TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY
‘May 5th, 1851.
I have had a very long letter from Mr. Williams. He speaks with much respect of Mr. Taylor. I discover with some surprise, papa has taken a decided liking to Mr. Taylor. The marked kindness of his manner when he bid him good-bye, exhorting him to be “true to himself, his country, and his God,” and wishing him all good wishes, struck me with some astonishment. Whenever he has alluded to him since, it has been with significant eulogy. When I alluded that he was no gentleman, he seemed out of patience with me for the objection. You say papa has penetration. On this subject I believe he has indeed. I have told him nothing, yet he seems to be au fait to the whole business. I could think at some moments his guesses go farther than mine. I believe he thinks a prospective union, deferred for five years, with such a decorous reliable personage, would be a very proper and advisable affair.
TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY
‘November 4th, 1851.
The other day I received a long letter from Mr. Taylor. I told you I did not expect to hear thence, nor did I. The letter is long, but it is worth your while to read it. In its way it has merit, that cannot be denied; abundance of information, talent of a certain kind, alloyed (I think) here and there with errors of taste. He might have spared many of the details of the bath scene, which, for the rest, tallies exactly with Mr. Thackeray’s account of the same process. This little man with all his long letters remains as much a conundrum to me as ever.
TO JAMES TAYLOR, BOMBAY
‘Haworth, November 15th, 1851.
‘It would seem to me a matter of great regret that the society at Bombay should be so deficient in all intellectual attraction. Perhaps, however, your occupations will so far absorb your thoughts as to prevent them from dwelling painfully on this circumstance. No doubt there will be moments when you will look back to London and Scotland, and the friends you have left there, with some yearning; but I suppose business has its own excitement. The new country, the new scenes too, must have their interest; and as you will not lack books to fill your leisure, you will probably soon become reconciled to a change which, for some minds, would too closely resemble exile.
TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY
‘November 19th, 1851.
The little man’s disdain of the sensual pleasure of a Turkish bath had, I must own, my approval. Before answering his epistle I got up my courage to write to Mr. Williams, through whose hands or those of Mr. Smith I knew the Indian letter had come, and beg him to give me an impartial judgment of Mr. Taylor’s character and disposition, owning that I was very much in the dark. I did not like to continue correspondence without further information. I got the answer, which I inclose.
TO W. S. WILLIAMS
‘January 1st, 1852.
You ascribe to Mr. Taylor an excellent character; such a man’s friendship, at any rate, should not be disregarded; and if the principles and disposition be what you say, faults of manner and even of temper ought to weigh light in the balance. I always believed in his judgment and good-sense, but what I doubted was his kindness—he seemed to me a little too harsh, rigid, and unsympathising. Now, judgment, sense, principle are invaluable and quite indispensable points, but one would be thankful for a little feeling, a little indulgence in addition—without these, poor fallible human nature shrinks under the domination of the sterner qualities. I answered Mr. Taylor’s letter by the mail of the 19th November, sending it direct, for, on reflection, I did not see why I should trouble you with it.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenDear Nell, I looked for something of the gentleman—something I mean of the natural gentleman;
The issue of one being a gentlemen or not was a big one for the Brontes. It was something they always made note of in others. Charlotte's sense of it was particularly keen. They had the appreciation of the state that comes from being newly minted themselves...that is, Patrick made himself a gentleman ...he was not born such.
I believe one of the reasons Branwell's death hit his father so hard was, of course, the terriable loss of his son, but also the loss of the first Bantyn, er...I mean Bronte, born gentleman.
Branwell was a final cap stone to Partick's own amazing rise from an Irish farmer boy to clergyman gentleman. In a sense Patrick lost what he had been working towards since Branwell's birth and really his whole life...a Bronte who was a born gentleman . Branwell was rare commodity indeed and when he died, so did a dream.
To me a good part of Patrick's anger over Arthur Bell Nicholls daring to seek Charlotte's hand is that an acceptance of such a match would mean an even further retreat than was experienced by Branwell's death... It meant the last Bronte of the generation after Patrick ( CB) would rise no higher than Patrick had himself.
If his born gentleman son was dead,at least his famous daughter could marry well ...when that dream was threatened by this penniless nobody curate , Patrick" hit the roof " as the old saying goes...
When a Bronte says you are no gentleman, it's a very serious charge and the case is well nye hopeless.
You say papa has penetration. On this subject I believe he has indeed. I have told him nothing, yet he seems to be au fait to the whole business
I don't think it would be hard to figure out what was in the air. People did not come to Haworth lightly.
Considering Papa's distaste for the idea Charlotte marrying at all , it's no wonder his liking and marked kindness to Mr. Taylor astonished his daughter. But James Taylor was about to go off for 5 years to India... So I guess he seemed ideal son in law material to Patrick!
...but with every disposition and with every wish, with every intention even to look on him in the most favourable point of view at his last visit,....
How diffrent was the case of Mr. Nicholls's suit ...where CB disposition was not, with every wish, and intention, trying to to find the favourable ... but eventually did