Charlotte Brontë

by Claire Harman

  racy and pungent gossip: Jane Eyre, 78.

  it has been suggested: by Sarah Fermi; see “Mellaney Hayne: ‘Charlotte Brontë’s School Friend,’ ” BS, 27:3 (2002).

  by dying young: Jane Eyre, 81.

  If people were always kind and obedient: Jane Eyre, 57.

  THREE The Genii of the Parsonage, 1825–31

  very quaint in appearance: EN’s opinion, LCB 1, 125 n5.

  fairishes…It wur the factories: Life, 63.

  a sort of vegetable glue: LCB 1, 331.

  O Dear, O Dear, O Dear: EJB Diary Paper, 24 November 1834, SHB 1, 124.

  a bit of a tyke: Ellis H. Chadwick, In the Footsteps of the Brontës, 68.

  kindly and conscientious: Life, 49.

  there old Brontë: “The Brontës and the Brontë Country: A Chat with One Who Knew Them,” The Bradford Observer, 17 February 1894.

  stood around like aliens: Ellis H. Chadwick (In the Footsteps of the Brontës, 87) reports a local Haworth story about the Brontë children being invited to a birthday party where “Their shyness was painful to behold; they were awkward and silent the whole evening, and evidently greatly relieved when it was time to return home.”

  [They] had no idea of ordinary games: Ellis H. Chadwick, In the Footsteps of the Brontës, 87.

  a sort of idol: Benjamin Binns’s opinion, “The Brontës and the Brontë Country: A Chat with One Who Knew Them,” The Bradford Observer, 17 February 1894.

  [she] would tell us the authors: “Mary Taylor’s Narrative,” from a letter to ECG, 18 January 1856, quoted in SHB 1, 90.

  One black day: CB to Hartley Coleridge, 10 December 1840, LCB 1, 240.

  One night, about the time: CB, “First Volume of Tales of the Islanders” (30 June 1829), EWCB 1, 21–2.

  [I had] a band of Turkish musicians: BB, “Introduction to the History of the Young Men,” 15 December 1830, The Miscellaneous and Unpublished Writings of Charlotte and Patrick Branwell Brontë (2 vols.; Oxford, 1936, 1938), 1, 63.

  it was night and we were in bed: CB, “The History of the Year” (12 March 1829), TGA, 3–4.

  Thus having made everything ready: CB, “Two Romantic Tales,” Chapter 2, “The Voyage of Discovery” (April 1829), TGA, 6–7.

  Of College I am tired: PCB, 27, poem dated “February 1830.”

  I am in the kitchen: “The History of the Year” (12 March 1829), TGA, 3.

  We take 2 and see three newspapers: “The History of the Year” (12 March 1829), TGA, 3.

  O those 3 months: “Tales of the Islanders,” Vol. 2, Chapter 1, TGA, 18–19.

  several Martin prints: see Art of the Brontës, 21 and notes.

  list of painters: BPM, Bonnell 80.

  His vision is uncommonly acute…His mind approaches: “Anecdotes of the Duke of Wellington,” 30 September 1829, EWCB 1, 90.

  an immense amount of manuscript: Life, 64.

  The total length of the Brontë juvenilia: estimated by Fannie Ratchford in her ground-breaking study The Brontës’ Web of Childhood in 1941 and Christine Alexander, among others.

  a truly prodigious length: my calculation, based on the approximate length of “The Spell” in its printed form in TGA (84 printed pages at roughly 400 words per page, i.e., 33,600 words), the number of minuscule manuscript pages—24—it takes up in the whole booklet (BL Add. MS 34255), and the total number of pages in the manuscript (44).

  Making in the whole: EWCB 1, 214.

  I began this book: “The Adventures of Mon Edouard de Crack,” EWCB 1, 134.

  I wrote this in 4 hours: preface to “Albion and Marina,” TGA, 55.

  I wrote this in half an hour: see Victor A. Neufeldt’s textual note, PCB, 397.

  little works of fiction: PB to ECG, 30 July 1855, LPB, 239.

  All that is written in this book: SHB 1, 81.

  making subject matter: Christine Alexander, “Note on the Text,” TGA, xliv.

  fall into a decline: PB to Elizabeth Franks, 28 April 1831, LPB, 77.

  [she] would nurse me: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 594.

  None can tell: PCB, 75.

  the strangest train of thought: CB, “Strange Events, by Lord Charles Wellesley,” EWCB 1, 257.

  FOUR Among Schoolgirls, 1831–5

  her dress was changed…so short-sighted…[She] spoke with a strong Irish accent: “Mary Taylor’s Narrative,” from a letter to ECG, 18 January 1856, SHB 1, 89.

  there was a silent…A faint quivering smile: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 589.

