CHAPTER XVIII.

Situation of Luddenden Foot--Branwell visits Manchester--The

Sultry Summer--He visits the Picturesque Places adjacent--His

impromptu Verses to Mr. Grundy--He leaves the Railway Company

--Miss Robinson's unjust Comments--His three Sonnets--His

poem, 'The Afghan War'--Branwell's letter to Mr. Grundy--His

Self-depreciation 287

THE BRONTE FAMILY.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE BRONTES.

Bronte Genius--Patrick Bronte--His Birthplace--His early

Endeavours--Ordained--Presented to Hartshead--High Town--His

Courtship and Marriage--Removes to Thornton--His House--Thornton

Chapel--Mrs. Bronte's failing Health--Mr. Bronte Accepts the Living

of Haworth--Rudeness of the Inhabitants--Local Fights between

Haworth and Heptonstall--Description of Haworth--Mrs. Bronte dies.

Not many stories of literary success have attracted so much interest,

and are in themselves so curious and enthralling, as that of the Bronte

sisters. The question has often been asked how it came about that these

children, who were brought up in distant solitude, and cut off, in a

manner, from intellectual life, who had but a partial opportunity of

studying mankind, and scarcely any knowledge of the ways of the outside

world, were enabled, with searching hands, to dissect the finest meshes

of the passions, to hold up in the clearest light the springs of human

action, and to depict, with nervous power, the most masculine and

forcible aspects of character. The solution has been sought in the

initiatory strength and inherent mental disposition of the sisters,

framed and moulded by the weird and rugged surroundings of their youth,

and tinged with lurid light and vivid feeling by the misfortunes and

sins of their unhappy brother. To illustrate these several points, the

biographers of Charlotte and Emily Bronte have explained, as the matter

admitted of explanation, the intellectual beginnings and capability of

the sisters, have painted in sombre colours the story of their

friendless childhood, and lastly, with no lack of honest condemnation,

have told us as much as they knew of the sad history of Patrick

Branwell Bronte, their brother. It is a curious fact that this brother,

who was looked upon by his family as its brightest ornament and hope,

should be named in these days only in connection with his sisters, and

then but with apology, condemnation, or reproach. In the course of this

work, in which Branwell Bronte will be traced from his parentage to his

death, we shall find the explanation of this circumstance; but we shall

find, also, that, despite his failings and his sins, his intellectual

gifts, as they are testified by his literary promise and his remains,

entitle him to a high place as a worthy member of that extraordinary

family. It will be seen, moreover, that his influence upon Charlotte,

Emily, and Anne was not what has been generally supposed, and that

other circumstances, besides their own domestic troubles, inspired them

to write their masterpieces.

The father of these gifted authors, Patrick Bronte, whose life and

personal characteristics well deserve study, was a native of the county

Down. He was born on St. Patrick's Day, 1777; and, after an infancy

passed at the house of his father, Hugh Bronte, or Brunty, at

Ahaderg--one of the ten children who made a noisy throng in the home of

his parents--he opened, at the age of sixteen, a village school at

Drumgooland, in the same county. In this occupation he continued after

he had attained his majority, and was never a tutor, as Mrs. Gaskell

supposes; but, being ambitious of a clerical life, through the

assistance of his patron, Mr. Tighe, incumbent of Drumgooland and

Drumballyroony, in the county of Down, he was admitted to St. John's

College, Cambridge, on the 1st of October in the year 1802, when he had

attained his twenty-fifth year. At Cambridge we may infer that he led

an active life. It is known that he joined a volunteer corps raised to

be in readiness for the French invasion, threatened at the time. After

a four years' sojourn at his college, having graduated as a bachelor of

arts, in the year 1806, he was ordained, and appointed to a curacy in

Essex, where he is said not to have stayed long.

The perpetual curacy of Hartshead, in the West-Riding of Yorkshire,

having become vacant, Mr. Bronte received the appointment, on the

presentation of the vicar of Dewsbury.

The church of St. Peter, at Hartshead--which has extensive remains of

Norman work, and has recently been restored--is situated on an eminence

about a mile from the actual hamlet of that name; and, with its broad,

low, and massive tower, and its grim old yew-tree, forms a conspicuous

object for miles around, commanding on all sides extensive and

magnificent views of the valleys of Calder and Colne, with their wooded

slopes, and pleasant farms, and the busy villages nestling in the

hollows. At the foot of the hill, the deep and sombre woods of Kirklees

hide the almost indistinguishable remains of the convent, founded by

Raynerus Flandrensis, in the reign of Henry II., for nuns of the order

of Citeaux.

There are interesting circumstances and evidences concerning Kirklees,

its Roman entrenchments being very distinct within the park which

overlooks the Calder at this point. The priory, too, has its curious

history of the events which attended the cloistered life of Elizabeth

de Stainton, one of the prioresses, whose monumental memorial alone

remains of all that marked the graves of the religious of that house;

and there are stories relating to Robin Hood. Here still exists the

chamber in which tradition says the 'noble outlaw' died, and also the

grave, at a cross-bow shot from it, where long generations of men have

averred his dust reposes. The district of Kirklees had an interest for

Charlotte Bronte, and she has celebrated it in 'Shirley,' under the

name of Nunnely, with its old church, its forest, its monastic ruins,

and 'its man of title--its baronet.' It was to the house of the

latter--kind gentleman though he was--that Louis Moore could not go,

where he 'would much sooner have made an appointment with the ghost of

the Earl of Huntingdon to meet him, and a shadowy ring of his merry

men, under the canopy of the thickest, blackest, oldest oak in Nunnely

Forest ... would rather have appointed tryst with a phantom abbess, or

mist-pale nun, among the wet and weedy relics of that ruined sanctuary

of theirs, mouldering in the core of the wood.'

Mr. Bronte entered upon his ministrations at Hartshead in the year

1811; and there are entries in the churchwarden's book of Easter-dues

paid to him up to 1815. It is curious to note that, in this early

mention of Mr. Bronte, the name is spelled 'Brunty' and 'Bronty.'

Hartshead being destitute of a glebe house, and no suitable residence

existing either at this place or at the neighbouring village of Clifton

at the time, Mr. Bronte took up his residence at High Town, in a roomy

and pleasant house at the top of Clough Lane, near Liversedge in the

parish of Birstall, and about a mile from the place of his cure. The

house, which commands beautiful views, is entered by a passage of the

ordinary width, on the left of which is the drawing-room, having

cross-beams ornamented with plaster mouldings, as when first finished.

On the right of the passage is the dining-room. The breakfast-room and

kitchen are behind them. The house is three stories in height, and

stands back about two yards from the road, which points direct to the

now populous towns of Liversedge and Cleckheaton, both places of

considerable antiquity, whose inhabitants, employed in various

manufacturies, were increasing in Mr. Bronte's time.

Finding himself now in possession of a competent income and a goodly

residence, he felt relieved from those anxieties which, in all

probability, had attended his early struggles; and, resting awhile in

his ambition, he turned in peace and contentment to poetical

meditation. His first book was called 'Cottage Poems,' on the

title-page of which he describes himself as the 'Reverend Patrick

Bronte, B.A., minister of Hartshead-cum-Clifton.' This book was

published at Halifax in the year 1811. The following are a few of its

subjects: 'The Happy Cottagers,' 'The Rainbow,' 'Winter Nights'

Meditations,' 'Verses sent to a Lady on her Birthday,' 'The Cottage

Maid,' and 'The Spider and the Fly.' Mr. Bronte thus speaks of himself

and his work: 'When relieved from clerical avocations he was occupied

in writing the "Cottage Poems;" from morning till noon, and from noon

till night, his employment was full of indescribable pleasure, such as

he could wish to taste as long as life lasts. His hours glided

pleasantly and almost imperceptibly by, and when night drew on, and he

retired to rest, ere his eyes closed in sleep with sweet calmness and

serenity of mind, he often reflected that, though the delicate palate

of criticism might be disgusted, the business of the day in the

prosecution of his humble task was well-pleasing in the sight of God,

and by His blessing might be rendered useful to some poor soul who

cared little about critical niceties.' Throughout he professes to be

indifferent to hostile criticism.

It is pleasant to find that Mr. Bronte, although settled in competence

in a picturesque part of England, was not forgetful of his parents or

of the land of his birth. So long as his mother lived he sent her

twenty pounds a year; and, though we have no record of the occasion, we

may safely infer that he found opportunity to visit Ireland again. He

maintained his connection with the district of his early life; and, in

after-years, he appointed a relative of Mr. Tighe to be his own curate.

One of his 'Cottage Poems' is entitled 'The Irish Cabin,' a verse or

two from which may here be given:--

'Should poverty, modest and clean,

E'er please when presented to view,

Should cabin on brown heath or green,

Disclose aught engaging to you;

Should Erin's wild harp soothe the ear,

When touched by such fingers as mine,

Then kindly attentive draw near,

And candidly ponder each line.'

He describes a winter-scene on the mountains of Morne--a high range

of hills in the north of Ireland--and thus alludes to his hospitable

reception in the clean and industrious cabin of his verses:--

'Escaped from the pitiless storm,

I entered the humble retreat;

Compact was the building, and warm,

In furniture simple and neat.

And now, gentle reader, approve

The ardour that glowed in each breast,

As kindly our cottagers strove

To cherish and welcome their guest.'

It is unnecessary to give in this place further extracts from this

book; suffice it to say that, in all probability, Mr. Bronte lived to

see the day when he was pained and surprised that he had ever committed

it to the press.

Although the poems of Mr. Bronte are inspired by the love of a peaceful

and contented life, free from excitement and care, yet in times of

trouble and emergency, such as those of the Luddite riots which

occurred during the period of his ministration at Hartshead, he showed

again the active and resolute spirit which had prompted and sustained

the efforts of his early ambition; and his ardour in helping to

suppress the turbulent spirit of the neighbourhood would have made him

very unpopular with the disaffected people, had they not learned to

respect the upright and unfailing rectitude of his conduct. In the

energetic character of Mr. Bronte's life in these early times, in his

persistent ambition, and in the literary pursuits which clearly were

dear to him, we may trace those factors of working power and literary

aspiration and taste which made up the characteristic intellectual

force of his children.

Mrs. Gaskell, in her 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' has given some of the

particulars of the Reverend Mr. Bronte's courtship and marriage, in

which she appears to have taken a lively interest.

Mr. Bronte met his future wife, (Miss Maria Branwell--of whose

character I shall speak in the next chapter--the third daughter of Mr.

T. Branwell of Penzance, deceased) for the first time about the summer

of 1812, when she was on a visit to her uncle, the Rev. John Fennel, a

Methodist minister and head-master of the Wesleyan Academy at Woodhouse

Grove, near Bradford, but who became later a clergyman of the

Establishment, and was made incumbent of Cross-stone, in the parish of

Halifax. This meeting was soon followed by an engagement, and, says

Mrs. Gaskell, there were plans for happy picnic-parties to Kirkstall

Abbey in the glowing September days, when 'Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin

Jane'--the last engaged to a Mr. Morgan, another clergyman--were of the

party.

In the account which Mr. Bronte gives of the aim and scope of the work

from which I have made an extract, and the state of his mind while

engaged upon it, we have a retrospect of the inner life of the father

of the Brontes, during his sojourn at Hartshead as perpetual curate,

prior to his marriage with Miss Branwell. In this period of his life,

he seems to have been perfectly happy, no cloud or anticipation of

future sorrow having obscured or diminished the fulness of his peace.

The marriage was celebrated on the 29th of December, 1812, at Guiseley,

near Bradford, by the Rev. W. Morgan, minister of Bierley, the

gentleman engaged to 'Cousin Jane.' It is a very curious circumstance

that on the same day, and at the same place, Mr. Bronte performed the

marriage ceremony between his wife's cousin, Miss Jane Fennel, only

daughter of the Mr. Fennel alluded to above, and the Rev. W. Morgan,

who had just been, as described, the officiating clergyman at his own

wedding.

Mr. Fennel would naturally have performed the ceremony for his niece

and Mr. Bronte, had it not fallen to his lot to give the lady away.

When Mr. Bronte found himself settled in married life at Hartshead, and

with the probability of a young family rising around him, he felt

pleasure in the contemplation of the future. Mrs. Bronte, ever gentle

and affectionate in her household ways, comforted and encouraged him in

his literary pursuits, and, by her acute observation and accurate

judgment, directed and aided his own. It was at this time that Mr.

