Brontës (200 page)

58.
PBB, ON PEACEFUL DEATH AND PAINFUL LIFE,
Bradford Herald
, 12 May 1842 p.6. The poem was originally PERCY'S LAST SONNET, October 1837: see above, p.323. the fair copy is MS BS 131, BPM [VN
PBB
, 459].

59.
PBB, Caroline's Prayer,
Bradford Herald
, 2 June 1842 p.4;
HG
, 4June 1842 p.6; taken from Sir Henry Tunstall, the earliest version being PBB, ‘‘Tis only afternoon, but mid-nights gloom', 31 July 1838: MS Ashley 176, ll.352–71, BL [VN
PBB
, 470–1]. PBB, Song,
Bradford Herald
, 9 June 1842 p.4;
HG
, 11 June 1842 p.6: Branwell's variant of Auld Lang Syne, it appears in the middle of the long poem ‘How Eden like seem Palace Halls', 27 Aug 1837: MS BS 122 ll.258–77, BPM [VN
PBB
, 193]. PBB, An Epicurean's Song,
Bradford Herald
, 7July 1842 p.4;
HG
, 9July 1842 p.6: originally ‘written' by Henry Hastings, it was published under the name Northangerland: PBB, ‘Song … The present days Sorrow', 11 Dec 1837: MS BS 125 pp.59–60, BPM [VN
PBB
, 460–1]. PBB, On Caroline,
Bradford Herald
, 14 July 1842 p.4;
HG
, 16 July 1842 p.6: there is apparently no extant ms of this poem but Caroline and her sister Harriet had featured in Branwell's Angrian poetry since at least 1838: VN
PBB
, 124, 443–52.

60.
PBB to Francis Grundy, 9June 1842: MS BS 138 pp.1–2, BPM [
L&L
, i, 265]. The other ‘literary gentleman' may have been Hartley Coleridge, (see above, p.389–90) though Branwell would surely have named him: the context implies a more recent acquaintance.

61.
Ibid, p.1[
L&L
, i, 265].

62.
William Oakendale [Dearden] in
HG
, 15 June 1867 p.7. Dearden said that when they met to read their poems, Branwell discovered he had brought the wrong one but nevertheless read aloud a long portion from it. Dearden later assumed that this was
Wuthering Heights
, giving rise to the persistent myth that Branwell had written this novel. In fact it was probably Branwell's very similar descriptions of Darkwall: see above, p.324.

63.
BO
, 27 June 1861 p.7.

64.
PBB, Azrael. or the Eve of Destruction, [July–Aug, 1842]: MS BS 125 pp.70, 73, BPM [VN
PBB
, 233].

65.
PBB, NOAH'S WARNING OVER METHUSELAH'S GRAVE,
Bradford Herald
, 25 Aug 1842 p.4.

66.
PBB to Editor of
Blackwood's Magazine
, 6 Sept 1842: MS 4060, NLS [VN
PBB
, 462]. For the fair copy see MS BS 127 p.26, BPM. Mrs Southey, whose support Branwell had obtained, was Robert Southey's second wife, Caroline Bowles: it is possible that, like Charlotte, Branwell had actually sent his poem to Robert Southey himself, but the Poet Laureate was in an advanced state of dementia and his wife dealt with all his affairs: he died on 21 March 1843: Barker,
Wordsworth: A Life
, 714–5, 740–1.

67.
PBB, ‘The Triumph of mind over body', [Sept–Oct 1842]: MS Bon 155, BPM [VN
PBB
, 253–60].

68.
Grundy, 45, 79. As Harriet Martineau acknowledged, it was not easy even for established authors to obtain publication for their protégés: ‘I know this; – that I have always been anxious to extend to young or struggling authors the sort of aid which would have been so precious to me in that
winter of 1829–1830, and that, in above twenty years, I have never succeeded but once … from the time of my own success to this hour, every other attempt, of the scores I have made, to get a hearing for young or new aspirants has failed': HM,
Autobiography
, edited by Gaby Weiner (London, 1988), 146.

69.
PBB to Francis Grundy, 25 Oct 1842: MS n.l. [
L&L
, i, 273].

70.
BO
, 25 Aug 1842 p.5;
HG
, 20 Aug 1842 pp.5–7. The Chartists had a 6–point programme, ‘The People's Charter', calling for universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, removal of property qualification for MPs, payment of MPs, secret ballots and annual general elections.

71.
BO
, 18 Aug 1842 p.6;
HG
, 20 Aug 1842 p.7; 27 Aug 1842 p.2;
BO
, 25 Aug 1842 p.5.

72.
Ibid., 8 Sept 1842 p.5; Reid, 194 quoting the landlord of the Black Bull.

73.
PB to John White, 22 Sept 1842: MS BS 189 pp.2–3, BPM [
LRPB
, 137].

74.
PB,
A Funeral Sermon for
…
Weightman
, 12–13 [
Brontëana
, 259]. Weightman's illness cannot be precisely dated but he performed his last official duty, a baptism, on 14 August 1842, confirming Charlotte's comment that his illness, like Martha Taylor's, was of about a fortnight's duration: Baptisms, Haworth; CB to EN, [10 Nov 1842]: MS at Harvard [
LCB
, i, 302].

