the death of poor old +faithful Keeper, Emily's dog. He had come to the Parsonage in the +fierce strength of his youth. Sullen and ferocious he had met with his +master in the indomitable Emily. Like most dogs of his kind, he feared, +respected, and deeply loved her who subdued him. He had mourned her with +the pathetic fidelity of his nature, falling into old age after her +death. And now, her surviving sister wrote: "Poor old Keeper died last +Monday morning, after being ill one night; he went gently to sleep; we +laid his old faithful head in the garden. Flossy (the 'fat curly-haired +dog') is dull, and misses him. There was something very sad in losing +the old dog; yet I am glad he met a natural fate. People kept hinting he +ought to be put away, which neither papa nor I liked to think of." + +When Miss Brontë wrote this, on December 8th, she was suffering from a +bad cold, and pain in her side. Her illness increased, and on December +17th, she--so patient, silent, and enduring of suffering--so afraid of +any unselfish taxing of others--had to call to her friend for help: + +"I cannot at present go to see you, but I would be grateful if you could +come and see me, even were it only for a few days. To speak truth, I +have put on but a poor time of it during this month past. I kept hoping +to be better, but was at last obliged to have recourse to a medical man. +Sometimes I have felt very weak and low, and longed much for society, +but could not persuade myself to commit the selfish act of asking you +merely for my own relief. The doctor speaks encouragingly, but as yet +I get no better. As the illness has been coming on for a long time, +it cannot, I suppose, be expected to disappear all at once. I am not +confined to bed, but I am weak,--have had no appetite for about three +weeks--and my nights are very bad. I am well aware myself that extreme +and continuous depression of spirits has had much to do with the origin +of the illness; and I know a little cheerful society would do me more +good than gallons of medicine. If you CAN come, come on Friday. Write +to-morrow and say whether this be possible, and what time you will be at +Keighley, that I may send the gig. I do not ask you to stay long; a few +days is all I request." + +Of course, her friend went; and a certain amount of benefit was derived +from her society, always so grateful to Miss Brontë. But the evil was +now too deep-rooted to be more than palliated for a time by "the little +cheerful society" for which she so touchingly besought. + +A relapse came on before long. She was very ill, and the remedies +employed took an unusual effect on her peculiar sensitiveness of +constitution. Mr. Brontë was miserably anxious about the state of +his only remaining child, for she was reduced to the last degree of +weakness, as she had been unable to swallow food for above a week +before. She rallied, and derived her sole sustenance from half-a-tea-cup +of liquid, administered by tea-spoonfuls, in the course of the day. Yet +she kept out of bed, for her father's sake, and struggled in solitary +patience through her worst hours. + +When she was recovering, her spirits needed support, and then she +yielded to her friend's entreaty that she would visit her. All the time +that Miss Brontë's illness had lasted, Miss ---- had been desirous +of coming to her; but she refused to avail herself of this kindness, +saying, that "it was enough to burden herself; that it would be +misery to annoy another;" and, even at her worst time, she tells her +friend, with humorous glee, how coolly she had managed to capture one +of Miss ----'s letters to Mr. Brontë, which she suspected was of a +kind to aggravate his alarm about his daughter's state, "and at once +conjecturing its tenor, made its contents her own." + +Happily for all parties, Mr. Brontë was wonderfully well this winter; +good sleep, good spirits, and an excellent steady appetite, all seemed +to mark vigour; and in such a state of health, Charlotte could leave him +to spend a week with her friend, without any great anxiety. + +She benefited greatly by the kind attentions and cheerful society of +the family with whom she went to stay. They did not care for her in +the least as "Currer Bell," but had known and loved her for years as +Charlotte Brontë. To them her invalid weakness was only a fresh claim +upon their tender regard, from the solitary woman, whom they had first +known as a little, motherless school-girl. + +Miss Brontë wrote to me about this time, and told me something of what +she had suffered. + +"Feb. 6th, 1852. + +"Certainly, the past winter has been to me a strange time; had I the +prospect before me of living it over again, my prayer must necessarily +be, 'Let this cup pass from me.' That depression of spirits, which I +thought was gone by when I wrote last, came back again with a heavy +recoil; internal congestion ensued, and then inflammation. I had severe +pain in my right side, frequent burning and aching in my chest; sleep +almost forsook me, or would never come, except accompanied by ghastly +dreams; appetite vanished, and slow fever was my continual companion. +It was some time before I could bring myself to have recourse to +medical advice. I thought my lungs were affected, and could feel no +confidence in the power of medicine. When, at last, however, a doctor +was consulted, he declared my lungs and chest sound, and ascribed all +my sufferings to derangement of the liver, on which organ it seems the +inflammation had fallen. This information was a great relief to my +dear father, as well as to myself; but I had subsequently rather sharp +medical discipline to undergo, and was much reduced. Though not yet +well, it is with deep thankfulness that I can say, I am GREATLY BETTER. +My sleep, appetite, and strength seem all returning." + +It was a great interest to her to be allowed an early reading of Esmond; +and she expressed her thoughts on the subject, in a criticising letter +to Mr. Smith, who had given her this privilege. + +"Feb. 14th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--It has been a great delight to me to read Mr. Thackeray's +work; and I so seldom now express my sense of kindness that, for once, +you must permit me, without rebuke, to thank you for a pleasure so rare +and special. Yet I am not going to praise either Mr. Thackeray or his +book. I have read, enjoyed, been interested, and, after all, feel full +as much ire and sorrow as gratitude and admiration. And still one can +never lay down a book of his without the last two feelings having their +part, be the subject or treatment what it may. In the first half of +the book, what chiefly struck me was the wonderful manner in which the +writer throws himself into the spirit and letters of the times whereof +he treats; the allusions, the illustrations, the style, all seem to +me so masterly in their exact keeping, their harmonious consistency, +their nice, natural truth, their pure exemption from exaggeration. No +second-rate imitator can write in that way; no coarse scene-painter +can charm us with an allusion so delicate and perfect. But what bitter +satire, what relentless dissection of diseased subjects! Well, and this, +too, is right, or would be right, if the savage surgeon did not seem so +fiercely pleased with his work. Thackeray likes to dissect an ulcer or +an aneurism; he has pleasure in putting his cruel knife or probe into +quivering, living flesh. Thackeray would not like all the world to be +good; no great satirist would like society to be perfect. + +"As usual, he is unjust to women; quite unjust. There is hardly any +punishment he does not deserve for making Lady Castlewood peep through a +keyhole, listen at a door, and be jealous of a boy and a milkmaid. Many +other things I noticed that, for my part, grieved and exasperated me as +I read; but then, again, came passages so true, so deeply thought, so +tenderly felt, one could not help forgiving and admiring. + + * * * * * + +But I wish he could be told not to care much for dwelling on the +political or religious intrigues of the times. Thackeray, in his heart, +does not value political or religious intrigues of any age or date. He +likes to show us human nature at home, as he himself daily sees it; his +wonderful observant faculty likes to be in action. In him this faculty +is a sort of captain and leader; and if ever any passage in his writings +lacks interest, it is when this master-faculty is for a time thrust into +a subordinate position. I think such is the case in the former half +of the present volume. Towards the middle, he throws off restraint, +becomes himself, and is strong to the close. Everything now depends on +the second and third volumes. If, in pith and interest, they fall short +of the first, a true success cannot ensue. If the continuation be an +improvement upon the commencement, if the stream gather force as it +rolls, Thackeray will triumph. Some people have been in the habit of +terming him the second writer of the day; it just depends on himself +whether or not these critics shall be justified in their award. He need +not be the second. God made him second to no man. If I were he, I would +show myself as I am, not as critics report me; at any rate, I would do +my best. Mr. Thackeray is easy and indolent, and seldom cares to do his +best. Thank you once more; and believe me yours sincerely, + +C. BRONTË." + +Miss Brontë's health continued such, that she could not apply herself +to writing as she wished, for many weeks after the serious attack from +which she had suffered. There was not very much to cheer her in the +few events that touched her interests during this time. She heard in +March of the death of a friend's relation in the Colonies; and we see +something of what was the corroding dread at her heart. + +"The news of E----'s death came to me last week in a letter from M ----; +a long letter, which wrung my heart so, in its simple, strong, truthful +emotion, I have only ventured to read it once. It ripped up half-scarred +wounds with terrible force. The death-bed was just the same,--breath +failing, etc. She fears she shall now, in her dreary solitude, become a +'stern, harsh, selfish woman.' This fear struck home; again and again +have I felt it for myself, and what is MY position to M----'s? May God +help her, as God only can help!" + +Again and again, her friend urged her to leave home; nor were various +invitations wanting to enable her to do this, when these constitutional +accesses of low spirits preyed too much upon her in her solitude. But +she would not allow herself any such indulgence, unless it became +absolutely necessary from the state of her health. She dreaded the +perpetual recourse to such stimulants as change of scene and society, +because of the reaction that was sure to follow. As far as she could +see, her life was ordained to be lonely, and she must subdue her +nature to her life, and, if possible, bring the two into harmony. When +she could employ herself in fiction, all was comparatively well. The +characters were her companions in the quiet hours, which she spent +utterly alone, unable often to stir out of doors for many days together. +The interests of the persons in her novels supplied the lack of interest +in her own life; and Memory and Imagination found their appropriate +work, and ceased to prey upon her vitals. But too frequently she could +not write, could not see her people, nor hear them speak; a great mist +of head-ache had blotted them out; they were non-existent to her. + +This was the case all through the present spring; and anxious as her +publishers were for its completion, Villette stood still. Even her +letters to her friend are scarce and brief. Here and there I find a +sentence in them which can be extracted, and which is worth preserving. + +"M----'s letter is very interesting; it shows a mind one cannot but +truly admire. Compare its serene trusting strength, with poor ----'s +vacillating dependence. When the latter was in her first burst of +happiness, I never remember the feeling finding vent in expressions of +gratitude to God. There was always a continued claim upon your sympathy +in the mistrust and doubt she felt of her own bliss. M---- believes; +her faith is grateful and at peace; yet while happy in herself, how +thoughtful she is for others!" + +"March 23rd, 1852. + +"You say, dear E----, that you often wish I would chat on paper, as you +do. How can I? Where are my materials? Is my life fertile in subjects of +chat? What callers do I see? What visits do I pay? No, you must chat, +and I must listen, and say 'Yes,' and 'No,' and 'Thank you!' for five +minutes' recreation. + + * * * * * + +"I am amused at the interest you take in politics. Don't expect to +rouse me; to me, all ministries and all oppositions seem to be pretty +much alike. D'Israeli was factious as leader of the Opposition; Lord +John Russell is going to be factious, now that he has stepped into +D'Israeli's shoes. Lord Derby's 'Christian love and spirit,' is worth +three half-pence farthing." + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"March 25th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--Mr. Smith intimated a short time since, that he had some +thoughts of publishing a reprint of Shirley. Having revised the work, +I now enclose the errata. I have likewise sent off to-day, per rail, a +return-box of Cornhill books. + +"I have lately read with great pleasure, 'The Two Families.' This work, +it seems, should have reached me in January; but owing to a mistake, +it was detained at the Dead Letter Office, and lay there nearly two +months. I liked the commencement very much; the close seemed to me +scarcely equal to 'Rose Douglas.' I thought the authoress committed a +mistake in shifting the main interest from the two personages on whom +it first rests--viz., Ben Wilson and Mary--to other characters of quite +inferior conception. Had she made Ben and Mary her hero and heroine, and +continued the development of their fortunes and characters in the same +truthful natural vein in which she commences it, an excellent, even an +original, book might have been the result. As for Lilias and Ronald, +they are mere romantic figments, with nothing of the genuine Scottish +peasant about them; they do not even speak the Caledonian dialect; they +palaver like a fine lady and gentleman. + +"I ought long since to have acknowledged the gratification with which +I read Miss Kavanagh's 'Women of Christianity.' Her charity and (on +the whole) her impartiality are very beautiful. She touches, indeed, +with too gentle a hand the theme of Elizabeth of Hungary; and, in her +own mind, she evidently misconstrues the fact of Protestant charities +SEEMING to be fewer than Catholic. She forgets, or does not know, that +Protestantism is a quieter creed than Romanism; as it does not clothe +its priesthood in scarlet, so neither does it set up its good women for +saints, canonise their names, and proclaim their good works. In the +records of man, their almsgiving will not perhaps be found registered, +but Heaven has its account as well as earth. + +"With kind regards to yourself and family, who, I trust, have all safely +weathered the rough winter lately past, as well as the east winds, which +are still nipping our spring in Yorkshire,--I am, my dear Sir, yours +sincerely, + +C. BRONTË." + +"April 3rd, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--The box arrived quite safely, and I very much thank you +for the contents, which are most kindly selected. + +"As you wished me to say what I thought of 'The School for Fathers,' +I hastened to read it. The book seems to me clever, interesting, very +amusing, and likely to please generally. There is a merit in the choice +of ground, which is not yet too hackneyed; the comparative freshness of +subject, character, and epoch give the tale a certain attractiveness. +There is also, I think, a graphic rendering of situations, and a lively +talent for describing whatever is visible and tangible--what the eye +meets on the surface of things. The humour appears to me such as would +answer well on the stage; most of the scenes seem to demand dramatic +accessories to give them their full effect. But I think one cannot with +justice bestow higher praise than this. To speak candidly, I felt, in +reading the tale, a wondrous hollowness in the moral and sentiment; a +strange dilettante shallowness in the purpose and feeling. After all, +'Jack' is not much better than a 'Tony Lumpkin,' and there is no very +great breadth of choice between the clown he IS and the fop his father +would have made him. The grossly material life of the old English +fox-hunter, and the frivolous existence of the fine gentleman present +extremes, each in its way so repugnant, that one feels half inclined to +smile when called upon to sentimentalise over the lot of a youth forced +to pass from one to the other; torn from the stables, to be ushered +perhaps into the ball-room. Jack dies mournfully indeed, and you are +sorry for the poor fellow's untimely end; but you cannot forget that, if +he had not been thrust into the way of Colonel Penruddock's weapon, he +might possibly have broken his neck in a fox-hunt. The character of Sir +Thomas Warren is excellent; consistent throughout. That of Mr. Addison +not bad, but sketchy, a mere outline--wanting colour and finish. The +man's portrait is there, and his costume, and fragmentary anecdotes of +his life; but where is the man's nature--soul and self? I say nothing +about the female characters--not one word; only that Lydia seems to me +like a pretty little actress, prettily dressed gracefully appearing and +disappearing, and reappearing in a genteel comedy, assuming the proper +sentiments of her part with all due tact and naivete, and--that is all. + +"Your description of the model man of business is true enough, I doubt +not; but we will not fear that society will ever be brought quite to +this standard; human nature (bad as it is) has, after all, elements that +forbid it. But the very tendency to such a consummation--the marked +tendency, I fear, of the day--produces, no doubt, cruel suffering. Yet, +when the evil of competition passes a certain limit, must it not in time +work its own cure? I suppose it will, but then through some convulsed +crisis, shattering all around it like an earthquake. Meantime, for how +many is life made a struggle; enjoyment and rest curtailed; labour +terribly enhanced beyond almost what nature can bear I often think that +this world would be the most terrible of enigmas, were it not for the +firm belief that there is a world to come, where conscientious effort +and patient pain will meet their reward.--Believe me, my dear Sir, +sincerely yours, + +C. BRONTË." + +A letter to her old Brussels schoolfellow gives a short retrospect of +the dreary winter she had passed through. + +"Haworth, April 12th, 1852. + +". . . I struggled through the winter, and the early part of the spring, +often with great difficulty. My friend stayed with me a few days in the +early part of January; she could not be spared longer. I was better +during her visit, but had a relapse soon after she left me, which +reduced my strength very much. It cannot be denied that the solitude +of my position fearfully aggravated its other evils. Some long stormy +days and nights there were, when I felt such a craving for support and +companionship as I cannot express. Sleepless, I lay awake night after +night, weak and unable to occupy myself. I sat in my chair day after +day, the saddest memories my only company. It was a time I shall never +forget; but God sent it, and it must have been for the best. + +"I am better now; and very grateful do I feel for the restoration of +tolerable health; but, as if there was always to be some affliction, +papa, who enjoyed wonderful health during the whole winter, is ailing +with his spring attack of bronchitis. I earnestly trust it may pass over +in the comparatively ameliorated form in which it has hitherto shown +itself. + +"Let me not forget to answer your question about the cataract. Tell your +papa that MY father was seventy at the time he underwent an operation; +he was most reluctant to try the experiment; could not believe that, at +his age, and with his want of robust strength, it would succeed. I was +obliged to be very decided in the matter, and to act entirely on my own +responsibility. Nearly six years have now elapsed since the cataract +was extracted (it was not merely depressed); he has never once during +that time regretted the step, and a day seldom passes that he does not +express gratitude and pleasure at the restoration of that inestimable +privilege of vision whose loss he once knew." + +I had given Miss Brontë; in one of my letters, an outline of the story +on which I was then engaged, and in reply she says:-- + +"The sketch you give of your work (respecting which I am, of course, +dumb) seems to me very noble; and its purpose may be as useful in +practical result as it is high and just in theoretical tendency. Such a +book may restore hope and energy to many who thought they had forfeited +their right to both; and open a clear course for honourable effort to +some who deemed that they and all honour had parted company in this +world. + +"Yet--hear my protest! + +"Why should she die? Why are we to shut up the book weeping? + +"My heart fails me already at the thought of the pang it will have to +undergo. And yet you must follow the impulse of your own inspiration. +If THAT commands the slaying of the victim, no bystander has a right to +put out his hand to stay the sacrificial knife: but I hold you a stern +priestess in these matters." + +As the milder weather came on, her health improved, and her power of +writing increased. She set herself with redoubled vigour to the work +before her; and denied herself pleasure for the purpose of steady +labour. Hence she writes to her friend:-- + +"May 11th. + +"Dear E----, --I must adhere to my resolution of neither visiting nor +being visited at present. Stay you quietly at B., till you go to S., as +I shall stay at Haworth; as sincere a farewell can be taken with the +heart as with the lips, and perhaps less painful. I am glad the weather +is changed; the return of the south-west wind suits me; but I hope you +have no cause to regret the departure of your favourite east wind. What +you say about ---- does not surprise me; I have had many little notes +(whereof I answer about one in three) breathing the same spirit,--self +and child the sole all-absorbing topics, on which the changes are rung +even to weariness. But I suppose one must not heed it, or think the case +singular. Nor, I am afraid, must one expect her to improve. I read in a +French book lately, a sentence to this effect, that 'marriage might be +defined as the state of two-fold selfishness.' Let the single therefore +take comfort. Thank you for Mary's letter. She DOES seem most happy; +and I cannot tell you how much more real, lasting, and better-warranted +her happiness seems than ever ----'s did. I think so much of it is in +herself, and her own serene, pure, trusting, religious nature. ----'s +always gives me the idea of a vacillating, unsteady rapture, entirely +dependent on circumstances with all their fluctuations. If Mary lives to +be a mother, you will then see a greater difference. + +"I wish you, dear E., all health and enjoyment in your visit; and, as +far as one can judge at present, there seems a fair prospect of the wish +being realised.--Yours sincerely, + +"C. BRONTË." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The reader will remember that Anne Brontë had been interred in the +churchyard of the Old Church at Scarborough. Charlotte had left +directions for a tombstone to be placed over her; but many a time during +the solitude of the past winter, her sad, anxious thoughts had revisited +the scene of that last great sorrow, and she had wondered whether all +decent services had been rendered to the memory of the dead, until at +last she came to a silent resolution to go and see for herself whether +the stone and inscription were in a satisfactory state of preservation. + +"Cliffe House, Filey, June 6th, 1852. + +"Dear E----, --I am at Filey utterly alone. Do not be angry, the step +is right. I considered it, and resolved on it with due deliberation. +Change of air was necessary; there were reasons why I should NOT go to +the south, and why I should come here. On Friday I went to Scarborough, +visited the churchyard and stone. It must be refaced and relettered; +there are five errors. I gave the necessary directions. THAT duty, then, +is done; long has it lain heavy on my mind; and that was a pilgrimage I +felt I could only make alone. + +"I am in our old lodgings at Mrs. Smith's; not, however, in the same +rooms, but in less expensive apartments. They seemed glad to see me, +remembered you and me very well, and, seemingly, with great good will. +The daughter who used to wait on us is just married. Filey seems to me +much altered; more lodging-houses--some of them very handsome--have been +built; the sea has all its old grandeur. I walk on the sands a good +deal, and try NOT to feel desolate and melancholy. How sorely my heart +longs for you, I need not say. I have bathed once; it seemed to do me +good. I may, perhaps, stay here a fortnight. There are as yet scarcely +any visitors. A Lady Wenlock is staying at the large house of which +you used so vigilantly to observe the inmates. One day I set out with +intent to trudge to Filey Bridge, but was frightened back by two cows. +I mean to try again some morning. I left papa well. I have been a good +deal troubled with headache, and with some pain in the side since I came +here, but I feel that this has been owing to the cold wind, for very +cold has it been till lately; at present I feel better. Shall I send +the papers to you as usual. Write again directly, and tell me this, and +anything and everything else that comes into your mind.--Believe me, +yours faithfully, + +"C. BRONTË." + +"Filey, June 16th, 1852. + +"Dear E----, --Be quite easy about me. I really think I am better for my +stay at Filey; that I have derived more benefit from it than I dared to +anticipate. I believe, could I stay here two months, and enjoy something +like social cheerfulness as well as exercise and good air, my health +would be quite renewed. This, however, cannot possibly be; but I am most +thankful for the good received. I stay here another week. + +"I return ----'s letter. I am sorry for her: I believe she suffers; but +I do not much like her style of expressing herself. . . . Grief as well +as joy manifests itself in most different ways in different people; +and I doubt not she is sincere and in earnest when she talks of her +'precious, sainted father;' but I could wish she used simpler language." + +Soon after her return from Filey, she was alarmed by a very serious and +sharp attack of illness with which Mr. Brontë was seized. There was +some fear, for a few days, that his sight was permanently lost, and his +spirits sank painfully under this dread. + +"This prostration of spirits," writes his daughter, "which accompanies +anything like a relapse is almost the most difficult point to manage. +Dear E----, you are tenderly kind in offering your society; but +rest very tranquil where you are; be fully assured that it is not +now, nor under present circumstances, that I feel the lack either +of society or occupation; my time is pretty well filled up, and my +thoughts appropriated. . . . I cannot permit myself to comment much +on the chief contents of your last; advice is not necessary: as far +as I can judge, you seem hitherto enabled to take these trials in a +good and wise spirit. I can only pray that such combined strength and +resignation may be continued to you. Submission, courage, exertion, +when practicable--these seem to be the weapons with which we must fight +life's long battle." + +I suppose that, during the very time when her thoughts were thus fully +occupied with anxiety for her father, she received some letter from her +publishers, making inquiry as to the progress of the work which they +knew she had in hand, as I find the following letter to Mr. Williams, +bearing reference to some of Messrs. Smith and Elder's proposed +arrangements. + +"To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"July 28th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--Is it in contemplation to publish the new edition +of 'Shirley' soon? Would it not be better to defer it for a time? +In reference to a part of your letter, permit me to express this +wish,--and I trust in doing so, I shall not be regarded as stepping out +of my position as an author, and encroaching on the arrangements of +business,--viz.: that no announcement of a new work by the author of +'Jane Eyre' shall be made till the MS. of such work is actually in my +publisher's hands. Perhaps we are none of us justified in speaking very +decidedly where the future is concerned; but for some too much caution +in such calculations can scarcely be observed: amongst this number I +must class myself. Nor, in doing so, can I assume an apologetic tone. He +does right who does his best. + +"Last autumn I got on for a time quickly. I ventured to look forward to +spring as the period of publication: my health gave way; I passed such +a winter as, having been once experienced, will never be forgotten. +The spring proved little better than a protraction of trial. The warm +weather and a visit to the sea have done me much good physically; but as +yet I have recovered neither elasticity of animal spirits, nor flow of +the power of composition. And if it were otherwise, the difference would +be of no avail; my time and thoughts are at present taken up with close +attendance on my father, whose health is just now in a very critical +state, the heat of the weather having produced determination of blood to +the head.--I am, yours sincerely, + +C. BRONTË." + +Before the end of August, Mr. Brontë's convalescence became quite +established, and he was anxious to resume his duties for some time +before his careful daughter would permit him. + +On September the 14th the "great duke" died. He had been, as we have +seen, her hero from childhood; but I find no further reference to him at +this time than what is given in the following extract from a letter to +her friend:-- + +"I do hope and believe the changes you have been having this summer will +do you permanent good, notwithstanding the pain with which they have +been too often mingled. Yet I feel glad that you are soon coming home; +and I really must not trust myself to say how much I wish the time were +come when, without let or hindrance, I could once more welcome you to +Haworth. But oh I don't get on; I feel fretted--incapable--sometimes +very low. However, at present, the subject must not be dwelt upon; it +presses me too hardly--nearly--and painfully. Less than ever can I taste +or know pleasure till this work is wound up. And yet I often sit up in +bed at night, thinking of and wishing for you. Thank you for the Times; +what it said on the mighty and mournful subject was well said. All at +once the whole nation seems to take a just view of that great character. +There was a review too of an American book, which I was glad to see. +Read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin': probably, though, you have read it. + +"Papa's health continues satisfactory, thank God! As for me, my wretched +liver has been disordered again of late, but I hope it is now going to +be on better behaviour; it hinders me in working--depresses both power +and tone of feeling. I must expect this derangement from time to time." + +Haworth was in an unhealthy state, as usual; and both Miss Brontë and +Tabby suffered severely from the prevailing epidemics. The former was +long in shaking off the effects of this illness. In vain she resolved +against allowing herself any society or change of scene until she had +accomplished her labour. She was too ill to write; and with illness +came on the old heaviness of heart, recollections of the past, and +anticipations of the future. At last Mr. Brontë expressed so strong a +wish that her friend should be asked to visit her, and she felt some +little refreshment so absolutely necessary, that on October the 9th she +begged her to come to Haworth, just for a single week. + +"I thought I would persist in denying myself till I had done my work, +but I find it won't do; the matter refuses to progress, and this +excessive solitude presses too heavily; so let me see your dear face, +E., just for one reviving week." + +But she would only accept of the company of her friend for the exact +time specified. She thus writes to Miss Wooler on October the 21st:-- + +"E---- has only been my companion one little week. I would not have her +any longer, for I am disgusted with myself and my delays; and consider +it was a weak yielding to temptation in me to send for her at all; but +in truth, my spirits were getting low--prostrate sometimes--and she has +done me inexpressible good. I wonder when I shall see you at Haworth +again; both my father and the servants have again and again insinuated +a distinct wish that you should be requested to come in the course of +the summer and autumn, but I have always turned rather a deaf ear; +'not yet,' was my thought, 'I want first to be free;' work first, then +pleasure." + +Miss ----'s visit had done her much good. Pleasant companionship during +the day produced, for the time, the unusual blessing of calm repose at +night; and after her friend's departure she was well enough to "fall to +business," and write away, almost incessantly, at her story of Villette, +now drawing to a conclusion. The following letter to Mr. Smith, seems to +have accompanied the first part of the MS. + +"Oct. 30th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--You must notify honestly what you think of 'Villette' +when you have read it. I can hardly tell you how I hunger to hear some +opinion besides my own, and how I have sometimes desponded, and almost +despaired, because there was no one to whom to read a line, or of whom +to ask a counsel. 'Jane Eyre' was not written under such circumstances, +nor were two-thirds of 'Shirley'. I got so miserable about it, I could +bear no allusion to the book. It is not finished yet; but now I hope. +As to the anonymous publication, I have this to say: If the withholding +of the author's name should tend materially to injure the publisher's +interest, to interfere with booksellers' orders, etc., I would not press +the point; but if no such detriment is contingent, I should be most +thankful for the sheltering shadow of an incognito. I seem to dread the +advertisements--the large-lettered 'Currer Bell's New Novel,' or 'New +Work, by the Author of Jane Eyre.' These, however, I feel well enough, +are the transcendentalisms of a retired wretch; so you must speak +frankly. . . . I shall be glad to see 'Colonel Esmond.' My objection to +the second volume lay here: I thought it contained decidedly too much +history--too little story." + +In another letter, referring to "Esmond," she uses the following words:-- + +"The third volume seemed to me to possess the most sparkle, impetus, +and interest. Of the first and second my judgment was, that parts of +them were admirable; but there was the fault of containing too much +History--too little story. I hold that a work of fiction ought to be a +work of creation: that the REAL should be sparingly introduced in pages +dedicated to the IDEAL. Plain household bread is a far more wholesome +and necessary thing than cake; yet who would like to see the brown loaf +placed on the table for dessert? In the second volume, the author gives +us an ample supply of excellent brown bread; in his third, only such a +portion as gives substance, like the crumbs of bread in a well-made, not +too rich, plum-pudding." + +Her letter to Mr. Smith, containing the allusion to 'Esmond,' which +reminded me of the quotation just given continues:-- + +"You will see that 'Villette' touches on no matter of public interest. +I cannot write books handling the topics of the day; it is of no use +trying. Nor can I write a book for its moral. Nor can I take up a +philanthropic scheme, though I honour philanthropy; and voluntarily and +sincerely veil my face before such a mighty subject as that handled in +Mrs. Beecher Stowe's work, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' To manage these great +matters rightly, they must be long and practically studied--their +bearings known intimately, and their evils felt genuinely; they must not +be taken up as a business matter, and a trading speculation. I doubt +not, Mrs. Stowe had felt the iron of slavery enter into her heart, +from childhood upwards, long before she ever thought of writing books. +The feeling throughout her work is sincere, and not got up. Remember +to be an honest critic of 'Villette,' and tell Mr. Williams to be +unsparing: not that I am likely to alter anything, but I want to know +his impressions and yours." + +To G. SMITH, ESQ. + +"Nov. 3rd. + +"My dear Sir,--I feel very grateful for your letter; it relieved me +much, for I was a good deal harassed by doubts as to how 'Villette' +might appear in other eyes than my own. I feel in some degree authorised +to rely on your favourable impressions, because you are quite right +where you hint disapprobation. You have exactly hit two points at +least where I was conscious of defect;--the discrepancy, the want of +perfect harmony, between Graham's boyhood and manhood,--the angular +abruptness of his change of sentiment towards Miss Fanshawe. You must +remember, though, that in secret he had for some time appreciated that +young lady at a somewhat depressed standard--held her a LITTLE lower +than the angels. But still the reader ought to have been better made to +feel this preparation towards a change of mood. As to the publishing +arrangement, I leave them to Cornhill. There is, undoubtedly, a certain +force in what you say about the inexpediency of affecting a mystery +which cannot be sustained; so you must act as you think is for the +best. I submit, also, to the advertisements in large letters, but under +protest, and with a kind of ostrich-longing for concealment. Most of the +third volume is given to the development of the 'crabbed Professor's' +character. Lucy must not marry Dr. John; he is far too youthful, +handsome, bright-spirited, and sweet-tempered; he is a 'curled darling' +of Nature and of Fortune, and must draw a prize in life's lottery. His +wife must be young, rich, pretty; he must be made very happy indeed. If +Lucy marries anybody, it must be the Professor--a man in whom there is +much to forgive, much to 'put up with.' But I am not leniently disposed +towards Miss FROST from the beginning, I never meant to appoint her +lines in pleasant places. The conclusion of this third volume is still +a matter of some anxiety: I can but do my best, however. It would +speedily be finished, could I ward off certain obnoxious headaches, +which, whenever I get into the spirit of my work, are apt to seize and +prostrate me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +"Colonel Henry Esmond is just arrived. He looks very antique and +distinguished in his Queen Anne's garb; the periwig, sword, lace, and +ruffles are very well represented by the old 'Spectator' type." + +In reference to a sentence towards the close of this letter, I may +mention what she told me; that Mr. Brontë was anxious that her new +tale should end well, as he disliked novels which left a melancholy +impression upon the mind; and he requested her to make her hero and +heroine (like the heroes and heroines in fairy-tales) "marry, and live +very happily ever after." But the idea of M. Paul Emanuel's death at sea +was stamped on her imagination till it assumed the distinct force of +reality; and she could no more alter her fictitious ending than if they +had been facts which she was relating. All she could do in compliance +with her father's wish was so to veil the fate in oracular words, as to +leave it to the character and discernment of her readers to interpret +her meaning. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Nov. 6th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--I must not delay thanking you for your kind letter, +with its candid and able commentary on 'Villette.' With many of your +strictures I concur. The third volume may, perhaps, do away with some +of the objections; others still remain in force. I do not think the +interest culminates anywhere to the degree you would wish. What climax +there is does not come on till near the conclusion; and even then, I +doubt whether the regular novel-reader will consider the 'agony piled +sufficiently high' (as the Americans say), or the colours dashed on to +the canvas with the proper amount of daring. Still, I fear, they must be +satisfied with what is offered: my palette affords no brighter tints; +were I to attempt to deepen the reds, or burnish the yellows, I should +but botch. + +"Unless I am mistaken, the emotion of the book will be found to be kept +throughout in tolerable subjection. As to the name of the heroine, I +can hardly express what subtlety of thought made me decide upon giving +her a cold name; but, at first, I called her 'Lucy Snowe' (spelt with +an 'e'); which Snowe I afterwards changed to 'Frost.' Subsequently, I +rather regretted the change, and wished it 'Snowe' again. If not too +late, I should like the alteration to be made now throughout the MS. A +COLD name she must have; partly, perhaps, on the 'lucus a non lucendo' +principle--partly on that of the 'fitness of things,' for she has about +her an external coldness. + +"You say that she may be thought morbid and weak, unless the history of +her life be more fully given. I consider that she is both morbid and +weak at times; her character sets up no pretensions to unmixed strength, +and anybody living her life would necessarily become morbid. It was no +impetus of healthy feeling which urged her to the confessional, for +instance; it was the semi-delirium of solitary grief and sickness. If, +however, the book does not express all this, there must be a great fault +somewhere. I might explain away a few other points, but it would be too +much like drawing a picture and then writing underneath the name of the +object intended to be represented. We know what sort of a pencil that is +which needs an ally in the pen. + +"Thanking you again for the clearness and fulness with which you have +responded to my request for a statement of impressions, I am, my dear +Sir, yours very sincerely, + +"C. BRONTË." + +"I trust the work will be seen in MS. by no one except Mr. Smith and +yourself." + +"Nov. 10th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--I only wished the publication of 'Shirley' to be delayed +till 'Villette' was nearly ready; so that there can now be no objection +to its being issued whenever you think fit. About putting the MS. into +type, I can only say that, should I be able to proceed with the third +volume at my average rate of composition, and with no more than the +average amount of interruptions, I should hope to have it ready in about +three weeks. I leave it to you to decide whether it would be better to +delay the printing that space of time, or to commence it immediately. +It would certainly be more satisfactory if you were to see the third +volume before printing the first and the second; yet, if delay is likely +to prove injurious, I do not think it is indispensable. I have read the +third volume of 'Esmond.' I found it both entertaining and exciting +to me; it seems to possess an impetus and excitement beyond the other +two,--that movement and brilliancy its predecessors sometimes wanted, +never fails here. In certain passages, I thought Thackeray used all his +powers; their grand, serious force yielded a profound satisfaction. 'At +last he puts forth his strength,' I could not help saying to myself. No +character in the book strikes me as more masterly than that of Beatrix; +its conception is fresh, and its delineation vivid. It is peculiar; it +has impressions of a new kind--new, at least, to me. Beatrix is not, +in herself, all bad. So much does she sometimes reveal of what is good +and great as to suggest this feeling--you would think she was urged by +a fate. You would think that some antique doom presses on her house, +and that once in so many generations its brightest ornament was to +become its greatest disgrace. At times, what is good in her struggles +against this terrible destiny, but the Fate conquers. Beatrix cannot +be an honest woman and a good man's wife. She 'tries, and she CANNOT.' +Proud, beautiful, and sullied, she was born what she becomes, a king's +mistress. I know not whether you have seen the notice in the Leader; +I read it just after concluding the book. Can I be wrong in deeming +it a notice tame, cold, and insufficient? With all its professed +friendliness, it produced on me a most disheartening impression. +Surely, another sort of justice than this will be rendered to 'Esmond' +from other quarters. One acute remark of the critic is to the effect +that Blanche Amory and Beatrix are identical--sketched from the same +original! To me they are about as identical as a weazel and a royal +tigress of Bengal; both the latter are quadrupeds,--both the former, +women. But I must not take up either your time or my own with further +remarks. Believe me yours sincerely, + +"C. BRONTË." + +On a Saturday, a little later in this month, Miss Brontë completed +'Villette,' and sent it off to her publishers. "I said my prayers when +I had done it. Whether it is well or ill done, I don't know; D. V., I +will now try and wait the issue quietly. The book, I think, will not be +considered pretentious; nor is it of a character to excite hostility." + +As her labour was ended, she felt at liberty to allow herself a little +change. There were several friends anxious to see her and welcome her +to their homes Miss Martineau, Mrs. Smith, and her own faithful E----. +With the last, in the same letter as that in which she announced the +completion of 'Villette,' she offered to spend a week. She began, also, +to consider whether it might not be well to avail herself of Mrs. +Smith's kind invitation, with a view to the convenience of being on the +spot to correct the proofs. + +The following letter is given, not merely on account of her own +criticisms on 'Villette,' but because it shows how she had learned to +magnify the meaning of trifles, as all do who live a self-contained +and solitary life. Mr. Smith had been unable to write by the same post +as that which brought the money for 'Villette,' and she consequently +received it without a line. The friend with whom she was staying says, +that she immediately fancied there was some disappointment about +'Villette,' or that some word or act of hers had given offence; and had +not the Sunday intervened, and so allowed time for Mr. Smith's letter to +make its appearance, she would certainly have crossed it on her way to +London. + +"Dec. 6th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--The receipts have reached me safely. I received the first +on Saturday, enclosed in a cover without a line, and had made up my +mind to take the train on Monday, and go up to London to see what was +the matter, and what had struck my publisher mute. On Sunday morning +your letter came, and you have thus been spared the visitation of the +unannounced and unsummoned apparition of Currer Bell in Cornhill. +Inexplicable delays should be avoided when possible, for they are apt to +urge those subjected to their harassment to sudden and impulsive steps. +I must pronounce you right again, in your complaint of the transfer of +interest in the third volume, from one set of characters to another. +It is not pleasant, and it will probably be found as unwelcome to the +reader, as it was, in a sense, compulsory upon the writer. The spirit +of romance would have indicated another course, far more flowery and +inviting; it would have fashioned a paramount hero, kept faithfully with +him, and made him supremely worshipful; he should have been an idol, and +not a mute, unresponding idol either; but this would have been unlike +real LIFE--inconsistent with truth--at variance with probability. I +greatly apprehend, however, that the weakest character in the book is +the one I aimed at making the most beautiful; and, if this be the case, +the fault lies in its wanting the germ of the real--in its being purely +imaginary. I felt that this character lacked substance; I fear that the +reader will feel the same. Union with it resembles too much the fate of +Ixion, who was mated with a cloud. The childhood of Paulina is, however, +I think, pretty well imagined, but her. . ." (the remainder of this +interesting sentence is torn off the letter). "A brief visit to London +becomes thus more practicable, and if your mother will kindly write, +when she has time, and name a day after Christmas which will suit her, I +shall have pleasure, papa's health permitting, in availing myself of her +invitation. I wish I could come in time to correct some at least of the +proofs; it would save trouble." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The difficulty that presented itself most strongly to me, when I first +had the honour of being requested to write this biography, was how I +could show what a noble, true, and tender woman Charlotte Brontë really +was, without mingling up with her life too much of the personal history +of her nearest and most intimate friends. After much consideration of +this point, I came to the resolution of writing truly, if I wrote at +all; of withholding nothing, though some things, from their very nature, +could not be spoken of so fully as others. + +One of the deepest interests of her life centres naturally round +her marriage, and the preceding circumstances; but more than all +other events (because of more recent date, and concerning another as +intimately as herself), it requires delicate handling on my part, lest +I intrude too roughly on what is most sacred to memory. Yet I have +two reasons, which seem to me good and valid ones, for giving some +particulars of the course of events which led to her few months of +wedded life--that short spell of exceeding happiness. The first is my +desire to call attention to the fact that Mr. Nicholls was one who had +seen her almost daily for years; seen her as a daughter, a sister, a +mistress and a friend. He was not a man to be attracted by any kind of +literary fame. I imagine that this, by itself, would rather repel him +when he saw it in the possession of a woman. He was a grave, reserved, +conscientious man, with a deep sense of religion, and of his duties as +one of its ministers. + +In silence he had watched her, and loved her long. The love of such +a man--a daily spectator of her manner of life for years--is a great +testimony to her character as a woman. + +How deep his affection was I scarcely dare to tell, even if I could +in words. She did not know--she had hardly begun to suspect--that she +was the object of any peculiar regard on his part, when, in this very +December, he came one evening to tea. After tea, she returned from the +study to her own sitting-room, as was her custom, leaving her father +and his curate together. Presently she heard the study-door open, and +expected to hear the succeeding clash of the front door. Instead, came +a tap; and, "like lightning, it flashed upon me what was coming. He +entered. He stood before me. What his words were you can imagine; his +manner you can hardly realise, nor can I forget it. He made me, for the +first time, feel what it costs a man to declare affection when he doubts +response. . . . The spectacle of one, ordinarily so statue-like, thus +trembling, stirred, and overcome, gave me a strange shock. I could only +entreat him to leave me then, and promise a reply on the morrow. I asked +if he had spoken to Papa. He said he dared not. I think I half led, half +put him out of the room." + +So deep, so fervent, and so enduring was the affection Miss Brontë had +inspired in the heart of this good man! It is an honour to her; and, +as such, I have thought it my duty to speak thus much, and quote thus +fully from her letter about it. And now I pass to my second reason for +dwelling on a subject which may possibly be considered by some, at +first sight, of too private a nature for publication. When Mr. Nicholls +had left her, Charlotte went immediately to her father and told him +all. He always disapproved of marriages, and constantly talked against +them. But he more than disapproved at this time; he could not bear the +idea of this attachment of Mr. Nicholls to his daughter. Fearing the +consequences of agitation to one so recently an invalid, she made haste +to give her father a promise that, on the morrow, Mr. Nicholls should +have a distinct refusal. Thus quietly and modestly did she, on whom +such hard judgments had been passed by ignorant reviewers, receive this +vehement, passionate declaration of love,--thus thoughtfully for her +father, and unselfishly for herself, put aside all consideration of how +she should reply, excepting as he wished! + +The immediate result of Mr. Nicholls' declaration of attachment was, +that he sent in his resignation of the curacy of Haworth; and that +Miss Brontë held herself simply passive, as far as words and actions +went, while she suffered acute pain from the strong expressions which +her father used in speaking of Mr. Nicholls, and from the too evident +distress and failure of health on the part of the latter. Under these +circumstances she, more gladly than ever, availed herself of Mrs. +Smith's proposal, that she should again visit them in London; and +thither she accordingly went in the first week of the year 1853. + +From thence I received the following letter. It is with a sad, proud +pleasure I copy her words of friendship now. + +"January 12th, 1853. + +"It is with YOU the ball rests. I have not heard from you since I wrote +last; but I thought I knew the reason of your silence, viz. application +to work,--and therefore I accept it, not merely with resignation, but +with satisfaction. + +"I am now in London, as the date above will show; staying very quietly +at my publisher's, and correcting proofs, etc. Before receiving yours, +I had felt, and expressed to Mr. Smith, reluctance to come in the +way of 'Ruth;' not that I think SHE would suffer from contact with +'Villette'--we know not but that the damage might be the other way; but +I have ever held comparisons to be odious, and would fain that neither I +nor my friends should be made subjects for the same. Mr. Smith proposes, +accordingly, to defer the publication of my book till the 24th inst.; +he says that will give 'Ruth' the start in the papers daily and weekly, +and also will leave free to her all the February magazines. Should this +delay appear to you insufficient, speak! and it shall be protracted. + +"I dare say, arrange as we may, we shall not be able wholly to prevent +comparisons; it is the nature of some critics to be invidious; but we +need not care we can set them at defiance; they SHALL not make us foes, +they SHALL not mingle with our mutual feelings one taint of jealousy +there is my hand on that; I know you will give clasp for clasp. + +"'Villette' has indeed no right to push itself before 'Ruth.' There is a +goodness, a philanthropic purpose, a social use in the latter to which +the former cannot for an instant pretend; nor can it claim precedence on +the ground of surpassing power I think it much quieter than 'Jane Eyre.' + + * * * * * + +"I wish to see YOU, probably at least as much as you can wish to see ME, +and therefore shall consider your invitation for March as an engagement; +about the close of that month, then, I hope to pay you a brief visit. +With kindest remembrances to Mr. Gaskell and all your precious circle, I +am," etc. + +This visit at Mrs. Smith's was passed more quietly than any previous +one, and was consequently more in accordance with her own tastes. She +saw things rather than persons; and being allowed to have her own choice +of sights, she selected the "REAL in preference to the DECORATIVE +side of life." She went over two prisons,--one ancient, the other +modern,--Newgate and Pentonville; over two hospitals, the Foundling and +Bethlehem. She was also taken, at her own request, to see several of the +great City sights; the Bank, the Exchange, Rothschild's, etc. + +The power of vast yet minute organisation, always called out her respect +and admiration. She appreciated it more fully than most women are able +to do. All that she saw during this last visit to London impressed +her deeply--so much so as to render her incapable of the immediate +expression of her feelings, or of reasoning upon her impressions while +they were so vivid. If she had lived, her deep heart would sooner or +later have spoken out on these things. + +What she saw dwelt in her thoughts, and lay heavy on her spirits. She +received the utmost kindness from her hosts, and had the old, warm, and +grateful regard for them. But looking back, with the knowledge of what +was then the future, which Time has given, one cannot but imagine that +there was a toning-down in preparation for the final farewell to these +kind friends, whom she saw for the last time on a Wednesday morning in +February. She met her friend E---- at Keighley, on her return, and the +two proceeded to Haworth together. + +"Villette"--which, if less interesting as a mere story than "Jane +Eyre," displays yet more of the extraordinary genius of the author--was +received with one burst of acclamation. Out of so small a circle of +characters, dwelling in so dull and monotonous an area as a "pension," +this wonderful tale was evolved! + +See how she receives the good tidings of her success! + +"Feb. 15th, 1853. + +"I got a budget of no less than seven papers yesterday and to-day. +The import of all the notices is such as to make my heart swell with +thankfulness to Him, who takes note both of suffering, and work, and +motives. Papa is pleased too. As to friends in general, I believe I can +love them still, without expecting them to take any large share in this +sort of gratification. The longer I live, the more plainly I see that +gentle must be the strain on fragile human nature; it will not bear +much." + +I suspect that the touch of slight disappointment, perceptible in the +last few lines, arose from her great susceptibility to an opinion +she valued much,--that of Miss Martineau, who, both in an article on +'Villette' in the Daily News, and in a private letter to Miss Brontë, +wounded her to the quick by expressions of censure which she believed +to be unjust and unfounded, but which, if correct and true, went deeper +than any merely artistic fault. An author may bring himself to believe +that he can bear blame with equanimity, from whatever quarter it comes; +but its force is derived altogether from the character of this. To +the public, one reviewer may be the same impersonal being as another; +but an author has frequently a far deeper significance to attach to +opinions. They are the verdicts of those whom he respects and admires, +or the mere words of those for whose judgment he cares not a jot. It is +this knowledge of the individual worth of the reviewer's opinion, which +makes the censures of some sink so deep, and prey so heavily upon an +author's heart. And thus, in proportion to her true, firm regard for +Miss Martineau, did Miss Brontë suffer under what she considered her +misjudgment not merely of writing, but of character. + +She had long before asked Miss Martineau to tell her whether she +considered that any want of womanly delicacy or propriety was betrayed +in "Jane Eyre". And on receiving Miss Martineau's assurance that she +did not, Miss Brontë entreated her to declare it frankly if she thought +there was any failure of this description in any future work of "Currer +Bell's." The promise then given of faithful truth-speaking, Miss +Martineau fulfilled when "Villette" appeared. Miss Brontë writhed under +what she felt to be injustice. + +This seems a fitting place to state how utterly unconscious she was of +what was, by some, esteemed coarse in her writings. One day, during +that visit at the Briery when I first met her, the conversation turned +upon the subject of women's writing fiction; and some one remarked on +the fact that, in certain instances, authoresses had much outstepped +the line which men felt to be proper in works of this kind. Miss Brontë +said she wondered how far this was a natural consequence of allowing the +imagination to work too constantly; Sir James and Lady Kay Shuttleworth +and I expressed our belief that such violations of propriety were +altogether unconscious on the part of those to whom reference had been +made. I remember her grave, earnest way of saying, "I trust God will +take from me whatever power of invention or expression I may have, +before He lets me become blind to the sense of what is fitting or +unfitting to be said!" + +Again, she was invariably shocked and distressed when she heard of any +disapproval of "Jane Eyre" on the ground above-mentioned. Some one said +to her in London, "You know, you and I, Miss Brontë, have both written +naughty books!" She dwelt much on this; and, as if it weighed on her +mind, took an opportunity to ask Mrs. Smith, as she would have asked a +mother--if she had not been motherless from earliest childhood--whether, +indeed, there was anything so wrong in "Jane Eyre." + +I do not deny for myself the existence of coarseness here and there +in her works, otherwise so entirely noble. I only ask those who read +them to consider her life,--which has been openly laid bare before +them,--and to say how it could be otherwise. She saw few men; and among +these few were one or two with whom she had been acquainted since early +girlhood,--who had shown her much friendliness and kindness,--through +whose family she had received many pleasures,--for whose intellect she +had a great respect,--but who talked before her, if not to her with +as little reticence as Rochester talked to Jane Eyre. Take this in +connection with her poor brother's sad life, and the out-spoken people +among whom she lived,--remember her strong feeling of the duty of +representing life as it really is, not as it ought to be,--and then do +her justice for all that she was, and all that she would have been (had +God spared her), rather than censure her because circumstances forced +her to touch pitch, as it were, and by it her hand was for a moment +defiled. It was but skin-deep. Every change in her life was purifying +her; it hardly could raise her. Again I cry, "If she had but lived!" + +The misunderstanding with Miss Martineau on account of "Villette," was +the cause of bitter regret to Miss Brontë. Her woman's nature had been +touched, as she thought, with insulting misconception; and she had +dearly loved the person who had thus unconsciously wounded her. It was +but in the January just past that she had written as follows, in reply +to a friend, the tenor of whose letter we may guess from this answer:-- + +"I read attentively all you say about Miss Martineau; the sincerity +and constancy of your solicitude touch me very much; I should grieve +to neglect or oppose your advice, and yet I do not feel it would be +right to give Miss Martineau up entirely. There is in her nature much +that is very noble; hundreds have forsaken her, more, I fear, in the +apprehension that their fair names may suffer, if seen in connection +with hers, than from any pure convictions, such as you suggest, of harm +consequent on her fatal tenets. With these fair-weather friends I cannot +bear to rank; and for her sin, is it not one of those of which God and +not man must judge? + +"To speak the truth, my dear Miss ----, I believe, if you were in my +place, and knew Miss Martineau as I do,--if you had shared with me +the proofs of her genuine kindliness, and had seen how she secretly +suffers from abandonment,--you would be the last to give her up; you +would separate the sinner from the sin, and feel as if the right lay +rather in quietly adhering to her in her strait, while that adherence is +unfashionable and unpopular, than in turning on her your back when the +world sets the example. I believe she is one of those whom opposition +and desertion make obstinate in error; while patience and tolerance +touch her deeply and keenly, and incline her to ask of her own heart +whether the course she has been pursuing may not possibly be a faulty +course." + +Kindly and faithful words! which Miss Martineau never knew of; to be +repaid in words more grand and tender, when Charlotte lay deaf and cold +by her dead sisters. In spite of their short sorrowful misunderstanding, +they were a pair of noble women and faithful friends. + +I turn to a pleasanter subject. While she was in London, Miss Brontë had +seen Lawrence's portrait of Mr. Thackeray, and admired it extremely. Her +first words, after she had stood before it some time in silence, were, +"And there came up a Lion out of Judah!" The likeness was by this time +engraved, and Mr. Smith sent her a copy of it. + +To G. SMITH, ESQ. + +"Haworth, Feb. 26th, 1853. + +"My dear Sir,--At a late hour yesterday evening, I had the honour of +receiving, at Haworth Parsonage, a distinguished guest, none other than +W. M. Thackeray, Esq. Mindful of the rites of hospitality, I hung him up +in state this morning. He looks superb in his beautiful, tasteful gilded +gibbet. For companion he has the Duke of Wellington, (do you remember +giving me that picture?) and for contrast and foil Richmond's portrait +of an unworthy individual, who, in such society, must be name-less. +Thackeray looks away from the latter character with a grand scorn, +edifying to witness. I wonder if the giver of these gifts will ever +see them on the walls where they now hang; it pleases me to fancy that +one day he may. My father stood for a quarter of an hour this morning +examining the great man's picture. The conclusion of his survey was, +that he thought it a puzzling head; if he had known nothing previously +of the original's character; he could not have read it in his features. +I wonder at this. To me the broad brow seems to express intellect. +Certain lines about the nose and cheek, betray the satirist and cynic; +the mouth indicates a child-like simplicity--perhaps even a degree +of irresoluteness, inconsistency--weakness in short, but a weakness +not unamiable. The engraving seems to me very good. A certain not +quite Christian expression--'not to put too fine a point upon it'--an +expression of spite, most vividly marked in the original, is here +softened, and perhaps a little--a very little--of the power has escaped +in this ameliorating process. Did it strike you thus?" + +Miss Brontë was in much better health during this winter of 1852-3, than +she had been the year before. + +"For my part," (she wrote to me in February) "I have thus far borne the +cold weather well. I have taken long walks on the crackling snow, and +felt the frosty air bracing. This winter has, for me, not been like last +winter. December, January, February, '51-2, passed like a long stormy +night, conscious of one painful dream) all solitary grief and sickness. +The corresponding l in '52-3 have gone over my head quietly and not +uncheerfully. Thank God for the change and the repose! How welcome it +has been He only knows! My father too has borne the season well; and my +book, and its reception thus far, have pleased and cheered him." + +In March the quiet Parsonage had the honour of receiving a visit from +the then Bishop of Ripon. He remained one night with Mr. Brontë. In the +evening, some of the neighbouring clergy were invited to meet him at +tea and supper; and during the latter meal, some of the "curates" began +merrily to upbraid Miss Brontë with "putting them into a book;" and she, +shrinking from thus having her character as authoress thrust upon her at +her own table, and in the presence of a stranger, pleasantly appealed +to the bishop as to whether it was quite fair thus to drive her, into a +corner. His Lordship, I have been told, was agreeably impressed with the +gentle unassuming manners of his hostess, and with the perfect propriety +and consistency of the arrangements in the modest household. So much for +the Bishop's recollection of his visit. Now we will turn to hers. + +"March 4th. + +"The Bishop has been, and is gone. He is certainly a most charming +Bishop; the most benignant gentleman that ever put on lawn sleeves; +yet stately too, and quite competent to check encroachments. His +visit passed capitally well; and at its close, as he was going away, +he expressed himself thoroughly gratified with all he had seen. The +Inspector has been also in the course of the past week; so that I have +had a somewhat busy time of it. If you could have been at Haworth to +share the pleasures of the company, without having been inconvenienced +by the little bustle of the preparation, I should have been VERY glad. +But the house was a good deal put out of its way, as you may suppose; +all passed, however, orderly, quietly, and well. Martha waited very +nicely, and I had a person to help her in the kitchen. Papa kept up, +too, fully as well as I expected, though I doubt whether he could have +borne another day of it. My penalty came on in a strong headache as soon +as the Bishop was gone: how thankful I was that it had patiently waited +his departure. I continue stupid to-day: of course, it is the reaction +consequent on several days of extra exertion and excitement. It is very +well to talk of receiving a Bishop without trouble, but you MUST prepare +for him." + +By this time some of the Reviews had began to find fault with +"Villette." Miss Brontë made her old request. + +TO W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"My dear Sir,--Were a review to appear, inspired with treble their +animus, PRAY do not withhold it from me. I like to see the satisfactory +notices,--especially I like to carry them to my father; but I MUST see +such as are UNsatisfactory and hostile; these are for my own especial +edification;--it is in these I best read public feeling and opinion. +To shun examination into the dangerous and disagreeable seems to me +cowardly. I long always to know what really IS, and am only unnerved +when kept in the dark. . . . . . . + +"As to the character of 'Lucy Snowe,' my intention from the first was +that she should not occupy the pedestal to which 'Jane Eyre' was raised +by some injudicious admirers. She is where I meant her to be, and where +no charge of self-laudation can touch her. + +"The note you sent this morning from Lady Harriette St. Clair, is +precisely to the same purport as Miss Muloch's request,--an application +for exact and authentic information respecting the fate of M. Paul +Emanuel! You see how much the ladies think of this little man, whom you +none of you like. I had a letter the other day; announcing that a lady +of some note, who had always determined that whenever she married, her +husband should be the counterpart of 'Mr. Knightly' in Miss Austen's +'Emma,' had now changed her mind, and vowed that she would either find +the duplicate of Professor Emanuel, or remain for ever single! I have +sent Lady Harriette an answer so worded as to leave the matter pretty +much where it was. Since the little puzzle amuses the ladies, it would +be a pity to spoil their sport by giving them the key." + +When Easter, with its duties arising out of sermons to be preached +by strange clergymen who had afterwards to be entertained at +the Parsonage,--with Mechanics' Institute Meetings, and school +tea-drinkings, was over and gone; she came, at the close of April, to +visit us in Manchester. We had a friend, a young lady, staying with us. +Miss Brontë had expected to find us alone; and although our friend was +gentle and sensible after Miss Brontë's own heart, yet her presence was +enough to create a nervous tremour. I was aware that both of our guests +were unusually silent; and I saw a little shiver run from time to time +over Miss Brontë's frame. I could account for the modest reserve of the +young lady; and the next day Miss Brontë told me how the unexpected +sight of a strange face had affected her. + +It was now two or three years since I had witnessed a similar effect +produced on her; in anticipation of a quiet evening at Fox-How; and +since then she had seen many and various people in London: but the +physical sensations produced by shyness were still the same; and on +the following day she laboured under severe headache. I had several +opportunities of perceiving how this nervousness was ingrained in her +constitution, and how acutely she suffered in striving to overcome it. +One evening we had, among other guests, two sisters who sang Scottish +ballads exquisitely. Miss Brontë had been sitting quiet and constrained +till they began "The Bonnie House of Airlie," but the effect of that and +"Carlisle Yetts," which followed, was as irresistible as the playing +of the Piper of Hamelin. The beautiful clear light came into her eyes; +her lips quivered with emotion; she forgot herself, rose, and crossed +the room to the piano, where she asked eagerly for song after song. +The sisters begged her to come and see them the next morning, when +they would sing as long as ever she liked; and she promised gladly and +thankfully. But on reaching the house her courage failed. We walked some +time up and down the street; she upbraiding herself all the while for +folly, and trying to dwell on the sweet echoes in her memory rather than +on the thought of a third sister who would have to be faced if we went +in. But it was of no use; and dreading lest this struggle with herself +might bring on one of her trying headaches, I entered at last and made +the best apology I could for her non-appearance. Much of this nervous +dread of encountering strangers I ascribed to the idea of her personal +ugliness, which had been strongly impressed upon her imagination early +in life, and which she exaggerated to herself in a remarkable manner. "I +notice," said she, "that after a stranger has once looked at my face, he +is careful not to let his eyes wander to that part of the room again!" +A more untrue idea never entered into any one's head. Two gentlemen +who saw her during this visit, without knowing at the time who she +was, were singularly attracted by her appearance; and this feeling of +attraction towards a pleasant countenance, sweet voice, and gentle timid +manners, was so strong in one as to conquer a dislike he had previously +entertained to her works. + +There was another circumstance that came to my knowledge at this period +which told secrets about the finely-strung frame. One night I was on +the point of relating some dismal ghost story, just before bed-time. +She shrank from hearing it, and confessed that she was superstitious, +and, prone at all times to the involuntary recurrence of any thoughts of +ominous gloom which might have been suggested to her. She said that on +first coming to us, she had found a letter on her dressing-table from a +friend in Yorkshire, containing a story which had impressed her vividly +ever since;--that it mingled with her dreams at night, and made her +sleep restless and unrefreshing. + +One day we asked two gentlemen to meet her at dinner; expecting that +she and they would have a mutual pleasure in making each other's +acquaintance. To our disappointment she drew back with timid reserve +from all their advances, replying to their questions and remarks in the +briefest manner possible; till at last they gave up their efforts to +draw her into conversation in despair, and talked to each other and my +husband on subjects of recent local interest. Among these Thackeray's +Lectures (which had lately been delivered in Manchester) were spoken of +and that on Fielding especially dwelt upon. One gentleman objected to +it strongly, as calculated to do moral harm, and regretted that a man +having so great an influence over the tone of thought of the day, as +Thackeray, should not more carefully weigh his words. The other took the +opposite view. He said that Thackeray described men from the inside, as +it were; through his strong power of dramatic sympathy, he identified +himself with certain characters, felt their temptations, entered into +their pleasures, etc. This roused Miss Brontë, who threw herself warmly +into the discussion; the ice of her reserve was broken, and from that +time she showed her interest in all that was said, and contributed her +share to any conversation that was going on in the course of the evening. + +What she said, and which part she took, in the dispute about Thackeray's +lecture, may be gathered from the following letter, referring to the +same subject:-- + +"The Lectures arrived safely; I have read them through twice. They +must be studied to be appreciated. I thought well of them when I heard +them delivered, but now I see their real power; and it is great. The +lecture on Swift was new to me; I thought it almost matchless. Not +that by any means I always agree with Mr. Thackeray's opinions, but +his force, his penetration, his pithy simplicity, his eloquence--his +manly sonorous eloquence,--command entire admiration. . . . Against +his errors I protest, were it treason to do so. I was present at the +Fielding lecture: the hour spent in listening to it was a painful hour. +That Thackeray was wrong in his way of treating Fielding's character +and vices, my conscience told me. After reading that lecture, I trebly +felt that he was wrong--dangerously wrong. Had Thackeray owned a son, +grown, or growing up, and a son, brilliant but reckless--would he have +spoken in that light way of courses that lead to disgrace and the grave? +He speaks of it all as if he theorised; as if he had never been called +on, in the course of his life, to witness the actual consequences of +such failings; as if he had never stood by and seen the issue, the final +result of it all. I believe, if only once the prospect of a promising +life blasted on the outset by wild ways had passed close under his eyes, +he never COULD have spoken with such levity of what led to its piteous +destruction. Had I a brother yet living, I should tremble to let him +read Thackeray's lecture on Fielding. I should hide it away from him. +If, in spite of precaution, it should fall into his hands, I should +earnestly pray him not to be misled by the voice of the charmer, let him +charm never so wisely. Not that for a moment I would have had Thackeray +to ABUSE Fielding, or even Pharisaically to condemn his life; but I do +most deeply grieve that it never entered into his heart sadly and nearly +to feel the peril of such a career, that he might have dedicated some of +his great strength to a potent warning against its adoption by any young +man. I believe temptation often assails the finest manly natures; as the +pecking sparrow or destructive wasp attacks the sweetest and mellowest +fruit, eschewing what is sour and crude. The true lover of his race +ought to devote his vigour to guard and protect; he should sweep away +every lure with a kind of rage at its treachery. You will think this far +too serious, I dare say; but the subject is serious, and one cannot help +feeling upon it earnestly." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +After her visit to Manchester, she had to return to a re-opening of the +painful circumstances of the previous winter, as the time drew near for +Mr. Nicholl's departure from Haworth. A testimonial of respect from +the parishioners was presented, at a public meeting, to one who had +faithfully served them for eight years: and he left the place, and she +saw no chance of hearing a word about him in the future, unless it was +some second-hand scrap of intelligence, dropped out accidentally by one +of the neighbouring clergymen. + +I had promised to pay her a visit on my return from London in June; but, +after the day was fixed, a letter came from Mr. Brontë, saying that she +was suffering from so severe an attack of influenza, accompanied with +such excruciating pain in the head, that he must request me to defer my +visit until she was better. While sorry for the cause, I did not regret +that my going was delayed till the season when the moors would be all +glorious with the purple bloom of the heather; and thus present a scene +about which she had often spoken to me. So we agreed that I should +not come to her before August or September. Meanwhile, I received a +letter from which I am tempted to take an extract, as it shows both her +conception of what fictitious writing ought to be, and her always kindly +interest in what I was doing. + +"July 9th, 1853. + +"Thank you for your letter; it was as pleasant as a quiet chat, as +welcome as spring showers, as reviving as a friend's visit; in short, +it was very like a page of 'Cranford.' . . . A thought strikes me. Do +you, who have so many friends,--so large a circle of acquaintance,--find +it easy, when you sit down to write, to isolate yourself from all +those ties, and their sweet associations, so as to be your OWN WOMAN, +uninfluenced or swayed by the consciousness of how your work may affect +other minds; what blame or what sympathy it may call forth? Does no +luminous cloud ever come between you and the severe Truth, as you know +it in your own secret and clear-seeing soul? In a word, are you never +tempted to make your characters more amiable than the Life, by the +inclination to assimilate your thoughts to the thoughts of those who +always FEEL kindly, but sometimes fail to SEE justly? Don't answer the +question; it is not intended to be answered. . . . Your account of Mrs. +Stowe was stimulatingly interesting. I long to see you, to get you to +say it, and many other things, all over again. My father continues +better. I am better too; but to-day I have a headache again, which will +hardly let me write coherently. Give my dear love to M. and M., dear +happy girls as they are. You cannot now transmit my message to F. and +J. I prized the little wild-flower,--not that I think the sender cares +for me; she DOES not, and CANNOT, for she does not know me;--but no +matter. In my reminiscences she is a person of a certain distinction. I +think hers a fine little nature, frank and of genuine promise. I often +see her; as she appeared, stepping supreme from the portico towards the +carriage, that evening we went to see 'Twelfth Night.' I believe in J.'s +future; I like what speaks in her movements, and what is written upon +her face." + +Towards the latter end of September I went to Haworth. At the risk of +repeating something which I have previously said, I will copy out parts +of a letter which I wrote at the time. + +"It was a dull, drizzly Indian-inky day, all the way on the railroad to +Keighley, which is a rising wool-manufacturing town, lying in a hollow +between hills--not a pretty hollow, but more what the Yorkshire people +call a 'bottom,' or 'botham.' I left Keighley in a car for Haworth, +four miles off--four tough, steep, scrambling miles, the road winding +between the wavelike hills that rose and fell on every side of the +horizon, with a long illimitable sinuous look, as if they were a part of +the line of the Great Serpent, which the Norse legend says girdles the +world. The day was lead-coloured; the road had stone factories alongside +of it,--grey, dull-coloured rows of stone cottages belonging to these +factories, and then we came to poor, hungry-looking fields;--stone +fences everywhere, and trees nowhere. Haworth is a long, straggling +village one steep narrow street--so steep that the flag-stones with +which it is paved are placed end-ways, that the horses' feet may have +something to cling to, and not slip down backwards; which if they did, +they would soon reach Keighley. But if the horses had cats' feet and +claws, they would do all the better. Well, we (the man, horse, car; +and I) clambered up this street, and reached the church dedicated to +St. Autest (who was he?); then we turned off into a lane on the left, +past the curate's lodging at the Sexton's, past the school-house, up +to the Parsonage yard-door. I went round the house to the front door, +looking to the church;--moors everywhere beyond and above. The crowded +grave-yard surrounds the house and small grass enclosure for drying +clothes. + +"I don't know that I ever saw a spot more exquisitely clean; the +most dainty place for that I ever saw. To be sure, the life is like +clock-work. No one comes to the house; nothing disturbs the deep repose; +hardly a voice is heard; you catch the ticking of the clock in the +kitchen, or the buzzing of a fly in the parlour, all over the house. +Miss Brontë sits alone in her parlour; breakfasting with her father in +his study at nine o'clock. She helps in the housework; for one of their +servants, Tabby, is nearly ninety, and the other only a girl. Then I +accompanied her in her walks on the sweeping moors the heather-bloom +had been blighted by a thunder-storm a day or two before, and was all +of a livid brown colour, instead of the blaze of purple glory it ought +to have been. Oh those high, wild, desolate moors, up above the whole +world, and the very realms of silence! Home to dinner at two. Mr. Brontë +has his dinner sent into him. All the small table arrangements had the +same dainty simplicity about them. Then we rested, and talked over the +clear, bright fire; it is a cold country, and the fires were a pretty +warm dancing light all over the house. The parlour had been evidently +refurnished within the last few years, since Miss Brontë's success has +enabled her to have a little more money to spend. Everything fits into, +and is in harmony with, the idea of a country parsonage, possessed by +people of very moderate means. The prevailing colour of the room is +crimson, to make a warm setting for the cold grey landscape without. +There is her likeness by Richmond, and an engraving from Lawrence's +picture of Thackeray; and two recesses, on each side of the high, +narrow, old-fashioned mantelpiece, filled with books,--books given to +her; books she has bought, and which tell of her individual pursuits and +tastes; NOT standard books. + +"She cannot see well, and does little beside knitting. The way she +weakened her eyesight was this: When she was sixteen or seventeen, she +wanted much to draw; and she copied niminipimini copper-plate engravings +out of annuals, ('stippling,' don't the artists call it?) every +little point put in, till at the end of six months she had produced +an exquisitely faithful copy of the engraving. She wanted to learn to +express her ideas by drawing. After she had tried to DRAW stories, and +not succeeded, she took the better mode of writing; but in so small a +hand, that it is almost impossible to decipher what she wrote at this +time. + +"But now to return to our quiet hour of rest after dinner. I soon +observed that her habits of order were such that she could not go on +with the conversation, if a chair was out of its place; everything was +arranged with delicate regularity. We talked over the old times of her +childhood; of her elder sister's (Maria's) death,--just like that of +Helen Burns in 'Jane Eyre;' of those strange, starved days at school; of +the desire (almost amounting to illness) of expressing herself in some +way,--writing or drawing; of her weakened eyesight, which prevented her +doing anything for two years, from the age of seventeen to nineteen; +of her being a governess; of her going to Brussels; whereupon I said I +disliked Lucy Snowe, and we discussed M. Paul Emanuel; and I told her of +----'s admiration of 'Shirley,' which pleased her; for the character of +Shirley was meant for her sister Emily, about whom she is never tired +of talking, nor I of listening. Emily must have been a remnant of the +Titans,--great-grand-daughter of the giants who used to inhabit earth. +One day, Miss Brontë brought down a rough, common-looking oil-painting, +done by her brother, of herself,--a little, rather prim-looking girl of +eighteen,--and the two other sisters, girls of sixteen and fourteen, +with cropped hair, and sad, dreamy-looking eyes. . . . Emily had a great +dog--half mastiff, half bull-dog--so savage, etc. . . . This dog went to +her funeral, walking side by side with her father; and then, to the day +of its death, it slept at her room door; snuffing under it, and whining +every morning. + +"We have generally had another walk before tea, which is at six; at +half-past eight, prayers; and by nine, all the household are in bed, +except ourselves. We sit up together till ten, or past; and after I go, +I hear Miss Brontë comedown and walk up and down the room for an hour or +so." + +Copying this letter has brought the days of that pleasant visit very +clear before me,--very sad in their clearness. We were so happy +together; we were so full of interest in each other's subjects. The +day seemed only too short for what we had to say and to hear. I +understood her life the better for seeing the place where it had been +spent--where she had loved and suffered. Mr. Brontë was a most courteous +host; and when he was with us,--at breakfast in his study, or at tea +in Charlotte's parlour,--he had a sort of grand and stately way of +describing past times, which tallied well with his striking appearance. +He never seemed quite to have lost the feeling that Charlotte was a +child to be guided and ruled, when she was present; and she herself +submitted to this with a quiet docility that half amused, half +astonished me. But when she had to leave the room, then all his pride in +her genius and fame came out. He eagerly listened to everything I could +tell him of the high admiration I had at any time heard expressed for +her works. He would ask for certain speeches over and over again, as if +he desired to impress them on his memory. + +I remember two or three subjects of the conversations which she and I +held in the evenings, besides those alluded to in my letter. + +I asked her whether she had ever taken opium, as the description +given of its effects in "Villette" was so exactly like what I had +experienced,--vivid and exaggerated presence of objects, of which the +outlines were indistinct, or lost in golden mist, etc. She replied, that +she had never, to her knowledge, taken a grain of it in any shape, but +that she had followed the process she always adopted when she had to +describe anything which had not fallen within her own experience; she +had thought intently on it for many and many a night before falling to +sleep,--wondering what it was like, or how it would be,--till at length, +sometimes after the progress of her story had been arrested at this one +point for weeks, she wakened up in the morning with all clear before +her, as if she had in reality gone through the experience, and then +could describe it, word for word, as it had happened. I cannot account +for this psychologically; I only am sure that it was so, because she +said it. + +She made many inquiries as to Mrs. Stowe's personal appearance; and +it evidently harmonised well with some theory of hers, to hear that +the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin was small and slight. It was another +theory of hers, that no mixtures of blood produced such fine characters, +mentally and morally, as the Scottish and English. + +I recollect, too, her saying how acutely she dreaded a charge of +plagiarism, when, after she had written "Jane Eyre;" she read the +thrilling effect of the mysterious scream at midnight in Mrs. Marsh's +story of the "Deformed." She also said that, when she read the +"Neighbours," she thought every one would fancy that she must have +taken her conception of Jane Eyre's character from that of "Francesca," +the narrator of Miss Bremer's story. For my own part, I cannot see the +slightest resemblance between the two characters, and so I told her; +but she persisted in saying that Francesca was Jane Eyre married to a +good-natured "Bear" of a Swedish surgeon. + +We went, not purposely, but accidentally, to see various poor people in +our distant walks. From one we had borrowed an umbrella; in the house of +another we had taken shelter from a rough September storm. In all these +cottages, her quiet presence was known. At three miles from her home, +the chair was dusted for her, with a kindly "Sit ye down, Miss Brontë;" +and she knew what absent or ailing members of the family to inquire +after. Her quiet, gentle words, few though they might be, were evidently +grateful to those Yorkshire ears. Their welcome to her, though rough and +curt, was sincere and hearty. + +We talked about the different courses through which life ran. She said, +in her own composed manner, as if she had accepted the theory as a fact, +that she believed some were appointed beforehand to sorrow and much +disappointment; that it did not fall to the lot of all--as Scripture +told us--to have their lines fall in pleasant places; that it was well +for those who had rougher paths, to perceive that such was God's will +concerning them, and try to moderate their expectations, leaving hope to +those of a different doom, and seeking patience and resignation as the +virtues they were to cultivate. I took a different view: I thought that +human lots were more equal than she imagined; that to some happiness and +sorrow came in strong patches of light and shadow, (so to speak), while +in the lives of others they were pretty equally blended throughout. She +smiled, and shook her head, and said she was trying to school herself +against ever anticipating any pleasure; that it was better to be brave +and submit faithfully; there was some good reason, which we should know +in time, why sorrow and disappointment were to be the lot of some on +earth. It was better to acknowledge this, and face out the truth in a +religious faith. + +In connection with this conversation, she named a little abortive plan +which I had not heard of till then; how, in the previous July, she had +been tempted to join some friends (a married couple and their child) +in an excursion to Scotland. They set out joyfully; she with especial +gladness, for Scotland was a land which had its roots deep down in her +imaginative affections, and the glimpse of two days at Edinburgh was all +she had as yet seen of it. But, at the first stage after Carlisle, the +little yearling child was taken with a slight indisposition; the anxious +parents fancied that strange diet disagreed with it, and hurried back to +their Yorkshire home as eagerly as, two or three days before, they had +set their faces northward, in hopes of a month's pleasant ramble. + +We parted with many intentions, on both sides, of renewing very +frequently the pleasure we had had in being together. We agreed that +when she wanted bustle, or when I wanted quiet, we were to let each +other know, and exchange visits as occasion required. + +I was aware that she had a great anxiety on her mind at this time; and +being acquainted with its nature, I could not but deeply admire the +patient docility which she displayed in her conduct towards her father. + +Soon after I left Haworth, she went on a visit to Miss Wooler, who was +then staying at Hornsea. The time passed quietly and happily with this +friend, whose society was endeared to her by every year. + +To Miss WOOLER + +"Dec. 12th, 1853. + +"I wonder how you are spending these long winter evenings. Alone, +probably, like me. The thought often crosses me, as I sit by myself, how +pleasant it would be if you lived within a walking distance, and I could +go to you sometimes, or have you to come and spend a day and night with +me. Yes; I did enjoy that week at Hornsea, and I look forward to spring +as the period when you will fulfil your promise of coming to visit me. +I fear you must be very solitary at Hornsea. How hard to some people +of the world it would seem to live your life! how utterly impossible +to live it with a serene spirit and an unsoured disposition! It seems +wonderful to me, because you are not, like Mrs. ----, phlegmatic and +impenetrable, but received from nature feelings of the very finest +edge. Such feelings, when they are locked up, sometimes damage the mind +and temper. They don't with you. It must be partly principle, partly +self-discipline, which keeps you as you are." + +Of course, as I draw nearer to the years so recently closed, it becomes +impossible for me to write with the same fulness of detail as I have +hitherto not felt it wrong to use. Miss Brontë passed the winter of +1853-4 in a solitary and anxious manner. But the great conqueror Time +was slowly achieving his victory over strong prejudice and human +resolve. By degrees Mr. Brontë became reconciled to the idea of his +daughter's marriage. + +There is one other letter, addressed to Mr. Dobell, which developes the +intellectual side of her character, before we lose all thought of the +authoress in the timid and conscientious woman about to become a wife, +and in the too short, almost perfect, happiness of her nine months of +wedded life. + +"Haworth, near Keighley, + +"Feb. 3rd, 1854. + +"My dear Sir,--I can hardly tell you how glad I am to have an +opportunity of explaining that taciturnity to which you allude. Your +letter came at a period of danger and care, when my father was very +ill, and I could not leave his bedside. I answered no letters at that +time, and yours was one of three or four that, when leisure returned +to me, and I came to consider their purport, it seemed to me such that +the time was past for answering them, and I laid them finally aside. If +you remember, you asked me to go to London; it was too late either to +go or to decline. I was sure you had left London. One circumstance you +mentioned--your wife's illness--which I have thought of many a time, and +wondered whether she is better. In your present note you do not refer to +her, but I trust her health has long ere now been quite restored. + +"'Balder' arrived safely. I looked at him, before cutting his leaves +with singular pleasure. Remembering well his elder brother, the potent +'Roman,' it was natural to give a cordial welcome to a fresh scion of +the same house and race. I have read him. He impressed me thus he teems +with power; I found in him a wild wealth of life, but I thought his +favourite and favoured child would bring his sire trouble--would make +his heart ache. It seemed to me, that his strength and beauty were not +so much those of Joseph, the pillar of Jacob's age, as of the Prodigal +Son, who troubled his father, though he always kept his love. + +"How is it that while the first-born of genius often brings honour, the +second as almost often proves a source of depression and care? I could +almost prophesy that your third will atone for any anxiety inflicted by +this his immediate predecessor. + +"There is power in that character of 'Balder,' and to me a certain +horror. Did you mean it to embody, along with force, any of the +special defects of the artistic character? It seems to me that those +defects were never thrown out in stronger lines. I did not and could +not think you meant to offer him as your cherished ideal of the +true, great poet; I regarded him as a vividly-coloured picture of +inflated self-esteem, almost frantic aspiration; of a nature that has +made a Moloch of intellect--offered up; in pagan fires, the natural +affections--sacrificed the heart to the brain. Do we not all know +that true greatness is simple, self-oblivious, prone to unambitious, +unselfish attachments? I am certain you feel this truth in your heart of +hearts. + +"But if the critics err now (as yet I have seen none of their +lucubrations), you shall one day set them right in the second part of +'Balder.' You shall show them that you too know--better, perhaps, than +they--that the truly great man is too sincere in his affections to +grudge a sacrifice; too much absorbed in his work to talk loudly about +it; too intent on finding the best way to accomplish what he undertakes +to think great things of himself--the instrument. And if God places +seeming impediments in his way--if his duties sometimes seem to hamper +his powers--he feels keenly, perhaps writhes, under the slow torture of +hindrance and delay; but if there be a true man's heart in his breast, +he can bear, submit, wait patiently. + +"Whoever speaks to me of 'Balder'--though I live too retired a life to +come often in the way of comment--shall be answered according to your +suggestion and my own impression. Equity demands that you should be your +own interpreter. Good-bye for the present, and believe me, + +"Faithfully and gratefully, + +"CHARLOTTE BRONTË. + +"Sydney Dobell, Esq." + +A letter to her Brussels schoolfellow gives an idea of the external +course of things during this winter. + +"March 8th. + +"I was very glad to see your handwriting again. It is, I believe, a year +since I heard from you. Again and again you have recurred to my thoughts +lately, and I was beginning to have some sad presages as to the cause of +your silence. Your letter happily does away with all these; it brings, +on the whole, glad tidings both of your papa, mama, your sisters, and, +last but not least, your dear respected English self. + +"My dear father has borne the severe winter very well, a circumstance +for which I feel the more thankful as he had many weeks of very +precarious health last summer, following an attack from which he +suffered in June, and which for a few hours deprived him totally of +sight, though neither his mind, speech, nor even his powers of motion +were in the least affected. I can hardly tell you how thankful I +was, when, after that dreary and almost despairing interval of utter +darkness, some gleam of daylight became visible to him once more. I +had feared that paralysis had seized the optic nerve. A sort of mist +remained for a long time; and, indeed, his vision is not yet perfectly +clear, but he can read, write, and walk about, and he preaches TWICE +every Sunday, the curate only reading the prayers. YOU can well +understand how earnestly I wish and pray that sight may be spared him +to the end; he so dreads the privation of blindness. His mind is just +as strong and active as ever, and politics interest him as they do YOUR +papa. The Czar, the war, the alliance between France and England--into +all these things he throws himself heart and soul; they seem to carry +him back to his comparatively young days, and to renew the excitement of +the last great European struggle. Of course my father's sympathies (and +mine too) are all with Justice and Europe against Tyranny and Russia. + +"Circumstanced as I have been, you will comprehend that I have had +neither the leisure nor the inclination to go from home much during +the past year. I spent a week with Mrs. Gaskell in the spring, and a +fortnight with some other friends more recently, and that includes the +whole of my visiting since I saw you last. My life is, indeed, very +uniform and retired--more so than is quite healthful either for mind or +body; yet I find reason for often-renewed feelings of gratitude, in the +sort of support which still comes and cheers me on from time to time. +My health, though not unbroken, is, I sometimes fancy, rather stronger +on the whole than it was three years ago: headache and dyspepsia are my +worst ailments. Whether I shall come up to town this season for a few +days I do not yet know; but if I do, I shall hope to call in P. Place." + +In April she communicated the fact of her engagement to Miss Wooler. + +"Haworth, April 12th. + +"My dear Miss Wooler,--The truly kind interest which you always taken +in my affairs makes me feel that it is due to you to transmit an early +communication on a subject respecting which I have already consulted you +more than once. I must tell you then, that since I wrote last, papa's +mind has gradually come round to a view very different to that which +he once took; and that after some correspondence, and as the result of +a visit Mr. Nicholls paid here about a week ago, it was agreed that he +was to resume the curacy of Haworth, as soon as papa's present assistant +is provided with a situation, and in due course of time he is to be +received as an inmate into this house. + +"It gives me unspeakable content to see that now my father has once +admitted this new view of the case, he dwells on it very complacently. +In all arrangements, his convenience and seclusion will be scrupulously +respected. Mr. Nicholls seems deeply to feel the wish to comfort and +sustain his declining years. I think from Mr. Nicholls' character I may +depend on this not being a mere transitory impulsive feeling, but rather +that it will be accepted steadily as a duty, and discharged tenderly as +an office of affection. The destiny which Providence in His goodness and +wisdom seems to offer me will not, I am aware, be generally regarded as +brilliant, but I trust I see in it some germs of real happiness. I trust +the demands of both feeling and duty will be in some measure reconciled +by the step in contemplation. It is Mr. Nicholls' wish that the marriage +should take place this summer; he urges the month of July, but that +seems very soon. + +"When you write to me, tell me how you are. . . . I have now decidedly +declined the visit to London; the ensuing three months will bring me +abundance of occupation; I could not afford to throw away a month. . . . +Papa has just got a letter from the good and dear bishop, which has +touched and pleased us much; it expresses so cordial an approbation of +Mr. Nicholls' return to Haworth (respecting which he was consulted), and +such kind gratification at the domestic arrangements which are to ensue. +It seems his penetration discovered the state of things when he was here +in June 1853." + +She expressed herself in other letters, as thankful to One who had +guided her through much difficulty and much distress and perplexity of +mind; and yet she felt what most thoughtful women do, who marry when +the first flush of careless youth is over, that there was a strange +half-sad feeling, in making announcements of an engagement--for cares +and fears came mingled inextricably with hopes. One great relief to her +mind at this time was derived from the conviction that her father took +a positive pleasure in all the thoughts about and preparations for her +wedding. He was anxious that things should be expedited, and was much +interested in every preliminary arrangement for the reception of Mr. +Nicholls into the Parsonage as his daughter's husband. This step was +rendered necessary by Mr. Brontë's great age, and failing sight, which +made it a paramount obligation on so dutiful a daughter as Charlotte, to +devote as much time and assistance as ever in attending to his wants. +Mr. Nicholls, too, hoped that he might be able to add some comfort and +pleasure by his ready presence, on any occasion when the old clergyman +might need his services. + +At the beginning of May, Miss Brontë left home to pay three visits +before her marriage. The first was to us. She only remained three days, +as she had to go to the neighbourhood of Leeds, there to make such +purchases as were required for her marriage. Her preparations, as she +said, could neither be expensive nor extensive; consisting chiefly in a +modest replenishing of her wardrobe, some re-papering and re-painting +in the Parsonage; and, above all, converting the small flagged +passage-room, hitherto used only for stores (which was behind her +sitting room), into a study for her husband. On this idea, and plans for +his comfort, as well as her father's, her mind dwelt a good deal; and we +talked them over with the same unwearying happiness which, I suppose, +all women feel in such discussions--especially when money considerations +call for that kind of contrivance which Charles Lamb speaks of in his +Essay on Old China, as forming so great an addition to the pleasure of +obtaining a thing at last. + +"Haworth, May 22nd. + +"Since I came home I have been very busy stitching; the little new +room is got into order, and the green and white curtains are up; they +exactly suit the papering, and look neat and clean enough. I had a +letter a day or two since, announcing that Mr. Nicholls comes to-morrow. +I feel anxious about him; more anxious on one point than I dare quite +express to myself. It seems he has again been suffering sharply from +his rheumatic affection. I hear this not from himself, but from another +quarter. He was ill while I was in Manchester and B----. He uttered no +complaint to me; dropped no hint on the subject. Alas he was hoping +he had got the better of it, and I know how this contradiction of his +hopes will sadden him. For unselfish reasons he did so earnestly wish +this complaint might not become chronic. I fear--I fear; but if he is +doomed to suffer, so much the more will he need care and help. Well! +come what may, God help and strengthen both him and me! I look forward +to to-morrow with a mixture of impatience and anxiety." + +Mr. Brontë had a slight illness which alarmed her much. Besides, all +the weight of care involved in the household preparations pressed on +the bride in this case--not unpleasantly, only to the full occupation +of her time. She was too busy to unpack her wedding dresses for several +days after they arrived from Halifax; yet not too busy to think of +arrangements by which Miss Wooler's journey to be present at the +marriage could be facilitated. + +"I write to Miss Wooler to-day. Would it not be better, dear, if you and +she could arrange to come to Haworth on the same day, arrive at Keighley +by the same train; then I could order the cab to meet you at the +station, and bring you on with your luggage? In this hot weather walking +would be quite out of the question, either for you or for her; and I +know she would persist in doing it if left to herself, and arrive half +killed. I thought it better to mention this arrangement to you first, +and then, if you liked it, you could settle the time, etc., with Miss +Wooler, and let me know. Be sure and give me timely information, that I +may write to the Devonshire Arms about the cab. + +"Mr. Nicholls is a kind, considerate fellow. With all his masculine +faults, he enters into my wishes about having the thing done quietly, in +a way that makes me grateful; and if nobody interferes and spoils his +arrangements, he will manage it so that not a soul in Haworth shall be +aware of the day. He is so thoughtful, too, about 'the ladies,'--that +is, you and Miss Wooler. Anticipating, too, the very arrangements I was +going to propose to him about providing for your departure, etc. He and +Mr. S---- come to ---- the evening before; write me a note to let me +know they are there; precisely at eight in the morning they will be in +the church, and there we are to meet them. Mr. and Mrs. Grant are asked +to the breakfast, not to the ceremony. + +It was fixed that the marriage was to take place on the 29th of June. +Her two friends arrived at Haworth Parsonage the day before; and the +long summer afternoon and evening were spent by Charlotte in thoughtful +arrangements for the morrow, and for her father's comfort during +her absence from home. When all was finished--the trunk packed, the +morning's breakfast arranged, the wedding-dress laid out,--just at +bedtime, Mr. Brontë announced his intention of stopping at home while +the others went to church. What was to be done? Who was to give the +bride away? There were only to be the officiating clergyman, the bride +and bridegroom, the bridesmaid, and Miss Wooler present. The Prayer-book +was referred to; and there it was seen that the Rubric enjoins that the +Minister shall receive "the woman from her father's or FRIEND'S hands," +and that nothing is specified as to the sex of the "friend." So Miss +Wooler, ever kind in emergency, volunteered to give her old pupil away. + +The news of the wedding had slipt abroad before the little party came +out of church, and many old and humble friends were there, seeing her +look "like a snow-drop," as they say. Her dress was white embroidered +muslin, with a lace mantle, and white bonnet trimmed with green leaves, +which perhaps might suggest the resemblance to the pale wintry flower. + +Mr. Nicholls and she went to visit his friends and relations in Ireland; +and made a tour by Killarney, Glengariff, Tarbert, Tralee, and Cork, +seeing scenery, of which she says, "some parts exceeded all I had +ever imagined." . . . "I must say I like my new relations. My dear +husband, too, appears in a new light in his own country. More than once +I have had deep pleasure in hearing his praises on all sides. Some +of the old servants and followers of the family tell me I am a most +fortunate person; for that I have got one of the best gentlemen in the +country. . . . I trust I feel thankful to God for having enabled me to +make what seems a right choice; and I pray to be enabled to repay as I +ought the affectionate devotion of a truthful, honourable man." + +Henceforward the sacred doors of home are closed upon her married life. +We, her loving friends, standing outside, caught occasional glimpses +of brightness, and pleasant peaceful murmurs of sound, telling of the +gladness within; and we looked at each other, and gently said, "After a +hard and long struggle--after many cares and many bitter sorrows--she is +tasting happiness now!" We thought of the slight astringencies of her +character, and how they would turn to full ripe sweetness in that calm +sunshine of domestic peace. We remembered her trials, and were glad in +the idea that God had seen fit to wipe away the tears from her eyes. +Those who saw her, saw an outward change in her look, telling of inward +things. And we thought, and we hoped, and we prophesied, in our great +love and reverence. + +But God's ways are not as our ways! + +Hear some of the low murmurs of happiness we, who listened, heard:-- + +"I really seem to have had scarcely a spare moment since that dim quiet +June morning, when you, E----, and myself all walked down to Haworth +Church. Not that I have been wearied or oppressed; but the fact is, +my time is not my own now; somebody else wants a good portion of it, +and says, 'we must do so and so.' We DO so and so, accordingly; and it +generally seems the right thing. . . . We have had many callers from a +distance, and latterly some little occupation in the way of preparing +for a small village entertainment. Both Mr. Nicholls and myself wished +much to make some response for the hearty welcome and general goodwill +shown by the parishioners on his return; accordingly, the Sunday and +day scholars and teachers, the church-ringers, singers, etc., to the +number of five hundred, were asked to tea and supper in the School-room. +They seemed to enjoy it much, and it was very pleasant to see their +happiness. One of the villagers, in proposing my husband's health, +described him as a 'consistent Christian and a kind gentleman.' I own +the words touched me deeply, and I thought (as I know YOU would have +thought had you been present) that to merit and win such a character +was better than to earn either wealth, or fame, or power. I am disposed +to echo that high but simple eulogium. . . . My dear father was not +well when we returned from Ireland. I am, however, most thankful to say +that he is better now. May God preserve him to us yet for some years! +The wish for his continued life, together with a certain solicitude for +his happiness and health, seems, I scarcely know why, even stronger +in me now than before I was married. Papa has taken no duty since we +returned; and each time I see Mr. Nicholls put on gown or surplice, I +feel comforted to think that this marriage has secured papa good aid in +his old age." + +"September 19th. + +"Yes! I am thankful to say my husband is in improved health and spirits. +It makes me content and grateful to hear him from time to time avow his +happiness in the brief, plain phrase of sincerity. My own life is more +occupied than it used to be I have not so much time for thinking I am +obliged to be more practical, for my dear Arthur is a very practical, +as well as a very punctual and methodical man. Every morning he is in +the National School by nine o'clock; he gives the children religious +instruction till half-past ten. Almost every afternoon he pays visits +amongst the poor parishioners. Of course, he often finds a little work +for his wife to do, and I hope she is not sorry to help him. I believe +it is not bad for me that his bent should be so wholly towards matters +of life and active usefulness; so little inclined to the literary and +contemplative. As to his continued affection and kind attentions it does +not become me to say much of them; but they neither change nor diminish." + +Her friend and bridesmaid came to pay them a visit in October. I was to +have gone also, but I allowed some little obstacle to intervene, to my +lasting regret. + +"I say nothing about the war; but when I read of its horrors, I cannot +help thinking that it is one of the greatest curses that ever fell upon +mankind. I trust it may not last long, for it really seems to me that +no glory to be gained can compensate for the sufferings which must be +endured. This may seem a little ignoble and unpatriotic; but I think +that as we advance towards middle age, nobleness and patriotism have a +different signification to us to that which we accept while young." + +"You kindly inquire after Papa. He is better, and seems to gain strength +as the weather gets colder; indeed, of late years health has always +been better in winter than in summer. We are all indeed pretty well; +and, for my own part, it is long since I have known such comparative +immunity from headache, etc., as during the last three months. My life +is different from what it used to be. May God make me thankful for it! I +have a good, kind, attached husband; and every day my own attachment to +him grows stronger." + +Late in the autumn, Sir James Kay Shuttleworth crossed the border-hills +that separate Lancashire from Yorkshire, and spent two or three days +with them. + +About this time, Mr. Nicholls was offered a living of much greater value +than his curacy at Haworth, and in many ways the proposal was a very +advantageous one; but he felt himself bound to Haworth as long as Mr. +Brontë lived. Still, this offer gave his wife great and true pleasure, +as a proof of the respect in which her husband was held. + +"Nov. 29. + +"I intended to have written a line yesterday, but just as I was sitting +down for the purpose, Arthur called to me to take a walk. We set off, +not intending to go far; but, though wild and cloudy, it was fair in +the morning; when we had got about half a mile on the moors, Arthur +suggested the idea of the waterfall; after the melted snow, he said, it +would be fine. I had often wished to see it in its winter power,--so we +walked on. It was fine indeed; a perfect torrent racing over the rocks, +white and beautiful! It began to rain while we were watching it, and +we returned home under a streaming sky. However, I enjoyed the walk +inexpressibly, and would not have missed the spectacle on any account." + +She did not achieve this walk of seven or eight miles, in such weather, +with impunity. She began to shiver soon after her return home, in spite +of every precaution, and had a bad lingering sore throat and cold, which +hung about her; and made her thin and weak. + +"Did I tell you that our poor little Flossy is dead? She drooped for a +single day, and died quietly in the night without pain. The loss even of +a dog was very saddening; yet, perhaps, no dog ever had a happier life, +or an easier death." + +On Christmas-day she and her husband walked to the poor old woman (whose +calf she had been set to seek in former and less happy days), carrying +with them a great spice-cake to make glad her heart. On Christmas-day +many a humble meal in Haworth was made more plentiful by her gifts. + +Early in the new year (1855), Mr. and Mrs. Nicholls went to visit Sir +James Kay Shuttleworth at Gawthorpe. They only remained two or three +days, but it so fell out that she increased her lingering cold, by a +long walk over damp ground in thin shoes. + +Soon after her return, she was attacked by new sensations of perpetual +nausea, and ever-recurring faintness. After this state of things had +lasted for some time; she yielded to Mr. Nicholls' wish that a doctor +should be sent for. He came, and assigned a natural cause for her +miserable indisposition; a little patience, and all would go right. She, +who was ever patient in illness, tried hard to bear up and bear on. +But the dreadful sickness increased and increased, till the very sight +of food occasioned nausea. "A wren would have starved on what she ate +during those last six weeks," says one. Tabby's health had suddenly and +utterly given way, and she died in this time of distress and anxiety +respecting the last daughter of the house she had served so long. Martha +tenderly waited on her mistress, and from time to time tried to cheer +her with the thought of the baby that was coming. "I dare say I shall be +glad some time," she would say; "but I am so ill--so weary--" Then she +took to her bed, too weak to sit up. From that last couch she wrote two +notes--in pencil. The first, which has no date, is addressed to her own +"Dear Nell." + +"I must write one line out of my weary bed. The news of M----'s probable +recovery came like a ray of joy to me. I am not going to talk of my +sufferings--it would be useless and painful. I want to give you an +assurance, which I know will comfort you--and that is, that I find in +my husband the tenderest nurse, the kindest support, the best earthly +comfort that ever woman had. His patience never fails, and it is tried +by sad days and broken nights. Write and tell me about Mrs. ----'s case; +how long was she ill, and in what way? Papa--thank God!--is better. Our +poor old Tabby is DEAD and BURIED. Give my kind love to Miss Wooler. May +God comfort and help you. + +"C. B. NICHOLLS." + +The other--also in faint, faint pencil marks--was to her Brussels +schoolfellow. + +"Feb. 15th. + +"A few lines of acknowledgment your letter SHALL have, whether well or +ill. At present I am confined to my bed with illness, and have been +so for three weeks. Up to this period, since my marriage, I have had +excellent health. My husband and I live at home with my father; of +course, I could not leave HIM. He is pretty well, better than last +summer. No kinder, better husband than mine, it seems to me, there can +be in the world. I do not want now for kind companionship in health and +the tenderest nursing in sickness. Deeply I sympathise in all you tell +me about Dr. W. and your excellent mother's anxiety. I trust he will not +risk another operation. I cannot write more now; for I am much reduced +and very weak. God bless you all.--Yours affectionately, + +"C. B. NICHOLLS." + +I do not think she ever wrote a line again. Long days and longer nights +went by; still the same relentless nausea and faintness, and still borne +on in patient trust. About the third week in March there was a change; +a low wandering delirium came on; and in it she begged constantly for +food and even for stimulants. She swallowed eagerly now; but it was too +late. Wakening for an instant from this stupor of intelligence, she saw +her husband's woe-worn face, and caught the sound of some murmured words +of prayer that God would spare her. "Oh!" she whispered forth, "I am not +going to die, am I? He will not separate us, we have been so happy." + +Early on Saturday morning, March 31st, the solemn tolling of Haworth +church-bell spoke forth the fact of her death to the villagers who had +known her from a child, and whose hearts shivered within them as they +thought of the two sitting desolate and alone in the old grey house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +I have always been much struck with a passage in Mr. Forster's Life of +Goldsmith. Speaking of the scene after his death, the writer says:-- + +"The staircase of Brick Court is said to have been filled with mourners, +the reverse of domestic; women without a home, without domesticity of +any kind, with no friend but him they had come to weep for; outcasts of +that great, solitary, wicked city, to whom he had never forgotten to be +kind and charitable." + +This came into my mind when I heard of some of the circumstances +attendant on Charlotte's funeral. + +Few beyond that circle of hills knew that she, whom the nations praised +far off, lay dead that Easter mooring. Of kith and kin she had more in +the grave to which she was soon to be borne, than among the living. The +two mourners, stunned with their great grief, desired not the sympathy +of strangers. One member out of most of the families in the parish was +bidden to the funeral; and it became an act of self-denial in many a +poor household to give up to another the privilege of paying their last +homage to her; and those who were excluded from the formal train of +mourners thronged the churchyard and church, to see carried forth, and +laid beside her own people, her whom, not many months ago, they had +looked at as a pale white bride, entering on a new life with trembling +happy hope. + +Among those humble friends who passionately grieved over the dead, was +a village girl who had been seduced some little time before, but who +had found a holy sister in Charlotte. She had sheltered her with her +help, her counsel, her strengthening words; had ministered to her needs +in her time of trial. Bitter, bitter was the grief of this poor young +woman, when she heard that her friend was sick unto death, and deep +is her mourning until this day. A blind girl, living some four miles +from Haworth, loved Mrs. Nicholls so dearly that, with many cries and +entreaties, she implored those about her to lead her along the roads, +and over the moor-paths, that she might hear the last solemn words, +"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope +of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ." + +Such were the mourners over Charlotte Brontë's grave. + +I have little more to say. If my readers find that I have not said +enough, I have said too much. I cannot measure or judge of such a +character as hers. I cannot map out vices, and virtues, and debatable +land. One who knew her long and well,--the "Mary" of this Life--writes +thus of her dead friend:-- + +"She thought much of her duty, and had loftier and clearer notions of it +than most people, and held fast to them with more success. It was done, +it seems to me, with much more difficulty than people have of stronger +nerves, and better fortunes. All her life was but labour and pain; and +she never threw down the burden for the sake of present pleasure. I +don't know what use you can make of all I have said. I have written it +with the strong desire to obtain appreciation for her. Yet, what does +it matter? She herself appealed to the world's judgment for her use of +some of the faculties she had,--not the best,--but still the only ones +she could turn to strangers' benefit. They heartily, greedily enjoyed +the fruits of her labours, and then found out she was much to be blamed +for possessing such faculties. Why ask for a judgment on her from such a +world?" + +But I turn from the critical, unsympathetic public--inclined to judge +harshly because they have only seen superficially and not thought +deeply. I appeal to that larger and more solemn public, who know how to +look with tender humility at faults and errors; how to admire generously +extraordinary genius, and how to reverence with warm, full hearts all +noble virtue. To that Public I commit the memory of Charlotte Brontë. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Charlotte Bronte, by +Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE *** + +***** This file should be named 1700-8.txt or 1700-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/0/1700/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/1700-8.zip b/1700-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..41c2737 --- /dev/null +++ b/1700-8.zip diff --git a/1700.txt b/1700.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae77eac --- /dev/null +++ b/1700.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8623 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Life of Charlotte Bronte, by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Life of Charlotte Bronte + +Author: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell + +Posting Date: February 27, 2013 [EBook #1700] +Release Date: April, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE *** + + + + + + + + + + + +The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell + +Volume 2 + +by ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO + + +CHAPTER I. + +Mr. Bronte afflicted with blindness, and relieved by a successful +operation for cataract--Charlotte Bronte's first work of fiction, "The +Professor"--She commences "Jane Eyre"--Circumstances attending its +composition--Her ideas of a heroine--Her attachment to home--Haworth in +December--A letter of confession and counsel. + + +CHAPTER II. + +State of Charlotte Bronte's health at the commencement of +1847--Family trials--"Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" accepted +by a publisher--"The Professor" rejected--Completion of "Jane Eyre", +its reception and publication--The reviews of "Jane Eyre", and the +author's comments on them--Her father's reception of the book--Public +interest excited by "Jane Eyre"--Dedication of the second edition to +Mr. Thackeray--Correspondence of Currer Bell with Mr. Lewes on "Jane +Eyre"--Publication of "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey"--Miss +Bronte's account of the authoress of "Wuthering Heights"--Domestic +anxieties of the Bronte sisters--Currer Bell's correspondence with Mr. +Lewes--Unhealthy state of Haworth--Charlotte Bronte on the revolutions +of 1848--Her repudiation of authorship--Anne Bronte's second tale, "The +Tenant of Wildfell Hall"--Misunderstanding as to the individuality +of the three Bells, and its results--Currer and Acton Bell visit +London--Charlotte Bronte's account of her visit--The Chapter Coffee +House--The Clergy Daughters' School at Casterton--Death of Branwell +Bronte--Illness and death of Emily Bronte. + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Quarterly Review on "Jane Eyre"--Severe illness of Anne Bronte--Her +last verses--She is removed to Scarborough--Her last hours, and death +and burial there--Charlotte's return to Haworth, and her loneliness. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Commencement and completion of "Shirley"--Originals of the characters, +and circumstances under which it was written--Loss on railway +shares--Letters to Mr. Lewes and other friends on "Shirley," and the +reviews of it--Miss Bronte visits London, meets Mr. Thackeray, and makes +the acquaintance of Miss Martineau--Her impressions of literary men. + + +CHAPTER V. + +"Currer Bell" identified as Miss Bronte at Haworth and the vicinity--Her +letter to Mr. Lewes on his review of "Shirley"--Solitude and +heavy mental sadness and anxiety--She visits Sir J. and Lady Kay +Shuttleworth--Her comments on critics, and remarks on Thackeray's +"Pendennis" and Scott's "Suggestions on Female Education"--Opinions of +"Shirley" by Yorkshire readers. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +An unhealthy spring at Haworth--Miss Bronte's proposed visit to +London--Her remarks on "The Leader"--Associations of her walks on the +moors--Letter to an unknown admirer of her works--Incidents of her visit +to London--Her impressions of a visit to Scotland--Her portrait, by +Richmond--Anxiety about her father. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Visit to Sir J. and Lady Kay Shuttleworth--The biographer's impressions +of Miss Bronte--Miss Bronte's account of her visit to the Lakes of +Westmoreland--Her disinclination for acquaintance and visiting--Remarks +on "Woman's Mission," Tennyson's "In Memoriam," etc.--Impressions of her +visit to Scotland--Remarks on a review in the "Palladium." + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Intended republication of "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey"--Reaction +after her visit to Scotland--Her first meeting with Mr. Lewes--Her +opinion of Balzac and George Sand--A characteristic incident--Account of +a friendly visit to Haworth Parsonage--Remarks on "The Roman," by Sydney +Dobell, and on the character of Dr. Arnold--Letter to Mr. Dobell. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Miss Bronte's visit to Miss Martineau, and estimate of her +hostess--Remarks on Mr. Ruskin's "Stones of Venice"--Preparations for +another visit to London--Letter to Mr. Sydney Dobell: the moors in +autumn--Mr. Thackeray's second lecture at Willis's Rooms, and sensation +produced by Currer Bell's appearance there--Her account of her visit to +London--She breakfasts with Mr. Rogers, visits the Great Exhibition, +and sees Lord Westminster's pictures--Return to Haworth and letter +thence--Her comment on Mr. Thackeray's Lecture--Counsel on development +of character. + + +CHAPTER X. + +Remarks on friendship--Letter to Mrs. Gaskell on her and Miss +Martineau's views of the Great Exhibition and Mr. Thackeray's +lecture, and on the "Saint's Tragedy"--Miss Bronte's feelings +towards children--Her comments on Mr. J. S. Mill's article on the +Emancipation of Women--More illness at Haworth Parsonage--Letter +on Emigration--Periodical returns of illness--Miss Wooler visits +Haworth--Miss Bronte's impressions of her visit to London--Her account +of the progress of Villette--Her increasing illness and sufferings +during winter--Her letter on Mr. Thackeray's Esmond--Revival of sorrows +and accessions of low spirits--Remarks on some recent books--Retrospect +of the winter of 1851-2--Letter to Mrs. Gaskell on "Ruth." + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Miss Bronte revisits Scarborough--Serious illness and ultimate +convalescence of her father--Her own illness--"Villette" nearly +completed--Further remarks on "Esmond" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin"--Letter +respecting "Villette"--Another letter about "Villette"--Instance of +extreme sensibility. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The biographer's difficulty--Deep and enduring attachment of Mr. +Nicholls for Miss Bronte--Instance of her self-abnegation--She +again visits London--Impressions of this visit--Letter to Mrs. +Gaskell--Reception of the critiques on "Villette"--Misunderstanding +with Miss Martineau--Letter on Mr. Thackeray's portrait--Visit of the +Bishop of Ripon to Haworth Parsonage--Her wish to see the unfavourable +critiques on her works--Her nervous shyness of strangers, and its +cause--Letter on Mr. Thackeray's lectures. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Letter to Mrs. Gaskell on writing fiction, etc.--The biographer's +account of her visit to Haworth, and reminiscences of conversations with +Miss Bronte--Letters from Miss Bronte to her friends--Her engagement to +Mr. Nicholls, and preparations for the marriage--The marriage ceremony +and wedding tour--Her happiness in the married state--New symptoms +of illness, and their cause--The two last letters written by Mrs. +Nicholls--An alarming change--Her death. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Mourners at the funeral--Conclusion. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +During this summer of 1846, while her literary hopes were waning, an +anxiety of another kind was increasing. Her father's eyesight had become +seriously impaired by the progress of the cataract which was forming. +He was nearly blind. He could grope his way about, and recognise the +figures of those he knew well, when they were placed against a strong +light; but he could no longer see to read; and thus his eager appetite +for knowledge and information of all kinds was severely balked. He +continued to preach. I have heard that he was led up into the pulpit, +and that his sermons were never so effective as when he stood there, a +grey sightless old man, his blind eyes looking out straight before him, +while the words that came from his lips had all the vigour and force of +his best days. Another fact has been mentioned to me, curious as showing +the accurateness of his sensation of time. His sermons had always lasted +exactly half an hour. With the clock right before him, and with his +ready flow of words, this had been no difficult matter as long as he +could see. But it was the same when he was blind; as the minute-hand +came to the point, marking the expiration of the thirty minutes, he +concluded his sermon. + +Under his great sorrow he was always patient. As in times of far greater +affliction, he enforced a quiet endurance of his woe upon himself. But +so many interests were quenched by this blindness that he was driven +inwards, and must have dwelt much on what was painful and distressing +in regard to his only son. No wonder that his spirits gave way, and +were depressed. For some time before this autumn, his daughters had +been collecting all the information they could respecting the probable +success of operations for cataract performed on a person of their +father's age. About the end of July, Emily and Charlotte had made a +journey to Manchester for the purpose of searching out an operator; and +there they heard of the fame of the late Mr. Wilson as an oculist. They +went to him at once, but he could not tell, from description, whether +the eyes were ready for being operated upon or not. It therefore became +necessary for Mr. Bronte to visit him; and towards the end of August, +Charlotte brought her father to him. He determined at once to undertake +the operation, and recommended them to comfortable lodgings, kept by an +old servant of his. These were in one of numerous similar streets of +small monotonous-looking houses, in a suburb of the town. From thence +the following letter is dated, on August 21st, 1846:-- + +"I just scribble a line to you to let you know where I am, in order +that you may write to me here, for it seems to me that a letter from +you would relieve me from the feeling of strangeness I have in this +big town. Papa and I came here on Wednesday; we saw Mr. Wilson, the +oculist, the same day; he pronounced papa's eyes quite ready for an +operation, and has fixed next Monday for the performance of it. Think of +us on that day! We got into our lodgings yesterday. I think we shall be +comfortable; at least our rooms are very good, but there is no mistress +of the house (she is very ill, and gone out into the country), and I am +somewhat puzzled in managing about provisions; we board ourselves. I +find myself excessively ignorant. I can't tell what to order in the way +of meat. For ourselves I could contrive, papa's diet is so very simple; +but there will be a nurse coming in a day or two, and I am afraid of +not having things good enough for her. Papa requires nothing, you know, +but plain beef and mutton, tea and bread and butter; but a nurse will +probably expect to live much better; give me some hints if you can. Mr. +Wilson says we shall have to stay here for a month at least. I wonder +how Emily and Anne will get on at home with Branwell. They, too, will +have their troubles. What would I not give to have you here! One is +forced, step by step, to get experience in the world; but the learning +is so disagreeable. One cheerful feature in the business is, that Mr. +Wilson thinks most favourably of the case." + +"August 26th, 1846. + +"The operation is over; it took place yesterday Mr. Wilson performed +it; two other surgeons assisted. Mr. Wilson says, he considers it +quite successful; but papa cannot yet see anything. The affair lasted +precisely a quarter of an hour; it was not the simple operation of +couching Mr. C. described, but the more complicated one of extracting +the cataract. Mr. Wilson entirely disapproves of couching. Papa +displayed extraordinary patience and firmness; the surgeons seemed +surprised. I was in the room all the time; as it was his wish that I +should be there; of course, I neither spoke nor moved till the thing +was done, and then I felt that the less I said, either to papa or the +surgeons, the better. Papa is now confined to his bed in a dark room, +and is not to be stirred for four days; he is to speak and be spoken to +as little as possible. I am greatly obliged to you for your letter, and +your kind advice, which gave me extreme satisfaction, because I found +I had arranged most things in accordance with it, and, as your theory +coincides with my practice, I feel assured the latter is right. I hope +Mr. Wilson will soon allow me to dispense with the nurse; she is well +enough, no doubt, but somewhat too obsequious; and not, I should think, +to be much trusted; yet I was obliged to trust her in some things. . . . + +"Greatly was I amused by your account of ----'s flirtations; and yet +something saddened also. I think Nature intended him for something +better than to fritter away his time in making a set of poor, unoccupied +spinsters unhappy. The girls, unfortunately, are forced to care for him, +and such as him, because, while their minds are mostly unemployed, their +sensations are all unworn, and, consequently, fresh and green; and he, +on the contrary, has had his fill of pleasure, and can with impunity +make a mere pastime of other people's torments. This is an unfair state +of things; the match is not equal. I only wish I had the power to +infuse into the souls of the persecuted a little of the quiet strength +of pride--of the supporting consciousness of superiority (for they are +superior to him because purer)--of the fortifying resolve of firmness to +bear the present, and wait the end. Could all the virgin population of +---- receive and retain these sentiments, he would continually have to +veil his crest before them. Perhaps, luckily, their feelings are not so +acute as one would think, and the gentleman's shafts consequently don't +wound so deeply as he might desire. I hope it is so." + +A few days later, she writes thus: "Papa is still lying in bed, in a +dark room, with his eyes bandaged. No inflammation ensued, but still it +appears the greatest care, perfect quiet, and utter privation of light +are necessary to ensure a good result from the operation. He is very +patient, but, of course, depressed and weary. He was allowed to try +his sight for the first time yesterday. He could see dimly. Mr. Wilson +seemed perfectly satisfied, and said all was right. I have had bad +nights from the toothache since I came to Manchester." + +All this time, notwithstanding the domestic anxieties which were +harassing them--notwithstanding the ill-success of their poems--the +three sisters were trying that other literary venture, to which +Charlotte made allusion in one of her letters to the Messrs. Aylott. +Each of them had written a prose tale, hoping that the three might be +published together. "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" are before +the world. The third--Charlotte's contribution--is yet in manuscript, +but will be published shortly after the appearance of this memoir. +The plot in itself is of no great interest; but it is a poor kind of +interest that depends upon startling incidents rather than upon dramatic +development of character; and Charlotte Bronte never excelled one or two +sketches of portraits which she had given in "The Professor", nor, in +grace of womanhood, ever surpassed one of the female characters there +described. By the time she wrote this tale, her taste and judgment had +revolted against the exaggerated idealisms of her early girlhood, and +she went to the extreme of reality, closely depicting characters as they +had shown themselves to her in actual life: if there they were strong +even to coarseness,--as was the case with some that she had met with in +flesh and blood existence,--she "wrote them down an ass;" if the scenery +of such life as she saw was for the most part wild and grotesque, +instead of pleasant or picturesque, she described it line for line. The +grace of the one or two scenes and characters, which are drawn rather +from her own imagination than from absolute fact stand out in exquisite +relief from the deep shadows and wayward lines of others, which call to +mind some of the portraits of Rembrandt. + +The three tales had tried their fate in vain together, at length they +were sent forth separately, and for many months with still-continued +ill success. I have mentioned this here, because, among the dispiriting +circumstances connected with her anxious visit to Manchester, Charlotte +told me that her tale came back upon her hands, curtly rejected by +some publisher, on the very day when her father was to submit to his +operation. But she had the heart of Robert Bruce within her, and failure +upon failure daunted her no more than him. Not only did "The Professor" +return again to try his chance among the London publishers, but she +began, in this time of care and depressing inquietude, in those grey, +weary, uniform streets; where all faces, save that of her kind doctor, +were strange and untouched with sunlight to her,--there and then, did +the brave genius begin "Jane Eyre". Read what she herself says:--"Currer +Bell's book found acceptance nowhere, nor any acknowledgment of merit, +so that something like the chill of despair began to invade his heart." +And, remember it was not the heart of a person who, disappointed in one +hope, can turn with redoubled affection to the many certain blessings +that remain. Think of her home, and the black shadow of remorse lying +over one in it, till his very brain was mazed, and his gifts and his +life were lost;--think of her father's sight hanging on a thread;--of +her sister's delicate health, and dependence on her care;--and then +admire as it deserves to be admired, the steady courage which could work +away at "Jane Eyre", all the time "that the one-volume tale was plodding +its weary round in London." + +I believe I have already mentioned that some of her surviving friends +consider that an incident which she heard, when at school at Miss +Wooler's, was the germ of the story of Jane Eyre. But of this nothing +can be known, except by conjecture. Those to whom she spoke upon +the subject of her writings are dead and silent; and the reader may +probably have noticed, that in the correspondence from which I have +quoted, there has been no allusion whatever to the publication of her +poems, nor is there the least hint of the intention of the sisters to +publish any tales. I remember, however, many little particulars which +Miss Bronte gave me, in answer to my inquiries respecting her mode of +composition, etc. She said, that it was not every day, that she could +write. Sometimes weeks or even months elapsed before she felt that she +had anything to add to that portion of her story which was already +written. Then, some morning, she would waken up, and the progress of +her tale lay clear and bright before her, in distinct vision, when this +was the case, all her care was to discharge her household and filial +duties, so as to obtain leisure to sit down and write out the incidents +and consequent thoughts, which were, in fact, more present to her mind +at such times than her actual life itself. Yet notwithstanding this +"possession" (as it were), those who survive, of her daily and household +companions, are clear in their testimony, that never was the claim of +any duty, never was the call of another for help, neglected for an +instant. It had become necessary to give Tabby--now nearly eighty years +of age--the assistance of a girl. Tabby relinquished any of her work +with jealous reluctance, and could not bear to be reminded, though ever +so delicately, that the acuteness of her senses was dulled by age. The +other servant might not interfere with what she chose to consider her +exclusive work. Among other things, she reserved to herself the right of +peeling the potatoes for dinner; but as she was growing blind, she often +left in those black specks, which we in the North call the "eyes" of the +potato. Miss Bronte was too dainty a housekeeper to put up with this; +yet she could not bear to hurt the faithful old servant, by bidding the +younger maiden go over the potatoes again, and so reminding Tabby that +her work was less effectual than formerly. Accordingly she would steal +into the kitchen, and quietly carry off the bowl of vegetables, without +Tabby's being aware, and breaking off in the full flow of interest +and inspiration in her writing, carefully cut out the specks in the +potatoes, and noiselessly carry them back to their place. This little +proceeding may show how orderly and fully she accomplished her duties, +even at those times when the "possession" was upon her. + +Any one who has studied her writings,--whether in print or in her +letters; any one who has enjoyed the rare privilege of listening to her +talk, must have noticed her singular felicity in the choice of words. +She herself, in writing her books, was solicitous on this point. One set +of words was the truthful mirror of her thoughts; no others, however +apparently identical in meaning, would do. She had that strong practical +regard for the simple holy truth of expression, which Mr. Trench has +enforced, as a duty too often neglected. She would wait patiently +searching for the right term, until it presented itself to her. It might +be provincial, it might be derived from the Latin; so that it accurately +represented her idea, she did not mind whence it came; but this care +makes her style present the finish of a piece of mosaic. Each component +part, however small, has been dropped into the right place. She never +wrote down a sentence until she clearly understood what she wanted to +say, had deliberately chosen the words, and arranged them in their right +order. Hence it comes that, in the scraps of paper covered with her +pencil writing which I have seen, there will occasionally be a sentence +scored out, but seldom, if ever, a word or an expression. She wrote +on these bits of paper in a minute hand, holding each against a piece +of board, such as is used in binding books, for a desk. This plan was +necessary for one so short-sighted as she was; and, besides, it enabled +her to use pencil and paper, as she sat near the fire in the twilight +hours, or if (as was too often the case) she was wakeful for hours +in the night. Her finished manuscripts were copied from these pencil +scraps, in clear, legible, delicate traced writing, almost as easy to +read as print. + +The sisters retained the old habit, which was begun in their aunt's +life-time, of putting away their work at nine o'clock, and beginning +their study, pacing up and down the sitting room. At this time, they +talked over the stories they were engaged upon, and described their +plots. Once or twice a week, each read to the others what she had +written, and heard what they had to say about it. Charlotte told me, +that the remarks made had seldom any effect in inducing her to alter +her work, so possessed was she with the feeling that she had described +reality; but the readings were of great and stirring interest to all, +taking them out of the gnawing pressure of daily-recurring cares, and +setting them in a free place. It was on one of these occasions, that +Charlotte determined to make her heroine plain, small, and unattractive, +in defiance of the accepted canon. + +The writer of the beautiful obituary article on "the death of Currer +Bell" most likely learnt from herself what is there stated, and which I +will take the liberty of quoting, about Jane Eyre. + +"She once told her sisters that they were wrong--even morally wrong--in +making their heroines beautiful as a matter of course. They replied that +it was impossible to make a heroine interesting on any other terms. Her +answer was, 'I will prove to you that you are wrong; I will show you a +heroine as plain and as small as myself, who shall be as interesting +as any of yours.' Hence 'Jane Eyre,' said she in telling the anecdote: +'but she is not myself, any further than that.' As the work went on, the +interest deepened to the writer. When she came to 'Thornfield' she could +not stop. Being short-sighted to excess, she wrote in little square +paper-books, held close to her eyes, and (the first copy) in pencil. On +she went, writing incessantly for three weeks; by which time she had +carried her heroine away from Thornfield, and was herself in a fever +which compelled her to pause." + +This is all, I believe, which can now be told respecting the conception +and composition of this wonderful book, which was, however, only at its +commencement when Miss Bronte returned with her father to Haworth, after +their anxious expedition to Manchester. + +They arrived at home about the end of September. Mr. Bronte was daily +gaining strength, but he was still forbidden to exercise his sight much. +Things had gone on more comfortably while she was away than Charlotte +had dared to hope, and she expresses herself thankful for the good +ensured and the evil spared during her absence. + +Soon after this some proposal, of which I have not been able to gain a +clear account, was again mooted for Miss Bronte's opening a school at +some place distant from Haworth. It elicited the following fragment of a +characteristic reply:-- + +"Leave home!