Bronte wrote a book, entitled 'The Rural Ministry,' which was published

at Halifax, in 1813. The work consisted of a miscellany of descriptive

poems, with the following titles: 'The Sabbath Bells,' 'Kirkstall

Abbey,' 'Extempore Verses,' 'Lines to a Lady on her Birthday,' 'An

Elegy,' 'Reflections by Moonlight,' 'Winter,' 'Rural Happiness,' 'The

Distress and Relief,' 'The Christian's Farewell,' 'The Harper of Erin.'

It cannot be doubted that, in consequence of his two publications while

he was at Hartshead, Mr. Bronte became known in the surrounding

districts as an aspiring man, and one of literary culture and ability.

Mr. Bronte had taken his bride to his house at High Town, and it was

there that his daughters Maria and Elizabeth were born. Maria was

baptized on April the 23rd, 1814, and is entered in the register as the

'daughter of Patrick Bronte and Maria his wife.' The Rev. Mr. Morgan

was the officiating minister. There is no such entry there relating to

Elizabeth, for she was baptized at Thornton with the other children.

Mr. Bronte, after having been nearly five years minister of

Hartshead-cum-Clifton, resigned the benefice, and accepted, from the

vicar of Bradford, the incumbency of Thornton, a perpetual curacy in

that parish. This, probably, on the suggestion of Mr. Morgan, who was

then incumbent of Christ's Church at Bradford.

Thornton is beautifully situated on the northern slope of a valley.

Green and fertile pastures spread over the adjacent hills, and wooded

dells with shady walks beautify and enrich the district. 'The

neighbourhood,' says Mrs. Gaskell, 'is desolate and wild; great tracts

of bleak land, enclosed by stone dykes, sweeping up Clayton Heights.'

This disagreeable picture of the place, painted by the biographer of

Charlotte, is scarcely justified by the actual appearance of the

district. The soil is naturally fertile, and the inhabitants are

notable for industry and enterprise. Hence no barren land, within the

wide range of hill and vale, is now seen obtruding on the cultivated

sweep.

The town is somewhat regularly built. In the main street is situated

the house where Mr. Bronte took up his abode during his stay at

Thornton. The hall door was reached by several steps. There was a

dining-room on one side of the hall, and a drawing-room on the other.

Over the passage to the front was a dressing-room, at the window of

which the neighbours often saw Mr. Bronte at his toilet. Above the door

of the house, on a stone slab, there are still visible the letters:

A.

J. S.

1802

These are the initials of John and Sarah Ashworth, former inhabitants

of Thornton; and this residence remained as the parsonage until another

was built below, nearer to the chapel, by the successor of Mr. Bronte.

The chapel of Thornton is a narrow, contracted, and unsightly building.

The north side is lighted by two rows of square cottage windows--on the

south side, five late perpendicular pointed windows permit the sun to

relieve the gloom of the interior.

The diminutive communion-table is lighted by a four-mullioned window,

above which, externally, in the wall, appears the date 1620. The

interior is blocked, on the ground floor, with high-backed, unpainted

deal pews. Two galleries hide the windows almost from view, and cast a

gloom over the interior of the edifice. The area under the pews, and in

the aisles, is paved with gravestones, and a fetid, musty smell floats

through the damp and mouldering interior. In this chapel, Mr. Bronte

preached and ministered, and from the pulpit, placed high above the

curate and clerk, whence he delivered his sermons, he could see his

wife and children in a pew just below him.

The new incumbent of Thornton seems to have taken active interest in

his chapel; for in the western screen, which divides a kind of lobby

from the nave, is painted, on a wooden tablet, an inscription recording

that in the year 1818 this chapel was 'Repaired and Beautified,' the

Rev. Patrick Bronte, B.A., being then minister.

While at Thornton Mr. Bronte steadily pursued his literary avocations,

one of his books being a small volume entitled, 'The Cottage in the

Wood, or the Art of becoming Rich and Happy.' This is an account of a

pious family, consisting of an aged couple and a virtuous child, whose

appearance and education qualify her for a higher position in the world

than that of a cottager's daughter. Accident brings to their door a

young man in a state of almost helpless drunkenness, whose habits are

the most profligate and dissolute, as the sequel discloses; and the

object of the book is to show the dire consequences of continued

intemperance. The story is told in prose, but Mr. Bronte gives a

poetical version of one event in the narrative. It is entitled, 'The

Nightly Revel,' and possesses a dignity of its own. The following

extract shows considerable improvement, in diction and verse, upon the

style of his small volume published at Halifax, in 1811. For this

reason it is well worth reproducing.

'Around the table polish'd goblets shine,

Fill'd with brown ale, or crown'd with ruddy wine;

Each quaffs his glass, and, thirsty, calls for more,

Till maddening mirth, and song, and wild uproar,

And idly fierce dispute, and brutal fight

Break the soft slumbers of the peaceful night.

'Without, within, above, beneath, around,

Ungodly jests and deep-mouthed oaths resound;

Pale Reason, trembling, leaves her reeling throne,

Truth, Honour, Virtue, Justice, all are flown;

The sly, dark-glancing harlot's fatal breath

Allures to sin and sorrow, shame and death.

The gaming-table, too, that fatal snare,

Beset with fiercest passions fell is there;

Remorse, despair, revenge, and deadly hate,

With dark design, in bitter durance wait,

Till SCARLET MURDER waves his bloody hand,

Gives in sepulchral tone the dread command;

Then forth they rush, and from the secret sheath

Draw the keen blade and do the work of death.'

Mr. Bronte also, in 1818, before his appointment to Haworth, published

his 'Maid of Killarney.' He had not been long at Thornton, where he

went about the year 1815, when a considerable increase in his family

added to his parental responsibilities.

On his acceptance of the living, he probably enjoyed a larger stipend

than at Hartshead, but the demands of a young family, perhaps, on the

whole, made him a poorer man. There Charlotte Bronte was born in April,

1816; Patrick Branwell Bronte in 1817; Emily Jane Bronte in 1818; and

Anne Bronte probably just before Mr. Bronte's removal to Haworth, which

was on February 25th, 1820, as we are told by Mrs. Gaskell.

Of the life of the Brontes at Thornton we know little. But there were

causes of anxiety pressing on Mr. Bronte at the time. The state of his

wife's health was a real sorrow, and although he derived solace from

his literary pursuits and the society of his clerical friends, his

spirits were damped by the contemplation of the season of bereavement

and affliction that assuredly threatened him at no distant date.

With six young children, who might soon become motherless, Mr. Bronte's

future was dark and discouraging, and he entertained the idea of

resigning, at no distant day, the then place of his cure. Here, living

within a reasonable distance of Bradford, he had an opportunity of

moving in a larger circle of friends than at Hartshead, and it was here

that his children received their earliest impressions of local life and

character. Old inhabitants of Thornton remembered them playing in the

space opposite their father's residence, in the village street, and had

often seen them carried, or their parents lead them by the hand, in the

lanes of the neighbourhood. They were children only when they left

Thornton; yet, on many grounds, the inhabitants of that village may

feel privileged that it was the birthplace of the authors of 'Jane

Eyre,' 'Wuthering Heights,' and 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.'

Shortly an opportunity presented itself to Mr. Bronte for leaving

Thornton, a vacancy having taken place at Haworth through the death of

the curate, Mr. Charnock. The situation of this chapelry was blessed

with a more bracing air, and the curate had a somewhat better stipend

than Thornton allowed, and so Mr. Bronte accepted the presentation from

the patron. We are informed, however, that, on visiting the place of

his intended ministrations, he was told that while to him personally

the parishioners had no objection, yet, as the nominee of the vicar of

Bradford, he would not be received. He had no idea that the inhabitants

had a veto in the appointment.

On Mr. Bronte declaring that, if he had not the good-will of the

inhabitants, his ministrations would be useless, the place was

presented to Mr. Redhead by the patron, and the village seems to have

become the scene of extraordinary proceedings. It appears that, after

the Reformation, the presentation to the curacy of Haworth, which had

been from time immemorial vested in the vicar of Bradford, had become

subject to the control of the freeholders, and of certain trustees who

held possession of the principal funds from which the stipend of the

curate proceeded, which they could withhold, by virtue of an authority

they appear to have been empowered with. In effect, they could at any

time disallow or render void an appointment, if disagreeable to

themselves, by keeping back the stipend. Mr. Bronte, writing later of

Mr. Redhead, says of this: 'My predecessor took the living with the

consent of the vicar of Bradford and certain trustees, in consequence

of which he was so opposed that, after only three weeks' possession, he

was compelled to resign.' What this opposition and its immediate

effects were, we learn from the pages of Mrs. Gaskell's 'Life of

Charlotte Bronte,' and they may be mentioned here as illustrative of

the pre-eminent resolution and force of character which ever

distinguish the inhabitants of the West-Riding and the dwellers on

these rough-hewn and storm-beaten elevations.

During the long illness which preceded the death of Mr. Charnock,

incumbent of Haworth, his assistant curate, Mr. Redhead, had supplied

his place; who, on Mr. Bronte's withdrawal, was presented, as is stated

above, to the vacant living by the patron, and he seems to have been

determined to hold the chapelry, _vi et armis_, in defiance of the

inhabitants. But the freeholders, conceiving they had been deprived of

their long established prerogative, or an attempt was being made to

interfere with it, protested against Mr. Redhead's appointment. On the

first occasion of this gentleman's preaching in the church, it was

crowded not by worshippers, but by a multitude of people bent on

mischief. These resolved the service should not proceed, or that it

should be rendered inaudible. To secure this object they had put on the

heavy wooden clogs they daily wore, except on Sundays, and, while the

surpliced minister was reading the opening service, the stamping and

clattering of the clogs drowned his voice, and the people left the

church, making all the noise and uproar that was in their power, which

was by no means feeble. The following Sunday witnessed proceedings

still more disgraceful. We are told that at the commencement of the

service, a man rode up the nave of the church on an ass, with his face

to the tail, and with a number of old hats piled on his head. On urging

his beast forward, the screams of delight, the roars of laughter, and

the shouts of the approving conspirators completely drowned the

clergyman's voice; and he left the chapel, but not yet discomfited.

Mr. Redhead, on the third Sunday, resolved to make a strenuous and

final effort to keep the ecclesiastical citadel of which he had been

formally put in possession. For this purpose he brought with him a body

of cavalry, composed of a number of sympathising gentlemen, with their

horses; and the curate, thus accompanied by his supporters, ascended

the village street and put up at the 'Bull.' But the enemy had been on

the alert: the people were exasperated, and followed the new-comers to

the church, accompanied by a chimney-sweep who had, not long before,

finished his labours at some adjacent chimneys, and whom they had made

half drunk. Him they placed right before the reading-desk, which Mr.

Redhead had already reached, and the drunken, black-faced sweep nodded

assent to the measured utterances of the minister. 'At last,' it is

said, 'either prompted by some mischief-maker, or from some tipsy

impulse, he clambered up the pulpit stairs, and attempted to embrace

Mr. Redhead. Then the fun grew fast and furious. Some of the more

riotous pushed the soot-covered chimney-sweeper against Mr. Redhead, as

he tried to escape. They threw both him and his tormentor down on the

ground in the churchyard where the soot-bag had been emptied, and

though, at last, Mr. Redhead escaped into the "Black Bull," the doors

of which were immediately barred, the people raged without, threatening

to stone him and his friends.'[1] They escaped from the place, and Mr.

Redhead, completely vanquished, retired from the curacy of Haworth.

[1] 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap. ii.

Mr. Bronte, who had made a favourable impression on the inhabitants,

was now accepted by them, and the natural kindness of his disposition

and the urbanity of his manners, secured peace and contentment in the

village.

His responsibilities as a pastor were not light, though the new scene

of his labours, in moral condition, was, perhaps, no worse than the

generality of similar villages in the north of England. The special

chroniclers of Haworth speak of the population of the barren mountains

west of York as 'rude and arrogant, after the manner of their wild

country.' This is the testimony of James Rither, a Yorkshire esquire.

The celebrated Oliver Haywood, preaching at the house of Jonas Foster,

at Haworth, on June 13th, 1672, broke out into lamentations about the

immorality, corruption, and profanity of the place. Mr. Grimshaw, in

the last century, while curate there, had a conviction that the

majority of the people were going to hell with their eyes open! Mrs.

