Brontës
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9. CB to EN, [?3Mar 1841]: MS n.l. [LCB, i, 246–7].
10. CB to WSW, 12 May 1848: MS Gr. F3 pp.1–3, BPM [LCB, ii, 63–5].
11. See below, p.414.
12. CB to EN, [?21 Mar 1841]: MS BS 47.5 p.1, BPM [LCB, i, 248–9].
13. CB to EN, [?1 Apr 1841]: HM 24427 p.1, Huntington [LCB, i, 249].
14. CB to EJB, [?2Apr 1841]: MS n.l. [LCB, i, 251].
15. CB to EN, [?4 May 1841]: MS BS 48 p.1, BPM [LCB, i, 252].
16. Ibid., pp.1–3 [LCB, i, 252–3].
17. Ibid., p.1 [LCB, i, 252]; CB to Henry Nussey, 9 May [1841]: MS in private hands [LCB, i, 256]. I am grateful to William Self for permission to quote from this ms and to Margaret Smith for the use of her transcript of it.
18. CB to EN, [?4May 1841]: MS BS 48 p.3, BPM [LCB, i, 253].
19. Ibid., pp.3–4[LCB, i, 253].
20. Ibid., p.3[LCB, i, 253]; CB to EN, [?10 June 1841]: MS BS 49 pp.3–4, BPM [LCB, i, 257].
21. CB to EN, 1July 1841: MS in private hands [LCB, i, 258]. I am grateful to Lynda Glading for allowing me to see this ms and quote from it. CB to EN, [?3July 1841]: MS Gr. E1 p.1, BPM [LCB, i, 259]; CB to EN, 19 July 1841: MS Gr. E4 p.1, BPM [LCB, i, 261].
22. Dr Scoresby to all clergymen of Bradford parish, Dec 1840: MS in unsorted bundle, 1840, Whitby; Inhabitants of Haworth, Petition to Joseph Shackleton, Dec 1840: MS (2 copies, one in Scoresby’s hand), in unsorted bundle, 1840, Whitby.
23. BO, 11 Feb 1841 pp.3, 4.
24. PB, LI, 13 Mar 1841 p.7 [LRPB, 126].
25. Morgan’s relations with the vicar had deteriorated to such an extent that he now wrote to him and ‘respectfully … decline[d] any further correspondence with him’: he announced his intention to follow the example of George Bull and James Bardsley and resign his living but was dissuaded by his parishioners, who ‘earnestly solicited’ his continued ministrations and presented him with a silver service in recognition of their appreciation: William Morgan to Dr Scoresby, 3Apr 1841: MS in unsorted bundle, 1840, Whitby; HG, 10 Apr 1841 p.3; 17 Apr 1841 p.2.
26. PB, BO, 13 May 1841 p.4[LRPB, 127–8].
27. Ibid.
28. John Winterbotham, BO, 20 May 1841 p.4; 5 June 1841 p.4.
29. HG, 3July 1841 p.3.
30. Accounts of the campaign in Haworth differ according to the political affiliation of the newspaper. The Tory LI, 3July 1841 p.5declared ‘Never was there such a signal defeat of and discomforture to the Whig party in Haworth’ while the supplement to the Whig LM, 3July 1841 p.3said that ‘The visit of the Blue candidates to Haworth has strengthened much the Liberal cause’.
31. EJB, Diary Paper, 30 July 1841: MS in Law [facsimile in Shorter, Charlotte Brontë and her Circle, opp. 146; LCB, i, 262–3]. Emily’s hawk is usually referred to as ‘Hero’ but LCB correctly identifies it as Nero: the Brontës often gave their pets classical names and the hawk’s beak would be reminiscent of a Roman nose. Victoria and Adelaide, named after the queen and her mother, were the pet geese.
32. CB to EN, 1July 1841: MS in private hands [LCB, i, 258]. The Robinsons are listed among the visitors in Scarborough Herald, 22 July 1841 p.3. Details of Wood’s Lodgings are given in an advertisement in Scarborough Record, 7June 1845 p.1.
