Delphi Complete Works of the Brontes Charlotte, Emily, Anne Brontë (Illustrated) (605 page)

‘C. B.

‘You must spare me if I seem hasty, I fear I really am not so firm as I used to be, nor so patient.  Whenever any shock comes, I feel that almost all supports have been withdrawn.’

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

‘
November
5
th
, 1849.

‘My dear Sir, — I did not receive the parcel of copies till Saturday evening.  Everything sent by Bradford is long in reaching me.  It is, I think, better to direct: Keighley.  I was very much pleased with the appearance and getting up of the book; it looks well.

‘I have got the
Examiner
and your letter.  You are very good not to be angry with me, for I wrote in indignation and grief.  The critic of the
Daily News
struck me as to the last degree incompetent, ignorant, and flippant.  A thrill of mutiny went all through me when I read his small effusion.  To be judged by such a one revolted me.  I ought, however, to have controlled myself, and I did not.  I am willing to be judged by the
Examiner
— I like the
Examiner
.  Fonblanque has power, he has discernment — I bend to his censorship, I am grateful for his praise; his blame deserves consideration; when he approves, I permit myself a moderate emotion of pride.  Am I wrong in supposing that critique to be written by Mr. Fonblanque?  But whether it is by him or Forster, I am thankful.

‘In reading the critiques of the other papers — when I get them — I will try to follow your advice and preserve my
 
equanimity.  But I cannot be sure of doing this, for I had good resolutions and intentions before, and, you see, I failed.

‘You ask me if I am related to Nelson.  No, I never heard that I was.  The rumour must have originated in our name resembling his title.  I wonder who that former schoolfellow of mine was that told Mr. Lewes, or how she had been enabled to identify Currer Bell with C. Brontë.  She could not have been a Cowan Bridge girl, none of them can possibly remember me.  They might remember my eldest sister, Maria; her prematurely-developed and remarkable intellect, as well as the mildness, wisdom, and fortitude of her character might have left an indelible impression on some observant mind amongst her companions.  My second sister, Elizabeth, too, may perhaps be remembered, but I cannot conceive that I left a trace behind me.  My career was a very quiet one.  I was plodding and industrious, perhaps I was very grave, for I suffered to see my sisters perishing, but I think I was remarkable for nothing. — Believe me, my dear sir, yours sincerely,

‘C. Brontë.’

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

‘
November
15
th
, 1849.

‘My dear Sir, — I have received since I wrote last the Globe, Standard of Freedom, Britannia, Economist, and Weekly Chronicle.

‘How is
Shirley
getting on, and what is now the general feeling respecting the work?

‘As far as I can judge from the tone of the newspapers, it seems that those who were most charmed with
Jane Eyre
are the least pleased with
Shirley
; they are disappointed at not finding the same excitement, interest, stimulus; while those who spoke disparagingly of
Jane Eyre
like
Shirley
a little better than her predecessor.  I suppose its dryer matter suits their dryer minds.  But I feel that the fiat for which I wait does not depend on newspapers, except, indeed, such newspapers as the
Examiner
.  The monthlies and quarterlies will pronounce it, I suppose.  Mere novel-readers, it is evident, think
Shirley
something of a failure.  Still, the majority of the notices have on the
 
whole been favourable.  That in the
Standard of Freedom
was very kindly expressed; and coming from a dissenter, William Howitt, I wonder thereat.

‘Are you satisfied at Cornhill, or the contrary?  I have read part of
The Caxtons
, and, when I have finished, will tell you what I think of it; meantime, I should very much like to hear your opinion.  Perhaps I shall keep mine till I see you, whenever that may be.

‘I am trying by degrees to inure myself to the thought of some day stepping over to Keighley, taking the train to Leeds, thence to London, and once more venturing to set foot in the strange, busy whirl of the Strand and Cornhill.  I want to talk to you a little and to hear by word of mouth how matters are progressing.  Whenever I come, I must come quietly and but for a short time — I should be unhappy to leave papa longer than a fortnight. — Believe me, yours sincerely,

‘C. Brontë.’

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

‘
November
22
nd
, 1849.

‘My dear Sir, — If it is discouraging to an author to see his work mouthed over by the entirely ignorant and incompetent, it is equally reviving to hear what you have written discussed and analysed by a critic who is master of his subject — by one whose heart feels, whose powers grasp the matter he undertakes to handle.  Such refreshment Eugène Forçade has given me.  Were I to see that man, my impulse would be to say, “Monsieur, you know me, I shall deem it an honour to know you.”

‘I do not find that Forçade detects any coarseness in the work — it is for the smaller critics to find that out.  The master in the art — the subtle-thoughted, keen-eyed, quick-feeling Frenchman, knows the true nature of the ingredients which went to the composition of the creation he analyses — he knows the true nature of things, and he gives them their right name.

‘Yours of yesterday has just reached me.  Let me, in the first place, express my sincere sympathy with your anxiety on Mrs. Williams’s account.  I know how sad it is when pain and suffering attack those we love, when that mournful guest
 
sickness comes and takes a place in the household circle.  That the shadow may soon leave your home is my earnest hope.

‘Thank you for Sir J. Herschel’s note.  I am happy to hear Mr. Taylor is convalescent.  It may, perhaps, be some weeks yet before his hand is well, but that his general health is in the way of re-establishment is a matter of thankfulness.