--I shall neither be able to find place nor employment, +perhaps, too, I shall be quite past the prime of life, my faculties will +be rusted, and my few acquirements in a great measure forgotten. These +ideas sting me keenly sometimes; but, whenever I consult my conscience, +it affirms that I am doing right in staying at home, and bitter are its +upbraidings when I yield to an eager desire for release. I could hardly +expect success if I were to err against such warnings. I should like to +hear from you again soon. Bring ---- to the point, and make him give you +a clear, not a vague, account of what pupils he really could promise; +people often think they can do great things in that way till they have +tried; but getting pupils is unlike getting any other sort of goods." + +Whatever might be the nature and extent of this negotiation, the end of +it was that Charlotte adhered to the decision of her conscience, which +bade her remain at home, as long as her presence could cheer or comfort +those who were in distress, or had the slightest influence over him who +was the cause of it. The next extract gives us a glimpse into the cares +of that home. It is from a letter dated December 15th. + +"I hope you are not frozen up; the cold here is dreadful. I do not +remember such a series of North-Pole days. England might really have +taken a slide up into the Arctic Zone; the sky looks like ice; the earth +is frozen; the wind is as keen as a two-edged blade. We have all had +severe colds and coughs in consequence of the weather. Poor Anne has +suffered greatly from asthma, but is now, we are glad to say, rather +better. She had two nights last week when her cough and difficulty of +breathing were painful indeed to hear and witness, and must have been +most distressing to suffer; she bore it, as she bears all affliction, +without one complaint, only sighing now and then when nearly worn out. +She has an extraordinary heroism of endurance. I admire, but I certainly +could not imitate her." . . . "You say I am to 'tell you plenty.' What +would you have me say? Nothing happens at Haworth; nothing, at least, +of a pleasant kind. One little incident occurred about a week ago, to +sting us to life; but if it gives no more pleasure for you to hear, than +it did for us to witness, you will scarcely thank me for adverting to +it. It was merely the arrival of a Sheriff's officer on a visit to B., +inviting him either to pay his debts or take a trip to York. Of course +his debts had to be paid. It is not agreeable to lose money, time after +time, in this way; but where is the use of dwelling on such subjects? It +will make him no better." + +"December 28th. + +"I feel as if it was almost a farce to sit down and write to you now, +with nothing to say worth listening to; and, indeed, if it were not for +two reasons, I should put off the business at least a fortnight hence. +The first reason is, I want another letter from you, for your letters +are interesting, they have something in them; some results of experience +and observation; one receives them with pleasure, and reads them with +relish; and these letters I cannot expect to get, unless I reply to +them. I wish the correspondence could be managed so as to be all on one +side. The second reason is derived from a remark in your last, that you +felt lonely, something as I was at Brussels, and that consequently you +had a peculiar desire to hear from old acquaintance. I can understand +and sympathise with this. I remember the shortest note was a treat to +me, when I was at the above-named place; therefore I write. I have +also a third reason: it is a haunting terror lest you should imagine I +forget you--that my regard cools with absence. It is not in my nature to +forget your nature; though, I dare say, I should spit fire and explode +sometimes if we lived together continually; and you, too, would get +angry, and then we should get reconciled and jog on as before. Do you +ever get dissatisfied with your own temper when you are long fixed to +one place, in one scene, subject to one monotonous species of annoyance? +I do: I am now in that unenviable frame of mind; my humour, I think, +is too soon over-thrown, too sore, too demonstrative and vehement. I +almost long for some of the uniform serenity you describe in Mrs. ----'s +disposition; or, at least, I would fain have her power of self-control +and concealment; but I would not take her artificial habits and ideas +along with her composure. After all I should prefer being as I am. . . +You do right not to be annoyed at any maxims of conventionality you meet +with. Regard all new ways in the light of fresh experience for you: +if you see any honey gather it." . . . "I don't, after all, consider +that we ought to despise everything we see in the world, merely because +it is not what we are accustomed to. I suspect, on the contrary, that +there are not unfrequently substantial reasons underneath for customs +that appear to us absurd; and if I were ever again to find myself +amongst strangers, I should be solicitous to examine before I condemned. +Indiscriminating irony and faultfinding are just sumphishness, and that +is all. Anne is now much better, but papa has been for near a fortnight +far from well with the influenza; he has at times a most distressing +cough, and his spirits are much depressed." + +So ended the year 1846. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The next year opened with a spell of cold dreary weather, which told +severely on a constitution already tried by anxiety and care. Miss +Bronte describes herself as having utterly lost her appetite, and as +looking "grey, old, worn and sunk," from her sufferings during the +inclement season. The cold brought on severe toothache; toothache +was the cause of a succession of restless miserable nights; and long +wakefulness told acutely upon her nerves, making them feel with +redoubled sensitiveness all the harass of her oppressive life. Yet she +would not allow herself to lay her bad health to the charge of an uneasy +mind; "for after all," said she at this time, "I have many, many things +to be thankful for." But the real state of things may be gathered from +the following extracts from her letters. + +"March 1st. + +"Even at the risk of appearing very exacting, I can't help saying that I +should like a letter as long as your last, every time you write. Short +notes give one the feeling of a very small piece of a very good thing +to eat,--they set the appetite on edge, and don't satisfy it,--a letter +leaves you more contented; and yet, after all, I am very glad to get +notes; so don't think, when you are pinched for time and materials, that +it is useless to write a few lines; be assured, a few lines are very +acceptable as far as they go; and though I like long letters, I would +by no means have you to make a task of writing them. . . . I really +should like you to come to Haworth, before I again go to B----. And it +is natural and right that I should have this wish. To keep friendship in +proper order, the balance of good offices must be preserved, otherwise a +disquieting and anxious feeling creeps in, and destroys mutual comfort. +In summer and in fine weather, your visit here might be much better +managed than in winter. We could go out more, be more independent of +the house and of our room. Branwell has been conducting himself very +badly lately. I expect, from the extravagance of his behaviour, and from +mysterious hints he drops (for he never will speak out plainly), that we +shall be hearing news of fresh debts contracted by him soon. My health +is better: I lay the blame of its feebleness on the cold weather, more +than on an uneasy mind." + +"March 24th, 1847. + +"It is at Haworth, if all be well, that we must next see each other +again. I owe you a grudge for giving Miss M---- some very exaggerated +account about my not being well, and setting her on to urge my leaving +home as quite a duty. I'll take care not to tell you next time, when I +think I am looking specially old and ugly; as if people could not have +that privilege, without being supposed to be at the last gasp! I shall +be thirty-one next birthday. My youth is gone like a dream; and very +little use have I ever made of it. What have I done these last thirty +years? Precious little." + +The quiet, sad year stole on. The sisters were contemplating near at +hand, and for a long time, the terrible effects of talents misused and +faculties abused in the person of that brother, once their fond darling +and dearest pride. They had to cheer the poor old father, into whose +heart all trials sank the deeper, because of the silent stoicism of +his endurance. They had to watch over his health, of which, whatever +was its state, he seldom complained. They had to save, as much as they +could, the precious remnants of his sight. They had to order the frugal +household with increased care, so as to supply wants and expenditure +utterly foreign to their self-denying natures. Though they shrank from +overmuch contact with their fellow-beings, for all whom they met they +had kind words, if few; and when kind actions were needed, they were not +spared, if the sisters at the parsonage could render them. They visited +the parish-schools duly; and often were Charlotte's rare and brief +holidays of a visit from home shortened by her sense of the necessity of +being in her place at the Sunday-school. + +In the intervals of such a life as this, "Jane Eyre" was making +progress. "The Professor" was passing slowly and heavily from publisher +to publisher. "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" had been accepted by +another publisher, "on terms somewhat impoverishing to the two authors;" +a bargain to be alluded to more fully hereafter. It was lying in his +hands, awaiting his pleasure for its passage through the press, during +all the months of early summer. + +The piece of external brightness to which the sisters looked during +these same summer months, was the hope that the friend to whom so many +of Charlotte's letters are addressed, and who was her chosen companion, +whenever circumstances permitted them to be together, as well as a +favourite with Emily and Anne, would be able to pay them a visit at +Haworth. Fine weather had come in May, Charlotte writes, and they hoped +to make their visitor decently comfortable. Their brother was tolerably +well, having got to the end of a considerable sum of money which he +became possessed of in the spring, and therefore under the wholesome +restriction of poverty. But Charlotte warns her friend that she must +expect to find a change in his appearance, and that he is broken in +mind; and ends her note of entreating invitation by saying, "I pray for +fine weather, that we may get out while you stay." + +At length the day was fixed. + +"Friday will suit us very well. I DO trust nothing will now arise to +prevent your coming. I shall be anxious about the weather on that day; +if it rains, I shall cry. Don't expect me to meet you; where would be +the good of it? I neither like to meet, nor to be met. Unless, indeed, +you had a box or a basket for me to carry; then there would be some +sense in it. Come in black, blue, pink, white, or scarlet, as you like. +Come shabby or smart, neither the colour nor the condition signifies; +provided only the dress contain E----, all will be right." + +But there came the first of a series of disappointments to be borne. One +feels how sharp it must have been to have wrung out the following words. + +"May 20th. + +"Your letter of yesterday did indeed give me a cruel chill of +disappointment. I cannot blame you, for I know it was not your fault. I +do not altogether exempt ---- from reproach. . . . This is bitter, but I +feel bitter. As to going to B----, I will not go near the place till you +have been to Haworth. My respects to all and sundry, accompanied with a +large amount of wormwood and gall, from the effusion of which you and +your mother are alone excepted.--C. B. + +"You are quite at liberty to tell what I think, if you judge proper. +Though it is true I may be somewhat unjust, for I am deeply annoyed. I +thought I had arranged your visit tolerably comfortable for you this +time. I may find it more difficult on another occasion." + +I must give one sentence from a letter written about this time, as it +shows distinctly the clear strong sense of the writer. + +"I was amused by what she says respecting her wish that, when she +marries, her husband will, at least, have a will of his own, even should +he be a tyrant. Tell her, when she forms that aspiration again, she +must make it conditional if her husband has a strong will, he must also +have strong sense, a kind heart, and a thoroughly correct notion of +justice; because a man with a WEAK BRAIN and a STRONG WILL, is merely an +intractable brute; you can have no hold of him; you can never lead him +right. A TYRANT under any circumstances is a curse." + +Meanwhile, "The Professor" had met with many refusals from different +publishers; some, I have reason to believe, not over-courteously worded +in writing to an unknown author, and none alleging any distinct reasons +for its rejection. Courtesy is always due; but it is, perhaps, hardly to +be expected that, in the press of business in a great publishing house, +they should find time to explain why they decline particular works. Yet, +though one course of action is not to be wondered at, the opposite may +fall upon a grieved and disappointed mind with all the graciousness of +dew; and I can well sympathise with the published account which "Currer +Bell" gives, of the feelings experienced on reading Messrs. Smith and +Elder's letter containing the rejection of "The Professor". + +"As a forlorn hope, we tried one publishing house more. Ere long, in +a much shorter space than that on which experience had taught him +to calculate, there came a letter, which he opened in the dreary +anticipation of finding two hard hopeless lines, intimating that +'Messrs. Smith and Elder were not disposed to publish the MS.,' and, +instead, he took out of the envelope a letter of two pages. He read +it trembling. It declined, indeed, to publish that tale, for business +reasons, but it discussed its merits and demerits, so courteously, +so considerately, in a spirit so rational, with a discrimination so +enlightened, that this very refusal cheered the author better than a +vulgarly-expressed acceptance would have done. It was added, that a work +in three volumes would meet with careful attention." + +Mr. Smith has told me a little circumstance connected with the reception +of this manuscript, which seems to me indicative of no ordinary +character. It came (accompanied by the note given below) in a brown +paper parcel, to 65 Cornhill. Besides the address to Messrs. Smith and +Co., there were on it those of other publishers to whom the tale had +been sent, not obliterated, but simply scored through, so that Messrs. +Smith at once perceived the names of some of the houses in the trade to +which the unlucky parcel had gone, without success. + +To MESSRS. SMITH AND ELDER. + +"July 15th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen--I beg to submit to your consideration the accompanying +manuscript. I should be glad to learn whether it be such as you approve, +and would undertake to publish at as early a period as possible. +Address, Mr. Currer Bell, under cover to Miss Bronte, Haworth, Bradford, +Yorkshire." + +Some time elapsed before an answer was returned. + +A little circumstance may be mentioned here, though it belongs to a +somewhat earlier period, as showing Miss Bronte's inexperience of the +ways of the world, and willing deference to the opinion of others. She +had written to a publisher about one of her manuscripts, which she had +sent him, and, not receiving any reply, she consulted her brother as +to what could be the reason for the prolonged silence. He at once set +it down to her not having enclosed a postage-stamp in her letter. She +accordingly wrote again, to repair her former omission, and apologise +for it. + +To MESSRS. SMITH AND ELDER. + +"August 2nd, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--About three weeks since, I sent for your consideration a +MS. entitled "The Professor", a tale by Currer Bell. I should be glad +to know whether it reached your hands safely, and likewise to learn, at +your earliest convenience, whether it be such as you can undertake to +publish.--I am, gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +"CURRER BELL. + +"I enclose a directed cover for your reply." + +This time her note met with a prompt answer; for, four days later, she +writes (in reply to the letter which she afterwards characterised in the +Preface to the second edition of "Wuthering Heights", as containing a +refusal so delicate, reasonable, and courteous, as to be more cheering +than some acceptances): + +"Your objection to the want of varied interest in the tale is, I am +aware, not without grounds; yet it appears to me that it might be +published without serious risk, if its appearance were speedily followed +up by another work from the same pen, of a more striking and exciting +character. The first work might serve as an introduction, and accustom +the public to the author's the success of the second might thereby be +rendered more probable. I have a second narrative in three volumes, +now in progress, and nearly completed, to which I have endeavoured +to impart a more vivid interest than belongs to "The Professor". In +about a month I hope to finish it, so that if a publisher were found +for "The Professor", the second narrative might follow as soon as was +deemed advisable; and thus the interest of the public (if any interest +was aroused) might not be suffered to cool. Will you be kind enough to +favour me with your judgment on this plan?" + +While the minds of the three sisters were in this state of suspense, +their long-expected friend came to pay her promised visit. She was with +them at the beginning of the glowing August of that year. They were +out on the moors for the greater part of the day basking in the golden +sunshine, which was bringing on an unusual plenteousness of harvest, +for which, somewhat later, Charlotte expressed her earnest desire that +there should be a thanksgiving service in all the churches. August was +the season of glory for the neighbourhood of Haworth. Even the smoke, +lying in the valley between that village and Keighley, took beauty from +the radiant colours on the moors above, the rich purple of the heather +bloom calling out an harmonious contrast in the tawny golden light that, +in the full heat of summer evenings, comes stealing everywhere through +the dun atmosphere of the hollows. And up, on the moors, turning away +from all habitations of men, the royal ground on which they stood would +expand into long swells of amethyst-tinted hills, melting away into +aerial tints; and the fresh and fragrant scent of the heather, and the +"murmur of innumerable bees," would lend a poignancy to the relish with +which they welcomed their friend to their own true home on the wild and +open hills. + +There, too, they could escape from the Shadow in the house below. + +Throughout this time--during all these confidences--not a word was +uttered to their friend of the three tales in London; two accepted and +in the press--one trembling in the balance of a publisher's judgment; +nor did she hear of that other story "nearly completed," lying in +manuscript in the grey old parsonage down below. She might have her +suspicions that they all wrote with an intention of publication some +time; but she knew the bounds which they set to themselves in their +communications; nor could she, nor can any one else, wonder at their +reticence, when remembering how scheme after scheme had failed, just as +it seemed close upon accomplishment. + +Mr. Bronte, too, had his suspicions of something going on; but, never +being spoken to, he did not speak on the subject, and consequently his +ideas were vague and uncertain, only just prophetic enough to keep him +from being actually stunned when, later on, he heard of the success of +"Jane Eyre"; to the progress of which we must now return. + +To MESSRS. SMITH AND ELDER. + +"August 24th. + +"I now send you per rail a MS. entitled 'Jane Eyre,' a novel in three +volumes, by Currer Bell. I find I cannot prepay the carriage of +the parcel, as money for that purpose is not received at the small +station-house where it is left. If, when you acknowledge the receipt +of the MS., you would have the goodness to mention the amount charged +on delivery, I will immediately transmit it in postage stamps. It is +better in future to address Mr. Currer Bell, under cover to Miss Bronte, +Haworth, Bradford, Yorkshire, as there is a risk of letters otherwise +directed not reaching me at present. To save trouble, I enclose an +envelope." + +"Jane Eyre" was accepted, and printed and published by October 16th. + +While it was in the press, Miss Bronte went to pay a short visit to +her friend at B----. The proofs were forwarded to her there, and she +occasionally sat at the same table with her friend, correcting them; but +they did not exchange a word on the subject. + +Immediately on her return to the Parsonage, she wrote: + +"September. + +"I had a very wet, windy walk home from Keighley; but my fatigue quite +disappeared when I reached home, and found all well. Thank God for it. + +"My boxes came safe this morning. I have distributed the presents. +Papa says I am to remember him most kindly to you. The screen will be +very useful, and he thanks you for it. Tabby was charmed with her cap. +She said, 'she never thought o' naught o' t' sort as Miss sending her +aught, and, she is sure, she can never thank her enough for it.' I was +infuriated on finding a jar in my trunk. At first, I hoped it was empty, +but when I found it heavy and replete, I could have hurled it all the +way back to B----. However, the inscription A. B. softened me much. It +was at once kind and villainous in you to send it. You ought first to +be tenderly kissed, and then afterwards as tenderly whipped. Emily is +just now on the floor of the bed-room where I am writing, looking at +her apples. She smiled when I gave the collar to her as your present, +with an expression at once well-pleased and slightly surprised. All send +their love.--Yours, in a mixture of anger and love." + +When the manuscript of "Jane Eyre" had been received by the future +publishers of that remarkable novel, it fell to the share of a gentleman +connected with the firm to read it first. He was so powerfully struck +by the character of the tale, that he reported his impression in very +strong terms to Mr. Smith, who appears to have been much amused by the +admiration excited. "You seem to have been so enchanted, that I do not +know how to believe you," he laughingly said. But when a second reader, +in the person of a clear-headed Scotchman, not given to enthusiasm, had +taken the MS. home in the evening, and became so deeply interested in +it, as to sit up half the night to finish it, Mr. Smith's curiosity was +sufficiently excited to prompt him to read it for himself; and great as +were the praises which had been bestowed upon it, he found that they had +not exceeded the truth. + +On its publication, copies were presented to a few private literary +friends. Their discernment had been rightly reckoned upon. They were of +considerable standing in the world of letters; and one and all returned +expressions of high praise along with their thanks for the book. Among +them was the great writer of fiction for whom Miss Bronte felt so strong +an admiration; he immediately appreciated, and, in a characteristic note +to the publishers, acknowledged its extraordinary merits. + +The Reviews were more tardy, or more cautious. The Athenaeum and the +Spectator gave short notices, containing qualified admissions of the +power of the author. The Literary Gazette was uncertain as to whether it +was safe to praise an unknown author. The Daily News declined accepting +the copy which had been sent, on the score of a rule "never to review +novels;" but a little later on, there appeared a notice of the Bachelor +of the Albany in that paper; and Messrs. Smith and Elder again forwarded +a copy of "Jane Eyre" to the Editor, with a request for a notice. This +time the work was accepted; but I am not aware what was the character of +the article upon it. + +The Examiner came forward to the rescue, as far as the opinions of +professional critics were concerned. The literary articles in that paper +were always remarkable for their genial and generous appreciation of +merit nor was the notice of "Jane Eyre" an exception; it was full of +hearty, yet delicate and discriminating praise. Otherwise, the press in +general did little to promote the sale of the novel; the demand for it +among librarians had begun before the appearance of the review in the +Examiner; the power of fascination of the tale itself made its merits +known to the public, without the kindly finger-posts of professional +criticism; and, early in December, the rush began for copies. + +I will insert two or three of Miss Bronte's letters to her publishers, +in order to show how timidly the idea of success was received by one so +unaccustomed to adopt a sanguine view of any subject in which she was +individually concerned. The occasions on which these notes were written, +will explain themselves. + +"Oct. 19th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--The six copies of "Jane Eyre" reached me this morning. You +have given the work every advantage which good paper, clear type, and +a seemly outside can supply;--if it fails, the fault will lie with the +author,--you are exempt. + +"I now await the judgment of the press and the public.--I am, Gentlemen, +yours respectfully, + +C. BELL." + +MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Oct. 26th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--I have received the newspapers. They speak quite as +favourably of "Jane Eyre" as I expected them to do. The notice in the +Literary Gazette seems certainly to have been indited in rather a flat +mood, and the Athenaeum has a style of its own, which I respect, but +cannot exactly relish; still when one considers that journals of that +standing have a dignity to maintain which would be deranged by a too +cordial recognition of the claims of an obscure author, I suppose there +is every reason to be satisfied. + +"Meantime a brisk sale would be effectual support under the hauteur of +lofty critics.--I am, Gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +"C. BELL." + +MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Nov. 13th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--I have to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 11th +inst., and to thank you for the information it communicates. The notice +from the People's Journal also duly reached me, and this morning I +received the Spectator. The critique in the Spectator gives that view of +the book which will naturally be taken by a certain class of minds; I +shall expect it to be followed by other notices of a similar nature. The +way to detraction has been pointed out, and will probably be pursued. +Most future notices will in all likelihood have a reflection of the +Spectator in them. I fear this turn of opinion will not improve the +demand for the book--but time will show. If "Jane Eyre" has any solid +worth in it, it ought to weather a gust of unfavourable wind.--I am, +Gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +"C. BELL." + +MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Nov. 30th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--I have received the Economist, but not the Examiner; from +some cause that paper has missed, as the Spectator did on a former +occasion; I am glad, however, to learn through your letter, that its +notice of "Jane Eyre" was favourable, and also that the prospects of the +work appear to improve. + +"I am obliged to you for the information respecting "Wuthering +Heights".--I am, Gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +"C. BELL." + +To MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Dec. 1st, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--The Examiner reached me to-day; it had been missent on +account of the direction, which was to Currer Bell, care of Miss Bronte. +Allow me to intimate that it would be better in future not to put the +name of Currer Bell on the outside of communications; if directed simply +to Miss Bronte they will be more likely to reach their destination +safely. Currer Bell is not known in the district, and I have no wish +that he should become known. The notice in the Examiner gratified +me very much; it appears to be from the pen of an able man who has +understood what he undertakes to criticise; of course, approbation from +such a quarter is encouraging to an author, and I trust it will prove +beneficial to the work.--I am, Gentlemen, yours respectfully, + +C. BELL. + +"I received likewise seven other notices from provincial papers enclosed +in an envelope. I thank you very sincerely for so punctually sending me +all the various criticisms on "Jane Eyre"." + +TO MESSRS. SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. + +"Dec. 10th, 1847. + +"Gentlemen,--I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter inclosing +a bank post bill, for which I thank you. Having already expressed my +sense of your kind and upright conduct, I can now only say that I trust +you will always have reason to be as well content with me as I am with +you. If the result of any future exertions I may be able to make should +prove agreeable and advantageous to you, I shall be well satisfied; and +it would be a serious source of regret to me if I thought you ever had +reason to repent being my publishers. + +"You need not apologise, Gentlemen, for having written to me so seldom; +of course I am always glad to hear from you, but I am truly glad to +hear from Mr. Williams likewise; he was my first favourable critic; he +first gave me encouragement to persevere as an author, consequently I +naturally respect him and feel grateful to him. + +"Excuse the informality of my letter, and believe me, Gentlemen, yours +respectfully, + +CURRER BELL." + +There is little record remaining of the manner in which the first news +of its wonderful success reached and affected the one heart of the three +sisters. I once asked Charlotte--we were talking about the description +of Lowood school, and she was saying that she was not sure whether she +should have written it, if she had been aware how instantaneously it +would have been identified with Cowan Bridge--whether the popularity +to which the novel attained had taken her by surprise. She hesitated +a little, and then said: "I believed that what had impressed me so +forcibly when I wrote it, must make a strong impression on any one who +read it. I was not surprised at those who read "Jane Eyre" being deeply +interested in it; but I hardly expected that a book by an unknown author +could find readers." + +The sisters had kept the knowledge of their literary ventures from their +father, fearing to increase their own anxieties and disappointment by +witnessing his; for he took an acute interest in all that befell his +children, and his own tendency had been towards literature in the days +when he was young and hopeful. It was true he did not much manifest +his feelings in words; he would have thought that he was prepared for +disappointment as the lot of man, and that he could have met it with +stoicism; but words are poor and tardy interpreters of feelings to those +who love one another, and his daughters knew how he would have borne +ill-success worse for them than for himself. So they did not tell him +what they were undertaking. He says now that he suspected it all along, +but his suspicions could take no exact form, as all he was certain +of was, that his children were perpetually writing--and not writing +letters. We have seen how the communications from their publishers were +received "under cover to Miss Bronte." Once, Charlotte told me, they +overheard the postman meeting Mr. Bronte, as the latter was leaving the +house, and inquiring from the parson where one Currer Bell could be +living, to which Mr. Bronte replied that there was no such person in +the parish. This must have been the misadventure to which Miss Bronte +alludes in the beginning of her correspondence with Mr. Aylott. + +Now, however, when the demand for the work had assured success to +"Jane Eyre," her sisters urged Charlotte to tell their father of its +publication. She accordingly went into his study one afternoon after +his early dinner, carrying with her a copy of the book, and one or two +reviews, taking care to include a notice adverse to it. + +She informed me that something like the following conversation took +place between her and him. (I wrote down her words the day after I heard +them; and I am pretty sure they are quite accurate.) + +"Papa, I've been writing a book." + +"Have you, my dear?" + +"Yes, and I want you to read it." + +"I am afraid it will try my eyes too much." + +"But it is not in manuscript: it is printed." + +"My dear! you've never thought of the expense it will be! It will be +almost sure to be a loss, for how can you get a book sold? No one knows +you or your name." + +"But, papa, I don't think it will be a loss; no more will you, if you +will just let me read you a review or two, and tell you more about it." + +So she sate down and read some of the reviews to her father; and then, +giving him the copy of "Jane Eyre" that she intended for him, she left +him to read it. When he came in to tea, he said, "Girls, do you know +Charlotte has been writing a book, and it is much better than likely?" + +But while the existence of Currer Bell, the author, was like a piece of +a dream to the quiet inhabitants of Haworth Parsonage, who went on with +their uniform household life,--their cares for their brother being its +only variety,--the whole reading-world of England was in a ferment to +discover the unknown author. Even the publishers of "Jane Eyre" were +ignorant whether Currer Bell was a real or an assumed name,--whether it +belonged to a man or a woman. In every town people sought out the list +of their friends and acquaintances, and turned away in disappointment. +No one they knew had genius enough to be the author. Every little +incident mentioned in the book was turned this way and that to answer, +if possible, the much-vexed question of sex. All in vain. People were +content to relax their exertions to satisfy their curiosity, and simply +to sit down and greatly admire. + +I am not going to write an analysis of a book with which every one who +reads this biography is sure to be acquainted; much less a criticism +upon a work, which the great flood of public opinion has lifted up from +the obscurity in which it first appeared, and laid high and safe on the +everlasting hills of fame. + +Before me lies a packet of extracts from newspapers and periodicals, +which Mr. Bronte has sent me. It is touching to look them over, and see +how there is hardly any notice, however short and clumsily-worded, in +any obscure provincial paper, but what has been cut out and carefully +ticketed with its date by the poor, bereaved father,--so proud when he +first read them--so desolate now. For one and all are full of praise +of this great, unknown genius, which suddenly appeared amongst us. +Conjecture as to the authorship ran about like wild-fire. People in +London, smooth and polished as the Athenians of old, and like them +"spending their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear +some new thing," were astonished and delighted to find that a fresh +sensation, a new pleasure, was in reserve for them in the uprising of an +author, capable of depicting with accurate and Titanic power the strong, +self-reliant, racy, and individual characters which were not, after all, +extinct species, but lingered still in existence in the North. They +thought that there was some exaggeration mixed with the peculiar force +of delineation. Those nearer to the spot, where the scene of the story +was apparently laid, were sure, from the very truth and accuracy of the +writing, that the writer was no Southeron; for though "dark, and cold, +and rugged is the North," the old strength of the Scandinavian races yet +abides there, and glowed out in every character depicted in "Jane Eyre." +Farther than this, curiosity, both honourable and dishonourable, was at +fault. + +When the second edition appeared, in the January of the following +year, with the dedication to Mr. Thackeray, people looked at each +other and wondered afresh. But Currer Bell knew no more of William +Makepeace Thackeray as an individual man--of his life, age, fortunes, or +circumstances--than she did of those of Mr. Michael Angelo Titmarsh. The +one had placed his name as author upon the title-page of Vanity Fair, +the other had not. She was thankful for the opportunity of expressing +her high admiration of a writer, whom, as she says, she regarded "as the +social regenerator of his day--as the very master of that working corps +who would restore to rectitude the warped state of things. . . . His wit +is bright, his humour attractive, but both bear the same relation to his +serious genius, that the mere lambent sheet-lightning, playing under the +edge of the summer cloud, does to the electric death-spark hid in its +womb." + +Anne Bronte had been more than usually delicate all the summer, and +her sensitive spirit had been deeply affected by the great anxiety of +her home. But now that "Jane Eyre" gave such indications of success, +Charlotte began to plan schemes of future pleasure,--perhaps relaxation +from care, would be the more correct expression,--for their darling +younger sister, the "little one" of the household. But, although Anne +was cheered for a time by Charlotte's success, the fact was, that +neither her spirits nor her bodily strength were such as to incline +her to much active exertion, and she led far too sedentary a life, +continually stooping either over her book, or work, or at her desk. "It +is with difficulty," writes her sister, "that we can prevail upon her to +take a walk, or induce her to converse. I look forward to next summer +with the confident intention that she shall, if possible, make at least +a brief sojourn at the sea-side." In this same letter, is a sentence, +telling how dearly home, even with its present terrible drawback, lay at +the roots of her heart; but it is too much blended with reference to the +affairs of others to bear quotation. + +Any author of a successful novel is liable to an inroad of letters +from unknown readers, containing commendation--sometimes of so +fulsome and indiscriminating a character as to remind the recipient +of Dr. Johnson's famous speech to one who offered presumptuous and +injudicious praise--sometimes saying merely a few words, which have +power to stir the heart "as with the sound of a trumpet," and in the +high humility they excite, to call forth strong resolutions to make +all future efforts worthy of such praise; and occasionally containing +that true appreciation of both merits and demerits, together with the +sources of each, which forms the very criticism and help for which an +inexperienced writer thirsts. Of each of these kinds of communication +Currer Bell received her full share; and her warm heart, and true +sense and high standard of what she aimed at, affixed to each its true +value. Among other letters of hers, some to Mr. G. H. Lewes have been +kindly placed by him at my service; and as I know Miss Bronte highly +prized his letters of encouragement and advice, I shall give extracts +from her replies, as their dates occur, because they will indicate the +kind of criticism she valued, and also because throughout, in anger, +as in agreement and harmony, they show her character unblinded by any +self-flattery, full of clear-sighted modesty as to what she really did +well, and what she failed in, grateful for friendly interest, and only +sore and irritable when the question of sex in authorship was, as she +thought, roughly or unfairly treated. As to the rest, the letters speak +for themselves, to those who know how to listen, far better than I can +interpret their meaning into my poorer and weaker words. Mr. Lewes has +politely sent me the following explanation of that letter of his, to +which the succeeding one of Miss Bronte is a reply. + +"When 'Jane Eyre' first appeared, the publishers courteously sent me +a copy. The enthusiasm with which I read it, made me go down to Mr. +Parker, and propose to write a review of it for Frazer's Magazine. +He would not consent to an unknown novel--for the papers had not yet +declared themselves--receiving such importance, but thought it might +make one on 'Recent Novels: English and French'--which appeared in +Frazer, December, 1847. Meanwhile I had written to Miss Bronte to +tell her the delight with which her book filled me; and seem to have +sermonised her, to judge from her reply." + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Nov. 6th, 1847. + +"Dear Sir,--Your letter reached me yesterday; I beg to assure you, that +I appreciate fully the intention with which it was written, and I thank +you sincerely both for its cheering commendation and valuable advice. + +"You warn me to beware of melodrama, and you exhort me to adhere to the +real. When I first began to write, so impressed was I with the truth of +the principles you advocate, that I determined to take Nature and Truth +as my sole guides, and to follow in their very footprints; I restrained +imagination, eschewed romance, repressed excitement; over-bright +colouring, too, I avoided, and sought to produce something which should +be soft, grave, and true. + +"My work (a tale in one volume) being completed, I offered it to a +publisher. He said it was original, faithful to nature, but he did not +feel warranted in accepting it; such a work would not sell. I tried +six publishers in succession; they all told me it was deficient in +'startling incident' and 'thrilling excitement,' that it would never +suit the circulating libraries, and, as it was on those libraries the +success of works of fiction mainly depended, they could not undertake to +publish what would be overlooked there. + +"'Jane Eyre' was rather objected to at first, on the same grounds, but +finally found acceptance. + +"I mention this to you, not with a view of pleading exemption from +censure, but in order to direct your attention to the root of certain +literary evils. If, in your forthcoming article in Frazer, you would +bestow a few words of enlightenment on the public who support the +circulating libraries, you might, with your powers, do some good. + +"You advise me, too, not to stray far from the ground of experience, as +I become weak when I enter the region of fiction; and you say, 'real +experience is perennially interesting, and to all men.' + +"I feel that this also is true; but, dear Sir, is not the real +experience of each individual very limited? And, if a writer dwells upon +that solely or principally, is he not in danger of repeating himself, +and also of becoming an egotist? Then, too, imagination is a strong, +restless faculty, which claims to be heard and exercised: are we to be +quite deaf to her cry, and insensate to her struggles? When she shows +us bright pictures, are we never to look at them, and try to reproduce +them? And when she is eloquent, and speaks rapidly and urgently in our +ear, are we not to write to her dictation? + +"I shall anxiously search the next number of Fraser for your opinions on +these points.--Believe me, dear Sir, yours gratefully, + +"C. BELL." + +But while gratified by appreciation as an author, she was cautious as +to the person from whom she received it; for much of the value of the +praise depended on the sincerity and capability of the person rendering +it. Accordingly, she applied to Mr. Williams (a gentleman connected +with her publishers' firm) for information as to who and what Mr. Lewes +was. Her reply, after she had learnt something of the character of her +future critic, and while awaiting his criticism, must not be omitted. +Besides the reference to him, it contains some amusing allusions to the +perplexity which began to be excited respecting the "identity of the +brothers Bell," and some notice of the conduct of another publisher +towards her sister, which I refrain from characterising, because I +understand that truth is considered a libel in speaking of such people. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Nov. 10th, 1847. + +"Dear Sir,--I have received the Britannia and the Sun, but not the +Spectator which I rather regret, as censure, though not pleasant, is +often wholesome. + +"Thank you for your information regarding Mr. Lewes. I am glad to hear +that he is a clever and sincere man: such being the case, I can await +his critical sentence with fortitude; even if it goes against me, I +shall not murmur; ability and honesty have a right to condemn, where +they think condemnation is deserved. From what you say, however, I trust +rather to obtain at least a modified approval. + +"Your account of the various surmises respecting the identity of the +brothers Bell, amused me much: were the enigma solved, it would probably +be found not worth the trouble of solution; but I will let it alone; it +suits ourselves to remain quiet, and certainly injures no one else. + +"The reviewer who noticed the little book of poems, in the Dublin +Magazine, conjectured that the soi-disant three personages were in +reality but one, who, endowed with an unduly prominent organ of +self-esteem, and consequently impressed with a somewhat weighty notion +of his own merits, thought them too vast to be concentrated in a +single individual, and accordingly divided himself into three, out of +consideration, I suppose, for the nerves of the much-to-be-astounded +public! This was an ingenious thought in the reviewer,--very original +and striking, but not accurate. We are three. + +"A prose work, by Ellis and Acton, will soon appear: it should have +been out, indeed, long since; for the first proof-sheets were already +in the press at the commencement of last August, before Currer Bell +had placed the MS. of "Jane Eyre" in your hands. Mr.----, however, +does not do business like Messrs. Smith and Elder; a different spirit +seems to preside at ---- Street, to that which guides the helm at +65, Cornhill. . . . My relations have suffered from exhausting delay +and procrastination, while I have to acknowledge the benefits of a +management at once business-like and gentleman-like, energetic and +considerate. + +"I should like to know if Mr. ---- often acts as he has done to my +relations, or whether this is an exceptional instance of his method. Do +you know, and can you tell me anything about him? You must excuse me +for going to the point at once, when I want to learn anything: if my +questions are importunate, you are, of course, at liberty to decline +answering them.--I am, yours respectfully, + +C. BELL." + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Nov. 22nd, 1847. + +"Dear Sir,--I have now read 'Ranthorpe.' I could not get it till a +day or two ago; but I have got it and read it at last; and in reading +'Ranthorpe,' I have read a new book,--not a reprint--not a reflection of +any other book, but a NEW BOOK. + +"I did not know such books were written now. It is very different to any +of the popular works of fiction: it fills the mind with fresh knowledge. +Your experience and your convictions are made the reader's; and to an +author, at least, they have a value and an interest quite unusual. I +await your criticism on 'Jane Eyre' now with other sentiments than I +entertained before the perusal of 'Ranthorpe.' + +"You were a stranger to me. I did not particularly respect you. I did +not feel that your praise or blame would have any special weight. I knew +little of your right to condemn or approve. NOW I am informed on these +points. + +"You will be severe; your last letter taught me as much. Well! I shall +try to extract good out of your severity: and besides, though I am now +sure you are a just, discriminating man, yet, being mortal, you must be +fallible; and if any part of your censure galls me too keenly to the +quick--gives me deadly pain--I shall for the present disbelieve it, and +put it quite aside, till such time as I feel able to receive it without +torture.--I am, dear Sir, yours very respectfully, + +C. BELL." + +In December, 1847, "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" appeared. The +first-named of these stories has revolted many readers by the power with +which wicked and exceptional characters are depicted. Others, again, +have felt the attraction of remarkable genius, even when displayed on +grim and terrible criminals. Miss Bronte herself says, with regard to +this tale, "Where delineation of human character is concerned, the case +is different. I am bound to avow that she had scarcely more practical +knowledge of the peasantry amongst whom she lived, than a nun has of +the country-people that pass her convent gates. My sister's disposition +was not naturally gregarious: circumstances favoured and fostered her +tendency to seclusion; except to go to church, or take a walk on the +hills, she rarely crossed the threshold of home. Though the feeling for +the people around her was benevolent, intercourse with them she never +sought, nor, with very few exceptions, ever experienced and yet she knew +them, knew their ways, their language, and 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 has 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 +Heathcliff, like Earnshaw, like Catherine. Having formed these beings, +she did not know what she had done. If the auditor of her work, when +read in manuscript, shuddered under the grinding influence of natures +so relentless and implacable--of spirits so lost and fallen; if it was +complained that the mere hearing of certain vivid and fearful scenes +banished sleep by night, and disturbed mental peace by day, Ellis Bell +would wonder what was meant, and suspect the complainant of affectation. +Had she but lived, her mind would of itself have grown like a strong +tree--loftier, straighter, wider-spreading--and its matured fruits +would have attained a mellower ripeness and sunnier bloom; but on that +mind time and experience alone could work; to the influence of other +intellects she was not amenable." + +Whether justly or unjustly, the productions of the two younger Miss +Brontes were not received with much favour at the time of their +publication. "Critics failed to do them justice. The immature, but very +real, powers revealed in 'Wuthering Heights,' were scarcely recognised; +its import and nature were misunderstood; the identity of its author was +misrepresented: it was said that this was an earlier and ruder attempt +of the same pen which had produced 'Jane Eyre.'" . . . "Unjust and +grievous error! We laughed at it at first, but I deeply lament it now." + +Henceforward Charlotte Bronte's existence becomes divided into two +parallel currents--her life as Currer Bell, the author; her life as +Charlotte Bronte, the woman. There were separate duties belonging to +each character--not opposing each other; not impossible, but difficult +to be reconciled. When a man becomes an author, it is probably merely +a change of employment to him. He takes a portion of that time which +has hitherto been devoted to some other study or pursuit; he gives up +something of the legal or medical profession, in which he has hitherto +endeavoured to serve others, or relinquishes part of the trade or +business by which he has been striving to gain a livelihood; and another +merchant or lawyer, or doctor, steps into his vacant place, and probably +does as well as he. But no other can take up the quiet, regular duties +of the daughter, the wife, or the mother, as well as she whom God has +appointed to fill that particular place: a woman's principal work in +life is hardly left to her own choice; nor can she drop the domestic +charges devolving on her as an individual, for the exercise of the most +splendid talents that were ever bestowed. And yet she must not shrink +from the extra responsibility implied by the very fact of her possessing +such talents. She must not hide her gift in a napkin; it was meant for +the use and service of others. In an humble and faithful spirit must she +labour to do what is not impossible, or God would not have set her to do +it. + +I put into words what Charlotte Bronte put into actions. + +The year 1848 opened with sad domestic distress. It is necessary, +however painful, to remind the reader constantly of what was always +present to the hearts of father and sisters at this time. It is well +that the thoughtless critics, who spoke of the sad and gloomy views +of life presented by the Brontes in their tales, should know how such +words were wrung out of them by the living recollection of the long +agony they suffered. It is well, too, that they who have objected to the +representation of coarseness and shrank from it with repugnance, as if +such conceptions arose out of the writers, should learn, that, not from +the imagination--not from internal conception--but from the hard cruel +facts, pressed down, by external life, upon their very senses, for long +months and years together, did they write out what they saw, obeying the +stern dictates of their consciences. They might be mistaken. They might +err in writing at all, when their affections were so great that they +could not write otherwise than they did of life. It is possible that it +would have been better to have described only good and pleasant people, +doing only good and pleasant things (in which case they could hardly +have written at any time): all I say is, that never, I believe, did +women, possessed of such wonderful gifts, exercise them with a fuller +feeling of responsibility for their use. As to mistakes, stand now--as +authors as well as women--before the judgment-seat of God. + +"Jan. 11th, 1848. + +"We have not been very comfortable here at home lately. Branwell has, +by some means, contrived to get more money from the old quarter, and +has led us a sad life. . . . Papa is harassed day and night; we have +little peace, he is always sick; has two or three times fallen down in +fits; what will be the ultimate end, God knows. But who is without their +drawback, their scourge, their skeleton behind the curtain? It remains +only to do one's best, and endure with patience what God sends." + +I suppose that she had read Mr. Lewes' review on "Recent Novels," when +it appeared in the December of the last year, but I find no allusion to +it till she writes to him on January 12th, 1848. + +"Dear Sir,--I thank you then sincerely for your generous review; and it +is with the sense of double content I express my gratitude, because I +am now sure the tribute is not superfluous or obtrusive. You were not +severe on 'Jane Eyre;' you were very lenient. I am glad you told me my +faults plainly in private, for in your public notice you touch on them +so lightly, I should perhaps have passed them over thus indicated, with +too little reflection. + +"I mean to observe your warning about being careful how I undertake +new works; my stock of materials is not abundant, but very slender; +and, besides, neither my experience, my acquirements, nor my powers, +are sufficiently varied to justify my ever becoming a frequent writer. +I tell you this, because your article in Frazer left in me an uneasy +impression that you were disposed to think better of the author of +'Jane Eyre' than that individual deserved; and I would rather you had a +correct than a flattering opinion of me, even though I should never see +you. + +"If I ever DO write another book, I think I will have nothing of what +you call 'melodrama;' I think so, but I am not sure. I THINK, too, I +will endeavour to follow the counsel which shines out of Miss Austen's +'mild eyes,' 'to finish more and be more subdued;' but neither am I +sure of that. When authors write best, or, at least, when they write +most fluently, an influence seems to waken in them, which becomes their +master--which will have its own way--putting out of view all behests but +its own, dictating certain words, and insisting on their being used, +whether vehement or measured in their nature; new-moulding characters, +giving unthought of turns to incidents, rejecting carefully-elaborated +old ideas, and suddenly creating and adopting new ones. + +"Is it not so? And should we try to counteract this influence? Can we +indeed counteract it? + +"I am glad that another work of yours will soon appear; most curious +shall I be to see whether you will write up to your own principles, +and work out your own theories. You did not do it altogether in +'Ranthorpe'--at least not in the latter part; but the first portion was, +I think, nearly without fault; then it had a pith, truth, significance +in it, which gave the book sterling value; but to write so, one must +have seen and known a great deal, and I have seen and known very little. + +"Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. +What induced you to say that you would have rather written "Pride and +Prejudice,' or 'Tom Jones,' than any of the 'Waverley Novels'? + +"I had not seen 'Pride and Prejudice' till I read that sentence of +yours, and then I got the book. And what did I find? An accurate, +daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face; a carefully-fenced, +highly-cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no +glance of a bright, vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no +blue hill, no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies +and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses. These observations +will probably irritate you, but I shall run the risk. + +"Now I can understand admiration of George Sand; for though I never saw +any of her works which I admired throughout (even 'Consuelo,' which is +the best, or the best that I have read, appears to me to couple strange +extravagance with wondrous excellence), yet she has a grasp of mind, +which, if I cannot fully comprehend, I can very deeply respect; she is +sagacious and profound;--Miss Austen is only shrewd and observant. + +"Am I wrong--or, were you hasty in what you said? If you have time, I +should be glad to hear further on this subject; if not, or if you think +the questions frivolous, do not trouble yourself to reply.--I am, yours +respectfully, + +C. BELL." + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Jan. 18th, 1848. + +"Dear Sir,--I must write one more note, though I had not intended to +trouble you again so soon. I have to agree with you, and to differ from +you. + +"You correct my crude remarks on the subject of the 'influence'; well, I +accept your definition of what the effects of that influence should be; +I recognise the wisdom of your rules for its regulation. . . . + +"What a strange lecture comes next in your letter! You say I must +familiarise my mind with the fact, that 'Miss Austen is not a poetess, +has no "sentiment" (you scornfully enclose the word in inverted commas), +no eloquence, none of the ravishing enthusiasm of poetry,'--and then you +add, I MUST 'learn to acknowledge her as ONE OF THE GREATEST ARTISTS, OF +THE GREATEST PAINTERS OF HUMAN CHARACTER, and one of the writers with +the nicest sense of means to an end that ever lived.' + +"The last point only will I ever acknowledge. + +"Can there be a great artist without poetry? + +"What I call--what I will bend to, as a great artist then--cannot be +destitute of the divine gift. But by POETRY, I am sure, you understand +something different to what I do, as you do by 'sentiment.' It is +POETRY, as I comprehend the word, which elevates that masculine George +Sand, and makes out of something coarse, something Godlike. It is +'sentiment,' in my sense of the term--sentiment jealously hidden, but +genuine, which extracts the venom from that formidable Thackeray, and +converts what might be corrosive poison into purifying elixir. + +"If Thackeray did not cherish in his large heart deep feeling for his +kind, he would delight to exterminate; as it is, I believe, he wishes +only to reform. Miss Austen being, as you say, without 'sentiment,' +without Poetry, maybe IS sensible, real (more REAL than TRUE), but she +cannot be great. + +"I submit to your anger, which I have now excited (for have I not +questioned the perfection of your darling?); the storm may pass over +me. Nevertheless, I will, when I can (I do not know when that will be, +as I have no access to a circulating library), diligently peruse all +Miss Austen's works, as you recommend. . . . You must forgive me for +not always being able to think as you do, and still believe me, yours +gratefully, + +C. BELL." + +I have hesitated a little, before inserting the following extract from +a letter to Mr. Williams, but it is strikingly characteristic; and the +criticism contained in it is, from that circumstance, so interesting +(whether we agree with it or not), that I have determined to do so, +though I thereby displace the chronological order of the letters, +in order to complete this portion of a correspondence which is very +valuable, as showing the purely intellectual side of her character. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, BSQ. + +"April 26th, 1848. + +"My dear Sir,--I have now read 'Rose, Blanche, and Violet,' and I +will tell you, as well as I can, what I think of it. Whether it is an +improvement on 'Ranthorpe' I do not know, for I liked 'Ranthorpe' much; +but, at any rate, it contains more of a good thing. I find in it the +same power, but more fully developed. + +"The author's character is seen in every page, which makes the book +interesting--far more interesting than any story could do; but it is +what the writer himself says that attracts far more than what he puts +into the mouths of his characters. G. H. Lewes is, to my perception, +decidedly the most original character in the book. . . . The didactic +passages seem to me the best--far the best--in the work; very acute, +very profound, are some of the views there given, and very clearly they +are offered to the reader. He is a just thinker; he is a sagacious +observer; there is wisdom in his theory, and, I doubt not, energy in his +practice. But why, then, are you often provoked with him while you read? +How does he manage, while teaching, to make his hearer feel as if his +business was, not quietly to receive the doctrines propounded, but to +combat them? You acknowledge that he offers you gems of pure truth; why +do you keep perpetually scrutinising them for flaws? + +"Mr. Lewes, I divine, with all his talents and honesty, must have some +faults of manner; there must be a touch too much of dogmatism; a dash +extra of confidence in him, sometimes. This you think while you are +reading the book; but when you have closed it and laid it down, and sat +a few minutes collecting your thoughts, and settling your impressions, +you find the idea or feeling predominant in your mind to be pleasure at +the fuller acquaintance you have made with a fine mind and a true heart, +with high abilities and manly principles. I hope he will not be long +ere he publishes another book. His emotional scenes are somewhat too +uniformly vehement: would not a more subdued style of treatment often +have produced a more masterly effect? Now and then Mr. Lewes takes a +French pen into his hand, wherein he differs from Mr. Thackeray, who +always uses an English quill. However, the French pen does not far +mislead Mr. Lewes; he wields it with British muscles. All honour to him +for the excellent general tendency of his book! + +"He gives no charming picture of London literary society, and especially +the female part of it; but all coteries, whether they be literary, +scientific, political, or religious, must, it seems to me, have a +tendency to change truth into affectation. When people belong to a +clique, they must, I suppose, in some measure, write, talk, think, and +live for that clique; a harassing and narrowing necessity. I trust, +the press and the public show themselves disposed to give the book the +reception it merits, and that is a very cordial one, far beyond anything +due to a Bulwer or D'Israeli production." + +Let us return from Currer Bell to Charlotte Bronte. The winter in +Haworth had been a sickly season. Influenza had prevailed amongst the +villagers, and where there was a real need for the presence of the +clergyman's daughters, they were never found wanting, although they +were shy of bestowing mere social visits on the parishioners. They had +themselves suffered from the epidemic; Anne severely, as in her case it +had been attended with cough and fever enough to make her elder sisters +very anxious about her. + +There is no doubt that the proximity of the crowded church-yard rendered +the Parsonage unhealthy, and occasioned much illness to its inmates. +Mr. Bronte represented the unsanitary state at Haworth pretty forcibly +to the Board of Health; and, after the requisite visits from their +officers, obtained a recommendation that all future interments in the +churchyard should be forbidden, a new graveyard opened on the hill-side, +and means set on foot for obtaining a water-supply to each house, +instead of the weary, hard-worked housewives having to carry every +bucketful, from a distance of several hundred yards, up a steep street. +But he was baffled by the rate-payers; as, in many a similar instance, +quantity carried it against quality, numbers against intelligence. And +thus we find that illness often assumed a low typhoid form in Haworth, +and fevers of various kinds visited the place with sad frequency. + +In February, 1848, Louis Philippe was dethroned. The quick succession +of events at that time called forth the following expression of Miss +Bronte's thoughts on the subject, in a letter addressed to Miss Wooler, +and dated March 31st. + +"I remember well wishing my lot had been cast in the troubled times of +the late war, and seeing in its exciting incidents a kind of stimulating +charm, which it made my pulses beat fast to think of I remember even, +I think; being a little impatient, that you would not fully sympathise +with my feelings on those subjects; that you heard my aspirations and +speculations very tranquilly, and by no means seemed to think the +flaming swords could be any pleasant addition to Paradise. I have now +out-lived youth; and, though I dare not say that I have outlived all its +illusions--that the romance is quite gone from life--the veil fallen +from truth, and that I see both in naked reality--yet, certainly, many +things are not what they were ten years ago: and, amongst the rest, the +pomp and circumstance of war have quite lost in my eyes their fictitious +glitter. I have still no doubt that the shock of moral earthquakes +wakens a vivid sense of life, both in nations and individuals; that +the fear of dangers on a broad national scale, diverts men's minds +momentarily from brooding over small private perils, and for the time +gives them something like largeness of views; but, as little doubt have +I, that convulsive revolutions put back the world in all that is good, +check civilisation, bring the dregs of society to its surface; in short, +it appears to me that insurrections and battles are the acute diseases +of nations, and that their tendency is to exhaust, by their violence, +the vital energies of the countries where they occur. That England +may be spared the spasms, cramps, and frenzy-fits now contorting the +Continent, and threatening Ireland, I earnestly pray. With the French +and Irish I have no sympathy. With the Germans and Italians I think the +case is different; as different as the love of freedom is from the lust +for license." + +Her birthday came round. She wrote to the friend whose birthday was +within a week of hers; wrote the accustomed letter; but, reading it with +our knowledge of what she had done, we perceive the difference between +her thoughts and what they were a year or two ago, when she said "I have +done nothing." There must have been a modest consciousness of having +"done something" present in her mind, as she wrote this year:-- + +"I am now thirty-two. Youth is gone--gone,--and will never come back: +can't help it. . . . It seems to me, that sorrow must come some time to +everybody, and those who scarcely taste it in their youth, often have +a more brimming and bitter cup to drain in after life; whereas, those +who exhaust the dregs early, who drink the lees before the wine, may +reasonably hope for more palatable draughts to succeed." + +The authorship of "Jane Eyre" was as yet a close secret in the Bronte +family; not even this friend, who was all but a sister knew more about +it than the rest of the world. She might conjecture, it is true, both +from her knowledge of previous habits, and from the suspicious fact of +the proofs having been corrected at B----, that some literary project +was afoot; but she knew nothing, and wisely said nothing, until she +heard a report from others, that Charlotte Bronte was an author--had +published a novel! Then she wrote to her; and received the two following +letters; confirmatory enough, as it seems to me now, in their very +vehemence and agitation of intended denial, of the truth of the report. + +"April 28th, 1848. + +"Write another letter, and explain that last note of yours distinctly. +If your allusions are to myself, which I suppose they are, understand +this,--I have given no one a right to gossip about me, and am not to be +judged by frivolous conjectures, emanating from any quarter whatever. +Let me know what you heard, and from whom you heard it." + +"May 3rd, 1848. + +"All I can say to you about a certain matter is this: the report--if +report there be--and if the lady, who seems to have been rather +mystified, had not dreamt what she fancied had been told to her--must +have had its origin in some absurd misunderstanding. I have given NO +ONE a right either to affirm, or to hint, in the most distant manner, +that I was 'publishing'--(humbug!) Whoever has said it--if any one has, +which I doubt--is no friend of mine. Though twenty books were ascribed +to me, I should own none. I scout the idea utterly. Whoever, after +I have distinctly rejected the charge, urges it upon me, will do an +unkind and an ill-bred thing. The most profound obscurity is infinitely +preferable to vulgar notoriety; and that notoriety I neither seek nor +will have. If then any B--an, or G--an, should presume to bore you on +the subject,--to ask you what 'novel' Miss Bronte has been 'publishing,' +you can just say, with the distinct firmness of which you are perfect +mistress when you choose, that you are authorised by Miss Bronte to +say, that she repels and disowns every accusation of the kind. You may +add, if you please, that if any one has her confidence, you believe you +have, and she has made no drivelling confessions to you on the subject. +I am at a loss to conjecture from what source this rumour has come; and, +I fear, it has far from a friendly origin. I am not certain, however, +and I should be very glad if I could gain certainty. Should you hear +anything more, please let me know. Your offer of 'Simeon's Life' is a +very kind one, and I thank you for it. I dare say Papa would like to see +the work very much, as he knew Mr. Simeon. Laugh or scold A---- out of +the publishing notion; and believe me, through all chances and changes, +whether calumniated or let alone,--Yours faithfully, + +C. BRONTE." + +The reason why Miss Bronte was so anxious to preserve her secret, was, I +am told, that she had pledged her word to her sisters that it should not +be revealed through her. + +The dilemmas attendant on the publication of the sisters' novels, under +assumed names, were increasing upon them. Many critics insisted on +believing, that all the fictions published as by three Bells were the +works of one author, but written at different periods of his development +and maturity. No doubt, this suspicion affected the reception of the +books. Ever since the completion of Anne Bronte's tale of "Agnes Grey", +she had been labouring at a second, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall." It +is little known; the subject--the deterioration of a character, whose +profligacy and ruin took their rise in habits of intemperance, so slight +as to be only considered "good fellowship"--was painfully discordant +to one who would fain have sheltered herself from all but peaceful and +religious ideas. "She had" (says her sister of that gentle "little +one"), "in the course of her life, been called on to contemplate