33. AB, Diary Paper, 30 July 1841: MS in Law [LCB, i, 264–5].
34. CB to EN, 19 July 1841: MS Gr. E4 pp.1–2, BPM [LCB, i, 260].
35. Ibid., pp.2–3, 3, 4[LCB, i, 260–1].
36. Ibid., p.4[LCB, i, 261].
37. Ibid., p.3[LCB, i, 261].
38. CB to EN, [2Nov 1841]: MS HM 24429 pp.1–2, Huntington [LCB, i, 271].
39. CB to EN, 7Aug 1841: MS HM 24428 p.2, Huntington [LCB, i, 266].
40. CB to Aunt Branwell, 29 Sept 1842: MS n.l. [LCB, i, 268–9].
41. CB to EN, [2Nov 1841]: MS HM 24429 p.3, Huntington [LCB, i, 272].
42. CB to EJB, [?7Nov 1841]: MS n.l. [LCB, i, 273].
43. Ibid.
44. CB to EN, [2Nov 1841]: MS HM 24429 p.1, Huntington [LCB, i, 271]; CB to EN, [?9Dec 1841]: MS p.3, Harvard [LCB, i, 275].
45. CB to EN, [?10 Jan 1842]: MS n.l. [LCB, i, 277].
46. The narrative poems included a reworking of Augusta Almeda’s murder by Douglas: EJB, ‘Were they Shepherds, who sat all day’ Jan 1841–May 1844, ‘‘Twas night, her comrades gathered all’, 17 Aug 1841 and ‘Weeks of wild delirium past –’, 1Sept 1841: MS Add 43483 pp.29–38, 20–2, 17–19 [Roper, 110–19, 124–5, 126–8].
47. EJB, ‘Shall earth no more inspire thee’, 16 May 1841: MS in Law [facsimile in Poems 1934, 307; Roper, 121–2]. The nature-loving character who is rejected by society may be Douglas, the outlaw who killed Augusta. He appears in other poems.
48. EJB, ‘I see around me tombstones grey’, 17 July 1841: MS in Law [facsimile in Poems 1934, 316; Roper, 124].
49. EJB, Wuthering Heights, 80. See also ibid., 160 where the dying Catherine muses ‘the thing that irks me most is this shattered prison, after all. I’m tired of being enclosed here. I’m wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there; not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart; but really with it, and in it.’
50. EJB, ‘And like myself lone, wholey lone’, 27 Feb 1841: MS in Berg [Roper, 120].
51. EJB, ‘Riches I hold in light esteem’, 1 Mar 1841: MS in Law [facsimile in Poems 1934, 309; Roper, 120–1].
52. CB to EN, [?10 Jan 1842]: MS n.l. [LCB, i, 277].
53. CB to EN, [20 Jan 1842]: MS HM 24430 p.4 [LCB, i, 279].
54. Ibid. Chitham, 15 and WG AB, 138, 142, 146, 180, 182 both espouse the love affair theory.
55. CB to EN, [20 Jan 1842]: MS HM 24430 p.2 [LCB, i, 278].
56. Ibid., pp.2–3[LCB, i, 278].
57. CB to EN, [?17 Dec 1841]: MS Bon 167, BPM [LCB, i, 275–6].
58. CB to EJB, 2Apr 1841: MS n.l. [LCB, i, 251]; Proceedings of the Directors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, 1841–2, 1Apr 1841: MS RAIL 343/10, NA.
59. Census Returns for Midgley township, 1841: Microfilm, Halifax.
60. Grundy, 60.
61. PBB to Francis Grundy, 22 May [1842]: MS n.l. [Grundy, 85]. Grundy dates this letter to 1845 but on content it clearly dates from 1842. Du Maurier, 118–32 and WG PBB, 187–204, for example, are both convinced of Branwell’s downfall through debauchery at Luddenden Foot.
62. Among Grundy’s wilder exaggerations was his claim to have met all the Brontë sisters whom he describes, en masse, as ‘distant and distrait, large of nose, small of figure, red of hair, prominent of spectacles’: Grundy, 74. He described Branwell in similar unflattering terms: ‘Branwell was very like them, almost insignificantly small – one of his life’s trials. He had a mass of red hair, which he wore brushed high off his forehead, – to help his height, I fancy; a great, bumpy, intellectual forehead, nearly half the size of the whole facial contour; small ferrety eyes, deep sunk, and still further hidden by the never removed spectacles; prominent nose, but weak lower features. He had a downcast look, which never varied, save for a rapid momentary glance at long intervals. Small and thin of person, he was the reverse of attractive at first sight.’: ibid., 75.
