Brontës (187 page)

74.
See, for example, CB, The Foundling, 31 May–27 June 1833: MS Ashley 159 pp.7v–9, BL [CA, ii, pt i, 50, 103–18]; CB, The Secret & Lily Hart, 7Nov 1833: MS Rare PR 4167.S43 p.8, Missouri-Columbia [CA, ii, pt i, 297–8].

75.
See, for example, Castlereagh and Julia in PBB, Real Life in Verdopolis, May–22 Sept 1833: MS in Brotherton [Neufeldt, i, 266–332]. For Mary Percy and Sir Robert Pelham see PBB, The Politics of Verdopolis, 23 Oct–13 Nov 1833: MS Bon 141, BPM [Neufeldt, i, 333–64].

76.
The Genii play no role at all in any of Branwell's writings after his ‘IIId Ode on the Celebration of the Great AFRICAN GAMES', 26 June 1832 (see above, p.216) until their last joint appearance in ‘The
Pirate' when Rogue throws Sdeath over-board in an attempt to kill him: on touching the water he changed into the ‘Cheif Genius BRANII' and departed in flashes of fire with ‘the Cheif Genii TALLI EMII & ANNII': They appear in a functional role for the last time in Charlotte's writings in The Foundling, where the four Chief Genii restore Douro, Ellrington and Montmorency to life: CB, The Foundling, 31 May–27 June 1833: MS Ashley 159 p.9, BL [CA, ii, pt i, 116].

77.
See, for example, PBB, An Historical Narrative of the War of Aggression, [Nov–Dec 1833]: MS Eng 869(2), Harvard [Neufeldt, i, 406–65].

78.
PBB, The Pirate, 8 Feb 1833: MS Bon 141, BPM and PBB, Real Life in Verdopolis, May–22 Sept 1833: MS in Brotherton [Neufeldt, i, 240–9, 266–332]. The setting of the hideout, in a cavern amid desolate moorland hills and reached by a tunnel under the river, is strongly reminiscent of the Haworth area and later descriptions of Angrian countryside. It seems likely that Branwell's evocative description of the scenery here, which was so different from that of Verdopolis, led him to develop ‘the provincial' as opposed to ‘the metropolitan' in the creation of Angria. It also, of course, draws heavily on Scott's
Rob Roy
.

79.
CB, The Green Dwarf, 2 Sept 1833: MS p.25, Texas [CA, ii, pt i, 206]. For Rogue's flirtations see, for example, CB, The Foundling, 31 May–27 June 1833: MS Ashley 159 p.5, BL and CB, ‘The Post Office' and ‘Brushwood Hall', Arthuriana, 27 Sept–1 Oct 1833: MS MA 29, PM [CA, ii, pt i, 78–9, 227–31].

80.
CB, The Foundling, 31 May–27 June 1833: MS Ashley 159, BL [CA, ii, pt i, 40–125]; PBB, Real Life in Verdopolis, May–22 Sept 1833: MS in Brotherton [Neufeldt, i, 266–332].

81.
LM
, 2Sept 1833 p.5. The festivities were to celebrate the removal from the public rooms of the Black Bull to new buildings in Lodge Street, Haworth: after 10 years of dramatically falling membership and only intermittent meetings, the Lodge affiliated to the United Grand Lodge of England in 1831 and thereafter enjoyed a revival in its fortunes: W. Feather,
A Centenary History of the Three Graces Lodge, 408, Haworth, 1792–1931
(Keighley, [1931]), 41 quoting the Lodge Minute Books, which are now lost. The Masonic overtones of the Elysium Society are later made more explicit, as, for example, when Charlotte refers to its members as ‘Knight of the Mattock': CB, The Secret, 7 Nov 1833: MS Rare PR 4167.S43 p.4, Missouri-Columbia [CA, ii, pt i, 282]. ‘Elysium' was the site of Ambrose's tavern in ‘Noctes Ambrosianae'.

82.
CB, The Foundling, 31 May–27 June 1833: MS Ashley 159 p.5, BL [CA, ii, pt i, 75–6]; PBB, Real Life in Verdopolis, vol ii, 17 Aug–21 Sept 1833: MS in Brotherton [Neufeldt, i, 302–4].

