Patrick’s last major campaign of the year 1834 was for a Temperance Society in Haworth. An inaugural meeting on 17 November, held in the National School-Room, was so well attended that it had to move to the larger premises of the Methodist chapel on West Lane. Reviving the spirit of co-operation with other sects which had existed before he had incurred Winterbotham’s wrath, Patrick called on the support of the other ministers in Haworth, inviting them, Theodore Dury and James Bardsley from Keighley, and a number of other ministers from the district, to address the meeting. Patrick was appointed President of the Society and given three secretaries, the two Baptist ministers, Moses Saunders and John Winterbotham, and his own son, Branwell. At the close of the meeting ‘a considerable number’ of people came forward to sign the temperance pledge. Their membership cards declared, ‘We agree to abstain from Distilled Spirits, except for Medicinal Purposes, and to discountenance the Causes and Practice of Intemperance.’ Perhaps it was the good effect of the Temperance Society, but when Babbage came to Haworth to investigate the sanitary conditions in 1850 he noted that the total consumption of beer and spirits was considerably below the average of other places.64 This certainly belies the drunken image given the town by Mrs Gaskell.
Ellen Nussey had returned from London in the summer and, to Charlotte’s evident surprise, not only remained unchanged by the experience of living in the metropolis but also as firmly attached to her old friend as ever. Mrs Gaskell was struck by Charlotte’s lack of optimism in later life, but this was evidently a characteristic she had developed by the age of eighteen.
I am slow very slow to believe the protestations of another … I have long seen ‘friend’ in your mind, in your words in your actions, but now distinctly visible, and clearly written in characters that cannot be distrusted, I discern true friend! I am truly
Ellen tried to fall back into the old ways of gaining Charlotte’s attention in their correspondence, seeking her opinion on various subjects. Would Charlotte give her a list of her faults so that she could seek to improve herself? – she would not, ‘Why child – I’ve neither time nor inclination to reflect on your faults when you are so far from me, and when besides kind letters and presents and so forth are continually bringing forward your goodness in the most prominent light.’ Did Charlotte think dancing between young men and women an objectionable amusement? – she did not, unless it encouraged frivolity and wasted time.66 Would Charlotte recommend some books for her to read? – she would, ‘in as few words as I can’. The list she gave Ellen is unexceptionable and is simply a summary of the standard works of the day, reflecting not Charlotte’s own, more adventurous reading but what she thought would suit her conventional friend.
If you like poetry let it be first rate, Milton, Shakespeare, Thomson, Goldsmith, Pope (if you will though I don’t admire him) Scott, Byron, Campbell, Wordsworth and Southey. Now Ellen don’t be startled at the names of Shakespeare, and Byron. Both these were great Men and their works are like themselves, You will know how to chuse the good and avoid the evil, the finest passages are always the purest, the bad are invariably revolting you will never wish to read them over twice, Omit the Comedies of Shakspeare and the Don Juan, perhaps the Cain of Byron though the latter is a magnificent Poem and read the rest fearlessly.67
As Shakespeare had been one of Miss Wooler’s favourite authors, there was little chance of shocking Ellen there. Byron, more feared for his moral reputation than for his often execrable verse, was the only unusual inclusion and, as Charlotte pointed out, poems like his ‘Hebrew Melodies’ were free from any taint of moral perversion. What she did not tell Ellen was that she had not only read both Don Juan and Cain herself, but had lingered over the more salacious passages.68
For History read Hume, Rollin, and the Universal History if you can – I never did. For Fiction – read Scott alone all novels after his are worthless. For Biography, read Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, Boswell’s life of Johnson, Southey’s life of Nelson, Lockhart’s life of Burns, Moore’s life of Sheridan, Moore’s life of Byron, Wolfe’s remains. For Natural History, read Bewick, and Audubon, and Goldsmith and White of Selborne. For Divinity, but your brother Henry will advise you there.
The whole tenor of the list was summed up in Charlotte’s final comment: ‘I only say adhere to standard authors and don’t run after novelty.’69 One wonders, by contrast, what she might have suggested Mary Taylor should read.
On 24 November 1834, Emily and Anne together drew up a diary paper which gives a brief but eloquent vignette of life at Haworth Parsonage. It is signed by them both but written by Emily, on a scrap of paper less than 10cm by 6cm, in a mixture of her ordinary hand and the same tiny script as Charlotte and Branwell used in their miniature books.
