The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-07 00:00:00

___S li rf
tained that she has foundered. The accidence
44 - , , ..____.
be learned, seems to have happened throng. tiv, , . . f 4,,, -,-, - . .
being kept in the merchantman, and the 1-17 . - cr.-7, , t JO 1:
steering her did no see his danger until he . ~.s ' . - :;: f , ..'
,';-11*
Duke, whose helm was'hard to port, steei i. : th ~ k.. f" Cr i-!.:5‘..1.4
4
gut of his w.g. The yeall43A9,4l.jia • •• - • -,-;,...*,4a. ._,-4.•::,
7;n-6-r,u, inTisTiirry and consternation, ,u,';.. tirm
'Lard a-Starboard and Ttin, ift boursd, right in ... ; o e,„ ~„...,.,
chains of the Duke. Afohlanae, is to be attlea . titfaS.P.Leil.
1 officer of the watch, who seems to have done all that was
proper to avert the accident, Which will detain the ship at
least 10 or 12 days,- and Sb li• will-rnoit likely.have to go to
Sheerness for repairs. ' ; • ''• ' • • •
Pn the forenoon of the Bth.her.Majesty's:ship Trafalgar,
1 20, captain Grenville, was .. observed at anchor off the
Swallow Bank; Having exchanged. salutes with the flag-
Ship of R,
tow. by ear-A.dmiral Dundas,.she gcit tun der way, and was
taken in
the paddle-steamier Magicienne. The
Trafalgar has been 84 days on. her homeward 'wage, and
On arrival At Sheerness will be- paid off Times.

DEATH OP - UR'BER BELL.

io-ialEo:-°tghesiinrlitui.,was
not of an
~
The early death of the large
the :Ole; survivor prepared all
fa.m"iCiyuiirrferwllheolnirsihse‘ dead I
who knew the -circums*c..es...to .OzTect the-lose of this
the leSsileep will be
yield us nothing
which will hold
them giftedo rge.r grief ao
ft:srhoeac ivaeotty:h.tYrheater
workshe r):iF,
their place in the literature of Our century; and, but for
,her frail health, there might 'have been three times three
=for she 4as undefforty---3,14..
exhaustible kind.. If it ha4,neati exhaustible, it would
•haVe been,:exhausted some time since. She bad every
inducement that could have availed, with one less high-
minded to publish two or :three novels a year. Fame
waited upon all she did ; ' and she might have enriched
hers& by' very slight e3rertioil. : but her, steady convic-
tion-was that thepublioation-of_a, bet* is a solemn act
•of conscience—in theca_ of a novel ,a 4 mush as any othcr-
'l;i:id of book. She was net,fOnd of speaking of herself and
hei 'conseience; butshe now and,thea uttered. to her very
.f6vr'fri6as things which: may, ii,lael be, told now,, without
fear ofhurtiog. her sensitive nature e;things which ought
to be teld,inher honour. Oppong these sayings was one
which eXplairis the long interval ,between her works. She
said' that she thought every senions delineation of life
'ought to be the prOduet. ofpersqual.experience and obser-
'ration ; experience naturally:eceurrifig, and observation
of a normal, and not of a, forced' or special kind. " I
haire not acaumnlated, sineet Lpubliehed. ' Shirley,'" she
.aiyhi, Said,
d,,
pi
itallii
1.,:i
.0 o"whatrdoe
conscientiousness
e n rusheslnasyp
34i tpoadAbpygo74h, e
al
re; f o rehr
,;
could'
gamsr
ae
sctya
nt
sympathy
pat
bte
be
eykdrwagain
etl
od, i
her sensitive nature. She 14(1#nd ',vanity, which praise
cir ..ld..aggravate, or ,genswe..4artify. , She. calmly read
all cclyerse.reViewe of her I? QQli Et, ifor.the sake of instruc-
tion ; and when she could trot . reeegnise the aptness of
criticism, she was .more puzzled„than: hurt or angry.
The cuelerp flatteries Whjeh.wait upon literary success
she cpiizzed. with a ,charraing grace ; and any occasional
severity,. such as literary women.Arefavoured with at the
beizinnini of their course,; She accepted with a. humility
which was full-of dignity anck charm.: From her feeble
constitution of body, her sufferings; by the -tleath of her
Whole .fainily,,and.tbe secanded.andrsonotonous life she
led, she became morbidly;- sensitive in some respects ;
blit in her high vocation, BE., had, in addition to the
deep intuitions of . a gifted(:. woman- , the -strength of a
_man,. the patience .of .a...:ltere,.-an.4..the conscientious-
ness of
,a saint.. ,In the Veinta• in which women are
usnallY most weak,--in: regard &to opinion,: :to appre-
,ciation, to applause—_--fher-incralistre'ngth lell.not a whit
:behind the intellectual 3fercei•nianitested in her works.
Though passion occupies;tpo ;plduainent a place in her
„..
pictures, of life, though women have to. complain that
she represents love ;i _
s the:hole mid solneoneern of their