83.
CB, The Foundling, p.6 [CA, ii, pt i, 85–6]; PBB, Real Life in Verdopolis, vol i, 13–15, vol ii, 10, 13–14 [Neufeldt, i, 291–5]; CB, ‘The Post Office', 27 Sept 1833: MS MA 29 p.1, PM [CA, ii, pt i, 209].

84.
PBB, The Monthly Intelligencer, 27 Mar–26 Apr 1833: MS BS 117 p.1, BPM [Neufeldt, i, 250].

85.
EN, Reminiscences, MS pp.52–3, opp. p.62, KSC [
LCB
, i, 597, 599–600].

86.
Ibid., 53–4 [
LCB
, i, 597]. In the MS Ellen includes the deleted phrase ‘She probably had been pretty.'

87.
Ibid., 54–6, 65–6[
LCB
, i, 597–8, 601].

88.
Ibid., 55–6[
LCB
, i, 598].

89.
AB plait of hair, with PB autograph note, 22 May 1833: MS BS 171, BPM. Anne's hair had been fair as a baby: see above, p.155.

90.
EN, Reminiscences, MS p.56, KSC [
LCB
, i, 598].

91.
PBB, The Wool is Rising, 26 June 1834: MS Ashley 2469 p.12, BL [Neufeldt, ii, 60]. See also Branwell's self-portraits in both ‘The Pillar Portrait' and ‘The Gun Group' [A&S nos.224–5] and below, pp.242, 373, 641 for the various caricatures of his appearance.

92.
Leyland, i, 87–9. Leyland does not identify Branwell's companion: it is usually assumed to be Michael Merrall (1811–81) but Robin Greenwood posits his younger brother Hartley (1819–95) on the grounds that he was ‘a youth' at the time and was still alive when Leyland was gathering materials for his book.

93.
Ibid., 117–8; PBB, Real Life in Verdopolis, vol i, 15 [Neufeldt, i, 293–5].There was even a series on boxing called ‘Boxiana; or Sketches of Pugilism',
BM
, v-xii (1819–22).

94.
EN, Reminiscences, MS pp.54–60, 62, KSC [
LCB
, i, 597–600]. Oatmeal porridge was the staple diet of the working class, hence Ellen's politely concealed surprise. The dog, the first to be mentioned at the parsonage, was probably Grasper: EJB, pencil drawing, ‘Grasper – from life', Jan 1834: HAOBP: P.Br E10, BPM [A&S no.313]. I suspect that Ellen conflated this visit with other, later ones: it seems extremely unlikely that Patrick, still without
a curate in 1833, would have had the leisure to spend his afternoons with the newspapers.

95.
EN, Reminiscences, MS pp.1–3, KSC [
LCB
, i, 601–2]. Typically Ellen claimed this was the first time the Brontës had entertained the Sunday school teachers, but this had been one of Charlotte's first duties on her return from Roe Head: see above, p.215.

96.
[Benjamin Binns],
BO
, 17 Feb 1894 p.6; Haworth Parsonage, Bill of Sale for 1 Oct 1861: MS BS x, H, BPM; PBB, watercolour, ‘Qeen Esther – Painted by Martin – and copied by P.B- Bront¯e – Dec. 1830 –', Dec 1830: HAOBP:P.Br. B8, BPM [A&S no.207].

97.
EN, Reminiscences, MS pp.3–16, KSC [
LCB
, i, 602–3].

98.
CB to EN, 11 Sept 1833: MS HM 24405 p.3, Huntington [
LCB
, i, 124].

99.
Ibid., pp.2–3.

100.
ECG,
Life
, 214; CB,
Shirley
, 497–513.

101.
CB, Characters of the Celebrated Men of the Present Time, 17 Dec 1829: MS in Law [CA, i, 124–5].

102.
PBB, Real Life in Verdopolis, vol ii, 14–15, ii, 13–14 [Neufeldt, i, 291–4; ii, 322–4]; PBB, An Historical Narrative of the ‘War of Encroachment', 17 Nov–17 Dec 1833: MS Eng 869(1) pp.6–7, Harvard [Neufeldt, i, 380–5]; PBB, An Historical Narrative of the War of Aggression, [Dec 1833–Jan 1834]: MS Eng 869(2) pp.8–10, Harvard [Neufeldt, i, 425ff].

103.
CB, Arthuriana, 1Oct–20 Nov 1833: MS MA 29, PM [CA, ii, pt i, 207–67]; PBB, The Politics of Verdopolis, 23 Oct–15 Nov 1833: MS Bon 141, BPM [Neufeldt, i, 333–64].

