Brontës (212 page)

109.
CB to WSW, 25 June 1849: MS BS 70 p.4, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 224]. For the ‘tragic associations' of this phrase, quoted from Macbeth's ‘Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,/ Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow' (
Macbeth
, Act v, Scene ii) see Margaret Smith, ‘The Letters of Charlotte Brontë: Some New Insights into her Life and Writing',
Brontë Society – Gaskell Society Joint Conference 1990: Conference Papers
(Keighley, 1991), 61.

110.
CB to WSW, 26 July 1849: MS Bon 210 p.3, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 232].

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: NO LONGER INVISIBLE

Title: CB to WSW, 1 Nov 1849: MS MA 2696 R-V p.2, PM [
LCB
, ii, 272].

1.
CB,
Shirley
, 421.

2.
Ibid., 442.

3.
ECG,
Life
, 315–6.

4.
CB to WSW, 3 July 1849: MS BS 71 p.5, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 227].

5.
CB to WSW, 12 May 1848: MS Gr. F3 pp.2, 4, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 64, 65].

6.
CB to WSW, 3July 1849: MS BS 71 pp.2–3, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 226].

7.
Ann Nussey was about to marry Robert Clapham: CB to EN, [?27 July 1849]: MS HM 24466 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, ii, 233]; CB to EN, [?23 Aug 1849]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 238]; Whitehead,
Charlotte Brontë and her ‘dearest Nell'
, 152–3. For Mercy's jealousy see CB to EN, [?13 Sept 1849]: MS Bon 123 p.3, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 250].

8.
CB,
Shirley
, 179, 181–3, 174.

9.
'I have seen some extracts from Shirley in which you talk of women working. And this first duty, this great necessity you seem to think that some women may indulge in – if they give up marri\a/ge & don't make themselves too disagreeable to the other sex. You are a coward & a traitor. A woman who works is by that alone better than one who does not & a woman who does not happen to be rich & who still earns no money & does not wish to do so, is guilty of a great fault – almost a crime – A dereliction of duty which leads rapidly & almost certainly to all manner of degradation': MT to CB, [
c
.29 Apr 1850]: MS Bon 257 p.2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 392]. Charlotte was to do the same in
Villette
, much to Harriet Martineau's annoyance: see below, pp.848.

10.
CB to EN, 4 July [1849] MS BS 71.2 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 228–9]; CB to EN, 14 July 1849: MS p.3, Law, photograph in MCP [
LCB
, ii, 230]; CB to EN, [?23 Aug 1849]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 238].

11.
CB to EN, [?27 July 1849]: MS HM 24466 pp.1–2, Huntington [
LCB
, ii, 233];
LI
, 22 Sept 1849 p.8; 29 Sept 1849 p.5;
BO
, 27 Sept 1849 p.5.

12.
CB to EN, [?24 Sept 1849]: MS pp.1–2, Harvard [
LCB
, ii, 263]; CB to EN, 28 Sept 1849: MS Bon 251 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 265].

13.
CB to WSW, 29 Aug 1849: MS p.1, Law, photograph in MCP [
LCB
, ii, 241]; CB to WSW, 21 Aug 1849: MS pp.1–2, Brotherton [
LCB
, ii, 237]; CB to WSW, 24 Aug 1849: MS Bon 211 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 239].

14.
Ibid., pp.1–3[
LCB
, ii, 239–40].

15.
CB to James Taylor, 3Sept 1849: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 247]; CB to EN, [4and 5 Apr 1851]: MS Gr. E21 pp.2–4, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 598]; CB to GS, 14 Sept 1849: MS SG 22 p.2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 253].

16.
CB to James Taylor, 20 Sept 1849: MS p.1, Texas [
LCB
, ii, 258]. The clergyman was Patrick's friend Revd Thomas Crowther, who preached twice in Haworth church on Sunday 16 September to raise money towards defraying the cost of gas lighting in the church:
LI
, 22 Sept 1849 p.5. For the letters to Williams, and two to George Smith, see
LCB
, ii, 251–8.

