Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle

Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle, by Clement

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Title: Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle
Author: Clement K. Shorter

Release Date: August 8, 2006 [eBook #19011]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND HER CIRCLE***

Transcribed from the 1896 Hodder and Stoughton edition by Les Bowler.

CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND HER CIRCLE
BY CLEMENT K. SHORTER
LONDON
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
27 PATERNOSTER ROW
1896
[Picture: CHARLOTTE BRONTE]

PREFACE
It is claimed for the following book of some five hundred pages that the larger part of it is an addition of entirely new material to the romantic story of the Brontes. For this result, but very small credit is due to me; and my very hearty acknowledgments must be made, in the first place, to the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls, for whose generous surrender of personal inclination I must ever be grateful. It has been with extreme unwillingness that Mr. Nicholls has broken the silence of forty years, and he would not even now have consented to the publication of certain letters concerning his marriage, had he not been aware that these letters were already privately printed and in the hands of not less than eight or ten people. To Miss Ellen Nussey of Gomersall, I have also to render thanks for having placed the many letters in her possession at my disposal, and for having furnished a great deal of interesting information. Without the letters from Charlotte Bronte to Mr. W. S. Williams, which were kindly lent to me by his son and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Thornton Williams, my book would have been the poorer. Sir Wemyss Reid, Mr. J. J. Stead, of Heckmondwike, Mr. Butler Wood, of Bradford, Mr. W. W. Yates, of Dewsbury, Mr. Erskine Stuart, Mr. Buxton Forman, and Mr. Thomas J. Wise are among the many Bronte specialists who have helped me with advice or with the loan of material. Mr. Wise, in particular, has lent me many valuable manuscripts. Finally, I have to thank my friend Dr. Robertson Nicoll for the kindly pressure which has practically compelled me to prepare this little volume amid a multitude of journalistic duties.
CLEMENT K. SHORTER. 198 STRAND, LONDON, September 1st, 1896.

CONTENTS
PRELIMINARY
CHAPTER I
PATRICK BRONTE AND MARIA HIS WIFE
CHAPTER II
CHILDHOOD
CHAPTER III
SCHOOL AND GOVERNESS LIFE
CHAPTER IV
PENSIONNAT HEGER, BRUSSELS
CHAPTER V
PATRICK BRANWELL BRONTE
CHAPTER VI
EMILY JANE BRONTE
CHAPTER VII
ANNE BRONTE
CHAPTER VIII
ELLEN NUSSEY
CHAPTER IX
MARY TAYLOR
CHAPTER X
MARGARET WOOLER
CHAPTER XI
THE CURATES AT HAWORTH
CHAPTER XII
CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S LOVERS
CHAPTER XIII
LITERARY AMBITIONS
CHAPTER XIV
WILLIAM SMITH WILLIAMS
CHAPTER XV
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
CHAPTER XVI
LITERARY FRIENDSHIPS
CHAPTER XVII
ARTHUR BELL NICHOLLS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CHARLOTTE BRONTE Frontispiece PATRICK BRANWELL BRONTE facing page 120 FACSIMILE OF PAGE OF EMILY BRONTE'S DIARY facing page 146 FACSIMILE OF TWO PAGES OF EMILY BRONTE'S DIARY facing page 154 ANNE BRONTE facing page 182 MISS ELLEN NUSSEY AS A SCHOOLGIRL ) MISS ELLEN NUSSEY TO-DAY ) facing page 207 THE REV. ARTHUR BELL NICHOLLS facing page 467

A BRONTE CHRONOLOGY
Patrick Bronte born 17 March 1777 Maria Bronte born 1783 Patrick leaves Ireland for Cambridge 1802 Degree of A.B. 1806 Curacy at Wetherfield, Essex 1806 ,, Dewsbury Yorks 1809 ,, Hartshead-cum-Clifton 1811 Publishes 'Cottage Poems' (Halifax) 1811 Married to Maria Branwell 18 Dec. 1812 First Child, Maria, born 1813 Publishes 'The Rural Minstrel' 1813 Elizabeth born 1814 Publishes 'The Cottage in the Wood' 1815 Curacy at Thornton 1816 Charlotte Bronte born at Thornton 21 April 1816 Patrick Branwell Bronte born 1817 Emily Jane Bronte born 1818 'The Maid of Killarney' published 1818 Anne Bronte born 1819 Removal to Incumbency of Haworth February 1820 Mrs. Bronte died 15 September 1821 Maria and Elizabeth Bronte at Cowan Bridge July 1824 Charlotte and Emily ,, ,, September 1824 Leave Cowan Bridge 1825 Maria Bronte died 6 May 1825 Elizabeth Bronte died 15 June 1825 Charlotte Bronte at School, January 1831 Roe Head Leaves Roe Head School 1832 First Visit to Ellen Nussey at The Rydings September 1832 Returns to Roe Head as governess 29 July 1835 Branwell visits London 1835 Emily spends three months at Roe Head, when Anne 1835 takes her place and she returns home Ellen Nussey visits Haworth in Holidays July 1836 Miss Wooler's School removed to Dewsbury Moor 1836 Emily at a School at Halifax for six months 1836 (Miss Patchet of Law Hill) First Proposal of Marriage (Henry Nussey) March 1839 Anne Bronte becomes governess at Blake Hall, April 1839 (Mrs. Ingham's) Charlotte governess at Mrs. Sidgwick's at Stonegappe, 1839 and at Swarcliffe, Harrogate Second Proposal of Marriage (Mr. Price) 1839 Charlotte and Emily at Haworth, 1840 Anne at Blake Hall Charlotte's second situation as governess with March 1841 Mrs. White, Upperwood