Gaskell informs us that at Haworth, 'drinking without the head being

affected was considered a manly accomplishment.' A remarkable instance

of the loss of reverence and the increase of profanity, in those days,

is found in the observance of Palm Sunday at Heptonstall, a

neighbouring village, and at Haworth itself this feast was

pre-eminently distinguished in ancient times by the out-door

processions of people going from the church and returning to it,

bearing palm branches and singing the psalms and hymns appointed for

the special festival.

It is known, indeed, that this feast was attended by the inhabitants of

the surrounding hills and valleys in those times; and, at the period of

which I speak, the attendance of the people was not diminished, but

increased, though they came for another object. It is a singular fact

that local feuds, if we may call them such, were kept up between the

villages of the West-Riding. And thus challenges were given alternately

by Haworth to Heptonstall, and by Heptonstall to Haworth, for struggles

between the champions of the respective villages, to be fought out on

Palm Sunday. The inhabitants of these places, therefore, met to pound

and pummel each other without any civil or religious cause to give

bitterness to the fray: greed of triumph and brutal indifference to

injuries inflicted characterized these hostile meetings. On such

occasions, at Heptonstall, amidst great drunkenness and rioting, there

were 'stand-up' fights from the church-gates to the 'Buttress,' a steep

part of the road, near the bridge which crosses the river at the foot

of Heptonstall Bank--nearly a mile in extent. On one of these feasts, a

Haworth belligerent, unwilling to return home, although night was

drawing on, and looking extremely dissatisfied, when asked by his wife

what ailed him, answered, 'Aw 'annot fawhten wi' onny body yet, an'

aw'll nut gooa whom till aw dun summat.' His affectionate spouse

replied, 'Then gooa, an' get fawhten' an' ha' done wi' it, for we mun

gooa.' The West-Riding police, on their institution, put an end to

these disagraceful proceedings.

Haworth, the new place of Mr. Bronte's incumbency, which has been well

and very fully described by many writers, is situated on the western

confines of the parish of Bradford, and stands on a somewhat lofty

eminence. It is, however, protected in great measure from the western

storms by still higher ground, which consists of irreclaimable moors

and morasses.

The church in which he, for the remainder of his life, performed his

religious services, and in which his more gifted children repose, after

their brief but memorable lives, was of ancient date. A chantry was

founded there at the beginning of the reign of Edward III., where a

priest celebrated daily for the repose of the soul of Adam de Battley,

and for the souls of his ancestors, and for all the faithful departed.

The church, which is dedicated to the glory of God, in honour of St.

Michael the archangel, has been recently, to a great extent,

re-edified. The old structure retained traces of one still older, of

the early English style. Invested as it was with the evidences of the

periods of taste good and bad through which it had passed, and with the

associations which attach to old and familiar internal arrangements, it

was endeared to the inhabitants. Of such associations the present

church--though an architectural gain upon its predecessor--is

necessarily destitute, and the world-wide interest with which the

former structure was invested through the genius of the Brontes has

been almost destroyed by the substitution of an edifice in which they

never prayed, and which they never saw; though their remains repose, it

is true, under its pavement, as is indicated by memorial tablets.

During the existence of the old church, Haworth was visited by

continuous streams of people; but, on its removal, little was left to

attract pilgrims from afar, and there was a manifest diminution of

visitors to the village.

In the recent alterations, the parsonage also, in which the children of

the Rev. Patrick Bronte lived and won for themselves enduring fame in

the path of literature, has undergone considerable changes. It has been

found necessary to add a new wing to the house, in order to obtain

larger accommodation, and, to beautify the parsonage still further, the

old cottage panes, through which light fell on precious and invaluable

pages of elaborate manuscript, as they passed through delicate and

gifted hands, have given way to plate-glass squares. Altogether the

house, both inside and out, presents a very different appearance from

that which it did in the time of the Brontes.

The chapelry at Haworth, when Mr. Bronte accepted the perpetual curacy,

was much more populous and important than that of Thornton. The stipend

of L170 per annum, with a fair residence attached, and a sum of L27

13s. for maintenance, made the change a desirable one on pecuniary

grounds; and, with Mrs. Bronte's annuity of L50 a year, anxiety on this

head was no doubt allayed.

The population of the district was about four thousand seven hundred,

and, in the first ten years of Mr. Bronte's incumbency, increased by

nearly twelve hundred souls. The chapelry included within its bounds

the townships or hamlets of Stanbury and Near and Far Oxenhope, with

the extensive moors and scattered houses stretching to the borders of

Lancashire. The curacy of Stanbury, a place one mile west of Haworth,

with L100 per annum, was in the gift of Mr. Bronte; and there was also

the interest on L600, with a house, for the maintenance of a free

school at that place, and a sum of L90 per annum for a like purpose at

Haworth. In the year 1849, while Mr. Bronte was still incumbent, the

chapelry of Haworth was divided, a church having been erected at

Oxenhope at a cost of L1,500, the curacy there being valued at L150 per

annum.

Among the considerations which had weight with Mr. Bronte in his

determination to accept the curacy of Haworth was, in all probability,

the delicate state of his wife's health, and the not over-robust

constitutions of his children. He knew, that though from the

smoke-laden atmosphere of the busy centres of West-Riding industry,

Keighley and Haworth were not wholly exempt, yet the winds which

prevailed from the west and the south-west for a great part of the

year, and swept over the moorlands from whose heights the Irish Channel

itself was visible, would, by their purity, give that invigoration of

which his family stood in need. It is quite possible, indeed, that by

Mr. Bronte's removal to Haworth, which gave an almost illimitable range

of wild, heathery hills for his children to wander over, an extension

of their short lives may have been attained. Mrs. Bronte, however,

derived little or no benefit from the change. She had suffered for some

time under a fatal malady--an internal cancer--of which, about eighteen

months after her arrival at Haworth, she died.

CHAPTER II.

MRS. BRONTE.

The Mother of the Brontes--Her Character and Personal Appearance

--Her Literary Taste--Penzance, her Native Place--Description of

Penzance--The Branwell Family--Personal Traits of Maria Branwell

--Her Virtues--Her Letters to Mr. Bronte--Her Domestic Experiences.

The mother of the Brontes--whose death, in September, 1821, deprived

her children of the affectionate and tender care which, for the short

period of her married life, she had bestowed upon them--would, had she

been spared, have moulded their characters by her own meek, gentle, and

maternal virtues. Mrs. Bronte is said to have been small in person, but

of graceful and kindly manners; not beautiful, yet comely and

lady-like, and gifted with great discrimination, judgment, and modesty.

Mrs. Gaskell says she 'was very elegant, and always dressed with a

quiet simplicity of taste which accorded well with her general

character, and of which some details call to mind the style of dress

preferred by her daughter for her favourite heroines.' Mrs. Bronte was

also gifted with literary ability and taste. She had written an essay

entitled, 'The Advantages of Poverty in Religious Concerns,' with a

view to publication in some periodical; and her letters were

characterized by elegance and ease. Her relations in Penzance spoke of

her as 'their favourite aunt, and one to whom they, as well as the

family, looked up as a person of talent and great amiability of

disposition;' and again, as 'possessing more than ordinary talents,

which she inherited from her father.'

Mrs. Bronte, as has been said, was a native of Penzance, a corporate

town in the county of Cornwall, and also a sea-port. Penzance is

situated in the hundred of Penwith, and is the most westerly town in

England. The climate is distinguished by great mildness and salubrity,

and the land is remarkable for its fertility, and the beauty of its

meads and pastures. Its maritime situation, however, had, in former

times, exposed it to the descents of foreign invaders, the last of

which appears to have been that of the Spaniards in the year 1595. The

account given of this event is that the invaders, being masters of

Bretagne, sent four vessels manned with a force sufficient to occupy

the Cornish coast. They landed near Mousehole--a well-known place on

the western side of Mount's Bay--and entered the town, which they set

on fire, the inhabitants fleeing before them. At a later date the town

became very pleasant, and many of the houses were large and

respectable, while the streets were well paved. Generally the people

enjoyed long lives, and some attained the patriarchal age: one of

these--Dolly Pentreath, who died in her one hundred and second year,

and who had made the 'Mousehole' her residence--was known as the last

who spoke Cornish. On account of the gentleness of the climate, many

suffering from pulmonary complaints took up their residence there.

Penzance was a town surrounded by places of great interest to the

historian and the antiquary, which are fully described by Borlase and

others. The trades carried on at the place were of considerable extent

in tin and the pilchard fishery, as well as in copper, earthenware,

clay, and in other objects of manufacture and merchandise. In one of

the local industries, Mr. Thomas Branwell was engaged. He had married a

lady named Carne, and they had four daughters and one son. Maria was

their third daughter. The families of Mr. and Mrs. Branwell were well

connected, and moved in the best society in Penzance. They were

Wesleyan Methodist in religion, and the children were brought up in

that persuasion. Mr. Branwell relieved the cares of business by the

delights and consolations of music, in the performance of which he is

said to have had considerable ability. He and his wife lived to see

their children grown up; and died, Mr. Branwell in 1808, and his wife

in 1809.

Maria Branwell visited her uncle, Mr. Fennel, at the beginning of the

summer of 1812, as is stated above, and, for the first time, saw Mr.

Bronte. A feeling of mutual admiration sprang up between them, and

something like the beginning of an engagement took place. When she

returned home, a correspondence opened between the two, and Mr. Bronte

preserved the letters. These have been referred to by the biographer of

his daughter, and we learn that the communications of Miss Branwell

were characterized by singular modesty, thoughtfulness, and piety. She

was surprised to find herself so suddenly engaged, but she accepted

with modest candour the proffer of Mr. Bronte's affection. The future

was determined by mutual acquiescence. On Miss Branwell, nature had

bestowed no great personal attractions, yet, as has been said, she was

comely, and lady-like in her manners; and her innate grace drew

irresistibly to her the esteem of all her acquaintances. Little is

known respecting her beyond the personal traits already mentioned; and

as to the circumstances and events of her life, unmarried or married,

which was one of an extremely even and uneventful kind, little or

nothing can be recorded beyond the ordinary routine of domestic duties

well and affectionately performed, and of obligations in her sphere

religiously observed. Blameless in her conduct, loving in her charge,

and patient in the sufferings she was called upon to endure, she was a

pattern of those excellencies which are the adornments of domestic

life, and make the hearth happy and contented. It cannot be doubted

that she ordered her household with judgment, and expended her

husband's income with frugality and to the best advantage.

Mrs. Gaskell was enabled to give an extract from one of her letters

written to Mr. Bronte before her marriage, which displays in an

excellent manner her calm sensibility and understanding. She says: 'For

some years I have been perfectly my own mistress, subject to no control

whatever; so far from it that my sisters, who are many years older than

myself, and even my dear mother, used to consult me on every occasion

of importance, and scarcely ever doubted the propriety of my opinions

and actions; perhaps you will be ready to accuse me of vanity in

mentioning this, but you must consider that I do not boast of it. I

have many times felt it a disadvantage, and although, I thank God, it

has never led me into error, yet, in circumstances of uncertainty and

doubt, I have deeply felt the want of a guide and instructor.'[2]

[2] 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap. iii.

The usual preparations, which Mrs. Gaskell has particularized, were

made for the wedding; but during the arrangements a disaster happened,

to which the following letter to Mr. Bronte refers:--

'I suppose you never expected to be much richer for me, but I am

sorry to inform you that I am still poorer than I thought myself. I

mentioned having sent for my books, clothes, &c. On Saturday

evening, about the time when you were writing the description of

your imaginary shipwreck, I was reading and feeling the effects of

a real one, having then received a letter from my sister, giving me

an account of the vessel in which she had sent my box being

stranded on the coast of Devonshire, in consequence of which the

box was dashed to pieces with the violence of the sea, and all my

little property, with the exception of a few articles, being

swallowed up in the mighty deep. If this should not prove the

prelude to something worse, I shall think little of it, as it is

the first disastrous circumstance which has occurred since I left

home.'[3]

[3] 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap. iii.

The wedding took place at Guiseley, on December 29th, 1812, as is

stated in the previous chapter.

CHAPTER III.

THE REV. PATRICK BRONTE.

Character of the Rev. P. Bronte--Charges against Him--Serious

Allegations of Biographers--Injustice of the Charges--Mr. Bronte's

indignant Denial of the Imputations--Testimony of Nancy Garrs--Mrs.

