The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-04 00:00:00

APRIL 4, 1857. f it t ratur t. The Life of Charlotte Bronte. By Mrs. Gaskell. Two Vols. London : Smith and Elder. "CAN any good thing come out of Nazareth ?" In the year 1840, an out-of-the-way village, in the wilds of Yorkshire, by name Haworth, obtained some transient notoriety by the uncompromising resistance made by the vicar and his curate to the agitation against church fates. They preached and lectured against Dissent with so much energy that a local newspaper greatly marvelled that such dis plays of intellect should emanate from the village of Haworth, " situated among the bogs " and mountains, and until very lately sup " posed to be in a state of semi-barbarism.' A few years later, and this semi-barbarous village was to become for ever memorable for the literary genius which shone forth from it, and for a social history unsurpassed for its sad, romantic interest. The quiet churchyard of Haworth is now sanctified by associations which will make it hereafter a place of pilgrim age. The story of the Bronte family transpired slowly. In the first flush of the success of "Jane Eyre" everyone asked, " Who is C u rrer Bell ?'"r he wonder was not diminished when it was found that there were also an Ellis and an Acton Bell,—both exhibiting literary talent of a most striking and peculiar kind. It was long before the public could be persuaded that the three writers were sisters,—all young women, and brought up in the seclusion of an isolated Yorkshire parsonage. While the marvel was yet fresh, and by many still doubted, it became known that two of these sisters were hurried to the grave within a few months of each other. The most gifted yet remained, and in " Shirley " and " Villette" gave new evidences of her brilliant power. A fortunate destiny seemed to await her. She married happily. She was still young; much was expected from the maturity of her genius ; and never did funeral knell sweep more dis mally over the mind of the literary world than when it was announced that she too had sunk to the grave. The whole strange and pathetic story is faithfully told in Mrs. Gaskell's memoir. Mrs. Gaskell was one of Charlotte Brente's few female friends ; they were attached by many links of sympathy ; and it is evident from their writings that their minds were to some extent cast in the same mould. Mrs. Gaskell dues her friend full justice. She does not attempt to criticise either her works or her character ; but she warmly sympathises with both, and she allows the facts of Miss Bronte's brie career to speak for themselves. In the peculiar surroundings of the Bronte family may be found an explanation of the peculiarities (in some respects masculine and savage) which appear not only in " Wuthering Heights " and " The Tenant of Wildfell-hall," but also in " Jane Eyre." The sisters reflected in their writings the stern, rough aspects both of Nature and society which they witnessed, as Salvator Rosa painted the wild, grotesque scenes which were most familiar to his eye. The sisters were in a manner " outlaws " from the softer and more refined influences of modern life; and hence the force with which they were able to express the rude manners and) dark passions of the " semi-barbarous" country in which they were reared. This cir cumstance must never be lost sight of in esti mating the writings of Charlotte Bronte. Her mind was formed under the pressure of mas culine influences. The village of Haworth lies embedded in the range of moors between Yorkshire and Lancashire, on the old road between Keighley and Colne. The vegetation is of the scantiest character. The fences are all of stone. A few stunted shrubs scarcely relieve the dull, grey aspect of the widely-spread country. " All " round the horizon there is the same line of " sinuous wave-like hills ; the scoops into " which they fall only revealing other hills " beyond, of similar colour and shape, crown.xl " with wild black moors." In the midst of this solitude is the church of Haworth. The churchyard is large and THE PRESS. crowded, the earth having risen, from centu ries of interments, far above its original level. The parsonage faces the church, and the small front garden is closely surrounded with graves and tombstones. A low stone wall, fringed with bushes of elder and lilac, alone separates the garden from the crowded graves. The parsonage-house is of grey-stone, two storeys high, heavily roofed with flags. It is as rude in aspect as the surrounding scenery. It has no bay window, no rustic balconies, or verandahs, no architectural adornments of any sort; but it is kept scrupulously neat and clean, and while the sisters lived the flower borders were most carefully tended. Some anecdotes aro related to show the rudeness of the country. Thirty years ago, when Charlotte Bronte was a child, bull baitings were the common amusement of the people. The old Norse character, with its mental instincts and contempt of danger, subsists among them. Suffering excites little sympathy, and life is cheaply held. A squire of the neighbourhood, when confined to his bed, and no longer able to witness his favourite sport of cock-fighting in the usual way, had the birds brought, into his bedroom, and had mirrors so placed that he could see the game without moving. He died while witnessing his favourite enjoyment. A recent tourist surveying a handsome antique man• sion in the hills belonging to a Yorkshire squire proposed a nearer inspection of it. " Yo'd better not," said his guide. `. He's let " fly at some folks' legs, and let shot lodge in " 'em afore now, for going too near to his " house." A century ago Haworth was celebrated for the ministrations of the Rev. William Grim shaw, the curate. He was a fervid disciple of Wesley and Whitfield, but does not seem, not withstanding his personal holiness, to have reclaimed the people from their savage ways. In 1819, the patron of the living, the Vicar of Bradford, conferred it on Mr. Redhead, the predecessor of Mr. Bronte. The parishioners viewed the nomination as an invasion of their rights. They assailed the new vicar, paraded a donkey round the aisles, set up a drunken sweep to preach against the minister, and at last made a desperate assault on the parson and his supporters. Mr. Redhead was glad to escape from so lawless a set. Mr. Bronte was appointed to succeed him ; and in February, 1820, brought to Haworth parsonage his wife and six little children. He was a native of County Down, in Ireland, and was born in 1777. He is still living, his stalwart form, iron constitution, and advanced age, forming a remarkable con trast to the delicate