November the 24 1834 Monday Emily Jane Bronte Anne Brontë I fed Rainbow, Diamond, Snowflake Jasper phesant (alias this morning Branwell went down to Mr Drivers and brought news that Sir Robert peel was going to be invited to stand for Leeds Anne and I have been peeling Apples for/ Charlotte to make an apple pudding. and for Aunts [?] and apple/ Charlotte said she made puddings perfectly and she was of a quick but lim[i]ted intellect[.] Taby said just now come Anne pillopatate (ie pill a potato Aunt has come into the Kitchen just now and said where are you feet Anne Anne answered
Emily and Anne November the 24 183470
Down the side of the first page Anne contributed a sketch of a flowing ringlet, which Emily captioned ‘A bit of Lady Julet’s hair done by Anne’. While the diary paper is a lively evocation of the hustle and bustle of a wash-day Monday at the parsonage, the dreadful handwriting and spelling are scarcely credible as the work of a highly intelligent sixteen-year-old. The reference to Sir Robert Peel being invited to stand as Member of Parliament for Leeds was an indication of a revived interest in politics which swept the family – and indeed the whole country – in the first half of 1835. The King seized the opportunity of Viscount Althorp’s removal to the House of Lords to dismiss the Whig ministry and impose a minority Tory government, led by Sir Robert Peel. Without the support of the House of Commons, Peel’s ministry lasted only a brief hundred days before he was forced to resign. The King’s high-handed action, which caused outrage in the country, ensured the return of a Whig government for the next six years. As the fate of future reforms hung in the balance in the struggle for power, the whole tenor of life was disrupted. Even Ellen Nussey, who normally showed no interest in politics, was caught up in the enthusiasm. Shortly after returning from a two-week visit to The Rydings in February, and just before Peel’s resignation, Charlotte wrote to her:
What do you think of the course Politics are taking? I make this inquiry because I now think you have a wholesome interest in the matter, formerly you did not care greatly about it. B[aines] you see is triumphant. Wretch! I am a hearty hater, and if t
here is any one I thoroughly abhor, it is that man. But the Opposition is divided, red hots, and luke warms; and the Duke (par excellence the Duke) and Sir Robert Peel show no signs of insecurity, though they have already been twice beat; so ‘courage, mon amie.’ Heaven defend the right: as the old chevaliers used to say, before they joined battle. Now Ellen, laugh heartily at all this rodomontade, but you have brought it on yourself, don’t you remember telling me to write such letters to you as I write to Mary Taylor? Here’s a specimen; hereafter should follow a long disquisition on books, but I’ll spare you that.71
At the beginning of April, Haworth, in common with many other towns in West Yorkshire, sent an address to Sir Robert Peel in support of his minority government. The address was clearly instigated by Patrick, who was the first to sign it, and it bears all the hallmarks of his style, from its grandiose opening to its tentative conclusion.
SIR – With glowing and unfeigned delight we hail all your measures of Reform, and witness the glorious struggle which you and your colleagues, in conjunction with our gracious Sovereign, are making at the present eventful crisis, in order to stem the factious torrent which assails you, and which threatens to overwhelm the best institutions of our country: and in the name and on behalf of the numerous Friends to Church and State in our chapelry, we entreat you not to resign your high office, but to persevere even to the dissolution of Parliament, if necessary, being fully convinced, as we are, that by such an event you would find a great accession of true and loyal hearts to support you from every quarter of the United Kingdom. We are not sure that in this address we have proceeded according to the regular and prescribed form, but we have obeyed the best feelings of our hearts, and the genuine dictates of our consciences and judgements.72
The publication of the address in the Leeds Intelligencer caused a furore in Haworth. John Foster wrote in indignation to denounce it as unrepresentative of the views of the Haworth voters. There were 124 registered voters in the township of whom ninety-six had declared their support for the Whigs, Lord Morpeth and George Strickland, in the forthcoming election. Far from expressing the views of all the voters, therefore, the address only represented those of at most twenty-eight men – led by the incumbent and churchwardens who, Foster suggested, acted out of fear of the parliamentary proposals to disestablish the Church of England. Foster also poured scorn on the ‘Conservative Committee’ whose chairman had signed the address: its existence in Haworth was such a closely guarded secret that no one had heard of it until the address was published.73
At the end of April Lord Morpeth himself appeared on the hustings in Haworth to a ‘cordial’ reception from the reformers of Haworth. Charlotte was unimpressed, but gave her detailed opinion to Mary Taylor rather than Ellen Nussey, so her assessment of the future Earl of Carlisle, whom she was to meet again many years later in London, is unrecorded. Well might Charlotte exclaim, ‘The Election! The Election! that cry has rung even amongst our lonely hills like the blast of a trumpet’, as the Dissenters gathered forces in Haworth. While Charlotte urged Ellen to entreat her brothers ‘if it be necessary on your knees to stand by their country and Religion in this day of danger’, in Yorkshire it was the Whigs, once again, who were returned for the West Riding.74 This reflected the general state across the country and a Whig ministry, under Lord Melbourne, was returned to office, meaning that the pace of reform would continue unchecked. ‘A genuine Friend’, signing himself ‘O.P.Q’, addressed himself to the reformers of Haworth in the first glow of victory, congratulating them on withstanding ‘FALSEHOOD, BRIBERY AND INTIMIDATION’ and urging them to establish a Reform Association in the township. One of the moral victories he claimed for the reformers was that they had effected a volte-face by Patrick: ‘the clergyman, once a flaming reformer, has joined the ranks of those who support corruption in church and state’.75 The threat of the disestablishment of the Church was one reform Patrick could not accept and would fight to the end of his days, but the accusation was hardly fair.
