Brontës (217 page)

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Authors: Juliet Barker

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7.
CB to EN, 16 Jan 1852: MS HM 24488 p.1, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 7].

8.
CB to EN, 24 Jan 1852: MS HM 24489 pp.1–2, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 12]. According to this letter, Charlotte was due to arrive at Brookroyd on 27 January.

9.
CB to ECG, 6Feb 1852: MS EL fB91 p.1, Rylands [
LCB
, iii, 39]. The quotation, which Charlotte often used in her letters and novels, is from Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane: Mark ch.26 v.27.

10.
CB to MW, 17 Feb 1852: MS FM 13 p.3, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 22]. According to this
letter, Charlotte also met Margaret Wooler's brother William and his family, though when and where is unclear.

11.
CB to GS, 29 Jan 1852: MS SG 66 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 12–13].

12.
CB to GS, 1 Jan 1852: MS SG 65 pp.1–3, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 3]; CB to GS, 31 Dec 1851: MS SG 64 pp.1–4, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 732–3].

13.
CB to HM, 10 Dec 1851: MS SG 62 pp.1–3, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 728–9]; CB to GS, 19 Dec 1851: MS SG 65 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 731–2]; CB to EN, [5 Mar 1852]: MS HM 24492 p.3, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 25]; HM,
Autobiography
, 382. In Charlotte's defence, Martineau may have misrepresented her enthusiasm for ‘Oliver Weld'. ‘There is a peculiar property in her', Charlotte observed, ‘which must sooner or later be recognized as a great inconvenience by such of her acquaintance as admire her intellectual powers and her many excellent personal qualities without being able to agree in her views; she is prone to mistake liking for agreement, and with the same sanguine eagerness of her character thinks to sweep you along with her in her whirlwind course. This will not do.': CB to GS, 31 Dec 1851: MS SG 64 pp.2–3, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 732].

14.
CB to GS, 29 Jan 1852: MS SG 66 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 12–13]; CB to Mrs Smith, 29 Jan 1852: MS SG 12b pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 13].

15.
CB to GS, 14 Feb 1852: MS SG 68 pp.1–4, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 17–18].

16.
CB to GS, 19 Dec 1851: MS SG 63 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 731]; CB to EN, 23 Mar 1852: MS HM 24494 pp.3–4, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 31–2].

17.
CB to EN, 16 Feb 1852: MS HM 24490 pp.2–3, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 19]; CB to EN, [5Mar 1852]: MS HM 24492 p.3, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 25].

18.
CB to EN, 7 [?Apr] 1852: MS HM 24493 p.3, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 38]. See also CB to EN, [?24 Feb 1852]: MS p.1, Princeton [
LCB
, iii, 24].

19.
CB to MW, 12 Mar 1853: MS FM 14 pp.1–2, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 28–9].

20.
CB,
Villette
, Clarendon Edn, xx, xxxi.

21.
CB,
Villette
, 193. For Charlotte's personal experience see above, pp.498.

22.
CB to ECG, 22 May 1852: MS EL fB91 pp.2–3, Rylands [
LCB
, iii, 48]; CB to Mrs Gore, 28 May 1852: MS Bon 244 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 49].

23.
CB to EN, 1July 1852: MS 1532 p.2, Guildhall [
LCB
, iii, 39]. Charlotte later found out that Smith's silence was due to extraordinary pressure of work: CB to GS, 19 Aug 1852: MS SG 73 pp.2–3, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 62]. The dates of Ellen's trip to Sussex are hazy but she was with her brother in London by the beginning of June and Charlotte expected her home at the beginning of October: CB to EN, 6 June 1852: MS HM 24496 pp.3–4, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 52]; CB to EN, 5Oct 1852: MS p.1, Berg [
LCB
, iii, 69]. For Taylor's failure to write see CB to EN, 7[?Apr] 1852: MS HM 24493 p.3, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 38]; CB to EN, 4[May] 1852: MS HM 24491 pp.3–4, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 44].

24.
LI
, 17 Apr 1852 p.7. Cartman had substituted for Nicholls while the latter was away in Ireland: CB to PB, 7June 1851: MS MA 2696 R-V p.1, BPM [
LCB
, ii, 630].

25.
MT to CB, postmarked Keighley 27 Oct 1852: MS p.2, Berg [
LCB
, iii, 36]

26.
CB to EN, 4[May] 1852: MS HM 24491 pp.1–2, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 43]. Charlotte dated this letter ‘March 4th /52' but this was clearly a mistake for May when news of Ellen Taylor's death reached England: the error is an indication of Charlotte's distressed state.

27.
CB to MW, 12 Mar 1852: MS FM 14 p.3, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 29]; CB to EN, 7[?Apr] 1852: MS HM 24493 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 38].