near +at hand, and for a long time, the terrible effects of talents misused +and faculties abused; hers was naturally a sensitive, reserved, and +dejected nature; what she saw sunk very deeply into her mind; it did her +harm. She brooded over it till she believed it to be a duty to reproduce +every detail (of course, with fictitious characters, incidents, and +situations), as a warning to others. She hated her work, but would +pursue it. When reasoned with on the subject, she regarded such +reasonings as a temptation to self-indulgence. She must be honest; she +must not varnish, soften, or conceal. This well-meant resolution brought +on her misconstruction, and some abuse, which she bore, as it was her +custom to bear whatever was unpleasant with mild steady patience. She +was a very sincere and practical Christian, but the tinge of religious +melancholy communicated a sad shade to her brief blameless life." + +In the June of this year, 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' was sufficiently +near its completion to be submitted to the person who had previously +published for Ellis and Acton Bell. + +In consequence of his mode of doing business, considerable annoyance +was occasioned both to Miss Bronte and to them. The circumstances, +as detailed in a letter of hers to a friend in New Zealand, were +these:--One morning, at the beginning of July, a communication was +received at the Parsonage from Messrs. Smith and Elder, which disturbed +its quiet inmates not a little, as, though the matter brought under +their notice was merely referred to as one which affected their literary +reputation, they conceived it to have a bearing likewise upon their +character. "Jane Eyre" had had a great run in America, and a publisher +there had consequently bid high for early sheets of the next work by +"Currer Bell." These Messrs. Smith and Elder had promised to let him +have. He was therefore greatly astonished, and not well pleased, to +learn that a similar agreement had been entered into with another +American house, and that the new tale was very shortly to appear. It +turned out, upon inquiry, that the mistake had originated in Acton and +Ellis Bell's publisher having assured this American house that, to the +best of his belief, "Jane Eyre", "Wuthering Heights", and "The Tenant of +Wildfell Hall" (which he pronounced superior to either of the other two) +were all written by the same author. + +Though Messrs. Smith and Elder distinctly stated in their letter that +they did not share in such "belief," the sisters were impatient till +they had shown its utter groundlessness, and set themselves perfectly +straight. With rapid decision, they resolved that Charlotte and Anne +should start, for London, that very day, in order to prove their +separate identity to Messrs. Smith and Elder, and demand from the +credulous publisher his reasons for a "belief" so directly at variance +with an assurance which had several times been given to him. Having +arrived at this determination, they made their preparations with +resolute promptness. There were many household duties to be performed +that day; but they were all got through. The two sisters each packed up +a change of dress in a small box, which they sent down to Keighley by +an opportune cart; and after early tea they set off to walk thither--no +doubt in some excitement; for, independently of the cause of their +going to London, it was Anne's first visit there. A great thunderstorm +overtook them on their way that summer evening to the station; but +they had no time to seek shelter. They only just caught the train at +Keighley, arrived at Leeds, and were whirled up by the night train to +London. + +About eight o'clock on the Saturday morning, they arrived at the Chapter +Coffee-house, Paternoster Row--a strange place, but they did not well +know where else to go. They refreshed themselves by washing, and had +some breakfast. Then they sat still for a few minutes, to consider what +next should be done. + +When they had been discussing their project in the quiet of Haworth +Parsonage the day before, and planning the mode of setting about the +business on which they were going to London, they had resolved to take +a cab, if they should find it desirable, from their inn to Cornhill; +but that, amidst the bustle and "queer state of inward excitement" in +which they found themselves, as they sat and considered their position +on the Saturday morning, they quite forgot even the possibility of +hiring a conveyance; and when they set forth, they became so dismayed by +the crowded streets, and the impeded crossings, that they stood still +repeatedly, in complete despair of making progress, and were nearly an +hour in walking the half-mile they had to go. Neither Mr. Smith nor Mr. +Williams knew that they were coming; they were entirely unknown to the +publishers of "Jane Eyre", who were not, in fact, aware whether the +"Bells" were men or women, but had always written to them as to men. + +On reaching Mr. Smith's, Charlotte put his own letter into his hands; +the same letter which had excited so much disturbance at Haworth +Parsonage only twenty-four hours before. "Where did you get this?" +said he,--as if he could not believe that the two young ladies dressed +in black, of slight figures and diminutive stature, looking pleased +yet agitated, could be the embodied Currer and Acton Bell, for whom +curiosity had been hunting so eagerly in vain. An explanation ensued, +and Mr. Smith at once began to form plans for their amusement and +pleasure during their stay in London. He urged them to meet a few +literary friends at his house; and this was a strong temptation to +Charlotte, as amongst them were one or two of the writers whom she +particularly wished to see; but her resolution to remain unknown induced +her firmly to put it aside. + +The sisters were equally persevering in declining Mr. Smith's +invitations to stay at his house. They refused to leave their quarters, +saying they were not prepared for a long stay. + +When they returned back to their inn, poor Charlotte paid for the +excitement of the interview, which had wound up the agitation and hurry +of the last twenty-four hours, by a racking headache and harassing +sickness. Towards evening, as she rather expected some of the ladies +of Mr. Smith's family to call, she prepared herself for the chance, +by taking a strong dose of sal-volatile, which roused her a little, +but still, as she says, she was "in grievous bodily case," when their +visitors were announced, in full evening costume. The sisters had not +understood that it had been settled that they were to go to the Opera, +and therefore were not ready. Moreover, they had no fine elegant dresses +either with them, or in the world. But Miss Bronte resolved to raise no +objections in the acceptance of kindness. So, in spite of headache and +weariness, they made haste to dress themselves in their plain high-made +country garments. + +Charlotte says, in an account which she gives to her friend of this +visit to London, describing the entrance of her party into the +Opera-house:-- + +"Fine ladies and gentlemen glanced at us, as we stood by the box-door, +which was not yet opened, with a slight, graceful superciliousness, +quite warranted by the circumstances. Still I felt pleasurably excited +in spite of headache, sickness, and conscious clownishness; and I saw +Anne was calm and gentle, which she always is. The performance was +Rossini's 'Barber of Seville,'--very brilliant, though I fancy there +are things I should like better. We got home after one o'clock. We had +never been in bed the night before; had been in constant excitement for +twenty-four hours; you may imagine we were tired. The next day, Sunday, +Mr. Williams came early to take us to church; and in the afternoon Mr. +Smith and his mother fetched us in a carriage, and took us to his house +to dine. + +"On Monday we went to the Exhibition of the Royal Academy, the National +Gallery, dined again at Mr. Smith's, and then went home to tea with Mr. +Williams at his house. + +"On Tuesday morning, we left London, laden with books Mr. Smith had +given us, and got safely home. A more jaded wretch than I looked, it +would be difficult to conceive. I was thin when I went, but I was meagre +indeed when I returned, my face looking grey and very old, with strange +deep lines ploughed in it--my eyes stared unnaturally. I was weak and +yet restless. In a while, however, these bad effects of excitement went +off, and I regained my normal condition." + +The impression Miss Bronte made upon those with whom she first became +acquainted during this visit to London, was of a person with clear +judgment and fine sense; and though reserved, possessing unconsciously +the power of drawing out others in conversation. She never expressed +an opinion without assigning a reason for it; she never put a question +without a definite purpose; and yet people felt at their ease in talking +with her. All conversation with her was genuine and stimulating; and +when she launched forth in praise or reprobation of books, or deeds, or +works of art, her eloquence was indeed burning. She was thorough in all +that she said or did; yet so open and fair in dealing with a subject, +or contending with an opponent, that instead of rousing resentment, she +merely convinced her hearers of her earnest zeal for the truth and right. + +Not the least singular part of their proceedings was the place at which +the sisters had chosen to stay. + +Paternoster Row was for many years sacred to publishers. It is a narrow +flagged street, lying under the shadow of St. Paul's; at each end there +are posts placed, so as to prevent the passage of carriages, and thus +preserve a solemn silence for the deliberations of the "Fathers of the +Row." The dull warehouses on each side are mostly occupied at present +by wholesale stationers; if they be publishers' shops, they show no +attractive front to the dark and narrow street. Half-way up, on the +left-hand side, is the Chapter Coffee-house. I visited it last June. +It was then unoccupied. It had the appearance of a dwelling-house, +two hundred years old or so, such as one sometimes sees in ancient +country towns; the ceilings of the small rooms were low, and had heavy +beams running across them; the walls were wainscotted breast high; the +staircase was shallow, broad, and dark, taking up much space in the +centre of the house. This then was the Chapter Coffee-house, which, a +century ago, was the resort of all the booksellers and publishers; and +where the literary hacks, the critics, and even the wits, used to go in +search of ideas or employment. This was the place about which Chatterton +wrote, in those delusive letters he sent to his mother at Bristol, +while he was starving in London. "I am quite familiar at the Chapter +Coffee-house, and know all the geniuses there." Here he heard of chances +of employment; here his letters were to be left. + +Years later, it became the tavern frequented by university men and +country clergymen, who were up in London for a few days, and, having +no private friends or access into society, were glad to learn what was +going on in the world of letters, from the conversation which they were +sure to hear in the Coffee-room. In Mr. Bronte's few and brief visits to +town, during his residence at Cambridge, and the period of his curacy in +Essex, he had stayed at this house; hither he had brought his daughters, +when he was convoying them to Brussels; and here they came now, from +very ignorance where else to go. It was a place solely frequented by +men; I believe there was but one female servant in the house. Few people +slept there; some of the stated meetings of the Trade were held in it, +as they had been for more than a century; and, occasionally country +booksellers, with now and then a clergyman, resorted to it; but it was +a strange desolate place for the Miss Brontes to have gone to, from its +purely business and masculine aspect. The old "grey-haired elderly man," +who officiated as waiter seems to have been touched from the very first +with the quiet simplicity of the two ladies, and he tried to make them +feel comfortable and at home in the long, low, dingy room up-stairs, +where the meetings of the Trade were held. The high narrow windows +looked into the gloomy Row; the sisters, clinging together on the most +remote window-seat, (as Mr. Smith tells me he found them, when he came, +that Saturday evening, to take them to the Opera,) could see nothing of +motion, or of change, in the grim, dark houses opposite, so near and +close, although the whole breadth of the Row was between. The mighty +roar of London was round them, like the sound of an unseen ocean, yet +every footfall on the pavement below might be heard distinctly, in that +unfrequented street. Such as it was, they preferred remaining at the +Chapter Coffee-house, to accepting the invitation which Mr. Smith and +his mother urged upon them, and, in after years, Charlotte says:-- + +"Since those days, I have seen the West End, the parks, the fine +squares; but I love the City far better. The City seems so much more +in earnest; its business, its rush, its roar, are such serious things, +sights, sounds. The City is getting its living--the West End but +enjoying its pleasure. At the West End you may be amused; but in the +City you are deeply excited." (Villette, vol. i. p. 89.) + +Their wish had been to hear Dr. Croly on the Sunday morning, and Mr. +Williams escorted them to St. Stephen's, Walbrook; but they were +disappointed, as Dr. Croly did not preach. Mr. Williams also took them +(as Miss Bronte has mentioned) to drink tea at his house. On the way +thither, they had to pass through Kensington Gardens, and Miss Bronte +was much "struck with the beauty of the scene, the fresh verdure of +the turf, and the soft rich masses of foliage." From remarks on the +different character of the landscape in the South to what it was in the +North, she was led to speak of the softness and varied intonation of the +voices of those with whom she conversed in London, which seem to have +made a strong impression on both sisters. All this time those who came +in contact with the "Miss Browns" (another pseudonym, also beginning +with B), seem only to have regarded them as shy and reserved little +country-women, with not much to say. Mr. Williams tells me that on the +night when he accompanied the party to the Opera, as Charlotte ascended +the flight of stairs leading from the grand entrance up to the lobby of +the first tier of boxes, she was so much struck with the architectural +effect of the splendid decorations of that vestibule and saloon, that +involuntarily she slightly pressed his arm, and whispered, "You know I +am not accustomed to this sort of thing." Indeed, it must have formed a +vivid contrast to what they were doing and seeing an hour or two earlier +the night before, when they were trudging along, with beating hearts and +high-strung courage, on the road between Haworth and Keighley, hardly +thinking of the thunder-storm that beat about their heads, for the +thoughts which filled them of how they would go straight away to London, +and prove that they were really two people, and not one imposter. It was +no wonder that they returned to Haworth utterly fagged and worn out, +after the fatigue and excitement of this visit. + +The next notice I find of Charlotte's life at this time is of a +different character to anything telling of enjoyment. + +"July 28th. + +"Branwell is the same in conduct as ever. His constitution seems much +shattered. Papa, and sometimes all of us, have sad nights with him. He +sleeps most of the day, and consequently will lie awake at night. But +has not every house its trial?" + +While her most intimate friends were yet in ignorance of the fact of +her authorship of "Jane Eyre," she received a letter from one of them, +making inquiries about Casterton School. It is but right to give her +answer, written on August 28th, 1848. + +"Since you wish to hear from me while you are from home, I will write +without further delay. It often happens that when we linger at first +in answering a friend's letter, obstacles occur to retard us to an +inexcusably late period. In my last, I forgot to answer a question which +you asked me, and was sorry afterwards for the omission. I will begin, +therefore, by replying to it, though I fear what information I can +give will come a little late. You said Mrs. ---- had some thoughts of +sending ---- to school, and wished to know whether the Clergy Daughters' +School at Casterton was an eligible place. My personal knowledge of that +institution is very much out of date, being derived from the experience +of twenty years ago. The establishment was at that time in its infancy, +and a sad rickety infancy it was. Typhus fever decimated the school +periodically; and consumption and scrofula, in every variety of form +bad air and water, bad and insufficient diet can generate, preyed on +the ill-fated pupils. It would not THEN have been a fit place for any +of Mrs. ----'s children; but I understand it is very much altered for +the better since those days. The school is removed from Cowan Bridge +(a situation as unhealthy as it was picturesque--low, damp, beautiful +with wood and water) to Casterton. The accommodations, the diet, the +discipline, the system of tuition--all are, I believe, entirely altered +and greatly improved. I was told that such pupils as behaved well, and +remained at the school till their education was finished, were provided +with situations as governesses, if they wished to adopt the vocation and +much care was exercised in the selection, it was added, that they were +also furnished with an excellent wardrobe on leaving Casterton. . . . +The oldest family in Haworth failed lately, and have quitted the +neighbourhood where their fathers resided before them for, it is said, +thirteen generations. . . . Papa, I am most thankful to say, continues +in very good health, considering his age; his sight, too, rather, I +think, improves than deteriorates. My sisters likewise are pretty well." + +But the dark cloud was hanging over that doomed household, and gathering +blackness every hour. + +On October the 9th, she thus writes:-- + +"The past three weeks have been a dark interval in our humble home. +Branwell's constitution had been failing fast all the summer; but still, +neither the doctors nor himself thought him so near his end as he was. +He was entirely confined to his bed but for one single day, and was in +the village two days before his death. He died, after twenty minutes' +struggle, on Sunday morning, September 24th. He was perfectly conscious +till the last agony came on. His mind had undergone the peculiar change +which frequently precedes death, two days previously; the calm of better +feelings filled it; a return of natural affection marked his last +moments. He is in God's hands now; and the All-Powerful is likewise +the All-Merciful. A deep conviction that he rests at last--rests well, +after his brief, erring, suffering, feverish life--fills and quiets +my mind now. The final separation, the spectacle of his pale corpse, +gave me more acute bitter pain than I could have imagined. Till the +last hour comes, we never how know much we can forgive, pity, regret a +near relative. All his vices were and are nothing now. We remember only +his woes. Papa was acutely distressed at first, but, on the whole, has +borne the event well. Emily and Anne are pretty well, though Anne is +always delicate, and Emily has a cold and cough at present. It was my +fate to sink at the crisis, when I should have collected my strength. +Headache and sickness came on first on the Sunday; I could not regain +my appetite. Then internal pain attacked me. I became at once much +reduced. It was impossible to touch a morsel. At last, bilious fever +declared itself. I was confined to bed a week,--a dreary week. But, +thank God! health seems now returning. I can sit up all day, and take +moderate nourishment. The doctor said at first, I should be very slow in +recovering, but I seem to get on faster than he anticipated. I am truly +MUCH BETTER." + +I have heard, from one who attended Branwell in his last illness, that +he resolved on standing up to die. He had repeatedly said, that as long +as there was life there was strength of will to do what it chose; and +when the last agony came on, he insisted on assuming the position just +mentioned. I have previously stated, that when his fatal attack came on, +his pockets were found filled with old letters from the woman to whom +he was attached. He died! she lives still,--in May Fair. The Eumenides, +I suppose, went out of existence at the time when the wail was heard, +"Great Pan is dead." I think we could better have spared him than those +awful Sisters who sting dead conscience into life. + +I turn from her for ever. Let us look once more into the Parsonage at +Haworth. + +"Oct. 29th, 1848. + +"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 sister than myself just now. +Emily's cold and cough are very obstinate. I fear she has pain in her +chest, and I sometimes catch a shortness in her breathing, when she has +moved at all quickly. She looks 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 Anne's great delicacy of +constitution. The late sad event has, I feel, made me more apprehensive +than common. I cannot help feeling much depressed 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 temperature, and cold penetrating winds have been frequent here. +Should the atmosphere become more settled, perhaps a favourable effect +might be produced on the general health, and these harassing colds and +coughs be removed. Papa has not quite escaped, but he has so far stood +it better than any of us. You must not mention my going to ---- this +winter. I could not, and would not, leave home on any account. Miss ---- +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. God restore health and +strength to all who need it!" + +I go on now with her own affecting words in the biographical notice of +her sisters. + +"But a great change approached. Affliction came in that shape which to +anticipate is dread; to look back on grief. In the very heat and burden +of the day, the labourers failed over their work. My sister Emily first +declined. . . . Never in all her life had she lingered over any task +that lay before her, and she did not linger now. She sank rapidly. +She made haste to leave us. . . . Day by day, when I, saw with what a +front she met suffering, I looked on her with an anguish of wonder and +love: I have seen nothing like it; but, indeed, I have never seen her +parallel in anything. Stronger than a man, simpler than a child, her +nature stood alone. The awful point was that, while full of ruth for +others, on herself she had no pity; the spirit was inexorable to the +flesh; from the trembling hands, the unnerved limbs, the fading eyes, +the same service was exacted as they had rendered in health. To stand by +and witness this, and not dare to remonstrate, was a pain no words can +render." + +In fact, Emily never went out of doors after the Sunday succeeding +Branwell's death. She made no complaint; she would not endure +questioning; she rejected sympathy and help. Many a time did Charlotte +and Anne drop their sewing, or cease from their writing, to listen with +wrung hearts to the failing step, the laboured breathing, the frequent +pauses, with which their sister climbed the short staircase; yet they +dared not notice what they observed, with pangs of suffering even deeper +than hers. They dared not notice it in words, far less by the caressing +assistance of a helping arm or hand. They sat, still and silent. + +"Nov. 23rd, 1848. + +"I told you Emily was ill, in my last letter. She has not rallied yet. +She is VERY ill. I believe, if you were to see her, your impression +would be that there is no hope. A more hollow, wasted, pallid aspect I +have not beheld. The deep tight cough continues; the breathing after the +least exertion is a rapid pant; and these symptoms are accompanied by +pains in the chest and side. Her pulse, the only time she allowed it be +to felt, was found to beat 115 per minute. In this state she resolutely +refuses to see a doctor; she will give no explanation of her feelings, +she will scarcely allow her feelings to be alluded to. Our position is, +and has been for some weeks, exquisitely painful. God only knows how +all this is to terminate. More than once, I have been forced boldly to +regard the terrible event of her loss as possible, and even probable. +But nature shrinks from such thoughts. I think Emily seems the nearest +thing to my heart in the world." + +When a doctor had been sent for, and was in the very house, Emily +refused to see him. Her sisters could only describe to him what symptoms +they had observed; and the medicines which he sent she would not take, +denying that she was ill. + +"Dec. 10th, 1848. + +"I hardly know what to say to you about the subject which now interests +me the most keenly of anything in this world, for, in truth, I hardly +know what to think myself. Hope and fear fluctuate daily. The pain in +her side and chest is better; the cough, the shortness of breath, the +extreme emaciation continue. I have endured, however, such tortures +of uncertainty on this subject that, at length, I could endure it +no longer; and as her repugnance to seeing a medical man continues +immutable,--as she declares 'no poisoning doctor' shall come near +her,--I have written unknown to her, to an eminent physician in London, +giving as minute a statement of her case and symptoms as I could draw +up, and requesting an opinion. I expect an answer in a day or two. I am +thankful to say, that my own health at present is very tolerable. It is +well such is the case; for Anne, with the best will in the world to be +useful, is really too delicate to do or bear much. She, too, at present, +has frequent pains in the side. Papa is also pretty well, though Emily's +state renders him very anxious. + +"The ----s (Anne Bronte's former pupils) were here about a week ago. +They are attractive and stylish-looking girls. They seemed overjoyed to +see Anne: when I went into the room, they were clinging round her like +two children--she, meantime, looking perfectly quiet and passive. . . . +I. and H. took it into their heads to come here. I think it probable +offence was taken on that occasion,--from what cause, I know not; and +as, if such be the case, the grudge must rest upon purely imaginary +grounds,--and since, besides, I have other things to think about, my +mind rarely dwells upon the subject. If Emily were but well, I feel +as if I should not care who neglected, misunderstood, or abused me. I +would rather you were not of the number either. The crab-cheese arrived +safely. Emily has just reminded me to thank you for it: it looks very +nice. I wish she were well enough to eat it." + +But Emily was growing rapidly worse. I remember Miss Bronte's shiver at +recalling the pang she felt when, after having searched in the little +hollows and sheltered crevices of the moors for a lingering spray of +heather--just one spray, however withered--to take in to Emily, she saw +that the flower was not recognised by the dim and indifferent eyes. Yet, +to the last, Emily adhered tenaciously to her habits of independence. +She would suffer no one to assist her. Any effort to do so roused the +old stern spirit. One Tuesday morning, in December, she arose and +dressed herself as usual, making many a pause, but doing everything for +herself, and even endeavouring to take up her employment of sewing: the +servants looked on, and knew what the catching, rattling breath, and +the glazing of the eye too surely foretold; but she kept at her work; +and Charlotte and Anne, though full of unspeakable dread, had still the +faintest spark of hope. On that morning Charlotte wrote thus--probably +in the very presence of her dying sister:-- + +"Tuesday. + +"I should have written to you before, if I had had one word of hope to +say; but I have not. She grows daily weaker. The physician's opinion was +expressed too obscurely to be of use. He sent some medicine, which she +would not take. Moments so dark as these I have never known. I pray for +God's support to us all. Hitherto He has granted it." + +The morning drew on to noon. Emily was worse: she could only whisper in +gasps. Now, when it was too late, she said to Charlotte, "If you will +send for a doctor, I will see him now." About two o'clock she died. + +"Dec. 21st, 1848. + +"Emily suffers no more from pain or weakness now. She never will suffer +more in this world. She is gone, after a hard short conflict. She died +on TUESDAY, the very day I wrote to you. I thought it very possible she +might be with us still for weeks; and a few hours afterwards, she was in +eternity. Yes; there is no Emily in time or on earth now. Yesterday we +put her poor, wasted, mortal frame quietly under the church pavement. +We are very calm at present. Why should we be otherwise? The anguish of +seeing her suffer is over; the spectacle of the pains of death is gone +by; the funeral day is past. We feel she is at peace. No need now to +tremble for the hard frost and the keen wind. Emily does not feel them. +She died in a time of promise. We saw her taken from life in its prime. +But it is God's will, and the place where she is gone is better than +that she has left. + +"God has sustained me, in a way that I marvel at, through such agony +as I had not conceived. I now look at Anne, and wish she were well and +strong; but she is neither; nor is papa. Could you now come to us for +a few days? I would not ask you to stay long. Write and tell me if you +could come next week, and by what train. I would try to send a gig for +you to Keighley. You will, I trust, find us tranquil. Try to come. I +never so much needed the consolation of a friend's presence. Pleasure, +of course, there would be none for you in the visit, except what your +kind heart would teach you to find in doing good to others." + +As the old, bereaved father and his two surviving children followed +the coffin to the grave, they were joined by Keeper, Emily's fierce, +faithful bull-dog. He walked alongside of the mourners, and into the +church, and stayed quietly there all the time that the burial service +was being read. When he came home, he lay down at Emily's chamber door, +and howled pitifully for many days. Anne Bronte drooped and sickened +more rapidly from that time; and so ended the year 1848. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +An article on "Vanity Fair" and "Jane Eyre" had appeared in the +Quarterly Review of December, 1848. Some weeks after, Miss Bronte +wrote to her publishers, asking why it had not been sent to her; and +conjecturing that it was unfavourable, she repeated her previous +request, that whatever was done with the laudatory, all critiques +adverse to the novel might be forwarded to her without fail. The +Quarterly Review was accordingly sent. I am not aware that Miss Bronte +took any greater notice of the article than to place a few sentences out +of it in the mouth of a hard and vulgar woman in "Shirley," where they +are so much in character, that few have recognised them as a quotation. +The time when the article was read was good for Miss Bronte; she was +numbed to all petty annoyances by the grand severity of Death. Otherwise +she might have felt more keenly than they deserved the criticisms which, +while striving to be severe, failed in logic, owing to the misuse of +prepositions; and have smarted under conjectures as to the authorship +of "Jane Eyre," which, intended to be acute, were merely flippant. But +flippancy takes a graver name when directed against an author by an +anonymous writer. We call it then cowardly insolence. + +Every one has a right to form his own conclusion respecting the merits +and demerits of a book. I complain not of the judgment which the +reviewer passes on "Jane Eyre." Opinions as to its tendency varied then, +as they do now. While I write, I receive a letter from a clergyman in +America in which he says: "We have in our sacred of sacreds a special +shelf, highly adorned, as a place we delight to honour, of novels which +we recognise as having had a good influence on character OUR character. +Foremost is 'Jane Eyre.'" + +Nor do I deny the existence of a diametrically opposite judgment. And so +(as I trouble not myself about the reviewer's style of composition) I +leave his criticisms regarding the merits of the work on one side. But +when--forgetting the chivalrous spirit of the good and noble Southey, +who said: "In reviewing anonymous works myself, when I have known the +authors I have never mentioned them, taking it for granted they had +sufficient reasons for avoiding the publicity"--the Quarterly reviewer +goes on into gossiping conjectures as to who Currer Bell really is, and +pretends to decide on what the writer may be from the book, I protest +with my whole soul against such want of Christian charity. Not even +the desire to write a "smart article," which shall be talked about in +London, when the faint mask of the anonymous can be dropped at pleasure +if the cleverness of the review be admired--not even this temptation +can excuse the stabbing cruelty of the judgment. Who is he that should +say of an unknown woman: "She must be one who for some sufficient +reason has long forfeited the society of her sex"? Is he one who has +led a wild and struggling and isolated life,--seeing few but plain and +outspoken Northerns, unskilled in the euphuisms which assist the polite +world to skim over the mention of vice? Has he striven through long +weeping years to find excuses for the lapse of an only brother; and +through daily contact with a poor lost profligate, been compelled into a +certain familiarity with the vices that his soul abhors? Has he, through +trials, close following in dread march through his household, sweeping +the hearthstone bare of life and love, still striven hard for strength +to say, "It is the Lord! let Him do what seemeth to Him good"--and +sometimes striven in vain, until the kindly Light returned? If through +all these dark waters the scornful reviewer have passed clear, refined, +free from stain,--with a soul that has never in all its agonies cried +"lama sabachthani,"--still, even then let him pray with the Publican +rather than judge with the Pharisee. + +"Jan. 10th, 1849. + +"Anne had a very tolerable day yesterday, and a pretty quiet night last +night, though she did not sleep much. Mr. Wheelhouse ordered the blister +to be put on again. She bore it without sickness. I have just dressed +it, and she is risen and come down-stairs. She looks somewhat pale and +sickly. She has had one dose of the cod-liver oil; it smells and tastes +like train oil. I am trying to hope, but the day is windy, cloudy, and +stormy. My spirits fall at intervals very low; then I look where you +counsel me to look, beyond earthly tempests and sorrows. I seem to get +strength, if not consolation. It will not do to anticipate. I feel that +hourly. In the night, I awake and long for morning; then my heart is +wrung. Papa continues much the same; he was very faint when he came down +to breakfast. . . . Dear E----, your friendship is some comfort to me. I +am thankful for it. I see few lights through the darkness of the present +time, but amongst them the constancy of a kind heart attached to me is +one of the most cheering and serene." + +"Jan. 15th, 1849. + +"I can scarcely say that Anne is worse, nor can I say she is better. She +varies often in the course of a day, yet each day is passed pretty much +the same. The morning is usually the best time; the afternoon and the +evening the most feverish. Her cough is the most troublesome at night, +but it is rarely violent. The pain in her arm still disturbs her. She +takes the cod-liver oil and carbonate of iron regularly; she finds them +both nauseous, but especially the oil. Her appetite is small indeed. +Do not fear that I shall relax in my care of her. She is too precious +not to be cherished with all the fostering strength I have. Papa, I am +thankful to say, has been a good deal better this last day or two. + +"As to your queries about myself, I can only say, that if I continue as +I am I shall do very well. I have not yet got rid of the pains in my +chest and back. They oddly return with every change of weather; and are +still sometimes accompanied with a little soreness and hoarseness, but I +combat them steadily with pitch plasters and bran tea. I should think it +silly and wrong indeed not to be regardful of my own health at present; +it would not do to be ill NOW. + +"I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward. +This is not the time to regret, dread, or weep. What I have and ought +to do is very distinctly laid out for me; what I want, and pray for, +is strength to perform it. The days pass in a slow, dark march; the +nights are the test; the sudden wakings from restless sleep, the revived +knowledge that one lies in her grave, and another not at my side, but in +a separate and sick bed. However, God is over all." + +"Jan. 22nd, 1849. + +"Anne really did seem to be a little better during some mild days last +week, but to-day she looks very pale and languid again. She perseveres +with the cod-liver oil, but still finds it very nauseous. + +"She is truly obliged to you for the soles for her shoes, and finds +them extremely comfortable. I am to commission you to get her just such +a respirator as Mrs. ---- had. She would not object to give a higher +price, if you thought it better. If it is not too much trouble, you may +likewise get me a pair of soles; you can send them and the respirator +when you send the box. You must put down the price of all, and we will +pay you in a Post Office order. "Wuthering Heights" was given to you. I +have sent ---- neither letter nor parcel. I had nothing but dreary news +to write, so preferred that others should tell her. I have not written +to ---- either. I cannot write, except when I am quite obliged." + +"Feb. 11th, 1849. + +"We received the box and its contents quite safely to-day. The penwipers +are very pretty, and we are very much obliged to you for them. I hope +the respirator will be useful to Anne, in case she should ever be well +enough to go out again. She continues very much in the same state--I +trust not greatly worse, though she is becoming very thin. I fear +it would be only self-delusion to fancy her better. What effect the +advancing season may have on her, I know not; perhaps the return of +really warm weather may give nature a happy stimulus. I tremble at the +thought of any change to cold wind or frost. Would that March were well +over! Her mind seems generally serene, and her sufferings hitherto are +nothing like Emily's. The thought of what may be to come grows more +familiar to my mind; but it is a sad, dreary guest." + +"March 16th, 1849. + +"We have found the past week a somewhat trying one; it has not been +cold, but still there have been changes of temperature whose effect +Anne has felt unfavourably. She is not, I trust, seriously worse, but +her cough is at times very hard and painful, and her strength rather +diminished than improved. I wish the month of March was well over. You +are right in conjecturing that I am somewhat depressed; at times I +certainly am. It was almost easier to bear up when the trial was at its +crisis than now. The feeling of Emily's loss does not diminish as time +wears on; it often makes itself most acutely recognised. It brings too +an inexpressible sorrow with it; and then the future is dark. Yet I am +well aware, it will not do either to complain, or sink, and I strive to +do neither. Strength, I hope and trust, will yet be given in proportion +to the burden; but the pain of my position is not one likely to lessen +with habit. Its solitude and isolation are oppressive circumstances, +yet I do not wish for any friends to stay with me; I could not do with +any one--not even you--to share the sadness of the house; it would rack +me intolerably. Meantime, judgment is still blent with mercy. Anne's +sufferings still continue mild. It is my nature, when left alone, to +struggle on with a certain perseverance, and I believe God will help me." + +Anne had been delicate all her life; a fact which perhaps made them less +aware than they would otherwise have been of the true nature of those +fatal first symptoms. Yet they seem to have lost but little time before +they sent for the first advice that could be procured. She was examined +with the stethoscope, and the dreadful fact was announced that her +lungs were affected, and that tubercular consumption had already made +considerable progress. A system of treatment was prescribed, which was +afterwards ratified by the opinion of Dr. Forbes. + +For a short time they hoped that the disease was arrested. +Charlotte--herself ill with a complaint that severely tried her +spirits--was the ever-watchful nurse of this youngest, last sister. One +comfort was that Anne was the patientest, gentlest invalid that could +be. Still, there were hours, days, weeks of inexpressible anguish to be +borne; under the pressure of which Charlotte could only pray and pray +she did, right earnestly. Thus she writes on March 24th;-- + +"Anne's decline is gradual and fluctuating; but its nature is not +doubtful. . . . In spirit she is resigned: at heart she is, I believe, +a true Christian. . . . May God support her and all of us through +the trial of lingering sickness, and aid her in the last hour when +the struggle which separates soul from body must be gone through! +We saw Emily torn from the midst of us when our hearts clung to her +with intense attachment. . . She was scarce buried when Anne's health +failed. . . . These things would be too much, if reason, unsupported by +religion, were condemned to bear them alone. I have cause to be most +thankful for the strength that has hitherto been vouchsafed both to my +father and to myself. God, I think, is especially merciful to old age; +and for my own part, trials, which in perspective would have seemed +to me quite intolerable, when they actually came I endured without +prostration. Yet I must confess that, in the time which has elapsed +since Emily's death, there have been moments of solitary, deep, inert +affliction, far harder to bear than those which immediately followed +our loss. The crisis of bereavement has an acute pang which goads to +exertion; the desolate after-feeling sometimes paralyses. I have learnt +that we are not to find solace in our own strength; we must seek it +in God's omnipotence. Fortitude is good; but fortitude itself must be +shaken under us to teach us how weak we are!" + +All through this illness of Anne's, Charlotte had the comfort of being +able to talk to her about her state; a comfort rendered inexpressibly +great by the contrast which it presented to the recollection of Emily's +rejection of all sympathy. If a proposal for Anne's benefit was made, +Charlotte could speak to her about it, and the nursing and dying sister +could consult with each other as to its desirability. I have seen but +one of Anne's letters; it is the only time we seem to be brought into +direct personal contact with this gentle, patient girl. In order to give +the requisite preliminary explanation, I must state that the family of +friends, to which E---- belonged, proposed that Anne should come to +them; in order to try what change of air and diet, and the company of +kindly people could do towards restoring her to health. In answer to +this proposal, Charlotte writes:-- + +"March 24th. + +"I read your kind note to Anne, and she wishes me to thank you sincerely +for your friendly proposal. She feels, of course, that it would not do +to take advantage of it, by quartering an invalid upon the inhabitants +of ----; but she intimates there is another way in which you might +serve her, perhaps with some benefit to yourself as well as to her. +Should it, a month or two hence, be deemed advisable that she should go +either to the sea-side, or to some inland watering-place--and should +papa be disinclined to move, and I consequently obliged to remain at +home--she asks, could you be her companion? Of course I need not add +that in the event of such an arrangement being made, you would be put +to no expense. This, dear E., is Anne's proposal; I make it to comply +with her wish; but for my own part, I must add that I see serious +objections to your accepting it--objections I cannot name to her. She +continues to vary; is sometimes worse, and sometimes better, as the +weather changes; but, on the whole, I fear she loses strength. Papa +says her state is most precarious; she may be spared for some time, or +a sudden alteration might remove her before we are aware. Were such an +alteration to take place while she was far from home, and alone with +you, it would be terrible. The idea of it distresses me inexpressibly, +and I tremble whenever she alludes to the project of a journey. In +short, I wish we could gain time, and see how she gets on. If she leaves +home it certainly should not be in the capricious month of May, which +is proverbially trying to the weak. June would be a safer month. If we +could reach June, I should have good hopes of her getting through the +summer. Write such an answer to this note as I can show Anne. You can +write any additional remarks to me on a separate piece of paper. Do not +consider yourself as confined to discussing only our sad affairs. I am +interested in all that interests you." + +FROM ANNE BRONTE + +"April 5th, 1849. + +"My dear Miss ----,--I thank you greatly for your kind letter, and your +ready compliance with my proposal, as far as the WILL can go at least. I +see, however, that your friends are unwilling that you should undertake +the responsibility of accompanying me under present circumstances. But +I do not think there would be any great responsibility in the matter. +I know, and everybody knows, that you would be as kind and helpful as +any one could possibly be, and I hope I should not be very troublesome. +It would be as a companion, not as a nurse, that I should wish for your +company; otherwise I should not venture to ask it. As for your kind and +often-repeated invitation to ----, pray give my sincere thanks to your +mother and sisters, but tell them I could not think of inflicting my +presence upon them as I now am. It is very kind of them to make so light +of the trouble, but still there must be more or less, and certainly +no pleasure, from the society of a silent invalid stranger. I hope, +however, that Charlotte will by some means make it possible to accompany +me after all. She is certainly very delicate, and greatly needs a change +of air and scene to renovate her constitution. And then your going with +me before the end of May, is apparently out of the question, unless you +are disappointed in your visitors; but I should be reluctant to wait +till then, if the weather would at all permit an earlier departure. +You say May is a trying month, and so say others. The earlier part is +often cold enough, I acknowledge, but, according to my experience, we +are almost certain of some fine warm days in the latter half, when the +laburnums and lilacs are in bloom; whereas June is often cold, and +July generally wet. But I have a more serious reason than this for my +impatience of delay. The doctors say that change of air or removal +to a better climate would hardly ever fail of success in consumptive +cases, if the remedy were taken IN TIME; but the reason why there are +so many disappointments is, that it is generally deferred till it is +too late. Now I would not commit this error; and, to say the truth, +though I suffer much less from pain and fever than I did when you were +with us, I am decidedly weaker, and very much thinner. My cough still +troubles me a good deal, especially in the night, and, what seems worse +than all, I am subject to great shortness of breath on going up-stairs +or any slight exertion. Under these circumstances, I think there is no +time to be lost. I have no horror of death: if I thought it inevitable, +I think I could quietly resign myself to the prospect, in the hope that +you, dear Miss ----, would give as much of your company as you possibly +could to Charlotte, and be a sister to her in my stead. But I wish it +would please God to spare me, not only for papa's and Charlotte's sakes, +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. +Remember me respectfully to your mother and sisters, and believe me, +dear Miss ----, yours most affectionately, + +"ANNE BRONTE." + +It must have been about this time that Anne composed her last verses, +before "the desk was closed, and the pen laid aside for ever." + + I. + + "I hoped that with the brave and strong + My portioned task might lie; + To toil amid the busy throng, + With purpose pure and high. + + II. + + "But God has fixed another part, + And He has fixed it well: + I said so with my bleeding heart, + When first the anguish fell. + + III. + + "Thou God, hast taken our delight, + Our treasured hope, away; + Thou bid'st us now weep through the night + And sorrow through the day. + + IV. + + "These weary hours will not be lost, + These days of misery,-- + These nights of darkness, anguish-tost,-- + Can I but turn to Thee. + + IV. + + "With secret labour to sustain + In humble patience every blow; + To gather fortitude from pain, + And hope and holiness from woe. + + VI. + + "Thus let me serve Thee from my heart, + Whate'er may be my written fate; + Whether thus early to depart, + Or yet a while to wait. + + VII. + + "If Thou should'st bring me back to life, + More humbled I should be; + More wise--more strengthened for the strife, + More apt to lean on Thee. + + VIII. + + "Should death be standing at the gate, + Thus should I keep my vow; + But, Lord, whatever be my fate, + Oh let me serve Thee now!" + +I take Charlotte's own words as the best record of her thoughts and +feelings during all this terrible time. + +"April 12th. + +"I read Anne's letter to you; it was touching enough, as you say. +If there were no hope beyond this world,--no eternity, no life +to come,--Emily's fate, and that which threatens Anne, would be +heart-breaking. I cannot forget Emily's death-day; it becomes a more +fixed, a darker, a more frequently recurring idea in my mind than ever. +It was very terrible. She was torn, conscious, panting, reluctant, +though resolute, out of a happy life. But it WILL NOT do to dwell on +these things. + +"I am glad your friends object to your going with Anne: it would never +do. To speak truth, even if your mother and sisters had consented, I +never could. It is not that there is any laborious attention to pay +her; she requires, and will accept, but little nursing; but there would +be hazard, and anxiety of mind, beyond what you ought to be subject +to. If, a month or six weeks hence, she continues to wish for a change +as much as she does now, I shall (D. V.) go with her myself. It will +certainly be my paramount duty; other cares must be made subservient to +that. I have consulted Mr. T----: he does not object, and recommends +Scarborough, which was Anne's own choice. I trust affairs may be so +ordered, that you may be able to be with us at least part of the +time. . . . Whether in lodgings or not, I should wish to be boarded. +Providing oneself is, I think, an insupportable nuisance. I don't like +keeping provisions in a cupboard, locking up, being pillaged, and all +that. It is a petty, wearing annoyance." + +The progress of Anne's illness was slower than that of Emily's had been; +and she was too unselfish to refuse trying means, from which, if she +herself had little hope of benefit, her friends might hereafter derive a +mournful satisfaction. + +"I began to flatter myself she was getting strength. But the change to +frost has told upon her; she suffers more of late. Still her illness has +none of the fearful rapid symptoms which appalled in Emily's case. Could +she only get over the spring, I hope summer may do much for her, and +then early removal to a warmer locality for the winter might, at least, +prolong her life. Could we only reckon upon another year, I should be +thankful; but can we do this for the healthy? A few days ago I wrote +to have Dr. Forbes' opinion. . . . He warned us against entertaining +sanguine hopes of recovery. The cod-liver oil he considers a peculiarly +efficacious medicine. He, too, disapproved of change of residence for +the present. There is some feeble consolation in thinking we are doing +the very best that can be done. The agony of forced, total neglect, +is not now felt, as during Emily's illness. Never may we be doomed +to feel such agony again. It was terrible. I have felt much less of +the disagreeable pains in my chest lately, and much less also of the +soreness and hoarseness. I tried an application of hot vinegar, which +seemed to do good." + +"May 1st. + +"I was glad to hear that when we go to Scarborough, you will be at +liberty to go with us, but the journey and its consequences still +continue a source of great anxiety to me, I must try to put it off two +or three weeks longer if I can; perhaps by that time the milder season +may have given Anne more strength,perhaps it will be otherwise; I cannot +tell. The change to fine weather has not proved beneficial to her so +far. She has sometimes been so weak, and suffered so much from pain +in the side, during the last few days, that I have not known what to +think. . . . She may rally again, and be much better, but there must be +SOME improvement before I can feel justified in taking her away from +home. Yet to delay is painful; for, as is ALWAYS the case, I believe, +under her circumstances, she seems herself not half conscious of the +necessity for such delay. She wonders, I believe, why I don't talk more +about the journey: it grieves me to think she may even be hurt by my +seeming tardiness. She is very much emaciated,--far more than when you +were with us; her arms are no thicker than a little child's. The least +exertion brings a shortness of breath. She goes out a little every day, +but we creep rather than walk. . . . Papa continues pretty well;--I hope +I shall be enabled to bear up. So far, I have reason for thankfulness to +God." + +May had come, and brought the milder weather longed for; but Anne was +worse for the very change. A little later on it became colder, and she +rallied, and poor Charlotte began to hope that, if May were once over, +she might last for a long time. Miss Bronte wrote to engage the lodgings +at Scarborough,--a place which Anne had formerly visited with the family +to whom she was governess. They took a good-sized sitting-room, and an +airy double-bedded room (both commanding a sea-view), in one of the best +situations of the town. Money was as nothing in comparison with life; +besides, Anne had a small legacy left to her by her godmother, and they +felt that she could not better employ this than in obtaining what might +prolong life, if not restore health. On May 16th, Charlotte writes: + +"It is with a heavy heart I prepare; and earnestly do I wish the +fatigue of the journey were well over. It may be borne better than I +expect; for temporary stimulus often does much; but when I see the +daily increasing weakness, I know not what to think. I fear you will +be shocked when you see Anne; but be on your guard, dear E----, not to +express your feelings; indeed, I can trust both your self-possession +and your kindness. I wish my judgment sanctioned the step of going to +Scarborough, more fully than it does. You ask how I have arranged about +leaving Papa. I could make no special arrangement. He wishes me to go +with Anne, and would not hear of Mr. N----'s coming, or anything of that +kind; so I do what I believe is for the best, and leave the result to +Providence." + +They planned to rest and spend a night at York; and, at Anne's desire, +arranged to make some purchases there. Charlotte ends the letter to her +friend, in which she tells her all this, with-- + +"May 23rd. + +"I wish it seemed less like a dreary mockery in us to talk of buying +bonnets, etc. Anne was very ill yesterday. She had difficulty of +breathing all day, even when sitting perfectly still. To-day she seems +better again. I long for the moment to come when the experiment of the +sea-air will be tried. Will it do her good? I cannot tell; I can only +wish. Oh! if it would please God to strengthen and revive Anne, how +happy we might be together: His will, however, be done!" + +The two sisters left Haworth on Thursday, May 24th. They were to +have done so the day before, and had made an appointment with their +friend to meet them at the Leeds Station, in order that they might all +proceed together. But on Wednesday morning Anne was so ill, that it was +impossible for the sisters to set out; yet they had no means of letting +their friend know of this, and she consequently arrived at Leeds station +at the time specified. There she sate waiting for several hours. It +struck her as strange at the time--and it almost seems ominous to her +fancy now--that twice over, from two separate arrivals on the line by +which she was expecting her friends, coffins were carried forth, and +placed in hearses which were in waiting for their dead, as she was +waiting for one in four days to become so. + +The next day she could bear suspense no longer, and set out for Haworth, +reaching there just in time to carry the feeble, fainting invalid into +the chaise which stood at the gate to take them down to Keighley. The +servant who stood at the Parsonage gates, saw Death written on her +face, and spoke of it. Charlotte saw it and did not speak of it,--it +would have been giving the dread too distinct a form; and if this last +darling yearned for the change to Scarborough, go she should, however +Charlotte's heart might be wrung by impending fear. The lady who +accompanied them, Charlotte's beloved friend of more than twenty years, +has kindly written out for me the following account of the journey--and +of the end. + +"She left her home May 24th, 1849--died May 28th. Her life was calm, +quiet, spiritual: SUCH was her end. Through the trials and fatigues of +the journey, she evinced the pious courage and fortitude of a martyr. +Dependence and helplessness were ever with her a far sorer trial than +hard, racking pain. + +"The first stage of our journey was to York; and here the dear invalid +was so revived, so cheerful, and so happy, we drew consolation, and +trusted that at least temporary improvement was to be derived from the +change which SHE had so longed for, and her friends had so dreaded for +her. + +"By her request we went to the Minster, and to her it was an +overpowering pleasure; not for its own imposing and impressive grandeur +only, but because it brought to her susceptible nature a vital and +overwhelming sense of omnipotence. She said, while gazing at the +structure, 'If finite power can do this, what is the . . . ?' and here +emotion stayed her speech, and she was hastened to a less exciting scene. + +"Her weakness of body was great, but her gratitude for every mercy was +greater. After such an exertion as walking to her bed-room, she would +clasp her hands and raise her eyes in silent thanks, and she did this +not to the exclusion of wonted prayer, for that too was performed on +bended knee, ere she accepted the rest of her couch. + +"On the 25th we arrived at Scarborough; our dear invalid having, during +the journey, directed our attention to every prospect worthy of notice. + +"On the 26th she drove on the sands for an hour; and lest the poor +donkey should be urged by its driver to a greater speed than her tender +heart thought right, she took the reins, and drove herself. When joined +by her friend, she was charging the boy-master of the donkey to treat +the poor animal well. She was ever fond of dumb things, and would give +up her own comfort for them. + +"On Sunday, the 27th, she wished to go to church, and her eye +brightened with the thought of once more worshipping her God amongst +her fellow-creatures. We thought it prudent to dissuade her from the +attempt, though it was evident her heart was longing to join in the +public act of devotion and praise. + +"She walked a little in the afternoon, and meeting with a sheltered and +comfortable seat near the beach, she begged we would leave her, and +enjoy the various scenes near at hand, which were new to us but familiar +to her. She loved the place, and wished us to share her preference. + +"The evening closed in with the most glorious sunset ever witnessed. +The castle on the cliff stood in proud glory gilded by the rays of +the declining sun. The distant ships glittered like burnished gold; +the little boats near the beach heaved on the ebbing tide, inviting +occupants. The view was grand beyond description. Anne was drawn in her +easy chair to the window, to enjoy the scene with us. Her face became +illumined almost as much as the glorious scene she gazed upon. Little +was said, for it was plain that her thoughts were driven by the imposing +view before her to penetrate forwards to the regions of unfading glory. +She again thought of public worship, and wished us to leave her, and +join those who were assembled at the House of God. We declined, gently +urging the duty and pleasure of staying with her, who was now so dear +and so feeble. On returning to her place near the fire, she conversed +with her sister upon the propriety of returning to their home. She did +not wish it for her own sake, she said she was fearing others might +suffer more if her decease occurred where she was. She probably thought +the task of accompanying her lifeless remains on a long journey was more +than her sister could bear--more than the bereaved father could bear, +were she borne home another, and a third tenant of the family-vault in +the short space of nine months. + +"The night was passed without any apparent accession of illness. She +rose at seven o'clock, and performed most of her toilet herself, by her +expressed wish. Her sister always yielded such points, believing it was +the truest kindness not to press inability when it was not acknowledged. +Nothing occurred to excite alarm till about 11 A. M. She then spoke of +feeling a change. She believed she had not long to live. Could she reach +home alive, if we prepared immediately for departure? A physician was +sent for. Her address to him was made with perfect composure. She begged +him to say how long he thought she might live;--not to fear speaking the +truth, for she was not afraid to die. The doctor reluctantly admitted +that the angel of death was already arrived, and that life was ebbing +fast. She thanked him for his truthfulness, and he departed to come +again very soon. She still occupied her easy chair, looking so serene, +so reliant there was no opening for grief as yet, though all knew the +separation was at hand. She clasped her hands, and reverently invoked +a blessing from on high; first upon her sister, then upon her friend, +to whom she said, 'Be a sister in my stead. Give Charlotte as much of +your company as you can.' She then thanked each for her kindness and +attention. + +"Ere long the restlessness of approaching death appeared, and she +was borne to the sofa; on being asked if she were easier, she looked +gratefully at her questioner, and said, 'It is not YOU who can give me +ease, but soon all will be well, through the merits of our Redeemer.' +Shortly after this, seeing that her sister could hardly restrain her +grief, she said, 'Take courage, Charlotte; take courage.' Her faith +never failed, and her eye never dimmed till about two o'clock, when +she calmly and without a sigh passed from the temporal to the eternal. +So still, and so hallowed were her last hours and moments. There was +no thought of assistance or of dread. The doctor came and went two or +three times. The hostess knew that death was near, yet so little was the +house disturbed by the presence of the dying, and the sorrow of those +so nearly bereaved, that dinner was announced as ready, through the +half-opened door, as the living sister was closing the eyes of the dead +one. She could now no more stay the welled-up grief of her sister with +her emphatic and dying 'Take courage,' and it burst forth in brief but +agonising strength. Charlotte's affection, however, had another channel, +and there it turned in thought, in care, and in tenderness. There was +bereavement, but there was not solitude;--sympathy was at hand, and it +was accepted. With calmness, came the consideration of the removal of +the dear remains to their home resting-place. This melancholy task, +however, was never performed; for the afflicted sister decided to lay +the flower in the place where it had fallen. She believed that to do so +would accord with the wishes of the departed. She had no preference for +place. She thought not of the grave, for that is but the body's goal, +but of all that is beyond it. + +"Her remains rest, + +'Where the south sun warms the now dear sod, Where the ocean billows +lave and strike the steep and turf-covered rock.'" + +Anne died on the Monday. On the Tuesday Charlotte wrote to her father; +but, knowing that his presence was required for some annual Church +solemnity at Haworth, she informed him that she had made all necessary +arrangements for the interment and that the funeral would take place so +soon, that he could hardly arrive in time for it. The surgeon who had +visited Anne on the day of her death, offered his attendance, but it was +respectfully declined. + +Mr. Bronte wrote to urge Charlotte's longer stay at the seaside. Her +health and spirits were sorely shaken; and much as he naturally longed +to see his only remaining child, he felt it right to persuade her to +take, with her friend, a few more weeks' change of scene,--though +even that could not bring change of thought. Late in June the friends +returned homewards,--parting rather suddenly (it would seem) from each +other, when their paths diverged. + +"July, 1849. + +"I intended to have written a line to you to-day, if I had not received +yours. We did indeed part suddenly; it made my heart ache that we were +severed without the time to exchange a word; and yet perhaps it was +better. I got here a little before eight o'clock. All was clean and +bright waiting for me. Papa and the servants were well; and all received +me with an affection which should have consoled. The dogs seemed in +strange ecstasy. I am certain they regarded me as the harbinger of +others. The dumb creatures thought that as I was returned, those who had +been so long absent were not far behind. + +"I left Papa soon, and went into the dining-room: I shut the door--I +tried to be glad that I was come home. I have always been glad +before--except once--even then I was cheered. But this time joy was +not to be the sensation. I felt that the house was all silent--the +rooms were all empty. I remembered where the three were laid--in what +narrow dark dwellings--never more to reappear on earth. So the sense of +desolation and bitterness took possession of me. The agony that WAS to +be undergone, and WAS NOT to be avoided, came on. I underwent it, and +passed a dreary evening and night, and a mournful morrow; to-day I am +better. + +"I do not know how life will pass, but I certainly do feel confidence +in Him who has upheld me hitherto. Solitude may be cheered, and made +endurable beyond what I can believe. The great trial is when evening +closes and night approaches. At that hour, we used to assemble in the +dining-room--we used to talk. Now I sit by myself--necessarily I am +silent. I cannot help thinking of their last days, remembering their +sufferings, and what they said and did, and how they looked in mortal +affliction. Perhaps all this will become less poignant in time. + +"Let me thank you once more, dear E----, for your kindness to me, which +I do not mean to forget. How did you think all looking at your home? +Papa thought me a little stronger; he said my eyes were not so sunken." + +"July 14th, 1849. + +"I do not much like giving an account of myself. I like better to go out +of myself, and talk of something more cheerful. My cold, wherever I got +it, whether at Easton or elsewhere, is not vanished yet. It began in my +head, then I had a sore throat, and then a sore chest, with a cough, but +only a trifling cough, which I still have at times. The pain between my +shoulders likewise amazed me much. Say nothing about it, for I confess +I am too much disposed to be nervous. This nervousness is a horrid +phantom. I dare communicate no ailment to Papa; his anxiety harasses me +inexpressibly. + +"My life is what I expected it to be. Sometimes when I wake in the +morning, and know that Solitude, Remembrance, and Longing are to be +almost my sole companions all day through--that at night I shall go to +bed with them, that they will long keep me sleepless--that next morning +I shall wake to them again,--sometimes, Nell, I have a heavy heart of +it. But crushed I am not, yet; nor robbed of elasticity, nor of hope, +nor quite of endeavour. I have some strength to fight the battle of +life. I am aware, and can acknowledge, I have many comforts, many +mercies. Still I can GET ON. But I do hope and pray, that never may you, +or any one I love, be placed as I am. To sit in a lonely room--the clock +ticking loud through a still house--and have open before the mind's eye +the record of the last year, with its shocks, sufferings, losses--is a +trial. + +"I write to you freely, because I believe you will hear me with +moderation--that you will not take alarm or think me in any way worse +off than I am." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +The tale of "Shirley" had been begun soon after the publication of +"Jane Eyre." If the reader will refer to the account I have given of +Miss Bronte's schooldays at Roe Head, he will there see how every +place surrounding that house was connected with the Luddite riots, and +will learn how stories and anecdotes of that time were rife among the +inhabitants of the neighbouring villages; how Miss Wooler herself, +and the elder relations of most of her schoolfellows, must have known +the actors in those grim disturbances. What Charlotte had heard there +as a girl came up in her mind when, as a woman, she sought a subject +for her next work; and she sent to Leeds for a file of the Mercuries +of 1812, '13, and '14; in order to understand the spirit of those +eventful times. She was anxious to write of things she had known and +seen; and among the number was the West Yorkshire character, for which +any tale laid among the Luddites would afford full scope. In "Shirley" +she took the idea of most of her characters from life, although the +incidents and situations were, of course, fictitious. She thought that +if these last were purely imaginary, she might draw from the real +without detection, but in this she was mistaken; her studies were too +closely accurate. This occasionally led her into difficulties. People +recognised themselves, or were recognised by others, in her graphic +descriptions of their personal appearance, and modes of action and +turns of thought; though they were placed in new positions, and figured +away in scenes far different to those in which their actual life had +been passed. Miss Bronte was struck by the force or peculiarity of the +character of some one whom she knew; she studied it, and analysed it +with subtle power; and having traced it to its germ, she took that germ +as the nucleus of an imaginary character, and worked outwards;--thus +reversing the process of analysation, and unconsciously reproducing +the same external development. The "three curates" were real living +men, haunting Haworth and the neighbouring district; and so obtuse in +perception that, after the first burst of anger at having their ways +and habits chronicled was over, they rather enjoyed the joke of calling +each other by the names she had given them. "Mrs. Pryor" was well known +to many who loved the original dearly. The whole family of the Yorkes +were, I have been assured, almost daguerreotypes. Indeed Miss Bronte +told me that, before publication, she had sent those parts of the novel +in which these remarkable persons are introduced, to one of the sons; +and his reply, after reading it, was simply that "she had not drawn +them strong enough." From those many-sided sons, I suspect, she drew +all that there was of truth in the characters of the heroes in her +first two works. They, indeed, were almost the only young men she knew +intimately, besides her brother. There was much friendship, and still +more confidence between the Bronte family and them,--although their +intercourse was often broken and irregular. There was never any warmer +feeling on either side. + +The character of Shirley herself, is Charlotte's representation of +Emily. I mention this, because all that I, a stranger, have been able +to learn about her has not tended to give either me, or my readers, +a pleasant impression of her. But we must remember how little we are +acquainted with her, compared to that sister, who, out of her more +intimate knowledge, says that she "was genuinely good, and truly great," +and who tried to depict her character in Shirley Keeldar, as what Emily +Bronte would have been, had she been placed in health and prosperity. + +Miss Bronte took extreme pains with "Shirley." She felt that the fame +she had acquired imposed upon her a double responsibility. She tried +to make her novel like a piece of actual life,--feeling sure that, if +she but represented the product of personal experience and observation +truly, good would come out of it in the long run. She carefully studied +the different reviews and criticisms that had appeared on "Jane Eyre," +in hopes of extracting precepts and advice from which to profit. + +Down into the very midst of her writing came the bolts of death. She had +nearly finished the second volume of her tale when Branwell died,--after +him Emily,--after her Anne;--the pen, laid down when there were three +sisters living and loving, was taken up when one alone remained. Well +might she call the first chapter that she wrote after this, "The Valley +of the Shadow of Death." + +I knew in part what the unknown author of "Shirley" must have suffered, +when I read those pathetic words which occur at the end of this and the +beginning of the succeeding chapter:-- + +"Till break of day, she wrestled with God in earnest prayer. + +"Not always do those who dare such divine conflict prevail. Night after +night the sweat of agony may burst dark on the forehead; the supplicant +may cry for mercy with that soundless voice the soul utters when its +appeal is to the Invisible. 'Spare my beloved,' it may implore. 