Brontës (203 page)

109.
CB to EN, [?2Oct 1844]: MS MA 2696 R-V p.1, PM [
LCB
, i, 368].

110.
CB to EN, 14 Nov 1844: MS HM 24435 pp.2–3, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 374].

111.
CB to Constantin Heger, 24 July [1844]: MS Add 38732(a) pp.4, 2, BL [
LCB
, i, 357, 355].

112.
Ibid., p.3 [
LCB
, i, 356].

113.
Only 4 letters are extant but Charlotte asks Heger if he has received her letter at the beginning of May (which has not survived) and refers to another ‘that was less than reasonable'. Heger seems only to have written in response to letters from Charlotte and she refers to his as if she had received a number of them: CB to Constantin Heger, 24 July [1844] and 24 Oct 1844: MSS Add 38732(a) p.1and Add 38732(b) pp.1–2, BL [
LCB
, i, 355, 369]. The surviving letters have been torn into pieces and sewn back together again, bearing out the claim that Mde Heger retrieved them from the wastepaper bin and reconstructed them to learn what Charlotte had written. There are no extant letters from Heger to Charlotte.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: MRS ROBINSON

1.
CB to EN, 13 June 1845: MS HM 24439 pp.2–3, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 397].

2.
PB to B. Terry, 24 Feb 1845: MS 6/21, Whitby. The meeting on 28 February and the address, signed by 3000 parishioners, were reported in
BO
, 6 Mar 1845 p.6.

3.
Haworth Church Hymnsheets, 20 July 1845: MS BS xi, H, BPM. Scoresby gave the evening sermon, Philip Eggleston, curate of Heptonstall but soon to be curate of Keighley, the one in the afternoon: the ser-mons were probably on behalf of the
Sunday school as this was traditionally the Sunday devoted to that cause.

4.
Though varying dates are given for Nicholls's early career, including his birth, I have followed his own version, given in ABN, Application for a Missionary Appointment, 23 Jan 1853: MS in archives of USPG. See also ‘Reminsicences of a Relation of Arthur Bell Nicholls',
BST
:15:79:246. Burtchaell and Sadleir,
Alumni Dublinenses
, 619 show him entering Trinity College, aged 18, as a pensioner paying normal fees on 4 July 1836: his father was William Bell, farmer of Antrim, and his previous teacher had been Dr Bell. It was not uncommon to take seven years to graduate.

5.
CB to Mrs Rand, 26 May [1845]: MS 2696 R-V, PM [
LCB
, i, 393]. Nicholls was ordained deacon by the bishop of Lichfield on behalf of the bishop of Ripon on Trinity Sunday 1845: ABN, Application for a Missionary Appointment, 23 Jan 1853: MS in archives of USPG; Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, Haworth.

6.
PB to Joseph Rushworth, 21 Apr [1845]: MS BS 192, BPM [
LRPB
, 184]. Patrick dictated this letter, only signing it himself. Of the 3 existing church bells, the little one had been installed in 1664, the middle one in 1742 and the tenor in 1747, the two latter dating from Grimshaw's incumbency:
LI
, 5 July 1845 p.5;
BO
, 5July 1845 p.5. For the installation of the new bells and an example of the Haworth ringers entering a competition see ibid., 6 Nov 1845 p.5and
LI
, 21 Mar 1846 p.5.

7.
Ibid., 31 July 1845 p.5. Oakworth was officially in Keighley Parish, but unofficially the outer reaches near Haworth had been included in Patrick's ministry.

8.
CB to Constantin Heger, 24 Oct 1844: MS Add 38732(b) p.3, BL [
LCB
, i, 369]. The ‘little library' included the complete works of Bernardin St Pierre, Pascal's
Pensées
, a book of poetry, two books in German and ‘worth all the rest', as Charlotte told Heger, two of his own discourses delivered at the presentation of prizes at the Athénée Royal.

9.
Ibid.; CB to Constantin Heger, 8 Jan 1845: MS Add 38732(d) pp.1–2, BL [
LCB
, i, 377–8].

10.
ECG to EN, 9 July 1856 [C&P, 394]. The letters could not be found. Gaskell suspected Nicholls had destroyed them; it is more likely that, as was then customary, Charlotte did so before her marriage.

11.
ECG to Emily Shaen, 7–8Sept 1856 [C&P, 409]. ‘I believed him to be too good to publish those letters – but I felt that his friends might really with some justice urge him to do so'.

12.
CB, ‘At first I did attention give', [Jan 1845]: MS in Berg [VN,
CB
, 274]. A revised version was later included as a song in CB,
Jane Eyre
, 274–5. See also CB, Gilbert, [Spring 1845]: MS Bon 118 pp.1v-8v, BPM [VN,
CB
, 279–89], which tells of a self-centred man who rejects his devoted lover: it was published in
Poems
1846.

