The Bronte Sisters

by Catherine Reef

  [>] Emily Brontë, “Cold in the earth . . .” is from Bell, Bell, and Bell, p. 31.

  [>] Anne Brontë, “If life must be so full . . .” is from Bell, Bell, and Bell, p. 81.

  [>] Anne Brontë, “My soul is awakened . . .” is from Bell, Bell, and Bell, p. 125.

  [>] “the bleating of a calf,” is from Gaskell, p. 261.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “To papa he allows rest . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 493.

  [>] Patrick Brontë, “only some little effect,” is quoted in Lock and Dixon, p. 381.

  [>],[>] “a ray of sunshine . . . ,” “a fine quaint spirit . . . ,” and “Perhaps they desired . . .” are quoted in Barker, p. 497.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “She does her business . . .” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 99.

  [>] Patrick Brontë, “The feeling, under the operation . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 507.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “a heroine as small and as plain . . .” is quoted in Allott, p. 303.

  Six: “It Is Soul Speaking to Soul”

  [>] Branwell Brontë, “Constant and unavoidable depression . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 114.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “The sky looks like ice . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 117.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Were I to retrench . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 528.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “There was no possibility . . .” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 39.

  [>] Eyre [Charlotte Brontë], “My Uncle Reed is in heaven . . .” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 60.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “a black pillar” and “like a carved mask,” are from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 63.

  [>] Brocklehurst [Charlotte Brontë], “When you put bread . . .” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 95.

  [>] Scatcherd [Charlotte Brontë], “You dirty, disagreeable girl . . .” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 85.

  [>] Burns [Charlotte Brontë], “Love your enemies . . .” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 90.

  [>] Eyre [Charlotte Brontë], “I was no Helen Burns,” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 98.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “I abstained from recording . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 150.

  [>] Eyre [Charlotte Brontë], “women feel just as men feel . . .” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 141.

  [>] Rochester [Charlotte Brontë], “heart-weary and soul-withered,” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 247.

  [>] Eyre [Charlotte Brontë], “warning fragrance,” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 276.

  [>] Rochester [Charlotte Brontë], “Don’t long for poison . . .” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 290.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “demoniac laugh,” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 179.

  [>] Thackeray, “It interested me so much . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 149.

  [>] Lewes, “It is soul . . .” is from Lewes, p. 691.

  [>] Lewes, “The writer is evidently a woman . . .” is from Lewes, pp. 690–91.

  [>] “a novel of remarkable power . . .” is from “An Evening’s Gossip on New Novels,” p. 614.

  [>] “Why, they have got Cowan Bridge School . . .” and Charlotte Brontë, “He did not recognize Currer Bell . . .” are quoted in Gordon, p. 164.

  [>] Taylor, “so perfect as a work of art . . .” is from Stevens, p. 74.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Papa, I have been writing . . .” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 144.

  [>] Patrick Brontë, “I hope you have not been . . .” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 144.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “I think I shall gain . . .” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 144.

  [>] Patrick Brontë, “Children, Charlotte has been writing . . .” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 144.

  [>] “In ‘Jane Eyre’ the immorality . . .” is from “The Last New Novel,” p. 377.

  [>] “Religion is stabbed . . .” is from “The Last New Novel,” p. 380.

  [>] “It would be no credit . . .” is from “The Last New Novel,” p. 376.

  [>] Rigby, “the personification of an unregenerate . . .” and “is the strength . . .” are from Gates, p. 139.

  [>] Rigby, “for if we ascribe . . .” is from Gates, pp. 141–142.

  [>] Rigby, “if by no woman . . .” is from Gates, p. 142.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “in whose eyes . . .” is from C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, p. 35.

  Seven: “Moorish, and Wild, and Knotty as a Root of Heath”

  [>] Emily Brontë, “dark almost as if it came . . .” is from E. Brontë, Wuthering Heights, p. 30.

  [>] Catherine Linton [Emily Brontë], “I’m wearying to escape . . .” is from E. Brontë, Wuthering Heights, p. 137.

  [>] Catherine Linton [Emily Brontë], “You have killed me . . .” is from E. Brontë, Wuthering Heights, p. 135.