17.
CB to WSW, 17 Sept 1849: MS Bon 214, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 255].

18.
CB to WSW, [?
c
.15 Sept 1849]: MS Bon 212 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 254]; CB to WSW, 13 Sept 1849: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 251].

19.
CB to WSW, [?
c
.20 Sept 1849]: MS EL 400, Rylands [
LCB
, ii, 257].

20.
CB to WSW, 2 Jan 1849: MS p.1, Berg [
LCB
, ii, 165].

21.
CB to WSW, 16 Aug 1849: MS Gr. F8 p.4, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 236]; CB, Preface: A Word to the Quarterly, 29 Aug 1849: MS SG 96 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 242].

22.
Ibid., pp.3–7 [
LCB
, ii, 243–5].

23.
CB to WSW, [?31 Aug 1849]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 245–66]; CB to GS, 31 Aug 1849: MS SG 21 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 216]; CB to WSW, 4Sept 1849: MS BS 71.5, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 248].

24.
CB,
Shirley
, 375–6; ‘A word to the “Quarterly”: Charlotte Brontë's rejected Preface to “Shirley”‘,
BST
:16:85:337.

25.
CB to WSW, 16 Aug 1849: MS Gr. F8 p.4, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 236]; CB to WSW, 21 Sept 1849: MS Gr. F9 p.2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 260].

26.
CB to GS, 26 Dec 1849: MS SG 31 p.3, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 317].

27.
CB to WSW, 21 Sept 1849: MS Gr. F9 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 260].

28.
Ibid.

29.
Ibid.; CB to WSW, 19 Sept 1849: MS BS 71.6, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 256]; CB to WSW, [?1Oct 1849]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 266].

30.
CB to EN, [?20 Oct 1849]: MS Bon 216 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 216]. Charlotte's dentist was Mr Atkinson of 30 Portland Crescent; she also called on Mr Gray of 14 Park Row, Leeds: CB, Cash Book, [1848–9]: MS BS 22 p.9, BPM.

31.
CB to EN, [?22 Jan 1849]: MS HM 24464 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, ii, 172]; ECG,
Life
, 315. Mary Taylor was equally blasé about featuring in her friend's novel: ‘On Wednesday I began Shirley & continued in
a curious confusion of mind till now principally abt the handsome foreigner who was nursed in our house when I was a little girl. – By the way you've put him in the Servant's bedroom. You make us all talk much as I think we shd have done if we'd ventured to speak at all – What a little lump of perfection you've made me! There is a strange feeling in reading it of hearing us all talkking [sic]. I have not seen the matted hall & painted parlour window so plain these 5 years. But my Father is not like. He hates well enough & perhaps loves too but he is not honest enough. It was from my father I learnt not to marry for money nor to tolerate any one who did & he never wd advise any one to do so or fail to speak with contempt of those who did.': MT to CB, 13 Aug 1850: MS pp.1–2, Berg [
LCB
, ii, 439]. Mary inclined to the same curious opinion which generally (and uniquely) afflicts those who live in ‘Shirley Country', namely that
Shirley
was a better and more interesting book than
Jane Eyre
.

32.
CB to WSW, 1 Nov 1849: MS MA 2696 R-V, PM [
LCB
, ii, 272].

33.
Ibid., pp.3–4 [
LCB
, ii, 272]; unsigned review,
Daily News
, 31 Oct 1849 p.2 [Allott, 117–18].

34.
Unsigned reviews,
Atlas
, 3 Nov 1849 pp.696–7,
Critic
, 15 Nov 1849 pp.519–21 and
Fraser's Magazine
, Dec 1849 pp.691–4[Allott, 120, 141, 154].

