Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle Part 41

'_November_ 16_th_, 1848.

'MY DEAR SIRS,--I have already acknowledged in a note to Mr. Smith the receipt of the parcel of books, and in my thanks for this well-timed attention I am sure I ought to include you; your taste, I thought, was recognisable in the choice of some of the volumes, and a better selection it would have been difficult to make.

'To-day I have received the _Spectator_ and the _Revue des deux Mondes_. The _Spectator_ consistently maintains the tone it first a.s.sumed regarding the Bells. I have little to object to its opinion as far as Currer Bell's portion of the volume is concerned. It is true the critic sees only the faults, but for these his perception is tolerably accurate. Blind is he as any bat, insensate as any stone, to the merits of Ellis. He cannot feel or will not acknowledge that the very finish and _labor limae_ which Currer wants, Ellis has; he is not aware that the "true essence of poetry" pervades his compositions. Because Ellis's poems are short and abstract, the critics think them comparatively insignificant and dull. They are mistaken.

'The notice in the _Revue des deux Mondes_ is one of the most able, the most acceptable to the author, of any that has yet appeared.

Eugene Forcade understood and enjoyed _Jane Eyre_. I cannot say that of all who have professed to criticise it. The censures are as well-founded as the commendations. The specimens of the translation given are on the whole good; now and then the meaning of the original has been misapprehended, but generally it is well rendered.

'Every cup given us to taste in this life is mixed. Once it would have seemed to me that an evidence of success like that contained in the _Revue_ would have excited an almost exultant feeling in my mind.

It comes, however, at a time when counteracting circ.u.mstances keep the balance of the emotions even--when my sister's continued illness darkens the present and dims the future. That will seem to me a happy day when I can announce to you that Emily is better. Her symptoms continue to be those of slow inflammation of the lungs, tight cough, difficulty of breathing, pain in the chest, and fever.

We watch anxiously for a change for the better--may it soon come.--I am, my dear sir, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.

'As I was about to seal this I received your kind letter. Truly glad am I to hear that f.a.n.n.y is taking the path which pleases her parents.

I trust she may persevere in it. She may be sure that a contrary one will never lead to happiness; and I should think that the reward of seeing you and her mother pleased must be so sweet that she will be careful not to run the risk of forfeiting it.

'It is somewhat singular that I had already observed to my sisters, I did not doubt it was Mr. Lewes who had shown you the _Revue_.'

The many other letters referring to Emily's last illness have already been printed. When the following letters were written, Emily and Anne were both in their graves.

TO JAMES TAYLOR, CORNHILL

'_March_ 1_st_, 1849.

'MY DEAR SIR,--The parcel arrived on Sat.u.r.day evening. Permit me to express my sense of the judgment and kindness which have dictated the selection of its contents. They appear to be all good books, and good books are, we know, the best subst.i.tute for good society; if circ.u.mstances debar me from the latter privilege, the kind attentions of my friends supply me with ample measure of the former.

'Thank you for your remarks on _Shirley_. Some of your strictures tally with some by Mr. Williams. You both complain of the want of distinctness and impressiveness in my heroes. Probably you are right. In delineating male character I labour under disadvantages: intuition and theory will not always adequately supply the place of observation and experience. When I write about women I am sure of my ground--in the other case, I am not so sure.

'Here, then, each of you has laid the critical finger on a point that by its shrinking confesses its vulnerability; whether the disapprobation you intimate respecting the Briarchapel scenes, the curates, etc., be equally merited, time will show. I am well aware what will be the author's present meed for these pa.s.sages: I antic.i.p.ate general blame and no praise. And were my motive-principle in writing a thirst for popularity, or were the chief check on my pen a dread of censure, I should withdraw these scenes--or rather, I should never have written them. I will not say whether the considerations that really govern me are sound, or whether my convictions are just; but such as they are, to their influence I must yield submission. They forbid me to sacrifice truth to the fear of blame. I accept their prohibition.

