Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle Part 37

'C. B.'

TO JAMES TAYLOR, BOMBAY

'HAWORTH, _November_ 15_th_, 1851.

'MY DEAR SIR,--Both your communications reached me safely--the note of the 17th September and the letter of the 2nd October. You do yourself less than justice when you stigmatise the latter as "ill-written." I found it quite legible, nor did I lose a word, though the lines and letters were so close. I should have been sorry if such had not been the case, as it appeared to me throughout highly interesting. It is observable that the very same information which we have previously collected, perhaps with rather languid attention, from printed books, when placed before us in familiar ma.n.u.script, and comprising the actual experience of a person with whom we are acquainted, acquires a new and vital interest: when we know the narrator we seem to realise the tale.

'The bath scene amused me much. Your account of that operation tallies in every point with Mr. Thackeray's description in the _Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo_. The usage seems a little rough, and I cannot help thinking that equal benefit might be obtained through less violent means; but I suppose without the previous fatigue the after-sensation would not be so enjoyable, and no doubt it is that indolent after-sensation which the self-indulgent Mahometans chiefly cultivate. I think you did right to disdain it.

'It would seem to me a matter of great regret that the society at Bombay should be so deficient in all intellectual attraction.

Perhaps, however, your occupations will so far absorb your thoughts as to prevent them from dwelling painfully on this circ.u.mstance. No doubt there will be moments when you will look back to London and Scotland, and the friends you have left there, with some yearning; but I suppose business has its own excitement. The new country, the new scenes too, must have their interest; and as you will not lack books to fill your leisure, you will probably soon become reconciled to a change which, for some minds, would too closely resemble exile.

'I fear the climate--such as you describe it--must be very trying to an European const.i.tution. In your first letter, you mentioned October as the month of danger; it is now over. Whether you have pa.s.sed its ordeal safely, must yet for some weeks remain unknown to your friends in England--they can but _wish_ that such may be the case. You will not expect me to write a letter that shall form a parallel with your own either in quant.i.ty or quality; what I write must be brief, and what I communicate must be commonplace and of trivial interest.

'My father, I am thankful to say, continues in pretty good health. I read portions of your letter to him and he was interested in hearing them. He charged me when I wrote to convey his very kind remembrances.

'I had myself ceased to expect a letter from you. On taking leave at Haworth you said something about writing from India, but I doubted at the time whether it was not one of those forms of speech which politeness dictates; and as time pa.s.sed, and I did not hear from you, I became confirmed in this view of the subject. With every good wish for your welfare,--I am, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

'_November_ 19_th_, 1851.

'DEAR ELLEN,--All here is much as usual, and I was thinking of writing to you this morning when I received your note. I am glad to hear your mother bears this severe weather tolerably, as papa does also. I had a cold, chiefly in the throat and chest, but I applied cold water, which relieved me, I think, far better than hot applications would have done. The only events in my life consist in that little change occasional letters bring. I have had two from Miss Wooler since she left Haworth which touched me much. She seems to think so much of a little congenial company. She says she has not for many days known such enjoyment as she experienced during the ten days she stayed here. Yet you know what Haworth is--dull enough.

'How could you imagine your last letter offended me? I only disagreed with you on _one point_. The little man's disdain of the sensual pleasure of a Turkish bath had, I must own, my approval.

Before answering his epistle I got up my courage to write to Mr.

Williams, through whose hands or those of Mr. Smith I knew the Indian letter had come, and beg him to give me an impartial judgment of Mr.

Taylor's character and disposition, owning that I was very much in the dark. I did not like to continue correspondence without further information. I got the answer, which I inclose. You say nothing about the Hunsworth Turtle-doves--how are they? and how is the branch of promise? I hope doing well.--Yours faithfully,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_January_ 1_st_, 1852.

'MY DEAR SIR,--I am glad of the opportunity of writing to you, for I have long wished to send you a little note, and was only deterred from doing so by the conviction that the period preceding Christmas must be a very busy one to you.

'I have wished to thank you for your last, which gave me very genuine pleasure. You ascribe to Mr. Taylor an excellent character; such a man's friendship, at any rate, should not be disregarded; and if the principles and disposition be what you say, faults of manner and even of temper ought to weigh light in the balance. I always believed in his judgment and good-sense, but what I doubted was his kindness--he seemed to me a little too harsh, rigid, and unsympathising. Now, judgment, sense, principle are invaluable and quite indispensable points, but one would be thankful for a _little_ feeling, a _little_ indulgence in addition--without these, poor fallible human nature shrinks under the domination of the sterner qualities. I answered Mr. Taylor's letter by the mail of the 19th November, sending it direct, for, on reflection, I did not see why I should trouble you with it.

