Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle Part 12

TO HARTLEY COLERIDGE

'HAWORTH, _June_ 27_th_, 1840.

'SIR,--You will, perhaps, have forgotten me, but it will be long before I forget my first conversation with a man of real intellect, in my first visit to the cla.s.sic lakes of Westmoreland.

'During the delightful day which I had the honour of spending with you at Ambleside, I received permission to transmit to you, as soon as finished, the first book of a translation of Horace, in order that, after a glance over it, you might tell me whether it was worth further notice or better fit for the fire.

'I have--I fear most negligently, and amid other very different employments--striven to translate two books, the first of which I have presumed to send to you. And will you, sir, stretch your past kindness by telling me whether I should amend and pursue the work or let it rest in peace?

'Great corrections I feel it wants, but till I feel that the work might benefit me, I have no heart to make them; yet if your judgment prove in any way favourable, I will re-write the whole, without sparing labour to reach perfection.

'I dared not have attempted Horace but that I saw the utter worthlessness of all former translations, and thought that a better one, by whomsoever executed, might meet with some little encouragement. I long to clear up my doubts by the judgment of one whose opinion I should revere, and--but I suppose I am dreaming--one to whom I should be proud indeed to inscribe anything of mine which any publisher would look at, unless, as is likely enough, the work would disgrace the name as much as the name would honour the work.

'Amount of remuneration I should not look to--as anything would be everything--and whatever it might be, let me say that my bones would have no rest unless by written agreement a division should be made of the profits (little or much) between myself and him through whom alone I could hope to obtain a hearing with that formidable personage, a London bookseller.

'Excuse my unintelligibility, haste, and appearance of presumption, and--Believe me to be, sir, your most humble and grateful servant,

'P. B. BRONTE.

'If anything in this note should displease you, lay it, sir, to the account of inexperience and _not_ impudence.'

In October 1840, we find Branwell clerk-in-charge at the Station of Sowerby Bridge on the Leeds and Manchester Railway, and the following year at Luddenden Foot, where Mr. Grundy, the railway engineer, became acquainted with him, and commenced the correspondence contained in _Pictures of the Past_.

I have in my possession a small memorandum book, evidently used by Branwell when engaged as a railway clerk. There are notes in it upon the then existing railways, demonstrating that he was trying to prime himself with the requisite facts and statistics for a career of that kind. But side by side with these are verses upon 'Lord Nelson,' 'Robert Burns,'

and kindred themes, with such estimable sentiments as this:--

'Then England's love and England's tongue And England's heart shall reverence long The wisdom deep, the courage strong, Of English Johnson's name.'

Altogether a literary atmosphere had been kindled for the boy had he had the slightest strength of character to go with it. The railway company, however, were soon tired of his vagaries, and in the beginning of 1842 he returns to the Haworth parsonage. The following letter to his friend Mr.

Grundy is of biographical interest.

TO FRANCIS H. GRUNDY

'_October_ 25_th_, 1842.

'MY DEAR SIR,--There is no misunderstanding. I have had a long attendance at the death-bed of the Rev. Mr. Weightman, one of my dearest friends, and now I am attending at the deathbed of my aunt, who has been for twenty years as my mother. I expect her to die in a few hours.

'As my sisters are far from home, I have had much on my mind, and these things must serve as an apology for what was never intended as neglect of your friendship to us.

'I had meant not only to have written to you, but to the Rev. James Martineau, gratefully and sincerely acknowledging the receipt of his most kindly and truthful criticism--at least in advice, though too generous far in praise; but one sad ceremony must, I fear, be gone through first. Give my most sincere respects to Mr. Stephenson, and excuse this scrawl--my eyes are too dim with sorrow to see well.--Believe me, your not very happy but obliged friend and servant,

'P. B. BRONTE.'

A week later he writes to the same friend:--

'I am incoherent, I fear, but I have been waking two nights witnessing such agonising suffering as I would not wish my worst enemy to endure; and I have now lost the guide and director of all the happy days connected with my childhood. I have suffered much sorrow since I last saw you at Haworth.'

Charlotte and Anne, it will be remembered, were at this time on their way home from Brussels, and Anne had to seek relief from her governess bonds at Mrs. Robinson's. Branwell would seem to have returned with Anne to Thorp Green, as tutor to Mr. Robinson's son. He commenced his duties in December 1842.

It would not be rash to a.s.sume--although it is only an a.s.sumption--that Branwell took to opium soon after he entered upon his duties at Thorp Green. I have already said something of the trouble which befel Mrs.

Gaskell in accepting the statements of Charlotte Bronte, and--after Charlotte's death--of her friends, to the effect that Branwell became the prey of a designing woman, who promised to marry him when her husband--a venerable clergyman--should be dead. The story has been told too often.

