Brontës (206 page)

43.
CB to Aylott & Jones, 7May 1846: MS Bon 183 p.3, BPM [
LCB
, i, 470]. Two first editions of
Poems
1846 are MS Bon 294 and HAOBP:bb235, BPM. The collector William Law claimed to have Emily and Anne's copies of the book, the latter's inscribed ‘A Brontë May 7th 1846': William Law to Butler Wood, 9Mar 1895: MS D B28/21, WYAS, Bradford. A copy, said to be Emily's, inscribed with her name and the
same date, is item X821.B78.184, Illinois, but it is clearly a forgery as the title page bears the Smith, Elder imprint of 1848 (see below, p.684). The emendations and insertion of dates of composition do not indicate that the book belonged to a Brontë, as the emendations are taken from the printed list of errata published with the book and the dates of composition were available after Clement Shorter's editions of the poems were published in 1923. The intriguing possibility is that this copy may be a forgery by T.J. Wise, who worked closely with Shorter, and was responsible for other forged rare first editions. The location of Charlotte's copy is not known.

44.
CB to Aylott & Jones, 7 May 1846: MS Bon 183 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, i, 470]. The 10 recipients of review copies were
Colburn's New Monthly
[
Athenaeum
],
Bentley's Miscellany
[
Literary Gazette
],
Hood's Magazine
[
Critic
],
Jerrold's Shilling Magazine
[
Times
],
Blackwood's Magazine
,
The Edinburgh Review
,
Tait's Edinburgh Mazazine
,
The Dublin University Magazine
,
Daily News
and
Britannia Newspaper
. The names in brackets were added in another hand after Charlotte's titles, possibly by someone at the publisher's.

45.
CB to Aylott & Jones, 11 May 1846: MS Bon 184 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 473]; CB to Aylott & Jones, 25 May 1846: MS Bon 185 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 474].

46.
Yorkshire Gazette
, 30 May 1846 p.5.

47.
PBB, Lydia Gisborne, 1 June 1846: MS BS 128.5, BPM [VN
PBB
, 282–3; A&S no.290]. See plate 25. Flintoff, ‘Some unpublished poems of Branwell Brontë', 248, points out that the poem is written on a leaf from the missing Thorp Green notebook. Branwell similarly wrote ‘Lydia' in Greek letters and drew a tombstone in the margin of PBB, Juan Fernandez, [1846–7]: MS Bon 154, BPM [VN
PBB
, 288–90; A&S no.300].

48.
PBB to JBL, [24 Jan 1847]: MS p.1, Brotherton [
LCB
, i, 512].

49.
CB to EN, 17 June 1846: MS Gr. E11 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 477].

50.
Release from the executors of the will of Revd Edmund Robinson to his son Edmund Robinson, reciting the will of 2 Jan 1846, 14 Jan 1853: MS 30, Robinson Papers, BPM.

51.
See, for instance, Du Maurier, 188–91; Joan Rees,
Profligate Son: Branwell Brontë and his Sisters
(London, 1986), 132–3.

52.
Edmund Robinson., Cash Book, 1845: MS 93/2, Robinson Papers, BPM. Mrs Robinson and her husband on her behalf spent £30 11s at Scarborough between 5 July and 7August 1845.

53.
WG
PBB
, 262–4 confuses references in Branwell's letters to the coachman and to George Gooch, the latter being a railway acquaintance who had been employed as an engineer on the construction of the Summit Tunnel:
HG
, 6 Mar 1841 p.3. In 1847 both Gooch and Grundy were working near Haworth on the Bradford to Keighley line, so Branwell was in contact with them both: ibid., 6Mar 1847 p.4. The Thorp Green coachman, as is clear from the Robinson cash book, was William Allison.

54.
Hibbs,
Victorian Ouseburn
, 25(b), 26(k). Allison went to live with Sir Edward Scott, Mrs Robinson's second husband, in February 1847, having been at Thorp Green for 4years; he returned on 14 April to fetch his family, so the arrangement was clearly intended to be permanent.

55.
ECG,
Life
, 524–5.

56.
PBB to JBL, [June 1846], MS pp.1–2, Brotherton [
LCB
, i, 475–6].

57.
PBB to JBL, [
c
.June/July 1846], MS pp.1–2, Brotherton [
LCB
, i, 480].

58.
Ibid. p.2[
LCB
, i, 480].

59.
PBB to JBL, [June 1846]: MS p.2, Brotherton [
LCB
, i, 475]. Branwell drew a sketch accompanying this letter depicting a martyr tied to the stake in the middle of a fire and titled ‘Myself' [A&S no.289].

60.
CB to EN, 17 June 1846: MS Gr. E11 p.2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 477–8]; CB to EN, 14 Apr [1846]: MS HM 24444 p.4, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 463].