'Did your son Frank call on Mrs. Gaskell? and how did he like her?

'My health has not been very satisfactory lately, but I think, though I vary almost daily, I am much better than I was a fortnight ago.

All the winter the fact of my never being able to stoop over a desk without bringing on pain and oppression in the chest has been a great affliction to me, and the want of tranquil rest at night has tried me much, but I hope for the better times. The doctors say that there is no organic mischief.

'Wishing a happy New Year to you,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

'_March_ 7_th_, 1852.

'DEAR ELLEN,--I hope both your mother's cold and yours are quite well ere this. Papa has got something of his spring attack of bronchitis, but so far it is in a greatly ameliorated form, very different to what it has been for three years past. I do trust it may pa.s.s off thus mildly. I continue better.

'Dear Nell, I told you from the beginning that my going to Suss.e.x was a most improbable event; I tell you now that unless want of health should absolutely compel me to give up work and leave home (which I trust and hope will not be the case) I _certainly shall not think of going_. It is better to be decided, and decided I must be. You can never want me less than when in Suss.e.x surrounded by amus.e.m.e.nt and friends. I do not know that I shall go to Scarbro', but it might be possible to spare a fortnight to go there (for the sake of a sad duty rather than pleasure), when I could not give a month to a longer excursion. I have not a word of news to tell you. Many mails have come from India since I was at Brookroyd. Expectation would at times be on the alert, but disappointment knocked her down. I have not heard a syllable, and cannot think of making inquiries at Cornhill.

Well, long suspense in any matter usually proves somewhat cankering, but G.o.d orders all things for us, and to His Will we must submit. Be sure to keep a calm mind; expect nothing.--Yours faithfully,

'C. BRONTE.'

When Mr. Taylor returned to England in 1856 Charlotte Bronte was dead.

His after-life was more successful than happy. He did not, it is true, succeed in Bombay with the firm of Smith, Taylor & Co. That would seem to have collapsed. But he made friends in Bombay and returned there in 1863 as editor of the _Bombay Gazette_ and the _Bombay Quarterly Review_.

A little later he became editor of the _Bombay Sat.u.r.day Review_, which had not, however, a long career. Mr. Taylor's successes were not journalistic but mercantile. As Secretary of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce, which appointment he obtained in 1865, he obtained much real distinction. To this post he added that of Registrar of the University of Bombay and many other offices. He was elected Sheriff in 1874, in which year he died. An imposing funeral ceremony took place in the Cathedral, and he was buried in the Bombay cemetery, where his tomb may be found to the left of the entrance gates, inscribed--

JAMES TAYLOR. DIED APRIL 29, 1874, AGED 57.

He married during his visit to England, but the marriage was not a happy one. That does not belong to the present story. Here, however, is a cutting from the _Times_ marriage record in 1863:--

'On the 23rd inst., at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, St.

Pancras, by the Rev. James Moorhouse, M.A., James Taylor, Esq., of Furnival's-inn, and Bombay, to Annie, widow of Adolph Ritter, of Vienna, and stepdaughter of Thos. Harrison, Esq., of Birchanger Place, Ess.e.x.'

CHAPTER XIII: LITERARY AMBITIONS

We have seen how Charlotte Bronte and her sisters wrote from their earliest years those little books which embodied their vague aspirations after literary fame. Now and again the effort is admirable, notably in _The Adventures of Ernest Alembert_, but on the whole it amounts to as little as did the juvenile productions of Sh.e.l.ley. That poet, it will be remembered, wrote _Zastrozzi_ at nineteen, and much else that was bad, some of which he printed. Charlotte Bronte was mercifully restrained by a well-nigh empty purse from this ill-considered rashness. It was not till the death of their aunt had added to their slender resources that the Bronte girls conceived the idea of actually publishing a book at their own expense. They communicated with the now extinct firm of Aylott & Jones of Paternoster Row, and Charlotte appears to have written many letters to the firm, {325} only two or three of which are printed by Mrs.

Gaskell. The correspondence is comparatively insignificant, but as the practical beginning of Charlotte's literary career, the hitherto unpublished letters which have been preserved are perhaps worth reproducing here.

TO AYLOTT & JONES

'_January_ 28_th_, 1846.

'GENTLEMEN,--May I request to be informed whether you would undertake the publication of a collection of short poems in one volume, 8vo.

'If you object to publishing the work at your own risk, would you undertake it on the author's account?--I am, gentlemen, your obedient humble servant,

'C. BRONTE.

'Address--Rev. P. Bronte, Haworth, Bradford, Yorkshire.'

TO AYLOTT & JONES

'_March_ 3_rd_, 1846.

'GENTLEMEN,--I send a draft for 31 pounds, 10s., being the amount of your estimate.