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

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

340

from the school very ill about the time when
the fever broke forth. Elizitheth also sick-
ened. Consumption had macre rapid progress
before it was noticed. Maria died on the tith
of May, 1825 ; her sister Elizabeth died six
weeks later, on the 15th of June. One
marvels to rend that, notwithstanding these
deaths, the other two sisters, Charlotte and
Emily, were sent back to school after the
midsummer holidays. Fortunately the failure
of their health was noticed before remedy was
too late. They were removed from school in
the autumn of 1825, Charlotte being then nine
years old.
From this time the three girls, Charlotte,
Emily, and Anne, remained at home. Their
aunt, Miss Branwell, did what she could to
instruct them, and they were fortunate in the
attachment of " Tabby," an elderly servant,
thoroughly Yorkshire in dialect, appearance,
and character. Mr. Bronto was an ardent
politician, and taught his children to take an
interest in the events of the day. The three
little girls were all remarkable for liveliness of
fancy, and early amused themselves with
writing stories. By the time Charlotte was
fourteen, she had composed no less than
twenty-two volumes. Tne -writing of these
MSS is so minute that it cannot be read
without a magnifying glass. The girl was
probably careful of her paper, and crowded
her composition into as small a space as
possible.

In appearance, Charlotte, when in her
fifteenth year, was a little set, antiquated,
" girl, very quiet in manners, and very
" quaint in dress " She described her own
figure as " stunted," but as eve►y part was
justly proportioned, the word was scarcely ap-
plicable. Her eyes war; quiet and intelligent,
except when she was strongly moved, and
then they glowed with spiritual fire. " I never
" saw the like in any other creature," says Mrs.
Gaskell, and adds :
As for the rest of her features, they were plain, large,
and ill set ; but, unless you began to catalogue them, you
were hardly aware of the fact, for the eyes and power of the
countenance overbalanced every physical defect ; the
crooked mouth and the large nose were forgotten, and the
whole face arrested the attention, and presently attracted
all those whom she herself would have cared to attract.
Her hands and feet were the smallest 1 ever saw; when
one of the former was placed in mine, it was like the soft
touch of a bird in the middle of my palm. The delicate
long fingers had a peculiar fineness of sensation, which was
one reason why all her handiwork, of whatever kind—
writing, sewing, knitting—was so clear in its minuteness.
She was remarkably neat in her whole personal attire ; but
she was dainty as to the fit of her shoes and gloves.

In 1831 Charlotte went to school again to Miss
Wooler, at Roe's Head, and remained there for
a year or two. Subsequently, in 1835, she
went to Miss Wooler as a teacher, but her
health gave way, and she was compelled to
return home. Her sisters seem to have bene-
fitted greatly by her instruction.
At the close of the year 1836, both her
brother Patrick and herself seem to have
seriously considered whether they might not
succeed in literature. Charlotte wrote to
Southey, with some specimens of her poetical
composition ; her brother did the same to
Wordsworth. His letter shows great ability,
but does not seem to have been answered.
Southey replied to Miss Bronte in a letter
full of excellent sense. He advised her to
devote herself to her home duties in the first
place, and to devote attention to literature
only as a recreation. Charlotte followed this
advice for a time, but ultimately the bent of
her mind was too strong to be resisted. Her
genius was too active to allow her to remain
idle She took a situation as a governess,
and entered one of those " respectable " fami-
lies where the governess is almost certain to
feel herself slighted :

She said that none but those who had been in the posi•
tion of a govenfess could ever realise the dark side of `• re•
spectable " human nature; under no great temptation to
crime, but daily giving way to selfishness and ill•temper,
till its conduct towards those dependent on it sometimes
amounts to a tyranny of which one would rather be the
victim than the inflicter.

Her health failed her in this situation, but she
was not wholly discouraged. In 1841 she took
a second situation, but remained in it only a
few months. She desired to qualify herself
for a superior situation, and at length deter-
mined to enter a pensionnat at Brussels.
She remained as pupil and teacher two years,