'With the sincere expression of my esteem for the candour by which your critique is distinguished,--I am, my dear sir, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_August_ 16_th_, 1849.

'MY DEAR SIR,--Since I last wrote to you I have been getting on with my book as well as I can, and I think I may now venture to say that in a few weeks I hope to have the pleasure of placing the MS. in the hands of Mr. Smith.

'The _North British Review_ duly reached me. I read attentively all it says about _E. Wyndham_, _Jane Eyre_, and _F. Hervey_. Much of the article is clever, and yet there are remarks which--for me--rob it of importance.

'To value praise or stand in awe of blame we must respect the source whence the praise and blame proceed, and I do not respect an inconsistent critic. He says, "if _Jane Eyre_ be the production of a woman, she must be a woman uns.e.xed."

'In that case the book is an unredeemed error and should be unreservedly condemned. _Jane Eyre_ is a woman's autobiography, by a woman it is professedly written. If it is written as no woman would write, condemn it with spirit and decision--say it is bad, but do not eulogise and then detract. I am reminded of the _Economist_. The literary critic of that paper praised the book if written by a man, and p.r.o.nounced it "odious" if the work of a woman.

'To such critics I would say, "To you I am neither man nor woman--I come before you as an author only. It is the sole standard by which you have a right to judge me--the sole ground on which I accept your judgment."

'There is a weak comment, having no pretence either to justice or discrimination, on the works of Ellis and Acton Bell. The critic did not know that those writers had pa.s.sed from time and life. I have read no review since either of my sisters died which I could have wished _them_ to read--none even which did not render the thought of their departure more tolerable to me. To hear myself praised beyond them was cruel, to hear qualities ascribed to them so strangely the reverse of their real characteristics was scarce supportable. It is sad even now; but they are so remote from earth, so safe from its turmoils, I can bear it better.

'But on one point do I now feel vulnerable: I should grieve to see my father's peace of mind perturbed on my account; for which reason I keep my author's existence as much as possible out of his way. I have always given him a carefully diluted and modified account of the success of _Jane Eyre_--just what would please without startling him.

The book is not mentioned between us once a month. The _Quarterly_ I kept to myself--it would have worried papa. To that same _Quarterly_ I must speak in the introduction to my present work--just one little word. You once, I remember, said that review was written by a lady--Miss Rigby. Are you sure of this?

'Give no hint of my intention of discoursing a little with the _Quarterly_. It would look too important to speak of it beforehand.

All plans are best conceived and executed without noise.--Believe me, yours sincerely,

'C. B.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_August_ 21_st_, 1849.

'MY DEAR SIR,--I can only write very briefly at present--first to thank you for your interesting letter and the graphic description it contained of the neighbourhood where you have been staying, and then to decide about the t.i.tle of the book.

'If I remember rightly, my Cornhill critics objected to _Hollow's Mill_, nor do I now find it appropriate. It might rather be called _Fieldhead_, though I think _Shirley_ would perhaps be the best t.i.tle. Shirley, I fancy, has turned out the most prominent and peculiar character in the work.

'Cornhill may decide between _Fieldhead_ and _Shirley_.--Believe me, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

The famous _Quarterly Review_ article by Miss Rigby, afterwards Lady Eastlake, {348} appeared in December 1848, under the t.i.tle of '_Vanity Fair_, _Jane Eyre_, and Governesses.' It was a review of two novels and a treatise on schools, and but for one or two offensive pa.s.sages might have been p.r.o.nounced fairly complimentary. To have coupled _Jane Eyre_ with Thackeray's great book, at a time when Thackeray had already reached to heroic proportions in the literary world, was in itself a compliment.