Bronte and the Silk-Dress Episode--Mr. Bronte, the Supposed Prototype

of Mr. Helstone--The Pistol-shots Theory--Mr. Bronte on Science

Knowledge--Miss Branwell.

The character of the Rev. Patrick Bronte, who was responsible, after

the death of his wife, for the education of his children, if we may

believe the accounts given of it by those who have admired their

genius, had many deplorable peculiarities. It would be difficult,

indeed, to find anywhere the record of such passionate outbreaks, such

unreasoning prejudices, and such unbending will as are revealed in the

stories which are told of him. But we shall see presently that most of

these charges have no foundation in fact, while others are, probably,

the result of total misconception.

Mrs. Gaskell gives an account of these peculiarities. On one occasion,

she tells us, after the children had been out on the wet moors, the

nurse had rummaged out certain coloured boots given to them by the Rev.

Mr. Morgan, who had been sponsor for Maria at Hartshead, and had

arranged them before the fire. Mr. Bronte observing this, and thinking

the bright colours might foster pride, heaped the boots upon the coals,

and filled the house with a very strong odour of burnt leather. 'Long

before this,' she says, 'some one had given Mrs. Bronte a silk gown ...

she kept it treasured up in her drawers. One day, however, while in the

kitchen, she remembered that she had left the key in the drawer, and,

hearing Mr. Bronte upstairs, she augured some ill to her dress, and,

running up in haste, she found it cut into shreds.... He did not speak

when he was annoyed or displeased, but worked off his volcanic wrath by

firing pistols out of the back-door in rapid succession.... Now and

then his anger took a different form, but still was speechless. Once he

got the hearth-rug, and, stuffing it up the grate, deliberately set it

on fire, and remained in the room in spite of the stench until it had

smouldered and shrivelled away into uselessness. Another time he took

some chairs, and sawed away at the backs till they were reduced to the

condition of stools.'[4]

[4] Gaskell's 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap. iii, 1st

edition.

Mr. Wemyss Reid, who implicitly adopts the 'pistol shots' and 'pretty

dress' stories, while paying a high tribute to Mr. Bronte's rectitude,

and to his just pride in the celebrity of his daughters, says of him,

'He appears to have been a strange compound of good and evil. That he

was not without some good is acknowledged by all who knew him. He had

kindly feelings towards most people.... But throughout his whole life

there was but one person with whom he had any real sympathy, and that

person was himself.' He was 'passionate, self-willed, vain, habitually

cold and distant in his demeanour towards those of his own household.'

His wife 'lived in habitual dread of her lordly master.... It would be

a mistake to suppose that violence was one of the weapons to which Mr.

Bronte habitually resorted ... his general policy was to secure his end

by craft rather than by force.'[5]

[5] 'Charlotte Bronte, a Monograph,' pp. 20, 21, 22.

Miss Robinson, without hesitation, repeats the censures on Mr. Bronte

published by Mrs. Gaskell and Mr. Reid, asking, 'Who dare say if that

marriage was happy? Mrs. Gaskell, writing in the life and for the eyes

of Mr. Bronte, speaks of his unwearied care, his devotion in the

night-nursing. But, before that fatal illness was declared, she lets

fall many a hint of the young wife's loneliness ... of her patient

suffering, of his violent temper.'[6]

[6] 'Emily Bronte,' by A. Mary F. Robinson, 1883, p. 16.

It will thus be seen that the disposition of Mr. Bronte must have been

a sad one indeed, if all these statements are true; and marvellous

that, with 'such a father,' the young and sterling faculties of the

'six small children' should have been so admirably directed and trained

that, of the four who lived to later years, three at least occupy an

exalted and prominent position among women of letters in the present

century. And it would be still more strange that these children were

especially distinguished for the gentleness of their dispositions, and

the refinement of their ideas. It may be hoped that the readers of this

volume, with their additional knowledge of the affectionate, but often

wayward, Branwell, will sympathize with the sentiment which Monsieur

Heger expressed in his letter to Mr. Bronte, that, _en jugeant un

pere de famille par ses enfants on ne risque pas de se tromper_. For

we can scarcely doubt that the characteristics of the children, which I

have named, were due, in fact, in great measure, to Mr. Bronte's

affectionate supervision and education of them. He had graduated at St.

John's College, Cambridge, as we have seen; and the culture and tone of

the university were brought under the roof of his house, where his

children--more especially Branwell--were subjected to its influence.

Moreover, whatever may be thought of Mr. Bronte's intellectual gifts,

or of the talent he displayed in his poems and prose writings, we may

be sure that he possessed, in a marked degree, a deep sympathy with a

higher mental training, and with the truth and simplicity of a pastoral

life.

After the allegations against Mr. Bronte had appeared in the first

edition of the life of his daughter Charlotte, he never ceased to deny

the scandalous reflections upon his character in that work. 'They

were,' he said to me, 'wholly untrue.' He stated that he had 'fulfilled

every duty of a husband and a father with all the kindness, solicitude,

and affection which could be required of him.' And Mrs. Bronte herself

had said, as quoted by Mrs. Gaskell, 'Ought I not to be thankful that

he never gave me an angry word?' thus openly declaring that, whatever

might have been the peculiarities of Mr. Bronte's temper, his wife, at

least, never suffered the consequences. The children also ever looked

up to their father with reverence, gratitude, and devotion.

In a conversation I had with Mr. Bronte on the 8th of July, 1857, he

spoke of the unjustifiable reflections upon himself which had been made

public, and he said, 'I did not know that I had an enemy in the world,

much less one who would traduce me before my death, till Mrs. Gaskell's

"Life of Charlotte" appeared. Every thing in that book which relates to

my conduct to my family is either false or distorted. I never did

commit such acts as are there ascribed to me.' At a later interview Mr.

Bronte explained that by the word 'enemies,' he implied, 'false

informants and hostile critics.' He believed that Mrs. Gaskell had

listened to village scandal, and had sought information from some

discarded servant.

Let us then examine the source of these allegations. Mrs. Gaskell

tells us that her informant was 'a good old woman,' who had been

Mrs. Bronte's nurse in her illness. Now it is known that, whatever

good qualities this person may be supposed to have had, her

conscientiousness and rectitude, at least, were not of the first order,

and she was detected in proceedings which caused Mr. Bronte to dismiss

her at once. With the double effect of explaining her dismissal and

injuring Mr. Bronte, this person gave an account of his temper and

conduct, embellished with the stories which I have quoted from the

first edition of the 'Life of Charlotte,' to a minister of the place;

and it was in this way that Mrs. Gaskell became acquainted with her and

them. Nancy Garrs, a faithful young woman who had been in Mr. Bronte's

service at Thornton, who continued with the family after the removal to

Haworth, and who still survives--a widow, Mrs. Wainwright--at an

advanced age, a well-known inhabitant of Bradford, informs me that the

'silk dress' which Mr. Bronte is said to have torn to shreds was a

print dress, not new, and that Mr. Bronte, disliking its enormous

sleeves, one day, finding the opportunity, cut them off. The whole

thing was a joke, which Mrs. Bronte at once guessed at, and, going

upstairs, she brought the dress down, saying to Nancy, 'Look what he

has done; that falls to your share.' Nancy declares the other stories

to be wholly unfounded. She speaks of Mr. Bronte as a 'most

affectionate husband; there never was a more affectionate father, never

a kinder master;' and 'he was not of a violent temper at all; quite the

reverse.'

This view of these slanderous stories is fortunately also confirmed out

of the mouth of Charlotte Bronte. In the fourth chapter of 'Shirley,'

speaking of Mr. Helstone--whose character, though not absolutely

founded on that of her father, is yet unquestionably influenced by her

knowledge of his disposition, and of some incidents in which he had

been concerned,--she says that on the death of his wife, 'his dry-eyed

and sober mourning scandalized an old housekeeper, and likewise a

female attendant who had waited upon Mrs. Helstone in her sickness ...

they gossiped together over the corpse, related anecdotes with

embellishments of her lingering decline, and its real or supposed

cause; in short, they worked each other up to some indignation against

the austere little man, who sat examining papers in an adjoining room,

unconscious of what opprobrium he was the object. Mrs. Helstone was

hardly under the sod when rumours began to be rife in the neighbourhood

that she had died of a broken heart; these magnified quickly into

reports of hard usage, and, finally, details of harsh treatment on the

part of her husband: reports grossly untrue, but not less eagerly

received on that account.' It will thus be seen that the character of

Mr. Helstone becomes in part a defence of Mr. Bronte. On the occasion

above referred to, Mr. Bronte went on to say that, 'while duly

acknowledging the obligations he felt himself under to Mrs. Gaskell for

her admirable memoir of his daughter, he could not but regard her

uncalled-for allusions to himself, and the failings of his son

Branwell, as the excrescences of a work otherwise ably carried out.' He

appeared, on this occasion, to be consoled by the thought that, owing

to the remonstrances he had made, the objectionable passages would be

expunged from the subsequent editions of the work, and that he would

ultimately be set right with the public. He concluded with these

words:--'I have long been an abstraction to the world, and it is not

consoling now to be thus dragged before the public; to be represented

as an unkind husband, and charged with acts which I never committed.'

The story of the pistol-shots admits of ready explanation. It is known

that Mr. Bronte, like Helstone, had a strange fascination in military

affairs, and he seems to have had almost the spirit of Uncle Toby. He

lived, too, in the troublous times of the Luddites, and had kept

pistols, for defence as Mr. Helstone did. That gentleman, it will be

remembered, had two pairs suspended over the mantel-piece of his study,

in cloth cases, kept loaded. As I have reason to know, Mr. Bronte,

having been accustomed to the use of fire-arms, retained the possession

of them for safety in the night; but, fearing they might become

dangerous, occasionally discharged them in the day-time.

Mr. Bronte's remonstrances and denials, and his refutation of the

scandals attributed to him, had their effect; and the charges

complained of were entirely omitted in the edition of the 'Life of

Charlotte,' published in the year 1860. Mr. Bronte was in his

eighty-fourth year when this tardy act of bare justice was done to him.

It may be added that the people of Haworth, when they saw in print Mrs.

Gaskell's exaggerated and erroneous statements, loudly expressed their

disapprobation. Mr. Wood, late churchwarden of Haworth, also denied the

stories of the cutting up of Mrs. Bronte's dress, and the other charges

just referred to.

The truth about Mr. Bronte appears to be this: that though, like Mr.

Helstone--many of the _traits_ of whose character were derived

from that of the incumbent of Haworth--he might have missed his

vocation, like him he was 'not diabolical at all,' and that, like him,

also, 'he was a conscientious, hard-headed, hard-handed, brave, stern,

implacable, faithful little man: a man almost without sympathy,

ungentle, prejudiced, and rigid: but a man true to principle--honourable,

sagacious, and sincere.' Possibly we should not be wholly mistaken in

saying that, like the parson in 'Shirley,' Nature never intended him

'to make a very good husband, especially to a quiet wife.' He lacked

the fine sympathy and delicate perception that would have enabled

him to make his family entirely happy; and when brooding over his

politics, his pamphlets, and his sermons, like Mr. Helstone, he

probably locked 'his liveliness in his book-case and study-desk.'

Yet Mr. Helstone is neither brutal nor insane, 'neither tyrannical

nor hypocritical,' but 'simply a man who is rather liberal than

good-natured, rather brilliant than genial, rather scrupulously

equitable than truly just--if you can understand such superfine

distinctions?'

It would not have been necessary, in this work, to defend at such

length the character of the Rev. Patrick Bronte, had it not happened,

unfortunately, that recent works, which have treated admirably of the

writings of his daughters, have also acquiesced in, and to a great

extent reiterated, the serious charges made against him. Moreover, it

can never be a useless thing to retrieve a character which has been

thoughtlessly taken away. This defence has now been made, and it may be

hoped that the 'six motherless children' had a more amiable and

affectionate father than is generally supposed, and that he paid

careful and anxious attention to their bringing-up and to their

education. Indeed, of this there need be no doubt. The death of his

wife had placed them in his hands, he being their only support on

earth, and it surely is not too much to say that he knew his duty, and

did it well, as the lives of his children prove, on the ground of

natural affection, and, perhaps, of higher motives also.

The following extract from a letter written by Mr. Bronte a few

years later, in reference to scientific knowledge, is sufficiently

characteristic. He says: 'In this age of innovation and scepticism, it

is the incumbent duty of every man of an enlarged and pious mind to

promote, to the utmost extent of his abilities, every movement in the

variegated, complex system of human affairs, which may have either a

direct, indirect, or collateral tendency to purify and expand the

naturally polluted and circumscribed mind of fallen nature, and to

raise it to that elevation which the Scriptures require, as well as the

best interests of humanity.'