63. Leyland, i, 289–90; Grundy, 76.
64. Weightman’s salary, paid by the Church Pastoral Aid Society, was £100 p.a.: HG, 20 Feb 1841 p.4. Weightman preached a sermon on the society’s behalf in Haworth church, raising a ‘liberal collection’ for its funds: ibid., 27 Feb 1841 p.2.
65. The so-called ‘Luddenden Foot Notebook’ was mainly in use in the period 1840–2but Branwell continued to make entries in 1843. The ms is divided, the bulk (28 pages) being MS BS 127, BPM, the rest (14 pages) in the Brotherton. For the concert note see PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS p.2, Brotherton. The only concert of sacred music held in the Old Assembly Rooms on a Monday was on 11 November 1841: HG, 7 Nov 1841 p.1; 14 Nov 1841 p.3. Branwell notes the address of the ‘Mottet Society’ and that subscriptions, in the form of post office order, should be sent to the Managing Editor E. Rimbaud: PBB, [LFN],
1840–2: MS p.5, Brotherton.
66. HG, 30 Jan 1841 p.3; 2Jan 1841 p.3; 18 Dec 1841 p.4; 9 Jan 1841 p.3. The performance of the Messiah got appalling reviews: the singer from London ‘took unwarrantable liberties’ with the music, the drummer was a full beat behind the orchestra and ‘The chorus was murdered outright’: ibid., 1Jan 1842 p.4.
67. Register of Members & Monthly Receipts, Luddenden Village Library, 1834–1914: MSS SPL:238, WYAS, Calderdale. See, for example, WG PBB, 194–5 for the ‘local and well-substantiated tradition’ (but unattributed) that Branwell used the library.
68. White, ii, 414; HG, 26 Dec 1840 p.2. White, ii, 422 also lists 2other Halifax sub-scription libraries and the library of the Halifax Mechanics’ Institute.
69. PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS pp.1, 5, 9, Brotherton; MS BS 127 p.1, BPM.
70. This strange claim is made by Du Maurier, 123 and followed by later biogra-phers.
71. PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS p.4, Brotherton. Only the initial of the forename is given in the list. According to the census, George Thompson (30), a corn dealer and maltster, lived at Middlefoot, between Luddenden and Luddenden Foot; James Titterington (25) was a worsted manufacturer at High Lees and Henry Killiner (30), the only porter, lived at Bankfield: Census Returns for Midgley and Warley, 1841: Microfilm, Halifax. John Titterington, (see below, n.74), was a worsted manufacturer and spinner in Sowerby: William Robson, Commercial Directory (London, 1840–1), ii, 194. I have not been able to identify either ‘R. Cal’ (not Col as in Du Maurier, 123 and WG PBB, 197) or ‘Rd [?Sal]: the latter name may be longer and has either faded or been intentionally erased. ‘At R. Cal last night’ might suggest an abbreviated form of an inn name, but the nearest I can get to this is the R[oyal] Oak. Du Maurier, 123 assumes that both names are the same, a form of ‘Coll’ and ‘McColl’, Irish labourers ‘who huddled together, squatter fashion, near the canal at Luddenden Foot. This is pure invention. The 1841 census records no Irish in Luddenden Foot (except, as it says, Branwell!), and there was only one Michael McCall, a 15-year-old labourer at Denholme, to represent the entire race of ‘Cols’. The weavers, spinners, factory hands and watermen of Luddenden Foot were almost without exception Yorkshire born and bred.
72. Grundy, 79, thought the poem ‘necessarily an impromptu’ though it was in fact an adaptation of one Branwell had written in 1836: it was written on a sheet of Manchester and Leeds Railway Co. headed notepaper: MS BS 127.25, BPM [VN PBB, 455].
