Brontës (204 page)

48.
EJB, Diary Paper, 30 July 1845: MS pp.2–3, in private hands [
LCB
, i, 408–9].

49.
Ibid., p.1[
LCB
, i, 408]. Emily's apparent lack of concern is even more striking because in the original ms, which she may have copied out from rough drafts, she transposed the first sentence of the next paragraph into her statement about Branwell, so it actually read ‘Branwell left – July 1845'.

50.
AB, Diary Paper, 31 July 1845: MS p.1, in private hands [
LCB
, i, 410].

51.
Mildred Christian, ‘Branwell Brontë and the Robinsons of Thorp Green', unpublished article,
c
.1965, in MCP, BPM; Du Maurier, 163–4.

52.
ECG to GS, 2Oct 1856 [C&P, 418].

53.
CB to EN, 31 July [1845]: MS Gr. E6 p.3, BPM [
LCB
, i, 412]. Charlotte wrote to Ellen's mother 3 days earlier, declining an invitation to Brookroyd but giving no hint of Branwell's affairs: CB to Mrs Nussey, 28 July 1845: MS BS 54.5, BPM [
LCB
, i, 406–7].

54.
ECG,
Life
, 524, 523.

55.
GS, ‘Recollections': MS Acc 6713, Box 5 item 4p.105, NLS, quoted in Christian, ‘Branwell Brontë and the Robinsons of Thorp Green', 20–2.

56.
PBB to Francis Grundy, Oct 1845: MS in Brotherton [Grundy, 87–8]. Grundy's transcript is clearly inaccurate: he misreads 1843 as 1848, for example, and omits all the names. Mrs Robinson was cousin of Sir George Trevelyan and Grundy may have accidentally transposed this to ‘Lord'. The last two omissions in the text are Grundy's own and may well be crucial for they would seem to have contained further personal revelations about Mrs Robinson.

57.
See, for example, Christian, ‘Branwell Brontë and the Robinsons of Thorp Green', 55. WG
PBB
, 226 is a proponent of the idea that Branwell was living through his Northangerland persona.

58.
Lord Houghton Commonplace Book, 1857–60: MS pp.338–9, TCC.

59.
CB to EN, 23 Jan 1844: MS in Law, photograph in MCP, BPM [
LCB
, i, 342].

60.
In his letter of January 1840 to John Brown, (see above, p.377–8 and n.) Branwell suggests that ‘Beelzebub means to make a walking-stick of yours [prick]' which I take to mean Brown was promiscuous.

61.
ECG to GS, 29 Dec 1856 [C&P, 432].

62.
Lydia eloped with Roxby on 20 October 1845 and married him the same night at Gretna Green: Hibbs,
Victorian Ouseburn
, 16(k). For Elizabeth's breach of promise suit see Robinson Papers, BPM and for her and Mary's broken engagements see CB to EN, 28 July 1848 [
LCB
, ii, 92]. Breaking an engagement was then one of the most serious civil offences a person, especially a woman, could commit: it is a subject which occurs frequently in the novels of Anthony Trollope.

63.
Jacob, twin brother of Esau, so named because he was born holding on to his
brother's heel. The name therefore literally meant ‘he takes by the heel' and came to mean ‘the supplanter': Genesis, ch.25, v.26.

64.
Lord Houghton Commonplace Book, 1857–60: MS p.339, TCC.

65.
Census Return for Thorpe Underwoods, 1841: Microfilm, Harrogate; Hibbs,
Victorian Ouseburn
, 511(l); MS 89, Robinson Papers, BPM; WG
PBB
, 237; Christian, ‘Branwell Brontë and the Robinsons of Thorp Green', 42–5.

66.
Ibid.

67.
Leyland, ii, 36; Census Returns for Greater Ouseburn, 1841: Microfilm, Harrogate. A memorial to Dr Crosby in Great Ouseburn church is at odds with the role he played as go-between, suggesting he too may have been duped by Mrs Robinson: ‘This tablet is erected by sub-scription in memory of the late John Crosby Esqr Surgeon Great Ouseburn who died December 1st 1859 aged 62 years. His universal kindness, professional ability, benevolent disposition & active usefulness, during a residence here of 30 years warmly endeared him to a large circle of friends who deeply lament his sudden removal.'

68.
ECG,
Life
, 218, omitting the first 11 words which Gaskell cut for the third edition.

69.
CB to EN, 13 Jan [1845]: MS HM 24436 p.4, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 381]; CB to Constantin Heger, 24 Oct 1844: MS Add 38723B p.2, BL [
LCB
, i, 369].

70.
WG
PBB
, 233 claims ‘no greater proof of his mental preoccupation at Thorp Green can be found than in the almost total cessation of creative writing which marked those years'. Everard Flintoff, ‘Some Unpublished Poems of Branwell Brontë',
Durham University Journal
, lxxxi (1989), 241–53. This important article not only makes out a case for there being a Thorp Green notebook but also partially reconstructs it.