  [>] Heathcliff, “You have killed yourself . . .” is from E. Brontë, Wuthering Heights, p. 137.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “It is moorish . . .” is quoted in Gordon, p. 150.

  [>] “The characters are as false . . .” and “a perfect pandemonium . . .” are from “Noteworthy Novels,” p. 486.

  [>] “took the liberty . . .” is from “Noteworthy Novels,” p. 486.

  [>],[>] Emily Brontë, “strange wild pictures” and “heightening their repulsiveness” are from “Wuthering Heights,” p. 953.

  [>],[>] “that they have never read . . .” and “We must leave it . . .” are from Allott, p. 228.

  [>] “to put every trust . . .” is quoted in Alexander and Smith, p. 10.

  [>] Anne Brontë, “Such humble talents . . .” is quoted in Harrison and Stanford, p. 238.

  [>] Anne Brontë, “All true histories . . .” is from A. Brontë, Agnes Grey, p. 1.

  [>],[>] “subjects that are peculiar . . .” and “the injudicious selection . . .” are quoted in Alexander and Smith, p. 9.

  [>] “must have bribed some governess . . .” is from Allott, p. 227.

  [>] Grey [Anne Brontë], “How delightful it would be . . .” and “to earn my own maintenance . . .” are from A. Brontë, Agnes Grey, p. 7.

  [>] Mrs. Bloomfield [Anne Brontë], “the flower of the flock . . .” is from A. Brontë, Agnes Grey, p. 12.

  [>] Grey [Anne Brontë], “oblige, instruct, refine . . .” and “render them as superficially attractive . . .” are from A. Brontë, Agnes Grey, p. 45.

  [>] Rosalie Ashby [Anne Brontë], “And as for all the wisdom . . .” is from A. Brontë, Agnes Grey, p. 135.

  [>] Grey [Anne Brontë], “Of course, I pitied her . . .” is from A. Brontë, Agnes Grey, p. 134.

  Eight: “A Dreadful Darkness Closes In”

  [>] Smith, “rather quaintly dressed . . .” is from Smith, p. 89.

  [>] Smith, “country cousins,” is from Stevens, p. 177.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “he would have liked some excitement” is from Stevens, p. 179.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Fine ladies and gentlemen . . .” is from Stevens, pp. 179–80.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “a firm, intelligent man . . .” is from Stevens, p. 181.

  [>],[>] Smith, “interesting rather than attractive . . .” and “was a gentle, quiet, rather subdued person . . .” are from Smith, p. 91.

  [>] Helen Huntingdon [Anne Brontë], “destitute of principle . . .” is from A. Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, p. 109.

  [>] “There are scenes . . .” is from “Noteworthy Novels,” pp. 486–87.

  [>] Helen Huntingdon [Anne Brontë], “Mr. Hattersley burst into the room . . .” is from A. Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, pp. 219–20.

  [>] Helen Huntingdon [Anne Brontë], “Without another word . . .” is from A. Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, p. 171.

  [>] Sinclair, “The slamming of that bedroom door . . .” is from Sinclair, p. 48.

  [>] Arthur Huntingdon [Anne Brontë], “make a man of him,” is from A. Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, p. 280.

  [>] Blackstone, “In law, the husband and wife . . .” is quoted in Cha
plin, p. 35.

  [>] Arthur Huntingdon [Anne Brontë], “What is God . . .” is from A. Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, p. 364.

  [>] “There seems in the writer . . .” is from Allott, p. 250.

  [>] Anne Brontë, “If there were less . . .” is quoted in Alexander and Smith, p. 496.

  [>] Anne Brontë, “If I have warned . . .” is quoted in Alexander and Smith, p. 498.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Papa—and sometimes all of us . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 240.

  [>] Grundy, “He spoke of Branwell . . .” is from Grundy, pp. 90–91.

  [>] Grundy, “was a mass of red, unkempt, uncut hair . . .”, “looked frightened . . .”, and “something like the Brontë of old,” are from Grundy, p. 91.

  [>] Grundy, “standing bareheaded in the road . . .” is from Grundy, p. 92.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “I do not weep . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 261.

  [>] Patrick Brontë, “My son! my son!” and Charlotte Brontë, “My poor father naturally thought . . .” are from Shorter, p. 99.