  She was first in everything: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 590.

  would be kneeling: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 591.

  We made her try: “Mary Taylor’s Narrative,” from a letter to ECG, 18 January 1856, SHB 1, 90.

  For years she had not tasted: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 590.

  She made poetry and drawing: “Mary Taylor’s Narrative,” from a letter to ECG, 18 January 1856, SHB 1, 90.

  little old woman: “Mary Taylor’s Narrative,” from a letter to ECG, 18 January 1856, SHB 1, 89.

  She knew the names: “Mary Taylor’s Narrative,” from a letter to ECG, 18 January 1856, SHB 1, 90–91.

  a lady abbess: EN, quoted in Clement K. Shorter, Charlotte Brontë and Her Circle (London, 1896), 261–2.

  delighted to listen to her: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 595.

  She took all our proceedings: SHB 1, 90.

  The whole family: SHB 1, 91.

  No one wrote in it: SHB 1, 90.

  Her love for them…weep and suffer…superhuman in goodness and cleverness: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 593.

  wonders of talent and kindness…[T]hey had forgotten what they used to care for: “Mary Taylor’s Narrative,” from a letter to ECG, 18 January 1856, SHB 1, 91.

  Methought the well-loved dead: Villette, 160 (Chapter 15, “The Long Vacation”).

  coaxed out of yielding mammas: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 592.

  naturally a social, hospitable man: Shirley, 126.

  There’s no decent way: Mary Taylor, Miss Miles, 28.

  very familiar with all the sublimest passages: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 595.

  I should for once like…[Charlotte] evidently was longing: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 595.

  nothing appearing in view…there was always a lingering delight: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 598.

  [A]fter dinner I sew till tea-time: CB to EN, 21 July 1832, LCB 1, 114.

  His form was that: T. J. Wise and J. A. Symington (eds.), The Miscellaneous and Unpublished Writings of Charlotte and Patrick Branwell Brontë, 2, 369.

  I’ve some people: T. J. Wise and J. A. Symington (eds.), The Miscellaneous and Unpublished Writings of Charlotte and Patrick Branwell Brontë, 2, 11–12.

  he was then …in wild ecstasy…she trembled: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 596.

  wild and uncultivated…as if climbing…she probably had been pretty: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 596–7.

  She talked a great deal: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 597.

  which she sometimes presented: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 597.

  with great gusto…I tried to hear as little as I could: EN to T. Wemyss Reid, 3 November 1876, MS Berg Collection.

  As a teacher: Benjamin Binns’s recollection in “The Brontës and the Brontë Country: A Chat with One Who Knew Them,” The Bradford Observer, 17 February 1894.

  rapid and impulsive…Tha’ willn’t, tha’ old Irish —…some book which was not the Prayer-book…sharp rap with his knuckles: Benjamin Binns’s recollection in “The Brontës and the Brontë Country: A Chat with One Who Knew Them,” The Bradford Observer, 17 February 1894.

  as motionless as a statue…His discourses were characterised: Benjamin Binns’s recollection in “The Brontës and the Brontë Country: A Chat with One Who Knew Them,” The Bradford Observer, 17 February 1894.

  like twins: EN Reminiscences, LCB 1, 598.

  I fed Rainbow, Diamond, Snowflake Jasper: the first paragraph of this transcription of EJB’s Diary Paper (which is in the Brontë Society’s collection at BPM) is my own,
as the published ones vary, and I’m not happy with the frequent reading of the seventh word as “pheasant” or “pheasants,” and the eighth as “alias,” in an opened but unclosed parenthesis. I think that the illegible word that looks like “pheasants” could be a fifth name in the list of animals fed. All the way through the paper, EJB writes what should be an upper case “p” as lower case, i.e. “Sir Robert peel,” “papa” (at the beginning of a sentence as well as mid-sentence). A facsimile of the first page can be seen in Ann Dinsdale’s The Brontës at Haworth, 46. The second paragraph is Juliet Barker’s transcription from Barker, 221.

  Anne and I say: EJB’s Diary Paper.

  I once thought that he might get into the Merchantile line: PB to John Driver, 23 February 1838, LPB, 115.

  I have not one mental qualification: BB to Francis H. Grundy, 9 June 1842, Interviews, 51.

  a picture or cut of any kind: “Mary Taylor’s Narrative,” from a letter to ECG, 18 January 1856, SHB 1, 90.

  St. Martin’s Parsonage, Birmingham: the picture, probably copied from an engraving, is in “The Roe Head Album” (BPM) and is dated May 1832; see Art of the Brontës, 200–201.

  a frenzy of productivity: see SHB 1, 77.

  so strong was this intention: Francis A. Leyland, The Brontë Family, 1, 127.

  tiny adjustments: see Art of the Brontës, 243–4, for Alexander and Sellars’ notes on the original and Charlotte’s copy.