lives,,and though governe.*&:4lB7ptoinily • have reason to
remonstrate, and do ramonitrato, that -their-share' of

human conflict. is laid ',open somewhat rudely, and in-
considermely, and very sweepinglylo:sonial obArvation,
it is a tracy social..liumsing, that wel'hare had' a famale
writer who hai divot Atenaucetteelitimentalism and feeble

egotism with sueit practical:4(4'o3 its is -apparent in the
workeloleorrer Bell. -Her-heroines loi'e too readily,
too ;lehetnently,., and soinetilne:l-after a fashion which

their, fem4le re-a-derslinty're',,ent ;,.'l..mlt they do their duty
through, everything; an rues healthy sin action, how-
ever.• morbid in passion. - . • •
Horn admirable-this. stresigth wontiefirfnl this
foree,of integrity—can liltrtlly' he undqstiod..by'any but
the few who know.•thc, i'iory of this-rernarkable•'woman's
life... The aceount of the sichool J'Ane ;yrd" is only
too trirc. The ,“.Helen'? of that .tale is-tnot Vrepisely
the eldest sister, who Idied • there—but more like
her thatr any other .persbn. ghe is that .sister,
with a difference." Another -sister 'died at home

soon after leaving the school; and in consequence
of its hardships ; and Cthrer •Beii" (Charlotte
Bronti) was never free' while there-(for a year and a hall)
from the gnawing sendatioiror•conse4Uent feebleness of
downright hunger ; and She never grew an inch from that
time. She-was the smallest of women; and it was that
school which stunted her growth. 'As she tells us in
"Jane -Eyre,'!, the visitation -of - epidemic caused a
total change and radical reform- in the establishment,
which was even removed to' another site. But the re-

form came too late to reverseAhe destiziy of the doomed

family of theißrontis: -• • t
These wonderful girls' were the daughters- of a clergy-
man who, now very aged •and'infirin, survives his wife
and all•his many children: Thetiame Bronti (an abbre-
viation of Bronterre) is-irish; and very ancient. The
mother died many years ago; and several of her children.
When the reading -world began •to have an interest in
their existence, there were thrbel 'sisters and a brother
living withAtheir father at-Ita-worth, near Keighley, in
Yorkshire. The girls•-had' been; out as governesses—
Charlotte, at Brussels,- as is no secret to the readers
of " Villette." , They- reioiced, to meet again at horhe
• —Charlotte, Emily, and • Ann .(" Currer," "Ellis,"
and "ACton."): in her obituary- notice of her two