  [>] Grundy, “That Rector of Haworth . . .” is from Grundy, p. 74.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “We could not tell him . . .” is from Shorter, p. 139.

  [>] Grundy, “Poor, brilliant, gay, moody . . .” is from Grundy, p. 74.

  [>] Emily Brontë, “poisoning doctor,” and Charlotte Brontë, “I have seen nothing like it . . .” are quoted in Gordon, p. 185.

  [>] Patrick Brontë, “Charlotte, you must bear up . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 295.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “torn from us in the fullness of our attachment . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 295.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “nights of sleeplessness and pain . . .” is from Shorter, p. 40.

  [>] Patrick Brontë, “My dear little Anne,” is quoted in Barker, p. 581.

  [>] Nussey, “sweetly pretty and flushed . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 581.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “like train oil,” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 299.

  [>] Anne Brontë, “I hoped, that with the brave and strong . . .” is from A. Brontë, “Last Lines.”

  [>] Anne Brontë, “Be a sister . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 335.

  [>] Anne Brontë, “Take courage, Charlotte . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 336.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “A year ago . . .” is from Wise, vol. 2, p. 340

  Nine: “Out of Obscurity I Came”

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Sometimes . . . I have a heavy heart . . .” and “I have many comforts . . .” are from Wise, vol. 3, p. 8.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Imagination lifted me . . .” is from Shorter 1908, vol. 2, p. 74.

  [>] Deputy [Charlotte Brontë], “Invention may be all right . . .” is from C. Brontë, Shirley, p. 141.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “He never asked himself . . .” is from C. Brontë, Shirley, p. 27.

  [>] Caroline Helstone [Charlotte Brontë], “What am I to do . . .” is from C. Brontë, Shirley, p. 179.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Look at your poor girls . . .” and “You would wish to be proud . . .” are from C. Brontë, Shirley, p. 403.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “possessed a charm . . .” is from C. Brontë, Shirley, p. 205.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “I let Anne go to God . . .” is quoted in Gordon, pp. 197–98.

  [>] Robert Moore [Charlotte Brontë], “Am I to die without you . . .” is from C. Brontë, Shirley, p. 641.

  [>] Shirley Keeldar [Charlotte Brontë], “Die without me . . .” is from C. Brontë, Shirley, p. 641.

  [>] “enlists the purer sympathies . . .” is quoted in Alexander and Smith, p. 468.

  [>] Lewes, “The grand function of woman . . .” is from Allott, p. 161.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “I wish all reviewers believed . . .” and “You will—I know . . .” are from Wise, vol. 3, p. 31.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “a peculiar face . . .” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 54.

  [>] Thackeray, “trembling little frame . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 619.

  [>] Thackeray, “warning fragrance,” is quoted in Gordon, p. 199.

  [>] Lucy Martineau, “I lighted plenty of candles . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 620.

  [>],[>] Harriet Martineau, “I thought her the smallest creature . . .” and “cast up at me . . .” are from Martineau, p. 326.

  [>] Lucy Martineau, “She was so pleasant . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 621.

  [>] Harriet Martineau, “red all over . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 620.

  [>] “believed there were books . . .” is quoted in Brookfield and Brookfield, p. 305.

  [>] Ritchie, “did not look pleasant . . .” is from Ritchie, p. 270.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “He is a real grand old man,” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 117.

  [>] Lewes, “naughty books,” is quoted in Barker, p. 641.

  [>] Smith, “with mingled admiration and alarm . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 641.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “so wonderfully like Emily,” is quoted in Barker, p. 641.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Oh, Mr. Richmond . . .” is quoted in Gordon, p. 219.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “as happy almost as any I ever spent” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 125.

  [>] Gaskell, “She and I quarreled . . .” is quoted in Uglow, p. 248.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “little book of rhymes” is quoted in Uglow, p. 249.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “a cosy winter visit” is quoted in Barker, p. 663.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Ere long a real modesty . . .” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 199.

  [>] Arnold, “past thirty and plain . . .” is from Russell, p. 15.

  [>] Arnold, “Ah, love, let us be true . . .” is from “Dover Beach” in Abrams, pp. 2183–84.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “The strangest thing is . . .” is from Shorter 1908, vol. 2, p. 197.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “My dear Miss Wooler . . .” is from Wise, vol. 4, p. 39.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “For strangers they were nothing . . .” is from C. Brontë, “Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell,” p. 12.