71.
PBB, ‘Oer Grafton Hill the blue heaven smiled serene', [1843–4]: MS n.l., sold at Sotheby's Sale, 13 Dec 1993, lot 40: photograph in HT 43 (212), BPM [VN
PBB
, 261, 496].

72.
PBB, ‘I saw a picture, yesterday', [1843–4]: MS in Brotherton [VN
PBB
, 262].

73.
PBB to JBL, [25 Nov 1845]: MS p.1, Brotherton [
L&L
, ii, 72].

74.
City of York Directory: 1843
(Hull, 1843), 84, 100, 115; Edmund Robinson, Cash Book, 1845: MS 93/2, Robinson Papers, BPM. See below, n.78 for Branwell's sub-scription to the library.

75.
Yorkshire Gazette
, 10 May 1845 p.7.

76.
PBB, The Emigrant, 26 May 1845: MS BS 128, BPM [VN
PBB
, 263];
Yorkshire Gazette
, 7 June 1845 p.7.

77.
AB, Diary Paper, 31 July 1845: MS p.1, in private hands [
LCB
, i, 409–10].

78.
PBB to Mr Bellerby, 3 June 1845: MS in private hands. The books were intended for Branwell's own pleasure, rather than teaching purposes, and reveal his tastes had changed little since childhood: he requests any 2 volumes of the following works: Freycinet's
Voyage Autour du Monde
,
Blackwood's Magazine
for 1843 and 1844, the
Quarterly Review
and
Fraser's Magazine
for 1844, Brougham's
Sketches
, William Miller's
Biography
(actually
Memoirs
: Miller was a soldier in the Peninsular War), any one or 2volumes from the
Annual Biography
of 1837 and Davy's
Ceylon
.

79.
Edmund Robinson, Cash Book 1845: MS 93/2, Robinson Papers, BPM: Hibbs,
Victorian Ouseburn
, 15(g); see below n.82.

80.
CB to EN, 13 June 1845: MS HM 24439, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 397–8]; 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 p.2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 402].

81.
WG
PBB
, 239–40; Du Maurier, 162. The actual date of Branwell's dismissal remains unclear, though the weight of evidence points to 17 July. According to his sisters' diary papers Branwell went to Liverpool on Tuesday 29 July; he himself said (PBB to Francis Grundy, Oct 1845: MS n.l. [Grundy, 87–8]) he went after ‘eleven continuous nights of sleepless horror' after his dismissal had ‘reduced me to almost blindness', confirming 17 July date. Only Charlotte's letter to Ellen of 31 July contradicts this, saying Branwell had received his dismissal ‘last Thursday', (i.e. 24 July) but this is probably a mistake due to her agitated state: she had not been there when the dismissal letter was received and probably reported the news as she heard it, without taking account of the week that had passed since then. I am grateful to Margaret Smith for her argument in favour of the 17 July date.

82.
Inclusion on a list does not necessarily mean that the visitor arrived that particular day: the lists cover visitors arriving and departing throughout the previous week and no specific dates are ever mentioned. Both the
Scarborough Herald
and
Scarborough Record
initially refer to the family as ‘Rev E Robinson, Mrs Robinson
and the Misses Robinson', implying Edmund had been left behind. The
Herald
then apparently notes his arrival when it adds ‘Master Robinson' to the list printed on 24 July. Neither the
Record
nor the other paper, the
Scarborough Gazette
, mentions Edmund by name at any time. All 3 papers give different and conflicting dates of arrival. (A)
Scarborough Record
, published on Saturdays, notes arrival of ‘Revd E Robinson, Mrs & Misses Robinson' at No.7A The Cliff by 5 July: their listing remains unchanged (and without Edmund) till 2 August when it becomes ‘Rev E Robinson & fam[ily]', a change probably dictated by constraints of space in the paper: ibid., 5July 1845 p.4; 12 July 1845 p.4; 19 July 1845 p.4; 26 July 1845 p.4; 2Aug 1845 p.4; 9 Aug 1845 p.4. (B)
Scarborough Herald
, published on Thursdays, notes Mrs Robinson snr (Mr Robinson's widowed mother) staying at No.2The Cliff from 10 July but does not record the arrival of ‘Robinson Rev E & Mrs Robinson 3Misses' until 17 July, twelve days after the
Record
. It is the only paper to notice ‘Master Robinson' but only from 24 July, a week after the date given by Gérin and Du Maurier and a week before the
Record
altered its listing: ibid, 10 July 1845 p.3; 17 July 1845 p.3; 24 July 1845 p3; 31 July 1845 p.3; 7 Aug 1845 p.3. Mrs Robinson snr is listed alone ibid., 14 Aug 1845 p.3. (C)
Scarborough Gazette
, published like the
Record
on Saturdays, notes the arrival of Mrs Robinson snr and ‘Robinson E Mrs & fam[ily]' from 12 July until 2August: ibid., 12 July 1845 p.2; 19 July 1845 p.2; 26 July 1845 p.2; 2Aug 1845 p.2. This paper also notes Mrs Robinson snr stayed on another week and, like the
Herald
, moves her from No.2to No.3The Cliff from 26 July: ibid; 9Aug 1845 supplement.