13.
CB to EN, [?30 Dec 1844]: MS BS 53.5, BPM [
LCB
, i, 375–6].

14.
CB to EN, [?20 Feb 1845]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, i, 382]. As Charlotte did not know Ellen's address, she sent it via the Hudsons of Easton Farm.

15.
MT to ECG, 18 Jan 1856: MS n.l. [Stevens, 161].

16.
CB to EN, [?20 Feb 1845]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, i, 382].

17.
CB to EN, 24 Apr 1845: MS HM 24438 pp.2–3, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 391–2].

18.
CB to EN, 2 Apr [1845]: MS HM 24437 pp.3–4, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 388–9].

19.
MT to ECG, MS n.l. [Stevens, 133]. The text says a ‘walking nightmare' but Margaret Smith points out that this is probably a mis-reading for the more appropriate ‘waking nightmare'. MT to CB, 5Apr 1850: MS p.1, Texas [
LCB
, ii, 378].

20.
MT to ECG, [1857]: MS n.l. [Stevens, 165–6]. Charlotte's definition of a ‘sister of charity' appears in her portrayal of Miss Ainley in CB,
Shirley
, 182.

21.
HG
, 5Sept 1840 p.5. The statistics, taken from the
Scotsman
, calculated a woman's chance of marrying by taking 100 as the number of chances she would have over the years, from which it deduced the following figures: 14½% aged 15–20; 52% aged 20–25; 18% aged 25–30, 6½% aged 30–35, 3½% aged 35–40, 2½% aged 40–45 and 1½% aged 45–50.

22.
CB to MW, 23 Apr 1845: MS FM 1 pp.1–2, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, i, 389–90].

23.
Ibid p.2[
LCB
, i, 390].

24.
The probate papers of both Emily and Anne are stamped by the York and North Midland Railway Company and the Reeth Consolidated Mining Company, indicating that they still had Aunt Branwell's railway shares; her shares in Cornish mines had been worthless when she died. The Yorkshire-based Reeth Consolidated Mining Company floated in 1836 but its shares are not mentioned in Aunt Branwell's probate so it is possible that the girls had
purchased them: EJB, Grant of probate to PB, 5Feb 1849: MS Bon 73, BPM: AB, Grant of probate to PB, 5Sept 1849: MS Bon 74, BPM. See also above, p.1067 n.95.

25.
CB to EN, 24 Mar [1845]: MS in Law [
LCB
, i, 385].

26.
AB, Diary Paper, 31 July: MS in Law [
LCB
, i, 410].

27.
CB to EN, 13 June 1845: MS HM 24439 pp.2–3, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 397]. The marriage, at which Ellen was bridesmaid, is mentioned in CB to EN, 1 June [1845]: MS BS 54.2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 395]. For the Hathersage arrangements see CB to EN, [?18 June 1845]: MS HM 24440 p.1, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 399]; CB to EN, [
c
.27 June 1845]: MS Bon 168 pp.1–2, BPM. [
LCB
, i, 402].

28.
Ibid., p.1[
LCB
, i, 402].

29.
EJB, Diary Paper, 30 July 1845: MS p.1, in private hands [
LCB
, i, 408].

30.
LI
, 13 Apr 1844 p.5; 24 Aug 1844 p.5.

31.
CB, ‘The Missionary', [Spring 1845]: MS n.l. [VN
CB
, 291–4]. Neufeldt dates this, and several other ‘story poems' published in
Poems
1846, to the spring of 1845. I think there is a good case for dating it slightly later to the Hathersage visit. Charlotte had earlier written of Nussey: ‘his notion of being a Missionary is amusing – he would not live a year in the climates of those countries where Missionaries are wanted': CB to EN, [?late June 1843]: MS 2696 R-V pp.2–3, PM [
LCB
, i, 402].

32.
The brasses are still to be seen today in St Michael's Church, Hathersage.

33.
Though there are many contenders for the orginal of Thornfield, North Lees Hall best fits the novel's description of a 3-storey gentleman's manor with a rookery behind, large meadow in front and hills in the distance: CB,
Jane Eyre
, 100. Charlotte may well have been inside the hall as she also graphically describes (ibid., 212) the Apostles' Cupboard which belonged to the Eyres and is now HAOBP: F32, BPM. The Hathersage locations were ‘identified' as early as the 1890s: see J.J. Stead, ‘Hathersage and
Jane Eyre
',
BST
:1:4:26. It should be borne in mind, however, that Charlotte always said that she only allowed reality to suggest, never to dictate, her fictional creations.