28.
CB to EN, 6June 1852: MS HM 24496 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 51]. Charlotte stayed at Cliff House, Filey for about a month,
c
.27 May–24 June:
LCB
, iii, 47 n.2]. Her letter to Mrs Gore (see above, n.22), is dated from Filey on 28 May.

29.
CB to PB, 2 June 1852: MS MA 2696 R-V pp.2–4, PM [
LCB
, iii, 49–50].

30.
Ibid., p.4, PM [
LCB
, iii, 49–50];
HG
, 29 May 1853 p.5.

31.
CB to MW, 23 June 1852: MS FM 15 p.2, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 55].

32.
CB to EN, 1July 1852: MS 1532 p.2, Guildhall [
LCB
, iii, 57].

33.
CB to MW, 23 June 1852: MS FM 15 pp.2–3, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 55]; CB to EN, 6June 1852: MS HM 24496 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 51]. Charlotte says ‘Filey Bridge' but she clearly meant the local landmark, a rocky promontory known as the Brigg.

34.
Ibid., p.1[
LCB
, iii, 51]; CB to MW, 23 June 1852: MS FM 15 p.3, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 56].

35.
Ibid.; CB to EN, 1July 1852: MS 1532 p.3, Guildhall [
LCB
, iii, 57].

36.
CB to PB, 2June 1852: MS MA 2696 R-V p.5, PM [
LCB
, iii, 50]; PB, Account Book, [
c
.1845–61]: MS BS 173 p.13, BPM.

37.
CB to EN, 1 July 1852: MS 1532 p.3, Guildhall [
LCB
, iii, 57]. Martineau was a student of phrenology, hence her reference to Taylor's ‘organ of combativeness and contradiction'.

38.
The suggestion that ‘Tim' might derive from ‘Timon' comes from CB,
Villette
, 292, 591 where, more appropriately, Ginevra Fanshawe refers to Lucy Snowe as ‘Timon' and ‘Tim'. I am grateful to Allegra Huston for suggesting a reason why the name might have been appropriate to the baby.

39.
CB to EN, 11 May 1852: MS HM 24495 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 45]; CB to EN, 23 Mar 1852: MS HM 24494 p.3, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 31]. See also CB to MW, 21 Oct 1851: MS FM 11 p.4, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, ii, 705].

40.
CB to EN, 22 Apr 1852: MS in Beinecke [
LCB
, iii, 41].

41.
CB,
Villette
, 595–6; CB to EN, [5 Mar 1852]: MS HM 24492 p.2, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 24]. The youthful sufferer in
Villette
survived 5'brushes with death'; Emily Martha Taylor died just before her 7th birthday in August 1858, 9 months after her father and only 2 years before her mother: Stevens, 117 n.1.

42.
CB to EN, 26 July 1852: MS pp.1–3, Haverford [
LCB
, iii, 58]; CB to EN, 3 Aug 1852: MS HM 20069 pp.1–2, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 60]; CB to EN, 12 Aug 1852: MS pp.1–2, Brotherton [
LCB
, iii, 60–1].

43.
Richard Butterfield, the Merralls, Joseph Greenwood, Mrs Ferrand et al., Petition to the General Board of Health, 10 Dec 1851: MS n.l. [L&D, 436–7]. William Ranger came to Haworth on 30 July 1852 in response to this petition: ibid., 437.

44.
CB to EN, 25 Aug 1852: MS HM 24498 p.1, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 63]; CB to MW, 2Sept 1851: MS FM 16 pp.1–2, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 64–5]. According to the church registers, Nicholls took all the parish duties throughout August and most of September.

45.
CB to GS, 19 Aug 1852: MS SG 73 pp.2–3, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 561–2].

46.
CB to EN, 25 Aug 1852: MS HM 24498 pp.3–4, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 63]. The word ‘burden' replaces a deleted word which I am unable to decipher.

47.
CB to EN, [?24 Sept 1852]: MS HM 24499 pp.2–3, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 67–8]. Charlotte simply thanked Ellen for sending the
Times
report of Wellington's death on 14 September 1852 and comments, ‘what it said on the mighty and mournful subject was well said – All at once the whole Nation seems now to take a just view of that great character.'

48.
CB to MW, 2Sept 1851: MS FM 16 pp.1–2, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 65].

49.
CB to EN, 5Oct 1852: MS pp.1–2, Berg [
LCB
, iii, 69].

50.
See, for example, CB to EN, 12 Aug 1852: MS pp.3–4, Brotherton [
LCB
, iii, 61]; CB to EN, 25 Aug 1852: MS HM 24498 pp.2–3, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 63].

51.
CB to EN, 9Oct 1852: MS MA 4500, PM [
LCB
, iii, 69–70].

52.
CB to MW, 21 Oct 1852: MS FM 17 pp.3–4, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 57]. Charlotte changed the date of this letter from September to October.

