Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle, by Clement K. Shorter

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

CHARLOTTE BRONTË AND HER CIRCLE

BY CLEMENT K. SHORTER

LONDON

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

27 PATERNOSTER ROW

1896

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 Brontës.  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 Brontë 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 Brontë 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 BRONTË AND MARIA HIS WIFE
CHAPTER II  CHILDHOOD
CHAPTER III  SCHOOL AND GOVERNESS LIFE
CHAPTER IV  PENSIONNAT HÉGER, BRUSSELS
CHAPTER V    PATRICK BRANWELL BRONTË

CHAPTER VI  EMILY JANE BRONTË
CHAPTER VII  ANNE BRONTË
CHAPTER VIII ELLEN NUSSEY
CHAPTER IX  MARY TAYLOR
CHAPTER X    MARGARET WOOLER
CHAPTER XI  THE CURATES AT HAWORTH
CHAPTER XII  CHARLOTTE BRONTË’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 BRONTË                              Frontispiece
PATRICK BRANWELL BRONTË                        facing page 120
FACSIMILE OF PAGE OF EMILY BRONTË’S DIARY      facing page 146
FACSIMILE OF TWO PAGES OF EMILY BRONTË’S DIARY facing page 154
ANNE BRONTË                                    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 BRONTË CHRONOLOGY