104.
Ibid., p.1. Charlotte quotes a passage from this book before beginning a long poem on the death of Ellrington's wife: CB, ‘Captain Flower's Last Novel', Arthuriana, 20 Nov 1833: MS MA 29, PM [CA, ii, pt i, 262–7]. Later she says of Percy Hall ‘The picture of the splendid & venerable pile of buildings that constitute the hall, the slopes of sunny verdure that surround it, the noble trees principally elms of the grandest dimensions, that cover those slopes with trembling gloom interlaced by continual bursts of light, must be imprinted in the heart of every one who has read The Politics of Verdopolis & who has not?': CB, High Life in Verdopolis, 20 Mar 1834: MS Add 34255 p.9, BL [CA, ii, pt ii, 36].

105.
PBB, An Historical Narrative of the ‘War of Encroachment', 17 Nov–17 Dec 1833: MS Eng 869(1) pp.6–7, Harvard [Neufeldt, i, 365–405]; PBB, An Historical Narrative of the War of Aggression, [Dec 1833–Jan 1834]: MS Eng 869(2) pp.8–10, Harvard [Neufeldt, i, 406–46]. Angria is first mentioned in the first of these stories, p.4, the villages of Northangerland and Zamorna, the site of the last great battle, in the second p.16.

106.
PBB, An Historical Narrative of the ‘War of Encroachment', 17 Nov–17 Dec 1833: MS Eng 869(1) p.6, Harvard [Neufeldt, i, 381].

107.
Ibid., p.12 [Neufeldt, i, 397].

108.
PBB, An Historical Narrative of the War of Aggression, [Dec 1833–Jan 1834]: MS Eng 869(2) p.16, Harvard [Neufeldt, i, 443].

CHAPTER EIGHT: ANGRIANS ARISE!

Title: Battlecry of the Angrians: PBB [Angria and the Angrians I(e)], 7 January 1836: MS p.14, Princeton [VN
PBB
, ii, 441].

1.
PB to ECG, 24 July 1855: MS EL B121 pp.4–5, Rylands [
LRPB
, 238].

2.
CB, Richard Coeur de Lion & Blondel, 27 Dec 1833: MS Ashley 170, BL [VN
CB
, 124–8]. Patrick's note is written above the title of this poem in the ms. The poem purports to be the song sung by Blondel outside the castle where his master, Richard I, is imprisoned and the king's response. CB, Death of Darius Codomanus, 2 May 1834: MS Bon 90, BPM [VN
CB
, 137–42]. Codomanus was a Persian king treacherously murdered in 331 BC as he tried to withstand an attack by Alexander the Great. CB, Saul, 7Oct 1834: MS in Berg [VN
CB
, 154–5] depicts Saul on the battlefield, sunk in depression and calling David to come and sing for him. Though now separated, these poems were all part of one notebook with distinctive lined paper: it is reconstructed in VN
CB
, xxxvi-xxxxvii, 408. Patrick may have given Branwell a similar notebook as his heroic poem ‘Thermopylae' was also written on lined paper in cursive hand: PBB, Thermopylae, 9 Aug 1834: MS Bon 142, BPM [VN
PBB
, 90–5].

3.
PBB, The Wool is Rising, 26 June 1834: MS Ashley 2469 p.3, BL [Neufeldt, ii, 31–2].

4.
Ibid., p.5 [Neufeldt, ii, 35].

5.
CB, Last Will & Testament of Florence Marian Wellesley, 5Jan 1834: MS MA 2696 R-V, PM [CA, ii, pt i, 317–20]. Marian's death from a broken heart is alluded to, for instance, in CB, High Life in Verdopolis, 20
Feb–20 Mar 1834: MS Add 34255 pp.4, 6, BL [CA, ii, pt ii, 17–26]. Mary Percy was about to marry Sir Robert Pelham – and to be given away by Douro – at the end of PBB, Politics of Verdopolis, 23 Oct–13 Nov 1833: MS Bon 141 p.18, BPM [Neufeldt, i, 363–4]. Mary is Zamorna's wife in CB, A Leaf from an Unopened Volume, 17 Jan 1834: MS BS 13.2, BPM [CA, ii, pt i, 321–78] though this purports to be many years in the future. She is his bride of 3 months in CB, High Life in Verdopolis, 20 Feb–20 Mar 1834: MS Add 34255 pp.4, 6, BL [CA, ii, pt ii, 3–81].