Upon the death of his wife, Mr. Bronte felt the need of some one to

superintend the affairs of his household, and assist him in this

important charge of the bringing-up of his children; and so, towards

the end of the year 1822, an elder sister of the deceased lady, Miss

Elizabeth Branwell of Penzance, came to reside with him. She is

represented to have been, in personal appearance, of low and slight

proportions; prim and starched in her attire, which was, when prepared

for the reception of visitors, invariably of silk; and she wore,

according to the fashion of the time, a frontal of auburn curls,

gracefully overshadowing her forehead. She took occasionally, through

habit, a pinch from her gold snuff-box, which she had always at hand.

When she had taken up her residence at bleak, wild, and barren Haworth,

she is said to have sighed for the flower-decked meads of sunny

Penzance, her native place. Miss Branwell's affectionate regard for her

dead sister's children caused her to take deep interest in everything

relating to them, their health, the comfort and cleanliness of their

home, and the sedulous culture of their minds. In the management of

Mr. Bronte's household she was materially assisted by the faithful and

trustworthy Tabby, who, in 1825, was added to the family as a domestic

servant. By a long and faithful service of some thirty years in the

Bronte family, Tabby gained the respect and confidence of the

household. She had been born and nurtured in the chapelry of Haworth,

at a time when mills and machinery were not, when railways had not made

the inhabitants of the hills and valleys familiar with the cities and

towns of England; and, moreover, before the ancient dialect, so

interesting philologically to the readers of King Alfred's translations

of Orosius and Bede, and the like, came to be considered rude, vulgar,

and barbarous. Tabby used the dialect rightly, without any attempt to

improve on the language of her childhood and of her fathers; and she

was original and truthful in this, as in all her ways. It was from

Tabby, principally, that the youthful Brontes gained the familiarity

with the Yorkshire Doric, which they afterwards reproduced with such

accuracy in 'Shirley,' 'Wuthering Heights,' and others of their

writings.

CHAPTER IV.

THE GIRLHOOD OF THE BRONTE SISTERS.

Girlhood--Gravity of Character--Charlotte's Description of the Elf-land

of Childhood--The Still and Solemn Moors of Haworth influence their

Writings--The Present of Toys--The Plays which they Acted--Mr.

Bronte on a Supposed Earthquake--The Evidence of his Care for his

Children--Grammar School at Haworth--His Children under the Tuition

of the Master--The Character of the School--Cowan Bridge School--

Charlotte's View of Mr. Carus Wilson's Management--Deaths of

Maria and Elizabeth.

The childhood of the Brontes in the parsonage of Haworth has been

pictured to us as a very strange one indeed. We have seen them deprived

in their early youth of that maternal care which they required so much,

and left in the hands of a father unfamiliar with such a charge, who

was filled with Spartan ideas of discipline, and with theories of

education above and beyond the capacity of childhood. There was

probably little room in the house of Mr. Bronte for gaiety and

amusement, very little tolerance for pretty dress, or home beauty, and

small comprehension of childish needs. Rigid formality, silent

chambers, staid attire, frugal fare, and secluded lives fell to the lot

of these thoughtful and gifted children. It was no wonder that they

grew up 'grave and silent beyond their years;' that, when infantine

relaxation failed them, they betook themselves to reading newspapers,

and debating the merits of Hannibal and Caesar, of Buonaparte and

Wellington; or that, when they were deprived of the company of the

village children by the '_Quis ego et quis tu?_' which was forced

too early upon them, they fled for silent companionship with the moors.

Yet this childhood, stern and grim though it was, where we look in vain

for the beautiful simplicity and sunny gladness which should ever

distinguish the features of youth, had a beauty and a joy of its own;

and it had a merit also. Charlotte Bronte herself has left us one of

the most beautiful pictures which can be found in English literature of

the pleasures of childhood, that elf-land which is passed before the

shores of Reality have arisen in front; when they stand afar off, so

blue, soft, and gentle that we long to reach them; when we 'catch

glimpses of silver lines, and imagine the roll of living waters,'

heedless of 'many a wilderness, and often of the flood of Death, or

some stream of sorrow as cold and almost as black as Death' that must

be crossed ere true bliss can be tasted. So the Brontes, trooping

abroad on the moors, revelling in the freedom of Nature, while their

faculties expanded to the noblest ends, lived also in the heroic world

of childhood, 'its inhabitants half-divine or semi-demon; its scenes

dream-scenes; darker woods and stranger hills; brighter skies, more

dangerous waters; sweeter flowers, more tempting fruits; wider plains;

drearier deserts; sunnier fields than are found in Nature.' Can we

doubt that the Bronte children, endowed, as the world was afterwards to

know, with keener perceptions, more exalted sympathies, and nobler

gifts than other children, enjoyed these things more than others could?

And the merit of their childhood was this: that it impressed them in

the strongest form with the influence of locality, with the boundless

expanse of the moors, and with the weird and rugged character of the

people amongst whom they lived, and whom they afterwards drew so well.

Such influences as these are a quality more or less traceable in the

works of every author, but they are very apparent in the productions of

the Brontes. These writers could not have produced 'Jane Eyre,'

'Shirley,' and 'Wuthering Heights' without them, any more than

Goldsmith could have written his 'Vicar of Wakefield' if his early

years had not been passed in the pleasant village of Lissey. The moors,

clothed with purple heather and golden gorse in billowy waves, were

certainly all in all to Emily Bronte; and she and her sisters, and the

youthful Branwell with his ready admiration and brilliant fancy,

escorted by Tabby, enjoyed to the full the free atmosphere of the

heights around Haworth. The rushing sound of their own waterfall, and

the shrill cries of the grouse, which flew up as they came along, were

to them friendly voices of the opening life of Nature whose potent

influence inspired them so well.

Of other companionship in their early years they had hardly any; and

being unable to associate much with children of their own age and

condition, or to play with their young and immediate neighbours in

childish games, Mr. Bronte's son and daughters grew up amongst their

elders with heads older than their years, and spoke with a knowledge

that might have sprung from actual experience of men and manners. They

were, in fact, 'old-fashioned children.' Their extraordinary cleverness

was soon observed, and the servants were always on their guard lest any

of their remarks might be repeated by the children. Notwithstanding

this, the little Brontes were children still, and took pleasure in the

things of childhood. Up-grown men will not whip a top on the causeways,

nor trundle a hoop through the streets, nor play at 'hide-and-seek' at

dusk as of yore; but the Bronte children in their youthful days did all

these things, and they entered at times with ardour, despite their

precocious gravity, into the simple joys and amusements of childhood,

as is testified by the eager delight with which they regarded the

presents of the toys they received.

The earliest notice we have of Branwell Bronte is that Charlotte

remembered having seen her mother playing with him during one golden

sunset in the parlour of the parsonage at Haworth. Later, we are

informed that Mr. Bronte brought from Leeds on one occasion a box of

wooden soldiers for him. The children were in bed, but the 'next

morning,' says Charlotte, in one of her juvenile manuscripts, 'Branwell

came to our door with a box of soldiers. Emily and I jumped out of bed,

and I snatched up one and exclaimed, "This is the Duke of Wellington!

This shall be the duke!" When I had said this, Emily likewise took up

one and said it should be hers; when Anne came down she said one should

be hers. Mine was the prettiest of the whole, and the tallest, and the

most perfect in every part. Emily's was a grave-looking fellow, and we

called him "Gravey." Anne's was a queer little thing much like herself,

and we called him "Waiting-boy." Branwell chose his, and called him

"Buonaparte."' So Charlotte relates these glad incidents of their

childhood with pleasure, and places on record the joy they inspired.

Mr. Bronte says, 'When mere children, as soon as they could read and

write, Charlotte and her brother and sisters used to invent and act

little plays of their own, in which the Duke of Wellington, my daughter

Charlotte's hero, was sure to come off conqueror; when a dispute would

not infrequently arise amongst them regarding the comparative merits of

Buonaparte, Hannibal, and Caesar.'

In acting their early plays, they performed them with childish glee,

and did not fail at times to 'tear a passion to tatters.' They observed

that Tabby did not approve of such extraordinary proceedings; but on

one occasion, with increased energy of action and voice, they so

wrought on her fears that she retreated to her nephew's house, and, as

soon as she could regain her breath, she exclaimed, 'William! yah mun

gooa up to Mr. Bronte's, for aw'm sure yon childer's all gooin mad, and

aw darn't stop 'ith hause ony longer wi' 'em; an' aw'll stay here woll

yah come back!' When the nephew reached the parsonage, 'the childer set

up a great crack o' laughin',' at the wonderful joke they had

perpetrated on faithful Tabby.

Mr. Bronte--like other parents and friends of precocious and gifted

children, who, in after-life have become celebrated in religion, art,

poetry, literature, politics, or war, and who have given out in

childhood tokens of brilliant and sterling gifts which have been

recorded in their biographies--saw in his own children evidences of

that mental power, fervid imagination, and superior faculty of language

and expression, which were developed in them in after-years. He often

fancied that great powers lay in his children, and it cannot be doubted

that he sometimes looked forward to and hoped for a brilliant future

for his offspring. It was this hope that cheered him, and he gave to

Mrs. Gaskell, for publication, all the evidences of genius in his son

and daughters, as children, which he could remember. But, from the

information he imparted to that writer, we can scarcely gather, I fear,

sufficient to justify the inference he drew, or appears to have drawn,

for the particulars given border too much on the trivial and

unimportant. Perhaps Mr. Bronte failed to remember the special

evidences he had observed of what he intended to convey at the actual

moment of communication. Be this as it may, no doubt remained on his

mind that genius was apparent in his children above and apart from

their eager reading of magazines and newspapers, nor that other schemes

and objects occupied their thoughts than the interests and contentions

of the political parties of the hour.

'When my children were very young,' says Mr. Bronte,--'when, as far as

I can remember, the oldest was about ten years of age, and the youngest

about four,--thinking that they knew more than I had yet discovered, in

order to make them speak with less timidity, I deemed that, if they

were put under a sort of cover, I might gain my end; and, happening to

have a mask in the house, I told them all to stand and speak boldly

from under cover of the mask. I began with the youngest (Anne,

afterwards Acton Bell), and asked what a child like her most wanted;

she answered, "Age and experience." I asked the next (Emily, afterwards

Ellis Bell) what I had best do with her brother Branwell, who was

sometimes a naughty boy; she answered, "Reason with him, and, when he

won't listen to reason, whip him." I asked Branwell what was the best

way of knowing the difference between the intellects of man and woman;

he answered, "By considering the difference between them as to their

bodies."' In answer to a question as to which were the two best books,

Charlotte said that 'the Bible,' and after it the 'Book of Nature,'

were the best. Mr. Bronte then asked the next daughter, 'What is the

best mode of education for a woman;' she answered, 'That which would

make her rule her house well.' He then asked the eldest, Maria, 'What

is the best mode of spending time;' she answered, 'By laying it out in

preparation for a happy eternity.' He says he may not have given the

exact words, but they were nearly so, and they had made a lasting

impression on his memory.[7]

[7] Mrs. Gaskell's 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap. iii.

But the intellectual pabulum of Mr. Bronte's children, for some time,

consisted, for the most part, as we are told, of magazines and

newspapers. As these took the place of toy-books and fairy tales, their

young minds were attracted by such moral subjects and entertaining

stories as were treated of in the serials of the day; and their

attention was also largely engaged in the political questions which

were then debated in the Houses of Parliament. Imbibing from their

father their religious and political views and opinions, they became

strong partizans and supporters of the leading Conservatives in the

House of Lords and the House of Commons. They had often heard

conversations between their father and aunt on these subjects; they

listened with interested attention, and obtained information as to the

outer world and its pursuits. By their surroundings their minds were

soon raised above the thoughts, desires, and interests of childhood in

general; and, under the circumstances, though it may seem odd, it is

not extraordinary that wooden soldiers should thus be made, by these

talented children, to represent the two great opposing warriors of the

present age.