83.
Hibbs,
Victorian Ouseburn
, 15(g).

84.
Edmund Robinson, Cash Book, 1845: MS 93/2, Robinson Papers, BPM (5and 16 July 1845).

85.
Yorkshire Courant
, 10 July 1845 pp.7–8.

86.
Mrs Rhodes pp. Mrs Taylor to J.A. Erskine Stuart, 5Mar 1887: MS BS xi, 48 pp.1–2, BPM; GS, ‘Recollections': MS Acc 6713, Box 5item 4p.105, NLS, quoted in Christian, ‘Branwell Brontë and the Robinsons of Thorp Green', 21–2. For the location of the boathouse see O.S. map of Scarborough, 1850.

87.
George Whitehead notes ‘Robert Pottage left and finish'd all up at Thorp Green Feb 13th 1846'; ‘Richard Bowser began gardening at Thorp Green February 16th'; ‘Robert Pottage (Gardener) died Jul 10th 1849': Hibbs,
Victorian Ouseburn
, 18(j), 18 (l), 516(g). See also Edmund Robinson, Cash Book, 1845: MS 93/2, Robinson Papers, BPM [5July 1845]. The payment occurs after those for other servants.

88.
PBB to Francis Grundy, Oct 1845: MS n.l. [Grundy, 87–8]. Branwell also said that one of Robinson's executors had threatened to shoot him if he saw him again: PBB to JBL, [June 1846]: MS p.1, Brotherton [
L&L
, ii, 95].

89.
Edmund Robinson, Cash Book, 1845: MS 93/2, Robinson Papers, BPM.

90.
Fraser, 231–3. This is the best weighing up of the argument as to whether there was an affair or not on the evidence then available. Gaskell reports that Mrs Robinson also had a clandestine meeting in Harrogate with Branwell ‘some months after' his dismissal. She offered to elope with him but a ‘strange lingering of conscience' prevented him doing so: ECG,
Life
, 523. One might suspect this was a confusion with the younger Lydia Robinson's elopement with Roxby (see above, n.62) but Robinson noted spending £2on expenses at Harrogate on 3September 1845: Edmund Robinson, Cash Book, 1845: MS 93/2, Robinson Papers, BPM.

91.
CB to EN, 31 July [1845]: MS Gr. E6 pp.3–4, BPM [
LCB
, i, 412].

92.
Mrs Rhodes pp. Mrs Taylor to J.A. Erskine Stuart, 5Mar 1887: MS BS xi, 48 pp.1–2, BPM.

93.
CB to EN, 31 July [1845]: MS Gr. E6 p.4, BPM [
LCB
, i, 412].

94.
There is a rough outline sketch of mountains, the largest of which is labelled ‘PENMAENMAWR' across the top half of the page on which Branwell wrote his poem ‘Cannot my soul depart –', [
c
.29 July–3Aug 1845]: MS p.1, Brotherton [VN
PBB
, pp.275–6]. Mountains are also sketched in outline across PBB, Penmaenmawr, [Nov 1845]: MS pp.2–3, Brotherton [VN
PBB
, pp.276–8]: a revised version was published in
HG
, 20 Dec 1845 p.6. A 3–day pleasure excursion to Liverpool, organized by the Bradford Tea-Totallers' Association in September 1845, attracted 1400 trippers:
BO
, 28 Aug 1845 p.5; 11 Sept 1845 p.5;
HG
, 13 Sept 1845 p.5.

95.
PBB, ‘Cannot my soul depart –', [
c
.29 July–3Aug 1845]: MS p.1, Brotherton [VN
PBB
, pp.275–6]. There is an indecipherable cancelled line between ll.221 and 22. Lydia Gisborne was Mrs Robinson's maiden
name. The poem is written on a page which was part of the missing Thorp Green note-book: Flintoff, ‘Some Unpublished Poems of Branwell Brontë', 241, 244–5.

96.
PBB to JBL, 4 Aug 1845: MS p.1, Brotherton [
L&L
, ii, 57].

97.
PB to ECG, 2 Apr 1857: MS EL fB91 p.3, Rylands [
LRPB
, 252]. Patrick regarded Gaskell's portrait of Mrs Robinson in her
Life
as a masterpiece: see below, p.941.

98.
Grundy, 90; EJB, Diary Paper, 30 July 1845: MS p.2, in private hands [
LCB
, i, 408].

99.
CB to EN, [?30 Dec 1845]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, i, 441–2]. For Joseph Nussey's alcoholism see Whitehead,
Charlotte Brontë and her ‘dearest Nell'
, 102, 106, 122–3, 127.

100.
CB to EN, 8 Sept [1845]: MS BS 55 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 420]; CN to EN, 23 Jan [1846]: MS HM 24442 p.4, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 444].