35.
CB to WSW, [?5Nov 1849]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 278].

36.
[Albany Fonblanque],
Examiner
, 3Nov 1849 pp.692–4[Allott, 125–9]. For a similar range of criticisms see Allott, 117–70.

37.
See, for example, the reviews in the
Britannia
,
Fraser's Magazine
and
Westminster Review
[Allott, 139, 153, 158].

38.
ECG,
Life
, 315. Ellen told Charlotte she ‘could recognize the originals of all except the heroines': CB to EN, 16 Nov 1849: MS p.3, Harvard [
LCB
, ii, 285].

39.
CB to WSW, 15 Nov 1849: MS HM 24394 pp.2–3, Huntington [
LCB
, ii, 282].

40.
CB to G.H. Lewes, 1Nov 1849: MS Add 39763(1) pp.1–2, BL [
LCB
, ii, 275].

41.
CB to WSW, [?5Nov 1849]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 279].

42.
[G.H. Lewes],
Edinburgh Review
, Jan 1850 pp.153–73 [Allott, 163, 165, 167, 161].

43.
CB to WSW, 10 Jan 1850: MS pp.1–2, Berg [
LCB
, ii, 328].

44.
CB to G.H. Lewes, [
c
.10 Jan 1850]: MS Add 39763(7), BL [
LCB
, ii, 330].

45.
CB to G.H. Lewes, 19 Jan 1850: MS Add 39763(8) pp.1–3, BL [
LCB
, ii, 332–3].

46.
ECG to Eliza Fox, 26 Nov 1849 [C&P, 90]. Dr Epps was the London physician whom Charlotte had consulted about Emily's symptoms: see above, p.675–6.

47.
CB to WSW, [?17 Nov 1849]: MS p.1, Brotherton [
LCB
, ii, 286].

48.
CB to ECG, 17 Nov 1849: MS BS 71.7(a), BPM [
LCB
, ii, 288].

49.
ECG to [Catherine Winkworth], [late Nov 1849] [C&P, 93].

50.
CB to WSW, [?17 Nov 1849]: MS pp.2–3, Brotherton [
LCB
, ii, 286–7].

51.
CB to WSW, 19 Nov 1849: MS p.4crossed, Berg [
LCB
, ii, 291]. See also CB to WSW, [
c
.24 Nov 1849]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 296]; CB to WSW, 22 Nov [1849]: MS p.2, Berg [
LCB
, ii, 295].

52.
Ibid., pp.3–4[
LCB
, ii, 295].

53.
CB to G.H. Lewes, 1Nov 1849: MS Add 39763(6) p.1, BL [
LCB
, ii, 275].

54.
CB to WSW, 15 Nov 1849: MS HM 24392 p.3, Huntington [
LCB
, ii, 282].

55.
CB to GS, 19 Nov 1849: MS SG 28 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 289].

56.
Ibid., pp.2–3[
LCB
, ii, 289–90]; CB to EN, 16 Nov 1849: MS p.4, Harvard [
LCB
, ii, 285]; CB to EN, 26 Nov 1849: MS Bon 217 p.2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 298]. See above, p.662.

57.
MT to ECG, [1857]: MS n.l. [Stevens, 166].

58.
CB to GS, 14 Sept 1849: MS SG 22 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 253]; CB to GS, 20 Sept 1849: MS SG 23 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 258]; CB to GS, 22 Sept 1849: MS SG 24 pp.1–3, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 262].

59.
CB to GS, 4Oct 1849: MS SG 26 pp.1–3, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 267]. See also CB to GS, 27 Sept 1849: MS SG 25, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 264]. Charlotte's concern at her father's reaction may have been misplaced: he had already had to deal with the probates of her sisters' estates, Anne's only a month previously: both included shares in the same railway so he must have been aware of the state of his daughter's finances. See EJB, Probate Papers, 31 Jan 1849: MS PROBATE, Borthwick; EJB, Administration Papers, 5Feb 1849: MS Bon 73, BPM; AB, Probate Papers, 5Sept 1849: MS PROBATE, Borthwick; AB, Administration Papers, 5Sept 1849: MS Bon 74, BPM.