53.
CB to EN, [?26 Oct 1852]: MS n.l. [
LCB
, iii, 73]; CB to WSW, 26 Oct 1852: MS Eng lett e 30 p.187, Bodleian [
LCB
, iii, 72].

54.
CB to EN, 1July 1852: MS 1532 pp.2–3, Guildhall [
LCB
, iii, 57]; CB to WSW, 3Apr 1852: MS HM 24401, Huntington [
LCB
, iii, 34–5]; CB to WSW, 28 July 1852: MS in Buffalo [
LCB
, iii, 59].

55.
CB to GS, 30 Oct 1852: MS SG 74 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 74].

56.
CB to EN, 16 Nov 1849: MS p.2, Harvard [
LCB
, ii, 285].

57.
CB,
Villette
, 368–70.

58.
CB to GS, 30 Oct 1852: MS SG 74 pp.1, 4, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 74–5].

59.
CB to GS, 3Nov, 1852: MS SG 75 pp.1–3, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 77–8].

60.
CB to WSW, 6 Nov 1852: MS Gr. F11 pp.1–3, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 80].

61.
Ibid. p.2[
LCB
, iii, 80].

62.
CB,
Villette
, Clarendon Edn, xxxiv.

63.
CB to GS, 3Nov, 1852: MS SG 75 p.2, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 77]; CB to GS, 10 Nov 1852: MS SG 76 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 81]. The single-volume edition of
Shirley
was published in November 1852, though it bears an 1853 imprint on its title page: see
Athenaeum
, 20 Nov 1852 p.1259 for an advertisement describing it as ‘
Now ready
'. The announcement of ‘A NEW NOVEL BY CURRER BELL' appeared opposite the title page in just the large letters Charlotte had feared. I am grateful to Margaret Smith for this information.

64.
CB to GS, 10 Nov 1852: MS SG 76 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 81]. Charlotte had said the third volume would be ready in the course of 2or 3weeks in CB to WSW, 26 Oct 1852: MS Eng lett e 30 p.187, Bodleian [
LCB
, iii, 72].

65.
CB to GS, 20 Nov 1852: MS SG 13b pp.1–3, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 83–4].

66.
CB to EN, 22 Nov 1852: MS pp.1–2, Harvard [
LCB
, iii, 85].

67.
CB to Mrs Smith, 25 Nov 1852: MS SG 15b p.2, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 86–7].

68.
CB to GS, 1 Dec 1852: MS SG 77 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 87].

69.
CB to GS, 6 Dec 1852: MS SG 78 pp.1–2, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 88].

70.
Ibid., pp.2–3 [
LCB
, iii, 88].

71.
CB to EN, [?9 Dec 1852]: MS Montague [
LCB
, iii, 91]. The ‘female character' referred to is almost certainly Paulina who had been the subject of Charlotte's previous letter to Smith: CB to GS, 6Dec 1852: MS SG 78 p.3, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 88].

72.
Ibid., p.3[
LCB
, iii, 88]; CB to EN, [?9Dec 1852]: MS Montague [
LCB
, iii, 91].

73.
CB to GS, 6Dec 1852: MS SG 78 pp.3–4, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 88]. For Miss Wooler's visit see CB to MW, 7 Dec [1852]: MS FM 18 pp.1, 2, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 90]. For Charlotte's return see CB to EN, [?9Dec 1852]: MS Montague [
LCB
, iii, 91].

74.
CB to MW, 27 Jan 1853: MS FM 19 pp.3–5, Fitzwilliam [
LCB
, iii, 111].

75.
HM to ECG, no details given [
L&L
, iv, 39 n.1].

76.
CB to Mrs Smith, 10 Dec 1852: MS Bon 246 p.1, BPM [
LCB
, iii, 92].

77.
CB to EN, 15 Dec 1852: MS pp.1–4, Berg [
LCB
, iii, 92–3]. It was not true that Patrick was opposed even to the idea of Charlotte marrying: he had supported James Taylor's proposal.

78.
CB to EN, [?28 July 1851]: MS p.2, TCC [
LCB
, ii, 671].

79.
CB to PB, 2 June 1852: MS MA 2696 R-V p.3, PM [
LCB
, iii, 50]; CB to EN, 10 July 1846: MS Gr. E10 p.3, BPM [
LCB
, i, 483], where she also counters rumours of her engagement to Nicholls.

80.
Cautley, ‘Old Haworth Folk who Knew the Brontës', 79; Whiteley Turner,
A Spring-Time Saunter Round and About Brontëland
(Halifax, 1913), 212 quoting Mrs Widdop jnr. The dog, which features in many of the stories about Nicholls, actually belonged to Patrick who purchased it from Mr Summerscale, master of the National School, in the summer of 1855: PB, Account Book, [
c
.1845–61]: MS BS 173 p.1, BPM.

81.
CB to EN, 18 Dec 1852: MS pp.3, 1–2, Berg [
LCB
, iii, 94–5].

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