Brontës (198 page)

66.
HG
, 30 Jan 1841 p.3; 2Jan 1841 p.3; 18 Dec 1841 p.4; 9 Jan 1841 p.3. The performance of the
Messiah
got appalling reviews: the singer from London ‘took unwarrantable liberties' with the music, the drummer was a full beat behind the orchestra and ‘The chorus was murdered outright': ibid., 1Jan 1842 p.4.

67.
Register of Members & Monthly Receipts, Luddenden Village Library, 1834–1914: MSS SPL:238, WYAS, Calderdale. See, for example, WG
PBB
, 194–5 for the ‘local and well-substantiated tradition' (but unattributed) that Branwell used the library.

68.
White, ii, 414;
HG
, 26 Dec 1840 p.2. White, ii, 422 also lists 2other Halifax sub-scription libraries and the library of the Halifax Mechanics' Institute.

69.
PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS pp.1, 5, 9, Brotherton; MS BS 127 p.1, BPM.

70.
This strange claim is made by Du Maurier, 123 and followed by later biogra-phers.

71.
PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS p.4, Brotherton. Only the initial of the forename is given in the list. According to the census, George Thompson (30), a corn dealer and maltster, lived at Middlefoot, between Luddenden and Luddenden Foot; James Titterington (25) was a worsted manufacturer at High Lees and Henry Killiner (30), the only porter, lived at Bankfield: Census Returns for Midgley and Warley, 1841: Microfilm, Halifax. John Titterington, (see below, n.74), was a worsted manufacturer and spinner in Sowerby: William Robson,
Commercial Directory
(London, 1840–1), ii, 194. I have not been able to identify either ‘R. Cal' (not Col as in Du Maurier, 123 and
WG
PBB
, 197) or ‘Rd [?Sal]: the latter name may be longer and has either faded or been intentionally erased. ‘At R. Cal last night' might suggest an abbreviated form of an inn name, but the nearest I can get to this is the R[oyal] Oak. Du Maurier, 123 assumes that both names are the same, a form of ‘Coll' and ‘McColl', Irish labourers ‘who huddled together, squatter fashion, near the canal at Luddenden Foot. This is pure invention. The 1841 census records no Irish in Luddenden Foot (except, as it says, Branwell!), and there was only one Michael McCall, a 15-year-old labourer at Denholme, to represent the entire race of ‘Cols'. The weavers, spinners, factory hands and watermen of Luddenden Foot were almost without exception Yorkshire born and bred.

72.
Grundy, 79, thought the poem ‘necessarily an impromptu' though it was in fact an adaptation of one Branwell had written in 1836: it was written on a sheet of Manchester and Leeds Railway Co. headed notepaper: MS BS 127.25, BPM [VN
PBB
, 455].

73.
Grundy, 80–1. Grundy says the fortune teller was a 95-year-old woman who was also consulted ‘in jest' by the ‘three curates' of
Shirley
fame. There appears to have been an astrological tradition in Haworth. The obituary of one renowned Haworth astrologer, Jack Kaye, is in
LM
, 20 Jan 1846 p.5. Another is referred to in a curious book written as a semifictional account of the area by the curate of Cross Stone. His story has 2 ladies going to consult the astrologer and being taken to see Patrick instead: Revd James Whalley,
The Wild Moor: A Tale Founded on Fact
(Leeds, 1869), 70–3. I am grateful to Sarah Fermi for drawing my attention to this book.

74.
Leyland, i, 290–2;
HG
, 10 Aug 1861 p.4. Sowden later became a close friend of Nicholls and married him to Charlotte: See below, p.893. For John Titterington see above p.1040 n.77 and p.1059 n.71. There were 3 local John Murgatroyds: a corn miller aged 45 at Brearley and 2stuff manufacturers, aged 70 and 30, who lived at Green Hedge and Victory respectively: Census Returns for Midgley and Warley, 1841: Microfilm, Halifax. I have been unable to find George Richardson in the local census and it was Henry Richardson, not George, who was the wharfinger for the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge, as claimed by Du Maurier, 117, 127. The names John Murgatroyd and George Richardson are written in Greek letters above and below a pencil sketch of a man reclining in a chair in PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS BS 127 p.18, BPM [A&S no.279].

75.
Proceedings of the Directors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, 1841–2, 11 Apr 1842: MS RAIL 343/10 p.184, NA.

76.
Branwell knew Frobisher well enough to send him verses to set to music: PBB to John Frobisher, [Mar 1846] and 21 Mar 1846: MSS in WYAS, Calderdale [
BST
: 12:65:410–11]. A presentation was made to Anderson at a dinner at the Swan Inn, Halifax, held to honour his contribution to local exhibitions: it was attended by J.B. Leyland and it seems likely that Branwell, who knew them both, would also have been among the 40–50 guests:
HG
, 20 Feb 1841 p.4.