'Heal my +life's life. Rend not from me what long affection entwines with my whole +nature. God of Heaven--bend--hear--be clement!' And after this cry and +strife, the sun may rise and see him worsted. That opening morn, which +used to salute him with the whispers of zephyrs, the carol of skylarks, +may breathe, as its first accents, from the dear lips which colour and +heat have quitted,--'Oh! I have had a suffering night. This morning I +am worse. I have tried to rise. I cannot. Dreams I am unused to have +troubled me.' + +"Then the watcher approaches the patient's pillow, and sees a new and +strange moulding of the familiar features, feels at once that the +insufferable moment draws nigh, knows that it is God's will his idol +should be broken, and bends his head, and subdues his soul to the +sentence he cannot avert, and scarce can bear. . . . + +"No piteous, unconscious moaning sound--which so wastes our strength +that, even if we have sworn to be firm, a rush of unconquerable tears +sweeps away the oath--preceded her waking. No space of deaf apathy +followed. The first words spoken were not those of one becoming +estranged from this world, and already permitted to stray at times into +realms foreign to the living." + +She went on with her work steadily. But it was dreary to write without +any one to listen to the progress of her tale,--to find fault or to +sympathise,--while pacing the length of the parlour in the evenings, +as in the days that were no more. Three sisters had done this,--then +two, the other sister dropping off from the walk,--and now one was left +desolate, to listen for echoing steps that never came,--and to hear the +wind sobbing at the windows, with an almost articulate sound. + +But she wrote on, struggling against her own feelings of illness; +"continually recurring feelings of slight cold; slight soreness in the +throat and chest, of which, do what I will," she writes, "I cannot get +rid." + +In August there arose a new cause for anxiety, happily but temporary. + +"Aug. 23rd, 1849. + +"Papa has not been well at all lately. He has had another attack of +bronchitis. I felt very uneasy about him for some days--more wretched +indeed than I care to tell you. After what has happened, one trembles +at any appearance of sickness; and when anything ails Papa, I feel too +keenly that he is the LAST--the only near and dear relative I have in +the world. Yesterday and to-day he has seemed much better, for which I +am truly thankful. . . . + +"From what you say of Mr. ----, I think I should like him very much. +---- wants shaking to be put out about his appearance. What does it +matter whether her husband dines in a dress-coat, or a market-coat, +provided there be worth, and honesty, and a clean shirt underneath?" + +"Sept. 10th, 1849. + +"My piece of work is at last finished, and despatched to its +destination. You must now tell me when there is a chance of your being +able to come here. I fear it will now be difficult to arrange, as it is +so near the marriage-day. Note well, it would spoil all my pleasure, if +you put yourself or any one else to inconvenience to come to Haworth. +But when it is CONVENIENT, I shall be truly glad to see you. . . . Papa, +I am thankful to say, is better, though not strong. He is often troubled +with a sensation of nausea. My cold is very much less troublesome, I am +sometimes quite free from it. A few days since, I had a severe bilious +attack, the consequence of sitting too closely to my writing; but it is +gone now. It is the first from which I have suffered since my return +from the sea-side. I had them every month before." + +"Sept. 13th, 1849. + +"If duty and the well-being of others require that you should stay at +home, I cannot permit myself to complain, still, I am very, VERY sorry +that circumstances will not permit us to meet just now. I would without +hesitation come to ----, if Papa were stronger; but uncertain as are +both his health and spirits, I could not possibly prevail on myself to +leave him now. Let us hope that when we do see each other our meeting +will be all the more pleasurable for being delayed. Dear E----, you +certainly have a heavy burden laid on your shoulders, but such burdens, +if well borne, benefit the character; only we must take the GREATEST, +CLOSEST, MOST WATCHFUL care not to grow proud of our strength, in case +we should be enabled to bear up under the trial. That pride, indeed, +would be sign of radical weakness. The strength, if strength we have, is +certainly never in our own selves; it is given us." + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Sept. 21st, 1849. + +"My dear Sir,--I am obliged to you for preserving my secret, being at +least as anxious as ever (MORE anxious I cannot well be) to keep quiet. +You asked me in one of your letters lately, whether I thought I should +escape identification in Yorkshire. I am so little known, that I think I +shall. Besides, the book is far less founded on the Real, than perhaps +appears. It would be difficult to explain to you how little actual +experience I have had of life, how few persons I have known, and how +very few have known me. + +"As an instance how the characters have been managed, take that of Mr. +Helstone. If this character had an original, it was in the person of +a clergyman who died some years since at the advanced age of eighty. +I never saw him except once--at the consecration of a church--when I +was a child of ten years old. I was then struck with his appearance, +and stern, martial air. At a subsequent period, I heard him talked +about in the neighbourhood where he had resided: some mention him with +enthusiasm--others with detestation. I listened to various anecdotes, +balanced evidence against evidence, and drew an inference. The original +of Mr. Hall I have seen; he knows me slightly; but he would as soon +think I had closely observed him or taken him for a character--he would +as soon, indeed, suspect me of writing a hook--a novel--as he would his +dog, Prince. Margaret Hall called "Jane Eyre" a 'wicked book,' on the +authority of the Quarterly; an expression which, coming from her, I will +here confess, struck somewhat deep. It opened my eyes to the harm the +Quarterly had done. Margaret would not have called it 'wicked,' if she +had not been told so. + +"No matter,--whether known or unknown--misjudged, or the contrary,--I +am resolved not to write otherwise. I shall bend as my powers tend. The +two human beings who understood me, and whom I understood, are gone: +I have some that love me yet, and whom I love, without expecting, or +having a right to expect, that they shall perfectly understand me. I am +satisfied; but I must have my own way in the matter of writing. The loss +of what we possess nearest and dearest to us in this world, produces +an effect upon the character we search out what we have yet left that +can support, and, when found, we cling to it with a hold of new-strung +tenacity. The faculty of imagination lifted me when I was sinking, three +months ago; its active exercise has kept my head above water since; its +results cheer me now, for I feel they have enabled me to give pleasure +to others. I am thankful to God, who gave me the faculty; and it is +for me a part of my religion to defend this gift, and to profit by its +possession.--Yours sincerely, + +"CHARLOTTE BRONTE." + +At the time when this letter was written, both Tabby and the young +servant whom they had to assist her were ill in bed; and, with the +exception of occasional aid, Miss Bronte had all the household work to +perform, as well as to nurse the two invalids. + +The serious illness of the younger servant was at its height, when a +cry from Tabby called Miss Bronte into the kitchen, and she found the +poor old woman of eighty laid on the floor, with her head under the +kitchen-grate; she had fallen from her chair in attempting to rise. When +I saw her, two years later, she described to me the tender care which +Charlotte had taken of her at this time; and wound up her account of +"how her own mother could not have had more thought for her nor Miss +Bronte had," by saying, "Eh! she's a good one--she IS!" + +But there was one day when the strung nerves gave way--when, as she +says, "I fairly broke down for ten minutes; sat and cried like a fool. +Tabby could neither stand nor walk. Papa had just been declaring that +Martha was in imminent danger. I was myself depressed with headache +and sickness. That day I hardly knew what to do, or where to turn. +Thank God! Martha is now convalescent: Tabby, I trust, will be better +soon. Papa is pretty well. I have the satisfaction of knowing that my +publishers are delighted with what I sent them. This supports me. But +life is a battle. May we all be enabled to fight it well!" + +The kind friend, to whom she thus wrote, saw how the poor over-taxed +system needed bracing, and accordingly sent her a shower-bath--a thing +for which she had long been wishing. The receipt of it was acknowledged +as follows:-- + +"Sept. 28th, 1849. ". . . Martha is now almost well, and Tabby much +better. A huge monster-package, from 'Nelson, Leeds,' came yesterday. +You want chastising roundly and soundly. Such are the thanks you get +for all your trouble. . . . Whenever you come to Haworth, you shall +certainly have a thorough drenching in your own shower-bath. I have not +yet unpacked the wretch.--"Yours, as you deserve, + +C. B." + +There was misfortune of another kind impending over her. There were +some railway shares, which, so early as 1846, she had told Miss Wooler +she wished to sell, but had kept because she could not persuade her +sisters to look upon the affair as she did, and so preferred running +the risk of loss, to hurting Emily's feelings by acting in opposition +to her opinion. The depreciation of these same shares was now +verifying Charlotte's soundness of judgment. They were in the York and +North-Midland Company, which was one of Mr. Hudson's pet lines, and had +the full benefit of his peculiar system of management. She applied to +her friend and publisher, Mr. Smith, for information on the subject; and +the following letter is in answer to his reply:-- + +"Oct. 4th, 1849. + +"My dear Sir,--I must not THANK you for, but acknowledge the receipt of +your letter. The business is certainly very bad; worse than I thought, +and much worse than my father has any idea of. In fact, the little +railway property I possessed, according to original prices, formed +already a small competency for me, with my views and habits. Now, +scarcely any portion of it can, with security, be calculated upon. I +must open this view of the case to my father by degrees; and, meanwhile, +wait patiently till I see how affairs are likely to turn. . . . However +the matter may terminate, I ought perhaps to be rather thankful than +dissatisfied. When I look at my own case, and compare it with that of +thousands besides, I scarcely see room for a murmur. Many, very many, +are by the late strange railway system deprived almost of their daily +bread. Such then as have only lost provision laid up for the future, +should take care how they complain. The thought that 'Shirley' has given +pleasure at Cornhill, yields me much quiet comfort. No doubt, however, +you are, as I am, prepared for critical severity; but I have good hopes +that the vessel is sufficiently sound of construction to weather a gale +or two, and to make a prosperous voyage for you in the end." + +Towards the close of October in this year, she went to pay a visit +to her friend; but her enjoyment in the holiday, which she had so +long promised herself when her work was completed, was deadened by a +continual feeling of ill-health; either the change of air or the foggy +weather produced constant irritation at the chest. Moreover, she was +anxious about the impression which her second work would produce on +the public mind. For obvious reasons an author is more susceptible to +opinions pronounced on the book which follows a great success, than he +has ever been before. Whatever be the value of fame, he has it in his +possession, and is not willing to have it dimmed or lost. + +"Shirley" was published on October 26th. + +When it came out, but before reading it, Mr. Lewes wrote to tell her of +his intention of reviewing it in the Edinburgh. Her correspondence with +him had ceased for some time: much had occurred since. + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Nov. 1st, 1849. + +"My dear Sir,--It is about a year and a half since you wrote to me; but +it seems a longer period, because since then it has been my lot to pass +some black milestones in the journey of life. Since then there have been +intervals when I have ceased to care about literature and critics and +fame; when I have lost sight of whatever was prominent in my thoughts +at the first publication of 'Jane Eyre;' but now I want these things +to come back vividly, if possible: consequently, it was a pleasure to +receive your note. I wish you did not think me a woman. I wish all +reviewers believed 'Currer Bell' to be a man; they would be more just to +him. You will, I know, keep measuring me by some standard of what you +deem becoming to my sex; where I am not what you consider graceful, you +will condemn me. All mouths will be open against that first chapter; and +that first chapter is true as the Bible, nor is it exceptionable. Come +what will, I cannot, when I write, think always of myself and of what is +elegant and charming in femininity; it is not on those terms, or with +such ideas, I ever took pen in hand: and if it is only on such terms my +writing will be tolerated, I shall pass away from the public and trouble +it no more. Out of obscurity I came, to obscurity I can easily return. +Standing afar off, I now watch to see what will become of 'Shirley.' My +expectations are very low, and my anticipations somewhat sad and bitter; +still, I earnestly conjure you to say honestly what you think; flattery +would be worse than vain; there is no consolation in flattery. As for +condemnation I cannot, on reflection, see why I should much fear it; +there is no one but myself to suffer therefrom, and both happiness and +suffering in this life soon pass away. Wishing you all success in your +Scottish expedition,--I am, dear Sir, yours sincerely, + +C. BELL." + +Miss Bronte, as we have seen, had been as anxious as ever to preserve +her incognito in "Shirley." She even fancied that there were fewer +traces of a female pen in it than in "Jane Eyre"; and thus, when the +earliest reviews were published, and asserted that the mysterious writer +must be a woman, she was much disappointed. She especially disliked the +lowering of the standard by which to judge a work of fiction, if it +proceeded from a feminine pen; and praise mingled with pseudo-gallant +allusions to her sex, mortified her far more than actual blame. + +But the secret, so jealously preserved, was oozing out at last. The +publication of "Shirley" seemed to fix the conviction that the writer +was an inhabitant of the district where the story was laid. And a clever +Haworth man, who had somewhat risen in the world, and gone to settle +in Liverpool, read the novel, and was struck with some of the names +of places mentioned, and knew the dialect in which parts of it were +written. He became convinced that it was the production of some one in +Haworth. But he could not imagine who in that village could have written +such a work except Miss Bronte. Proud of his conjecture, he divulged the +suspicion (which was almost certainty) in the columns of a Liverpool +paper; thus the heart of the mystery came slowly creeping out; and a +visit to London, which Miss Bronte paid towards the end of the year +1849, made it distinctly known. She had been all along on most happy +terms with her publishers; and their kindness had beguiled some of those +weary, solitary hours which had so often occurred of late, by sending +for her perusal boxes of books more suited to her tastes than any she +could procure from the circulating library at Keighley. She often writes +such sentences as the following, in her letters to Cornhill:-- + +"I was indeed very much interested in the books you sent 'Eckermann's +Conversations with Goethe,' 'Guesses as Truth,' 'Friends in Council,' +and the little work on English social life, pleased me particularly, +and the last not least. We sometimes take a partiality to books as +to characters, not on account of any brilliant intellect or striking +peculiarity they boast, but for the sake of something good, delicate, +and genuine. I thought that small book the production of a lady, and an +amiable, sensible woman, and I liked it. You must not think of selecting +any more works for me yet; my stock is still far from exhausted. + +"I accept your offer respecting the 'Athenaeum;' it is a paper I should +like much to see, providing that you can send it without trouble. It +shall be punctually returned." + +In a letter to her friend she complains of the feelings of illness from +which she was seldom or never free. + +"Nov. 16th, 1849. + +You are not to suppose any of the characters in 'Shirley' intended as +literal portraits. It would not suit the rules of art, nor of my own +feelings; to write in that style. We only suffer reality to SUGGEST, +never to DICTATE. The heroines are abstractions and the heroes also. +Qualities I have seen, loved, and admired, are here and there put in +as decorative gems, to be preserved in that sitting. Since you say you +could recognise the originals of all except the heroines, pray whom did +you suppose the two Moores to represent? I send you a couple of reviews; +the one is in the Examiner, written by Albany Fonblanque, who is called +the most brilliant political writer of the day, a man whose dictum is +much thought of in London. The other, in the Standard of Freedom, is +written by William Howitt, a Quaker! . . . I should be pretty well, if +it were not for headaches and indigestion. My chest has been better +lately." + +In consequence of this long-protracted state of languor, headache, and +sickness, to which the slightest exposure to cold added sensations of +hoarseness and soreness at the chest, she determined to take the evil +in time, as much for her father's sake as for her own, and to go up to +London and consult some physician there. It was not her first intention +to visit anywhere; but the friendly urgency of her publishers prevailed, +and it was decided that she was to become the guest of Mr. Smith. Before +she went, she wrote two characteristic letters about "Shirley," from +which I shall take a few extracts. + +"'Shirley' makes her way. The reviews shower in fast. . . . The best +critique which has yet appeared is in the Revue des deux Mondes, a +sort of European Cosmopolitan periodical, whose head-quarters are at +Paris. Comparatively few reviewers, even in their praise, evince a just +comprehension of the author's meaning. Eugene Forcarde, the reviewer +in question, follows Currer Bell through every winding, discerns every +point, discriminates every shade, proves himself master of the subject, +and lord of the aim. With that man I would shake hands, if I saw him. +I would say, 'You know me, Monsieur; I shall deem it an honour to +know you.' I could not say so much of the mass of the London critics. +Perhaps I could not say so much to five hundred men and women in all +the millions of Great Britain. That matters little. My own conscience I +satisfy first; and having done that, if I further content and delight a +Forsarde, a Fonblanque, and a Thackeray, my ambition has had its ration, +it is fed; it lies down for the present satisfied; my faculties have +wrought a day's task, and earned a day's wages. I am no teacher; to look +on me in that light is to mistake me. To teach is not my vocation. What +I AM, it is useless to say. Those whom it concerns feel and find it +out. To all others I wish only to be an obscure, steady-going, private +character. To you, dear E ----, I wish to be a sincere friend. Give me +your faithful regard; I willingly dispense with admiration." + +"Nov. 26th. + +"It is like you to pronounce the reviews not good enough, and belongs +to that part of your character which will not permit you to bestow +unqualified approbation on any dress, decoration, etc., belonging to +you. Know that the reviews are superb; and were I dissatisfied with +them, I should be a conceited ape. Nothing higher is ever said, FROM +PERFECTLY DISINTERESTED MOTIVES, of any living authors. If all be well, +I go to London this week; Wednesday, I think. The dress-maker has done +my small matters pretty well, but I wish you could have looked them +over, and given a dictum. I insisted on the dresses being made quite +plainly." + +At the end of November she went up to the "big Babylon," and was +immediately plunged into what appeared to her a whirl; for changes, and +scenes, and stimulus which would have been a trifle to others, were +much to her. As was always the case with strangers, she was a little +afraid at first of the family into which she was now received, fancying +that the ladies looked on her with a mixture of respect and alarm; but +in a few days, if this state of feeling ever existed, her simple, shy, +quiet manners, her dainty personal and household ways, had quite done +away with it, and she says that she thinks they begin to like her, and +that she likes them much, for "kindness is a potent heart-winner." She +had stipulated that she should not be expected to see many people. The +recluse life she had led, was the cause of a nervous shrinking from +meeting any fresh face, which lasted all her life long. Still, she +longed to have an idea of the personal appearance and manners of some of +those whose writings or letters had interested her. Mr. Thackeray was +accordingly invited to meet her, but it so happened that she had been +out for the greater part of the morning, and, in consequence, missed +the luncheon hour at her friend's house. This brought on a severe and +depressing headache in one accustomed to the early, regular hours of a +Yorkshire Parsonage; besides, the excitement of meeting, hearing, and +sitting next a man to whom she looked up with such admiration as she did +to the author of "Vanity Fair," was of itself overpowering to her frail +nerves. She writes about this dinner as follows:-- + +"Dec. 10th, 1849. + +"As to being happy, I am under scenes and circumstances of excitement; +but I suffer acute pain sometimes,--mental pain, I mean. At the moment +Mr. Thackeray presented himself, I was thoroughly faint from inanition, +having eaten nothing since a very slight breakfast, and it was then +seven o'clock in the evening. Excitement and exhaustion made savage work +of me that evening. What he thought of me I cannot tell." + +She told me how difficult she found it, this first time of meeting Mr. +Thackeray, to decide whether he was speaking in jest or in earnest, and +that she had (she believed) completely misunderstood an inquiry of his, +made on the gentlemen's coming into the drawing-room. He asked her "if +she had perceived the secret of their cigars;" to which she replied +literally, discovering in a minute afterwards, by the smile on several +faces, that he was alluding to a passage in "Jane Eyre". Her hosts took +pleasure in showing her the sights of London. On one of the days which +had been set apart for some of these pleasant excursions, a severe +review of "Shirley" was published in the Times. She had heard that her +book would be noticed by it, and guessed that there was some particular +reason for the care with which her hosts mislaid it on that particular +morning. She told them that she was aware why she might not see the +paper. Mrs. Smith at once admitted that her conjecture was right, and +said that they had wished her to go to the day's engagement before +reading it. But she quietly persisted in her request to be allowed to +have the paper. Mrs. Smith took her work, and tried not to observe the +countenance, which the other tried to hide between the large sheets; but +she could not help becoming aware of tears stealing down the face and +dropping on the lap. The first remark Miss Bronte made was to express +her fear lest so severe a notice should check the sale of the book, +and injuriously affect her publishers. Wounded as she was, her first +thought was for others. Later on (I think that very afternoon) Mr. +Thackeray called; she suspected (she said) that he came to see how she +bore the attack on "Shirley;" but she had recovered her composure, and +conversed very quietly with him: he only learnt from the answer to his +direct inquiry that she had read the Times' article. She acquiesced in +the recognition of herself as the authoress of "Jane Eyre," because she +perceived that there were some advantages to be derived from dropping +her pseudonym. One result was an acquaintance with Miss Martineau. +She had sent her the novel just published, with a curious note, in +which Currer Bell offered a copy of "Shirley" to Miss Martineau, as an +acknowledgment of the gratification he had received from her works. From +"Deerbrook" he had derived a new and keen pleasure, and experienced a +genuine benefit. In HIS mind "Deerbrook," etc. + +Miss Martineau, in acknowledging this note and the copy of "Shirley," +dated her letter from a friend's house in the neighbourhood of Mr. +Smith's residence; and when, a week or two afterwards, Miss Bronte +found how near she was to her correspondent, she wrote, in the name +of Currer Bell, to propose a visit to her. Six o'clock, on a certain +Sunday afternoon (Dec. 10th), was the time appointed. Miss Martineau's +friends had invited the unknown Currer Bell to their early tea; they +were ignorant whether the name was that of a man or a woman; and had +had various conjectures as to sex, age, and appearance. Miss Martineau +had, indeed, expressed her private opinion pretty distinctly by +beginning her reply, to the professedly masculine note referred to +above, with "Dear Madam;" but she had addressed it to "Currer Bell, +Esq." At every ring the eyes of the party turned towards the door. Some +stranger (a gentleman, I think) came in; for an instant they fancied he +was Currer Bell, and indeed an Esq.; he stayed some time--went away. +Another ring; "Miss Bronte was announced; and in came a young-looking +lady, almost child-like in stature, in a deep mourning dress, neat +as a Quaker's, with her beautiful hair smooth and brown, her fine +eyes blazing with meaning and her sensible face indicating a habit +of self-control." She came,--hesitated one moment at finding four or +five people assembled,--then went straight to Miss Martineau with +intuitive recognition, and, with the free-masonry of good feeling and +gentle breeding, she soon became as one of the family seated round the +tea-table; and, before she left, she told them, in a simple, touching +manner, of her sorrow and isolation, and a foundation was laid for her +intimacy with Miss Martineau. + +After some discussion on the subject, and a stipulation that she should +not be specially introduced to any one, some gentlemen were invited by +Mr. Smith to meet her at dinner the evening before she left town. Her +natural place would have been at the bottom of the table by her host; +and the places of those who were to be her neighbours were arranged +accordingly; but, on entering the dining-room, she quickly passed up +so as to sit next to the lady of the house, anxious to shelter herself +near some one of her own sex. This slight action arose out of the same +womanly seeking after protection on every occasion, when there was no +moral duty involved in asserting her independence, that made her about +this time write as follows: "Mrs. ---- watches me very narrowly when +surrounded by strangers. She never takes her eye from me. I like the +surveillance; it seems to keep guard over me." + +Respecting this particular dinner-party she thus wrote to the Brussels +schoolfellow of former days, whose friendship had been renewed during +her present visit to London:-- + +"The evening after I left you passed better than I expected. Thanks to +my substantial lunch and cheering cup of coffee, I was able to wait the +eight o'clock dinner with complete resignation, and to endure its length +quite courageously, nor was I too much exhausted to converse; and of +this I was glad, for otherwise I know my kind host and hostess would +have been much disappointed. There were only seven gentlemen at dinner +besides Mr. Smith, but of these five were critics--men more dreaded in +the world of letters than you can conceive. I did not know how much +their presence and conversation had excited me till they were gone, +and the reaction commenced. When I had retired for the night, I wished +to sleep--the effort to do so was vain. I could not close my eyes. +Night passed; morning came, and I rose without having known a moment's +slumber. So utterly worn out was I when I got to Derby, that I was again +obliged to stay there all night." + +"Dec. 17th. + +"Here I am at Haworth once more. I feel as if I had come out of an +exciting whirl. Not that the hurry and stimulus would have seemed much +to one accustomed to society and change, but to me they were very +marked. My strength and spirits too often proved quite insufficient to +the demand on their exertions. I used to bear up as long as I possibly +could, for, when I flagged, I could see Mr. Smith became disturbed; he +always thought that something had been said or done to annoy me--which +never once happened, for I met with perfect good breeding even from +antagonists--men who had done their best or worst to write me down. I +explained to him over and over again, that my occasional silence was +only failure of the power to talk, never of the will. . . . + +"Thackeray is a Titan of mind. His presence and powers impress one +deeply in an intellectual sense; I do not see him or know him as a man. +All the others are subordinate. I have esteem for some, and, I trust, +courtesy for all. I do not, of course, know what they thought of me, +but I believe most of them expected me to come out in a more marked, +eccentric, striking light. I believe they desired more to admire and +more to blame. I felt sufficiently at my ease with all but Thackeray; +with him I was fearfully stupid." + +She returned to her quiet home, and her noiseless daily duties. Her +father had quite enough of the spirit of hero-worship in him to make him +take a vivid pleasure in the accounts of what she had heard and whom she +had seen. It was on the occasion of one of her visits to London that +he had desired her to obtain a sight of Prince Albert's armoury, if +possible. I am not aware whether she managed to do this; but she went +to one or two of the great national armouries in order that she might +describe the stern steel harness and glittering swords to her father, +whose imagination was forcibly struck by the idea of such things; and +often afterwards, when his spirits flagged and the languor of old age +for a time got the better of his indomitable nature, she would again +strike on the measure wild, and speak about the armies of strange +weapons she had seen in London, till he resumed his interest in the old +subject, and was his own keen, warlike, intelligent self again. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Her life at Haworth was so unvaried that the postman's call was the +event of her day. Yet she dreaded the great temptation of centring all +her thoughts upon this one time, and losing her interest in the smaller +hopes and employments of the remaining hours. Thus she conscientiously +denied herself the pleasure of writing letters too frequently, because +the answers (when she received them) took the flavour out of the rest +of her life; or the disappointment, when the replies did not arrive, +lessened her energy for her home duties. + +The winter of this year in the north was hard and cold; it affected +Miss Bronte's health less than usual, however, probably because the +change and the medical advice she had taken in London had done her good; +probably, also, because her friend had come to pay her a visit, and +enforced that attention to bodily symptoms which Miss Bronte was too apt +to neglect, from a fear of becoming nervous herself about her own state +and thus infecting her father. But she could scarcely help feeling much +depressed in spirits as the anniversary of her sister Emily's death came +round; all the recollections connected with it were painful, yet there +were no outward events to call off her attention, and prevent them from +pressing hard upon her. At this time, as at many others, I find her +alluding in her letters to the solace which she found in the books sent +her from Cornhill. + +"What, I sometimes ask, could I do without them? I have recourse to +them as to friends; they shorten and cheer many an hour that would be +too long and too desolate otherwise; even when my tired sight will +not permit me to continue reading, it is pleasant to see them on the +shelf, or on the table. I am still very rich, for my stock is far from +exhausted. Some other friends have sent me books lately. The perusal +of Harriet Martineau's 'Eastern Life' has afforded me great pleasure; +and I have found a deep and interesting subject of study in Newman's +work on the Soul. Have you read this work? It is daring,--it may be +mistaken,--but it is pure and elevated. Froude's 'Nemesis of Faith' I +did not like; I thought it morbid; yet in its pages, too, are found +sprinklings of truth." + +By this time, "Airedale, Wharfedale, Calderdale, and Ribblesdale" +all knew the place of residence of Currer Bell. She compared herself +to the ostrich hiding its head in the sand; and says that she still +buries hers in the heath of Haworth moors; but "the concealment is but +self-delusion." Indeed it was. Far and wide in the West Riding had +spread the intelligence that Currer Bell was no other than a daughter +of the venerable clergyman of Haworth; the village itself caught up the +excitement. + +"Mr. ----, having finished 'Jane Eyre,' is now crying out for the +'other book;' he is to have it next week. . . . Mr. R ---- has finished +'Shirley;' he is delighted with it. John ----'s wife seriously thought +him gone wrong in the head, as she heard him giving vent to roars of +laughter as he sat alone, clapping and stamping on the floor. He would +read all the scenes about the curates aloud to papa." . . . "Martha came +in yesterday, puffing and blowing, and much excited. 'I've heard sich +news!' she began. 'What about?' 'Please, ma'am, you've been and written +two books--the grandest books that ever was seen. My father has heard it +at Halifax, and Mr. G---- T---- and Mr. G---- and Mr. M---- at Bradford; +and they are going to have a meeting at the Mechanics' Institute, and to +settle about ordering them.' 'Hold your tongue, Martha, and be off.' I +fell into a cold sweat. "Jane Eyre" will be read by J---- B----, by Mrs. +T----, and B----. Heaven help, keep, and deliver me!" . . . "The Haworth +people have been making great fools of themselves about Shirley; they +have taken it in an enthusiastic light. When they got the volumes at the +Mechanics' Institute, all the members wanted them. They cast lots for +the whole three, and whoever got a volume was only allowed to keep it +two days, and was to be fined a shilling per diem for longer detention. +It would be mere nonsense and vanity to tell you what they say." + +The tone of these extracts is thoroughly consonant with the spirit of +Yorkshire and Lancashire people, who try as long as they can to conceal +their emotions of pleasure under a bantering exterior, almost as if +making fun of themselves. Miss Bronte was extremely touched in the +secret places of her warm heart by the way in which those who had known +her from her childhood were proud and glad of her success. All round +about the news had spread; strangers came "from beyond Burnley" to see +her, as she went quietly and unconsciously into church and the sexton +"gained many a half-crown" for pointing her out. + +But there were drawbacks to this hearty and kindly appreciation which +was so much more valuable than fame. The January number of the Edinburgh +Review had contained the article on Shirley, of which her correspondent, +Mr. Lewes, was the writer. I have said that Miss Bronte was especially +anxious to be criticised as a writer, without relation to her sex as a +woman. Whether right or wrong, her feeling was strong on this point. Now +in this review of Shirley, the heading of the first two pages ran thus: +"Mental Equality of the Sexes?" "Female Literature," and through the +whole article the fact of the author's sex is never forgotten. + +A few days after the review appeared, Mr. Lewes received the following +note,--rather in the style of Anne Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and +Montgomery. + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"I can be on my guard against my enemies, but God deliver me from my +friends! + +CURRER BELL." + +In some explanatory notes on her letters to him, with which Mr. Lewes +has favoured me, he says:-- + +"Seeing that she was unreasonable because angry, I wrote to remonstrate +with her on quarrelling with the severity or frankness of a review, +which certainly was dictated by real admiration and real friendship; +even under its objections the friend's voice could be heard." + +The following letter is her reply:-- + +To G. H. LEWES, ESQ. + +"Jan. 19th, 1850. + +"My dear Sir,--I will tell you why I was so hurt by that review in the +Edinburgh; not because its criticism was keen or its blame sometimes +severe; not because its praise was stinted (for, indeed, I think you +give me quite as much praise as I deserve), but because after I had said +earnestly that I wished critics would judge me as an AUTHOR, not as a +woman, you so roughly--I even thought so cruelly--handled the question +of sex. I dare say you meant no harm, and perhaps you will not now be +able to understand why I was so grieved at what you will probably deem +such a trifle; but grieved I was, and indignant too. + +"There was a passage or two which you did quite wrong to write. + +"However, I will not bear malice against you for it; I know what your +nature is: it is not a bad or unkind one, though you would often jar +terribly on some feelings with whose recoil and quiver you could not +possibly sympathise. I imagine you are both enthusiastic and implacable, +as you are at once sagacious and careless; you know much and discover +much, but you are in such a hurry to tell it all you never give yourself +time to think how your reckless eloquence may affect others; and, what +is more, if you knew how it did affect them, you would not much care. + +"However, I shake hands with you: you have excellent points; you can be +generous. I still feel angry, and think I do well to be angry; but it is +the anger one experiences for rough play rather than for foul play.--I +am yours, with a certain respect, and more chagrin, + +CURRER BELL." + +As Mr. Lewes says, "the tone of this letter is cavalier." But I thank +him for having allowed me to publish what is so characteristic of +one phase of Miss Bronte's mind. Her health, too, was suffering at +this time. "I don't know what heaviness of spirit has beset me of +late" (she writes, in pathetic words, wrung out of the sadness of her +heart), "made my faculties dull, made rest weariness, and occupation +burdensome. Now and then, the silence of the house, the solitude of the +room, has pressed on me with a weight I found it difficult to bear, and +recollection has not failed to be as alert, poignant, obtrusive, as +other feelings were languid. I attribute this state of things partly +to the weather. Quicksilver invariably falls low in storms and high +winds, and I have ere this been warned of approaching disturbance in +the atmosphere by a sense of bodily weakness, and deep, heavy mental +sadness, such as some would call PRESENTIMENT,--presentiment indeed it +is, but not at all super-natural. . . . I cannot help feeling something +of the excitement of expectation till the post hour comes, and when, day +after day, it brings nothing, I get low. This is a stupid, disgraceful, +unmeaning state of things. I feel bitterly vexed at my own dependence +and folly; but it is so bad for the mind to be quite alone, and to have +none with whom to talk over little crosses and disappointments, and to +laugh them away. If I could write, I dare say I should be better, but +I cannot write a line. However (by God's help), I will contend against +this folly. + +"I had rather a foolish letter the other day from ----. Some things in +it nettled me, especially an unnecessarily earnest assurance that, in +spite of all I had done in the writing line, I still retained a place in +her esteem. My answer took strong and high ground at once. I said I had +been troubled by no doubts on the subject; that I neither did her nor +myself the injustice to suppose there was anything in what I had written +to incur the just forfeiture of esteem. . . . + +"A few days since, a little incident happened which curiously +touched me. Papa put into my hands a little packet of letters and +papers,--telling me that they were mamma's, and that I might read them. +I did read them, in a frame of mind I cannot describe. The papers were +yellow with time, all having been written before I was born it was +strange now to peruse, for the first time, the records of a mind whence +my own sprang; and most strange, and at once sad and sweet, to find +that mind of a truly fine, pure, and elevated order. They were written +to papa before they were married. There is a rectitude, a refinement a +constancy, a modesty, a sense, a gentleness about them indescribable. I +wished that she had lived, and that I had known her. . . . All through +this month of February, I have had a crushing time of it. I could not +escape from or rise above certain most mournful recollections,--the +last days, the sufferings, the remembered words--most sorrowful to me, +of those who, Faith assures me, are now happy. At evening and bed-time, +such thoughts would haunt me, bringing a weary heartache." + +The reader may remember the strange prophetic vision, which dictated a +few words, written on the occasion of the death of a pupil of hers in +January, 1840: + +"Wherever I seek for her now in this world, she cannot be found; no more +than a flower or a leaf which withered twenty years ago. A bereavement +of this kind gives one a glimpse of the feeling those must have, who +have seen all drop round them--friend after friend, and are left to end +their pilgrimage alone." + +Even in persons of naturally robust health, and with no + +"Ricordarsi di tempo felice Nella miseria--" + +to wear, with slow dropping but perpetual pain, upon their spirits, +the nerves and appetite will give way in solitude. How much more must +it have been so with Miss Bronte, delicate and frail in constitution, +tried by much anxiety and sorrow in early life, and now left to face +her life alone. Owing to Mr. Bronte's great age, and long-formed habits +of solitary occupation when in the house, his daughter was left to +herself for the greater part of the day. Ever since his serious attacks +of illness, he had dined alone; a portion of her dinner, regulated by +strict attention to the diet most suitable for him, being taken into +his room by herself. After dinner she read to him for an hour or so, +as his sight was too weak to allow of his reading long to himself. He +was out of doors among his parishioners for a good part of each day; +often for a longer time than his strength would permit. Yet he always +liked to go alone, and consequently her affectionate care could be no +check upon the length of his walks to the more distant hamlets which +were in his cure. He would come back occasionally utterly fatigued; +and be obliged to go to bed, questioning himself sadly as to where all +his former strength of body had gone to. His strength of will was the +same as ever. That which he resolved to do he did, at whatever cost of +weariness; but his daughter was all the more anxious from seeing him +so regardless of himself and his health. The hours of retiring for the +night had always been early in the Parsonage; now family prayers were +at eight o'clock; directly after which Mr. Bronte and old Tabby went to +bed, and Martha was not long in following. But Charlotte could not have +slept if she had gone,--could not have rested on her desolate couch. She +stopped up,--it was very tempting,--late and later, striving to beguile +the lonely night with some employment, till her weak eyes failed to read +or to sew, and could only weep in solitude over the dead that were not. +No one on earth can even imagine what those hours were to her. All the +grim superstitions of the North had been implanted in her during her +childhood by the servants, who believed in them. They recurred to her +now,--with no shrinking from the spirits of the Dead, but with such an +intense longing once more to stand face to face with the souls of her +sisters, as no one but she could have felt. It seemed as if the very +strength of her yearning should have compelled them to appear. On windy +nights, cries, and sobs, and wailings seemed to go round the house, +as of the dearly-beloved striving to force their way to her. Some one +conversing with her once objected, in my presence, to that part of "Jane +Eyre" in which she hears Rochester's voice crying out to her in a great +crisis of her life, he being many, many miles distant at the time. I +do not know what incident was in Miss Bronte's recollection when she +replied, in a low voice, drawing in her breath, "But it is a true thing; +it really happened." + +The reader, who has even faintly pictured to himself her life at this +time,--the solitary days,--the waking, watching nights,--may imagine to +what a sensitive pitch her nerves were strung, and how such a state was +sure to affect her health. + +It was no bad thing for her that about this time various people began to +go over to Haworth, curious to see the scenery described in "Shirley," +if a sympathy with the writer, of a more generous kind than to be called +mere curiosity, did not make them wish to know whether they could not in +some way serve or cheer one who had suffered so deeply. + +Among this number were Sir James and Lady Kay Shuttleworth. Their house +lies over the crest of the moors which rise above Haworth, at about a +dozen miles' distance as the crow flies, though much further by the +road. But, according to the acceptation of the word in that uninhabited +district, they were neighbours, if they so willed it. Accordingly, Sir +James and his wife drove over one morning, at the beginning of March, to +call upon Miss Bronte and her father. Before taking leave, they pressed +her to visit them at Gawthorpe Hall, their residence on the borders +of East Lancashire. After some hesitation, and at the urgency of her +father, who was extremely anxious to procure for her any change of scene +and society that was offered, she consented to go. On the whole, she +enjoyed her visit very much, in spite of her shyness, and the difficulty +she always experienced in meeting the advances of those strangers whose +kindness she did not feel herself in a position to repay. + +She took great pleasure in the "quiet drives to old ruins and old +halls, situated among older hills and woods; the dialogues by the old +fireside in the antique oak-panneled drawing-room, while they suited +him, did not too much oppress and exhaust me. The house, too, is much +to my taste; near three centuries old, grey, stately, and picturesque. +On the whole, now that the visit is over, I do not regret having paid +it. The worst of it is, that there is now some menace hanging over my +head of an invitation to go to them in London during the season. This, +which would be a great enjoyment to some people, is a perfect terror to +me. I should highly prize the advantages to be gained in an extended +range of observation; but I tremble at the thought of the price I must +necessarily pay in mental distress and physical wear and tear." + +On the same day on which she wrote the above, she sent the following +letter to Mr. Smith. + +"March 16th, 1850. + +"I return Mr. H----'s note, after reading it carefully. I tried very +hard to understand all he says about art; but, to speak truth, my +efforts were crowned with incomplete success. There is a certain jargon +in use amongst critics on this point through which it is physically +and morally impossible to me to see daylight. One thing however, I +see plainly enough, and that is, Mr. Currer Bell needs improvement, +and ought to strive after it; and this (D. V.) he honestly intends to +do--taking his time, however, and following as his guides Nature and +Truth. If these lead to what the critics call art, it is all very well; +but if not, that grand desideratum has no chance of being run after or +caught. The puzzle is, that while the people of the South object to +my delineation of Northern life and manners, the people of Yorkshire +and Lancashire approve. They say it is precisely the contrast of rough +nature with highly artificial cultivation which forms one of their +main characteristics. Such, or something very similar, has been the +observation made to me lately, whilst I have been from home, by members +of some of the ancient East Lancashire families, whose mansions lie on +the hilly border-land between the two counties. The question arises, +whether do the London critics, or the old Northern squires, understand +the matter best? + +"Any promise you require respecting the books shall be willingly +given, provided only I am allowed the Jesuit's principle of a mental +reservation, giving licence to forget and promise whenever oblivion +shall appear expedient. The last two or three numbers of Pendennis will +not, I dare say, be generally thought sufficiently exciting, yet I like +them. Though the story lingers, (for me) the interest does not flag. +Here and there we feel that the pen has been guided by a tired hand, +that the mind of the writer has been somewhat chafed and depressed by +his recent illness, or by some other cause; but Thackeray still proves +himself greater when he is weary than other writers are when they are +fresh. The public, of course, will have no compassion for his fatigue, +and make no allowance for the ebb of inspiration; but some true-hearted +readers here and there, while grieving that such a man should be +obliged to write when he is not in the mood, will wonder that, under +such circumstances, he should write so well. The parcel of books will +come, I doubt not, at such time as it shall suit the good pleasure of +the railway officials to send it on,--or rather to yield it up to the +repeated and humble solicitations of Haworth carriers;--till when I wait +in all reasonable patience and resignation, looking with docility to +that model of active self-helpfulness Punch friendly offers the 'Women +of England,' in his 'Unprotected Female.'" + +The books lent her by her publishers were, as I have before said, a +great solace and pleasure to her. There was much interest in opening +the Cornhill parcel. But there was pain too; for, as she untied the +cords, and took out the volumes one by one, she could scarcely fail +to be reminded of those who once, on similar occasions, looked on so +eagerly. "I miss familiar voices, commenting mirthfully and pleasantly; +the room seems very still--very empty; but yet there is consolation in +remembering that Papa will take pleasure in some of the books. Happiness +quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste." She +goes on to make remarks upon the kind of books sent. + +"I wonder how you can choose so well; on no account would I forestall +the choice. I am sure any selection I might make for myself would be +less satisfactory than the selection others so kindly and judiciously +make for me; besides, if I knew all that was coming, it would be +comparatively flat. I would much rather not know. + +"Amongst the especially welcome works are 'Southey's Life', the 'Women +of France,' Hazlitt's 'Essays,' Emerson's 'Representative Men;' but it +seems invidious to particularise when all are good. . . . I took up a +second small book, Scott's 'Suggestions on Female Education;' that, +too, I read, and with unalloyed pleasure. It is very good; justly +thought, and clearly and felicitously expressed. The girls of this +generation have great advantages; it seems to me that they receive much +encouragement in the acquisition of knowledge, and the cultivation of +their minds; in these days, women may be thoughtful and well read, +without being universally stigmatised as 'Blues' and 'Pedants.' Men +begin to approve and aid, instead of ridiculing or checking them in +their efforts to be wise. I must say that, for my own part, whenever I +have been so happy as to share the conversation of a really intellectual +man, my feeling has been, not that the little I knew was accounted a +superfluity and impertinence, but that I did not know enough to satisfy +just expectation. I have always to explain, 'In me you must not look for +great attainments: what seems to you the result of reading and study +is chiefly spontaneous and intuitive.' . . . Against the teaching of +some (even clever) men, one instinctively revolts. They may possess +attainments, they may boast varied knowledge of life and of the world; +but if of the finer perceptions, of the more delicate phases of feeling, +they be destitute and incapable, of what avail is the rest? Believe me, +while hints well worth consideration may come from unpretending sources, +from minds not highly cultured, but naturally fine and delicate, from +hearts kindly, feeling, and unenvious, learned dictums delivered with +pomp and sound may be perfectly empty, stupid, and contemptible. No +man ever yet 'by aid of Greek climbed Parnassus,' or taught others to +climb it. . . . I enclose for your perusal a scrap of paper which came +into my hands without the knowledge of the writer. He is a poor working +man of this village--a thoughtful, reading, feeling being, whose mind +is too keen for his frame, and wears it out. I have not spoken to him +above thrice in my life, for he is a Dissenter, and has rarely come in +my way. The document is a sort of record of his feelings, after the +perusal of "Jane Eyre;" it is artless and earnest; genuine and generous. +You must return it to me, for I value it more than testimonies from +higher sources. He said, 'Miss Bronte, if she knew he had written it, +would scorn him;' but, indeed, Miss Bronte does not scorn him; she +only grieves that a mind of which this is the emanation, should be +kept crushed by the leaden hand of poverty--by the trials of uncertain +health, and the claims of a large family. + +"As to the Times, as you say, the acrimony of its critique has proved, +in some measure, its own antidote; to have been more effective, it +should have been juster. I think it has had little weight up here in +the North it may be that annoying remarks, if made, are not suffered +to reach my ear; but certainly, while I have heard little condemnatory +of Shirley, more than once have I been deeply moved by manifestations +of even enthusiastic approbation. I deem it unwise to dwell much on +these matters; but for once I must permit myself to remark, that +the generous pride many of the Yorkshire people have taken in the +matter, has been such as to awake and claim my gratitude--especially +since it has afforded a source of reviving pleasure to my father in +his old age. The very curates, poor fellows! show no resentment each +characteristically finds solace for his own wounds in crowing over his +brethren. Mr. Donne was at first a little disturbed; for a week or two +he was in disquietude, but he is now soothed down; only yesterday I had +the pleasure of making him a comfortable cup of tea, and seeing him +sip it with revived complacency. It is a curious fact that, since he +read 'Shirley,' he has come to the house oftener than ever, and been +remarkably meek and assiduous to please. Some people's natures are +veritable enigmas I quite expected to have had one good scene at least +with him; but as yet nothing of the sort has occurred." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +During the earlier months of this spring, Haworth was extremely +unhealthy. The weather was damp, low fever was prevalent, and the +household at the Parsonage suffered along with its neighbours. Charlotte +says, "I have felt it (the fever) in frequent thirst and infrequent +appetite; Papa too, and even Martha, have complained." This depression +of health produced depression of spirits, and she grew more and more +to dread the proposed journey to London with Sir James and Lady Kay +Shuttleworth. "I know what the effect and what the pain will be, how +wretched I shall often feel, and how thin and haggard I shall get; but +he who shuns suffering will never win victory. If I mean to improve, I +must strive and endure. . . . Sir James has been a physician, and looks +at me with a physician's eye: he saw at once that I could not stand much +fatigue, nor bear the presence of many strangers. I believe he would +partly understand how soon my stock of animal spirits was brought to a +low ebb; but none--not the most skilful physician--can get at more than +the outside of these things: the heart knows its own bitterness, and the +frame its own poverty, and the mind its own struggles. Papa is eager and +restless for me to go; the idea of a refusal quite hurts him." + +But the sensations of illness in the family increased; the symptoms were +probably aggravated, if not caused, by the immediate vicinity of the +church-yard, "paved with rain-blackened tomb-stones." On April 29th she +writes:-- + +"We have had but a poor week of it at Haworth. Papa continues far +from well; he is often very sickly in the morning, a symptom which I +have remarked before in his aggravated attacks of bronchitis; unless +he should get much better, I shall never think of leaving him to go +to London. Martha has suffered from tic-douloureux, with sickness and +fever, just like you. I have a bad cold, and a stubborn sore throat; in +short, everybody but old Tabby is out of sorts. When ---- was here, he +complained of a sudden headache, and the night after he was gone I had +something similar, very bad, lasting about three hours." + +A fortnight later she writes:-- + +"I did not think Papa well enough to be left, and accordingly begged +Sir James and Lady Kay Shuttleworth to return to London without me. +It was arranged that we were to stay at several of their friends' and +relatives' houses on the way; a week or more would have been taken +up on the journey. I cannot say that I regret having missed this +ordeal; I would as lief have walked among red-hot plough-shares; but +I do regret one great treat, which I shall now miss. Next Wednesday +is the anniversary dinner of the Royal Literary Fund Society, held in +Freemasons' Hall. Octavian Blewitt, the secretary, offered me a ticket +for the ladies' gallery. I should have seen all the great literati and +artists gathered in the hall below, and heard them speak; Thackeray and +Dickens are always present among the rest. This cannot now be. I don't +think all London can afford another sight to me so interesting." + +It became requisite, however, before long, that she should go to London +on business; and as Sir James Kay Shuttleworth was detained in the +country by indisposition, she accepted Mrs. Smith's invitation to stay +quietly at her house, while she transacted her affairs. + +In the interval between the relinquishment of the first plan and the +adoption of the second, she wrote the following letter to one who was +much valued among her literary friends:-- + +"May 22nd. + +"I had thought to bring the Leader and the Athenaeum myself this time, +and not to have to send them by post, but it turns out otherwise; my +journey to London is again postponed, and this time indefinitely. Sir +James Kay Shuttleworth's state of health is the cause--a cause, I fear, +not likely to be soon removed. . . . Once more, then, I settle myself +down in the quietude of Haworth Parsonage, with books for my household +companions, and an occasional letter for a visitor; a mute society, but +neither quarrelsome, nor vulgarising, nor unimproving. + +"One of the pleasures I had promised myself consisted in asking you +several questions about the Leader, which is really, in its way, an +interesting paper. I wanted, amongst other things, to ask you the +real names of some of the contributors, and also what Lewes writes +besides his Apprenticeship of Life. I always think the article headed +'Literature' is his. Some of the communications in the 'Open Council' +department are odd productions; but it seems to me very fair and right +to admit them. Is not the system of the paper altogether a novel one? I +do not remember seeing anything precisely like it before. + +"I have just received yours of this morning; thank you for the enclosed +note. The longings for liberty and leisure which May sunshine wakens +in you, stir my sympathy. I am afraid Cornhill is little better than a +prison for its inmates on warm spring or summer days. It is a pity to +think of you all toiling at your desks in such genial weather as this. +For my part, I am free to walk on the moors; but when I go out there +alone, everything reminds me of the times when others were with me, and +then the moors seem a wilderness, featureless, solitary, saddening. +My sister Emily had a particular love for them, and there is not a +knoll of heather, not a branch of fern, not a young bilberry leaf, +not a fluttering lark or linnet, but reminds me of her. The distant +prospects were Anne's delight, and when I look round, she is in the blue +tints, the pale mists, the waves and shadows of the horizon. In the +hill-country silence, their poetry comes by lines and stanzas into my +mind: once I loved it; now I dare not read it, and am driven often to +wish I could taste one draught of oblivion, and forget much that, while +mind remains, I never shall forget. Many people seem to recall their +departed relatives with a sort of melancholy complacency, but I think +these have not watched them through lingering sickness, nor witnessed +their last moments: it is these reminiscences that stand by your bedside +at night, and rise at your pillow in the morning. At the end of all, +however, exists the Great Hope. Eternal Life is theirs now." + +She had to write many letters, about this time, to authors who sent her +their books, and strangers who expressed their admiration of her own. +The following was in reply to one of the latter class, and was addressed +to a young man at Cambridge:-- + +"May 23rd, 1850. + +"Apologies are indeed unnecessary for a 'reality of feeling, for a +genuine unaffected impulse of the spirit,' such as prompted you to write +the letter which I now briefly acknowledge. + +"Certainly it is 'something to me' that what I write should be +acceptable to the feeling heart and refined intellect; undoubtedly it is +much to me that my creations (such as they are) should find harbourage, +appreciation, indulgence, at any friendly hand, or from any generous +mind. You are very welcome to take Jane, Caroline, and Shirley for your +sisters, and I trust they will often speak to their adopted brother +when he is solitary, and soothe him when he is sad. If they cannot +make themselves at home in a thoughtful, sympathetic mind, and diffuse +through its twilight a cheering, domestic glow, it is their fault; +they are not, in that case, so amiable, so benignant, not so real as +they ought to be. If they CAN, and can find household altars in human +hearts, they will fulfil the best design of their creation, in therein +maintaining a genial flame, which shall warm but not scorch, light but +not dazzle. + +"What does it matter that part of your pleasure in such beings has its +source in the poetry of your own youth rather than in any magic of +theirs? What, that perhaps, ten years hence, you may smile to remember +your present recollections, and view under another light both 'Currer +Bell' and his writings? To me this consideration does not detract from +the value of what you now feel. Youth has its romance, and maturity its +wisdom, as morning and spring have their freshness, noon and summer +their power, night and winter their repose. Each attribute is good in +its own season. Your letter gave me pleasure, and I thank you for it. + +"CURRER BELL." + +Miss Bronte went up to town at the beginning of June, and much enjoyed +her stay there; seeing very few persons, according to the agreement she +made before she went; and limiting her visit to a fortnight, dreading +the feverishness and exhaustion which were the inevitable consequences +of the slightest excitement upon her susceptible frame. + +"June 12th. + +"Since I wrote to you last, I have not had many moments to myself, +except such as it was absolutely necessary to give to rest. On the +whole, however, I have thus far got on very well, suffering much less +from exhaustion than I did last time. + +"Of course I cannot give you in a letter a regular chronicle of how my +time has been spent. I can only--just notify. what I deem three of its +chief incidents: a sight of the Duke of Wellington at the Chapel Royal +(he is a real grand old man), a visit to the House of Commons (which I +hope to describe to you some day when I see you), and last, not least, +an interview with Mr. Thackeray. He made a morning call, and sat above +two hours. Mr. Smith only was in the room the whole time. He described +it afterwards as a 'queer scene,' and--I suppose it was. The giant sate +before me; I was moved to speak to him of some of his short-comings +(literary of course); one by one the faults came into my head, and one +by one I brought them out, and sought some explanation or defence. He +did defend himself, like a great Turk and heathen; that is to say, the +excuses were often worse than the crime itself. The matter ended in +decent amity; if all be well, I am to dine at his house this evening. + +"I have seen Lewes too. . . . I could not feel otherwise to him than +half-sadly, half-tenderly,--a queer word that last, but I use it +because the aspect of Lewes's face almost moves me to tears; it is +so wonderfully like Emily,--her eyes, her features, the very nose, +the somewhat prominent mouth, the forehead, even, at moments, the +expression: whatever Lewes says, I believe I cannot hate him. Another +likeness I have seen, too, that touched me sorrowfully. You remember +my speaking of a Miss K., a young authoress, who supported her mother +by writing? Hearing that she had a longing to see me, I called on her +yesterday. . . . She met me half-frankly, half-tremblingly; we sate +down together, and when I had talked with her five minutes, her face +was no longer strange, but mournfully familiar;--it was Martha in every +lineament. I shall try to find a moment to see her again. . . . I do not +intend to stay here, at the furthest, more than a week longer; but at +the end of that time I cannot go home, for the house at Haworth is just +now unroofed; repairs were become necessary." + +She soon followed her letter to the friend to whom it was written; but +her visit was a very short one, for, in accordance with a plan made +before leaving London, she went on to Edinburgh to join the friends +with whom she had been staying in town. She remained only a few days in +Scotland, and those were principally spent in Edinburgh, with which she +was delighted, calling London a "dreary place" in comparison. + +"My stay in Scotland" (she wrote some weeks later) "was short, and +what I saw was chiefly comprised in Edinburgh and the neighbourhood, +in Abbotsford and in Melrose, for I was obliged to relinquish my first +intention of going from Glasgow to Oban, and thence through a portion +of the Highlands; but though the time was brief, and the view of +objects limited, I found such a charm of situation, association, and +circumstance, that I think the enjoyment experienced in that little +space equalled in degree, and excelled in kind, all which London yielded +during a month's sojourn. Edinburgh, compared to London, is like a vivid +page of history compared to a large dull treatise on political economy; +and as to Melrose and Abbotsford, the very names possess music and +magic." + +And again, in a letter to a different correspondent, she says:-- + +"I would not write to you immediately on my arrival at home, because +each return to this old house brings with it a phase of feeling which it +is better to pass through quietly before beginning to indite letters. +The six weeks of change and enjoyment are past, but they are not lost; +memory took a sketch of each as it went by, and, especially, a distinct +daguerreotype of the two days I spent in Scotland. Those were two +very pleasant days. I always liked Scotland as an idea, but now, as a +reality, I like it far better; it furnished me with some hours as happy +almost as any I ever spent. Do not fear, however, that I am going to +bore you with description; you will, before now, have received a pithy +and pleasant report of all things, to which any addition of mine would +be superfluous. My present endeavours are directed towards recalling my +thoughts, cropping their wings, drilling them into correct discipline, +and forcing them to settle to some useful work: they are idle, and +keep taking the train down to London, or making a foray over the +Border--especially are they prone to perpetrate that last excursion; and +who, indeed, that has once seen Edinburgh, with its couchant crag-lion, +but must see it again in dreams, waking or sleeping? My dear sir, I +do not think I blaspheme, when I tell you that your great London, as +compared to Dun-Edin, 'mine own romantic town,' is as prose compared +to poetry, or as a great rumbling, rambling, heavy epic compared to a +lyric, brief, bright, clear and vital as a flash of lightning. You have +nothing like Scott's monument, or, if you had that, and all the glories +of architecture assembled together, you have nothing like Arthur's Seat, +and, above all, you have not the Scotch national character; and it is +that grand character after all which gives the land its true charm, its +true greatness. + +On her return from Scotland, she again spent a few days with her +friends, and then made her way to Haworth. + +"July 15th. + +I got home very well, and full glad was I that no insuperable obstacle +had deferred my return one single day longer. Just at the foot of +Bridgehouse hill, I met John, staff in hand; he fortunately saw me in +the cab, stopped, and informed me he was setting off to B----, by Mr. +Bronte's orders, to see how I was, for that he had been quite miserable +ever since he got Miss ----'s letter. I found, on my arrival, that Papa +had worked himself up to a sad pitch of nervous excitement and alarm, +in which Martha and Tabby were but too obviously joining him. . . . The +house looks very clean, and, I think, is not damp; there is, however, +still a great deal to do in the way of settling and arranging,--enough +to keep me disagreeably busy for some time to come. I was truly thankful +to find Papa pretty well, but I fear he is just beginning to show +symptoms of a cold: my cold continues better. . . . An article in a +newspaper I found awaiting me on my arrival, amused me; it was a paper +published while I was in London. I enclose it to give you a laugh; it +professes to be written by an Author jealous of Authoresses. I do not +know who he is, but he must be one of those I met. . . . The 'ugly men,' +giving themselves 'Rochester airs,' is no bad hit; some of those alluded +to will not like it." + +While Miss Bronte was staying in London, she was induced to sit for +her portrait to Richmond. It is a crayon drawing; in my judgment an +admirable likeness, though of course there is some difference of opinion +on the subject; and, as usual, those best acquainted with the original +were least satisfied with the resemblance. Mr. Bronte thought that it +looked older than Charlotte did, and that her features had not been +flattered; but he acknowledged that the expression was wonderfully good +and life-like. She sent the following amusing account of the arrival of +the portrait to the donor:-- + +"Aug. 1st. + +"The little box for me came at the same time as the large one for Papa. +When you first told me that you had had the Duke's picture framed, and +had given it to me, I felt half provoked with you for performing such +a work of supererogation, but now, when I see it again, I cannot but +acknowledge that, in so doing, you were felicitously inspired. It is +his very image, and, as Papa said when he saw it, scarcely in the least +like the ordinary portraits; not only the expression, but even the form +of the head is different, and of a far nobler character. I esteem it a +treasure. The lady who left the parcel for me was, it seems, Mrs. Gore. +The parcel contained one of her works, 'The Hamiltons,' and a very civil +and friendly note, in which I find myself addressed as 'Dear Jane.' Papa +seems much pleased with the portrait, as do the few other persons who +have seen it, with one notable exception; viz., our old servant, who +tenaciously maintains that it is not like--that it is too old-looking; +but as she, with equal tenacity, asserts that the Duke of Wellington's +picture is a portrait of 'the Master' (meaning Papa), I am afraid not +much weight is to be ascribed to her opinion: doubtless she confuses +her recollections of me as I was in childhood with present impressions. +Requesting always to be very kindly remembered to your mother and +sisters, I am, yours very thanklessly (according to desire), + +"C. BRONTE." + +It may easily be conceived that two people living together as Mr. +Bronte and his daughter did, almost entirely dependent on each +other for society, and loving each other deeply (although not +demonstratively)--that these two last members of a family would have +their moments of keen anxiety respecting each other's health. There +is not one letter of hers which I have read, that does not contain +some mention of her father's state in this respect. Either she thanks +God with simple earnestness that he is well, or some infirmities of +age beset him, and she mentions the fact, and then winces away from +it, as from a sore that will not bear to be touched. He, in his turn, +noted every indisposition of his one remaining child's, exaggerated +its nature, and sometimes worked himself up into a miserable state of +anxiety, as in the case she refers to, when, her friend having named +in a letter to him that his daughter was suffering from a bad cold, he +could not rest till he despatched a messenger, to go, "staff in hand" a +distance of fourteen miles, and see with his own eyes what was her real +state, and return and report. + +She evidently felt that this natural anxiety on the part of her father +and friend increased the nervous depression of her own spirits, whenever +she was ill; and in the following letter she expresses her strong +wish that the subject of her health should be as little alluded to as +possible. + +"Aug. 7th. + +"I am truly sorry that I allowed the words to which you refer to escape +my lips, since their effect on you has been unpleasant; but try to +chase every shadow of anxiety from your mind, and, unless the restraint +be very disagreeable to you, permit me to add an earnest request that +you will broach the subject to me no more. It is the undisguised and +most harassing anxiety of others that has fixed in my mind thoughts and +expectations which must canker wherever they take root; against which +every effort of religion or philosophy must at times totally fail; and +subjugation to which is a cruel terrible fate--the fate, indeed, of him +whose life was passed under a sword suspended by a horse-hair. I have +had to entreat Papa's consideration on this point. My nervous system +is soon wrought on. I should wish to keep it in rational strength and +coolness; but to do so I must determinedly resist the kindly-meant, but +too irksome expression of an apprehension, for the realisation or defeat +of which I have no possible power to be responsible. At present, I am +pretty well. Thank God! Papa, I trust, is no worse, but he complains of +weakness." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Her father was always anxious to procure every change that was +possible for her, seeing, as he did, the benefit which she derived +from it, however reluctant she might have been to leave her home and +him beforehand. This August she was invited to go for a week to the +neighbourhood of Bowness, where Sir James Kay Shuttleworth had taken a +house; but she says, "I consented to go, with reluctance, chiefly to +please Papa, whom a refusal on my part would much have annoyed; but I +dislike to leave him. I trust he is not worse, but his complaint is +still weakness. It is not right to anticipate evil, and to be always +looking forward with an apprehensive spirit; but I think grief is a +two-edged sword, it cuts both ways; the memory of one loss is the +anticipation of another." + +It was during this visit at the Briery--Lady Kay Shuttleworth having +kindly invited me to meet her there--that I first made acquaintance with +Miss Bronte. If I copy out part of a letter, which I wrote soon after +this to a friend, who was deeply interested in her writings, I shall +probably convey my first impressions more truly and freshly than by +amplifying what I then said into a longer description. + +"Dark when I got to Windermere station; a drive along the level road +to Low-wood; then a stoppage at a pretty house, and then a pretty +drawing-room, in which were Sir James and Lady Kay Shuttleworth, and +a little lady in a black-silk gown, whom I could not see at first for +the dazzle in the room; she came up and shook hands with me at once. I +went up to unbonnet, etc.; came down to tea; the little lady worked away +and hardly spoke but I had time for a good look at her. She is (as she +calls herself) UNDEVELOPED, thin, and more than half a head shorter than +I am; soft brown hair, not very dark; eyes (very good and expressive, +looking straight and open at you) of the same colour as her hair; a +large mouth; the forehead square, broad and rather over-hanging. She has +a very sweet voice; rather hesitates in choosing her expressions, but +when chosen they seem without an effort admirable, and just befitting +the occasion; there is nothing overstrained, but perfectly simple. . . . +After breakfast, we four went out on the lake, and Miss Bronte agreed +with me in liking Mr. Newman's Soul, and in liking Modern Painters, +and the idea of the Seven Lamps; and she told me about Father Newman's +lectures at the Oratory in a very quiet, concise, graphic way. . . . +She is more like Miss ---- than any one in her ways--if you can fancy +Miss ---- to have gone through suffering enough to have taken out every +spark of merriment, and to be shy and silent from the habit of extreme, +intense solitude. Such a life as Miss Bronte's I never heard of before. +---- described her home to me as in a village of grey stone houses, +perched up on the north side of a bleak moor, looking over sweeps of +bleak moors, etc., etc. + +"We were only three days together; the greater part of which was +spent in driving about, in order to show Miss Bronte the Westmoreland +scenery, as she had never been there before. We were both included in an +invitation to drink tea quietly at Fox How; and I then saw how severely +her nerves were taxed by the effort of going amongst strangers. We knew +beforehand that the number of the party would not exceed twelve; but she +suffered the whole day from an acute headache brought on by apprehension +of the evening. + +"Brierly Close was situated high above Low-wood, and of course commanded +an extensive view and wide horizon. I was struck by Miss Bronte's +careful examination of the shape of the clouds and the signs of the +heavens, in which she read, as from a book, what the coming weather +would be. I told her that I saw she must have a view equal in extent +at her own home. She said that I was right, but that the character of +the prospect from Haworth was very different; that I had no idea what a +companion the sky became to any one living in solitude,--more than any +inanimate object on earth,--more than the moors themselves." + +The following extracts convey some of her own impressions and feelings +respecting this visit:-- + +"You said I should stay longer than a week in Westmoreland; you ought +by this time to know me better. Is it my habit to keep dawdling at a +place long after the time I first fixed on for departing? I have got +home, and I am thankful to say Papa seems,--to say the least,--no worse +than when I left him, yet I wish he were stronger. My visit passed off +very well; I am glad I went. The scenery is, of course, grand; could I +have wandered about amongst those hills ALONE, I could have drank in +all their beauty; even in a carriage with company, it was very well. +Sir James was all the while as kind and friendly as he could be: he is +in much better health. . . . Miss Martineau was from home; she always +leaves her house at Ambleside during the Lake season, to avoid the +influx of visitors to which she would otherwise be subject. + +"If I could only have dropped unseen out of the carriage, and gone away +by myself in amongst those grand hills and sweet dales, I should have +drank in the full power of this glorious scenery. In company this can +hardly be. Sometimes, while ---- was warning me against the faults of +the artist-class, all the while vagrant artist instincts were busy in +the mind of his listener. + +"I forget to tell you that, about a week before I went to Westmoreland, +there came an invitation to Harden Grange; which, of course, I declined. +Two or three days after, a large party made their appearance here, +consisting of Mrs. F---- and sundry other ladies and two gentlemen; one +tall and stately, black haired and whiskered, who turned out to be Lord +John Manners,--the other not so distinguished-looking, shy, and a little +queer, who was Mr. Smythe, the son of Lord Strangford. I found Mrs. F. +a true lady in manners and appearance, very gentle and unassuming. Lord +John Manners brought in his hand a brace of grouse for Papa, which was a +well-timed present: a day or two before Papa had been wishing for some." + +To these extracts I must add one other from a letter referring to this +time. It is addressed to Miss Wooler, the kind friend of both her +girlhood and womanhood, who had invited her to spend a fortnight with +her at her cottage lodgings. + +"Haworth, Sept. 27th, 1850. + +"When I tell you that I have already been to the Lakes this season, +and that it is scarcely more than a month since I returned, you will +understand that it is no longer within my option to accept your kind +invitation. I wish I could have gone to you. I have already had my +excursion, and there is an end of it. Sir James Kay Shuttleworth is +residing near Windermere, at a house called the 'Briery,' and it was +there I was staying for a little time this August. He very kindly showed +me the neighbourhood, as it can be seen from a carriage, and I discerned +that the Lake country is a glorious region, of which I had only seen the +similitude in dreams, waking or sleeping. Decidedly I find it does not +agree with me to prosecute the search of the picturesque in a carriage. +A waggon, a spring-cart, even a post-chaise might do; but the carriage +upsets everything. I longed to slip out unseen, and to run away by +myself in amongst the hills and dales. Erratic and vagrant instincts +tormented me, and these I was obliged to control or rather suppress for +fear of growing in any degree enthusiastic, and thus drawing attention +to the 'lioness'--the authoress. + +"You say that you suspect I have formed a large circle of acquaintance +by this time. No: I cannot say that I have. I doubt whether I possess +either the wish or the power to do so. A few friends I should like +to have, and these few I should like to know well; If such knowledge +brought proportionate regard, I could not help concentrating my +feelings; dissipation, I think, appears synonymous with dilution. +However, I have, as yet, scarcely been tried. During the month I spent +in London in the spring, I kept very quiet, having the fear of lionising +before my eyes. I only went out once to dinner; and once was present at +an evening party; and the only visits I have paid have been to Sir James +Kay Shuttleworth's and my publisher's. From this system I should not +like to depart; as far as I can see, Indiscriminate visiting tends only +to a waste of time and a vulgarising of character. Besides, it would +be wrong to leave Papa often; he is now in his seventy-fifth year, the +infirmities of age begin to creep upon him; during the summer he has +been much harassed by chronic bronchitis, but I am thankful to say that +he is now somewhat better. I think my own health has derived benefit +from change and exercise. + +"Somebody in D---- professes to have authority for saying, that 'when +Miss Bronte was in London she neglected to attend Divine service on +the Sabbath, and in the week spent her time in going about to balls, +theatres, and operas.' On the other hand, the London quidnuncs make my +seclusion a matter of wonder, and devise twenty romantic fictions to +account for it. Formerly I used to listen to report with interest, and a +certain credulity; but I am now grown deaf and sceptical: experience has +taught me how absolutely devoid of foundation her stories may be." + +I must now quote from the first letter I had the privilege of receiving +from Miss Bronte. It is dated August the 27th. + +"Papa and I have just had tea; he is sitting quietly in his room, and I +in mine; 'storms of rain' are sweeping over the garden and churchyard: +as to the moors, they are hidden in thick fog. Though alone, I am not +unhappy; I have a thousand things to be thankful for, and, amongst the +rest, that this morning I received a letter from you, and that this +evening I have the privilege of answering it. + +"I do not know the 'Life of Sydney Taylor;' whenever I have the +opportunity I will get it. The little French book you mention shall also +take its place on the list of books to be procured as soon as possible. +It treats a subject interesting to all women--perhaps, more especially +to single women; though, indeed, mothers, like you, study it for the +sake of their daughters. The Westminster Review is not a periodical I +see regularly, but some time since I got hold of a number--for last +January, I think--in which there was an article entitled 'Woman's +Mission' (the phrase is hackneyed), containing a great deal that seemed +to me just and sensible. Men begin to regard the position of woman in +another light than they used to do; and a few men, whose sympathies +are fine and whose sense of justice is strong, think and speak of it +with a candour that commands my admiration. They say, however--and, +to an extent, truly--that the amelioration of our condition depends +on ourselves. Certainly there are evils which our own efforts will +best reach; but as certainly there are other evils--deep-rooted in the +foundation of the social system--which no efforts of ours can touch: +of which we cannot complain; of which it is advisable not too often to +think. + +"I have read Tennyson's 'In Memoriam,' or rather part of it; I closed +the book when I had got about half way. It is beautiful; it is mournful; +it is monotonous. Many of the feelings expressed bear, in their +utterance, the stamp of truth; yet, if Arthur Hallam had been somewhat +nearer Alfred Tennyson, his brother instead of his friend,--I should +have distrusted this rhymed, and measured, and printed monument of +grief. What change the lapse of years may work I do not know; but it +seems to me that bitter sorrow, while recent, does not flow out in verse. + +"I promised to send you Wordsworth's 'Prelude,' and, accordingly, +despatch it by this post; the other little volume shall follow in a +day or two. I shall be glad to hear from you whenever you have time to +write to me, but you are never, on any account, to do this except when +inclination prompts and leisure permits. I should never thank you for a +letter which you had felt it a task to write." + +A short time after we had met at the Briery, she sent me the volume of +Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell's poems; and thus alludes to them in the +note that accompanied the parcel:-- + +"The little book of rhymes was sent by way of fulfilling a rashly-made +promise; and the promise was made to prevent you from throwing away four +shillings in an injudicious purchase. I do not like my own share of the +work, nor care that it should be read: Ellis Bell's I think good and +vigorous, and Acton's have the merit of truth and simplicity. Mine are +chiefly juvenile productions; the restless effervescence of a mind that +would not be still. In those days, the sea too often 'wrought and was +tempestuous,' and weed, sand, shingle--all turned up in the tumult. This +image is much too magniloquent for the subject, but you will pardon it." + +Another letter of some interest was addressed, about this time, to a +literary friend, on Sept. 5th:-- + +"The reappearance of the Athenaeum is very acceptable, not merely +for its own sake,--though I esteem the opportunity of its perusal +a privilege,--but because, as a weekly token of the remembrance of +friends, it cheers and gives pleasure. I only fear that its regular +transmission may become a task to you; in this case, discontinue it at +once. + +"I did indeed enjoy my trip to Scotland, and yet I saw little of the +face of the country; nothing of its grandeur or finer scenic features; +but Edinburgh, Melrose, Abbotsford--these three in themselves sufficed +to stir feelings of such deep interest and admiration, that neither at +the time did I regret, nor have I since regretted, the want of wider +space over which to diffuse the sense of enjoyment. There was room and +variety enough to be very happy, and 'enough,' the proverb says, 'is +as good as a feast.' The queen, indeed, was right to climb Arthur's +Seat with her husband and children. I shall not soon forget how I felt +when, having reached its summit, we all sat down and looked over the +city--towards the sea and Leith, and the Pentland Hills. No doubt you +are proud of being a native of Scotland,--proud of your country, her +capital, her children, and her literature. You cannot be blamed. + +"The article in the Palladium is one of those notices over which an +author rejoices trembling. He rejoices to find his work finely, fully, +fervently appreciated, and trembles under the responsibility such +appreciation seems to devolve upon him. I am counselled to wait and +watch--D. V. I will do so; yet it is harder to wait with the hands +bound, and the observant and reflective faculties at their silent and +unseen work, than to labour mechanically. + +"I need not say how I felt the remarks on 'Wuthering Heights;' they +woke the saddest yet most grateful feelings; they are true, they +are discriminating, they are full of late justice, but it is very +late--alas! in one sense, TOO late. Of this, however, and of the pang +of regret for a light prematurely extinguished, it is not wise to speak +much. Whoever the author of this article may be, I remain his debtor. + +"Yet, you see, even here, Shirley is disparaged in comparison with "Jane +Eyre"; and yet I took great pains with Shirley. I did not hurry; I tried +to do my best, and my own impression was that it was not inferior to +the former work; indeed, I had bestowed on it more time, thought, and +anxiety: but great part of it was written under the shadow of impending +calamity; and the last volume, I cannot deny, was composed in the eager, +restless endeavour to combat mental sufferings that were scarcely +tolerable. + +"You sent the tragedy of 'Galileo Galilei,' by Samuel Brown, in one +of the Cornhill parcels; it contained, I remember, passages of very +great beauty. Whenever you send any more books (but that must not be +till I return what I now have) I should be glad if you would include +amongst them the 'Life of Dr. Arnold.' Do you know also the 'Life of +Sydney Taylor?' I am not familiar even with the name, but it has been +recommended to me as a work meriting perusal. Of course, when I name any +book, it is always understood that it should be quite convenient to send +it." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +It was thought desirable about this time, to republish "Wuthering +Heights" and "Agnes Grey", the works of the two sisters, and Charlotte +undertook the task of editing them. + +She wrote to Mr. Williams, September 29th, 1850, "It is my intention +to write a few lines of remark on 'Wuthering Heights,' which, however, +I propose to place apart as a brief preface before the tale. I am +likewise compelling myself to read it over, for the first time of +opening the book since my sister's death. Its power fills me with +renewed admiration; but yet I am oppressed: the reader is scarcely +ever permitted a taste of unalloyed pleasure; every beam of sunshine +is poured down through black bars of threatening cloud; every page +is surcharged with a sort of moral electricity; and the writer was +unconscious of all this--nothing could make her conscious of it. + +"And this makes me reflect,--perhaps I am too incapable of perceiving +the faults and peculiarities of my own style. + +"I should wish to revise the proofs, if it be not too great an +inconvenience to send them. It seems to me advisable to modify the +orthography of the old servant Joseph's speeches; for though, as it +stands, it exactly renders the Yorkshire dialect to a Yorkshire ear, +yet, I am sure Southerns must find it unintelligible; and thus one of +the most graphic characters in the book is lost on them. + +"I grieve to say that I possess no portrait of either of my sisters." + + +To her own dear friend, as to one who had known and loved her sisters, +she writes still more fully respecting the painfulness of her task. + + +"There is nothing wrong, and I am writing you a line as you desire, +merely to say that I AM busy just now. Mr. Smith wishes to reprint some +of Emily's and Annie's works, with a few little additions from the +papers they have left; and I have been closely engaged in revising, +transcribing, preparing a preface, notice, etc. As the time for doing +this is limited, I am obliged to be industrious. I found the task at +first exquisitely painful and depressing; but regarding it in the light +of a SACRED DUTY, I went on, and now can bear it better. It is work, +however, that I cannot do in the evening, for if I did, I should have no +sleep at night. Papa, I am thankful to say, is in improved health, and +so, I think, am I; I trust you are the same. + +"I have just received a kind letter from Miss Martineau. She has got +back to Ambleside, and had heard of my visit to the Lakes. She expressed +her regret, etc., at not being at home. + +"I am both angry and surprised at myself for not being in better +spirits; for not growing accustomed, or at least resigned, to the +solitude and isolation of my lot. But my late occupation left a +result for some days, and indeed still, very painful. The reading +over of papers, the renewal of remembrances brought back the pang +of bereavement, and occasioned a depression of spirits well nigh +intolerable. For one or two nights, I scarcely knew how to get on till +morning; and when morning came, I was still haunted with a sense of +sickening distress. I tell you these things, because it is absolutely +necessary to me to have some relief. You will forgive me, and not +trouble yourself, or imagine that I am one whit worse than I say. It is +quite a mental ailment, and I believe and hope is better now. I think +so, because I can speak about it, which I never can when grief is at its +worst. + +"I thought to find occupation and interest in writing, when alone at +home, but hitherto my efforts have been vain; the deficiency of every +stimulus is so complete. You will recommend me, I dare say, to go from +home; but that does no good, even could I again leave Papa with an easy +mind (thank God! he is better). I cannot describe what a time of it I +had after my return from London, Scotland, etc. There was a reaction +that sunk me to the earth; the deadly silence, solitude, desolation, +were awful; the craving for companionship, the hopelessness of relief, +were what I should dread to feel again. + +"Dear ----, when I think of you, it is with a compassion and tenderness +that scarcely cheer me. Mentally, I fear, you also are too lonely and +too little occupied. It seems our doom, for the present at least. May +God in His mercy help us to bear it!" + + +During her last visit to London, as mentioned in one of her letters, +she had made the acquaintance of her correspondent, Mr. Lewes. That +gentleman says:-- + +"Some months after" (the appearance of the review of "Shirley" in the +Edinburgh), "Currer Bell came to London, and I was invited to meet her +at your house. You may remember, she asked you not to point me out to +her, but allow her to discover me if she could. She DID recognise me +almost as soon as I came into the room. You tried me in the same way; +I was less sagacious. However, I sat by her side a great part of the +evening and was greatly interested by her conversation. On parting we +shook hands, and she said, 'We are friends now, are we not?' 'Were we +not always, then?' I asked. 'No! not always,' she said, significantly; +and that was the only allusion she made to the offending article. I lent +her some of Balzac's and George Sand's novels to take with her into the +country; and the following letter was written when they were returned:"-- + +"I am sure you will have thought me very dilatory in returning the books +you so kindly lent me. The fact is, having some other books to send, I +retained yours to enclose them in the same parcel. + +"Accept my thanks for some hours of pleasant reading. Balzac was for me +quite a new author; and in making big acquaintance, through the medium +of 'Modeste Mignon,' and 'Illusions perdues,' you cannot doubt I have +felt some interest. At first, I thought he was going to be painfully +minute, and fearfully tedious; one grew impatient of his long parade +of detail, his slow revelation of unimportant circumstances, as he +assembled his personages on the stage; but by and bye I seemed to enter +into the mystery of his craft, and to discover, with delight, where +his force lay: is it not in the analysis of motive; and in a subtle +perception of the most obscure and secret workings of the mind? Still, +admire Balzac as we may, I think we do not like him; we rather feel +towards him as towards an ungenial acquaintance who is for ever holding +up in strong light our defects, and who rarely draws forth our better +qualities. + +"Truly, I like George Sand better. + +"Fantastic, fanatical, unpractical enthusiast as she often is--far from +truthful as are many of her views of life--misled, as she is apt to be, +by her feelings--George Sand has a better nature than M. de Balzac; her +brain is larger, her heart warmer than his. The 'Lettres d'un Voyageur' +are full of the writer's self; and I never felt so strongly, as in the +perusal of this work, that most of her very faults spring from the +excess of her good qualities: it is this excess which has often hurried +her into difficulty, which has prepared for her enduring regret. + +"But I believe her mind is of that order which disastrous experience +teaches, without weakening or too much disheartening; and, in that case, +the longer she lives the better she will grow. A hopeful point in all +her writings is the scarcity of false French sentiment; I wish I could +say its absence; but the weed flourishes here and there, even in the +'Lettres.'" + +I remember the good expression of disgust which Miss Bronte made use of +in speaking to me of some of Balzac's novels: "They leave such a bad +taste in my mouth." + +The reader will notice that most of the letters from which I now quote +are devoted to critical and literary subjects. These were, indeed, her +principal interests at this time; the revision of her sister's works, +and writing a short memoir of them, was the painful employment of every +day during the dreary autumn of 1850. Wearied out by the vividness +of her sorrowful recollections, she sought relief in long walks on +the moors. A friend of hers, who wrote to me on the appearance of the +eloquent article in the Daily News upon the "Death of Currer Bell," +gives an anecdote which may well come in here. + +"They are mistaken in saying she was too weak to roam the hills for +the benefit of the air. I do not think any one, certainly not any +woman, in this locality, went so much on the moors as she did, when the +weather permitted. Indeed, she was so much in the habit of doing so, +that people, who live quite away on the edge of the common, knew her +perfectly well. I remember on one occasion an old woman saw her at a +little distance, and she called out, 'How! Miss Bronte! Hey yah (have +you) seen ought o' my cofe (calf)?' Miss Bronte told her she could not +say, for she did not know it. 'Well!' she said, 'Yah know, it's getting +up like nah (now), between a cah (cow) and a cofe--what we call a stirk, +yah know, Miss Bronte; will yah turn it this way if yah happen to see't, +as yah're going back, Miss Bronte; nah DO, Miss Bronte.'" + + +It must have been about this time that a visit was paid to her by +some neighbours, who were introduced to her by a mutual friend. This +visit has been described in a letter from which I am permitted to +give extracts, which will show the impression made upon strangers by +the character of the country round her home, and other circumstances. +"Though the weather was drizzly, we resolved to make our long-planned +excursion to Haworth; so we packed ourselves into the buffalo-skin, +and that into the gig, and set off about eleven. The rain ceased, and +the day was just suited to the scenery,--wild and chill,--with great +masses of cloud glooming over the moors, and here and there a ray of +sunshine covertly stealing through, and resting with a dim magical +light upon some high bleak village; or darting down into some deep +glen, lighting up the tall chimney, or glistening on the windows and +wet roof of the mill which lies couching in the bottom. The country got +wilder and wilder as we approached Haworth; for the last four miles we +were ascending a huge moor, at the very top of which lies the dreary +black-looking village of Haworth. The village-street itself is one of +the steepest hills I have ever seen, and the stones are so horribly +jolting that I should have got out and walked with W----, if possible, +but, having once begun the ascent, to stop was out of the question. +At the top was the inn where we put up, close by the church; and the +clergyman's house, we were told, was at the top of the churchyard. So +through that we went,--a dreary, dreary place, literally PAVED with +rain-blackened tombstones, and all on the slope, for at Haworth there +is on the highest height a higher still, and Mr. Bronte's house stands +considerably above the church. There was the house before us, a small +oblong stone house, with not a tree to screen it from the cutting wind; +but how were we to get at it from the churchyard we could not see! +There was an old man in the churchyard, brooding like a Ghoul over the +graves, with a sort of grim hilarity on his face. I thought he looked +hardly human; however, he was human enough to tell us the way; and +presently we found ourselves in the little bare parlour. Presently the +door opened, and in came a superannuated mastiff, followed by an old +gentleman very like Miss Bronte, who shook hands with us, and then went +to call his daughter. A long interval, during which we coaxed the old +dog, and looked at a picture of Miss Bronte, by Richmond, the solitary +ornament of the room, looking strangely out of place on the bare walls, +and at the books on the little shelves, most of them evidently the gift +of the authors since Miss Bronte's celebrity. Presently she came in, and +welcomed us very kindly, and took me upstairs to take off my bonnet, +and herself brought me water and towels. The uncarpeted stone stairs +and floors, the old drawers propped on wood, were all scrupulously +clean and neat. When we went into the parlour again, we began talking +very comfortably, when the door opened and Mr. Bronte looked in; seeing +his daughter there, I suppose he thought it was all right, and he +retreated to his study on the opposite side of the passage; presently +emerging again to bring W---- a country newspaper. This was his last +appearance till we went. Miss Bronte spoke with the greatest warmth of +Miss Martineau, and of the good she had gained from her. Well! we talked +about various things; the character of the people,--about her solitude, +etc., till she left the room to help about dinner, I suppose, for she +did not return for an age. The old dog had vanished; a fat curly-haired +dog honoured us with his company for some time, but finally manifested a +wish to get out, so we were left alone. At last she returned, followed +by the maid and dinner, which made us all more comfortable; and we had +some very pleasant conversation, in the midst of which time passed +quicker than we supposed, for at last W---- found that it was half-past +three, and we had fourteen or fifteen miles before us. So we hurried +off, having obtained from her a promise to pay us a visit in the spring; +and the old gentleman having issued once more from his study to say +good-bye, we returned to the inn, and made the best of our way homewards. + +"Miss Bronte put me so in mind of her own 'Jane Eyre.' She looked +smaller than ever, and moved about so quietly, and noiselessly, just +like a little bird, as Rochester called her, barring that all birds are +joyous, and that joy can never have entered that house since it was +first built; and yet, perhaps, when that old man married, and took home +his bride, and children's voices and feet were heard about the house, +even that desolate crowded grave-yard and biting blast could not quench +cheerfulness and hope. Now there is something touching in the sight of +that little creature entombed in such a place, and moving about herself +like a spirit, especially when you think that the slight still frame +encloses a force of strong fiery life, which nothing has been able to +freeze or extinguish." + + +In one of the preceding letters, Miss Bronte referred to am article in +the Palladium, which had rendered what she considered the due meed of +merit to "Wuthering Heights", her sister Emily's tale. Her own works +were praised, and praised with discrimination, and she was grateful for +this. But her warm heart was filled to the brim with kindly feelings +towards him who had done justice to the dead. She anxiously sought out +the name of the writer; and having discovered that it was Mr. Sydney +Dobell he immediately became one of her + + "Peculiar people whom Death had made dear." + +She looked with interest upon everything he wrote; and before long we +shall find that they corresponded. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Oct. 25th. + +"The box of books came last night, and, as usual, I have only gratefully +to admire the selection made: 'Jeffrey's Essays,' 'Dr. Arnold's Life,' +'The Roman,' 'Alton Loche,' these were all wished for and welcome. + +"You say I keep no books; pardon me--I am ashamed of my own +rapaciousness I have kept 'Macaulay's History,' and Wordsworth's +'Prelude', and Taylor's 'Philip Van Artevelde.' I soothe my conscience +by saying that the two last,--being poetry--do not count. This is a +convenient doctrine for me I meditate acting upon it with reference to +the Roman, so I trust nobody in Cornhill will dispute its validity or +affirm that 'poetry' has a value, except for trunk-makers. + +"I have already had 'Macaulay's Essays,' 'Sidney Smith's Lectures +on Moral Philosophy,' and 'Knox on Race.' Pickering's work on the +same subject I have not seen; nor all the volumes of Leigh Hunt's +Autobiography. However, I am now abundantly supplied for a long time to +come. I liked Hazlitt's Essays much. + +"The autumn, as you say, has been very fine. I and solitude and memory +have often profited by its sunshine on the moors. + +"I had felt some disappointment at the non-arrival of the proof-sheets +of 'Wuthering Heights;' a feverish impatience to complete the revision +is apt to beset me. The work of looking over papers, etc., could not be +gone through with impunity, and with unaltered spirits; associations too +tender, regrets too bitter, sprang out of it. Meantime, the Cornhill +books now, as heretofore, are my best medicine,--affording a solace +which could not be yielded by the very same books procured from a common +library. + +"Already I have read the greatest part of the 'Roman;' passages in +it possess a kindling virtue such as true poetry alone can boast; +there are images of genuine grandeur; there are lines that at once +stamp themselves on the memory. Can it be true that a new planet has +risen on the heaven, whence all stars seemed fast fading? I believe +it is; for this Sydney or Dobell speaks with a voice of his own, +unborrowed, unmimicked. You hear Tennyson, indeed, sometimes, and Byron +sometimes, in some passages of the Roman; but then again you have a new +note,--nowhere clearer than in a certain brief lyric, sang in a meeting +of minstrels, a sort of dirge over a dead brother;--THAT not only +charmed the ear and brain, it soothed the heart." + +The following extract will be read with interest as conveying her +thoughts after the perusal of Dr. Arnold's Life:-- + +"Nov. 6th. + +"I have just finished reading the 'Life of Dr. Arnold;' but now when I +wish, according to your request, to express what I think of it, I do +not find the task very easy; proper terms seem wanting. This is not +a character to be dismissed with a few laudatory words; it is not a +one-sided character; pure panegyric would be inappropriate. Dr. Arnold +(it seems to me) was not quite saintly; his greatness was cast in a +mortal mould; he was a little severe, almost a little hard; he was +vehement and somewhat oppugnant. Himself the most indefatigable of +workers, I know not whether he could have understood, or made allowance +for, a temperament that required more rest; yet not to one man in twenty +thousand is given his giant faculty of labour; by virtue of it he seems +to me the greatest of working men. Exacting he might have been, then, on +this point; and granting that he were so, and a little hasty, stern, and +positive, those were his sole faults (if, indeed, that can be called a +fault which in no shape degrades the individual's own character; but is +only apt to oppress and overstrain the weaker nature of his neighbours). +Afterwards come his good qualities. About these there is nothing +dubious. Where can we find justice, firmness, independence, earnestness, +sincerity, fuller and purer than in him? + +"But this is not all, and I am glad of it. Besides high intellect and +stainless rectitude, his letters and his life attest his possession of +the most true-hearted affection. WITHOUT this, however one might admire, +we could not love him; but WITH it I think we love him much. A hundred +such men--fifty--nay, ten or five such righteous men might save any +country; might victoriously champion any cause. + +"I was struck, too, by the almost unbroken happiness of his life; a +happiness resulting chiefly, no doubt, from the right use to which he +put that health and strength which God had given him, but also owing +partly to a singular exemption from those deep and bitter griefs which +most human beings are called on to endure. His wife was what he wished; +his children were healthy and promising; his own health was excellent; +his undertakings were crowned with success; even death was kind,--for, +however sharp the pains of his last hour, they were but brief. God's +blessing seems to have accompanied him from the cradle to the grave. One +feels thankful to know that it has been permitted to any man to live +such a life. + +"When I was in Westmoreland last August, I spent an evening at Fox How, +where Mrs. Arnold and her daughters still reside. It was twilight as +I drove to the place, and almost dark ere I reached it; still I could +perceive that the situation was lovely. The house looked like a nest +half buried in flowers and creepers: and, dusk as it was, I could FEEL +that the valley and the hills round were beautiful as imagination could +dream." + + +If I say again what I have said already before, it is only to impress +and re-impress upon my readers the dreary monotony of her life at this +time. The dark, bleak season of the year brought back the long evenings, +which tried her severely: all the more so, because her weak eyesight +rendered her incapable of following any occupation but knitting by +candle-light. For her father's sake, as well as for her own, she found +it necessary to make some exertion to ward off settled depression of +spirits. She accordingly accepted an invitation to spend a week or ten +days with Miss Martineau at Ambleside. She also proposed to come to +Manchester and see me, on her way to Westmoreland. But, unfortunately, +I was from home, and unable to receive her. The friends with whom I +was staying in the South of England (hearing me express my regret that +I could not accept her friendly proposal, and aware of the sad state +of health and spirits which made some change necessary for her) wrote +to desire that she would come and spend a week or two with me at their +house. She acknowledged this invitation in a letter to me, dated-- + +"Dec. 13th, 1850. + +"My dear Mrs. Gaskell,--Miss ----'s kindness and yours is such that I am +placed in the dilemma of not knowing how adequately to express my sense +of it. THIS I know, however, very well-that if I COULD go and be with +you for a week or two in such a quiet south-country house, and with such +kind people as you describe, I should like it much. I find the proposal +marvellously to my taste; it is the pleasantest, gentlest, sweetest, +temptation possible; but, delectable as it is, its solicitations are by +no means to be yielded to without the sanction of reason, and therefore +I desire for the present to be silent, and to stand back till I have +been to Miss Martineau's, and returned home, and considered well whether +it is a scheme as right as agreeable. + +"Meantime, the mere thought does me good." + +On the 10th of December, the second edition of "Wuthering Heights" was +published. She sent a copy of it to Mr. Dobell, with the following +letter:-- + +To MR. DOBELL. + +"Haworth, near Keighley, Yorkshire, + +"Dec. 8th, 1850. + +"I offer this little book to my critic in the 'Palladium,' and he must +believe it accompanied by a tribute of the sincerest gratitude; not so +much for anything he has said of myself, as for the noble justice he +has rendered to one dear to me as myself--perhaps dearer; and perhaps +one kind word spoken for her awakens a deeper, tenderer, sentiment +of thankfulness than eulogies heaped on my own head. As you will see +when you have read the biographical notice, my sister cannot thank +you herself; she is gone out of your sphere and mine, and human blame +and praise are nothing to her now. But to me, for her sake, they are +something still; it revived me for many a day to find that, dead as she +was, the work of her genius had at last met with worthy appreciation. + +"Tell me, when you have read the introduction, whether any doubts still +linger in your mind respecting the authorship of 'Wuthering Heights,' +'Wildfell Hall,' etc. Your mistrust did me some injustice; it proved a +general conception of character such as I should be sorry to call mine; +but these false ideas will naturally arise when we only judge an author +from his works. In fairness, I must also disclaim the flattering side +of the portrait. I am no 'young Penthesilea mediis in millibus,' but a +plain country parson's daughter. + +"Once more I thank you, and that with a full heart. + +"C. BRONTE." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Immediately after the republication of her sisters' book she went to +Miss Martineau's. + +"I can write to you now, dear E----, for I am away from home) and +relieved, temporarily, at least, by change of air and scene, from the +heavy burden of depression which, I confess, has for nearly three months +been sinking me to the earth. I never shall forget last autumn! Some +days and nights have been cruel; but now, having once told you this, I +need say no more on the subject. My loathing of solitude grew extreme; +my recollection of my sisters intolerably poignant. I am better now. +I am at Miss Martineau's for a week. Her house is very pleasant, both +within and without; arranged at; all points with admirable neatness and +comfort. Her visitors enjoy the most perfect liberty; what she claims +for herself she allows them. I rise at my own hour, breakfast alone +(she is up at five, takes a cold bath, and a walk by starlight, and +has finished breakfast and got to her work by seven o'clock). I pass +the morning in the drawing-room--she, in her study. At two o'clock we +meet--work, talk, and walk together till five, her dinner-hour, spend +the evening together, when she converses fluently and abundantly, +and with the most complete frankness. I go to my own room soon after +ten,--she sits up writing letters till twelve. She appears exhaustless +in strength and spirits, and indefatigable in the faculty of labour. She +is a great and a good woman; of course not without peculiarities, but I +have seen none as yet that annoy me. She is both hard and warm-hearted, +abrupt and affectionate, liberal and despotic. I believe she is not at +all conscious of her own absolutism. When I tell her of it, she denies +the charge warmly; then I laugh at her. I believe she almost rules +Ambleside. Some of the gentry dislike her, but the lower orders have +a great regard for her. . . . I thought I should like to spend two or +three days with you before going home, so, if it is not inconvenient +to you, I will (D. V.) come on Monday and stay till Thursday. . . . I +have truly enjoyed my visit here. I have seen a good many people, and +all have been so marvellously kind; not the least so, the family of Dr. +Arnold. Miss Martineau I relish inexpressibly." + +Miss Bronte paid the visit she here proposes to her friend, but only +remained two or three days. She then returned home, and immediately +began to suffer from her old enemy, sickly and depressing headache. This +was all the more trying to bear, as she was obliged to take an active +share in the household work,--one servant being ill in bed, and the +other, Tabby, aged upwards of eighty. + +This visit to Ambleside did Miss Bronte much good, and gave her a +stock of pleasant recollections, and fresh interests, to dwell upon in +her solitary life. There are many references in her letters to Miss +Martineau's character and kindness. + +"She is certainly a woman of wonderful endowments, both intellectual +and physical; and though I share few of her opinions, and regard her +as fallible on certain points of judgment, I must still award her my +sincerest esteem. The manner in which she combines the highest mental +culture with the nicest discharge of feminine duties filled me with +admiration; while her affectionate kindness earned my gratitude." "I +think her good and noble qualities far outweigh her defects. It is my +habit to consider the individual apart from his (or her) reputation, +practice independent of theory, natural disposition isolated from +acquired opinions. Harriet Martineau's person, practice, and character, +inspire me with the truest affection and respect."You ask me whether +Miss Martineau made me a convert to mesmerism? Scarcely; yet I heard +miracles of its efficacy, and could hardly discredit the whole of +what was told me. I even underwent a personal experiment; and though +the result was not absolutely clear, it was inferred that in time I +should prove an excellent subject. The question of mesmerism will be +discussed with little reserve, I believe, in a forthcoming work of Miss +Martineau's; and I have some painful anticipations of the manner in +which other subjects, offering less legitimate ground for speculation, +will be handled." + +"Your last letter evinced such a sincere and discriminating admiration +for Dr. Arnold, that perhaps you will not be wholly uninterested in +hearing that, during my late visit to Miss Martineau, I saw much more of +Fox How and its inmates, and daily admired, in the widow and children +of one of the greatest and best men of his time, the possession of +qualities the most estimable and endearing. Of my kind hostess herself, +I cannot speak in terms too high. Without being able to share all her +opinions, philosophical, political, or religious,--without adopting +her theories,--I yet find a worth and greatness in herself, and a +consistency, benevolence, perseverance in her practice, such as wins the +sincerest esteem and affection. She is not a person to be judged by her +writings alone, but rather by her own deeds and life, than which nothing +can be more exemplary or nobler. She seems to me the benefactress of +Ambleside, yet takes no sort of credit to herself for her active and +indefatigable philanthropy. The government of her household is admirably +administered: all she does is well done, from the writing of a history +down to the quietest female occupation. No sort of carelessness or +neglect is allowed under her rule, and yet she is not over-strict, nor +too rigidly exacting: her servants and her poor neighbours love as well +as respect her. + +"I must not, however, fall into the error of talking too much about +her merely because my own mind is just now deeply impressed with what +I have seen of her intellectual power and moral worth. Faults she has; +but to me they appear very trivial weighed in the balance against her +excellences." + +"Your account of Mr. A---- tallies exactly with Miss M----'s. She, too, +said that placidity and mildness (rather than originality and power) +were his external characteristics. She described him as a combination of +the antique Greek sage with the European modern man of science. Perhaps +it was mere perversity in me to get the notion that torpid veins, and +a cold, slow-beating heart, lay under his marble outside. But he is a +materialist: he serenely denies us our hope of immortality, and quietly +blots from man's future Heaven and the Life to come. That is why a +savour of bitterness seasoned my feeling towards him. + +"All you say of Mr. Thackeray is most graphic and characteristic. He +stirs in me both sorrow and anger. Why should he lead so harassing +a life? Why should his mocking tongue so perversely deny the better +feelings of his better moods?" + +For some time, whenever she was well enough in health and spirits, she +had been employing herself upon Villette; but she was frequently unable +to write, and was both grieved and angry with herself for her inability. +In February, she writes as follows to Mr. Smith:-- + +"Something you say about going to London; but the words are dreamy, +and fortunately I am not obliged to hear or answer them. London and +summer are many months away: our moors are all white with snow just +now, and little redbreasts come every morning to the window for crumbs. +One can lay no plans three or four months beforehand. Besides, I don't +deserve to go to London; nobody merits a change or a treat less. I +secretly think, on the contrary, I ought to be put in prison, and kept +on bread and water in solitary confinement--without even a letter from +Cornhill--till I had written a book. One of two things would certainly +result from such a mode of treatment pursued for twelve months; either +I should come out at the end of that time with a three-volume MS. in my +hand, or else with a condition of intellect that would exempt me ever +after from literary efforts and expectations." + +Meanwhile, she was disturbed and distressed by the publication of Miss +Martineau's "Letters," etc.; they came down with a peculiar force and +heaviness upon a heart that looked, with fond and earnest faith, to a +future life as to the meeting-place with those who were "loved and lost +awhile." + +"Feb. 11th, 1851. + +"My dear Sir,--Have you yet read Miss Martineau's and Mr. Atkinson's new +work, 'Letters on the Nature and Development of Man'? If you have not, +it would be worth your while to do so. + +"Of the impression this book has made on me, I will not now say much. +It is the first exposition of avowed atheism and materialism I have +ever read; the first unequivocal declaration of disbelief in the +existence of a God or a future life I have ever seen. In judging of +such exposition and declaration, one would wish entirely to put aside +the sort of instinctive horror they awaken, and to consider them in an +impartial spirit and collected mood. This I find it difficult to do. The +strangest thing is, that we are called on to rejoice over this hopeless +blank--to receive this bitter bereavement as great gain--to welcome this +unutterable desolation as a state of pleasant freedom. Who COULD do this +if he would? Who WOULD do it if he could? + +"Sincerely, for my own part, do I wish to find and know the Truth; but +if this be Truth, well may she guard herself with mysteries, and cover +herself with a veil. If this be Truth, man or woman who beholds her +can but curse the day he or she was born. I said, however, I would not +dwell on what I thought; I wish to hear, rather, what some other person +thinks,--some one whose feelings are unapt to bias his judgment. Read +the book, then, in an unprejudiced spirit, and candidly say what you +think of it. I mean, of course, if you have time--NOT OTHERWISE." + +And yet she could not bear the contemptuous tone in which this work +was spoken of by many critics; it made her more indignant than almost +any other circumstance during my acquaintance with her. Much as she +regretted the publication of the book, she could not see that it had +given any one a right to sneer at an action, certainly prompted by no +worldly motive, and which was but one error--the gravity of which she +admitted--in the conduct of a person who had, all her life long, been +striving, by deep thought and noble words, to serve her kind. + +"Your remarks on Miss Martineau and her book pleased me greatly, from +their tone and spirit. I have even taken the liberty of transcribing for +her benefit one or two phrases, because I know they will cheer her; she +likes sympathy and appreciation (as all people do who deserve them); and +most fully do I agree with you in the dislike you express of that hard, +contemptuous tone in which her work is spoken of by many critics." + +Before I return from the literary opinions of the author to the domestic +interests of the woman, I must copy out what she felt and thought about +"The Stones of Venice". + +"'The Stones of Venice' seem nobly laid and chiselled. How grandly the +quarry of vast marbles is disclosed! Mr. Ruskin seems to me one of the +few genuine writers, as distinguished from book-makers, of this age. +His earnestness even amuses me in certain passages; for I cannot help +laughing to think how utilitarians will fume and fret over his deep, +serious (and as THEY will think), fanatical reverence for Art. That pure +and severe mind you ascribed to him speaks in every line. He writes like +a consecrated Priest of the Abstract and Ideal. + +"I shall bring with me 'The Stones of Venice'; all the foundations of +marble and of granite, together with the mighty quarry out of which they +were hewn; and, into the bargain, a small assortment of crotchets and +dicta--the private property of one John Ruskin, Esq." + +As spring drew on, the depression of spirits to which she was subject +began to grasp her again, and "to crush her with a day- and night-mare." +She became afraid of sinking as low as she had done in the autumn; and +to avoid this, she prevailed on her old friend and schoolfellow to come +and stay with her for a few weeks in March. She found great benefit from +this companionship,--both from the congenial society in itself, and from +the self-restraint of thought imposed by the necessity of entertaining +her and looking after her comfort. On this occasion, Miss Bronte said, +"It will not do to get into the habit offrom home, and thus temporarily +evading an running away oppression instead of facing, wrestling with and +conquering it or being conquered by it." + +I shall now make an extract from one of her letters, which is purposely +displaced as to time. I quote it because it relates to a third offer of +marriage which she had, and because I find that some are apt to imagine, +from the extraordinary power with which she represented the passion of +love in her novels, that she herself was easily susceptible of it. + +"Could I ever feel enough for ----, to accept of him as a husband? +Friendship--gratitude--esteem--I have; but each moment he came near me, +and that I could see his eyes fastened on me, my veins ran ice. Now +that he is away, I feel far more gently towards him, it is only close +by that I grow rigid, stiffening with a strange mixture of apprehension +and anger, which nothing softens but his retreat, and a perfect subduing +of his manner. I did not want to be proud, nor intend to be proud, but +I was forced to be so. Most true it is, that we are over-ruled by One +above us; that in His hands our very will is as clay in the hands of the +potter." + +I have now named all the offers of marriage she ever received, until +that was made which she finally accepted. The gentle-man referred to in +this letter retained so much regard for her as to be her friend to the +end of her life; a circumstance to his credit and to hers. + +Before her friend E---- took her departure, Mr. Bronte caught cold, +and continued for some weeks much out of health, with an attack of +bronchitis. His spirits, too, became much depressed; and all his +daughter's efforts were directed towards cheering him. + +When he grew better, and had regained his previous strength, she +resolved to avail herself of an invitation which she had received some +time before, to pay a visit in London. This year, 1851, was, as every +one remembers, the time of the great Exhibition; but even with that +attraction in prospect, she did not intend to stay there long; and, as +usual, she made an agreement with her friends, before finally accepting +their offered hospitality, that her sojourn at their house was to be as +quiet as ever, since any other way of proceeding disagreed with her both +mentally and physically. She never looked excited except for a moment, +when something in conversation called her out; but she often felt so, +even about comparative trifles, and the exhaustion of reaction was sure +to follow. Under such circumstances, she always became extremely thin +and haggard; yet she averred that the change invariably did her good +afterwards. + +Her preparations in the way of dress for this visit, in the gay time of +that gay season, were singularly in accordance with her feminine taste; +quietly anxious to satisfy her love for modest, dainty, neat attire, and +not regardless of the becoming, yet remembering consistency, both with +her general appearance and with her means, in every selection she made. + +"By the bye, I meant to ask you when you went to Leeds, to do a small +errand for me, but fear your hands will be too full of business. It +was merely this: in case you chanced to be in any shop where the lace +cloaks, both black and white, of which I spoke, were sold, to ask their +price. I suppose they would hardly like to send a few to Haworth to be +looked at; indeed, if they cost very much, it would be useless, but +if they are reasonable and they would send them, I should like to see +them; and also some chemisettes of small size (the full woman's size +don't fit me), both of simple style for every day and good quality for +best.". . . ."It appears I could not rest satisfied when I was well off. +I told you I had taken one of the black lace mantles, but when I came to +try it with the black satin dress, with which I should chiefly want to +wear it, I found the effect was far from good; the beauty of the lace +was lost, and it looked somewhat brown and rusty; I wrote to Mr. ----, +requesting him to change it for a WHITE mantle of the same price; he +was extremely courteous, and sent to London for one, which I have got +this morning. The price is less, being but 1 pound 14s.; it is pretty, +neat and light, looks well on black; and upon reasoning the matter over, +I came to the philosophic conclusion, that it would be no shame for a +person of my means to wear a cheaper thing; so I think I shall take it, +and if you ever see it and call it 'trumpery' so much the worse." + +"Do you know that I was in Leeds on the very same day with you--last +Wednesday? I had thought of telling you where I was going, and having +your help and company in buying a bonnet, etc., but then I reflected +this would merely be making a selfish use of you, so I determined to +manage or mismanage the matter alone. I went to Hurst and Hall's for the +bonnet, and got one which seemed grave and quiet there amongst all the +splendours; but now it looks infinitely too gay with its pink lining. I +saw some beautiful silks of pale sweet colours, but had not the spirit +nor the means to launch out at the rate of five shillings per yard, and +went and bought a black silk at three shillings after all. I rather +regret this, because papa says he would have lent me a sovereign if he +had known. I believe, if you had been there, you would have forced me +to get into debt. . . . I really can no more come to B---- before I go +to London than I can fly. I have quantities of sewing to do, as well as +household matters to arrange, before I leave, as they will clean, etc., +in my absence. Besides, I am grievously afflicted with headache, which I +trust to change of air for relieving; but meantime, as it proceeds from +the stomach, it makes me very thin and grey; neither you nor anybody +else would fatten me up or put me into good condition for the visit; it +is fated otherwise. No matter. Calm your passion; yet I am glad to see +it. Such spirit seems to prove health. Good-bye, in haste. + +"Your poor mother is like Tabby, Martha and Papa; all these fancy I +am somehow, by some mysterious process, to be married in London, or +to engage myself to matrimony. How I smile internally! How groundless +and improbable is the idea! Papa seriously told me yesterday, that +if I married and left him he should give up housekeeping and go into +lodgings!" + +I copy the following, for the sake of the few words describing the +appearance of the heathery moors in late summer. + +TO SYDNEY DOBELL, ESQ. + +"May 24th, 1851. + +"My dear Sir,--I hasten to send Mrs. Dobell the autograph. It was the +word 'Album' that frightened me I thought she wished me to write a +sonnet on purpose for it, which I could not do. + +"Your proposal respecting a journey to Switzerland is deeply kind; it +draws me with the force of a mighty Temptation, but the stern Impossible +holds me back. No! I cannot go to Switzerland this summer. + +"Why did the editor of the 'Eclectic' erase that most powerful and +pictorial passage? He could not be insensible to its beauty; perhaps he +thought it profane. Poor man! + +"I know nothing of such an orchard-country as you describe. I have never +seen such a region. Our hills only confess the coming of summer by +growing green with young fern and moss, in secret little hollows. Their +bloom is reserved for autumn; then they burn with a kind of dark glow, +different, doubtless, from the blush of garden blossoms. About the close +of next month, I expect to go to London, to pay a brief and quiet visit. +I fear chance will not be so propitious as to bring you to town while I +am there; otherwise, how glad I should be if you would call. With kind +regards to Mrs. Dobell,--Believe me, sincerely yours, + +C. BRONTE." + +Her next letter is dated from London. + +"June 2nd. + +"I came here on Wednesday, being summoned a day sooner than I expected, +in order to be in time for Thackeray's second lecture, which was +delivered on Thursday afternoon. This, as you may suppose, was a genuine +treat to me, and I was glad not to miss it. It was given in Willis' +Rooms, where the Almacks balls are held--a great painted and gilded +saloon with long sofas for benches. The audience was said to be the +cream of London society, and it looked so. I did not at all expect the +great lecturer would know me or notice me under these circumstances, +with admiring duchesses and countesses seated in rows before him; but he +met me as I entered--shook hands--took me to his mother, whom I had not +before seen, and introduced me. She is a fine, handsome, young-looking +old lady; was very gracious, and called with one of her grand-daughters +next day. + +"Thackeray called too, separately. I had a long talk with him, and I +think he knows me now a little better than he did: but of this I cannot +yet be sure; he is a great and strange man. There is quite a furor +for his lectures. They are a sort of essays, characterised by his own +peculiar originality and power, and delivered with a finished taste and +ease, which is felt, but cannot be described. Just before the lecture +began, somebody came behind me, leaned over and said, 'Permit me, as a +Yorkshireman, to introduce myself.' I turned round--saw a strange, not +handsome, face, which puzzled me for half a minute, and then I said, +'You are Lord Carlisle.' He nodded and smiled; he talked a few minutes +very pleasantly and courteously. + +"Afterwards came another man with the same plea, that he was a +Yorkshireman, and this turned out to be Mr. Monckton Milnes. Then came +Dr. Forbes, whom I was sincerely glad to see. On Friday, I went to the +Crystal Palace; it is a marvellous, stirring, bewildering sight--a +mixture of a genii palace, and a mighty bazaar, but it is not much in +my way; I liked the lecture better. On Saturday I saw the Exhibition +at Somerset House; about half a dozen of the pictures are good and +interesting, the rest of little worth. Sunday--yesterday--was a day to +be marked with a white stone; through most of the day I was very happy, +without being tired or over-excited. In the afternoon, I went to hear +D'Aubigne, the great Protestant French preacher; it was pleasant--half +sweet, half sad--and strangely suggestive to hear the French language +once more. For health, I have so far got on very fairly, considering +that I came here far from well." + +The lady, who accompanied Miss Bronte to the lecture at Thackeray's +alluded to, says that, soon after they had taken their places, she +was aware that he was pointing out her companion to several of his +friends, but she hoped that Miss Bronte herself would not perceive +it. After some time, however, during which many heads had been turned +round, and many glasses put up, in order to look at the author of "Jane +Eyre", Miss Bronte said, "I am afraid Mr. Thackeray has been playing +me a trick;" but she soon became too much absorbed in the lecture to +notice the attention which was being paid to her, except when it was +directly offered, as in the case of Lord Carlisle and Mr. Monckton +Milnes. When the lecture was ended, Mr. Thackeray came down from the +platform, and making his way towards her, asked her for her opinion. +This she mentioned to me not many days afterwards, adding remarks almost +identical with those which I subsequently read in 'Villette,' where a +similar action on the part of M. Paul Emanuel is related. + +"As our party left the Hall, he stood at the entrance; he saw and knew +me, and lifted his hat; he offered his hand in passing, and uttered +the words 'Qu'en dites-vous?'--question eminently characteristic, and +reminding me, even in this his moment of triumph, of that inquisitive +restlessness, that absence of what I considered desirable self-control, +which were amongst his faults. He should not have cared just then to ask +what I thought, or what anybody thought; but he DID care, and he was too +natural to conceal, too impulsive to repress his wish. Well! if I blamed +his over-eagerness, I liked his naivete. I would have praised him; I had +plenty of praise in my heart; but alas I no words on my lips. Who HAS +words at the right moment? I stammered some lame expressions; but was +truly glad when other people, coming up with profuse congratulations, +covered my deficiency by their redundancy." + +As they were preparing to leave the room, her companion saw with dismay +that many of the audience were forming themselves into two lines, on +each side of the aisle down which they had to pass before reaching the +door. Aware that any delay would only make the ordeal more trying, her +friend took Miss Bronte's arm in hers, and they went along the avenue +of eager and admiring faces. During this passage through the "cream +of society," Miss Bronte's hand trembled to such a degree, that her +companion feared lest she should turn faint and be unable to proceed; +and she dared not express her sympathy or try to give her strength by +any touch or word, lest it might bring on the crisis she dreaded. + +Surely, such thoughtless manifestation of curiosity is a blot on the +scutcheon of true politeness! The rest of the account of this, her +longest visit to London, shall be told in her own words. + +"I sit down to write to you this morning in an inexpressibly flat state; +having spent the whole of yesterday and the day before in a gradually +increasing headache, which grew at last rampant and violent, ended with +excessive sickness, and this morning I am quite weak and washy. I hoped +to leave my headaches behind me at Haworth; but it seems I brought them +carefully packed in my trunk, and very much have they been in my way +since I came. . . . Since I wrote last, I have seen various things worth +describing; Rachel, the great French actress, amongst the number. But +to-day I really have no pith for the task. I can only wish you good-bye +with all my heart." + +"I cannot boast that London has agreed with me well this time; the +oppression of frequent headache, sickness, and a low tone of spirits, +has poisoned many moments which might otherwise have been pleasant. +Sometimes I have felt this hard, and been tempted to murmur at Fate, +which compels me to comparative silence and solitude for eleven months +in the year, and in the twelfth, while offering social enjoyment, takes +away the vigour and cheerfulness which should turn it to account. But +circumstances are ordered for us, and we must submit." + +"Your letter would have been answered yesterday, but I was already gone +out before post time, and was out all day. People are very kind, and +perhaps I shall be glad of what I have seen afterwards, but it is often +a little trying at the time. On Thursday, the Marquis of Westminster +asked me to a great party, to which I was to go with Mrs. D----, a +beautiful, and, I think, a kind woman too; but this I resolutely +declined. On Friday I dined at the ----'s, and met Mrs. D---- and Mr. +Monckton Milnes. On Saturday I went to hear and see Rachel; a wonderful +sight--terrible as if the earth had cracked deep at your feet, and +revealed a glimpse of hell. I shall never forget it. She made me shudder +to the marrow of my bones; in her some fiend has certainly taken up an +incarnate home. She is not a woman; she is a snake; she is the ----. +On Sunday I went to the Spanish Ambassador's Chapel, where Cardinal +Wiseman, in his archiepiscopal robes and mitre, held a confirmation. +The whole scene was impiously theatrical. Yesterday (Monday) I was +sent for at ten to breakfast with Mr. Rogers, the patriarch-poet. Mrs. +D---- and Lord Glenelg were there; no one else:this certainly proved a +most calm, refined, and intellectual treat. After breakfast, Sir David +Brewster came to take us to the Crystal Palace. I had rather dreaded +this, for Sir David is a man of profoundest science, and I feared it +would be impossible to understand his explanations of the mechanism, +etc.; indeed, I hardly knew how to ask him questions. I was spared all +trouble without being questioned, he gave information in the kindest and +simplest manner. After two hours spent at the Exhibition, and where, as +you may suppose, I was VERY tired, we had to go to Lord Westminster's, +and spend two hours more in looking at the collection of pictures in his +splendid gallery." + +To another friend she writes:-- + +"----may have told you that I have spent a month in London this summer. +When you come, you shall ask what questions you like on that point, and +I will answer to the best of my stammering ability. Do not press me much +on the subject of the 'Crystal Palace.' I went there five times, and +certainly saw some interesting things, and the 'coup d'oeil' is striking +and bewildering enough; but I never was able to get any raptures on the +subject, and each renewed visit was made under coercion rather than my +own free will. It is an excessively bustling place; and, after all, its +wonders appeal too exclusively to the eye, and rarely touch the heart +or head. I make an exception to the last assertion, in favour of those +who possess a large range of scientific knowledge. Once I went with Sir +David Brewster, and perceived that he looked on objects with other eyes +than mine." + +Miss Bronte returned from London by Manchester, and paid us a visit of +a couple of days at the end of June. The weather was so intensely hot, +and she herself so much fatigued with her London sight-seeing, that we +did little but sit in-doors, with open windows, and talk. The only thing +she made a point of exerting herself to procure was a present for Tabby. +It was to be a shawl, or rather a large handkerchief, such as she could +pin across her neck and shoulders, in the old-fashioned country manner. +Miss Bronte took great pains in seeking out one which she thought +would please the old woman. On her arrival at home, she addressed +the following letter to the friend with whom she had been staying in +London:-- + +"Haworth, July 1st, 1851. + +"My dear Mrs. Smith,--Once more I am at home, where, I am thankful to +say, I found my father very well. The journey to Manchester was a little +hot and dusty, but otherwise pleasant enough. The two stout gentlemen, +who filled a portion of the carriage when I got in, quitted it at Rugby, +and two other ladies and myself had it to ourselves the rest of the +way. The visit to Mrs. Gaskell formed a cheering break in the journey. +Haworth Parsonage is rather a contrast, yet even Haworth Parsonage does +not look gloomy in this bright summer weather; it is somewhat still, +but with the windows open I can hear a bird or two singing on certain +thorn-trees in the garden. My father and the servants think me looking +better than when I felt home, and I certainly feel better myself for +the change. You are too much like your son to render it advisable I +should say much about your kindness during my visit. However, one cannot +help (like Captain Cuttle) making a note of these matters. Papa says +I am to thank you in his name, and offer you his respects, which I do +accordingly.--With truest regards to all your circle, believe me very +sincerely yours, + +C. BRONTE." + +"July 8th, 1851. + +"My dear Sir,--Thackeray's last lecture must, I think, have been his +best. What he says about Sterne is true. His observations on literary +men, and their social obligations and individual duties, seem to me +also true and full of mental and moral vigour. . . . The International +Copyright Meeting seems to have had but a barren result, judging from +the report in the Literary Gazette. I cannot see that Sir E. Bulwer and +the rest DID anything; nor can I well see what it is in their power to +do. The argument brought forward about the damage accruing to American +national literature from the present piratical system, is a good and +sound argument; but I am afraid the publishers--honest men--are not +yet mentally prepared to give such reasoning due weight. I should +think, that which refers to the injury inflicted upon themselves, by +an oppressive competition in piracy, would influence them more; but, I +suppose, all established matters, be they good or evil, are difficult +to change. About the 'Phrenological Character' I must not say a word. +Of your own accord, you have found the safest point from which to view +it: I will not say 'look higher!' I think you see the matter as it is +desirable we should all see what relates to ourselves. If I had a right +to whisper a word of counsel, it should be merely this: whatever your +present self may be, resolve with all your strength of resolution, never +to degenerate thence. Be jealous of a shadow of falling off. Determine +rather to look above that standard, and to strive beyond it. Everybody +appreciates certain social properties, and likes his neighbour for +possessing them; but perhaps few dwell upon a friend's capacity for +the intellectual, or care how this might expand, if there were but +facilities allowed for cultivation, and space given for growth. It seems +to me that, even should such space and facilities be denied by stringent +circumstances and a rigid fate, still it should do you good fully to +know, and tenaciously to remember, that you have such a capacity. When +other people overwhelm you with acquired knowledge, such as you have not +had opportunity, perhaps not application, to gain--derive not pride, but +support from the thought. If no new books had ever been written, some of +these minds would themselves have remained blank pages: they only take +an impression; they were not born with a record of thought on the brain, +or an instinct of sensation on the heart. If I had never seen a printed +volume, Nature would have offered my perceptions a varying picture of +a continuous narrative, which, without any other teacher than herself, +would have schooled me to knowledge, unsophisticated, but genuine. + +"Before I received your last, I had made up my mind to tell you that I +should expect no letter for three months to come (intending afterwards +to extend this abstinence to six months, for I am jealous of becoming +dependent on this indulgence: you doubtless cannot see why, because you +do not live my life). Nor shall I now expect a letter; but since you say +that you would like to write now and then, I cannot say 'never write,' +without imposing on my real wishes a falsehood which they reject, and +doing to them a violence, to which they entirely refuse to submit. I +can only observe that when it pleases you to write, whether seriously +or for a little amusement, your notes, if they come to me, will come +where they are welcome. Tell----I will try to cultivate good spirits, as +assiduously as she cultivates her geraniums." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Soon after she returned home, her friend paid her a visit. While she +stayed at Haworth, Miss Bronte wrote the letter from which the following +extract is taken. The strong sense and right feeling displayed in it on +the subject of friendship, sufficiently account for the constancy of +affection which Miss Bronte earned from all those who once became her +friends. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"July 21th, 1851. + +". . . I could not help wondering whether Cornhill will ever change for +me, as Oxford has changed for you. I have some pleasant associations +connected with it now--will these alter their character some day? + +"Perhaps they may--though I have faith to the contrary, because, I +THINK, I do not exaggerate my partialities; I THINK I take faults along +with excellences--blemishes together with beauties. And, besides, in the +matter of friendship, I have observed that disappointment here arises +chiefly, NOT from liking our friends too well, or thinking of them too +highly, but rather from an over-estimate of THEIR liking for and opinion +of US; and that if we guard ourselves with sufficient scrupulousness of +care from error in this direction, and can be content, and even happy +to give more affection than we receive--can make just comparison of +circumstances, and be severely accurate in drawing inferences thence, +and never let self-love blind our eyes--I think we may manage to get +through life with consistency and constancy, unembittered by that +misanthropy which springs from revulsions of feeling. All this sounds a +little metaphysical, but it is good sense if you consider it. The moral +of it is, that if we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we +must love our friends for THEIR sakes rather than for OUR OWN; we must +look at their truth to THEMSELVES, full as much as their truth to US. In +the latter case, every wound to self-love would be a cause of coldness; +in the former, only some painful change in the friend's character +and disposition--some fearful breach in his allegiance to his better +self--could alienate the heart. + +"How interesting your old maiden-cousin's gossip about your parents +must have been to you; and how gratifying to find that the reminiscence +turned on none but pleasant facts and characteristics! Life must, +indeed, be slow in that little decaying hamlet amongst the chalk hills. +After all, depend upon it, it is better to be worn out with work in a +thronged community, than to perish of inaction in a stagnant solitude: +take this truth into consideration whenever you get tired of work and +bustle." + +I received a letter from her a little later than this; and though there +is reference throughout to what I must have said in writing to her, all +that it called forth in reply is so peculiarly characteristic, that I +cannot prevail upon myself to pass it over without a few extracts:-- + +"Haworth, Aug. 6th, 1851. + +"My dear Mrs. Gaskell,--I was too much pleased with your letter, when I +got it at last, to feel disposed to murmur now about the delay. + +"About a fortnight ago, I received a letter from Miss Martineau; also +a long letter, and treating precisely the same subjects on which yours +dwelt, viz., the Exhibition and Thackeray's last lecture. It was +interesting mentally to place the two documents side by side--to study +the two aspects of mind--to view, alternately, the same scene through +two mediums. Full striking was the difference; and the more striking +because it was not the rough contrast of good and evil, but the more +subtle opposition, the more delicate diversity of different kinds of +good. The excellences of one nature resembled (I thought) that of +some sovereign medicine--harsh, perhaps, to the taste, but potent to +invigorate; the good of the other seemed more akin to the nourishing +efficacy of our daily bread. It is not bitter; it is not lusciously +sweet: it pleases, without flattering the palate; it sustains, without +forcing the strength. + +"I very much agree with you in all you say. For the sake of variety, I +could almost wish that the concord of opinion were less complete. + +"To begin with Trafalgar Square. My taste goes with yours and Meta's +completely on this point. I have always thought it a fine site (and +SIGHT also). The view from the summit of those steps has ever struck +me as grand and imposing--Nelson Column included the fountains I could +dispense with. With respect, also, to the Crystal Palace, my thoughts +are precisely yours. + +"Then I feel sure you speak justly of Thackeray's lecture. You do well +to set aside odious comparisons, and to wax impatient of that trite +twaddle about 'nothing newness'--a jargon which simply proves, in those +who habitually use it, a coarse and feeble faculty of appreciation; an +inability to discern the relative value of ORIGINALITY and NOVELTY; a +lack of that refined perception which, dispensing with the stimulus of +an ever-new subject, can derive sufficiency of pleasure from freshness +of treatment. To such critics, the prime of a summer morning would +bring no delight; wholly occupied with railing at their cook for not +having provided a novel and piquant breakfast-dish, they would remain +insensible to such influences as lie in sunrise, dew, and breeze: +therein would be 'nothing new.' + +"Is it Mr. ----'s family experience which has influenced your feelings +about the Catholics? I own, I cannot be sorry for this commencing +change. Good people--VERY good people--I doubt not, there are amongst +the Romanists, but the system is not one which would have such sympathy +as YOURS. Look at Popery taking off the mask in Naples! + +"I have read the 'Saints' Tragedy.' As a 'work of art' it seems to me +far superior to either 'Alton Locke' or 'Yeast.' Faulty it may be, +crude and unequal, yet there are portions where some of the deep chords +of human nature are swept with a hand which is strong even while it +falters. We see throughout (I THINK) that Elizabeth has not, and never +had, a mind perfectly sane. From the time that she was what she herself, +in the exaggeration of her humility, calls 'an idiot girl,' to the hour +when she lay moaning in visions on her dying bed, a slight craze runs +through her whole existence. This is good: this is true. A sound mind, +a healthy intellect, would have dashed the priest-power to the wall; +would have defended her natural affections from his grasp, as a lioness +defends her young; would have been as true to husband and children, as +your leal-hearted little Maggie was to her Frank. Only a mind weak with +some fatal flaw COULD have been influenced as was this poor saint's. +But what anguish what struggles! Seldom do I cry over books; but here, +my eyes rained as I read. When Elizabeth turns her face to the wall--I +stopped--there needed no more. + +"Deep truths are touched on in this tragedy--touched on, not fully +elicited; truths that stir a peculiar pity--a compassion hot with wrath, +and bitter with pain. This is no poet's dream: we know that such things +HAVE been done; that minds HAVE been thus subjugated, and lives thus +laid waste. + +"Remember me kindly and respectfully to Mr. Gaskell, and though I +have not seen Marianne, I must beg to include her in the love I send +the others. Could you manage to convey a small kiss to that dear, but +dangerous little person, Julia? She surreptitiously possessed herself of +a minute fraction of my heart, which has been missing, ever since I saw +her.--Believe me, sincerely and affectionately yours, + +C. BRONTE." + +The reference which she makes at the end of this letter is to my +youngest little girl, between whom and her a strong mutual attraction +existed. The child would steal her little hand into Miss Bronte's +scarcely larger one, and each took pleasure in this apparently +unobserved caress. Yet once when I told Julia to take and show her the +way to some room in the house, Miss Bronte shrunk back: "Do not BID her +do anything for me," she said; "it has been so sweet hitherto to have +her rendering her little kindnesses SPONTANEOUSLY." + +As illustrating her feelings with regard to children, I may give what +she says ill another of her letters to me. + +"Whenever I see Florence and Julia again, I shall feel like a fond but +bashful suitor, who views at a distance the fair personage to whom, in +his clownish awe, he dare not risk a near approach. Such is the clearest +idea I can give you of my feeling towards children I like, but to +whom I am a stranger;--and to what children am I not a stranger? They +seem to me little wonders; their talk, their ways are all matter of +half-admiring, half-puzzled speculation." + +The following is part of a long letter which I received from her, dated +September 20th, 1851:-- + +". . . Beautiful are those sentences out of James Martineau's sermons; +some of them gems most pure and genuine; ideas deeply conceived, finely +expressed. I should like much to see his review of his sister's book. +Of all the articles respecting which you question me, I have seen none, +except that notable one in the 'Westminster' on the Emancipation of +Women. But why are you and I to think (perhaps I should rather say to +FEEL) so exactly alike on some points that there can be no discussion +between us? Your words on this paper express my thoughts. Well-argued +it is,--clear, logical,--but vast is the hiatus of omission; harsh +the consequent jar on every finer chord of the soul. What is this +hiatus? I think I know; and, knowing, I will venture to say. I think +the writer forgets there is such a thing as self-sacrificing love and +disinterested devotion. When I first read the paper, I thought it was +the work of a powerful-minded, clear-headed woman, who had a hard, +jealous heart, muscles of iron, and nerves of bend[*] leather; of a +woman who longed for power, and had never felt affection. To many women +affection is sweet, and power conquered indifferent--though we all like +influence won. I believe J. S. Mill would make a hard, dry, dismal +world of it; and yet he speaks admirable sense through a great portion +of his article--especially when he says, that if there be a natural +unfitness in women for men's employment, there is no need to make laws +on the subject; leave all careers open; let them try; those who ought +to succeed will succeed, or, at least, will have a fair chance--the +incapable will fall back into their right place. He likewise disposes of +the 'maternity' question very neatly. In short, J. S. Mill's head is, +I dare say, very good, but I feel disposed to scorn his heart. You are +right when you say that there is a large margin in human nature over +which the logicians have no dominion; glad am I that it is so. + +[*] "Bend," in Yorkshire, is strong ox leather. + + +"I send by this post Ruskin's 'Stones of Venice,' and I hope you +and Meta will find passages in it that will please you. Some parts +would be dry and technical were it not for the character, the marked +individuality which pervades every page. I wish Marianne had come to +speak to me at the lecture; it would have given me such pleasure. What +you say of that small sprite Julia, amuses me much. I believe you don't +know that she has a great deal of her mama's nature (modified) in her; +yet I think you will find she has as she grows up. + +"Will it not be a great mistake, if Mr. Thackeray should deliver his +lectures at Manchester under such circumstances and conditions as will +exclude people like you and Mr. Gaskell from the number of his audience? +I thought his London-plan too narrow. Charles Dickens would not thus +limit his sphere of action. + +"You charge me to write about myself. What can I say on that precious +topic? My health is pretty good. My spirits are not always alike. +Nothing happens to me. I hope and expect little in this world, and am +thankful that I do not despond and suffer more. Thank you for inquiring +after our old servant; she is pretty well; the little shawl, etc., +pleased her much. Papa likewise, I am glad to say, is pretty well; with +his and my kindest regards to you and Mr. Gaskell--Believe me sincerely +and affectionately yours, + +C. BRONTE." + +Before the autumn was far advanced, the usual effects of her solitary +life, and of the unhealthy situation of Haworth Parsonage, began to +appear in the form of sick headaches, and miserable, starting, wakeful +nights. She does not dwell on this in her letters; but there is an +absence of all cheerfulness of tone, and an occasional sentence forced +out of her, which imply far more than many words could say. There was +illness all through the Parsonage household--taking its accustomed forms +of lingering influenza and low fever; she herself was outwardly the +strongest of the family, and all domestic exertion fell for a time upon +her shoulders. + +TO W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Sept. 26th. + +"As I laid down your letter, after reading with interest the graphic +account it gives of a very striking scene, I could not help feeling with +renewed force a truth, trite enough, yet ever impressive; viz., that it +is good to be attracted out of ourselves--to be forced to take a near +view of the sufferings, the privations, the efforts, the difficulties +of others. If we ourselves live in fulness of content, it is well to be +reminded that thousands of our fellow-creatures undergo a different lot; +it is well to have sleepy sympathies excited, and lethargic selfishness +shaken up. If, on the other hand, we be contending with the special +grief,--the intimate trial,--the peculiar bitterness with which God has +seen fit to mingle our own cup of existence,--it is very good to know +that our overcast lot is not singular; it stills the repining word and +thought,--it rouses the flagging strength, to have it vividly set before +us that there are countless afflictions in the world, each perhaps +rivalling--some surpassing--the private pain over which we are too prone +exclusively to sorrow. + +"All those crowded emigrants had their troubles,--their untoward causes +of banishment; you, the looker-on, had 'your wishes and regrets,'--your +anxieties, alloying your home happiness and domestic bliss; and the +parallel might be pursued further, and still it would be true,--still +the same; a thorn in the flesh for each; some burden, some conflict for +all. + +"How far this state of things is susceptible of amelioration from +changes in public institutions,--alterations in national habits,--may +and ought to be earnestly considered: but this is a problem not easily +solved. The evils, as you point them out, are great, real, and most +obvious; the remedy is obscure and vague; yet for such difficulties as +spring from over-competition, emigration must be good; the new life +in a new country must give a new lease of hope; the wider field, less +thickly peopled, must open a new path for endeavour. But I always think +great physical powers of exertion and endurance ought to accompany such +a step. . . . I am truly glad to hear that an ORIGINAL writer has fallen +in your way. Originality is the pearl of great price in literature,--the +rarest, the most precious claim by which an author can be recommended. +Are not your publishing prospects for the coming season tolerably rich +and satisfactory? You inquire after 'Currer Bell.' It seems to me that +the absence of his name from your list of announcements will leave +no blank, and that he may at least spare himself the disquietude of +thinking he is wanted when it is certainly not his lot to appear. + +"Perhaps Currer Bell has his secret moan about these matters; but if so, +he will keep it to himself. It is an affair about which no words need +be wasted, for no words can make a change: it is between him and his +position, his faculties and his fate." + +My husband and I were anxious that she should pay us a visit before +the winter had set completely in; and she thus wrote, declining our +invitation:-- + +"Nov. 6th. + +"If anybody would tempt me from home, you would; but, just now, from +home I must not, will not go. I feel greatly better at present than +I did three weeks ago. For a month or six weeks about the equinox +(autumnal or vernal) is a period of the year which, I have noticed, +strangely tries me. Sometimes the strain falls on the mental, sometimes +on the physical part of me; I am ill with neuralgic headache, or I am +ground to the dust with deep dejection of spirits (not, however, such +dejection but I can keep it to myself). That weary time has, I think +and trust, got over for this year. It was the anniversary of my poor +brother's death, and of my sister's failing health: I need say no more. + +"As to running away from home every time I have a battle of this sort +to fight, it would not do besides, the 'weird' would follow. As to +shaking it off, that cannot be. I have declined to go to Mrs. ----, to +Miss Martineau, and now I decline to go to you. But listen do not think +that I throw your kindness away; or that it fails of doing the good you +desire. On the contrary, the feeling expressed in your letter,--proved +by your invitation--goes RIGHT HOME where you would have it to go, and +heals as you would have it to heal. + +"Your description of Frederika Bremer tallies exactly with one I read +somewhere, in I know not what book. I laughed out when I got to the +mention of Frederika's special accomplishment, given by you with a +distinct simplicity that, to my taste, is what the French would call +'impayable.' Where do you find the foreigner who is without some little +drawback of this description? It is a pity." + +A visit from Miss Wooler at this period did Miss Bronte much good for +the time. She speaks of her guest's company as being very pleasant,"like +good wine," both to her father and to herself. But Miss Wooler could +not remain with her long; and then again the monotony of her life +returned upon her in all its force; the only events of her days and +weeks consisting in the small changes which occasional letters brought. +It must be remembered that her health was often such as to prevent her +stirring out of the house in inclement or wintry weather. She was liable +to sore throat, and depressing pain at the chest, and difficulty of +breathing, on the least exposure to cold. + +A letter from her late visitor touched and gratified her much; it was +simply expressive of gratitude for attention and kindness shown to her, +but it wound up by saying that she had not for many years experienced +so much enjoyment as during the ten days passed at Haworth. This little +sentence called out a wholesome sensation of modest pleasure in Miss +Bronte's mind; and she says, "it did me good." + +I find, in a letter to a distant friend, written about this time, a +retrospect of her visit to London. It is too ample to be considered as +a mere repetition of what she had said before; and, besides, it shows +that her first impressions of what she saw and heard were not crude and +transitory, but stood the tests of time and after-thought. + +"I spent a few weeks in town last summer, as you have heard; and was +much interested by many things I heard and saw there. What now chiefly +dwells in my memory are Mr. Thackeray's lectures, Mademoiselle Rachel's +acting, D'Aubigne's, Melville's, and Maurice's preaching, and the +Crystal Palace. + +"Mr. Thackeray's lectures you will have seen mentioned and commented on +in the papers; they were very interesting. I could not always coincide +with the sentiments expressed, or the opinions broached; but I admired +the gentlemanlike ease, the quiet humour, the taste, the talent, the +simplicity, and the originality of the lecturer. + +"Rachel's acting transfixed me with wonder, enchained me with interest, +and thrilled me with horror. The tremendous force with which she +expresses the very worst passions in their strongest essence forms an +exhibition as exciting as the bull fights of Spain, and the gladiatorial +combats of old Rome, and (it seemed to me) not one whit more moral +than these poisoned stimulants to popular ferocity. It is scarcely +human nature that she shows you; it is something wilder and worse; the +feelings and fury of a fiend. The great gift of genius she undoubtedly +has; but, I fear, she rather abuses it than turns it to good account. + +"With all the three preachers I was greatly pleased. Melville seemed to +me the most eloquent, Maurice the most in earnest; had I the choice, it +is Maurice whose ministry I should frequent. + +"On the Crystal Palace I need not comment. You must already have heard +too much of it. It struck me at the first with only a vague sort of +wonder and admiration; but having one day the privilege of going over it +in company with an eminent countryman of yours, Sir David Brewster, and +hearing, in his friendly Scotch accent, his lucid explanation of many +things that had been to me before a sealed book, I began a little better +to comprehend it, or at least a small part of it: whether its final +results will equal expectation, I know not." + +Her increasing indisposition subdued her at last, in spite of all her +efforts of reason and will. She tried to forget oppressive recollections +in writing. Her publishers were importunate for a new book from her pen. +"Villette" was begun, but she lacked power to continue it. + +"It is not at all likely" (she says) "that my book will be ready at the +time you mention. If my health is spared, I shall get on with it as +fast as is consistent with its being done, if not WELL, yet as well as +I can do it. NOT ONE WHIT FASTER. When the mood leaves me (it has left +me now, without vouchsafing so much as a word or a message when it will +return) I put by the MS. and wait till it comes back again. God knows, +I sometimes have to wait long--VERY long it seems to me. Meantime, if +I might make a request to you, it would be this. Please to say nothing +about my book till it is written, and in your hands. You may not like +it. I am not myself elated with it as far as it is gone, and authors, +you need not be told, are always tenderly indulgent, even blindly +partial to their own. Even if it should turn out reasonably well, still +I regard it as ruin to the prosperity of an ephemeral book like a novel, +to be much talked of beforehand, as if it were something great. People +are apt to conceive, or at least to profess, exaggerated expectation, +such as no performance can realise; then ensue disappointment and the +due revenge, detraction, and failure. If when I write, I were to think +of the critics who, I know, are waiting for Currer Bell, ready 'to break +all his bones or ever he comes to the bottom of the den,' my hand would +fall paralysed on my desk. However, I can but do my best, and then +muffle my head in the mantle of Patience, and sit down at her feet and +wait." + +The "mood" here spoken of did not go off; it had a physical origin. +Indigestion, nausea, headache, sleeplessness,--all combined to produce +miserable depression of spirits. A little event which occurred about +this time, did not tend to cheer her. It was the death of poor old +faithful Keeper, Emily's dog. He had come to the Parsonage in the +fierce strength of his youth. Sullen and ferocious he had met with his +master in the indomitable Emily. Like most dogs of his kind, he feared, +respected, and deeply loved her who subdued him. He had mourned her with +the pathetic fidelity of his nature, falling into old age after her +death. And now, her surviving sister wrote: "Poor old Keeper died last +Monday morning, after being ill one night; he went gently to sleep; we +laid his old faithful head in the garden. Flossy (the 'fat curly-haired +dog') is dull, and misses him. There was something very sad in losing +the old dog; yet I am glad he met a natural fate. People kept hinting he +ought to be put away, which neither papa nor I liked to think of." + +When Miss Bronte wrote this, on December 8th, she was suffering from a +bad cold, and pain in her side. Her illness increased, and on December +17th, she--so patient, silent, and enduring of suffering--so afraid of +any unselfish taxing of others--had to call to her friend for help: + +"I cannot at present go to see you, but I would be grateful if you could +come and see me, even were it only for a few days. To speak truth, I +have put on but a poor time of it during this month past. I kept hoping +to be better, but was at last obliged to have recourse to a medical man. +Sometimes I have felt very weak and low, and longed much for society, +but could not persuade myself to commit the selfish act of asking you +merely for my own relief. The doctor speaks encouragingly, but as yet +I get no better. As the illness has been coming on for a long time, +it cannot, I suppose, be expected to disappear all at once. I am not +confined to bed, but I am weak,--have had no appetite for about three +weeks--and my nights are very bad. I am well aware myself that extreme +and continuous depression of spirits has had much to do with the origin +of the illness; and I know a little cheerful society would do me more +good than gallons of medicine. If you CAN come, come on Friday. Write +to-morrow and say whether this be possible, and what time you will be at +Keighley, that I may send the gig. I do not ask you to stay long; a few +days is all I request." + +Of course, her friend went; and a certain amount of benefit was derived +from her society, always so grateful to Miss Bronte. But the evil was +now too deep-rooted to be more than palliated for a time by "the little +cheerful society" for which she so touchingly besought. + +A relapse came on before long. She was very ill, and the remedies +employed took an unusual effect on her peculiar sensitiveness of +constitution. Mr. Bronte was miserably anxious about the state of +his only remaining child, for she was reduced to the last degree of +weakness, as she had been unable to swallow food for above a week +before. She rallied, and derived her sole sustenance from half-a-tea-cup +of liquid, administered by tea-spoonfuls, in the course of the day. Yet +she kept out of bed, for her father's sake, and struggled in solitary +patience through her worst hours. + +When she was recovering, her spirits needed support, and then she +yielded to her friend's entreaty that she would visit her. All the time +that Miss Bronte's illness had lasted, Miss ---- had been desirous +of coming to her; but she refused to avail herself of this kindness, +saying, that "it was enough to burden herself; that it would be +misery to annoy another;" and, even at her worst time, she tells her +friend, with humorous glee, how coolly she had managed to capture one +of Miss ----'s letters to Mr. Bronte, which she suspected was of a +kind to aggravate his alarm about his daughter's state, "and at once +conjecturing its tenor, made its contents her own." + +Happily for all parties, Mr. Bronte was wonderfully well this winter; +good sleep, good spirits, and an excellent steady appetite, all seemed +to mark vigour; and in such a state of health, Charlotte could leave him +to spend a week with her friend, without any great anxiety. + +She benefited greatly by the kind attentions and cheerful society of +the family with whom she went to stay. They did not care for her in +the least as "Currer Bell," but had known and loved her for years as +Charlotte Bronte. To them her invalid weakness was only a fresh claim +upon their tender regard, from the solitary woman, whom they had first +known as a little, motherless school-girl. + +Miss Bronte wrote to me about this time, and told me something of what +she had suffered. + +"Feb. 6th, 1852. + +"Certainly, the past winter has been to me a strange time; had I the +prospect before me of living it over again, my prayer must necessarily +be, 'Let this cup pass from me.' That depression of spirits, which I +thought was gone by when I wrote last, came back again with a heavy +recoil; internal congestion ensued, and then inflammation. I had severe +pain in my right side, frequent burning and aching in my chest; sleep +almost forsook me, or would never come, except accompanied by ghastly +dreams; appetite vanished, and slow fever was my continual companion. +It was some time before I could bring myself to have recourse to +medical advice. I thought my lungs were affected, and could feel no +confidence in the power of medicine. When, at last, however, a doctor +was consulted, he declared my lungs and chest sound, and ascribed all +my sufferings to derangement of the liver, on which organ it seems the +inflammation had fallen. This information was a great relief to my +dear father, as well as to myself; but I had subsequently rather sharp +medical discipline to undergo, and was much reduced. Though not yet +well, it is with deep thankfulness that I can say, I am GREATLY BETTER. +My sleep, appetite, and strength seem all returning." + +It was a great interest to her to be allowed an early reading of Esmond; +and she expressed her thoughts on the subject, in a criticising letter +to Mr. Smith, who had given her this privilege. + +"Feb. 14th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--It has been a great delight to me to read Mr. Thackeray's +work; and I so seldom now express my sense of kindness that, for once, +you must permit me, without rebuke, to thank you for a pleasure so rare +and special. Yet I am not going to praise either Mr. Thackeray or his +book. I have read, enjoyed, been interested, and, after all, feel full +as much ire and sorrow as gratitude and admiration. And still one can +never lay down a book of his without the last two feelings having their +part, be the subject or treatment what it may. In the first half of +the book, what chiefly struck me was the wonderful manner in which the +writer throws himself into the spirit and letters of the times whereof +he treats; the allusions, the illustrations, the style, all seem to +me so masterly in their exact keeping, their harmonious consistency, +their nice, natural truth, their pure exemption from exaggeration. No +second-rate imitator can write in that way; no coarse scene-painter +can charm us with an allusion so delicate and perfect. But what bitter +satire, what relentless dissection of diseased subjects! Well, and this, +too, is right, or would be right, if the savage surgeon did not seem so +fiercely pleased with his work. Thackeray likes to dissect an ulcer or +an aneurism; he has pleasure in putting his cruel knife or probe into +quivering, living flesh. Thackeray would not like all the world to be +good; no great satirist would like society to be perfect. + +"As usual, he is unjust to women; quite unjust. There is hardly any +punishment he does not deserve for making Lady Castlewood peep through a +keyhole, listen at a door, and be jealous of a boy and a milkmaid. Many +other things I noticed that, for my part, grieved and exasperated me as +I read; but then, again, came passages so true, so deeply thought, so +tenderly felt, one could not help forgiving and admiring. + + * * * * * + +But I wish he could be told not to care much for dwelling on the +political or religious intrigues of the times. Thackeray, in his heart, +does not value political or religious intrigues of any age or date. He +likes to show us human nature at home, as he himself daily sees it; his +wonderful observant faculty likes to be in action. In him this faculty +is a sort of captain and leader; and if ever any passage in his writings +lacks interest, it is when this master-faculty is for a time thrust into +a subordinate position. I think such is the case in the former half +of the present volume. Towards the middle, he throws off restraint, +becomes himself, and is strong to the close. Everything now depends on +the second and third volumes. If, in pith and interest, they fall short +of the first, a true success cannot ensue. If the continuation be an +improvement upon the commencement, if the stream gather force as it +rolls, Thackeray will triumph. Some people have been in the habit of +terming him the second writer of the day; it just depends on himself +whether or not these critics shall be justified in their award. He need +not be the second. God made him second to no man. If I were he, I would +show myself as I am, not as critics report me; at any rate, I would do +my best. Mr. Thackeray is easy and indolent, and seldom cares to do his +best. Thank you once more; and believe me yours sincerely, + +C. BRONTE." + +Miss Bronte's health continued such, that she could not apply herself +to writing as she wished, for many weeks after the serious attack from +which she had suffered. There was not very much to cheer her in the +few events that touched her interests during this time. She heard in +March of the death of a friend's relation in the Colonies; and we see +something of what was the corroding dread at her heart. + +"The news of E----'s death came to me last week in a letter from M ----; +a long letter, which wrung my heart so, in its simple, strong, truthful +emotion, I have only ventured to read it once. It ripped up half-scarred +wounds with terrible force. The death-bed was just the same,--breath +failing, etc. She fears she shall now, in her dreary solitude, become a +'stern, harsh, selfish woman.' This fear struck home; again and again +have I felt it for myself, and what is MY position to M----'s? May God +help her, as God only can help!" + +Again and again, her friend urged her to leave home; nor were various +invitations wanting to enable her to do this, when these constitutional +accesses of low spirits preyed too much upon her in her solitude. But +she would not allow herself any such indulgence, unless it became +absolutely necessary from the state of her health. She dreaded the +perpetual recourse to such stimulants as change of scene and society, +because of the reaction that was sure to follow. As far as she could +see, her life was ordained to be lonely, and she must subdue her +nature to her life, and, if possible, bring the two into harmony. When +she could employ herself in fiction, all was comparatively well. The +characters were her companions in the quiet hours, which she spent +utterly alone, unable often to stir out of doors for many days together. +The interests of the persons in her novels supplied the lack of interest +in her own life; and Memory and Imagination found their appropriate +work, and ceased to prey upon her vitals. But too frequently she could +not write, could not see her people, nor hear them speak; a great mist +of head-ache had blotted them out; they were non-existent to her. + +This was the case all through the present spring; and anxious as her +publishers were for its completion, Villette stood still. Even her +letters to her friend are scarce and brief. Here and there I find a +sentence in them which can be extracted, and which is worth preserving. + +"M----'s letter is very interesting; it shows a mind one cannot but +truly admire. Compare its serene trusting strength, with poor ----'s +vacillating dependence. When the latter was in her first burst of +happiness, I never remember the feeling finding vent in expressions of +gratitude to God. There was always a continued claim upon your sympathy +in the mistrust and doubt she felt of her own bliss. M---- believes; +her faith is grateful and at peace; yet while happy in herself, how +thoughtful she is for others!" + +"March 23rd, 1852. + +"You say, dear E----, that you often wish I would chat on paper, as you +do. How can I? Where are my materials? Is my life fertile in subjects of +chat? What callers do I see? What visits do I pay? No, you must chat, +and I must listen, and say 'Yes,' and 'No,' and 'Thank you!' for five +minutes' recreation. + + * * * * * + +"I am amused at the interest you take in politics. Don't expect to +rouse me; to me, all ministries and all oppositions seem to be pretty +much alike. D'Israeli was factious as leader of the Opposition; Lord +John Russell is going to be factious, now that he has stepped into +D'Israeli's shoes. Lord Derby's 'Christian love and spirit,' is worth +three half-pence farthing." + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"March 25th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--Mr. Smith intimated a short time since, that he had some +thoughts of publishing a reprint of Shirley. Having revised the work, +I now enclose the errata. I have likewise sent off to-day, per rail, a +return-box of Cornhill books. + +"I have lately read with great pleasure, 'The Two Families.' This work, +it seems, should have reached me in January; but owing to a mistake, +it was detained at the Dead Letter Office, and lay there nearly two +months. I liked the commencement very much; the close seemed to me +scarcely equal to 'Rose Douglas.' I thought the authoress committed a +mistake in shifting the main interest from the two personages on whom +it first rests--viz., Ben Wilson and Mary--to other characters of quite +inferior conception. Had she made Ben and Mary her hero and heroine, and +continued the development of their fortunes and characters in the same +truthful natural vein in which she commences it, an excellent, even an +original, book might have been the result. As for Lilias and Ronald, +they are mere romantic figments, with nothing of the genuine Scottish +peasant about them; they do not even speak the Caledonian dialect; they +palaver like a fine lady and gentleman. + +"I ought long since to have acknowledged the gratification with which +I read Miss Kavanagh's 'Women of Christianity.' Her charity and (on +the whole) her impartiality are very beautiful. She touches, indeed, +with too gentle a hand the theme of Elizabeth of Hungary; and, in her +own mind, she evidently misconstrues the fact of Protestant charities +SEEMING to be fewer than Catholic. She forgets, or does not know, that +Protestantism is a quieter creed than Romanism; as it does not clothe +its priesthood in scarlet, so neither does it set up its good women for +saints, canonise their names, and proclaim their good works. In the +records of man, their almsgiving will not perhaps be found registered, +but Heaven has its account as well as earth. + +"With kind regards to yourself and family, who, I trust, have all safely +weathered the rough winter lately past, as well as the east winds, which +are still nipping our spring in Yorkshire,--I am, my dear Sir, yours +sincerely, + +C. BRONTE." + +"April 3rd, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--The box arrived quite safely, and I very much thank you +for the contents, which are most kindly selected. + +"As you wished me to say what I thought of 'The School for Fathers,' +I hastened to read it. The book seems to me clever, interesting, very +amusing, and likely to please generally. There is a merit in the choice +of ground, which is not yet too hackneyed; the comparative freshness of +subject, character, and epoch give the tale a certain attractiveness. +There is also, I think, a graphic rendering of situations, and a lively +talent for describing whatever is visible and tangible--what the eye +meets on the surface of things. The humour appears to me such as would +answer well on the stage; most of the scenes seem to demand dramatic +accessories to give them their full effect. But I think one cannot with +justice bestow higher praise than this. To speak candidly, I felt, in +reading the tale, a wondrous hollowness in the moral and sentiment; a +strange dilettante shallowness in the purpose and feeling. After all, +'Jack' is not much better than a 'Tony Lumpkin,' and there is no very +great breadth of choice between the clown he IS and the fop his father +would have made him. The grossly material life of the old English +fox-hunter, and the frivolous existence of the fine gentleman present +extremes, each in its way so repugnant, that one feels half inclined to +smile when called upon to sentimentalise over the lot of a youth forced +to pass from one to the other; torn from the stables, to be ushered +perhaps into the ball-room. Jack dies mournfully indeed, and you are +sorry for the poor fellow's untimely end; but you cannot forget that, if +he had not been thrust into the way of Colonel Penruddock's weapon, he +might possibly have broken his neck in a fox-hunt. The character of Sir +Thomas Warren is excellent; consistent throughout. That of Mr. Addison +not bad, but sketchy, a mere outline--wanting colour and finish. The +man's portrait is there, and his costume, and fragmentary anecdotes of +his life; but where is the man's nature--soul and self? I say nothing +about the female characters--not one word; only that Lydia seems to me +like a pretty little actress, prettily dressed gracefully appearing and +disappearing, and reappearing in a genteel comedy, assuming the proper +sentiments of her part with all due tact and naivete, and--that is all. + +"Your description of the model man of business is true enough, I doubt +not; but we will not fear that society will ever be brought quite to +this standard; human nature (bad as it is) has, after all, elements that +forbid it. But the very tendency to such a consummation--the marked +tendency, I fear, of the day--produces, no doubt, cruel suffering. Yet, +when the evil of competition passes a certain limit, must it not in time +work its own cure? I suppose it will, but then through some convulsed +crisis, shattering all around it like an earthquake. Meantime, for how +many is life made a struggle; enjoyment and rest curtailed; labour +terribly enhanced beyond almost what nature can bear I often think that +this world would be the most terrible of enigmas, were it not for the +firm belief that there is a world to come, where conscientious effort +and patient pain will meet their reward.--Believe me, my dear Sir, +sincerely yours, + +C. BRONTE." + +A letter to her old Brussels schoolfellow gives a short retrospect of +the dreary winter she had passed through. + +"Haworth, April 12th, 1852. + +". . . I struggled through the winter, and the early part of the spring, +often with great difficulty. My friend stayed with me a few days in the +early part of January; she could not be spared longer. I was better +during her visit, but had a relapse soon after she left me, which +reduced my strength very much. It cannot be denied that the solitude +of my position fearfully aggravated its other evils. Some long stormy +days and nights there were, when I felt such a craving for support and +companionship as I cannot express. Sleepless, I lay awake night after +night, weak and unable to occupy myself. I sat in my chair day after +day, the saddest memories my only company. It was a time I shall never +forget; but God sent it, and it must have been for the best. + +"I am better now; and very grateful do I feel for the restoration of +tolerable health; but, as if there was always to be some affliction, +papa, who enjoyed wonderful health during the whole winter, is ailing +with his spring attack of bronchitis. I earnestly trust it may pass over +in the comparatively ameliorated form in which it has hitherto shown +itself. + +"Let me not forget to answer your question about the cataract. Tell your +papa that MY father was seventy at the time he underwent an operation; +he was most reluctant to try the experiment; could not believe that, at +his age, and with his want of robust strength, it would succeed. I was +obliged to be very decided in the matter, and to act entirely on my own +responsibility. Nearly six years have now elapsed since the cataract +was extracted (it was not merely depressed); he has never once during +that time regretted the step, and a day seldom passes that he does not +express gratitude and pleasure at the restoration of that inestimable +privilege of vision whose loss he once knew." + +I had given Miss Bronte; in one of my letters, an outline of the story +on which I was then engaged, and in reply she says:-- + +"The sketch you give of your work (respecting which I am, of course, +dumb) seems to me very noble; and its purpose may be as useful in +practical result as it is high and just in theoretical tendency. Such a +book may restore hope and energy to many who thought they had forfeited +their right to both; and open a clear course for honourable effort to +some who deemed that they and all honour had parted company in this +world. + +"Yet--hear my protest! + +"Why should she die? Why are we to shut up the book weeping? + +"My heart fails me already at the thought of the pang it will have to +undergo. And yet you must follow the impulse of your own inspiration. +If THAT commands the slaying of the victim, no bystander has a right to +put out his hand to stay the sacrificial knife: but I hold you a stern +priestess in these matters." + +As the milder weather came on, her health improved, and her power of +writing increased. She set herself with redoubled vigour to the work +before her; and denied herself pleasure for the purpose of steady +labour. Hence she writes to her friend:-- + +"May 11th. + +"Dear E----, --I must adhere to my resolution of neither visiting nor +being visited at present. Stay you quietly at B., till you go to S., as +I shall stay at Haworth; as sincere a farewell can be taken with the +heart as with the lips, and perhaps less painful. I am glad the weather +is changed; the return of the south-west wind suits me; but I hope you +have no cause to regret the departure of your favourite east wind. What +you say about ---- does not surprise me; I have had many little notes +(whereof I answer about one in three) breathing the same spirit,--self +and child the sole all-absorbing topics, on which the changes are rung +even to weariness. But I suppose one must not heed it, or think the case +singular. Nor, I am afraid, must one expect her to improve. I read in a +French book lately, a sentence to this effect, that 'marriage might be +defined as the state of two-fold selfishness.' Let the single therefore +take comfort. Thank you for Mary's letter. She DOES seem most happy; +and I cannot tell you how much more real, lasting, and better-warranted +her happiness seems than ever ----'s did. I think so much of it is in +herself, and her own serene, pure, trusting, religious nature. ----'s +always gives me the idea of a vacillating, unsteady rapture, entirely +dependent on circumstances with all their fluctuations. If Mary lives to +be a mother, you will then see a greater difference. + +"I wish you, dear E., all health and enjoyment in your visit; and, as +far as one can judge at present, there seems a fair prospect of the wish +being realised.--Yours sincerely, + +"C. BRONTE." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The reader will remember that Anne Bronte had been interred in the +churchyard of the Old Church at Scarborough. Charlotte had left +directions for a tombstone to be placed over her; but many a time during +the solitude of the past winter, her sad, anxious thoughts had revisited +the scene of that last great sorrow, and she had wondered whether all +decent services had been rendered to the memory of the dead, until at +last she came to a silent resolution to go and see for herself whether +the stone and inscription were in a satisfactory state of preservation. + +"Cliffe House, Filey, June 6th, 1852. + +"Dear E----, --I am at Filey utterly alone. Do not be angry, the step +is right. I considered it, and resolved on it with due deliberation. +Change of air was necessary; there were reasons why I should NOT go to +the south, and why I should come here. On Friday I went to Scarborough, +visited the churchyard and stone. It must be refaced and relettered; +there are five errors. I gave the necessary directions. THAT duty, then, +is done; long has it lain heavy on my mind; and that was a pilgrimage I +felt I could only make alone. + +"I am in our old lodgings at Mrs. Smith's; not, however, in the same +rooms, but in less expensive apartments. They seemed glad to see me, +remembered you and me very well, and, seemingly, with great good will. +The daughter who used to wait on us is just married. Filey seems to me +much altered; more lodging-houses--some of them very handsome--have been +built; the sea has all its old grandeur. I walk on the sands a good +deal, and try NOT to feel desolate and melancholy. How sorely my heart +longs for you, I need not say. I have bathed once; it seemed to do me +good. I may, perhaps, stay here a fortnight. There are as yet scarcely +any visitors. A Lady Wenlock is staying at the large house of which +you used so vigilantly to observe the inmates. One day I set out with +intent to trudge to Filey Bridge, but was frightened back by two cows. +I mean to try again some morning. I left papa well. I have been a good +deal troubled with headache, and with some pain in the side since I came +here, but I feel that this has been owing to the cold wind, for very +cold has it been till lately; at present I feel better. Shall I send +the papers to you as usual. Write again directly, and tell me this, and +anything and everything else that comes into your mind.--Believe me, +yours faithfully, + +"C. BRONTE." + +"Filey, June 16th, 1852. + +"Dear E----, --Be quite easy about me. I really think I am better for my +stay at Filey; that I have derived more benefit from it than I dared to +anticipate. I believe, could I stay here two months, and enjoy something +like social cheerfulness as well as exercise and good air, my health +would be quite renewed. This, however, cannot possibly be; but I am most +thankful for the good received. I stay here another week. + +"I return ----'s letter. I am sorry for her: I believe she suffers; but +I do not much like her style of expressing herself. . . . Grief as well +as joy manifests itself in most different ways in different people; +and I doubt not she is sincere and in earnest when she talks of her +'precious, sainted father;' but I could wish she used simpler language." + +Soon after her return from Filey, she was alarmed by a very serious and +sharp attack of illness with which Mr. Bronte was seized. There was +some fear, for a few days, that his sight was permanently lost, and his +spirits sank painfully under this dread. + +"This prostration of spirits," writes his daughter, "which accompanies +anything like a relapse is almost the most difficult point to manage. +Dear E----, you are tenderly kind in offering your society; but +rest very tranquil where you are; be fully assured that it is not +now, nor under present circumstances, that I feel the lack either +of society or occupation; my time is pretty well filled up, and my +thoughts appropriated. . . . I cannot permit myself to comment much +on the chief contents of your last; advice is not necessary: as far +as I can judge, you seem hitherto enabled to take these trials in a +good and wise spirit. I can only pray that such combined strength and +resignation may be continued to you. Submission, courage, exertion, +when practicable--these seem to be the weapons with which we must fight +life's long battle." + +I suppose that, during the very time when her thoughts were thus fully +occupied with anxiety for her father, she received some letter from her +publishers, making inquiry as to the progress of the work which they +knew she had in hand, as I find the following letter to Mr. Williams, +bearing reference to some of Messrs. Smith and Elder's proposed +arrangements. + +"To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"July 28th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--Is it in contemplation to publish the new edition +of 'Shirley' soon? Would it not be better to defer it for a time? +In reference to a part of your letter, permit me to express this +wish,--and I trust in doing so, I shall not be regarded as stepping out +of my position as an author, and encroaching on the arrangements of +business,--viz.: that no announcement of a new work by the author of +'Jane Eyre' shall be made till the MS. of such work is actually in my +publisher's hands. Perhaps we are none of us justified in speaking very +decidedly where the future is concerned; but for some too much caution +in such calculations can scarcely be observed: amongst this number I +must class myself. Nor, in doing so, can I assume an apologetic tone. He +does right who does his best. + +"Last autumn I got on for a time quickly. I ventured to look forward to +spring as the period of publication: my health gave way; I passed such +a winter as, having been once experienced, will never be forgotten. +The spring proved little better than a protraction of trial. The warm +weather and a visit to the sea have done me much good physically; but as +yet I have recovered neither elasticity of animal spirits, nor flow of +the power of composition. And if it were otherwise, the difference would +be of no avail; my time and thoughts are at present taken up with close +attendance on my father, whose health is just now in a very critical +state, the heat of the weather having produced determination of blood to +the head.--I am, yours sincerely, + +C. BRONTE." + +Before the end of August, Mr. Bronte's convalescence became quite +established, and he was anxious to resume his duties for some time +before his careful daughter would permit him. + +On September the 14th the "great duke" died. He had been, as we have +seen, her hero from childhood; but I find no further reference to him at +this time than what is given in the following extract from a letter to +her friend:-- + +"I do hope and believe the changes you have been having this summer will +do you permanent good, notwithstanding the pain with which they have +been too often mingled. Yet I feel glad that you are soon coming home; +and I really must not trust myself to say how much I wish the time were +come when, without let or hindrance, I could once more welcome you to +Haworth. But oh I don't get on; I feel fretted--incapable--sometimes +very low. However, at present, the subject must not be dwelt upon; it +presses me too hardly--nearly--and painfully. Less than ever can I taste +or know pleasure till this work is wound up. And yet I often sit up in +bed at night, thinking of and wishing for you. Thank you for the Times; +what it said on the mighty and mournful subject was well said. All at +once the whole nation seems to take a just view of that great character. +There was a review too of an American book, which I was glad to see. +Read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin': probably, though, you have read it. + +"Papa's health continues satisfactory, thank God! As for me, my wretched +liver has been disordered again of late, but I hope it is now going to +be on better behaviour; it hinders me in working--depresses both power +and tone of feeling. I must expect this derangement from time to time." + +Haworth was in an unhealthy state, as usual; and both Miss Bronte and +Tabby suffered severely from the prevailing epidemics. The former was +long in shaking off the effects of this illness. In vain she resolved +against allowing herself any society or change of scene until she had +accomplished her labour. She was too ill to write; and with illness +came on the old heaviness of heart, recollections of the past, and +anticipations of the future. At last Mr. Bronte expressed so strong a +wish that her friend should be asked to visit her, and she felt some +little refreshment so absolutely necessary, that on October the 9th she +begged her to come to Haworth, just for a single week. + +"I thought I would persist in denying myself till I had done my work, +but I find it won't do; the matter refuses to progress, and this +excessive solitude presses too heavily; so let me see your dear face, +E., just for one reviving week." + +But she would only accept of the company of her friend for the exact +time specified. She thus writes to Miss Wooler on October the 21st:-- + +"E---- has only been my companion one little week. I would not have her +any longer, for I am disgusted with myself and my delays; and consider +it was a weak yielding to temptation in me to send for her at all; but +in truth, my spirits were getting low--prostrate sometimes--and she has +done me inexpressible good. I wonder when I shall see you at Haworth +again; both my father and the servants have again and again insinuated +a distinct wish that you should be requested to come in the course of +the summer and autumn, but I have always turned rather a deaf ear; +'not yet,' was my thought, 'I want first to be free;' work first, then +pleasure." + +Miss ----'s visit had done her much good. Pleasant companionship during +the day produced, for the time, the unusual blessing of calm repose at +night; and after her friend's departure she was well enough to "fall to +business," and write away, almost incessantly, at her story of Villette, +now drawing to a conclusion. The following letter to Mr. Smith, seems to +have accompanied the first part of the MS. + +"Oct. 30th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--You must notify honestly what you think of 'Villette' +when you have read it. I can hardly tell you how I hunger to hear some +opinion besides my own, and how I have sometimes desponded, and almost +despaired, because there was no one to whom to read a line, or of whom +to ask a counsel. 'Jane Eyre' was not written under such circumstances, +nor were two-thirds of 'Shirley'. I got so miserable about it, I could +bear no allusion to the book. It is not finished yet; but now I hope. +As to the anonymous publication, I have this to say: If the withholding +of the author's name should tend materially to injure the publisher's +interest, to interfere with booksellers' orders, etc., I would not press +the point; but if no such detriment is contingent, I should be most +thankful for the sheltering shadow of an incognito. I seem to dread the +advertisements--the large-lettered 'Currer Bell's New Novel,' or 'New +Work, by the Author of Jane Eyre.' These, however, I feel well enough, +are the transcendentalisms of a retired wretch; so you must speak +frankly. . . . I shall be glad to see 'Colonel Esmond.' My objection to +the second volume lay here: I thought it contained decidedly too much +history--too little story." + +In another letter, referring to "Esmond," she uses the following words:-- + +"The third volume seemed to me to possess the most sparkle, impetus, +and interest. Of the first and second my judgment was, that parts of +them were admirable; but there was the fault of containing too much +History--too little story. I hold that a work of fiction ought to be a +work of creation: that the REAL should be sparingly introduced in pages +dedicated to the IDEAL. Plain household bread is a far more wholesome +and necessary thing than cake; yet who would like to see the brown loaf +placed on the table for dessert? In the second volume, the author gives +us an ample supply of excellent brown bread; in his third, only such a +portion as gives substance, like the crumbs of bread in a well-made, not +too rich, plum-pudding." + +Her letter to Mr. Smith, containing the allusion to 'Esmond,' which +reminded me of the quotation just given continues:-- + +"You will see that 'Villette' touches on no matter of public interest. +I cannot write books handling the topics of the day; it is of no use +trying. Nor can I write a book for its moral. Nor can I take up a +philanthropic scheme, though I honour philanthropy; and voluntarily and +sincerely veil my face before such a mighty subject as that handled in +Mrs. Beecher Stowe's work, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' To manage these great +matters rightly, they must be long and practically studied--their +bearings known intimately, and their evils felt genuinely; they must not +be taken up as a business matter, and a trading speculation. I doubt +not, Mrs. Stowe had felt the iron of slavery enter into her heart, +from childhood upwards, long before she ever thought of writing books. +The feeling throughout her work is sincere, and not got up. Remember +to be an honest critic of 'Villette,' and tell Mr. Williams to be +unsparing: not that I am likely to alter anything, but I want to know +his impressions and yours." + +To G. SMITH, ESQ. + +"Nov. 3rd. + +"My dear Sir,--I feel very grateful for your letter; it relieved me +much, for I was a good deal harassed by doubts as to how 'Villette' +might appear in other eyes than my own. I feel in some degree authorised +to rely on your favourable impressions, because you are quite right +where you hint disapprobation. You have exactly hit two points at +least where I was conscious of defect;--the discrepancy, the want of +perfect harmony, between Graham's boyhood and manhood,--the angular +abruptness of his change of sentiment towards Miss Fanshawe. You must +remember, though, that in secret he had for some time appreciated that +young lady at a somewhat depressed standard--held her a LITTLE lower +than the angels. But still the reader ought to have been better made to +feel this preparation towards a change of mood. As to the publishing +arrangement, I leave them to Cornhill. There is, undoubtedly, a certain +force in what you say about the inexpediency of affecting a mystery +which cannot be sustained; so you must act as you think is for the +best. I submit, also, to the advertisements in large letters, but under +protest, and with a kind of ostrich-longing for concealment. Most of the +third volume is given to the development of the 'crabbed Professor's' +character. Lucy must not marry Dr. John; he is far too youthful, +handsome, bright-spirited, and sweet-tempered; he is a 'curled darling' +of Nature and of Fortune, and must draw a prize in life's lottery. His +wife must be young, rich, pretty; he must be made very happy indeed. If +Lucy marries anybody, it must be the Professor--a man in whom there is +much to forgive, much to 'put up with.' But I am not leniently disposed +towards Miss FROST from the beginning, I never meant to appoint her +lines in pleasant places. The conclusion of this third volume is still +a matter of some anxiety: I can but do my best, however. It would +speedily be finished, could I ward off certain obnoxious headaches, +which, whenever I get into the spirit of my work, are apt to seize and +prostrate me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +"Colonel Henry Esmond is just arrived. He looks very antique and +distinguished in his Queen Anne's garb; the periwig, sword, lace, and +ruffles are very well represented by the old 'Spectator' type." + +In reference to a sentence towards the close of this letter, I may +mention what she told me; that Mr. Bronte was anxious that her new +tale should end well, as he disliked novels which left a melancholy +impression upon the mind; and he requested her to make her hero and +heroine (like the heroes and heroines in fairy-tales) "marry, and live +very happily ever after." But the idea of M. Paul Emanuel's death at sea +was stamped on her imagination till it assumed the distinct force of +reality; and she could no more alter her fictitious ending than if they +had been facts which she was relating. All she could do in compliance +with her father's wish was so to veil the fate in oracular words, as to +leave it to the character and discernment of her readers to interpret +her meaning. + +To W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"Nov. 6th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--I must not delay thanking you for your kind letter, +with its candid and able commentary on 'Villette.' With many of your +strictures I concur. The third volume may, perhaps, do away with some +of the objections; others still remain in force. I do not think the +interest culminates anywhere to the degree you would wish. What climax +there is does not come on till near the conclusion; and even then, I +doubt whether the regular novel-reader will consider the 'agony piled +sufficiently high' (as the Americans say), or the colours dashed on to +the canvas with the proper amount of daring. Still, I fear, they must be +satisfied with what is offered: my palette affords no brighter tints; +were I to attempt to deepen the reds, or burnish the yellows, I should +but botch. + +"Unless I am mistaken, the emotion of the book will be found to be kept +throughout in tolerable subjection. As to the name of the heroine, I +can hardly express what subtlety of thought made me decide upon giving +her a cold name; but, at first, I called her 'Lucy Snowe' (spelt with +an 'e'); which Snowe I afterwards changed to 'Frost.' Subsequently, I +rather regretted the change, and wished it 'Snowe' again. If not too +late, I should like the alteration to be made now throughout the MS. A +COLD name she must have; partly, perhaps, on the 'lucus a non lucendo' +principle--partly on that of the 'fitness of things,' for she has about +her an external coldness. + +"You say that she may be thought morbid and weak, unless the history of +her life be more fully given. I consider that she is both morbid and +weak at times; her character sets up no pretensions to unmixed strength, +and anybody living her life would necessarily become morbid. It was no +impetus of healthy feeling which urged her to the confessional, for +instance; it was the semi-delirium of solitary grief and sickness. If, +however, the book does not express all this, there must be a great fault +somewhere. I might explain away a few other points, but it would be too +much like drawing a picture and then writing underneath the name of the +object intended to be represented. We know what sort of a pencil that is +which needs an ally in the pen. + +"Thanking you again for the clearness and fulness with which you have +responded to my request for a statement of impressions, I am, my dear +Sir, yours very sincerely, + +"C. BRONTE." + +"I trust the work will be seen in MS. by no one except Mr. Smith and +yourself." + +"Nov. 10th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--I only wished the publication of 'Shirley' to be delayed +till 'Villette' was nearly ready; so that there can now be no objection +to its being issued whenever you think fit. About putting the MS. into +type, I can only say that, should I be able to proceed with the third +volume at my average rate of composition, and with no more than the +average amount of interruptions, I should hope to have it ready in about +three weeks. I leave it to you to decide whether it would be better to +delay the printing that space of time, or to commence it immediately. +It would certainly be more satisfactory if you were to see the third +volume before printing the first and the second; yet, if delay is likely +to prove injurious, I do not think it is indispensable. I have read the +third volume of 'Esmond.' I found it both entertaining and exciting +to me; it seems to possess an impetus and excitement beyond the other +two,--that movement and brilliancy its predecessors sometimes wanted, +never fails here. In certain passages, I thought Thackeray used all his +powers; their grand, serious force yielded a profound satisfaction. 'At +last he puts forth his strength,' I could not help saying to myself. No +character in the book strikes me as more masterly than that of Beatrix; +its conception is fresh, and its delineation vivid. It is peculiar; it +has impressions of a new kind--new, at least, to me. Beatrix is not, +in herself, all bad. So much does she sometimes reveal of what is good +and great as to suggest this feeling--you would think she was urged by +a fate. You would think that some antique doom presses on her house, +and that once in so many generations its brightest ornament was to +become its greatest disgrace. At times, what is good in her struggles +against this terrible destiny, but the Fate conquers. Beatrix cannot +be an honest woman and a good man's wife. She 'tries, and she CANNOT.' +Proud, beautiful, and sullied, she was born what she becomes, a king's +mistress. I know not whether you have seen the notice in the Leader; +I read it just after concluding the book. Can I be wrong in deeming +it a notice tame, cold, and insufficient? With all its professed +friendliness, it produced on me a most disheartening impression. +Surely, another sort of justice than this will be rendered to 'Esmond' +from other quarters. One acute remark of the critic is to the effect +that Blanche Amory and Beatrix are identical--sketched from the same +original! To me they are about as identical as a weazel and a royal +tigress of Bengal; both the latter are quadrupeds,--both the former, +women. But I must not take up either your time or my own with further +remarks. Believe me yours sincerely, + +"C. BRONTE." + +On a Saturday, a little later in this month, Miss Bronte completed +'Villette,' and sent it off to her publishers. "I said my prayers when +I had done it. Whether it is well or ill done, I don't know; D. V., I +will now try and wait the issue quietly. The book, I think, will not be +considered pretentious; nor is it of a character to excite hostility." + +As her labour was ended, she felt at liberty to allow herself a little +change. There were several friends anxious to see her and welcome her +to their homes Miss Martineau, Mrs. Smith, and her own faithful E----. +With the last, in the same letter as that in which she announced the +completion of 'Villette,' she offered to spend a week. She began, also, +to consider whether it might not be well to avail herself of Mrs. +Smith's kind invitation, with a view to the convenience of being on the +spot to correct the proofs. + +The following letter is given, not merely on account of her own +criticisms on 'Villette,' but because it shows how she had learned to +magnify the meaning of trifles, as all do who live a self-contained +and solitary life. Mr. Smith had been unable to write by the same post +as that which brought the money for 'Villette,' and she consequently +received it without a line. The friend with whom she was staying says, +that she immediately fancied there was some disappointment about +'Villette,' or that some word or act of hers had given offence; and had +not the Sunday intervened, and so allowed time for Mr. Smith's letter to +make its appearance, she would certainly have crossed it on her way to +London. + +"Dec. 6th, 1852. + +"My dear Sir,--The receipts have reached me safely. I received the first +on Saturday, enclosed in a cover without a line, and had made up my +mind to take the train on Monday, and go up to London to see what was +the matter, and what had struck my publisher mute. On Sunday morning +your letter came, and you have thus been spared the visitation of the +unannounced and unsummoned apparition of Currer Bell in Cornhill. +Inexplicable delays should be avoided when possible, for they are apt to +urge those subjected to their harassment to sudden and impulsive steps. +I must pronounce you right again, in your complaint of the transfer of +interest in the third volume, from one set of characters to another. +It is not pleasant, and it will probably be found as unwelcome to the +reader, as it was, in a sense, compulsory upon the writer. The spirit +of romance would have indicated another course, far more flowery and +inviting; it would have fashioned a paramount hero, kept faithfully with +him, and made him supremely worshipful; he should have been an idol, and +not a mute, unresponding idol either; but this would have been unlike +real LIFE--inconsistent with truth--at variance with probability. I +greatly apprehend, however, that the weakest character in the book is +the one I aimed at making the most beautiful; and, if this be the case, +the fault lies in its wanting the germ of the real--in its being purely +imaginary. I felt that this character lacked substance; I fear that the +reader will feel the same. Union with it resembles too much the fate of +Ixion, who was mated with a cloud. The childhood of Paulina is, however, +I think, pretty well imagined, but her. . ." (the remainder of this +interesting sentence is torn off the letter). "A brief visit to London +becomes thus more practicable, and if your mother will kindly write, +when she has time, and name a day after Christmas which will suit her, I +shall have pleasure, papa's health permitting, in availing myself of her +invitation. I wish I could come in time to correct some at least of the +proofs; it would save trouble." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The difficulty that presented itself most strongly to me, when I first +had the honour of being requested to write this biography, was how I +could show what a noble, true, and tender woman Charlotte Bronte really +was, without mingling up with her life too much of the personal history +of her nearest and most intimate friends. After much consideration of +this point, I came to the resolution of writing truly, if I wrote at +all; of withholding nothing, though some things, from their very nature, +could not be spoken of so fully as others. + +One of the deepest interests of her life centres naturally round +her marriage, and the preceding circumstances; but more than all +other events (because of more recent date, and concerning another as +intimately as herself), it requires delicate handling on my part, lest +I intrude too roughly on what is most sacred to memory. Yet I have +two reasons, which seem to me good and valid ones, for giving some +particulars of the course of events which led to her few months of +wedded life--that short spell of exceeding happiness. The first is my +desire to call attention to the fact that Mr. Nicholls was one who had +seen her almost daily for years; seen her as a daughter, a sister, a +mistress and a friend. He was not a man to be attracted by any kind of +literary fame. I imagine that this, by itself, would rather repel him +when he saw it in the possession of a woman. He was a grave, reserved, +conscientious man, with a deep sense of religion, and of his duties as +one of its ministers. + +In silence he had watched her, and loved her long. The love of such +a man--a daily spectator of her manner of life for years--is a great +testimony to her character as a woman. + +How deep his affection was I scarcely dare to tell, even if I could +in words. She did not know--she had hardly begun to suspect--that she +was the object of any peculiar regard on his part, when, in this very +December, he came one evening to tea. After tea, she returned from the +study to her own sitting-room, as was her custom, leaving her father +and his curate together. Presently she heard the study-door open, and +expected to hear the succeeding clash of the front door. Instead, came +a tap; and, "like lightning, it flashed upon me what was coming. He +entered. He stood before me. What his words were you can imagine; his +manner you can hardly realise, nor can I forget it. He made me, for the +first time, feel what it costs a man to declare affection when he doubts +response. . . . The spectacle of one, ordinarily so statue-like, thus +trembling, stirred, and overcome, gave me a strange shock. I could only +entreat him to leave me then, and promise a reply on the morrow. I asked +if he had spoken to Papa. He said he dared not. I think I half led, half +put him out of the room." + +So deep, so fervent, and so enduring was the affection Miss Bronte had +inspired in the heart of this good man! It is an honour to her; and, +as such, I have thought it my duty to speak thus much, and quote thus +fully from her letter about it. And now I pass to my second reason for +dwelling on a subject which may possibly be considered by some, at +first sight, of too private a nature for publication. When Mr. Nicholls +had left her, Charlotte went immediately to her father and told him +all. He always disapproved of marriages, and constantly talked against +them. But he more than disapproved at this time; he could not bear the +idea of this attachment of Mr. Nicholls to his daughter. Fearing the +consequences of agitation to one so recently an invalid, she made haste +to give her father a promise that, on the morrow, Mr. Nicholls should +have a distinct refusal. Thus quietly and modestly did she, on whom +such hard judgments had been passed by ignorant reviewers, receive this +vehement, passionate declaration of love,--thus thoughtfully for her +father, and unselfishly for herself, put aside all consideration of how +she should reply, excepting as he wished! + +The immediate result of Mr. Nicholls' declaration of attachment was, +that he sent in his resignation of the curacy of Haworth; and that +Miss Bronte held herself simply passive, as far as words and actions +went, while she suffered acute pain from the strong expressions which +her father used in speaking of Mr. Nicholls, and from the too evident +distress and failure of health on the part of the latter. Under these +circumstances she, more gladly than ever, availed herself of Mrs. +Smith's proposal, that she should again visit them in London; and +thither she accordingly went in the first week of the year 1853. + +From thence I received the following letter. It is with a sad, proud +pleasure I copy her words of friendship now. + +"January 12th, 1853. + +"It is with YOU the ball rests. I have not heard from you since I wrote +last; but I thought I knew the reason of your silence, viz. application +to work,--and therefore I accept it, not merely with resignation, but +with satisfaction. + +"I am now in London, as the date above will show; staying very quietly +at my publisher's, and correcting proofs, etc. Before receiving yours, +I had felt, and expressed to Mr. Smith, reluctance to come in the +way of 'Ruth;' not that I think SHE would suffer from contact with +'Villette'--we know not but that the damage might be the other way; but +I have ever held comparisons to be odious, and would fain that neither I +nor my friends should be made subjects for the same. Mr. Smith proposes, +accordingly, to defer the publication of my book till the 24th inst.; +he says that will give 'Ruth' the start in the papers daily and weekly, +and also will leave free to her all the February magazines. Should this +delay appear to you insufficient, speak! and it shall be protracted. + +"I dare say, arrange as we may, we shall not be able wholly to prevent +comparisons; it is the nature of some critics to be invidious; but we +need not care we can set them at defiance; they SHALL not make us foes, +they SHALL not mingle with our mutual feelings one taint of jealousy +there is my hand on that; I know you will give clasp for clasp. + +"'Villette' has indeed no right to push itself before 'Ruth.' There is a +goodness, a philanthropic purpose, a social use in the latter to which +the former cannot for an instant pretend; nor can it claim precedence on +the ground of surpassing power I think it much quieter than 'Jane Eyre.' + + * * * * * + +"I wish to see YOU, probably at least as much as you can wish to see ME, +and therefore shall consider your invitation for March as an engagement; +about the close of that month, then, I hope to pay you a brief visit. +With kindest remembrances to Mr. Gaskell and all your precious circle, I +am," etc. + +This visit at Mrs. Smith's was passed more quietly than any previous +one, and was consequently more in accordance with her own tastes. She +saw things rather than persons; and being allowed to have her own choice +of sights, she selected the "REAL in preference to the DECORATIVE +side of life." She went over two prisons,--one ancient, the other +modern,--Newgate and Pentonville; over two hospitals, the Foundling and +Bethlehem. She was also taken, at her own request, to see several of the +great City sights; the Bank, the Exchange, Rothschild's, etc. + +The power of vast yet minute organisation, always called out her respect +and admiration. She appreciated it more fully than most women are able +to do. All that she saw during this last visit to London impressed +her deeply--so much so as to render her incapable of the immediate +expression of her feelings, or of reasoning upon her impressions while +they were so vivid. If she had lived, her deep heart would sooner or +later have spoken out on these things. + +What she saw dwelt in her thoughts, and lay heavy on her spirits. She +received the utmost kindness from her hosts, and had the old, warm, and +grateful regard for them. But looking back, with the knowledge of what +was then the future, which Time has given, one cannot but imagine that +there was a toning-down in preparation for the final farewell to these +kind friends, whom she saw for the last time on a Wednesday morning in +February. She met her friend E---- at Keighley, on her return, and the +two proceeded to Haworth together. + +"Villette"--which, if less interesting as a mere story than "Jane +Eyre," displays yet more of the extraordinary genius of the author--was +received with one burst of acclamation. Out of so small a circle of +characters, dwelling in so dull and monotonous an area as a "pension," +this wonderful tale was evolved! + +See how she receives the good tidings of her success! + +"Feb. 15th, 1853. + +"I got a budget of no less than seven papers yesterday and to-day. +The import of all the notices is such as to make my heart swell with +thankfulness to Him, who takes note both of suffering, and work, and +motives. Papa is pleased too. As to friends in general, I believe I can +love them still, without expecting them to take any large share in this +sort of gratification. The longer I live, the more plainly I see that +gentle must be the strain on fragile human nature; it will not bear +much." + +I suspect that the touch of slight disappointment, perceptible in the +last few lines, arose from her great susceptibility to an opinion +she valued much,--that of Miss Martineau, who, both in an article on +'Villette' in the Daily News, and in a private letter to Miss Bronte, +wounded her to the quick by expressions of censure which she believed +to be unjust and unfounded, but which, if correct and true, went deeper +than any merely artistic fault. An author may bring himself to believe +that he can bear blame with equanimity, from whatever quarter it comes; +but its force is derived altogether from the character of this. To +the public, one reviewer may be the same impersonal being as another; +but an author has frequently a far deeper significance to attach to +opinions. They are the verdicts of those whom he respects and admires, +or the mere words of those for whose judgment he cares not a jot. It is +this knowledge of the individual worth of the reviewer's opinion, which +makes the censures of some sink so deep, and prey so heavily upon an +author's heart. And thus, in proportion to her true, firm regard for +Miss Martineau, did Miss Bronte suffer under what she considered her +misjudgment not merely of writing, but of character. + +She had long before asked Miss Martineau to tell her whether she +considered that any want of womanly delicacy or propriety was betrayed +in "Jane Eyre". And on receiving Miss Martineau's assurance that she +did not, Miss Bronte entreated her to declare it frankly if she thought +there was any failure of this description in any future work of "Currer +Bell's." The promise then given of faithful truth-speaking, Miss +Martineau fulfilled when "Villette" appeared. Miss Bronte writhed under +what she felt to be injustice. + +This seems a fitting place to state how utterly unconscious she was of +what was, by some, esteemed coarse in her writings. One day, during +that visit at the Briery when I first met her, the conversation turned +upon the subject of women's writing fiction; and some one remarked on +the fact that, in certain instances, authoresses had much outstepped +the line which men felt to be proper in works of this kind. Miss Bronte +said she wondered how far this was a natural consequence of allowing the +imagination to work too constantly; Sir James and Lady Kay Shuttleworth +and I expressed our belief that such violations of propriety were +altogether unconscious on the part of those to whom reference had been +made. I remember her grave, earnest way of saying, "I trust God will +take from me whatever power of invention or expression I may have, +before He lets me become blind to the sense of what is fitting or +unfitting to be said!" + +Again, she was invariably shocked and distressed when she heard of any +disapproval of "Jane Eyre" on the ground above-mentioned. Some one said +to her in London, "You know, you and I, Miss Bronte, have both written +naughty books!" She dwelt much on this; and, as if it weighed on her +mind, took an opportunity to ask Mrs. Smith, as she would have asked a +mother--if she had not been motherless from earliest childhood--whether, +indeed, there was anything so wrong in "Jane Eyre." + +I do not deny for myself the existence of coarseness here and there +in her works, otherwise so entirely noble. I only ask those who read +them to consider her life,--which has been openly laid bare before +them,--and to say how it could be otherwise. She saw few men; and among +these few were one or two with whom she had been acquainted since early +girlhood,--who had shown her much friendliness and kindness,--through +whose family she had received many pleasures,--for whose intellect she +had a great respect,--but who talked before her, if not to her with +as little reticence as Rochester talked to Jane Eyre. Take this in +connection with her poor brother's sad life, and the out-spoken people +among whom she lived,--remember her strong feeling of the duty of +representing life as it really is, not as it ought to be,--and then do +her justice for all that she was, and all that she would have been (had +God spared her), rather than censure her because circumstances forced +her to touch pitch, as it were, and by it her hand was for a moment +defiled. It was but skin-deep. Every change in her life was purifying +her; it hardly could raise her. Again I cry, "If she had but lived!" + +The misunderstanding with Miss Martineau on account of "Villette," was +the cause of bitter regret to Miss Bronte. Her woman's nature had been +touched, as she thought, with insulting misconception; and she had +dearly loved the person who had thus unconsciously wounded her. It was +but in the January just past that she had written as follows, in reply +to a friend, the tenor of whose letter we may guess from this answer:-- + +"I read attentively all you say about Miss Martineau; the sincerity +and constancy of your solicitude touch me very much; I should grieve +to neglect or oppose your advice, and yet I do not feel it would be +right to give Miss Martineau up entirely. There is in her nature much +that is very noble; hundreds have forsaken her, more, I fear, in the +apprehension that their fair names may suffer, if seen in connection +with hers, than from any pure convictions, such as you suggest, of harm +consequent on her fatal tenets. With these fair-weather friends I cannot +bear to rank; and for her sin, is it not one of those of which God and +not man must judge? + +"To speak the truth, my dear Miss ----, I believe, if you were in my +place, and knew Miss Martineau as I do,--if you had shared with me +the proofs of her genuine kindliness, and had seen how she secretly +suffers from abandonment,--you would be the last to give her up; you +would separate the sinner from the sin, and feel as if the right lay +rather in quietly adhering to her in her strait, while that adherence is +unfashionable and unpopular, than in turning on her your back when the +world sets the example. I believe she is one of those whom opposition +and desertion make obstinate in error; while patience and tolerance +touch her deeply and keenly, and incline her to ask of her own heart +whether the course she has been pursuing may not possibly be a faulty +course." + +Kindly and faithful words! which Miss Martineau never knew of; to be +repaid in words more grand and tender, when Charlotte lay deaf and cold +by her dead sisters. In spite of their short sorrowful misunderstanding, +they were a pair of noble women and faithful friends. + +I turn to a pleasanter subject. While she was in London, Miss Bronte had +seen Lawrence's portrait of Mr. Thackeray, and admired it extremely. Her +first words, after she had stood before it some time in silence, were, +"And there came up a Lion out of Judah!" The likeness was by this time +engraved, and Mr. Smith sent her a copy of it. + +To G. SMITH, ESQ. + +"Haworth, Feb. 26th, 1853. + +"My dear Sir,--At a late hour yesterday evening, I had the honour of +receiving, at Haworth Parsonage, a distinguished guest, none other than +W. M. Thackeray, Esq. Mindful of the rites of hospitality, I hung him up +in state this morning. He looks superb in his beautiful, tasteful gilded +gibbet. For companion he has the Duke of Wellington, (do you remember +giving me that picture?) and for contrast and foil Richmond's portrait +of an unworthy individual, who, in such society, must be name-less. +Thackeray looks away from the latter character with a grand scorn, +edifying to witness. I wonder if the giver of these gifts will ever +see them on the walls where they now hang; it pleases me to fancy that +one day he may. My father stood for a quarter of an hour this morning +examining the great man's picture. The conclusion of his survey was, +that he thought it a puzzling head; if he had known nothing previously +of the original's character; he could not have read it in his features. +I wonder at this. To me the broad brow seems to express intellect. +Certain lines about the nose and cheek, betray the satirist and cynic; +the mouth indicates a child-like simplicity--perhaps even a degree +of irresoluteness, inconsistency--weakness in short, but a weakness +not unamiable. The engraving seems to me very good. A certain not +quite Christian expression--'not to put too fine a point upon it'--an +expression of spite, most vividly marked in the original, is here +softened, and perhaps a little--a very little--of the power has escaped +in this ameliorating process. Did it strike you thus?" + +Miss Bronte was in much better health during this winter of 1852-3, than +she had been the year before. + +"For my part," (she wrote to me in February) "I have thus far borne the +cold weather well. I have taken long walks on the crackling snow, and +felt the frosty air bracing. This winter has, for me, not been like last +winter. December, January, February, '51-2, passed like a long stormy +night, conscious of one painful dream) all solitary grief and sickness. +The corresponding l in '52-3 have gone over my head quietly and not +uncheerfully. Thank God for the change and the repose! How welcome it +has been He only knows! My father too has borne the season well; and my +book, and its reception thus far, have pleased and cheered him." + +In March the quiet Parsonage had the honour of receiving a visit from +the then Bishop of Ripon. He remained one night with Mr. Bronte. In the +evening, some of the neighbouring clergy were invited to meet him at +tea and supper; and during the latter meal, some of the "curates" began +merrily to upbraid Miss Bronte with "putting them into a book;" and she, +shrinking from thus having her character as authoress thrust upon her at +her own table, and in the presence of a stranger, pleasantly appealed +to the bishop as to whether it was quite fair thus to drive her, into a +corner. His Lordship, I have been told, was agreeably impressed with the +gentle unassuming manners of his hostess, and with the perfect propriety +and consistency of the arrangements in the modest household. So much for +the Bishop's recollection of his visit. Now we will turn to hers. + +"March 4th. + +"The Bishop has been, and is gone. He is certainly a most charming +Bishop; the most benignant gentleman that ever put on lawn sleeves; +yet stately too, and quite competent to check encroachments. His +visit passed capitally well; and at its close, as he was going away, +he expressed himself thoroughly gratified with all he had seen. The +Inspector has been also in the course of the past week; so that I have +had a somewhat busy time of it. If you could have been at Haworth to +share the pleasures of the company, without having been inconvenienced +by the little bustle of the preparation, I should have been VERY glad. +But the house was a good deal put out of its way, as you may suppose; +all passed, however, orderly, quietly, and well. Martha waited very +nicely, and I had a person to help her in the kitchen. Papa kept up, +too, fully as well as I expected, though I doubt whether he could have +borne another day of it. My penalty came on in a strong headache as soon +as the Bishop was gone: how thankful I was that it had patiently waited +his departure. I continue stupid to-day: of course, it is the reaction +consequent on several days of extra exertion and excitement. It is very +well to talk of receiving a Bishop without trouble, but you MUST prepare +for him." + +By this time some of the Reviews had began to find fault with +"Villette." Miss Bronte made her old request. + +TO W. S. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + +"My dear Sir,--Were a review to appear, inspired with treble their +animus, PRAY do not withhold it from me. I like to see the satisfactory +notices,--especially I like to carry them to my father; but I MUST see +such as are UNsatisfactory and hostile; these are for my own especial +edification;--it is in these I best read public feeling and opinion. +To shun examination into the dangerous and disagreeable seems to me +cowardly. I long always to know what really IS, and am only unnerved +when kept in the dark. . . . . . . + +"As to the character of 'Lucy Snowe,' my intention from the first was +that she should not occupy the pedestal to which 'Jane Eyre' was raised +by some injudicious admirers. She is where I meant her to be, and where +no charge of self-laudation can touch her. + +"The note you sent this morning from Lady Harriette St. Clair, is +precisely to the same purport as Miss Muloch's request,--an application +for exact and authentic information respecting the fate of M. Paul +Emanuel! You see how much the ladies think of this little man, whom you +none of you like. I had a letter the other day; announcing that a lady +of some note, who had always determined that whenever she married, her +husband should be the counterpart of 'Mr. Knightly' in Miss Austen's +'Emma,' had now changed her mind, and vowed that she would either find +the duplicate of Professor Emanuel, or remain for ever single! I have +sent Lady Harriette an answer so worded as to leave the matter pretty +much where it was. Since the little puzzle amuses the ladies, it would +be a pity to spoil their sport by giving them the key." + +When Easter, with its duties arising out of sermons to be preached +by strange clergymen who had afterwards to be entertained at +the Parsonage,--with Mechanics' Institute Meetings, and school +tea-drinkings, was over and gone; she came, at the close of April, to +visit us in Manchester. We had a friend, a young lady, staying with us. +Miss Bronte had expected to find us alone; and although our friend was +gentle and sensible after Miss Bronte's own heart, yet her presence was +enough to create a nervous tremour. I was aware that both of our guests +were unusually silent; and I saw a little shiver run from time to time +over Miss Bronte's frame. I could account for the modest reserve of the +young lady; and the next day Miss Bronte told me how the unexpected +sight of a strange face had affected her. + +It was now two or three years since I had witnessed a similar effect +produced on her; in anticipation of a quiet evening at Fox-How; and +since then she had seen many and various people in London: but the +physical sensations produced by shyness were still the same; and on +the following day she laboured under severe headache. I had several +opportunities of perceiving how this nervousness was ingrained in her +constitution, and how acutely she suffered in striving to overcome it. +One evening we had, among other guests, two sisters who sang Scottish +ballads exquisitely. Miss Bronte had been sitting quiet and constrained +till they began "The Bonnie House of Airlie," but the effect of that and +"Carlisle Yetts," which followed, was as irresistible as the playing +of the Piper of Hamelin. The beautiful clear light came into her eyes; +her lips quivered with emotion; she forgot herself, rose, and crossed +the room to the piano, where she asked eagerly for song after song. +The sisters begged her to come and see them the next morning, when +they would sing as long as ever she liked; and she promised gladly and +thankfully. But on reaching the house her courage failed. We walked some +time up and down the street; she upbraiding herself all the while for +folly, and trying to dwell on the sweet echoes in her memory rather than +on the thought of a third sister who would have to be faced if we went +in. But it was of no use; and dreading lest this struggle with herself +might bring on one of her trying headaches, I entered at last and made +the best apology I could for her non-appearance. Much of this nervous +dread of encountering strangers I ascribed to the idea of her personal +ugliness, which had been strongly impressed upon her imagination early +in life, and which she exaggerated to herself in a remarkable manner. "I +notice," said she, "that after a stranger has once looked at my face, he +is careful not to let his eyes wander to that part of the room again!" +A more untrue idea never entered into any one's head. Two gentlemen +who saw her during this visit, without knowing at the time who she +was, were singularly attracted by her appearance; and this feeling of +attraction towards a pleasant countenance, sweet voice, and gentle timid +manners, was so strong in one as to conquer a dislike he had previously +entertained to her works. + +There was another circumstance that came to my knowledge at this period +which told secrets about the finely-strung frame. One night I was on +the point of relating some dismal ghost story, just before bed-time. +She shrank from hearing it, and confessed that she was superstitious, +and, prone at all times to the involuntary recurrence of any thoughts of +ominous gloom which might have been suggested to her. She said that on +first coming to us, she had found a letter on her dressing-table from a +friend in Yorkshire, containing a story which had impressed her vividly +ever since;--that it mingled with her dreams at night, and made her +sleep restless and unrefreshing. + +One day we asked two gentlemen to meet her at dinner; expecting that +she and they would have a mutual pleasure in making each other's +acquaintance. To our disappointment she drew back with timid reserve +from all their advances, replying to their questions and remarks in the +briefest manner possible; till at last they gave up their efforts to +draw her into conversation in despair, and talked to each other and my +husband on subjects of recent local interest. Among these Thackeray's +Lectures (which had lately been delivered in Manchester) were spoken of +and that on Fielding especially dwelt upon. One gentleman objected to +it strongly, as calculated to do moral harm, and regretted that a man +having so great an influence over the tone of thought of the day, as +Thackeray, should not more carefully weigh his words. The other took the +opposite view. He said that Thackeray described men from the inside, as +it were; through his strong power of dramatic sympathy, he identified +himself with certain characters, felt their temptations, entered into +their pleasures, etc. This roused Miss Bronte, who threw herself warmly +into the discussion; the ice of her reserve was broken, and from that +time she showed her interest in all that was said, and contributed her +share to any conversation that was going on in the course of the evening. + +What she said, and which part she took, in the dispute about Thackeray's +lecture, may be gathered from the following letter, referring to the +same subject:-- + +"The Lectures arrived safely; I have read them through twice. They +must be studied to be appreciated. I thought well of them when I heard +them delivered, but now I see their real power; and it is great. The +lecture on Swift was new to me; I thought it almost matchless. Not +that by any means I always agree with Mr. Thackeray's opinions, but +his force, his penetration, his pithy simplicity, his eloquence--his +manly sonorous eloquence,--command entire admiration. . . . Against +his errors I protest, were it treason to do so. I was present at the +Fielding lecture: the hour spent in listening to it was a painful hour. +That Thackeray was wrong in his way of treating Fielding's character +and vices, my conscience told me. After reading that lecture, I trebly +felt that he was wrong--dangerously wrong. Had Thackeray owned a son, +grown, or growing up, and a son, brilliant but reckless--would he have +spoken in that light way of courses that lead to disgrace and the grave? +He speaks of it all as if he theorised; as if he had never been called +on, in the course of his life, to witness the actual consequences of +such failings; as if he had never stood by and seen the issue, the final +result of it all. I believe, if only once the prospect of a promising +life blasted on the outset by wild ways had passed close under his eyes, +he never COULD have spoken with such levity of what led to its piteous +destruction. Had I a brother yet living, I should tremble to let him +read Thackeray's lecture on Fielding. I should hide it away from him. +If, in spite of precaution, it should fall into his hands, I should +earnestly pray him not to be misled by the voice of the charmer, let him +charm never so wisely. Not that for a moment I would have had Thackeray +to ABUSE Fielding, or even Pharisaically to condemn his life; but I do +most deeply grieve that it never entered into his heart sadly and nearly +to feel the peril of such a career, that he might have dedicated some of +his great strength to a potent warning against its adoption by any young +man. I believe temptation often assails the finest manly natures; as the +pecking sparrow or destructive wasp attacks the sweetest and mellowest +fruit, eschewing what is sour and crude. The true lover of his race +ought to devote his vigour to guard and protect; he should sweep away +every lure with a kind of rage at its treachery. You will think this far +too serious, I dare say; but the subject is serious, and one cannot help +feeling upon it earnestly." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +After her visit to Manchester, she had to return to a re-opening of the +painful circumstances of the previous winter, as the time drew near for +Mr. Nicholl's departure from Haworth. A testimonial of respect from +the parishioners was presented, at a public meeting, to one who had +faithfully served them for eight years: and he left the place, and she +saw no chance of hearing a word about him in the future, unless it was +some second-hand scrap of intelligence, dropped out accidentally by one +of the neighbouring clergymen. + +I had promised to pay her a visit on my return from London in June; but, +after the day was fixed, a letter came from Mr. Bronte, saying that she +was suffering from so severe an attack of influenza, accompanied with +such excruciating pain in the head, that he must request me to defer my +visit until she was better. While sorry for the cause, I did not regret +that my going was delayed till the season when the moors would be all +glorious with the purple bloom of the heather; and thus present a scene +about which she had often spoken to me. So we agreed that I should +not come to her before August or September. Meanwhile, I received a +letter from which I am tempted to take an extract, as it shows both her +conception of what fictitious writing ought to be, and her always kindly +interest in what I was doing. + +"July 9th, 1853. + +"Thank you for your letter; it was as pleasant as a quiet chat, as +welcome as spring showers, as reviving as a friend's visit; in short, +it was very like a page of 'Cranford.' . . . A thought strikes me. Do +you, who have so many friends,--so large a circle of acquaintance,--find +it easy, when you sit down to write, to isolate yourself from all +those ties, and their sweet associations, so as to be your OWN WOMAN, +uninfluenced or swayed by the consciousness of how your work may affect +other minds; what blame or what sympathy it may call forth? Does no +luminous cloud ever come between you and the severe Truth, as you know +it in your own secret and clear-seeing soul? In a word, are you never +tempted to make your characters more amiable than the Life, by the +inclination to assimilate your thoughts to the thoughts of those who +always FEEL kindly, but sometimes fail to SEE justly? Don't answer the +question; it is not intended to be answered. . . . Your account of Mrs. +Stowe was stimulatingly interesting. I long to see you, to get you to +say it, and many other things, all over again. My father continues +better. I am better too; but to-day I have a headache again, which will +hardly let me write coherently. Give my dear love to M. and M., dear +happy girls as they are. You cannot now transmit my message to F. and +J. I prized the little wild-flower,--not that I think the sender cares +for me; she DOES not, and CANNOT, for she does not know me;--but no +matter. In my reminiscences she is a person of a certain distinction. I +think hers a fine little nature, frank and of genuine promise. I often +see her; as she appeared, stepping supreme from the portico towards the +carriage, that evening we went to see 'Twelfth Night.' I believe in J.'s +future; I like what speaks in her movements, and what is written upon +her face." + +Towards the latter end of September I went to Haworth. At the risk of +repeating something which I have previously said, I will copy out parts +of a letter which I wrote at the time. + +"It was a dull, drizzly Indian-inky day, all the way on the railroad to +Keighley, which is a rising wool-manufacturing town, lying in a hollow +between hills--not a pretty hollow, but more what the Yorkshire people +call a 'bottom,' or 'botham.' I left Keighley in a car for Haworth, +four miles off--four tough, steep, scrambling miles, the road winding +between the wavelike hills that rose and fell on every side of the +horizon, with a long illimitable sinuous look, as if they were a part of +the line of the Great Serpent, which the Norse legend says girdles the +world. The day was lead-coloured; the road had stone factories alongside +of it,--grey, dull-coloured rows of stone cottages belonging to these +factories, and then we came to poor, hungry-looking fields;--stone +fences everywhere, and trees nowhere. Haworth is a long, straggling +village one steep narrow street--so steep that the flag-stones with +which it is paved are placed end-ways, that the horses' feet may have +something to cling to, and not slip down backwards; which if they did, +they would soon reach Keighley. But if the horses had cats' feet and +claws, they would do all the better. Well, we (the man, horse, car; +and I) clambered up this street, and reached the church dedicated to +St. Autest (who was he?); then we turned off into a lane on the left, +past the curate's lodging at the Sexton's, past the school-house, up +to the Parsonage yard-door. I went round the house to the front door, +looking to the church;--moors everywhere beyond and above. The crowded +grave-yard surrounds the house and small grass enclosure for drying +clothes. + +"I don't know that I ever saw a spot more exquisitely clean; the +most dainty place for that I ever saw. To be sure, the life is like +clock-work. No one comes to the house; nothing disturbs the deep repose; +hardly a voice is heard; you catch the ticking of the clock in the +kitchen, or the buzzing of a fly in the parlour, all over the house. +Miss Bronte sits alone in her parlour; breakfasting with her father in +his study at nine o'clock. She helps in the housework; for one of their +servants, Tabby, is nearly ninety, and the other only a girl. Then I +accompanied her in her walks on the sweeping moors the heather-bloom +had been blighted by a thunder-storm a day or two before, and was all +of a livid brown colour, instead of the blaze of purple glory it ought +to have been. Oh those high, wild, desolate moors, up above the whole +world, and the very realms of silence! Home to dinner at two. Mr. Bronte +has his dinner sent into him. All the small table arrangements had the +same dainty simplicity about them. Then we rested, and talked over the +clear, bright fire; it is a cold country, and the fires were a pretty +warm dancing light all over the house. The parlour had been evidently +refurnished within the last few years, since Miss Bronte's success has +enabled her to have a little more money to spend. Everything fits into, +and is in harmony with, the idea of a country parsonage, possessed by +people of very moderate means. The prevailing colour of the room is +crimson, to make a warm setting for the cold grey landscape without. +There is her likeness by Richmond, and an engraving from Lawrence's +picture of Thackeray; and two recesses, on each side of the high, +narrow, old-fashioned mantelpiece, filled with books,--books given to +her; books she has bought, and which tell of her individual pursuits and +tastes; NOT standard books. + +"She cannot see well, and does little beside knitting. The way she +weakened her eyesight was this: When she was sixteen or seventeen, she +wanted much to draw; and she copied niminipimini copper-plate engravings +out of annuals, ('stippling,' don't the artists call it?) every +little point put in, till at the end of six months she had produced +an exquisitely faithful copy of the engraving. She wanted to learn to +express her ideas by drawing. After she had tried to DRAW stories, and +not succeeded, she took the better mode of writing; but in so small a +hand, that it is almost impossible to decipher what she wrote at this +time. + +"But now to return to our quiet hour of rest after dinner. I soon +observed that her habits of order were such that she could not go on +with the conversation, if a chair was out of its place; everything was +arranged with delicate regularity. We talked over the old times of her +childhood; of her elder sister's (Maria's) death,--just like that of +Helen Burns in 'Jane Eyre;' of those strange, starved days at school; of +the desire (almost amounting to illness) of expressing herself in some +way,--writing or drawing; of her weakened eyesight, which prevented her +doing anything for two years, from the age of seventeen to nineteen; +of her being a governess; of her going to Brussels; whereupon I said I +disliked Lucy Snowe, and we discussed M. Paul Emanuel; and I told her of +----'s admiration of 'Shirley,' which pleased her; for the character of +Shirley was meant for her sister Emily, about whom she is never tired +of talking, nor I of listening. Emily must have been a remnant of the +Titans,--great-grand-daughter of the giants who used to inhabit earth. +One day, Miss Bronte brought down a rough, common-looking oil-painting, +done by her brother, of herself,--a little, rather prim-looking girl of +eighteen,--and the two other sisters, girls of sixteen and fourteen, +with cropped hair, and sad, dreamy-looking eyes. . . . Emily had a great +dog--half mastiff, half bull-dog--so savage, etc. . . . This dog went to +her funeral, walking side by side with her father; and then, to the day +of its death, it slept at her room door; snuffing under it, and whining +every morning. + +"We have generally had another walk before tea, which is at six; at +half-past eight, prayers; and by nine, all the household are in bed, +except ourselves. We sit up together till ten, or past; and after I go, +I hear Miss Bronte comedown and walk up and down the room for an hour or +so." + +Copying this letter has brought the days of that pleasant visit very +clear before me,--very sad in their clearness. We were so happy +together; we were so full of interest in each other's subjects. The +day seemed only too short for what we had to say and to hear. I +understood her life the better for seeing the place where it had been +spent--where she had loved and suffered. Mr. Bronte was a most courteous +host; and when he was with us,--at breakfast in his study, or at tea +in Charlotte's parlour,--he had a sort of grand and stately way of +describing past times, which tallied well with his striking appearance. +He never seemed quite to have lost the feeling that Charlotte was a +child to be guided and ruled, when she was present; and she herself +submitted to this with a quiet docility that half amused, half +astonished me. But when she had to leave the room, then all his pride in +her genius and fame came out. He eagerly listened to everything I could +tell him of the high admiration I had at any time heard expressed for +her works. He would ask for certain speeches over and over again, as if +he desired to impress them on his memory. + +I remember two or three subjects of the conversations which she and I +held in the evenings, besides those alluded to in my letter. + +I asked her whether she had ever taken opium, as the description +given of its effects in "Villette" was so exactly like what I had +experienced,--vivid and exaggerated presence of objects, of which the +outlines were indistinct, or lost in golden mist, etc. She replied, that +she had never, to her knowledge, taken a grain of it in any shape, but +that she had followed the process she always adopted when she had to +describe anything which had not fallen within her own experience; she +had thought intently on it for many and many a night before falling to +sleep,--wondering what it was like, or how it would be,--till at length, +sometimes after the progress of her story had been arrested at this one +point for weeks, she wakened up in the morning with all clear before +her, as if she had in reality gone through the experience, and then +could describe it, word for word, as it had happened. I cannot account +for this psychologically; I only am sure that it was so, because she +said it. + +She made many inquiries as to Mrs. Stowe's personal appearance; and +it evidently harmonised well with some theory of hers, to hear that +the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin was small and slight. It was another +theory of hers, that no mixtures of blood produced such fine characters, +mentally and morally, as the Scottish and English. + +I recollect, too, her saying how acutely she dreaded a charge of +plagiarism, when, after she had written "Jane Eyre;" she read the +thrilling effect of the mysterious scream at midnight in Mrs. Marsh's +story of the "Deformed." She also said that, when she read the +"Neighbours," she thought every one would fancy that she must have +taken her conception of Jane Eyre's character from that of "Francesca," +the narrator of Miss Bremer's story. For my own part, I cannot see the +slightest resemblance between the two characters, and so I told her; +but she persisted in saying that Francesca was Jane Eyre married to a +good-natured "Bear" of a Swedish surgeon. + +We went, not purposely, but accidentally, to see various poor people in +our distant walks. From one we had borrowed an umbrella; in the house of +another we had taken shelter from a rough September storm. In all these +cottages, her quiet presence was known. At three miles from her home, +the chair was dusted for her, with a kindly "Sit ye down, Miss Bronte;" +and she knew what absent or ailing members of the family to inquire +after. Her quiet, gentle words, few though they might be, were evidently +grateful to those Yorkshire ears. Their welcome to her, though rough and +curt, was sincere and hearty. + +We talked about the different courses through which life ran. She said, +in her own composed manner, as if she had accepted the theory as a fact, +that she believed some were appointed beforehand to sorrow and much +disappointment; that it did not fall to the lot of all--as Scripture +told us--to have their lines fall in pleasant places; that it was well +for those who had rougher paths, to perceive that such was God's will +concerning them, and try to moderate their expectations, leaving hope to +those of a different doom, and seeking patience and resignation as the +virtues they were to cultivate. I took a different view: I thought that +human lots were more equal than she imagined; that to some happiness and +sorrow came in strong patches of light and shadow, (so to speak), while +in the lives of others they were pretty equally blended throughout. She +smiled, and shook her head, and said she was trying to school herself +against ever anticipating any pleasure; that it was better to be brave +and submit faithfully; there was some good reason, which we should know +in time, why sorrow and disappointment were to be the lot of some on +earth. It was better to acknowledge this, and face out the truth in a +religious faith. + +In connection with this conversation, she named a little abortive plan +which I had not heard of till then; how, in the previous July, she had +been tempted to join some friends (a married couple and their child) +in an excursion to Scotland. They set out joyfully; she with especial +gladness, for Scotland was a land which had its roots deep down in her +imaginative affections, and the glimpse of two days at Edinburgh was all +she had as yet seen of it. But, at the first stage after Carlisle, the +little yearling child was taken with a slight indisposition; the anxious +parents fancied that strange diet disagreed with it, and hurried back to +their Yorkshire home as eagerly as, two or three days before, they had +set their faces northward, in hopes of a month's pleasant ramble. + +We parted with many intentions, on both sides, of renewing very +frequently the pleasure we had had in being together. We agreed that +when she wanted bustle, or when I wanted quiet, we were to let each +other know, and exchange visits as occasion required. + +I was aware that she had a great anxiety on her mind at this time; and +being acquainted with its nature, I could not but deeply admire the +patient docility which she displayed in her conduct towards her father. + +Soon after I left Haworth, she went on a visit to Miss Wooler, who was +then staying at Hornsea. The time passed quietly and happily with this +friend, whose society was endeared to her by every year. + +To Miss WOOLER + +"Dec. 12th, 1853. + +"I wonder how you are spending these long winter evenings. Alone, +probably, like me. The thought often crosses me, as I sit by myself, how +pleasant it would be if you lived within a walking distance, and I could +go to you sometimes, or have you to come and spend a day and night with +me. Yes; I did enjoy that week at Hornsea, and I look forward to spring +as the period when you will fulfil your promise of coming to visit me. +I fear you must be very solitary at Hornsea. How hard to some people +of the world it would seem to live your life! how utterly impossible +to live it with a serene spirit and an unsoured disposition! It seems +wonderful to me, because you are not, like Mrs. ----, phlegmatic and +impenetrable, but received from nature feelings of the very finest +edge. Such feelings, when they are locked up, sometimes damage the mind +and temper. They don't with you. It must be partly principle, partly +self-discipline, which keeps you as you are." + +Of course, as I draw nearer to the years so recently closed, it becomes +impossible for me to write with the same fulness of detail as I have +hitherto not felt it wrong to use. Miss Bronte passed the winter of +1853-4 in a solitary and anxious manner. But the great conqueror Time +was slowly achieving his victory over strong prejudice and human +resolve. By degrees Mr. Bronte became reconciled to the idea of his +daughter's marriage. + +There is one other letter, addressed to Mr. Dobell, which developes the +intellectual side of her character, before we lose all thought of the +authoress in the timid and conscientious woman about to become a wife, +and in the too short, almost perfect, happiness of her nine months of +wedded life. + +"Haworth, near Keighley, + +"Feb. 3rd, 1854. + +"My dear Sir,--I can hardly tell you how glad I am to have an +opportunity of explaining that taciturnity to which you allude. Your +letter came at a period of danger and care, when my father was very +ill, and I could not leave his bedside. I answered no letters at that +time, and yours was one of three or four that, when leisure returned +to me, and I came to consider their purport, it seemed to me such that +the time was past for answering them, and I laid them finally aside. If +you remember, you asked me to go to London; it was too late either to +go or to decline. I was sure you had left London. One circumstance you +mentioned--your wife's illness--which I have thought of many a time, and +wondered whether she is better. In your present note you do not refer to +her, but I trust her health has long ere now been quite restored. + +"'Balder' arrived safely. I looked at him, before cutting his leaves +with singular pleasure. Remembering well his elder brother, the potent +'Roman,' it was natural to give a cordial welcome to a fresh scion of +the same house and race. I have read him. He impressed me thus he teems +with power; I found in him a wild wealth of life, but I thought his +favourite and favoured child would bring his sire trouble--would make +his heart ache. It seemed to me, that his strength and beauty were not +so much those of Joseph, the pillar of Jacob's age, as of the Prodigal +Son, who troubled his father, though he always kept his love. + +"How is it that while the first-born of genius often brings honour, the +second as almost often proves a source of depression and care? I could +almost prophesy that your third will atone for any anxiety inflicted by +this his immediate predecessor. + +"There is power in that character of 'Balder,' and to me a certain +horror. Did you mean it to embody, along with force, any of the +special defects of the artistic character? It seems to me that those +defects were never thrown out in stronger lines. I did not and could +not think you meant to offer him as your cherished ideal of the +true, great poet; I regarded him as a vividly-coloured picture of +inflated self-esteem, almost frantic aspiration; of a nature that has +made a Moloch of intellect--offered up; in pagan fires, the natural +affections--sacrificed the heart to the brain. Do we not all know +that true greatness is simple, self-oblivious, prone to unambitious, +unselfish attachments? I am certain you feel this truth in your heart of +hearts. + +"But if the critics err now (as yet I have seen none of their +lucubrations), you shall one day set them right in the second part of +'Balder.' You shall show them that you too know--better, perhaps, than +they--that the truly great man is too sincere in his affections to +grudge a sacrifice; too much absorbed in his work to talk loudly about +it; too intent on finding the best way to accomplish what he undertakes +to think great things of himself--the instrument. And if God places +seeming impediments in his way--if his duties sometimes seem to hamper +his powers--he feels keenly, perhaps writhes, under the slow torture of +hindrance and delay; but if there be a true man's heart in his breast, +he can bear, submit, wait patiently. + +"Whoever speaks to me of 'Balder'--though I live too retired a life to +come often in the way of comment--shall be answered according to your +suggestion and my own impression. Equity demands that you should be your +own interpreter. Good-bye for the present, and believe me, + +"Faithfully and gratefully, + +"CHARLOTTE BRONTE. + +"Sydney Dobell, Esq." + +A letter to her Brussels schoolfellow gives an idea of the external +course of things during this winter. + +"March 8th. + +"I was very glad to see your handwriting again. It is, I believe, a year +since I heard from you. Again and again you have recurred to my thoughts +lately, and I was beginning to have some sad presages as to the cause of +your silence. Your letter happily does away with all these; it brings, +on the whole, glad tidings both of your papa, mama, your sisters, and, +last but not least, your dear respected English self. + +"My dear father has borne the severe winter very well, a circumstance +for which I feel the more thankful as he had many weeks of very +precarious health last summer, following an attack from which he +suffered in June, and which for a few hours deprived him totally of +sight, though neither his mind, speech, nor even his powers of motion +were in the least affected. I can hardly tell you how thankful I +was, when, after that dreary and almost despairing interval of utter +darkness, some gleam of daylight became visible to him once more. I +had feared that paralysis had seized the optic nerve. A sort of mist +remained for a long time; and, indeed, his vision is not yet perfectly +clear, but he can read, write, and walk about, and he preaches TWICE +every Sunday, the curate only reading the prayers. YOU can well +understand how earnestly I wish and pray that sight may be spared him +to the end; he so dreads the privation of blindness. His mind is just +as strong and active as ever, and politics interest him as they do YOUR +papa. The Czar, the war, the alliance between France and England--into +all these things he throws himself heart and soul; they seem to carry +him back to his comparatively young days, and to renew the excitement of +the last great European struggle. Of course my father's sympathies (and +mine too) are all with Justice and Europe against Tyranny and Russia. + +"Circumstanced as I have been, you will comprehend that I have had +neither the leisure nor the inclination to go from home much during +the past year. I spent a week with Mrs. Gaskell in the spring, and a +fortnight with some other friends more recently, and that includes the +whole of my visiting since I saw you last. My life is, indeed, very +uniform and retired--more so than is quite healthful either for mind or +body; yet I find reason for often-renewed feelings of gratitude, in the +sort of support which still comes and cheers me on from time to time. +My health, though not unbroken, is, I sometimes fancy, rather stronger +on the whole than it was three years ago: headache and dyspepsia are my +worst ailments. Whether I shall come up to town this season for a few +days I do not yet know; but if I do, I shall hope to call in P. Place." + +In April she communicated the fact of her engagement to Miss Wooler. + +"Haworth, April 12th. + +"My dear Miss Wooler,--The truly kind interest which you always taken +in my affairs makes me feel that it is due to you to transmit an early +communication on a subject respecting which I have already consulted you +more than once. I must tell you then, that since I wrote last, papa's +mind has gradually come round to a view very different to that which +he once took; and that after some correspondence, and as the result of +a visit Mr. Nicholls paid here about a week ago, it was agreed that he +was to resume the curacy of Haworth, as soon as papa's present assistant +is provided with a situation, and in due course of time he is to be +received as an inmate into this house. + +"It gives me unspeakable content to see that now my father has once +admitted this new view of the case, he dwells on it very complacently. +In all arrangements, his convenience and seclusion will be scrupulously +respected. Mr. Nicholls seems deeply to feel the wish to comfort and +sustain his declining years. I think from Mr. Nicholls' character I may +depend on this not being a mere transitory impulsive feeling, but rather +that it will be accepted steadily as a duty, and discharged tenderly as +an office of affection. The destiny which Providence in His goodness and +wisdom seems to offer me will not, I am aware, be generally regarded as +brilliant, but I trust I see in it some germs of real happiness. I trust +the demands of both feeling and duty will be in some measure reconciled +by the step in contemplation. It is Mr. Nicholls' wish that the marriage +should take place this summer; he urges the month of July, but that +seems very soon. + +"When you write to me, tell me how you are. . . . I have now decidedly +declined the visit to London; the ensuing three months will bring me +abundance of occupation; I could not afford to throw away a month. . . . +Papa has just got a letter from the good and dear bishop, which has +touched and pleased us much; it expresses so cordial an approbation of +Mr. Nicholls' return to Haworth (respecting which he was consulted), and +such kind gratification at the domestic arrangements which are to ensue. +It seems his penetration discovered the state of things when he was here +in June 1853." + +She expressed herself in other letters, as thankful to One who had +guided her through much difficulty and much distress and perplexity of +mind; and yet she felt what most thoughtful women do, who marry when +the first flush of careless youth is over, that there was a strange +half-sad feeling, in making announcements of an engagement--for cares +and fears came mingled inextricably with hopes. One great relief to her +mind at this time was derived from the conviction that her father took +a positive pleasure in all the thoughts about and preparations for her +wedding. He was anxious that things should be expedited, and was much +interested in every preliminary arrangement for the reception of Mr. +Nicholls into the Parsonage as his daughter's husband. This step was +rendered necessary by Mr. Bronte's great age, and failing sight, which +made it a paramount obligation on so dutiful a daughter as Charlotte, to +devote as much time and assistance as ever in attending to his wants. +Mr. Nicholls, too, hoped that he might be able to add some comfort and +pleasure by his ready presence, on any occasion when the old clergyman +might need his services. + +At the beginning of May, Miss Bronte left home to pay three visits +before her marriage. The first was to us. She only remained three days, +as she had to go to the neighbourhood of Leeds, there to make such +purchases as were required for her marriage. Her preparations, as she +said, could neither be expensive nor extensive; consisting chiefly in a +modest replenishing of her wardrobe, some re-papering and re-painting +in the Parsonage; and, above all, converting the small flagged +passage-room, hitherto used only for stores (which was behind her +sitting room), into a study for her husband. On this idea, and plans for +his comfort, as well as her father's, her mind dwelt a good deal; and we +talked them over with the same unwearying happiness which, I suppose, +all women feel in such discussions--especially when money considerations +call for that kind of contrivance which Charles Lamb speaks of in his +Essay on Old China, as forming so great an addition to the pleasure of +obtaining a thing at last. + +"Haworth, May 22nd. + +"Since I came home I have been very busy stitching; the little new +room is got into order, and the green and white curtains are up; they +exactly suit the papering, and look neat and clean enough. I had a +letter a day or two since, announcing that Mr. Nicholls comes to-morrow. +I feel anxious about him; more anxious on one point than I dare quite +express to myself. It seems he has again been suffering sharply from +his rheumatic affection. I hear this not from himself, but from another +quarter. He was ill while I was in Manchester and B----. He uttered no +complaint to me; dropped no hint on the subject. Alas he was hoping +he had got the better of it, and I know how this contradiction of his +hopes will sadden him. For unselfish reasons he did so earnestly wish +this complaint might not become chronic. I fear--I fear; but if he is +doomed to suffer, so much the more will he need care and help. Well! +come what may, God help and strengthen both him and me! I look forward +to to-morrow with a mixture of impatience and anxiety." + +Mr. Bronte had a slight illness which alarmed her much. Besides, all +the weight of care involved in the household preparations pressed on +the bride in this case--not unpleasantly, only to the full occupation +of her time. She was too busy to unpack her wedding dresses for several +days after they arrived from Halifax; yet not too busy to think of +arrangements by which Miss Wooler's journey to be present at the +marriage could be facilitated. + +"I write to Miss Wooler to-day. Would it not be better, dear, if you and +she could arrange to come to Haworth on the same day, arrive at Keighley +by the same train; then I could order the cab to meet you at the +station, and bring you on with your luggage? In this hot weather walking +would be quite out of the question, either for you or for her; and I +know she would persist in doing it if left to herself, and arrive half +killed. I thought it better to mention this arrangement to you first, +and then, if you liked it, you could settle the time, etc., with Miss +Wooler, and let me know. Be sure and give me timely information, that I +may write to the Devonshire Arms about the cab. + +"Mr. Nicholls is a kind, considerate fellow. With all his masculine +faults, he enters into my wishes about having the thing done quietly, in +a way that makes me grateful; and if nobody interferes and spoils his +arrangements, he will manage it so that not a soul in Haworth shall be +aware of the day. He is so thoughtful, too, about 'the ladies,'--that +is, you and Miss Wooler. Anticipating, too, the very arrangements I was +going to propose to him about providing for your departure, etc. He and +Mr. S---- come to ---- the evening before; write me a note to let me +know they are there; precisely at eight in the morning they will be in +the church, and there we are to meet them. Mr. and Mrs. Grant are asked +to the breakfast, not to the ceremony. + +It was fixed that the marriage was to take place on the 29th of June. +Her two friends arrived at Haworth Parsonage the day before; and the +long summer afternoon and evening were spent by Charlotte in thoughtful +arrangements for the morrow, and for her father's comfort during +her absence from home. When all was finished--the trunk packed, the +morning's breakfast arranged, the wedding-dress laid out,--just at +bedtime, Mr. Bronte announced his intention of stopping at home while +the others went to church. What was to be done? Who was to give the +bride away? There were only to be the officiating clergyman, the bride +and bridegroom, the bridesmaid, and Miss Wooler present. The Prayer-book +was referred to; and there it was seen that the Rubric enjoins that the +Minister shall receive "the woman from her father's or FRIEND'S hands," +and that nothing is specified as to the sex of the "friend." So Miss +Wooler, ever kind in emergency, volunteered to give her old pupil away. + +The news of the wedding had slipt abroad before the little party came +out of church, and many old and humble friends were there, seeing her +look "like a snow-drop," as they say. Her dress was white embroidered +muslin, with a lace mantle, and white bonnet trimmed with green leaves, +which perhaps might suggest the resemblance to the pale wintry flower. + +Mr. Nicholls and she went to visit his friends and relations in Ireland; +and made a tour by Killarney, Glengariff, Tarbert, Tralee, and Cork, +seeing scenery, of which she says, "some parts exceeded all I had +ever imagined." . . . "I must say I like my new relations. My dear +husband, too, appears in a new light in his own country. More than once +I have had deep pleasure in hearing his praises on all sides. Some +of the old servants and followers of the family tell me I am a most +fortunate person; for that I have got one of the best gentlemen in the +country. . . . I trust I feel thankful to God for having enabled me to +make what seems a right choice; and I pray to be enabled to repay as I +ought the affectionate devotion of a truthful, honourable man." + +Henceforward the sacred doors of home are closed upon her married life. +We, her loving friends, standing outside, caught occasional glimpses +of brightness, and pleasant peaceful murmurs of sound, telling of the +gladness within; and we looked at each other, and gently said, "After a +hard and long struggle--after many cares and many bitter sorrows--she is +tasting happiness now!" We thought of the slight astringencies of her +character, and how they would turn to full ripe sweetness in that calm +sunshine of domestic peace. We remembered her trials, and were glad in +the idea that God had seen fit to wipe away the tears from her eyes. +Those who saw her, saw an outward change in her look, telling of inward +things. And we thought, and we hoped, and we prophesied, in our great +love and reverence. + +But God's ways are not as our ways! + +Hear some of the low murmurs of happiness we, who listened, heard:-- + +"I really seem to have had scarcely a spare moment since that dim quiet +June morning, when you, E----, and myself all walked down to Haworth +Church. Not that I have been wearied or oppressed; but the fact is, +my time is not my own now; somebody else wants a good portion of it, +and says, 'we must do so and so.' We DO so and so, accordingly; and it +generally seems the right thing. . . . We have had many callers from a +distance, and latterly some little occupation in the way of preparing +for a small village entertainment. Both Mr. Nicholls and myself wished +much to make some response for the hearty welcome and general goodwill +shown by the parishioners on his return; accordingly, the Sunday and +day scholars and teachers, the church-ringers, singers, etc., to the +number of five hundred, were asked to tea and supper in the School-room. +They seemed to enjoy it much, and it was very pleasant to see their +happiness. One of the villagers, in proposing my husband's health, +described him as a 'consistent Christian and a kind gentleman.' I own +the words touched me deeply, and I thought (as I know YOU would have +thought had you been present) that to merit and win such a character +was better than to earn either wealth, or fame, or power. I am disposed +to echo that high but simple eulogium. . . . My dear father was not +well when we returned from Ireland. I am, however, most thankful to say +that he is better now. May God preserve him to us yet for some years! +The wish for his continued life, together with a certain solicitude for +his happiness and health, seems, I scarcely know why, even stronger +in me now than before I was married. Papa has taken no duty since we +returned; and each time I see Mr. Nicholls put on gown or surplice, I +feel comforted to think that this marriage has secured papa good aid in +his old age." + +"September 19th. + +"Yes! I am thankful to say my husband is in improved health and spirits. +It makes me content and grateful to hear him from time to time avow his +happiness in the brief, plain phrase of sincerity. My own life is more +occupied than it used to be I have not so much time for thinking I am +obliged to be more practical, for my dear Arthur is a very practical, +as well as a very punctual and methodical man. Every morning he is in +the National School by nine o'clock; he gives the children religious +instruction till half-past ten. Almost every afternoon he pays visits +amongst the poor parishioners. Of course, he often finds a little work +for his wife to do, and I hope she is not sorry to help him. I believe +it is not bad for me that his bent should be so wholly towards matters +of life and active usefulness; so little inclined to the literary and +contemplative. As to his continued affection and kind attentions it does +not become me to say much of them; but they neither change nor diminish." + +Her friend and bridesmaid came to pay them a visit in October. I was to +have gone also, but I allowed some little obstacle to intervene, to my +lasting regret. + +"I say nothing about the war; but when I read of its horrors, I cannot +help thinking that it is one of the greatest curses that ever fell upon +mankind. I trust it may not last long, for it really seems to me that +no glory to be gained can compensate for the sufferings which must be +endured. This may seem a little ignoble and unpatriotic; but I think +that as we advance towards middle age, nobleness and patriotism have a +different signification to us to that which we accept while young." + +"You kindly inquire after Papa. He is better, and seems to gain strength +as the weather gets colder; indeed, of late years health has always +been better in winter than in summer. We are all indeed pretty well; +and, for my own part, it is long since I have known such comparative +immunity from headache, etc., as during the last three months. My life +is different from what it used to be. May God make me thankful for it! I +have a good, kind, attached husband; and every day my own attachment to +him grows stronger." + +Late in the autumn, Sir James Kay Shuttleworth crossed the border-hills +that separate Lancashire from Yorkshire, and spent two or three days +with them. + +About this time, Mr. Nicholls was offered a living of much greater value +than his curacy at Haworth, and in many ways the proposal was a very +advantageous one; but he felt himself bound to Haworth as long as Mr. +Bronte lived. Still, this offer gave his wife great and true pleasure, +as a proof of the respect in which her husband was held. + +"Nov. 29. + +"I intended to have written a line yesterday, but just as I was sitting +down for the purpose, Arthur called to me to take a walk. We set off, +not intending to go far; but, though wild and cloudy, it was fair in +the morning; when we had got about half a mile on the moors, Arthur +suggested the idea of the waterfall; after the melted snow, he said, it +would be fine. I had often wished to see it in its winter power,--so we +walked on. It was fine indeed; a perfect torrent racing over the rocks, +white and beautiful! It began to rain while we were watching it, and +we returned home under a streaming sky. However, I enjoyed the walk +inexpressibly, and would not have missed the spectacle on any account." + +She did not achieve this walk of seven or eight miles, in such weather, +with impunity. She began to shiver soon after her return home, in spite +of every precaution, and had a bad lingering sore throat and cold, which +hung about her; and made her thin and weak. + +"Did I tell you that our poor little Flossy is dead? She drooped for a +single day, and died quietly in the night without pain. The loss even of +a dog was very saddening; yet, perhaps, no dog ever had a happier life, +or an easier death." + +On Christmas-day she and her husband walked to the poor old woman (whose +calf she had been set to seek in former and less happy days), carrying +with them a great spice-cake to make glad her heart. On Christmas-day +many a humble meal in Haworth was made more plentiful by her gifts. + +Early in the new year (1855), Mr. and Mrs. Nicholls went to visit Sir +James Kay Shuttleworth at Gawthorpe. They only remained two or three +days, but it so fell out that she increased her lingering cold, by a +long walk over damp ground in thin shoes. + +Soon after her return, she was attacked by new sensations of perpetual +nausea, and ever-recurring faintness. After this state of things had +lasted for some time; she yielded to Mr. Nicholls' wish that a doctor +should be sent for. He came, and assigned a natural cause for her +miserable indisposition; a little patience, and all would go right. She, +who was ever patient in illness, tried hard to bear up and bear on. +But the dreadful sickness increased and increased, till the very sight +of food occasioned nausea. "A wren would have starved on what she ate +during those last six weeks," says one. Tabby's health had suddenly and +utterly given way, and she died in this time of distress and anxiety +respecting the last daughter of the house she had served so long. Martha +tenderly waited on her mistress, and from time to time tried to cheer +her with the thought of the baby that was coming. "I dare say I shall be +glad some time," she would say; "but I am so ill--so weary--" Then she +took to her bed, too weak to sit up. From that last couch she wrote two +notes--in pencil. The first, which has no date, is addressed to her own +"Dear Nell." + +"I must write one line out of my weary bed. The news of M----'s probable +recovery came like a ray of joy to me. I am not going to talk of my +sufferings--it would be useless and painful. I want to give you an +assurance, which I know will comfort you--and that is, that I find in +my husband the tenderest nurse, the kindest support, the best earthly +comfort that ever woman had. His patience never fails, and it is tried +by sad days and broken nights. Write and tell me about Mrs. ----'s case; +how long was she ill, and in what way? Papa--thank God!--is better. Our +poor old Tabby is DEAD and BURIED. Give my kind love to Miss Wooler. May +God comfort and help you. + +"C. B. NICHOLLS." + +The other--also in faint, faint pencil marks--was to her Brussels +schoolfellow. + +"Feb. 15th. + +"A few lines of acknowledgment your letter SHALL have, whether well or +ill. At present I am confined to my bed with illness, and have been +so for three weeks. Up to this period, since my marriage, I have had +excellent health. My husband and I live at home with my father; of +course, I could not leave HIM. He is pretty well, better than last +summer. No kinder, better husband than mine, it seems to me, there can +be in the world. I do not want now for kind companionship in health and +the tenderest nursing in sickness. Deeply I sympathise in all you tell +me about Dr. W. and your excellent mother's anxiety. I trust he will not +risk another operation. I cannot write more now; for I am much reduced +and very weak. God bless you all.--Yours affectionately, + +"C. B. NICHOLLS." + +I do not think she ever wrote a line again. Long days and longer nights +went by; still the same relentless nausea and faintness, and still borne +on in patient trust. About the third week in March there was a change; +a low wandering delirium came on; and in it she begged constantly for +food and even for stimulants. She swallowed eagerly now; but it was too +late. Wakening for an instant from this stupor of intelligence, she saw +her husband's woe-worn face, and caught the sound of some murmured words +of prayer that God would spare her. "Oh!" she whispered forth, "I am not +going to die, am I? He will not separate us, we have been so happy." + +Early on Saturday morning, March 31st, the solemn tolling of Haworth +church-bell spoke forth the fact of her death to the villagers who had +known her from a child, and whose hearts shivered within them as they +thought of the two sitting desolate and alone in the old grey house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +I have always been much struck with a passage in Mr. Forster's Life of +Goldsmith. Speaking of the scene after his death, the writer says:-- + +"The staircase of Brick Court is said to have been filled with mourners, +the reverse of domestic; women without a home, without domesticity of +any kind, with no friend but him they had come to weep for; outcasts of +that great, solitary, wicked city, to whom he had never forgotten to be +kind and charitable." + +This came into my mind when I heard of some of the circumstances +attendant on Charlotte's funeral. + +Few beyond that circle of hills knew that she, whom the nations praised +far off, lay dead that Easter mooring. Of kith and kin she had more in +the grave to which she was soon to be borne, than among the living. The +two mourners, stunned with their great grief, desired not the sympathy +of strangers. One member out of most of the families in the parish was +bidden to the funeral; and it became an act of self-denial in many a +poor household to give up to another the privilege of paying their last +homage to her; and those who were excluded from the formal train of +mourners thronged the churchyard and church, to see carried forth, and +laid beside her own people, her whom, not many months ago, they had +looked at as a pale white bride, entering on a new life with trembling +happy hope. + +Among those humble friends who passionately grieved over the dead, was +a village girl who had been seduced some little time before, but who +had found a holy sister in Charlotte. She had sheltered her with her +help, her counsel, her strengthening words; had ministered to her needs +in her time of trial. Bitter, bitter was the grief of this poor young +woman, when she heard that her friend was sick unto death, and deep +is her mourning until this day. A blind girl, living some four miles +from Haworth, loved Mrs. Nicholls so dearly that, with many cries and +entreaties, she implored those about her to lead her along the roads, +and over the moor-paths, that she might hear the last solemn words, +"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope +of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ." + +Such were the mourners over Charlotte Bronte's grave. + +I have little more to say. If my readers find that I have not said +enough, I have said too much. I cannot measure or judge of such a +character as hers. I cannot map out vices, and virtues, and debatable +land. One who knew her long and well,--the "Mary" of this Life--writes +thus of her dead friend:-- + +"She thought much of her duty, and had loftier and clearer notions of it +than most people, and held fast to them with more success. It was done, +it seems to me, with much more difficulty than people have of stronger +nerves, and better fortunes. All her life was but labour and pain; and +she never threw down the burden for the sake of present pleasure. I +don't know what use you can make of all I have said. I have written it +with the strong desire to obtain appreciation for her. Yet, what does +it matter? She herself appealed to the world's judgment for her use of +some of the faculties she had,--not the best,--but still the only ones +she could turn to strangers' benefit. They heartily, greedily enjoyed +the fruits of her labours, and then found out she was much to be blamed +for possessing such faculties. Why ask for a judgment on her from such a +world?" + +But I turn from the critical, unsympathetic public--inclined to judge +harshly because they have only seen superficially and not thought +deeply. I appeal to that larger and more solemn public, who know how to +look with tender humility at faults and errors; how to admire generously +extraordinary genius, and how to reverence with warm, full hearts all +noble virtue. To that Public I commit the memory of Charlotte Bronte. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Charlotte Bronte, by +Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE *** + +***** This file should be named 1700.txt or 1700.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/0/1700/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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