60.
CB to EN, [?5Dec 1849]: MS MA 2696 R-V pp.2–3, PM [
LCB
, ii, 299].

61.
Ibid., p.3[
LCB
, ii, 299]; CB to EN, [9 Dec 1849]: MS in Berg [
LCB
, ii, 306].

62.
CB to EN, [?5Dec 1849]: MS MA 2696 R-V p.1, PM [
LCB
, ii, 299]; CB to MW, 14 Feb 1850: MS FM 8 pp.5–6, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, ii, 344].

63.
Ibid., pp.6–7 [
LCB
, ii, 344].

64.
CB to EN, [9Dec 1849]: MS in Berg [
LCB
, ii, 306]; CB to WSW, 19 Dec 1849: MS pp.1–3, Princeton [
LCB
, ii, 312].

65.
CB to Laetitia Wheelwright, 17 Dec 1849: MS BS 72 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 309].

66.
CB to EN, [9Dec 1849]: MS in Berg [
LCB
, ii, 306]; CB to WSW, 19 Dec 1849: MS pp.3–4, Princeton [
LCB
, ii, 312].

67.
W.M. Thackeray, ‘The Last Sketch',
Cornhill
, i (June 1860) p.486.

68.
CB to PB, 5 Dec 1849: MS pp.1–3, Berg [
LCB
, ii, 301].

69.
ECG,
Life
, 326; CB,
Jane Eyre
, 250, where the smell of Rochester's cigar warns Jane that he is nearby; CB to PB, 5Dec 1849: MS p.3, Berg [
LCB
, ii, 301].

70.
HM,
Autobiography
, 323–5.

71.
Lucy Martineau to Jack Martineau, 10 Dec 1849: MS pp.3–4, in private hands [Juliet Barker, ‘“Innocent and Un-Londony”: Impressions of Charlotte Brontë',
BST
:19:1&2:46–7].

72.
HM,
Autobiography
, 326. By 5December, when the interview took place, at least one friend of Miss Martineau's, Catherine Winkworth, already knew that ‘the author is herself threatened with consumption at this time, and has lost two sisters, Ellis and Acton Bell, by it. Their real name is Brontë, they are of the Nelson family': Catherine Winkworth to Eliza Paterson, 5Dec 1849 [Shaen (ed.),
Memorials of Two Sisters
, 53]. The reference to the Brontës being related to Nelson ties in with the gossip spread by Lewes: CB to WSW, [?5Nov 1849]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, ii, 278–9] and see above, p.724–5.

73.
ECG to Anne Shaen, [?20 Dec 1849] [C&P, 97]; Lucy Martineau to Jack Martineau, 10 Dec 1849: MS pp.3–4, in private hands [Juliet Barker, ‘“Innocent and Un-Londony”‘,
BST
:19:1&2:46–7].

74.
Ibid., p.4. For a typically garbled version, probably based on this letter, see ECG to Anne Shaen, [?20 Dec 1849] [C&P, 96–7]: Gaskell wrongly describes the interview taking place in Hyde Park Square: ‘when lo! and behold, as the clock struck, in walked a little, very little, bright haired spright, looking not above 15, very unsophisticated, neat & tidy. She sat down & had tea with them; her name being still unknown; she said to HM, “What did you really think of ‘Jane Eyre'?” HM. I thought it a first rate book, whereupon the little sprite went red all over with pleasure. After tea Mr & Mrs RM withdrew & left sprite to a 2 hours tete-a-tete with HM, to whom she revealed her name & the history of her life. Her father a Yorkshire clergyman who has never slept out of his house for 26 years; she has lived a most retired life; –her first visit to London, never been in society, and many other particulars which HM is not at liberty to divulge any more than her name, which she keeps a profound secret; but Thackeray does not'.