77.
Yorkshire Notes and Queries
, 1st series, vol i, 35. Dearden contributed to a literary and scientific magazine in Nottingham,
Dearden's Miscellany
, which was produced by his cousin, and had published a poem on Leyland's statue of ‘African Bloodhounds' which was reviewed in
HG
, 20 Mar 1838 p.3; Mary Leyland, ‘The Leyland Family',
THAS
(1954), 37; Leyland, i, 188. Branwell had friends in Ovenden called Pearson with whom he stayed: see below, p.605.

78.
William Heaton to Francis Leyland, 20 Feb 1863: MS E.2008.3, BPM [Leyland, i, 268–9]. It is worth pointing out that nightingales are not to be found in the West Riding.

79.
Leyland, ‘The Leyland Family', 37.

80.
VN
PBB
, pxxx.

81.
HG
, 22 May 1841 p.3. Though the poem was published under the pseudonym ‘Northangerland' the editor's note is addressed to ‘PBB', so Branwell clearly sent the poem in himself. He also did this on at least one other occasion: ‘I send you a production which I know is too long for your columns during the sessions of parliament, so I must leave it to your judgement whether or not you may think it worth your while to give it a place in the “Halifax Guardian”‘: the letter is signed ‘Patrick, Branwell, Brontë'and has lost its accompa-nying submission: PBB to the Editor of the
Halifax Guardian
, n.d.: MS HAS B21/38 p.4, WYAS, Calderdale.

82.
HG
, 5 June 1841 p.4 [VN
PBB
, 210].

83.
The 8 poems published in the
Halifax Guardian
are PBB, Heaven and Earth, 23 Jan 1838 [5June 1841 p.4]; On the Callousness Produce by Cares, 13 Dec 1837 [7May 1842 p.6]; On Peaceful Death and
Painful Life, 20 Oct 1837 [14 May 1842 p.6]; Caroline's Prayer, 31 July 1838 [4 May 1842 p.6]; Song, 27 Aug 1837 [11 June 1842 p.6]; An Epicurean's Song, 11 Dec 1837 [9 July 1842 p.6] and The End of All, 15 Dec 1837 [5 June 1847 p.6]: all were published under Northangerland's name. For an anonymous poem, ‘Speak kindly to thy fellow man' [19 Sept 1846 p.6] see below, p.1085 n.18. The two poems on Angrian themes are On Caroline [16 July 1842, p.6] and Real Rest [8 Nov 1845 p.6]. The 3 original works are On Melbourne's Ministry, [Aug 1841] [14 Aug 1841 p.6], Penmaenmawr. [Nov 1845] [20 Dec 1845 p.6] and Letter from a Father on Earth to his Child in Her Grave', 3Apr 1845 [18 Apr 1846, p.6]. The same pattern is true of the poems Branwell submitted to the
Bradford Herald
in 1842, 6 out of 8being revisions of earlier works which were also published in the
Halifax Guardian
: the 2 original poems were On Landseer's Painting, [Aug 1841] [28 Apr 1842 p.4] and Noah's Warning over Methuselah's Grave, [July–Aug 1842] [25 Aug 1842 p.7]. On the other hand the only poem Branwell seems to have submitted to the
Leeds Intelligencer
, The Afghan War [7 May 1842 p.7] and 3of the 4he sent to the
Yorkshire Gazette
were all new. For the
Yorkshire Gazette
poems see below, pp.548–9.

84.
HG
, 14 Aug 1841 p.6; 18 Sept 1841 p.5.

85.
PBB, ‘Oh thou whose beams were most withdrawn' [LFN], 8Aug 1841: MS p.7, Brotherton [VN
PBB
, 212]. This poem is usually dated from ‘Brearley Hill' but the ms clearly reads ‘Brearley Hall', which the 1841 census had identifed as his lodgings: see above, p.430–1.

86.
PBB, ‘O God! while I in pleasure's wiles' [LFN], 19 Dec 1841: MS BS 127 p.15, BPM [VN
PBB
, 219].

87.
PBB, ‘Amid the worlds wide din around' [LFN], 11 Sept 1841: MS BS 127 p.4, BPM [VN
PBB
, 214].

88.
PBB, ‘The desolate earth – The Wintry sky' [LFN], 15 Dec 1841, and LORD NELSON [LFN], [
c
. Sept 1841]: MS BS 127 pp.14, 3, 6–12, BPM [VN
PBB
, 216, 487–93; JB
SP
, 112–5]. After the title of the latter Branwell has written ‘NELSONI MORS. H.K. White', a reference to the poem by Patrick's contemporary at Cambridge, Henry Kirke White, published in his
Remains
: see above, p.8–9.