61.
PBB to Francis Grundy, [June 1846] MS n.l. [
LCB
, i, 479 n].

62.
Unsigned review,
Critic
, 4July 1846 [Allott, 59].

63.
Ibid.

64.
[Sydney Dobell],
Athenaeum
, 4July 1846 [Allott, 61].

65.
Unsigned review,
Critic
, 4July 1846 [Allott, 59–60].

66.
CB to WSW, 9 Oct 1847: MS p.2, Brotherton [
LCB
, i, 549]; CB to Aylott & Jones, 10 July 1846: MS Bon 186 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 484]. The other journals to receive copies were
Fraser's Magazine
,
Chambers' Edinburgh Journal
, the
Globe
and the
Examiner
. Aylott & Jones advised against further expenditure on advertisements as the season was ‘unfavourable': CB to Aylott & Jones, 18 July 1846: MS Bon 188 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, i, 486].

67.
HG
, 10 Oct 1846 p.6.

68.
Unsigned review,
Dublin University Magazine
, Oct 1846 [Allott, 63–4].

69.
CB to the Editor of the
Dublin University Magazine
, 6Oct 1846: MS Bon 190 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 501].

70.
CB to J.H. Lockhart, 16 June 1847: HAOBP:bb235, BPM.

71.
CB to Thomas de Quincey, 16 June 1847: MS in Berg and CB to Hartley Coleridge, 16 June 1847: MS in Texas [
LCB
, i, 529–31]. Ebeneezer Elliot's copy of
Poems
1846, though not the accompanying letter, is MS Bon 294, BPM. Elliot (1781–1849) was a Sheffield master-founder and lyric poet best known as the ‘Corn-Law Rhymer' for his advocacy of the repeal of the Corn Laws.

72.
CB to Aylott & Jones, 23 July 1846: MS BS 104/15, BPM [
LCB
, i, 487, 489]: see page 601.

73.
CB,
Biographical Notice
, 361.

74.
PBB to JBL, 10 Sept [1846]: MS p.2, BPM [
L&L
, ii, 61].

75.
CB to Aylott & Jones, 6Apr 1846: MS Bon 179 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, i, 461]; CB, The Professor, 27 June 1846: MS in PM, [CB,
The Professor
, xxviii]; CB to Henry Colburn, 4 July 1846: MS divided, p.1 at Princeton, p.2 at Historical Society of Pennsylvania [
LCB
, i, 481].

76.
ECG to John Forster, [Sept 1853] [C&P, 247] quoting Martha Brown; ECG,
Life
, 247.

77.
CB, Preface to The Professor, [1850]: MS MA 32, PM [CB,
The Professor
, 1]. Charlotte had expressed a similar idea as early as 1833 in her story ‘Brushwood Hall': ‘But let me resume my narrative – I must remember that an English merchant is its hero and henceforth rigorously reject everything allied to the sentimental': CB, Arthuriana, 20 Nov 1833: MS MA 29 p.4, PM [CA, ii, 218].

78.
See above, pp. 237, 240.

79.
Scott's
Rob Roy
was first published in 1817 and was clearly a Brontë favourite: see above, pp.241, 318, 324.

80.
PBB, THE POLITICS OF VERDOPO-LIS, Oct–Nov 1833: MS Bon 141 p.15, BPM [Neufeldt, i, 357]. For a discussion of Gondal poetry anticipatory of
Wuthering Heights
see JB
SP
, 117, 120, 122–8.

81.
PBB, Life of feild Marshal the Right Honourable ALEXAN[D]ER PERCY, vol. i, [Spring, 1834]: MS in Brotherton [Neufeldt, ii, 92–147]; CB, The Foundling, 31 May–27 June 1833: MS Ashley 159 p.6, BL [CA, ii, 87–8].

82.
For examples, see JB
SP
, 117, 120, 122–8.

83.
CB, Editor's Preface to the New Edition of
Wuthering Heights
, 1850: MS n.l. [EJB,
Wuthering Heights
, 365, 366].

84.
AB,
Agnes Grey
, 1.

85.
ECG,
Life
, 247 quoting HM, Obituary of Charlotte in
Daily News
, April 1855 [Allott, 303].

86.
AB,
Agnes Grey
, 138.

87.
CB,
Biographical Notice
, 361.

88.
This was convincingly argued by Tom Winnifrith,
Wuthering Heights
: One Volume or Two' in Chitham and Winnifrith,
Brontë Facts and Brontë Problems
, 84–90.

89.
ECG,
Life
, 241. The church registers confirm that Nicholls effectively took all the duties throughout this year.

90.
CB to EN, 10 July 1846: MS Gr. E10 pp.2–3, BPM [
LCB
, i, 482–3].

91.
BO
, 16 Jan 1846 p.8;
LM
, 17 Jan 1846 p.9.
BO
, 19 Feb 1846 p.8 announced the appointment of William Crowther, second son of Revd Thomas Crowther of Cragg Vale, but he declined the post and, on 2March, James Cranmer was appointed in his stead. He was sacked in 1848 for neglecting ‘to attend properly to the school': Minutes of the Trustees of Haworth Free Grammar School, 1838–63: MS in Keighley [9 Feb and 2Mar 1846; 10 Mar 1848]. I am grateful to Sarah Fermi for this reference.

