Delphi Complete Works of the Brontes Charlotte, Emily, Anne Brontë (Illustrated) (578 page)

‘
May
21
st
, 1838.

GLENEDEN’S DREAM.

‘Tell me, whether is it winter?
Say how long my sleep has been.
 
Have the woods I left so lovely
Lost their robes of tender green?

‘Is the morning slow in coming?
Is the night time loth to go?
Tell me, are the dreary mountains
Drearier still with drifted snow?

‘“Captive, since thou sawest the forest,
All its leaves have died away,
And another March has woven
Garlands for another May.

‘“Ice has barred the Arctic waters;
Soft Southern winds have set it free;
And once more to deep green valley
Golden flowers might welcome thee.”

‘Watcher in this lonely prison,
Shut from joy and kindly air,
Heaven descending in a vision
Taught my soul to do and bear.

‘It was night, a night of winter,
I lay on the dungeon floor,
And all other sounds were silent —
All, except the river’s roar.

‘Over Death and Desolation,
Fireless hearths, and lifeless homes;
Over orphans’ heartsick sorrows,
Patriot fathers’ bloody tombs;

‘Over friends, that my arms never
Might embrace in love again;
Memory ponderous until madness
Struck its poniard in my brain.

‘Deepest slumbers followed raving,
Yet, methought, I brooded still;
Still I saw my country bleeding,
Dying for a Tyrant’s will.

 
‘Not because my bliss was blasted,
Burned within the avenging flame;
Not because my scattered kindred
Died in woe or lived in shame.

‘God doth know I would have given
Every bosom dear to me,
Could that sacrifice have purchased
Tortured Gondal’s liberty!

‘But that at Ambition’s bidding
All her cherished hopes should wane,
That her noblest sons should muster,
Strive and fight and fall in vain.

‘Hut and castle, hall and cottage,
Roofless, crumbling to the ground,
Mighty Heaven, a glad Avenger
Thy eternal Justice found.

‘Yes, the arm that once would shudder
Even to grieve a wounded deer,
I beheld it, unrelenting,
Clothe in blood its sovereign’s prayer.

‘Glorious Dream!  I saw the city
Blazing in Imperial shine,
And among adoring thousands
Stood a man of form divine.

‘None need point the princely victim —
Now he smiles with royal pride!
Now his glance is bright as lightning,
Now the knife is in his side!

‘Ah! I saw how death could darken,
Darken that triumphant eye!
His red heart’s blood drenched my dagger;
My ear drank his dying sigh!

 
‘Shadows come! what means this midnight?
O my God, I know it all!
Know the fever dream is over,
Unavenged, the Avengers fall!’

There are, indeed, a few fragments, all written in that tiny handwriting which the girls affected, and bearing various dates from 1833 to 1840.  A new edition of Emily’s poems, will, by virtue of these verses, have a singular interest for her admirers.  With all her gifts as a poet, however, it is by
Wuthering Heights
that Emily Brontë is best known to the world; and the weirdness and force of that book suggest an inquiry concerning the influences which produced it.  Dr. Wright, in his entertaining book,
The Brontës in Ireland
, recounts the story of Patrick Brontë’s origin, and insists that it was in listening to her father’s anecdotes of his own Irish experiences that Emily obtained the weird material of
Wuthering Heights
.  It is not, of course, enough to point out that Dr. Wright’s story of the Irish Brontës is full of contradictions.  A number of tales picked up at random from an illiterate peasantry might very well abound in inconsistencies, and yet contain some measure of truth.  But nothing in Dr. Wright’s narrative is confirmed, save only the fact that Patrick Brontë continued throughout his life in some slight measure of correspondence with his brothers and sisters — a fact rendered sufficiently evident by a perusal of his will.  Dr. Wright tells of many visits to Ireland in order to trace the Brontë traditions to their source; and yet he had not — in his first edition — marked the elementary fact that the registry of births in County Down records the existence of innumerable Bruntys and of not a single Brontë.  Dr. Wright probably made his inquiries with the stories of Emily and Charlotte well in mind.  He sought for similar traditions, and the quick-witted Irish peasantry gave him all that he wanted. 
 
They served up and embellished the current traditions of the neighbourhood for his benefit, as the peasantry do everywhere for folklore enthusiasts.  Charlotte Brontë’s uncle Hugh, we are told, read the
Quarterly Review
article upon
Jane Eyre
, and, armed with a shillelagh, came to England, in order to wreak vengeance upon the writer of the bitter attack.  He landed at Liverpool, walked from Liverpool to Haworth, saw his nieces, who ‘gathered round him,’ and listened to his account of his mission.  He then went to London and made abundant inquiries — but why pursue this ludicrous story further?  In the first place, the
Quarterly Review
article was published in December 1848 — after Emily was dead, and while Anne was dying.  Very soon after the review appeared Charlotte was informed of its authorship, and references to Miss Rigby and the
Quarterly
are found more than once in her correspondence with Mr. Williams.
 