Shortly after the election, Patrick wrote and published, through Robert Aked of Keighley, a pamphlet which he entitled The Signs of the Times.76 In a measured and restrained style which was the antithesis of the violent and accusatory tone adopted by Winterbotham, Foster and ‘O.P.Q.’, he set out the ‘signs of the times’ as he saw them. By far the greatest part of the pamphlet was given over to a defence of the Established Church of England and Ireland. He argued that, like a good father, the state had a moral duty to lay down a system of religious instruction for its people and that the Church of England was the best suited to be the church supported by the state. At the same time, however, all religions should be tolerated and there should be full liberty of conscience. Patrick was far from saying that the Established Church was perfect, but he argued, as he always had done, that reform, not destruction, was needed. It was obvious that tithes should be fairly commuted and church rates, in their present form, abolished. It was equally obvious that the Church of England should be financed by some fairer system which did not impose on Dissenters but it should not lose state support.77 If it had to rely on voluntary contributions alone it could not survive, as men would always find other ways of spending their money. The same argument did not apply to Dissenters. If they wanted to attend university and have their own burial grounds, then they should build their own and endow them with their own funds; in this way they could follow the dictates of their own consciences without destroying the basic principles of the universities and the Church.
Another ‘sign of the times’ Patrick noted was the ‘growing conviction that, in our generation, we are wiser than our forefathers’. Looking back to the great law-givers, philosophers and poets of biblical and classical times, he pointed out that though more people now had a little knowledge, fewer knew much. Finally, he objected to the party violence of the last elections: ‘If there be one privilege greater than another, in all our charter of liberty, it is that which consists in full permission to write and speak our sentiments with propriety and decorum.’78 Without the right to free speech, the whole fabric of freedom was undermined.
The Signs of the Times is an important summary of Patrick’s political beliefs and does much to redress his image as a rampant high Tory, opposed to all change. His children, with the tendency of youth to see things in black and white, were much more extreme in their views. The excitement of the election inspired Branwell to introduce one in the juvenilia. Allowing Northangerland to return from his exile in Stumps Isle and moving on from the Angrians’ successes in their military campaigns against the Ashantee,79 he introduced a Reform Ministry to Verdopolis. In a vivid depiction of the hustings, drawn from his own observations, Branwell had Northangerland give a powerful speech denouncing the peculation, corruption and rottenness of the ministry:
I passed that evening through Elrington Square and beheld workmen erecting a spacious Hustings in front of the splendid Elrington Hall while directly opposite another was in progress for the yellows and their speaker Montmorency … Orange Crimson Scarlet and Blood red favours mingled in the tumultous confusion. at 7 o clock the yellow Hustings began to fill with the Ministeral grandees and Leaders amid the hoarse applause of their Partisans … Ere I was aware Another Person stood in the full front of the Bloody hustings But the Roars of Hate and Triumph rose in such deafning volleys that I could hardly steady my eyes to see him.80
Just as had happened in real life, the meeting of the Verdopolitan Parliament was brought to a close by the four kings, Parry, Ross, Stumps and Moncay, who prorogued it to prevent discussion of Northangerland’s bill for the reform of the navy.81
The rapid changes on the national political scene were followed by no less momentous changes in the Brontë family. On 2 July 1835, Charlotte wrote to Ellen:
We are all about to divide, break up, separate, Emily is going to school Branwell is going to London, and I am going to be a Governess This last determination I formed myself, knowing that I should have to take the step sometime, and ‘
better sune as syne’ to use the Scotch proverb and knowing also that Papa would have enough to do with his limited income should Branwell be placed at the Royal Academy, and Emily at Roe-Head. Where am I going to reside? you will ask – within four miles of Yourself dearest at a place neither of us are wholly unacquainted with, being no other than the identical Roe-Head mentioned above. Yes I am going to teach, in the very school where I was myself taught – Miss Wooler made me the offer and I preferred it to one or two proposals of Private Governessship which I had before received – I am sad, very sad at the thoughts of leaving home but Duty – Necessity – these are stern Misstresses who will not be disobeyed.82
Though leaving home would be a terrible wrench, for Charlotte and Emily there was at least the consolation of being together. At the end of the month only Anne would be left at home with her father and aunt. The seventeen-year-old Emily was going to school for the first time since her few brief months at Cowan Bridge and Charlotte and Branwell were launching out into the world in their chosen careers.
Chapter Nine
Brontës Page 35