‘One of the letters you sent to-day addressed “Currer Bell” has almost startled me.  The writer first describes his family, and then proceeds to give a particular account of himself in colours the most candid, if not, to my ideas, the most attractive.  He runs on in a strain of wild enthusiasm about
Shirley
, and concludes by announcing a fixed, deliberate resolution to institute a search after Currer Bell, and sooner or later to find him out.  There is power in the letter — talent; it is at times eloquently expressed.  The writer somewhat boastfully intimates that he is acknowledged the possessor of high intellectual attainments, but, if I mistake not, he betrays a temper to be shunned, habits to be mistrusted.  While laying claim to the character of being affectionate, warm-hearted, and adhesive, there is but a single member of his own family of whom he speaks with kindness.  He confesses himself indolent and wilful, but asserts that he is studious and, to some influences, docile.  This letter would have struck me no more than the others rather like it have done, but for its rash power, and the disagreeable resolve it announces to seek and find Currer Bell.  It almost makes me feel like a wizard who has raised a spirit he may find it difficult to lay.  But I shall not think about it.  This sort of fervour often foams itself away in words.

‘Trusting that the serenity of your home is by this time restored with your wife’s health, — I am, yours sincerely,

‘C. Brontë.’

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY

‘
February
16
th
, 1850.

‘Dear Nell, — Yesterday, just after dinner, I heard a loud bustling voice in the kitchen demanding to see Mr. Brontë.  Somebody was shown into the parlour.  Shortly after, wine was
 
rung for.  “Who is it, Martha?” I asked.  “Some mak of a tradesman,” said she.  “He’s not a gentleman, I’m sure.”  The personage stayed about an hour, talking in a loud vulgar key all the time.  At tea-time I asked papa who it was.  “Why,” said he, “no other than the vicar of B — -!”
 
  Papa had invited him to take some refreshment, but the creature had ordered his dinner at the Black Bull, and was quite urgent with papa to go down there and join him, offering by way of inducement a bottle, or, if papa liked, “two or three bottles of the best wine Haworth could afford!”  He said he was come from Bradford just to look at the place, and reckoned to be in raptures with the wild scenery!  He warmly pressed papa to come and see him, and to bring his daughter with him!!!  Does he know anything about the books, do you think; he made no allusion to them.  I did not see him, not so much as the tail of his coat.  Martha said he looked no more like a parson than she did.  Papa described him as rather shabby-looking, but said he was wondrous cordial and friendly.  Papa, in his usual fashion, put him through a regular catechism of questions: what his living was worth, etc., etc.  In answer to inquiries respecting his age he affirmed himself to be thirty-seven — is not this a lie?  He must be more.  Papa asked him if he were married.  He said no, he had no thoughts of being married, he did not like the trouble of a wife.  He described himself as “living in style, and keeping a very hospitable house.”

‘Dear Nell, I have written you a long letter; write me a long one in answer.

‘C. B.’

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

‘
April
3
rd
, 1850.

‘My dear Sir, — I have received the
Dublin Review
, and your letter inclosing the Indian Notices.  I hope these reviews will do good; they are all favourable, and one of them (the
Dublin
) is very able.  I have read no critique so discriminating since that in the
Revue des deux Mondes
.  It offers a curious contrast to Lewes’s in the
Edinburgh
, where forced praise, given by
 
jerks, and obviously without real and cordial liking, and censure, crude, conceited, and ignorant, were mixed in random lumps — forming a very loose and inconsistent whole.

‘Are you aware whether there are any grounds for that conjecture in the
Bengal Hurkaru
, that the critique in the
Times
was from the pen of Mr. Thackeray?  I should much like to know this.  If such were the case (and I feel as if it were by no means impossible), the circumstance would open a most curious and novel glimpse of a very peculiar disposition.  Do you think it likely to be true?

‘The account you give of Mrs. Williams’s health is not cheering, but I should think her indisposition is partly owing to the variable weather; at least, if you have had the same keen frost and cold east winds in London, from which we have lately suffered in Yorkshire.  I trust the milder temperature we are now enjoying may quickly confirm her convalescence.  With kind regards to Mrs. Williams, — Believe me, my dear sir, yours sincerely,

‘C. Brontë.’

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

‘
April
25
th
, 1850.

‘My dear Sir, — I cannot let the post go without thanking Mr. Smith through you for the kind reply to Greenwood’s application; and, I am sure, both you and he would feel true pleasure could you see the delight and hope with which these liberal terms have inspired a good and intelligent though poor man.  He thinks he now sees a prospect of getting his livelihood by a method which will suit him better than wool-combing work has hitherto done, exercising more of his faculties and sparing his health.  He will do his best, I am sure, to extend the sale of the cheap edition of
Jane Eyre
; and whatever twinges I may still feel at the thought of that work being in the possession of all the worthy folk of Haworth and Keighley, such scruples are more than counterbalanced by the attendant good; — I mean, by the assistance it will give a man who deserves assistance.  I wish he could permanently establish a little bookselling business in Haworth: it would benefit the place as well as himself.

 
‘Thank you for the
Leader
, which I read with pleasure.  The notice of Newman’s work in a late number was very good. — Believe me, my dear sir, in haste, yours sincerely,

‘C. Brontë.’

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

‘
May
6
th
, 1850.

‘My dear Sir, — I have received the copy of
Jane Eyre
.  To me the printing and paper seem very tolerable.  Will not the public in general be of the same opinion?  And are you not making yourselves causelessly uneasy on the subject?