  Branwell’s paintings: both Terror and Queen Esther are in the collection at BPM.

  Miss Brontë brought down: ECG to unknown, end of September 1853, ECG Letters, 249.

  upholding the great frame of canvas: Life, 106.

  a crude photograph: a reproduction of it can be seen as Figure 5 in Juliet Barker’s article “The Brontë Portraits: A Mystery Solved,” BST, 20:1 (1990).

  a shocking daub: the visitor was John Elliot Cairnes, and his letter of 11 October 1858, to William Nesbitt, is quoted at length in BST, 18:4 (1984).

  the girls were so plain: John Elliot Cairnes, as above, BST, 18:4 (1984).

  a large protruding tooth: “The Brontës and the Brontë Country: A Chat with One Who Knew Them,” The Bradford Observer, 17 February 1894.

  many teeth gone: ECG to Catherine Winkworth, 25 August 1850, LCB 2, 447.

  extremely insignificant: Frederika Macdonald, “The Brontës at Brussels,” Woman at Home (July 1894), 287.

  not pleasant: Anne Thackeray Ritchie to Reginald J. Smith, 18 October 1906, Interviews, 160.

  doomed to be an old maid: CB to EN, 4 August 1839, LCB 1, 198.

  Nature had favoured him with a fairer outside: CB to WSW, 6 October 1848, LCB 2, 124.

  I have, in my day: CB to WSW, 11 March 1848, LCB 2, 41.

  elaborate pencil-drawings: Villette, 166.

  We are all about to divide: CB to EN, 2 July 1835, LCB 1, 139.

  Where am I to present my drawing?: draft letter by BB, quoted in Barker, 226.

  It is my design: PB to Elizabeth Franks, 6 July 1835, LPB, 100.

  I should have to take the step: CB to EN, 2 July 1835, LCB 1, 139.

  just a scrap: postscript, CB to EN, ?August/September 1836, LCB 1, 151.

  Duty—Necessity: CB to EN, 2 July 1835, LCB 1, 140.

  FIVE The Double Life, 1835–7

  at twilight, in the schoolroom: CB, “Prefatory Note,” “Selections from Poems by Ellis Bell” (1850), LCB 2, 753.

  Where wilt thou go, my harassed heart: EJB Poems, 69.

  Nobody knew what ailed her…The change from her own home: CB, “Prefatory Note,” “Selections from Poems by Ellis Bell,” LCB 2, 753.

  queer and non-compliant: according to Mary Robinson, in Emily Brontë, 56–7.

  studied alone: CB, “Prefatory Note,” “Selections from Poems by Ellis Bell,” LCB 2, 753.

  another lovingly detailed portrait: EJB’s portraits of Grasper, Keeper and Nero are all at BPM, and reproduced in Art of the Brontës, plates v, iii and vi.

  for the purpose of acquiring information: from his sponsors’ letter to the Three Graces Lodge in Haworth, quoted in Barker, 245.

  Read now at least…condemn not unheard: BB to the editor of Blackwood’s Magazine, 8 April 1836, SHB 1, 135.

  An ocean with a thousand Isles: “We wove a web in childhood,” PCB, 165.

  I now heard the far clatter: PCB, 169.

  boring me with their vulgar familiar trash: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 163.

  red-in-the face with impatience: CB to BB, 1 May 1843, LCB 1, 317.

  like venom…things that nobody else cares for: CB to EN, 26 September 1836, LCB 1, 152.

  I strive to conceal: CB to EN, ?October 1836, LCB 1, 153.

  I felt as if I could have written gloriously: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 163.

  into a kind of lethargy…The thought came over me: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 162.

  full & liquid: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 163.

  Huddersfield & the hills beyond it: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 162–3.

  staring, gaping…Hang their astonishment!…What in all this: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 165.

  Men and women who feel all kinds of suffering: Alethea Hayter, Opium and the Romantic Imagination (London, 1968), 40.

  after reading De Quincey: reported by Francis H. Grundy in 1879, see Interviews, 48.

  had never, to her knowledge: Life, 441.

  so exactly…[think] intently on it: Life, 441.

  The stream of thought: this and all following quotes in this paragraph are from “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 163–5.

  a feeling like a heavy weight: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 165.

  Oh, dreadful is the check: “The Prisoner: A Fragment,” EJB Poems, 182.

  I have had enough: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 165.

  Don’t deceive yourself: CB to EN, 10 May 1836, LCB 1, 144.