In addition to the general bringing-up of his children at home, and the

formal tasks which Mr. Bronte set them, magazines and other

publications were thrown about, and Maria, being the eldest, was wont

to read the newspapers when she was less than nine years old, and

reported matters of home and foreign interest, as well as those

relating to the public characters and current affairs of the day, to

her young brother and sisters. Indeed, so earnest was her relevancy on

such occasions in these unchildish and grave questions, that she could

talk upon them with discriminating intelligence to her father, whose

interest in his children thus grew, as their faculties expanded. The

young Brontes, though still in childhood's years, were soon no longer

children in intellect: they touched, in fact, the 'Shores of Reality'

at an earlier age than most children; and, though interested sometimes,

perhaps momentarily, in trivial matters, they seem to have turned

almost everything to literary account. Even Branwell's toys, which they

all received so gleefully, gave rise to the 'Young Men's Play.'

Mr. Bronte, though interested deeply in the gradual development of the

mental gifts of his children, did not fail, after his wife's death, to

promote and protect their health, and he availed himself of the means

which the chapelry of Haworth afforded. For this object he encouraged

recreation on the moors at suitable times, and subjected the young

members of his family to the pure and exhilarating breeze that,

redolent of heather, breathed over them from the sea, during the summer

and autumnal months.

On Tuesday, September the 2nd, 1824, a severe thunderstorm, and an

almost unprecedented downfall of rain which resembled, in volume, a

waterspout, caused the irruption of an immense bog, at Crow Hill, an

elevation, between Keighley and Colne, and about one thousand feet

above the sea-level. The mud, mingled with stones, many of large size,

rolled down a precipitous and rugged clough that descended from it.

Reaching the hamlet of Pondens, the torrent expanded and overspread the

corn-fields adjoining to the depth of several feet, with many other

devastating consequences.

Mr. Bronte regarded this as the effect of an earthquake, and he sent a

communication to the 'Leeds Mercury,' in which he says: 'At the time of

the irruption, the clouds were copper-coloured, gloomy, and lowering,

the atmosphere was strongly electrified, and unusually close.' In the

same month--on Sunday, September 12th, 1824--he preached a sermon on

the subject, in Haworth Church, in which he informed his hearers that,

the day of disaster being exceedingly fine, he had sent his little

children, who were indisposed, accompanied by the servants, to take an

airing on the common, and, as they stayed rather longer than he

expected, he went to an upper chamber to look out for their return. The

heavens over the moors were blackening fast; he heard the muttering of

distant thunder, and saw the frequent flashes of lightning. Though, ten

minutes before, there was scarcely a breath of air stirring, the gale

freshened rapidly and carried along with it clouds of dust and stubble.

'My little family,' he continued, 'had escaped to a place of shelter,

but I did not know it.' These were Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and

Anne. Their sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, were then at Cowan Bridge.

When Mr. Bronte accepted the living of Haworth, he had found existing

there a Grammar School, and he took in it a special and personal

interest, for it was an old institution, was endowed, and had recently

been renovated. It was his policy to show that he took an interest in

it; so that, by adding his support to that of the trustees, he might

possibly confirm their favourable opinion of him, and secure their

continued good feeling. This was essential at the time, as any

appearance of coldness on his part towards their cherished foundation

would have perhaps evoked a spirit akin to that which caused the

compulsory resignation of Mr. Redhead, or have induced an estrangement

between himself and the trustees. It is stated, with regard to this

Grammar School, that one Christopher Scott by will, dated the 4th of

October, 13th of Charles I., gave a school-house which he had built

adjoining the church-way; and ordained that there should be a

school-master who should be a graduate at least, a bachelor, if not a

master of arts, and who should teach Greek and Latin. The school had

been enlarged in 1818, when the Bronte family were still at Thornton,

and a new house was then erected for the master by the trustees.

As this foundation was designed to provide a classical education for

its students, it was one to which the better classes in the

neighbourhood need not have hesitated to entrust their children for

superior instruction than could possibly be had in the ordinary schools

of the district. The school was situated close to the parsonage, a lane

only intervening, and it was commodious and lightsome. But Mr. Bronte,

on his arrival, found that it had not for some time been maintained as

a regular Grammar School: that there was little or no demand for the

advantages of a classical education for their children among the

inhabitants of the chapelry.[8] Yet the master who received the

appointment from the trustees at the Midsummer of 1826, although not

even a graduate of either of the universities, was stated to be

competent to teach Latin, and was a man of considerable attainments,

instructing both boys and girls in every essential branch of knowledge.

In this the tutor differed nothing from some of his immediate

predecessors. But, though education of this sort was thus immediately

at hand, Mr. Bronte does not appear to have availed himself of it for

his daughters, or his son Branwell, for any great length of time. Mrs.

Gaskell says, indeed, that their regular tasks were given by himself.

Mr. Bronte, however, probably heard his children repeat early lessons

set by the master in order to ascertain with what facility they had

learned them. At a later date, Branwell and his sisters took a larger

interest in the Grammar School, and they became active and willing

teachers in the Sunday-school, which was connected with it. They were,

indeed, often seen, as is yet remembered, in the processions of the

scholars.

[8] James's 'History of Bradford,' p. 358.

Although Mr. Bronte had taken vigilant and affectionate care to promote

the health of his children, he was well aware that though he could

strengthen their constitutions in some sort, delicate by nature as they

were, he could not ward off with certainty the diseases and sufferings

incident to childhood, from which his children were, indeed,

unfortunately destined to suffer. Solicitude therefore came upon the

parsonage when Maria and Elizabeth were attacked by measles and

whooping-cough. Recovering partially from these attacks, it was thought

desirable to send them--perhaps partly for change of air--to a school

which had somewhat recently been established at Cowan Bridge, a hamlet

on the coach-road between Leeds and Kendal, which was easily reached

from Haworth, as the coach passed daily. This school was especially

established for the board and education of the daughters of such

clegymen of the Establishment as required it. It was begun, as we know

from Mrs. Gaskell's 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' by the Rev. William

Carus Wilson; and we are aware also that severe and unqualified

censures were passed upon its situation and management by the author of

'Jane Eyre,' in after-years, under the description of Lowood, and that

the Ellen Burns of the story was no other than Maria Bronte. Readers of

'Jane Eyre' became indignant, and the Cowan Bridge School was

execrated, denounced, and condemned by the public, to the utter

distress and pain of its founder and patron.

In reference to this affair, Charlotte indeed said to her future

biographer that 'she should not have written what she did of Lowood in

"Jane Eyre" if she had thought the place would have been so immediately

identified with Cowan Bridge, although there was not a word in her

account of the institution but what was true at the time when she knew

it. She also said that she had not considered it necessary in a work of

fiction to state every particular with the impartiality that might be

required in a court of justice, nor to seek out motives, and make

allowances for human failings, as she might have done, if

dispassionately analyzing the conduct of those who had the

superintendence of the institution.' Mrs. Gaskell believes Charlotte

'herself would have been glad of an opportunity to correct the over

strong impression which was made upon the public mind by her vivid

picture, though even she, suffering her whole life long both in heart

and body from the consequences of what happened there, might have been

apt, to the last, to take her deep belief in facts for the facts

themselves--her conception of truth for the absolute truth.'[9]

[9] Gaskell's 'Charlotte Bronte,' chap. iv.

But it is only just to Mr. Wilson to say that the low situation of the

premises fixed upon, the arrangement of the school-buildings, and the

inefficient management of the domestic department, do not appear to

have been so fatal to the boarders, even if we admit all the alleged

severities of the regimen. For, when a low fever, or influenza cold,

which was not regarded by Dr. Batty as 'either alarming or dangerous,'

broke out at the school, and some forty of the pupils fell more or less

under its influence, none died of it at Cowan Bridge, and only one,

Mrs. Gaskell informs us, from after consequences at home; and, though

delicate, the Bronte children entirely escaped the attack. Mrs. Gaskell

has, however, entered at considerable length into a detailed account of

the alleged mismanagement of the school, the severities exercised over

the pupils--especially by one of the responsible tutors, 'Miss

Scatcherd,'--the cooking and insufficiency of food, the general neglect

of sanitary regulations in the domestic department, and the utter

unfitness of the place itself for the continued health and comfort of

the inmates. But the biographer of Charlotte Bronte in after-years

considerably modified the severe strictures which her heroine had

thought fit to describe in 'Jane Eyre,'--an admirable work of fiction,

though not necessarily one of fact--and she says, speaking of

Charlotte's account of the Cowan Bridge School: 'The pictures, ideas,

and conceptions of character received into the mind of the child of

eight years old were destined to be reproduced in fiery words a quarter

of a century afterwards. She saw but one side of Mr. Wilson's

character; and many of those who knew him at the time assure me of the

fidelity with which this is represented, while at the same time they

regret that the delineation should have obliterated, as it were, nearly

all that was noble and conscientious.' It appears also that Mr. Wilson

had 'grand and fine qualities'--which were left unnoticed by

Charlotte--of which the biographer had received 'abundant evidence.'[10]

Of these Mr. Bronte seems to have been aware, as Charlotte and Emily

were sent back to Cowan Bridge after the deaths of Maria and Elizabeth.

Mrs. Gaskell wonders Charlotte did not remonstrate against her father's

decision to send her and Emily back to the place, knowing, as we may

suppose she did, of the alleged infliction which her dead sisters had

endured at the very school to which she and Emily were returning.

Surely such a very miserable state of things as is described in 'Jane

Eyre' could not have existed at the time to impress on Charlotte's mind

such a dread as we are asked to believe she had, and Mr. Bronte could

not be aware that any serious objections to the school existed. Indeed,

the true condition of the institution at the period is apparent from

the testimony of the noble and benevolent Miss Temple of 'Jane Eyre,'

whose husband thus writes: 'Often have I heard my late dear wife speak

of her sojourn at Cowan Bridge; always in terms of admiration of Mr.

Carus Wilson, his parental love to his pupils, and their love for him;

of the food and general treatment, in terms of approval. I have heard

her allude to an unfortunate cook who used at times to spoil the

porridge, but who, she said, was soon dismissed.'

[10] Gaskell's 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap. iv.

While at Cowan Bridge, Maria's health had suddenly given way, and

alarming symptoms declared themselves. Mr. Bronte was sent for. He had

known nothing of her illness, and was terribly shocked when he saw her.

He ascended the Leeds coach with his dying child. Mrs. Gaskell says,

'the girls crowded out into the road to follow her with their eyes,

over the bridge, past the cottages, and then out of sight for ever.'

The poignancy of Mr. Bronte's grief on this occasion was profound, and

all but insupportable. Here was his first-born, the early joy of his

home at Hartshead, the intelligent and brilliantly gifted companion of

the first few years of his widowed life--dying before him! She, whose

innocent and thoughtful converse had cheered his solitary moments, and

whose merry laugh had often made the hearth glad, whose affectionate

care of her little brother and sisters, disinterested as it was

incessant, supplied for them the offices of their deceased mother--was

fading from his sight! Arriving at Haworth, they were received with

sincere and tearful sympathy by Miss Branwell, and with childish alarm

and dread by Branwell and Anne. Every care which affection could

provide was bestowed on the sinking child, but she died, a few days

after her arrival, on May 6, 1825.

Elizabeth, too, struck down with the same fatal disease, came home to

die of consumption on June 15 in the same year, but a month and a few

days after her sister. These sorrowful events were never forgotten by

Branwell, and the impressions made upon his mind by the deaths and

funeral rites he had witnessed became the theme of some of his later

and more mournful effusions.

The early recollection of Maria at Cowan Bridge was that she was

delicate, and unusually clever and thoughtful for her age. Of Elizabeth

Miss Temple writes: 'The second, Elizabeth, is the only one of the

family of whom I have a vivid recollection, from her meeting with a

somewhat alarming accident; in consequence of which I had her for some

days and nights in my bedroom, not only for the sake of greater quiet,

but that I might watch over her myself.... Of the two younger ones (if

two there were) I have very slight recollections, save that one, a

darling child under five years of age, was quite the pet nursling of

the school.'

'This last,' says Mrs. Gaskell, 'would be Emily. Charlotte was

considered the most talkative of the sisters--a "bright, clever little

child."'[11]

[11] 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap. iv.

CHAPTER V.

BRANWELL'S BOYHOOD.

Reunion of the Bronte Family--Branwell is the supposed Prototype

of Victor Crimsworth--That Character not a complete Portrait of

Branwell--His Friendships--His Visit to the Keighley Feast--Its Effect

on Branwell's Nerves--The Wrestle--The Lost Spectacles--Fear of his

Father's Displeasure--Mrs. Gaskell's Story of the 'Black Bull' Incident

Questioned--Miss Branwell and her Nephew.

