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
When Charlotte was married on 29 June 1854 to Arthur Bell Nicholls, she wore a very simple, delicate white muslin gown and a green silk and lace bonnet. The bonnet has survived, but the gown was destroyed at the request of Nichols after his death in 1906 (Charlotte, of course, had died in 1855, only 9 months after their marriage). A replica was made reportedly by memory and it is currently in the collection of the BPM, as is the wedding bonnet.
Actually the dress was in the possession of Arthur's niece , Charlotte Bronte Nicholls, for some years after his death.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenArthur gave the dress to his brother Alan's daughter , Charlotte's name sake, with the stipulation the dress be destroyed when it left her hands
Charlotte Bronte Nicholls's daughter did indeed destroyed the dress as her great uncle wanted. It was burned
Arthur kept his beloved wife's wedding dress for 50 years and let his niece possess it for a time as well .
But it was his fervent wish this precious article would never be sold for money to another and so he ordered it to be destroyed.
Rather far seeing of Arthur if I may say so. And one cannot image his wish being respected today . But his nieces and nephews loved him very much and his story is one about love.
I, for one, find this a very moving tribute to Arthur's love for Charlotte. I can't begrudge this man, who lost so much , his wish his wife's gown would not be sold to another .
It was his beloved wife's gown ...we forget that in our rush for history.
Surely a replica and Charlotte's actual bonnet is more than enough for us today
When Charlotte told Ellen about her upcoming marriage she said in part she was " very inexpectant "
and " what I taste of happiness is of the soberest order "
But to read these words in their correct context, one must go back to a few months before Arthur Bell Nicholls tapped at Charlotte's door in Dec 1852 to see the incredible emotional privation Charlotte was enduring since the passing of her sisters
Charlotte wrote to Ellen
It cannot be denied that the solitude of my position fearfully aggravated its other evils Some long stormy days and nights there were when I felt such a craving for support and companionship as I cannot express. Sleepless I lay awake night after night weak and unable to occupy myself I sat in my chair day after day the saddest memories my only company It was a time I shall never forget but God sent it and it must have been for the best
in light of this, happiness of any order is to be cheered
We know of course that in fact, Charlotte's happiness with Arthur grew steadily until her tragic passing so shortly after they wed
June 29th was also the date Charlotte was baptized in 1816...in that year the date fell on a Sat .
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIt doesn't seem a consequence somehow