75.
William Weightman, Funeral Card, 6 Sept 1842: MS BS x, F, BPM; Burials, Haworth.

76.
PB,
A Funeral Sermon for
…
Weightman
, 3, 16 [
Brontëana
, 252].

77.
William Weightman, memorial in Haworth church. The obituary was published in
LI
, 8Oct 1842 p.7. Patrick's newly published sermon was praised as ‘plain and touching in its language, simple yet expressive, [and] pays a well-deserved tribute to the memory of the preacher's beloved and lamented fellow labourer'. Weightman him-self is described as ‘admired and beloved for his sterling piety, his amiability, and cheer-fulness, and the loss of so zealous and useful a Minister of Christ is deeply felt by those among whom he lived and laboured':
LI
, 29 Oct 1842 p.7.

78.
PBB to Francis Grundy, 25 Oct 1842: MS n.l. [
L&L
, i, 272–3].

79.
PBB to Francis Grundy, 29 Oct 1842: MS n.l. [
L&L
, i, 273].

80.
CB to EN, [10 Nov 1842]: MS p.1, Harvard [
LCB
, i, 302]; Burials, Haworth; Elizabeth Branwell, ‘Last Will & Testament, 30 Apr 1833: MS (copy) in MS PROBATE, Borthwick [
L&L
, i, 277]. The fact that Aunt Branwell chose to be buried in the church, rather than the Methodist burial ground, is evidence of the fact that she had become a member of the Church of England. Though her decision could be attributed to sentiment, her choice of executors was not, and reflects her impeccable Anglican credentials: Patrick Brontë, Theodore Dury vicar of Keighley and George Taylor of Stanbury, one of the Haworth church trustees. As Dury had left Keighley by the time she died, he sought and obtained a release from his executorship.

81.
CB to EN, [10 Nov 1842]: MS p.1, Harvard [
LCB
, i, 302].

82.
Ibid., p.2 [
LCB
, i, 302]; MT to EN, 1 Nov 1842: MS in Berg [Stevens, 39–40]; CB to EN, [10 Nov 1842]: MS p.2, Harvard [
LCB
, i, 302].

83.
Constantin Heger to PB, 5 Nov 1843: MS n.l. [
LCB
, i, 299–300].

84.
Ibid., 300.

85.
CB to EN, [?22 Nov 1842]: MS p.2, Harvard [
LCB
, i, 303]; CB to EN, [25 Nov 1842]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, i, 304].

86.
AB, In memory of a happy day in February, Feb–10 Nov 1842: MS Bon 134 pp.2–3, BPM [Chitham, 82–3].

87.
AB, To Cowper, 10 Nov 1842: MS MA 28 pp.2–3, PM [Chitham, 84–5].

88.
CB to EN, [25 Nov 1842]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, i, 304]. Anne did not come back for the Christmas holidays, having taken time off for Aunt Branwell's funeral.

89.
AB, To –, Dec 1842: MS MA 28 pp.4–6, PM [Chitham, 87–8].

90.
See, for example, AB, The Captive's Dream, 24 Jan 1838 and ‘The lady of Alyerno's hall', 10 July 1838: MS MA 2696 R-V pp.3–5, PM [Chitham, 62, 66–8]. Another love poem whose ms is lost, ‘Farewell to thee! but not farewell', regarded as a ‘Weightman poem' by WG
AB
, 188 and Chitham, 76–7, was actually published as a song in AB,
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
, 157. This suggests to me that it had nothing to do with Weightman since Anne is unlikely to have wanted to use so personal a poem in a public work of fiction. In any event, it negates Chitham's argument that AB, To –, Dec 1842 (see above, n.89), was ‘suppressed' and deliberately omitted from
Poems
1846 because it was autobiographical.

91.
BO
, 8Dec 1842 p.8.

92.
Ibid., 5Jan 1843 p.5;
Keighley Saturday Observer
, 31 Dec 1842 p.8. Hoffman had played in Keighley at the beginning of December:
BO
, 8Dec 1842. 1067 NOTES TO PAGES 480– 5

93.
Ibid., 29 Dec 1842 p.5. Charlotte may have been referring to this incident when she jokingly sent her ‘Regards to the fighting gentry' in CB to EJB, 29 May 1843: MS n.l. [
LCB
, i, 320].

94.
Elizabeth Branwell, ‘Last Will & Testament, 30 Apr 1833: MS (copy) in MS PROBATE, Borthwick [
L&L
, i, 277]. Aunt Branwell left her Indian workbox to Charlotte, her workbox with the china top and an ivory fan to Emily, her watch and eyeglass with their chains &c to Anne and her japanned dressing case to Branwell. Their aunt's rings, spoons, books, clothes etc. were all to be divided among the 3 sisters as their father thought fit. Eliza Kingston was the only daughter of Elizabeth's sister Jane, who had married John Kingston and left him in America, returning with Eliza to live in Penzance. Like the Brontës, she had no financial security and was therefore a beneficiary of her aunt's will. Branwell was deliberately omitted, not because he was out of favour, but because he was expected to earn his own living.