Upon the return of Charlotte and Emily from Cowan Bridge, the youthful

Brontes, whom death had spared, were united again; and, for some years

more, followed their pursuits together, until Charlotte went to school

at Roe Head in 1831. Branwell was the constant companion of his sisters

during these childish years, and they all looked upon him with pride

and affection. Charlotte, in those days, was a sympathetic friend to

him; and, in his later years, he felt it a source of deep regret that

she was somewhat estranged. But the gentle Emily--after the death of

Maria--was his chief companion, and a warm affection never lost its

ardour between them. The sisters were quick to perceive the Promethean

spark that burned in their brother, and they looked upon Branwell, as

indeed did all who knew him, as their own superior in mental gifts. In

his childhood even, Branwell Bronte showed great aptitude for acquiring

knowledge, and his perceptive powers were very marked. He was, too,

gifted with a sprightly disposition, tinged at times with great

melancholy, but he acquired early a lively and fascinating address.

There was a fiery ardour and eagerness in his manner which told of

his abundant animal spirits, and he entered with avidity into the

enjoyments of the life that lay before him. Charlotte, who knew well

the treasures of her brother's opening faculties, his ability, his

learning, and his affection, saw also many things that alarmed her in

his disposition. She saw the abnormal and unhealthy flashing of his

intellect, and marked that weakness and want of self-control which left

Branwell, when subjected to temptation, a prey to many destructive

influences, whose effect shall hereafter be traced. There is reason to

believe that Charlotte pictures this period of Branwell's life in 'The

Professor,' where she describes the childhood of Victor Crimsworth;

and, though the extract is rather long, it is given here as valuable,

because it furnishes a full record of the early powers of Branwell,

and of the manner in which his sister--by the light of subsequent

events--looked upon them and upon his failings, and it will be seen

that towards the latter she is somewhat inflexible.

'Victor,' she makes William Crimsworth say, 'is as little of a pretty

child as I am of a handsome man ... he is pale and spare, with large

eyes.... His shape is symmetrical enough, but slight.... I never saw a

child smile less than he does, nor one who knits such a formidable brow

when sitting over a book that interests him, or while listening to

tales of adventure, peril, or wonder.... But, though still, he is not

unhappy--though serious, not morose; he has a susceptibility to

pleasurable sensations almost too keen, for it amounts to enthusiasm....

When he could read, he became a glutton of books, and is so still. His

toys have been few, and he has never wanted more. For those he

possesses he seems to have contracted a partiality amounting to

affection; this feeling, directed towards one or two living animals of

the house, strengthens almost to a passion.... I saw in the soil of his

heart healthy and swelling germs of compassion, affection, fidelity. I

discovered in the garden of his intellect a rich growth of wholesome

principles--reason, justice, moral courage, promised, if not blighted,

a fertile bearing.... She (his mother) sees, as I also see, a something

in Victor's temper--a kind of electrical ardour and power--which emits,

now and then, ominous sparks; Hunsden calls it his spirit, and says it

should not be curbed. I call it the leaven of the offending Adam, and

consider that it should be, if not _whipped_ out of him, at least

soundly disciplined; and that he will be cheap of any amount of either

bodily or mental suffering which will ground him radically in the art

of self-control. Frances (his mother) gives this _something_ in her

son's marked character no name; but when it appears in the grinding of

his teeth, in the glittering of his eye, in the fierce revolt of

feeling against disappointment, mischance, sudden sorrow, or supposed

injustice, she folds him to her breast, or takes him to walk with her

alone in the wood; then she reasons with him like any philosopher, and

to reason Victor is ever accessible; then she looks at him with eyes of

love, and by love Victor can be infallibly subjugated. But will reason

or love be the weapons with which in future the world will meet his

violence? Oh, no! for that flash in his black eye--for that cloud on

his bony brow--for that compression of his statuesque lips, the lad

will some day get blows instead of blandishments, kicks instead of

kisses; then for the fit of mute fury which will sicken the body and

madden his soul; then for the ordeal of merited and salutary suffering

out of which he will come (I trust) a wiser and a better man.'

The natural adornments and defects of Branwell's mind in boyhood,

which may to some extent be traced in Charlotte's picture of Victor

Crimsworth, in 'The Professor,' must not be regarded otherwise than as

possessing a general resemblance to those which are found in that

character. Physically, Branwell and Crimsworth were dissimilar, though

mentally there is a portraiture; but even here, Charlotte, having him

in her mind when she sketched the character of Victor, exaggerated

therein, as she had done in other instances, the actual defects of her

brother. It is true, nevertheless, that those who knew Branwell Bronte

in early life could see in him the original of Victor Crimsworth.

In the following pages the greatness of Branwell's genius may be

observed,--great, though marred by the errors and misfortunes of his

life,--as well as by the sorrows which his impulsive, kindly, and

affectionate nature brought upon himself, sorrows thus sadly set forth

by his sister as the outcome of his passions, and described by her as

the penalty of his future years.

In Branwell Bronte, the 'leaven of the offending Adam' might now and

then certainly be observed, but it was largely modified by the

ameliorating influences of his home; and, although, from the failings

common to humanity, the children of Mr. Bronte could not be free, his

early waywardness and petulance were, by the influence of sex, more

forcibly expressed than such failings could be in his sisters. Between

the children of Mr. Bronte, however, there existed even more than the

ordinary affections of childhood. At this period of their lives, they

were ignorant of the wiles of corrupt human nature, and Branwell, with

all the lightsome exuberance of his boyhood, returned without stint the

ardent and deep affection of his sisters. But, when a few years had

rolled on, he awoke to the sunny morning of youth; and, in the absence

of a brother, sought companionship with certain youths of Haworth, and

made them playmates. Amongst them was one, the brother of some friends

of his sisters, who became to him a personal associate, and it was with

this companion that he was wont to sport on the moors, across the

meadows, and, with joyous laugh, along the streets of the village.

The survivor of these two friends gives me an incident that occurred at

the time of the annual Feast at Keighley, which the youths visited. The

town was, as is usual on such occasions, crowded with booths and shows,

and various places of entertainment. Players and riders,--men and

women,--clothed in gay raiments, rendered brilliant with spangles,

paced backwards and forwards along their platforms to the sound of

drums, organs, and Pandean pipes, cymbals, tambourines, and castanets.

There were stalls, too, weighted with nuts and various confectionaries,

and there were also rocking-boats and merry-go-rounds, with other

amusements.

As the evening advanced, and the shows were lighted up, Branwell's

excitement, hilarity, and extravagance knew no bounds: he would see

everything and try everything. Into a rocking-boat he and his friend

gaily stepped. The rise of the boat, when it reached its full height,

gave Branwell a pleasant view of the fair beneath; but, when it

descended, he screamed out at the top of his voice, 'Oh! my nerves! my

nerves! Oh! my nerves!' On each descent, every nerve thrilled, tingled,

and vibrated with overwhelming effect through the overwrought and

delicate frame of the boy. Leaving the fair, the two proceeded

homeward; and, reaching a country spot, near a cottage standing among a

thicket of trees, Branwell, still full of exuberant life, proposed a

wrestle with his companion. They engaged in a struggle, when Branwell

was overthrown. It was not until reaching the village, and seeing the

lights in the windows, with considerably enlarged rays, that he became

aware he had lost his spectacles,--for Branwell was, like his sister

Charlotte, very near-sighted. This was, indeed, no little trouble to

him, as he was in great fear lest his father should notice his being

without them, and institute unpleasant inquiries as to what had become

of them. He told his fears to his companion; but, after a sleepless

night for both, Branwell's friend was early on the spot in search of

the missing spectacles, when the woman living in the cottage close by,

seeing a youth looking about, came to him, and, learning for what he

sought, brought out the glasses which she had picked up from the ground

just before he came. M----, glad of the discovery, hastened to the

parsonage, which he reached to find Branwell astir, who was overjoyed

on receiving the missing spectacles, as the danger of his father's

displeasure was avoided.

Mrs. Gaskell has written an account of the brother of the Bronte

sisters, but from what source I am unable to ascertain. After giving

him credit for those abilities in his boyhood of which evidence is

given in these pages, she says that: 'Popular admiration was sweet to

him, and this led to his presence being sought at Arvills, and all the

great village gatherings, for the Yorkshiremen have a keen relish for

intellect; and it likewise procured him the undesirable distinction of

having his company recommended by the landlord of the "Black Bull" to

any chance traveller who might happen to feel solitary or dull over his

liquor. "Do you want some one to help you with your bottle, sir? If you

do, I'll send up for Patrick" (so the villagers called him to the day

of his death, though, in his own family, he was always Branwell). And,

while the messenger went, the landlord entertained his guest with

accounts of the wonderful talents of the boy, whose precocious

cleverness and great conversational powers were the pride of the

village.' This account of the landlord being accustomed to send to the

parsonage for Branwell to come down to the 'Bull' at Haworth on these

occasions is denied by those who knew Branwell at the time, as well as

by the landlord. The latter always said that he never ventured to do

anything of the kind. It would have been a vulgar liberty, and an

unpardonable offence to the inmates of the parsonage had he done so.

Besides, the message would, in all probability, have been delivered to

a servant, or perhaps to Mr. Bronte himself, or to one of his

daughters, and Branwell would have been forbidden, for the credit of

the family, to lend himself for such a purpose at the public-house

below.

Branwell in these early days was not only the beloved of the household,

but the special favourite of his aunt. This good lady was proud of her

family and name, a name which her nephew bore to her infinite

satisfaction, so that his sometimes rough and noisy merriment made his

aunt glad, rather than grieved, because it was the true indication of

health of mind and body. She easily pardoned his boyish defects: and at

times, as she parted his auburn hair, she looked in his face with

fondness and affection, giving him moral advice, consistent with his

age, and showing him how, by sedulously cultivating the abilities with

which God had blessed him, he would attain an excellent position in the

world. It was this gentle and disinterested guide that Providence had

placed in the stead of his mother, to impart to her son the good maxims

she would herself have given him.

CHAPTER VI.

THE LITERARY TASTES OF THE CHILDREN.

The youthful Compositions of the Brontes--Their Character--Branwell's

Share in them--'The Secret,' a Fragment--The Reading of the Bronte

Children--Branwell's Character at this Period.

Mr. Bronte, perhaps, made use of a slight hyperbole when he said that,

as soon as they could read and write, Charlotte and her brother and

sisters used to invent and act little plays of their own; but it is

certain that, at an early period of their lives, they took pleasure and

pride in seeing their thoughts put down in the manifest form of written

words. Charlotte, indeed, gives a list of the juvenile works she had

composed. They filled twenty-two volumes, and consisted of Tales,

Adventures, Lives, Meditations, Stories, Poems, Songs, &c. Without

repeating all the titles which Mrs. Gaskell and others have published,

it may be said that the productions manifested extraordinary ability

and industry. Branwell, Emily, and Anne partook of the same spirit, and

displayed similar energy according to the leisure they could command.

Before Charlotte went to Roe Head, in January, 1831, Branwell worked

with his sisters in producing their monthly magazine, with its youthful

stories.[12] Mrs. Gaskell has quoted Charlotte's introduction to the

'Tales of the Islanders,' one of these 'Little Magazines,' dated June,

1829, from which it appears that a remark of Branwell's led to the

composition of the play of that name, and that he chose the Isle of Man

as his territory, and named John Bull, Astley Cooper, and Leigh Hunt

as the chief men in it. Charlotte gives the dates of most of their

productions. She says: 'Our plays were established, "Young Men," June,

1826; "Our Fellows," July, 1827; "Islanders," December, 1827. These are

our three great plays that are not kept secret. Emily's and my best

plays were established the 1st of December, 1827; the others March,

1828. Best plays mean secret plays; they are very nice ones. All our

plays are very strange ones. Their nature I need not write on paper,

for I think I shall always remember them. The "Young Men's" play took

its rise from some wooden soldiers Branwell had; "Our Fellows" from

"AEsop's Fables;" and the "Islanders" from several events which

happened.'[13]

[12] 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap. v.

[13] Gaskell's 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap v.