73. Grundy, 80–1. Grundy says the fortune teller was a 95-year-old woman who was also consulted ‘in jest’ by the ‘three curates’ of Shirley fame. There appears to have been an astrological tradition in Haworth. The obituary of one renowned Haworth astrologer, Jack Kaye, is in LM, 20 Jan 1846 p.5. Another is referred to in a curious book written as a semifictional account of the area by the curate of Cross Stone. His story has 2 ladies going to consult the astrologer and being taken to see Patrick instead: Revd James Whalley, The Wild Moor: A Tale Founded on Fact (Leeds, 1869), 70–3. I am grateful to Sarah Fermi for drawing my attention to this book.
74. Leyland, i, 290–2; HG, 10 Aug 1861 p.4. Sowden later became a close friend of Nicholls and married him to Charlotte: See below, p.893. For John Titterington see above p.1040 n.77 and p.1059 n.71. There were 3 local John Murgatroyds: a corn miller aged 45 at Brearley and 2stuff manufacturers, aged 70 and 30, who lived at Green Hedge and Victory respectively: Census Returns for Midgley and Warley, 1841: Microfilm, Halifax. I have been unable to find George Richardson in the local census and it was Henry Richardson, not George, who was the wharfinger for the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge, as claimed by Du Maurier, 117, 127. The names John Murgatroyd and George Richardson are written in Greek letters above and below a pencil sketch of a man reclining in a chair in PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS BS 127 p.18, BPM [A&S no.279].
75. Proceedings of the Directors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, 1841–2, 11 Apr 1842: MS RAIL 343/10 p.184, NA.
76. Branwell knew Frobisher well enough to send him verses to set to music: PBB to John Frobisher, [Mar 1846] and 21 Mar 1846: MSS in WYAS, Calderdale [BST: 12:65:410–11]. A presentation was made to Anderson at a dinner at the Swan Inn, Halifax, held to honour his contribution to local exhibitions: it was attended by J.B. Leyland and it seems likely that Branwell, who knew them both, would also have been among the 40–50 guests: HG, 20 Feb 1841 p.4.
77. Yorkshire Notes and Queries, 1st series, vol i, 35. Dearden contributed to a literary and scientific magazine in Nottingham, Dearden’s Miscellany, which was produced by his cousin, and had published a poem on Leyland’s statue of ‘African Bloodhounds’ which was reviewed in HG, 20 Mar 1838 p.3; Mary Leyland, ‘The Leyland Family’, THAS (1954), 37; Leyland, i, 188. Branwell had friends in Ovenden called Pearson with whom he stayed: see below, p.605.
78. William Heaton to Francis Leyland, 20 Feb 1863: MS E.2008.3, BPM [Leyland, i, 268–9]. It is worth pointing out that nightingales are not to be found in the West Riding.
79. Leyland, ‘The Leyland Family’, 37.
80. VN PBB, pxxx.
81. HG, 22 May 1841 p.3. Though the poem was published under the pseudonym ‘Northangerland’ the editor’s note is addressed to ‘PBB’, so Branwell clearly sent the poem in himself. He also did this on at least one other occasion: ‘I send you a production which I know is too long for your columns during the sessions of parliament, so I must leave it
82. HG, 5 June 1841 p.4 [VN PBB, 210].
83. The 8 poems published in the Halifax Guardian are PBB, Heaven and Earth, 23 Jan 1838 [5June 1841 p.4]; On the Callousness Produce by Cares, 13 Dec 1837 [7May 1842 p.6]; On Peaceful Death and Painful Life, 20 Oct 1837 [14 May 1842 p.6]; Caroline’s Prayer, 31 July 1838 [4 May 1842 p.6]; Song, 27 Aug 1837 [11 June 1842 p.6]; An Epicurean’s Song, 11 Dec 1837 [9 July 1842 p.6] and The End of All, 15 Dec 1837 [5 June 1847 p.6]: all were published under Northangerland’s name. For an anonymous poem, ‘Speak kindly to thy fellow man’ [19 Sept 1846 p.6] see below, p.1085 n.18. The two poems on Angrian themes are On Caroline [16 July 1842, p.6] and Real Rest [8 Nov 1845 p.6]. The 3 original works are On Melbourne’s Ministry, [Aug 1841] [14 Aug 1841 p.6], Penmaenmawr. [Nov 1845] [20 Dec 1845 p.6] and Letter from a Father on Earth to his Child in Her Grave’, 3Apr 1845 [18 Apr 1846, p.6]. The same pattern is true of the poems Branwell submitted to the Bradford Herald in 1842, 6 out of 8being revisions of earlier works which were also published in the Halifax Guardian: the 2 original poems were On Landseer’s Painting, [Aug 1841] [28 Apr 1842 p.4] and Noah’s Warning over Methuselah’s Grave, [July–Aug 1842] [25 Aug 1842 p.7]. On the other hand the only poem Branwell seems to have submitted to the Leeds Intelligencer, The Afghan War [7 May 1842 p.7] and 3of the 4he sent to the Yorkshire Gazette were all new. For the Yorkshire Gazette poems see below, pp.548–9.
