I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas: they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.
Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights

zondag 30 juni 2013

Ring belonged to Charlotte Bronte

Object numberE.2007.9.2
Titlering belonged to Charlotte Bronte
Descriptiontarnished gold band, slightly mis-shapen, set with with a central garnet and a small diamond to left and right of the garnet


More rings in the bronte archive (click)
 

12 opmerkingen:

  1. I wonder if she got this ring via her Branwell family, from her mother or Aunt... which could have belonged to her sisters at first The Branwells had the wealth that could produce a ring with a central garnet and small diamonds

    I imagine Charlotte is wearing her wedding ring

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    Reacties
    1. On Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CharlotteBronteFans?hc_location=timeline) I saw a ring called the engagement ring of Charlotte Bronte. This ring I see also in the archives of the Parsonage Museum. But the museum gives no explanation about this ring. The only ring they give an explanation is the ring I show in this blog. When there is no official explanation I don't dare to say this ring is the engagement ring as happened on Facebook.

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    2. I have seen letters (by Ellen Nussey) describing Charlotte's engagement ring from Mr. Nicholls - the pearl ring - and I also know what this Garnet ring is from and will be posting on the 5th about it. If you would like to see - and if you (Anne) are on Facebook I would appreciate it if you would like my page.
      Luv

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    3. Deze reactie is verwijderd door de auteur.

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  2. Lord! I had no idea Charlotte received a engagement ring from Mr. Nicholls ! I have never seen a reference to it . How did it come to the Parsonage?

    One would think he was too poor to be able to give her one unless it was a family piece?? How exciting!

    Were these letters Ellen wrote later in life?

    I am MOST interested to learn about this, thank you!

    I'm not on Facebook, but is your page public so I may view this information?

    How delightful! The penniless curate had enough wherewithal to give Charlotte such a ring.
    She must of been pleased .

    Charlotte thought too much fuss about it all was folly, but enjoyed the trimmings as any bride would none the less...I remember she thought she would not buy white martial for her wedding dress, but to her amazement, she did lol

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  3. Oh so I went to the facebook page lol now I know you. The one who says Mr. Smith and Charlotte were actually engaged....

    If Charlotte was indeed engaged to George it was odd how , at same time, she agonized over accepting James Taylor as a possible husband lol What would it matter if he caused her veins to run ice if she was already engaged lol

    Also I remember you said that the photo of Ellen Nussey latter in life was Charlotte

    here in a side by side comparison, I show both are of Ellen

    http://s792.photobucket.com/user/blessOTMA/library/AP%20Postings%202/Ellen%20Nussey

    You must know that photo of three young women
    taken in the 1860's are not the Brontes sisters as well ?

    You are successful in getting me excited for a time in any case. ,,,, for that I thank you lol

    Anything Ellen says in later life, I take with not just a pinch , but with a sack of salt .

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    Reacties
    1. I know it seems strange about James Taylor - but I thought about how in the letters to Ellen Charlotte always denied that she and George were anything more than friends - but then did admit they had enough regard for each other to marry - and somethings look coded to me from how I've studied them.

      She probably did that because she knew people were reading her mail that shouldn't and I thought maybe all the references to James Taylor were just to throw the quidnuncs (as she called the gossips) of the trail.

      Yes I know that the photo isn't her but I like it better and it looks more like Branwell's portrait than any of the other portraits.

      Also, I know that Ellen was pretty unreliable but I found letters from George's daughter also who he had told stuff and the letters from Ellen to another biographer (Charlotte had told Ellen) and they verify a lot of things - I have two sources.

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  4. I love history and I love the Bronte Sisters. I am always searching for information about them. I did start this blog for this reason, keep the information I find all together.

    But I am only interested in things really happened. I am interested in sourses I can rely on. As we saw in the blog I made of the biographers, there are so many points of view. Some of them without any source to point at. It is fun to read, but for me this doesn't belong to really historical search. And I want to know as much as I can, about the real history.

    Also I am not interested in all kinds of spin offs made today or in the past. I read about it, some of them I like, some of them I dislike.

    What I know of the letters of Ellen Nussey is: They don' t exists.

    As far as I know Charlotte did not keep them. Ellen wanted to have them back, she asked Mr. Nicolls to send them back. He told her he never saw a letter she wrote to Charlotte.

    Caeia March wrote a book: The Letters from Ellen Nussey to Charlotte Bronte, but these letters are made up.

    So, what I need is historic evidence to prove there are still letters of Ellen Nussey.

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    Reacties
    1. I meant letters from Ellen to Biographers not to Charlotte. And there are her letters published to George, Gaskell etc.

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  5. and somethings look coded to me from how I've studied them. ...

    Are you kidding?

    I'm to take your ideas and spin as historical fact? You need to add alot of" imo " to what you say


    I thought maybe all the references to James Taylor were just to throw the quidnuncs (as she called the gossips) of the trail.


    As far as I'm concerned, your Bronte history fundamentals are pretty faulty . Have you read what Charlotte wrote about" the little man?( Taylor) and at what length? " That heartache is not faked .