  Ten: “I Should Fancy I Heard the Steps of the Dead”

  [>] Nussey, “undercurrent” and “fixed intentions” are quoted in Wise, vol. 3, p. 202.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “very happy” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 241.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “a wonderful sight . . .” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 251.

  [>] “every possible invention . . .” is from Tallis, p. 207.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “It seems as if magic . . .” is from Wise, vol. 3, p. 243.

  [>] Thackeray, “There’s a fire and fury . . .” is quoted in Gordon, p. 237.

  [>],[>] Charlotte Brontë, “Like lightning it flashed . . . ,” “He made me for the first time . . . ,” and “Papa worked himself into a state . . .” are from Wise, vol. 4, p. 29.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “has about her an external coldness . . .” is quoted in Gordon, p. 257.

  [>] Lucy Snowe [Charlotte Brontë], “inadventurous, unstirred . . .” is from C. Brontë, Villette, p. 71.

  [>] Lucy Snowe [Charlotte Brontë], “she had no heart . . .” is from C. Brontë, Villette, p. 69.

  [>] Lucy Snowe [Charlotte Brontë], “My nervous system could hardly support . . .” is from C. Brontë, Villette, p. 151.

  [>] Lucy Snowe [Charlotte Brontë], “I had been left a legacy . . .” is from C. Brontë, Villette, p. 479.

  [>] Lucy Snowe [Charlotte Brontë], “It did not cease . . .” is from C. Brontë, Villette, p. 480.

  [>] “clear, forcible . . .” is from Allott, p. 203.

  [>] “charm of freshness” and “This book would have made her famous . . .” are from Allott, p. 178.

  [>] Evans, “still more wonderful book . . .” is quoted in Gordon, p. 255.

  [>] “very slight” is from Allott, p. 175.

  [>] “cynical and bitter spirit” is from Allott, p. 193.

 
; [>] Harriet Martineau, “almost intolerably painful” is from Gates, p. 253.

  [>] Harriet Martineau, “an atmosphere of pain” is from Gates, pp. 253–54.

  [>] Harriet Martineau, “all the female characters . . .” and “There are substantial . . .” are from Gates, p. 254.

  [>] Harriet Martineau, “We do not wonder . . .” is from Gates, p. 255.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “I know what love is . . .” is from Wise, vol. 4, p. 42.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “The differences of feeling . . .” is from Wise, vol. 4, p. 55.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “in a paroxysm . . .” and “Poor fellow . . .” are quoted in Barker, p. 730.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “the backwoods of America . . .” is from Wise, vol. 4, p. 70.

  [>] Gaskell, “half-blown back . . .” is from Chapple and Pollard, p. 242.

  [>] Gaskell, “beautiful in certain lights . . .” is from Chapple and Pollard, p. 243.

  [>] Gaskell, “sadly afraid of him . . .” is from Chapple and Pollard, p. 245.

  [>] Gaskell, “I am sure I should fancy . . .” is from Chapple and Pollard, p. 247.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Father, I am not a young girl . . .” is quoted in Chapple and Pollard, p. 289.

  [>] Aykroyd, “Do you wish to kill your daughter?” is quoted in Chapple and Pollard, p. 289.

  [>] Taylor, “You talk wonderful nonsense . . .” is from Stevens, p. 120.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “I trust to love my husband . . .” is from Shorter 1896, p. 486.

  [>] “one of the best gentlemen . . .” and “what seems to me . . .” are quoted in Gordon, p. 306.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Each time I see Mr. Nicholls . . .” is quoted in Barker, p. 761.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Men don’t seem to understand . . .” is from Wise, vol. 4, p. 155.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “Oh! I am not going to die . . .” is quoted in Green, p. 289.

  [>] Charlotte Brontë, “No kinder, better husband . . .” is quoted in Shorter 1908, vol. 2, p. 388.

  Afterword: “Alas!”

  [>] Arnold, “Early she goes . . .” is from “Haworth Churchyard” in Arnold, p. 279.

  [>] Martineau, “Her heroines love . . .” is from Allott, p. 302.