84. HG, 14 Aug 1841 p.6; 18 Sept 1841 p.5.
85. PBB, ‘Oh thou whose beams were most withdrawn’ [LFN], 8Aug 1841: MS p.7, Brotherton [VN PBB, 212]. This poem is usually dated from ‘Brearley Hill’ but the ms clearly reads ‘Brearley Hall’, which the 1841 census had identifed as his lodgings: see above, p.430–1.
86. PBB, ‘O God! while I in pleasure’s wiles’ [LFN], 19 Dec 1841: MS BS 127 p.15, BPM [VN PBB, 219].
87. PBB, ‘Amid the worlds wide din around’ [LFN], 11 Sept 1841: MS BS 127 p.4, BPM [VN PBB, 214].
88. PBB, ‘The desolate earth – The Wintry sky’ [LFN], 15 Dec 1841, and LORD NELSON [LFN], [c. Sept 1841]: MS BS 127 pp.14, 3, 6–12, BPM [VN PBB, 216, 487–93; JB SP, 112–5]. After the title of the latter Branwell has written ‘NELSONI MORS. H.K. White’, a reference to the poem by Patrick’s contemporary at Cambridge, Henry Kirke White, published in his Remains: see above, p.8–9.
; 89. The first list begins with Blind Maeonides, i.e. Homer (omitted by VN PBB, 454) and continues with David king of Israel, Alexander of Macedon opposite whom Branwell has written ‘the brightest Star that ever blazed away the night of war’, William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Johnson, Robert Burns, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon Buonaparte bracketed with Michael Angelo, Sylla of Rome, Julius Caesar, Walter Scott, John Wilson, Henry Brougham (not Broughton as VN PBB, 454), DANTON and Columbus: PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS p.8, Brotherton [VN PBB, 454]. As Neufeldt points out, the names of Johnson, Burns and Nelson are marked with an asterisk and all feature heavily in Branwell’s poems of this period. The bracket linking Buonaparte and Michael Angelo is also asterisked, suggesting the subject of a future poem. All those listed were famous poets, writers or warriors except Columbus discoverer of America and Henry Brougham, the Whig politician who merits his place as founder of the Edinburgh Review. John Wilson, though a poet, was also the founder of Blackwood’s Magazine. The second list relates more obviously to Branwell’s poem ‘The desolate earth – The Wintry Sky’, and includes ‘Guido’ (omitted by VN PBB, 454) who is possibly the Sicilian poet Guido delle Colonne mentioned by Dante; Burns, Tasso, Galileo, Milton, Otway, Johnson, Cowper, Burns (again) and Johnson (again but deleted): PBB, [LFN], 1840–2: MS BS 127 p.17, BPM [VN PBB, 454].
90. [H?] Woolven to Francis Leyland, 8Sept 1875: MS E.2008.3, pp.2–3, BPM; Proceedings of the Directors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, 1841–2, 4Apr 1842: MS RAIL 343/10 p.174–5, NA.
91. Grundy, 86; Leyland, i, 288; CB to EN, [20 Jan 1842]: MS HM 24480 p.3, Huntington [LCB, i, 250]. Census Returns for Midgley and Warley, 1841: Microfilm, Halifax, identify Branwell’s occupation as ‘C.L.’, possibly meaning ‘Clerk of the Line’: the only other person in the area with the same entry is William Spence, living at Brearley with his wife and young son so I have assumed he must be Branwell’s assistant. For Killiner see above, n.71.