This is a lengthy digression from the story of Emily’s life, but it is of moment to discover whether there is any evidence of influences other than those which her Yorkshire home afforded.  I have discussed the matter with Miss Ellen Nussey, and with Mr. Nicholls.  Miss Nussey never, in all her visits to Haworth, heard a single reference to the Irish legends related by Dr. Wright, and firmly believes them to be mythical.  Mr. Nicholls, during the six years that he lived alone at the parsonage with his father-in-law, never heard one single word from Mr. Brontë — who was by no means disposed to reticence — about these stories, and is also of opinion that they are purely legendary.

It has been suggested that Emily would have been guilty almost of a crime to have based the more sordid part of her narrative upon her brother’s transgressions.  This is sheer nonsense.  She wrote
Wuthering Heights
because she was impelled thereto, and the book, with all its morbid force
 
and fire, will remain, for all time, as a monument of the most striking genius that nineteenth century womanhood has given us.  It was partly her life in Yorkshire — the local colour was mainly derived from her brief experience as a governess at Halifax — but it was partly, also, the German fiction which she had devoured during the Brussels period, that inspired
Wuthering Heights
.

Here, however, are glimpses of Emily Brontë on a more human side.

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

‘
March
25
th
, 1844.

‘Dear Nell, — I got home safely, and was not too much tired on arriving at Haworth.  I feel rather better to-day than I have been, and in time I hope to regain more strength.  I found Emily and Papa well, and a letter from Branwell intimating that he and Anne are pretty well too.  Emily is much obliged to you for the flower seeds.  She wishes to know if the Sicilian pea and crimson corn-flower are hardy flowers, or if they are delicate, and should be sown in warm and sheltered situations?  Tell me also if you went to Mrs. John Swain’s on Friday, and if you enjoyed yourself; talk to me, in short, as you would do if we were together.  Good-morning, dear Nell; I shall say no more to you at present.

‘C. Brontë.’

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

‘
April
5
th
, 1844.

‘Dear Nell, — We were all very glad to get your letter this morning. 
We
, I say, as both Papa and Emily were anxious to hear of the safe arrival of yourself and the little
varmint
.
 
  As you conjecture, Emily and I set-to to shirt-making the very day after you left, and we have stuck to it pretty closely ever since.  We miss your society at least as much as you miss ours, depend upon it; would that you were within calling distance.  Be sure you write to me.  I shall expect another letter on Thursday — don’t disappoint me.  Best regards to your mother and sisters. — Yours, somewhat irritated,

‘C. Brontë.’

Earlier than this Emily had herself addressed a letter to Miss Nussey, and, indeed, the two letters from Emily Brontë to Ellen Nussey which I print here are, I imagine, the only letters of Emily’s in existence.  Mr. Nicholls informs me that he has never seen a letter in Emily’s handwriting.  The following letter is written during Charlotte’s second stay in Brussels, and at a time when Ellen Nussey contemplated joining her there — a project never carried out.

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

‘
May
12, 1843.

‘Dear Miss Nussey, — I should be wanting in common civility if I did not thank you for your kindness in letting me know of an opportunity to send postage free.

‘I have written as you directed, though if next Tuesday means to-morrow I fear it will be too late.  Charlotte has never mentioned a word about coming home.  If you would go over for half-a-year, perhaps you might be able to bring her back with you — otherwise, she might vegetate there till the age of Methuselah for mere lack of courage to face the voyage.

‘All here are in good health; so was Anne according to her last account.  The holidays will be here in a week or two, and then, if she be willing, I will get her to write you a proper letter, a feat that I have never performed. — With love and good wishes,

‘Emily J. Brontë.’

The next letter is written at the time that Charlotte is staying with her friend at Mr. Henry Nussey’s house at Hathersage in Derbyshire.

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

‘Haworth,
February
9
th
, 1846.

‘Dear Miss Nussey, — I fancy this note will be too late to decide one way or other with respect to Charlotte’s stay.  Yours
 
only came this morning (Wednesday), and unless mine travels faster you will not receive it till Friday.  Papa, of course, misses Charlotte, and will be glad to have her back.  Anne and I ditto; but as she goes from home so seldom, you may keep her a day or two longer, if your eloquence is equal to the task of persuading her — that is, if she still be with you when you get this permission.  Love from Anne. — Yours truly,

‘Emily J. Brontë.’

Wuthering Heights
and
Agnes Grey
, ‘by Ellis and Acton Bell,’ were published together in three volumes in 1847.  The former novel occupied two volumes, and the latter one.  By a strange freak of publishing, the book was issued as
Wuthering Heights
, vol. I. and II., and
Agnes Grey
, vol. III., in deference, it must be supposed, to the passion for the three volume novel.  Charlotte refers to the publication in the next letter, which contained as inclosure the second preface to
Jane Eyre
— the preface actually published.
 
  An earlier preface, entitled ‘A Word to the
Quarterly
,’ was cancelled.

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

‘
December
21
st
, 1847.