89.
The first list begins with Blind Maeonides, i.e. Homer (omitted by VN
PBB
, 454) and continues with David king of Israel, Alexander of Macedon opposite whom Branwell has written ‘the brightest Star that ever blazed away the night of war', William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Johnson, Robert Burns, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon Buonaparte bracketed with Michael Angelo, Sylla of Rome, Julius Caesar, Walter Scott, John Wilson, Henry Brougham (not Broughton as VN
PBB
, 454), DANTON and Columbus: PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS p.8, Brotherton [VN
PBB
, 454]. As Neufeldt points out, the names of Johnson, Burns and Nelson are marked with an asterisk and all feature heavily in Branwell's poems of this period. The bracket linking Buonaparte and Michael Angelo is also asterisked, suggesting the subject of a future poem. All those listed were famous poets, writers or warriors except Columbus discoverer of America and Henry Brougham, the Whig politician who merits his place as founder of the
Edinburgh Review
. John Wilson, though a poet, was also the founder of
Blackwood's Magazine
. The second list relates more obviously to Branwell's poem ‘The desolate earth – The Wintry Sky', and includes ‘Guido' (omitted by VN
PBB
, 454) who is possibly the Sicilian poet Guido delle Colonne mentioned by Dante; Burns, Tasso, Galileo, Milton, Otway, Johnson, Cowper, Burns (again) and Johnson (again but deleted): PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS BS 127 p.17, BPM [VN
PBB
, 454].

90.
[H?] Woolven to Francis Leyland, 8Sept 1875: MS E.2008.3, pp.2–3, BPM; Proceedings of the Directors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, 1841–2, 4Apr 1842: MS RAIL 343/10 p.174–5, NA.

91.
Grundy, 86; Leyland, i, 288; CB to EN, [20 Jan 1842]: MS HM 24480 p.3, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 250]. Census Returns for Midgley and Warley, 1841: Microfilm, Halifax, identify Branwell's occupation as ‘C.L.', possibly meaning ‘Clerk of the Line': the only other person in the area with the same entry is William Spence, living at Brearley with his wife and young son so I have assumed he must be Branwell's assistant. For Killiner see above, n.71.

92.
Proceedings of the Directors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, 1841–2, 11 Apr 1842: MS RAIL 343/10 p.184, NA.

93.
See, for example, the following prosecutions reported in the
Halifax Guardian
: William Babington, imprisoned for 2months at the company's request for failing to display the red flag when taking up track at Mytholmroyd, though no accident took place: 28 Nov 1840 p.2; 3men prosecuted
for taking 2 cranes along the line without displaying lights or signals, thereby causing a crash at Sowerby Bridge: 16 Jan 1841 p.4; Joseph Cobden, dismissed and prosecuted for derailing a train at Brighouse because he forgot to change the points: 27 Mar 1841 p.2; 4 men arrested for causing a crash at Luddenden Foot in which 2of them were seriously injured when they travelled along the line on a truck after a drinking bout and ran into a train: 4Dec 1841 p.7. The drunken driver from Leeds, who had worked on the railway for 10 years, was sentenced to 2months hard labour at Wakefield House of Correction: 6 Mar 1841 p.3.

94.
PBB to Francis Grundy, 22 May 1842: MS n.l. [Grundy, 85 wrongly dated to 1845]; CB to EN, 14 Apr 1846: MS HM 24444 p.4, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 463].

95.
BO
, 13 Jan 1842 p.7.

96.
Ibid. The proposal was made and seconded by 2Dissenters, William Thomas and William Greenwood jr of Oxenhope. The Bradford churchwardens had spent £53 4s.11d. in getting the writ against Haworth: this was more than two-thirds of the total sum they were claiming as a rate, indicating how serious the confrontation had become: Writ of Mandamus against Haworth: MS MM 55/6/3, WYAS, Bradford; PB,
BO
, 3 Feb 1842 p.4[
LRPB
, 135].

97.
Ibid. p.3. Patrick was away in Brussels when the goods were distributed so presumably Weightman acted in his stead.

98.
PB, French notebook, 1842: MS BS 178 p.1, BPM [JB
ST
, no.15].

99.
Ibid., pp.9, 13. Though Patrick meant ‘secs', ‘sec' and ‘privé' he wrote ‘sees', ‘see' and ‘priver'.

100.
EJB, Diary Paper, 30 July 1845: MS p.1, in private hands [facsimile in Shorter, 145;
LCB
, i, 407].

101.
ECG,
Life
, 285.

102.
MT to ECG, [1857]: MS n.l. [Stevens, 165].

103.
CB to EN, 14 Oct 1850: MS Bon 226 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 482–3].

104.
CB,
Villette
, 58–9.

105.
Ibid., 58.

106.
PB, French notebook, 1842: MS BS 178 p.22, BPM [JB
ST
, no.15].

107.
I have assumed Charlotte followed the same arrangements as on her return to Brussels the following year and have taken my description of this first journey from her own account of the second: CB to EN, 30 Jan 1843: MS TC [
LCB
, i, 308]; WG
CB
, 185 quoting Ostend police registers. Ibid. says the party arrived about midnight on Saturday and went straight to their hotel, assuming the voyage took only 14 hours.