    Yes I know that the photo isn't her but I like it better and it looks more like Branwell's portrait than any of the other

    If you know it's not Charlotte ...how can it matter how it looks ? It's not her. Why not use Branwell's portrait ? It's at least CB and imo that photo looks very little like CB's portrait from the column painting

    Also, I know that Ellen was pretty unreliable but I found letters from George's daughter also who he had told stuff and the letters from Ellen to another biographer (Charlotte had told Ellen) and they verify a lot of things - I have two sources.

    You keep saying that and yet... still no letters

    And even if there were Ellen letters, the letters Ellen wrote in later life to publishers are completely unreliable.

    Ellen lied , made things up so someone would then want to publish a Bronte "scoop" she simply made up

    Seemingly Ellen could not understand Arthur Bell Nichols had the letters copy right and would never let her muck about Charlotte's words with whoever Ellen had hoodwinked into doing the work.

    The same pattern over and over

    Ellen has Charlotte's letters, finds someone excited to work on a book ( that is do all the work) ...then opps after doing a good deal of work, they find out Ellen does not have the right to publish those letters and all their work was for nothing

    When they angrily point out to her she either lied to them or was not bright enough to know she could not publish the letters , Ellen goes off in a angry huff to find another "collaborator" with her sack of letters to fool into doing free work.

    I think she went mad frankly

    I dare say if Ellen knew of the Charlotte's letters to M. Heger , which came out in 1913 , she likely would not have made up the story about Mr. Smith.

    Her main interest seemed to be to find someone, anyone, who could undermine Arthur Bell Nicholls place as the most important man in Charlotte's life as Ellen hated Arthur with a passion.

    If she knew of Charlotte's heartbroken letters to her professor, it's likely Ellen would not of made up the Smith story..but imo she wanted to be able to say Arthur was not the most important man and worked with what she had.

    Even during Charlotte's life time, Ellen kept pushing the idea of George onto Charlotte , but Charlotte wrote " I like the idea of the letter man ( Taylor) better"

    and George's daughter's recollection from 50 years later are unreliable
    as well... very likely she wanted to make her father even more important in Charlotte's life

    If later Ellen letters or George's daughter's "reflections" is all you have imo they are slender reeds indeed




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  6. Even during Charlotte's life time, Ellen kept pushing the idea of George onto Charlotte , but Charlotte wrote " I like the idea of the letter man ( Taylor) better"

    och!

    of course I meant" the little man " CB's nickname for James Taylor

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  7. It took some looking up since no mention of Aunt Branwell's effects are in either Barker's "The Brontes" or Gerin 's " Charlotte Bronte" , But in Rebecca Fraser's book of Charlotte, " A Writer 's Life,

    on page " 180

    Aunt's will and belongings are mentioned

    Aunt Branwell's " rings along with her sliver spoons, books and clothes she left to the the three girls the division to be made by Mr. Bronte " according as their father shall think proper"

    By the time of Charlotte's own passing, she would have all of had all of Aunt's rings in her possession.
    So it's likely it's as I guessed. The rings at the Parsonage were once Aunt Branwell's. They were then passed on to her nieces, then on to Charlotte.

    And really when one thinks about, where else would a Bronte get such rings? Charlotte had to gather up her courage just to install curtains! A bonnet with a pink lining seemed too ostentatious to her lol . Rings had to be family pieces and come to her that way...as even her wedding ring did .

    At most, Charlotte might have chosen one of Aunt's rings to signify her engagement, however that seems a stretch . She wanted little fuss

    If however Mr. Nicholls had given Charlotte a ring ...I do believe she would have let people know it. Because that would have shown he was not completely penniless and would have raised his standing in their eyes.

    Charlotte was keenly conscious the match was not " brilliant" .. Given Bronte pride, imo Charlotte would have added the brilliance of given jewelry to Arthur's picture if she could.

    In later years Mr. Nicholls may have give these rings to his own nieces , of whom he was most fond , it would be interesting how they came back to the Parsonage