6.
CB, A Leaf from an Unopened Volume, 17 Jan 1834: MS BS 13.2, BPM [CA, ii, pt i, 321–78]. Zamorna calls Finic ‘misshapen abortion' and executes him for plotting against him. The Negress, Sofala, also died of a broken heart when deserted by Douro, as he then was. On Charlotte's own chronology the affair was adulterous as Douro was, at 18, already married to Marian Hume: ibid, pp.19–20 [CA, ii, pt i, 375–7]. Helen Victorine is first mentioned, though unnamed, in CB, High Life in Verdopolis, 20 Feb–20 Mar 1834: MS Add 34255 p.6, BL [CA, ii, pt ii, 26]; her son, Ernest fitzArthur, is cared for by Zamorna's mistress Mina Laury. By October 1834 Charlotte suggests that this too was not a proper marriage and that Ernest is illegitimate: ‘his inheritance will be wide & rich … but, alas! alas! The broad bar sinister must be drawn through all': CB, ‘A Brace of Characters', The Scrap Book, 30 Oct 1834: MS Add 34255, BL [CA, ii, pt ii, 340].

7.
CB, High Life in Verdopolis, 20 Feb–20 Mar 1834: MS Add 34255 p.10, BL and CB, The Spell, An Extravaganza, 21 June–21 July 1834: MS Add 34255 p.7, BL [CA, ii, pt ii, 40, 171]. Zamorna's implicitly adulterous affair with Mina Laury in High Life in Verdopolis, pp.14–18 [CA, ii, pt ii, 53–68] becomes explicit in CB, Mina Laury, 17 Jan 188: MS in Princeton [WG
FN
, 127–69].

8.
CB, High Life in Verdopolis, 20 Feb–20 Mar 1834: MS Add 34255 p.1, BL [CA, ii, pt ii, 4]. This ‘quotation' is from an article supposedly by Tree in the
Verdopolitan Magazine
which Charlotte tells us, on internal evidence was actually written by Zamorna. Charles Wellesley uses it to open his book because it is appropriate to a book about lords and ladies, not because he approves of its sentiments. The complexity of the authorial pedigree is evidence of Charlotte's increasing sophistication in her use and awareness of the authorial voice.

9.
PBB, The Wool is Rising, 26 June 1834: MS Ashley 2469 p.20, BL [Neufeldt, ii, 24–91 esp.84].

10.
Ibid., pp.7–8 [Neufeldt, ii, 44–50]; CB,
The Professor
, 14–40.

11.
CB, The Spell, An Extravaganza, 21 June–21 July 1834: MS Add 34255 pp.26–7, BL [CA, ii, pt ii, 234–7].

12.
PBB, ‘The Life of feild Marshal the Right Honourable ALEXAN[D]ER PERCY, vol i, [Spring 1834]: MS p.2, Brotherton [Neufeldt, ii, 99]. This volume is undated but the poem ‘Augusta though Im far away' is dated Spring 1834 in PBB, Fair Copy Book of Poems, compiled 9 Mar 1837–12 May 1838: MS BS 125 pp.8–9, BPM [JB
SP
, 23–4].

13.
PBB, ‘The Life of feild Marshal the Right
Honourable ALEXAN[D]ER PERCY, vol i, [Spring 1834]: MS pp.3–6, Brotherton [Neufeldt, ii, 110–11].

14.
See, for instance, WG
PBB
, 294–7. Perhaps because atheism was so alien to their own beliefs, the Brontës interpreted it as a rejection of the idea of life after death, rather than a conviction that there is no God. It was actually Charlotte, not Branwell, who gave Percy his first explicit avowal of atheism, having him tell his daughter: ‘The Grave, Corruption, Annihilation, are the only followers of Death. Mary you see in Zamorna & myself the perfection of created things, man is the master-piece of nature or \of/ him who commanded the existence of nature … Dreamers think otherwise but I say “the first dark day of nothingness” comes after the heart is still & the eye glazed for ever,': CB, High Life in Verdopolis, 20 Feb–20 Mar 1834: MS Add 34255 p.8, BL [CA, ii, pt ii, 32].