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
p. vPREFACE
It is claimed for the following book of some five hundred pages that thelarger 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 p. vifor 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. ButlerWood, 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.
p. viiCONTENTS
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
p. viiiCHAPTER 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
p. ixCHAPTER XIV WILLIAM SMITH WILLIAMS
CHAPTER XV WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
CHAPTER XVI LITERARY FRIENDSHIPS
CHAPTER XVII ARTHUR BELL NICHOLLS
p. xiLIST 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 BRO