sisters ."'Currer" reveals' sometbing of their process
of authorship, and their experience of failure and
successS, How terrible- ssfirre 'of their experience of
life was; in the 'midst of thus. domestic freedom and
Emilymn s,tt
yu lb.indulgence:aasnendednAcabnhfrynaori
trandcTeet afforded
aty, hf
or
feed;
nnTt p ydi
te
re
,13•
t their hne eti
anitrt4hsentel
asui
rdoafi
and
duustytfaal
masculineett father,
ee
ofry,
told us, to present life 'as- .they. knew it ; andthe;
-us "Wuthering Heights, and " The Tenant of Wildfellve
Such an experience as this indicates is really per -
plexiegto•English people in general ; and aft- that "we
have ts. do with itis to bear On mincriehen eersposed to
pass- criticism on thescciarseness which, to a certain
degree,' pervades the'werks'ef all. the sisters; and the
repulsiveness which-makes thb taleily Emily and Ann
really horriblesto people who have:net iron nerves.
"Jane-Eyre" was natin-ally, and universally supp.oied
'to-be Charlotte herself ;:but she always denied'it, calmly,
'cheerfully, and with the obiliouS Sincerity: which Cba-
Tacterised all shesaid. • She declared- thattlatre was no
mere ground 'for the- assertion than thif. • She'once told
her sisters that they Were wrong -even -morally wrong
—in•making their - heroitfes. -beautiful, as a matter of
courses • They 'replied-that'it'svas impossible ''to make
a heroine interesting other'- terms.' Her answer
was, -" I will prove to-yoirthattyou are wrong. I will
show you a heroirie.as small 'anti-as-plain as myself who
shall be as interesting its •am of yours." ," Hence,
"Jane Eyre,' " said she; in telling the anecdote hut she
'is not myself, any' lurttiersthari that:" As the work
went on the interest- deepened -to the writer. When
she came to • " Thotnfiektf" setts -could not Step. Being
ellen t-sighteds•to 'excess, she'erotein little square paper
books, timid close to het 41Yes, "and: (the first- copy) in
'penCil. On she :went,- Writing incessantly for three
-weeks' by- which time.'she 'had carried her heroine
a Kay from Thornfield, 'and Whs. herself a fever,
which comp lied her to -patises The rest :was written
with fess-vehemence; and with More anxious Dare. The
'world addS, 'with less'isigoar`and intereat; She could
gratify -her Singular 'reserve in 'regardtos the publication
of this remarkable book: We 'all 'remember how long
it was before we could 'learn who wroteit; arid any par-
ticulars 'of the writer, when: the -name was revealed.
She wailiving among- the wild Yerkshire hills, with a
fattier 'who 'vas too rnuelt atserbed iii bis.studies to
notice her ochupations, in a plate where newspapers
were never seen (or where she never saw auy), and in a
hoese'where the- Servants 'knew 'nothing abeht books,
manuscripts, proofs, 'or the post.' When .:she told her
secret to 'her 'fathers shetarried het book it-Cone hand,
and an adverse review-in. the'othei, to save 'his simple
and unworldly mind from 'rash expectations of a fame
and fortune which she was determined should never be
the aims of her life. That we 'have had only two novels
since shows how deeply grounded was this resolve.
"'Shirley" was conceived and wrought out in the
midst of fearful domestic griefs. Her only' brother, a
young` wan' 'of once ipleirld promise which Was early
blighted, and both her romainiog sisters, died in one
year. There was something inexpres4o had
:'Junosiblyaffecti suchngin
the aspect of the frail little creature
weountenance, under
wohclerftil things, and who' was able is bear up, with so
bilobt an eye and so oOnsposed
such a Weight of sorrow, and such a prospect of solitude.
Tn her-deep mourning dress ('neat as a quaker's), with
her 'beautiful hair, smooth. arid brosvn., her - fine eyes
blazing with meAni hg;.' tid bOr Sensible' face'indicating
a habit of self-contrA, if not of silence, she' seemed is
perfect household ialage—irresistibly recalling Words-
'worth's 'description Of. that domestic treasure. And
'she was this. She, was 16 'able at the needle as the
pen Thu. hOusebold' ,knew the excellence of her
. •
cookery :before they's heard.. of that of her books.
In, so utter a seclaslon as . she dited in those
dreary where slid was" riot strong enough to
moan' over the hills that -retreat where her stu-
di,hti father rarely broke -the silencie -L-and there
was ,fto one el*te rlcl it ; its' that forlorn house, planted
on the 'very' asp of the churchyard, where the graves
of her sisters Xvltre•heitote her window ; in such a living
sepulchre lier mind' could not hut prey upon itself ;
and liow it did suffer; we 'See in the .mare painful
portions of het last novel—"Tillette." She said, with
a' change in her steady countenance, that she should
feel. very lonely when her aged father died; But she
formed new ties after that: She married;; and it is
the old fathet wh6 survives to mourn her. He knows,
to his comfort, that •it not for long. ' Others now
mourn her; in a dorne.stid sense ; and, as for the
public, there can he .no -denht that a pangs will be felt
in the Midst of. the 'Slrongest interests of the day,
through the length. and 'breadth of the !and, and in
the-very heart of-Go-ninny. (where her works are sin-
gularly appreciated), 'Trance, and America, that the
" Currer Bell," 'who so 'lately stole as a shadow intd
the field of cOnteraporaty -literature has already be-
come a shadow' againste.anishing from ours view, and
henceforth haunting ocly the memory of ,the multi-
tude 'Whine expectation was fixed upon her.---Morning
paper.' '
•

. SAMDRE AND IVINUfiE D,MLWAT.—Traffie for week
ending March 31, 1855, 4118/. BA. 7d. Corresponding
week, 1854, 6181. 12a,91; • Miles open, 1855, 68 ;
1814, 36, . - • •

:I.lt

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