  I have some qualities: CB to EN, ?October 1836, LCB 1, 153.

  If I could always live with you: CB to EN, 5 and 6 December 1836, LCB 1, 156.

  I know not how to pray: CB to EN, 5 and 6 December 1836, LCB 1, 156.

  I keep trying to do right: CB to EN, ?October/November 1836, LCB 1, 154.

  it seems as if some fatality: CB to EN, 29 December 1836, LCB 1, 159.

  I will not tell you all I think: CB to EN, 26 September 1836, LCB 1, 151.

  Charles Thunder: CB to EN, ?August/September 1836, LCB 1, 151.

  I wish I could live with you always: CB to EN, 26 September 1836, LCB 1, 152.

  I lived on its contents for days: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 173.

  Is she alone in the cold earth…I can’t abide to think: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 166.

  There is a voice: “The Roe Head Journal,” TGA, 166.

  crude rhapsody: CB to Robert Southey, 16 March 1837, LCB 1, 168.

  to be for ever known…throne of light & glory: CB’s letter presumably containing these phrases is missing, but Southey quotes them back at her in his reply of 12 March 1837, LCB 1, 166.

  She didn’t withhold her name or gender: deducible from Southey’s address “To Miss Charlotte Brontë, Haworth, Bradford,” LCB 1, 167, textual note.

  ordinary uses…flat & unprofitable: also quoted back to CB by Southey, 12 March 1837, LCB 1, 166.

  Is it pride which actuates you: BB to the Editor of Blackwood’s Magazine, 9 January 1837, SHB 1, 151.

  secluded hills: BB to William Wordsworth, 19 January 1837, SHB 1, 151.

  flighty…disgusted…for it contained: Robert Southey to Caroline Bowles, 27 March 1837, quoted in LCB 1, 171 n1.

  bear the same stamp…You live in a visionary world: Robert Southey to CB, 12 March 1837, LCB 1, 166.

  Many volumes of poems…the more likely you will be to deserve…every young man…You will say: Robert Southey to CB, 12 March 1837, LCB 1, 166–7.

  It is not because I have forgotten: Robert Southey to CB, 12 March 1837, LCB 1, 167.

  I felt a painful heat…You do not forbid me to write
: CB to Robert Southey, 16 March 1837, LCB 1, 168.

  You kindly allow me…My Father is a clergyman: CB to Robert Southey, 16 March 1837, LCB 1, 169.

  Let me now request: Robert Southey to CB, 22 March 1837, LCB 1, 170.

  Take care of over-excitement: Robert Southey to CB, 22 March 1837, LCB 1, 170.

  Southey’s Advice: Robert Southey to CB, 22 March 1837, LCB 1, 170, textual note.

  SIX Labour in Vain, 1837–41

  many remarkable discussions…rushed to the front crying…a herring in one hand: these details are from “The Brontës and the Brontë Country: A Chat with One Who Knew Them,” The Bradford Observer, 17 February 1894.

  mad mechanics: CB, “Stancliffe’s Hotel,” quoted in Christine Alexander, The Early Writings of Charlotte Brontë, 178.

  I cannot tell you what agony: CB to EN, 9 June 1838, LCB 1, 179.

  one or two rather plain truths: CB to EN, 4 January 1838, LCB 1, 174.

  She had but one idea: “Mina Laury,” TGA, 192. That Charlotte dated the manuscript “17 January 1838”—Anne’s eighteenth birthday—might mean it was finished as a present to her convalescent sister.

  she would turn sick: Life, 132.

  I knew I was in a small room: Jane Eyre, 338.

  in a constant flow of good-humour…They are making such a noise…Mary is playing on the piano: CB to EN, 9 June 1838, LCB 1, 179.

  driven into matrimony: Mary Taylor, The First Duty of Women: A Series of Articles Reprinted from the “Victoria Magazine” 1865 to 1870.

  a man called Jack Sharp: for more on this, see Gérin, Emily Brontë, 76–80, and Katherine Frank, A Chainless Soul, 122.

  Gentleman Jack…You do not know what is said: Helena Whitbread, No Priest but Love, 127.

  Elizabeth Patchett surely did too: Jill Liddington, in BST, 26:1 (2001), says very plausibly that the women at Law Hill “must have talked about the Shibden couple, albeit obliquely.”

  desperate little dunces…she is requested: CB to EN, 15 April 1839, LCB 1, 189.

  it was one struggle: CB to EN, 24 January 1840, LCB 1, 210.

  that dreary Gin-horse round: CB to EN, 12 March 1839, LCB 1, 187.

  obliquely referred to: Henry Nussey’s diary, Nussey Collections, BL Egerton 3268A, entry for 7 March 1839.