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The Parlour

The Parlour

Parsonage

Parsonage

Charlotte Bronte

Presently the door opened, and in came a superannuated mastiff, followed by an old gentleman very like Miss Bronte, who shook hands with us, and then went to call his daughter. A long interval, during which we coaxed the old dog, and looked at a picture of Miss Bronte, by Richmond, the solitary ornament of the room, looking strangely out of place on the bare walls, and at the books on the little shelves, most of them evidently the gift of the authors since Miss Bronte's celebrity. Presently she came in, and welcomed us very kindly, and took me upstairs to take off my bonnet, and herself brought me water and towels. The uncarpeted stone stairs and floors, the old drawers propped on wood, were all scrupulously clean and neat. When we went into the parlour again, we began talking very comfortably, when the door opened and Mr. Bronte looked in; seeing his daughter there, I suppose he thought it was all right, and he retreated to his study on the opposite side of the passage; presently emerging again to bring W---- a country newspaper. This was his last appearance till we went. Miss Bronte spoke with the greatest warmth of Miss Martineau, and of the good she had gained from her. Well! we talked about various things; the character of the people, - about her solitude, etc., till she left the room to help about dinner, I suppose, for she did not return for an age. The old dog had vanished; a fat curly-haired dog honoured us with his company for some time, but finally manifested a wish to get out, so we were left alone. At last she returned, followed by the maid and dinner, which made us all more comfortable; and we had some very pleasant conversation, in the midst of which time passed quicker than we supposed, for at last W---- found that it was half-past three, and we had fourteen or fifteen miles before us. So we hurried off, having obtained from her a promise to pay us a visit in the spring... ------------------- "She cannot see well, and does little beside knitting. The way she weakened her eyesight was this: When she was sixteen or seventeen, she wanted much to draw; and she copied nimini-pimini copper-plate engravings out of annuals, ('stippling,' don't the artists call it?) every little point put in, till at the end of six months she had produced an exquisitely faithful copy of the engraving. She wanted to learn to express her ideas by drawing. After she had tried to draw stories, and not succeeded, she took the better mode of writing; but in so small a hand, that it is almost impossible to decipher what she wrote at this time.

I asked her whether she had ever taken opium, as the description given of its effects in Villette was so exactly like what I had experienced, - vivid and exaggerated presence of objects, of which the outlines were indistinct, or lost in golden mist, etc. She replied, that she had never, to her knowledge, taken a grain of it in any shape, but that she had followed the process she always adopted when she had to describe anything which had not fallen within her own experience; she had thought intently on it for many and many a night before falling to sleep, - wondering what it was like, or how it would be, - till at length, sometimes after the progress of her story had been arrested at this one point for weeks, she wakened up in the morning with all clear before her, as if she had in reality gone through the experience, and then could describe it, word for word, as it had happened. I cannot account for this psychologically; I only am sure that it was so, because she said it. ----------------------She thought much of her duty, and had loftier and clearer notions of it than most people, and held fast to them with more success. It was done, it seems to me, with much more difficulty than people have of stronger nerves, and better fortunes. All her life was but labour and pain; and she never threw down the burden for the sake of present pleasure. I don't know what use you can make of all I have said. I have written it with the strong desire to obtain appreciation for her. Yet, what does it matter? She herself appealed to the world's judgement for her use of some of the faculties she had, - not the best, - but still the only ones she could turn to strangers' benefit. They heartily, greedily enjoyed the fruits of her labours, and then found out she was much to be blamed for possessing such faculties. Why ask for a judgement on her from such a world?" elizabeth gaskell/charlotte bronte



Poem: No coward soul is mine

No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the worlds storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heavens glories shine,
And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.


O God within my breast.
Almighty, ever-present Deity!
Life -- that in me has rest,
As I -- Undying Life -- have power in Thee!


Vain are the thousand creeds
That move mens hearts: unutterably vain;
Worthless as withered weeds,
Or idlest froth amid the boundless main,


To waken doubt in one
Holding so fast by Thine infinity;
So surely anchored on
The steadfast Rock of immortality.


With wide-embracing love
Thy Spirit animates eternal years,
Pervades and broods above,
Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates, and rears.


Though earth and man were gone,
And suns and universes ceased to be,
And Thou wert left alone,
Every existence would exist in Thee.


There is not room for Death,
Nor atom that his might could render void:
Thou -- Thou art Being and Breath,
And what Thou art may never be destroyed.


--
Emily Bronte

Family tree

The Bronte Family

Grandparents - paternal
Hugh Brunty was born 1755 and died circa 1808. He married Eleanor McClory, known as Alice in 1776.

Grandparents - maternal
Thomas Branwell (born 1746 died 5th April 1808) was married in 1768 to Anne Carne (baptised 27th April 1744 and died 19th December 1809).

Parents
Father was Patrick Bronte, the eldest of 10 children born to Hugh Brunty and Eleanor (Alice) McClory. He was born 17th March 1777 and died on 7th June 1861. Mother was Maria Branwell, who was born on 15th April 1783 and died on 15th September 1821.

Maria had a sister, Elizabeth who was known as Aunt Branwell. She was born in 1776 and died on 29th October 1842.

Patrick Bronte married Maria Branwell on 29th December 1812.

The Bronte Children
Patrick and Maria Bronte had six children.
The first child was Maria, who was born in 1814 and died on 6th June 1825.
The second daughter, Elizabeth was born on 8th February 1815 and died shortly after Maria on 15th June 1825. Charlotte was the third daughter, born on 21st April 1816.

Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls (born 1818) on 29th June 1854. Charlotte died on 31st March 1855. Arthur lived until 2nd December 1906.

The first and only son born to Patrick and Maria was Patrick Branwell, who was born on 26th June 1817 and died on 24th September 1848.

Emily Jane, the fourth daughter was born on 30th July 1818 and died on 19th December 1848.

The sixth and last child was Anne, born on 17th January 1820 who died on 28th May 1849.

Top Withens in the snow.

Top Withens in the snow.

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