It would be difficult to arrive at a correct understanding of the

literary value of these productions of the youthful Brontes, but it

would be interesting to know what kind of assistance Branwell was able

to give in the work, as well as what was the general merit of these

early compositions. Mrs. Gaskell makes some mention of Branwell's

literary abilities in his youth. It is certain, from all we know, that

his mind was as much occupied in these matters as his sisters', and

that his ambition corresponded with theirs. It has, indeed, been placed

on record by Mrs. Gaskell that he was associated with his sisters in

the compilation of their youthful writings. This author says, also,

that their youthful occupations were 'mostly of a sedentary and

intellectual nature.'[14]

[14] 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' chap. v.

Among the youthful stories of which Charlotte, as has been already

mentioned, wrote a catalogue or list, there was one, of which Mrs.

Gaskell has published a fragment in fac-simile, written in a small,

elaborate, and cramped hand--so small, indeed, as to be of little use

to the general reader. In the 'Life of Charlotte Bronte,' this was

inserted as a specimen of the hand-writing. It shows truly the literary

ability, dramatic skill, and force of imagination of the children at

the period of their lives of which I speak, and affords an interesting

specimen of the character of these early works. A few extracts from it

may be given here:--

THE SECRET.

CHAPTER I.

A dead silence had reigned in the Home Office of Verdopolis for

three hours in the morning of a fine summer's day, interrupted only

by such sounds as the scraping of a pen-knife, the dropping of a

ruler, or an occasional cough; or whispered now and then some brief

mandate, uttered by the noble first secretary, in his commanding

tones. At length that sublime personage, after completing some

score or so of despatches, addressing a small slightly-built young

gentleman who occupied the chief situation among the clerks, said:

'Mr. Rymer, will you be good enough to tell me what o'clock it is?'

'Certainly, my lord!' was the prompt reply as, springing from his

seat, the ready underling, instead of consulting his watch like

other people, hastened to the window in order to mark the sun's

situation; having made his observation, he answered: ''Tis twelve

precisely, my lord.'

'Very well,' said the marquis. 'You may all give up then, and see

that all your desks are locked, so that not a scrap of paper is

left to litter the office. Mr. Rymer, I shall expect you to take

care that my directions are fulfilled.' So saying, he assumed his

hat and gloves, and with a stately tread was approaching the

vestibule, when a slight bustle and whispering among the clerks

arrested his steps.

'What is the matter?' asked he, turning round. 'I hope these are

not sounds of contention I hear!'

'I--and--' said a broad, carrotty-locked young man of a most

pugnacious aspect, 'but--but--your lordship has forgotten

that--that----'

'That what?' asked the marquis, rather impatiently.

'Oh!--merely that this afternoon is a half-holiday--and--and----'

'I understand,' replied his superior, smiling, 'you need not tax

your modesty with further explanation, Flanagan; the truth is, I

suppose, you want your usual largess, and I'm obliged to you for

reminding me--will that do?' he continued, as, opening his

pocket-book, he took out a twenty-pound bank bill and laid it on

the nearest desk.

'My lord, you are too generous,' Flanagan answered; but the chief

secretary laughingly laid his gloved hand on his lips, and, with a

condescending nod to the other clerks, sprang down the steps of the

portico and strode hastily away, in order to escape the noisy

expressions of gratitude which now hailed his liberality.

On the opposite side of the busy and wide street to that on which

the splendid Home Office stands, rises the no less splendid

Colonial Office; and, just as Arthur, Marquis of Douro, left the

former structure, Edward Stanley Sydney departed from the latter:

they met in the centre of the street.

'Well, Ned,' said my brother, as they shook hands, 'how are you

to-day? I should think this bright sun and sky ought to enliven

you if anything can.'

'Why, my dear Douro,' replied Mr. Sydney, with a faint smile, 'such

lovely, genial weather may, and I have no doubt does, elevate the

spirits of the free and healthy; but for me, whose mind and body

are a continual prey to all the heaviest cares of public and

private life, it signifies little whether sun cheer or rain damp

the atmosphere.'

'Edward,' replied Arthur, his features at the same time assuming

that disagreeable expression which my landlord denominates by the

term 'scorney;' 'now don't begin to bore me, Ned, with trash of

that description, I'm tired of it quite: pray have you recollected

that to-day is a half-holiday in all departments of the Treasury?'

'Yes; and the circumstance has cost me some money; these silly old

customs ought to be abolished in my opinion--they are ruinous.'

'Why, what have you given the poor fellows?'

'Two sovereigns;' an emphatic hem formed Arthur's reply to the

communication.

They had now entered Nokel Street, and were proceeding in silence

past the line of magnificent shops which it contains, when the

sound of wheels was heard behind them, and a smooth-rolling chariot

dashed up and stopped just where they stood. One of the

window-glasses now fell, a white hand was put out and beckoned them

to draw near, while a silvery voice said,

'Mr. Sydney, Marquis of Douro, come hither a moment.'

Both the gentlemen obeyed the summons, Arthur with alacrity, Sydney

with reluctance.

'What are your commands, fair ladies?' said the former, bowing

respectfully to the inmates of the carriage, who were Lady Julia

Sydney and Lady Maria Sneaky.

'Our commands are principally for your companion, my lord, not for

you,' replied the daughter of Alexander the First; 'now, Mr.

Sydney,' she continued, smiling on the senator, 'you must promise

not to be disobedient.'

'Let me first know what I am required to perform,' was the cautious

answer, accompanied by a fearful glance at the shops around.

'Nothing of much consequence, Edward,' said his wife, 'but I hope

you'll not refuse to oblige me this once, love. I only want a few

guineas to make out the price of a pair of earrings I have just

seen in Mr. Lapis's shop.'

'Not a bit of it,' answered he. 'Not a farthing will I give you: it

is scarce three weeks since you received your quarter's allowance,

and if that is done already you may suffer for it.'

With this decisive reply, he instinctively thrust his hands into

his breeches' pockets, and marched off with a hurried step.

'Stingy little monkey!' exclaimed Lady Julia, sinking back on the

carriage-seat, while the bright flush of anger and disappointment

crimsoned her fair cheek. 'This is the way he always treats me, but

I'll make him suffer for it!'

'Do not discompose yourself so much, my dear,' said her companion,

'my purse is at your service, if you will accept it.'

'I am sensible of your goodness, Maria, but of course I shall not

take advantage of it; no, no, I can do without the earrings--it is

only a fancy, though to be sure I would rather have them.'

'My pretty cousin,' observed the marquis, who, till now, had

remained a quiet though much-amused spectator of the whole scene,

'you are certainly one of the most extravagant young ladies I know:

why, what on earth can you possibly want with these trinkets? To my

knowledge you have at least a dozen different sorts of

ear-ornaments.'

'That is true; but then these are quite of another kind; they are

so pretty and unique that I could not help wishing for them.'

'Well, since your heart is so much set upon the baubles, I will see

whether my purse can compass their price, if you will allow me to

accompany you to Mr. Lapis's.'

'Oh! thank you, Arthur, you are very kind,' said Lady Julia, and

both the ladies quickly made room for him as he sprang in and

seated himself between them.

* * * * *

In a few minutes they reached the jeweller's shop. Mr. Lapis

received them with an obsequious bow, and proceeded to display his

glittering stores. The pendants which had so fascinated Lady Julia

were in the form of two brilliant little humming-birds, whose

jewelled plumage equalled if not surpassed the bright hues of

nature....

This gay and pleasant fragment of a story, in which the characters and

scenes are so freshly drawn, may well be imagined as one of the best,

if not the best, of these productions of the Bronte children. We may,

indeed, regard the spirit and style of these early stories as the

outcome of their eager and observant reading of the magazine and

newspaper articles within their reach--when their plastic minds would

receive indelible impressions, from which they, perhaps without knowing

it, acquired the knowledge and practice of accurate literary

composition, and of how to clothe their thoughts in fitting words.

Their retentive memories, and their intuitive faculty of putting

things, brought them thus early to the threshold of the republic of

letters. Mrs. Gaskell states that these works were principally written

by Charlotte in a hand so small as to be 'almost impossible to decipher

without the aid of a magnifying glass.' The specimen she gives is

written in an upright hand, and was an attempt to represent the stories

in a kind of print, as near as might be to type. If, however, Charlotte

and Emily ever accustomed themselves in these early works to this

diminutive type-like writing, they threw it off completely in

after-years. This, Branwell never did, and Mrs. Gaskell's fac-simile

page is not without some resemblance to one of his ordinary pages of

manuscript reduced in size.

Mr. T. Wemyss Reid observes that Mrs. Gaskell, in speaking of the

juvenile performances of the Bronte children, 'paid exclusive attention

to Charlotte's productions.' 'All readers of the Bronte story,' he

says, 'will remember the account of the play of "The Islanders," and

other remarkable specimens, showing with what real vigour and

originality Charlotte could handle her pen while she was still in the

first years of her teens.' And he adds that 'those few persons who have

seen the whole of the juvenile library of the family bear testimony to

the fact that Branwell and Emily were at least as industrious and

successful as Charlotte herself.'[15]

[15] 'Charlotte Bronte, a monograph,' p. 27.

Even at this early period the youthful Brontes had read industriously.

'Blackwood's Magazine' had, as early as the year 1829, asserted itself

to Charlotte's childish taste as 'the most able periodical there is,'

and ever afterwards the whole family looked with the greatest pleasure

for the brilliant essays of Christopher North and his coterie. Of other

papers they saw 'John Bull' and the 'Leeds Intelligencer,' both

uncompromising Conservatives, and the 'Leeds Mercury,' of the opposite

party. The youthful Brontes were also readers of the 'British

Essayists,' 'The Rambler,' 'The Mirror,' and 'The Lounger,' and they

were great admirers of Scott.

But the advice which Charlotte afterwards gave to her friend 'E,' with

regard to books for perusal, shows that their reading had been much

wider: Shakespeare, Milton, Thomson, Goldsmith, Pope, Byron, Campbell,

and Wordsworth; Hume, Rollin, and the 'Universal History;' Johnson's

'Poets,' Boswell's 'Johnson,' Southey's 'Nelson,' Lockhart's 'Burns,'

Moore's 'Sheridan,' Moore's 'Byron,' and Wolfe's 'Remains;' and for

natural history, she recommends Bewick, Audubon, White, and, strangely

enough, Goldsmith. Branwell's favourite poets were Wordsworth and the

melancholy Cowper, whose 'Castaway' he was always fond of quoting. The

Brontes, in their young years, obtained much of their intellectual food

from the circulating library at Keighley.

The extraordinary literary activity which prompted these children never

afterwards left them; and Branwell, along with his sisters, was, as we

have seen, the author of many effusions of remarkable character. But,

as time passed on, and experience was gained, his literary productions

began to acquire more vigour and polish. Yet the tone of his mind,

however joyous it might be at times, recurred, when the immediate

occasion had passed, to that pensive melancholy which, throughout his

life, was his most marked characteristic.

Mr. Bronte looked with supreme pleasure on the growing talents of his

children; but his principal hope was centred in his son, who, as he

fondly trusted, should add lustre to and perpetuate his name. The boy,

in these years, was precocious and lively, overflowing with humour and

jollity, ready to crack a joke with the rustics he met, and all the

time gathering in, with the quickest perception, impressions, both for

good and ill, of human nature. Mr. Bronte sedulously, to the utmost of

his power, attending to the education of Branwell, did not see the

instability of his son's character, or did not apprehend any mischief

from the acquaintances he had formed.

The incumbent of Haworth had distinct literary leanings, and it

delighted him to find that his son had manifested literary capacity. It

has been urged as somewhat of a reproach against Mr. Bronte that he did

not send Branwell to a public school, but relied solely upon his own

tutorship for his son's education. Situated as Mr. Bronte was, such a

step as that said to have been recommended to him was unnecessary. The

Grammar School adjoining was under the superintendance of a master who

was well qualified to give a higher education to his pupils, if

required; and Mr. Bronte himself was equally well able to do the same,

but his daily duties within his chapelry left him little or no time to

take upon himself the entire education of his son: all he could do was

to watch and ascertain occasionally how he was progressing. Mr. Bronte,

indeed, might have given the finishing touches to his son's

instruction. Those, however, who knew the brilliant youth in the

ripeness of his early manhood, recognized the extent of the knowledge

he had acquired, and felt, too, that he had been sufficiently

well-trained to know how to put it to good use.

CHAPTER VII.

YOUTH.

Charlotte goes to Roe Head--Return Home--Branwell at the Time--The

Companion of his Sisters--Escorts Charlotte on a Visit--He becomes

Interested in Pugilism--His Education--His Love for Music--His

Retentive Memory--His Personal Appearance--His Spirit.