95.
Probate of the will was finally granted on 28 December 1842, William Morgan administering the oath to the executors as a commissioner for the Archbishop of York. The estate was sworn to be worth less than £1500: Elizabeth Branwell, probate papers, 21 Nov–28 Dec 1842: MS in MS PRO-BATE, Borthwick. The will directed that the money from the estate was to be invested until the youngest legatee was 21. Patrick's inventory of the residue of the estate included 10 whole and 4 half-shares in the York and North Midland Railway Company (£1087), a promissory note (£30), a gold watch – presumably Anne's legacy – (£10) and remaining books and jewellery (£20). A note added that one half railway share and all the money in Bolitho & Sons' Bank of Chiandower, near Penzance, had been spent on funeral, probate and other expenses and that shares valued at £124 in certain Cornish mines were found to be worthless. Branwell's japanned dressing box was valued ‘not above' 5s. The remaining valuables were listed thus: A gold eyeglass £1; 1 Garnet ring 5s; 1jet ring 5s; 1agate ring 7s; 1pair of small gold earrings 5s; 7 silver teaspoons £18s; 2 silver tablespoons 18s; a silver knife and fork 15s; a silver butter-knife 5s; 2small jet brooches 3s: PB, Inventory of the residue of the late Miss Elizabeth Branwell's property, 30 Jan 1843: MS in private hands.

96.
CB to EN, [
c
.6 Jan 1843]: MS at Harvard and CB to EN, [?14 Jan 1843]: MS Gr. E5, BPM [
LCB
, i, 306, 308].

97.
CB to EN, 30 Jan [1843]: MS at TC [
LCB
, i, 308].

98.
CB
Villette
, 61.

99.
ECG,
Life
, 197.

100.
CB to EN, 30 Jan [1843]: MS at TC [
LCB
, i, 308].

101.
ECG,
Life
, 197–8.

102.
CB to EN, 6Mar [1843]: MS BS 50.4 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 311].

103.
Ibid., p.3; Abraham Dixon snr to Mary Dixon, 24 July 1843: MS HAOBP 2001/13, BPM.

104.
CB to EN, 6Mar [1843]: MS BS 50.4 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 311]. At the bottom of the letter Charlotte drew a revealing caricature of herself (see plate 28), as a short, ugly figure with a head too big for her body, waving goodbye across the Channel to Ellen, who is lady-like prettiness personified. Ellen's name has been struck out and replaced with ‘Mrs O. V[incent].' and she is hand-in-hand with a bespectacled man in a top hat who is labelled ‘The Chosen'. A more compellingly graphic illustra-tion of the difference Charlotte perceived between herself and her pretty friend could not be imagined.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: MONSIEUR HEGER

1.
See, for example, EJB, ‘All blue and bright, in glorious light', 24 Feb 1843; ‘Lie down and rest – the fight is done', 18 Dec 1843; ‘Where beams the sun the brightest', 1May 1843, and ‘In the earth, the earth thou shalt be laid', 6Sept 1843: MS Add 43483 pp.27–9, 55, 42, 43, BL [Roper, 135–8, 143, 139–40, 141–2]; EJB, ‘yes holy be thy resting place', [July 1843]: MS Bon 127 p.6v, BPM [Roper, 203–4]. For a useful discussion on the influence of Brussels on Emily see David Musselwhite,
PartingsWeldedTogether: Politics and Desire in the Nineteenth Century Engish Novel
(London, 1987), 75–108.

2.
MT to EN, 16 Feb 1843: MS p.1, Berg [Stevens, 43].

3.
EN to Meta Gaskell, n.d.: MS no.11, bound vol. of miscellaneous letters of EN, Brotherton. See also Scruton, 130 quoting Martha Brown.

4.
CB to EJB, 29 May 1843: MS n.l. [
LCB
, i, 319]. Charlotte may have attempted to find another teacher as a printed circular advertising German lessons from Madame Hock, ‘Une Dame Allemande, qui connaitle
français et l'anglais', of No.35, Rue de la Montagne, was among Charlotte's effects: MS in private hands.

5.
CB, Cahier of German Translations, 25 Apr 1843: MS Bon 117, BPM; Charlotte's translations of 4 poems by Schiller, ‘Des Mädchens Klage', ‘Der Alpenjäger', ‘Ritter Toggenburg' and ‘Nadowessische Totenklage', are bound with CB, [William Wallace and other essays], [1843]: MS Ashley 160, BL [VN
CB
, 365–70]; CB, Cahier Translations from English to German, May 1843: MS Bon 118, BPM. There are only 4pages of German in this notebook, though at least 2 further pages have been torn out: the rest was later used by Charlotte for drafting her own poetry.