organisation and early death of all his children A weaker frame, or finer mind, must lung since have sunk beneath the pressure of affliction which he has sus tained. In early life he displayed an inde pendent spirit, took charge of his own fortunes, and after having been for a time a private tutor, and filled some curacies, he was ap pointed to the living of Haworth. His wife was of a totally different character to himself. She was a gentle, loving, patient, cheerful creature, readily submitting herself to her stern husband's sway. She bore him six children, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell, Emily, and Anne. The whole six now repose with their mother in Haworth churchyard. Charlotte was born 21st April, 1816. Her sister Maria, a delicate child, was some months older. The young family were early deprived of their mother's care. She suffered from internal cancer soon after she arrived at Haworth, and died in September, It 21, when Charlotte was little more than five years old. She was gentle and uncomplaining to the last. He husband was subject to fits of passion, which he took strange means to subdue. Once he seized a saw and sawed away at his chairs until spent with muscular exertion. Another time he poked his hearthrug into the fire that the stench might overcome him ; and frequently lie fired off his pistols in rapid succession from the back door. " How thank " ful ought I to be," exclaimed the suffering wife, as she saw his convulsions of rage, " that he has never spoken a harsh word to II me.'• 339 Under the guardianship of their passionate father, with his strong mind and energetic nature, the children remained until they were sent to school. Ho had no liking for society, and lived apart from his neighbours. The children, therefore, had little intercourse with the outward world, and their solitary life stimulated the growth of their imaginative powers. On one occasion their father took a strange mode of discovering their intelligence. He had a mask, which he desired each child in succession to wear while he asked them some questions, believing that they would answer him the more freely if they fancied that they were concealed. The result is told in his own words : I began with the youngest ( Anne, afterwards Acton Bell), and asked what a child like her most wanted; she answered, " Age and experience." I asked the next !Emily, afterwards Ellis Bell ), what I had best do with her brother Branwell, who was sometimes a naughty boy ; she answered, " Reason with him, and when he won't listen to reason, whip him." I asked Branwell what was the hest way of knowing the difference between the intellects of men and women ; he answered, " By considering the differ ence between them as to their bodies." I then asked Charlotte what was the best book in the world ; she answered, " The Bible." And what was the next best ; she answered, " The Book of Nature." I then asked the next what was the best mode of education fur a woman; she answered, " That which would make her rule her house well." Lastly, I asked the oldest what was the best mode of spending time ; she answered, " By laying it out in preparation for a happy eternity." I may not have given precisely their words, but I have nearly dune so, as they made a deep and lasting impression on my memory. The substance, however, was exactly what I have stated. The school•life of Charlotte and Maria is noticeable, as it was faithfully reflected in the earlier• chapters of " Jane Eyre." A school had been established at Cowan's-bridge, York shire, for the daughters of clergymen, by a wealthy clergyman, the Rev. W. C. Wilson. To this school four of the little Brontes were sent—Maria, Charlotte, Elizabeth, and Emily. The payment was 141. per annum only, the extra expenses being defrayed by subscrip tions. One would imagine, from the descrip• Lion here given of the children's fare, that the payment was more than sufficient to cover the cost of their education. There was oatmeal porridge for breakfast, " too often sent up, " not merely burnt, but with offensive frag " ntents of other substances discoverable in " it." Meat was allowed for dinner, but it was often tainted from neglect, and the house seemed to be pervaded morning, noon, and night by the odour of rancid fat that steamed out of the oven in which much of their food was prepared. The water was foul, the milk bilgy, and the cook filthy. She was not the only person to blame. The "Miss Scatcherd" of " June Eyre" is a faithful representation of one of the teachers, and poor Maria Bronte is represented by Helen Burns. One instance of the cruel treatment to which this poor girl was subjected will be sufficient : The dormitory in which Maria slept was a long room, holding a row of narrow little beds on each side, occupied by the pupils ; and at the end of this dormitory there was a small bedchamber opening out of it, appropriated to the use of Miss Scatcherd. Maria's bed stood nearest to the door of this room. One morning, after she had become so seriously unwell as to have had a blister applied to her side ( the sore from which was not perfectly healed), when the getting•up bell was heard, poor Maria moaned out that she was so ill, so very ill, she wished she might stop in bed ; and some of the girls urged her to do so, and said they would explain it all to Miss Temple, the su;•erintendent. But Miss Scatcherd was close at hand, and her anger would have to be faced before Miss Temple's kind thoughtfulness could interfere ; so the sick child began to dress, shivering with cold, as, without leaving her bed, she slowly put on her black worsted stockings over her thin white legs (my informant spoke as if she saw it yet, and her whole face flashed out undying indignation). Just then Miss Scatcherd issued from her room, and, without asking fcr a word of explanation from the sick and frightened girl, she took her by the arm, on the aide to which the blister• had been applied, and by one vigorous movement whirled her out into the middle of the floor, abusing her all the time for dirty and untidy habits. There she left her. My informant says Maria hardly spoke, except to beg some o f the more indignant girls to be calm ; but in slow trembling movements, with many a pause, she went downstairs at last—and was punished for being late. The low fever spoken of in " Jane Eyre " really broke out in this school in the spring of 18.25. It tended to open the eyes of Mr. Wilson. The cook was discharged, and the dietary of the poor children improved ; but many of them, it is probable, carried in their wasted frames seeds of disease which hurried them to an untimely grave. Maria was taken