Agnes Grey

Agnes Grey

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Agnes Grey, by Anne Bronte (#1 in our series by Anne
Bronte)
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Title: Agnes Grey
Author: Anne Bronte
Release Date: December, 1996 [EBook #767] [This file was first posted on December 24,
1996] [Most recently updated: September 9, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, AGNES GREY ***

Transcribed from the 1910 John Murray edition by David Price, email
[email protected]

AGNES GREY

CHAPTER I

--THE PARSONAGE

All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find,
and when found, so trivial in quantity, that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely
compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut. Whether this be the case with my history
or not, I am hardly competent to judge. I sometimes think it might prove useful to some,
and entertaining to others; but the world may judge for itself. Shielded by my own
obscurity, and by the lapse of years, and a few fictitious names, I do not fear to venture;
and will candidly lay before the public what I would not disclose to the most intimate
friend.
My father was a clergyman of the north of England, who was deservedly respected by all
who knew him; and, in his younger days, lived pretty comfortably on the joint income of
a small incumbency and a snug little property of his own. My mother, who married him
against the wishes of her friends, was a squire's daughter, and a woman of spirit. In vain
it was represented to her, that if she became the poor parson's wife, she must relinquish
her carriage and her lady's-maid, and all the luxuries and elegancies of affluence; which
to her were little less than the necessaries of life. A carriage and a lady's-maid were great
conveniences; but, thank heaven, she had feet to carry her, and hands to minister to her
own necessities. An elegant house and spacious grounds were not to be despised; but she
would rather live in a cottage with Richard Grey than in a palace with any other man in
the world.
Finding arguments of no avail, her father, at length, told the lovers they might marry if
they pleased; but, in so doing, his daughter would forfeit every fraction of her fortune. He
expected this would cool the ardour of both; but he was mistaken. My father knew too
well my mother's superior worth not to be sensible that she was a valuable fortune in
herself: and if she would but consent to embellish his humble hearth he should be happy
to take her on any terms; while she, on her part, would rather labour with her own hands
than be divided from the man she loved, whose happiness it would be her joy to make,
and who was already one with her in heart and soul. So her fortune went to swell the
purse of a wiser sister, who had married a rich nabob; and she, to the wonder and
compassionate regret of all who knew her, went to bury herself in the homely village
parsonage among the hills of -. And yet, in spite of all this, and in spite of my mother's
high spirit and my father's whims, I believe you might search all England through, and
fail to find a happier couple.
Of six children, my sister Mary and myself were the only two that survived the perils of
infancy and early childhood. I, being the younger by five or six years, was always
regarded as THE child, and the pet of the family: father, mother, and sister, all combined
to spoil me--not by foolish indulgence, to render me fractious and ungovernable, but by
ceaseless kindness, to make me too helpless and dependent--too unfit for buffeting with
the cares and turmoils of life.
Mary and I were brought up in the strictest seclusion. My