Branwell was dismissed, and returned to the parsonage to rave about his wrongs. If Mr. Robinson should die, the widow had promised to marry him, he a.s.sured his friends. Mr. Robinson did die (May 26, 1846), and then Branwell insisted that by his will he had prohibited his wife from marrying, under penalties of forfeiting the estate. A copy of the doc.u.ment is in my possession:

_The eleventh day of September_ 1846 _the Will of the Reverend Edmund Robinson_, _late of Thorp Green_, _in the Parish of Little Ouseburn_, _in the County of York_, _Clerk_, _deceased_, _was proved in the Prerogative Court of York by the oaths of Lydia Robinson_, _Widow_, _his Relict_; _the Venerable Charles Thorp and Henry Newton_, _the Executors_, _to whom administration was granted_.

Needless to say, the will, a lengthy doc.u.ment, put no restraint whatever upon the actions of Mrs. Robinson. Upon the publication of Mrs.

Gaskell's Life she was eager to clear her character in the law-courts, but was dissuaded therefrom by friends, who pointed out that a withdrawal of the obnoxious paragraphs in succeeding editions of the Memoir, and the publication of a letter in the _Times_, would sufficiently meet the case.

Here is the letter from the advertis.e.m.e.nt pages of the Times.

'8 BEDFORD ROW, 'LONDON, _May_ 26_th_, 1857.

'DEAR SIRS,--As solicitor for and on behalf of the Rev. W. Gaskell and of Mrs. Gaskell, his wife, the latter of whom is auth.o.r.ess of the _Life of Charlotte Bronte_, I am instructed to retract every statement contained in that work which imputes to a widowed lady, referred to, but not named therein, any breach of her conjugal, of her maternal, or of her social duties, and more especially of the statement contained in chapter 13 of the first volume, and in chapter 2 of the second volume, which imputes to the lady in question a guilty intercourse with the late Branwell Bronte. All those statements were made upon information which at the time Mrs. Gaskell believed to be well founded, but which, upon investigation, with the additional evidence furnished to me by you, I have ascertained not to be trustworthy. I am therefore authorised not only to retract the statements in question, but to express the deep regret of Mrs.

Gaskell that she should have been led to make them.--I am, dear sirs, yours truly,

'WILLIAM SHAEN.

'Messrs. Newton & Robinson, Solicitors, York.'

A certain 'Note' in the _Athenaeum_ a few days later is not without interest now.

'We are sorry to be called upon to return to Mrs. Gaskell's _Life of Charlotte Bronte_, but we must do so, since the book has gone forth with our recommendation. Praise, it is needless to point out, implied trust in the biographer as an accurate collector of facts.

This, we regret to state, Mrs. Gaskell proves not to have been. To the gossip which for weeks past has been seething and circulating in the London _coteries_, we gave small heed; but the _Times_ advertises a legal apology, made on behalf of Mrs. Gaskell, withdrawing the statements put forth in her book respecting the cause of Mr. Branwell Bronte's wreck and ruin. These Mrs. Gaskell's lawyer is now fain to confess his client advanced on insufficient testimony. The telling of an episodical and gratuitous tale so dismal as concerns the dead, so damaging to the living, could only be excused by the story of sin being severely, strictly true; and every one will have cause to regret that due caution was not used to test representations not, it seems, to be justified. It is in the interest of Letters that biographers should be deterred from rushing into print with mere impressions in place of proofs, however eager and sincere those impressions may be. They _may be_ slanders, and as such they may sting cruelly. Meanwhile the _Life of Charlotte Bronte_ must undergo modification ere it can be further circulated.'

Meanwhile let us return to Branwell Bronte's life as it is contained in his sister's correspondence.

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

'_January_ 3_rd_, 1846.

'DEAR ELLEN,--I must write to you to-day whether I have anything to say or not, or else you will begin to think that I have forgotten you; whereas, never a day pa.s.ses, seldom an hour, that I do not think of you, _and the scene of trial_ in which you live, move, and have your being. Mary Taylor's letter was deeply interesting and strongly characteristic. I have no news whatever to communicate. No changes take place here. Branwell offers no prospect of hope; he professes to be too ill to think of seeking for employment; he makes comfort scant at home. I hold to my intention of going to Brookroyd as soon as I can--that is, provided you will have me.

'Give my best love to your mother and sisters.--Yours, dear Nell, always faithful,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

'_January_ 13_th_, 1845.

'MY DEAR ELLEN,--I have often said and thought that you have had many and heavy trials to bear in your still short life. You have always borne them with great firmness and calm so far--I hope fervently you will still be enabled to do so. Yet there is something in your letter that makes me fear the present is the greatest trial of all, and the most severely felt by you. I hope it will soon pa.s.s over and leave no shadow behind it. I do earnestly desire to be with you, to talk to you, to give you what comfort I can. Branwell and Anne leave us on Sat.u.r.day. Branwell has been quieter and less irritable on the whole this time than he was in summer. Anne is as usual--always good, mild, and patient. I think she too is a little stronger than she was.--Good-bye, dear Ellen,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

'_December_ 31_st_, 1845.

'DEAR ELLEN,--I don't know whether most to thank you for the very pretty slippers you have sent me or to scold you for occasioning yourself, in the slightest degree, trouble or expense on my account.