It is small wonder that the speculation was hazarded that J. G. Lockhart, the editor of the _Quarterly_, had himself supplied the venom. He could display it on occasion. It is quite clear now, however, that that was not the case. Miss Rigby was the reviewer who thought it within a critic's province to suggest that the writer might be a woman 'who had forfeited the society of her s.e.x.' Lockhart must have read the review hastily, as editors will on occasion. He writes to his contributor on November 13, 1848, before the article had appeared:--

'About three years ago I received a small volume of 'Poems by Currer, Acton, and Ellis Bell,' and a queer little note by Currer, who said the book had been published a year, and just two copies sold, so they were to burn the rest, but distributed a few copies, mine being one.

I find what seems rather a fair review of that tiny tome in the _Spectator_ of this week; pray look at it.

'I think the poems of Currer much better than those of Acton and Ellis, and believe his novel is vastly better than those which they have more recently put forth.

'I know nothing of the writers, but the common rumour is that they are brothers of the weaving order in some Lancashire town. At first it was generally said Currer was a lady, and Mayfair circ.u.mstantialised by making her the _chere amie_ of Mr. Thackeray.

But your skill in "dress" settles the question of s.e.x. I think, however, some woman must have a.s.sisted in the school scenes of _Jane Eyre_, which have a striking air of truthfulness to me--an ignoramus, I allow, on such points.

'I should say you might as well glance at the novels by Acton and Ellis Bell--_Wuthering Heights_ is one of them. If you have any friend about Manchester, it would, I suppose, be easy to learn accurately as to the position of these men.' {349}

This was written in November, and it was not till December that the article appeared. Apart from the offensive imputations upon the morals of the author of _Jane Eyre_, which reduces itself to smart impertinence when it is understood that Miss Rigby fully believed that the author was a man, the review is not without its compensations for a new writer. The 'equal popularity' of _Jane Eyre_ and _Vanity Fair_ is referred to. 'A very remarkable book,' the reviewer continues; 'we have no remembrance of another containing such undoubted power with such horrid taste.' There is droll irony, when Charlotte Bronte's strong conservative sentiments and church environment are considered, in the following:--

'We do not hesitate to say that the tone of mind and thought which has overthrown authority, and violated every code, human and divine, abroad, and fostered chartism and rebellion at home, is the same which has also written _Jane Eyre_.'

In another pa.s.sage Miss Rigby, musing upon the masculinity of the author, finally clinches her arguments by proofs of a kind.

'No woman _trusses game_, and garnishes dessert dishes with the same hands, or talks of so doing in the same breath. Above all, no woman attires another in such fancy dresses as Jane's ladies a.s.sume. Miss Ingram coming down irresistible in a _morning_ robe of sky-blue c.r.a.pe, a gauze azure scarf twisted in her hair!! No lady, we understand, when suddenly roused in the night, would think of hurrying on "a frock." They have garments more convenient for such occasions, and more becoming too.'

_Wuthering Heights_ is described as 'too odiously and abominably pagan to be palatable to the most vitiated cla.s.s of English readers.' This no doubt was Miss Rigby's interpolation in the proofs in reply to her editor's suggestion that she should 'glance at the novels by Acton and Ellis Bell.' It is a little difficult to understand the _Quarterly_ editor's method, or, indeed, the letter to Miss Rigby which I have quoted, as he had formed a very different estimate of the book many months before. 'I have finished the adventures of Miss Jane Eyre,' he writes to Mrs. Hope (Dec. 29th, 1847), 'and think her far the cleverest that has written since Austen and Edgeworth were in their prime, worth fifty Trollopes and Martineaus rolled into one counterpane, with fifty d.i.c.kenses and Bulwers to keep them company--but rather a brazen Miss.'

{350}

When the _Quarterly Review_ appeared, Charlotte Bronte, as we have seen, was in dire domestic distress, and it was not till many months later, when a new edition of _Jane Eyre_ was projected, that she discussed with her publishers the desirability of an effective reply, which was not however to disclose her s.e.x and environment. A first preface called 'A Word to the _Quarterly_' was cancelled, and after some debate, the preface which we now have took its place. The 'book' is of course _Shirley_.

TO W. S. WILLIAMS