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
Fascinating lady! All that accomplishment and she too felt the need for a nom de plume when publishing
BeantwoordenVerwijderenShe looks like Maria Bronte's mother, Ann nee' Carne . Though the nose is different. If one looks at the portrait of Elizabeth Branwell and Maria Branwell, one sees a different nose in each sister . One is rounded ( EB) and the other beaked ( MB)
One can see those noses on the Bronte girls in Bramwell's column painting ( Anne having the beaked nose there.) Though in Richmond's portrait of Charlotte, it is there again..however that seems a Bronte nose lol ) I maintain Emily took after the Branwells( or perhaps Carnes) in that her portrait in the column group looks like the silhouette of Aunt Branwell ...straight nose and a prominent mouth
With all that Elisabeth Carne did, she should be better known!
Great post!
I never heard of the lady before.
VerwijderenAnd I wonder, did Elizabeth ever met the Bronte Sisters? What did she think of the books from the sisters? Did they sent each other letters?
The beautiful picture. I was so surprised to find it.
VerwijderenInteraction between Hawoth and Cornwall over the years seem to be even more blank that that of Haworth and Ireland! Yet Aunt Branwell must of kept up a lively correspondence with family back home. Someone that devoted to family and her birth place had to .
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIn generally the blank around Aunt B and Charlotte is remarkable . CN never seem to have a close relation with an older woman of her own class until later in life with Miss Wooler Also late in life CB mentions a Cornwall cousin staying at the Parsonage, but says nothing else about it .
It would be interesting to see if Elisabeth Carne left letters. I don't see why not for someone that successful in so many fields.
It's a marvelous picture and to me if one places it next to Emily's column portrait and takes in consideration Elisabeth Carne is years older, the family resemblance is there .
There is so much to learn by looking beyond an immediate group of people to the extended family !
Thank you for the post and the photo!
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI found another blog post about her
http://www.earthseye.net/tag/elizabeth-carne/