92.
LI
, 6June 1846 p.7. The Ancient Order of Foresters held their 13th annual meeting on Whit-Tuesday at the Wesleyan Chapel but were addressed by one of their own number. For the opening of the school see
BO
, 25 June 1846 p.5. The Revd J.B. Grant wrote a furious letter to the
Leeds Mercury
denouncing the ceremony which was held without his prior knowledge during his absence for a few days from the parish. Revd Thomas B. Charnock, son of the former minister of Haworth, attracted his particular opprobrium because he had officiated at the ceremony and, probably more significantly, had been credited with originating the scheme. In fact, as Grant pointed out, Charnock had worked with Patrick and Weightman as long ago as 1841 to obtain grants for a school in Oxenhope but these had lapsed when local funding could not be raised. ‘With the present school he has had nothing to do except as a subscriber, the originators of it being Mr George Feather, Mr John Sutcliffe, and myself', Grant pompously claimed:
LM
, 4July 1846 p.12. This letter is excellent first-hand evidence for the accuracy of Charlotte's portrayal of Grant as Joseph Donne who was unsurpassed in the art of begging for his little school, church and parsonage, all of which
owed their erection to his ability in this field: CB,
Shirley
, 633–4.

93.
BO
, 2 Apr 1846 p.8.

94.
Ibid., 23 July 1846 p.5;
LI
, 25 July 1846 p.7; Haworth Church Hymnsheets, 19 July 1846: MS BS x, H, BPM;
BO
, 23 July 1846 p.5.

95.
LI
, 25 July 1846 p.7; 8 Aug 1846 p.7.

96.
CB to MW, [?Nov/Dec 1846]: MS FM 3 p.1, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, i, 505]; CB to EN, [9 Aug 1846]: MS HM 24445 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 491].

97.
E. Mansfield Brockbank,
Sketches of the Lives and Work of the Honorary Medical Staff of the Manchester Infirmary
(Manchester, 1904), 269–71.

98.
Isaac Slater,
General and Classified Directory and Street Register of Manchester and Salford
(Manchester, 1847), 55; CB to EN, [9Aug 1846]: MS HM 24445 pp.2–3, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 491]. Charlotte says she found ‘a Mr Wilson' to act as surgeon, implying she did not know of his reputation before she went to Manchester. Oddly enough, Wilson had featured as surgeon to the Infirmary in an article, ‘A Week at Manchester',
BM
, xlv (1839), 490–1.

99.
CB to EN, 21 Aug [1846]: MS HM 24446 pp.1–2, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 493]; ECG,
Life
, 242. The landlady seems to have been absent some considerable time: John Robinson, a book-keeper, was living there in 1845 and Thomas Bell, an ‘agent', in 1847: Slater,
General and Classified Directory
…
of Manchester and Salford
, 9and ibid. (1845), 10.

100.
CB to EN, 26 Aug [1846]: MS HM 24447 p.1, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 494].

101.
PB, annotations in his copy of Graham,
Modern Domestic Medicine
: HAOBP:bb210 pp.226–7, BPM [JB
ST
, no.42].

102.
CB to EN, 26 Aug [1846]: MS HM 24447 p.1, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 494].

103.
PB, annotations in his copy of Graham,
Modern Domestic Medicine
: HAOBP:bb210 pp.226–7, BPM [JB
ST
, no.42].

104.
CB to EN, 26 Aug [1846]: MS HM 24447 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 494]; CB to EN, 31 Aug [1846]: MS in Beinecke [
LCB
, i, 496]. See also CB to EN, 23 July [1846]: MS p.1, Rosenbach [
LCB
, i, 488].

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THREE TALES

Title: CB to Henry Colburn, 4 July 1846 [
LCB
, i, 481].

1.
CB to WSW, 28 Oct 1847: MS MA 2696 R-V p.2, PM [
LCB
, i, 553].

2.
CB,
Jane Eyre
, 255–6.

3.
CB to EN, [13 Sept 1846]: MS Bon 189 p.2, BPM [
LCB
, i, 497].

4.
[HM], Obituary of Charlotte Brontë in
Daily News
, 6 April 1855 [Allott, 303].

5.
CB to EN, 31 Aug [1846]: MS in Beinecke [
LCB
, i, 496]; CB to EN, [13 Sept 1846]: MS Bon 189 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, i, 496–7]; CB to EN, [21 Sept 1846]: MS HM 24446 pp.1–2, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 498]; CB to EN, 26 Aug [1846]: MS HM 24447 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 494].