34.
Local tradition, influenced by
Jane Eyre
, has it that Charlotte arrived at the George Inn by public coach from Sheffield but it is more likely that Ellen met the omnibus at Sheffield with her own private transport as she had when expecting Charlotte to arrive the previous week: CB to EN, [
c
.27 June 1845]: MS Bon 168 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, i, 402]. 35.EN to Mary Gorham, 22 July [1845]: MS BS viii, pp.2, 4, BPM [
LCB
, i, 404–5].

35.
M.F.H. Hulbert.
Discovering Hathersage Old Vicarage
(Hathersage, 1985), 10–11.

36.
CB to EN, [?18 June 1845]: MS HM 24440 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 399]; EN to Mary Gorham, 22 July 1845: MS BS viii, pp.2, 4, BPM [
LCB
, i, 404].

37.
Ibid.

38.
EJB to EN,? 16 July [1845]: MS BS 108 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, i, 403]. The last sentence, valedication and signature have been cut off and are now missing: a transcript, possibly in Ellen's hand, is written opp. p.3 of the letter.

39.
Haworth Church Hymnsheets, 20 July 1845: MS BS x, H, BPM. See above, n.3.

40.
The 5published in
Poems
1846 were ‘Cold in the earth – and the deep snow piled above thee!', 3Mar 1845: MS Add 43483 pp.52–3, BL [Roper, 166–7] and ‘Enough of Thought, Philosopher', [3Feb 1845]; ‘Death, that struck when I was most confiding': 10 Apr 1845; ‘Ah! why, because the dazzeling sun', 14 Apr 1845; and ‘How Beautiful the Earth is still', 2 June 1845: MSS in Law [facsimiles in
Poems
1934, 324–6, 327 (twice) 328; Roper, 164–6, 167–8, 169–70, 173–5].

41.
EJB, Diary Paper, 30 July 1845: MS pp.1–2, in private hands. I am grateful to William Self for sending me a photocopy of this manuscript and allowing me to quote from it.

42.
I think it is dangerous to argue that all Anne's religious poems are autobiographical, particularly those written during spring and early summer 1845. There are many parallels in storyline and mood with those written by Emily at this time. We know from Emily's diary paper (see above p.535 that they were both writing about the First Wars between the Royalists and Republicans, a subject which naturally lent itself to contemplation of blighted hopes and expressions of despair from families and lovers separated by the political divide. Anne's ‘I love the silent hour of night' which is usually seen as a personal lamentation for Weightman, is closely paralleled by Emily's ‘Cold in the earth – and the deep snow piled above thee!', also written at this time. Similarly, Anne's ‘Oppressed with sin and wo' and ‘When sinks my heart in hopeless gloom' find strong echoes in Emily's ‘How beautiful the Earth is still', the first and last poems being written on consecutive days in
June. The fact that Anne's heroes and hero-ines look to God rather than hope or imagination for comfort is simply a reflection of her character. If, as I suspect, most of Anne's poems of this period belong in a Gondal setting, then the depth of her own despair at Thorp Green may have been unduly exaggerated.

43.
AB, ‘Call me away; there's nothing here', 24 Jan 1845: MS in Law [facsimile in
Poems
1934, 344; Chitham, 107]. I cannot agree with Chitham that this poem reflects the Branwell–Mrs Robinson situation. The lovers are clearly a Gondal Romeo and Juliet and, as we know from Emily's diary paper that both she and Anne were writing about the First Wars, it seems likely that their families came from opposing sides.

44.
AB, ‘Oppressed with sin and wo', 1 June 1845: MS Bon 134 p.4, BPM [Chitham, 114].

45.
AB, Diary Paper, 31 July 1845: MS p.1, in private hands [
LCB
, i, 410]. I am grateful to William Self for sending me a photocopy of this manuscript and allowing me to quote from it. It has been suggested that Anne's ‘passages in the life of an Individual' may be an early version of
Agnes Grey
but Emily's diary paper of the same date says that Anne is working on a book by Henry Sophona: a masculine narrator makes it unlikely that this was a forerunner of
Agnes Grey
.

46.
AB, Diary Paper, 31 July 1845: MS pp.1–3, in private hands [
LCB
, i, 409–11].

47.
The myth of Emily's sympathy and support for a beleaguered Branwell relies on 2 principal sources: her poem ‘Well, some may hate and some may scorn', which expresses pity for a man of ‘ruined hopes' and ‘blighted fame' who has died unlamented, and the story that Emily used to put a lighted lamp in the parsonage window to guide the drunken Branwell home from the Black Bull. The poem belongs to 1839 (see above, p.370) and there is no contem-porary evidence for the story which, if true, would have meant that Emily was encouraging Branwell's vices, a scenario which is inherently unlikely.