Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle Part 49

'Write soon.

'C. B.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_July_ 21_st_, 1851.

'MY DEAR SIR,--I delayed answering your very interesting letter until the box should have reached me; and now that it is come I can only acknowledge its arrival: I cannot say at all what I felt as I unpacked its contents. These Cornhill parcels have something of the magic charm of a fairy gift about them, as well as of the less poetical but more substantial pleasure of a box from home received at school. You have sent me this time even more books than usual, and all good.

'What shall I say about the twenty numbers of splendid engravings laid cozily at the bottom? The whole Vernon Gallery brought to one's fireside! Indeed, indeed I can say nothing, except that I will take care, and keep them clean, and send them back uninjured.--Believe me, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_November_ 6_th_, 1851.

'MY DEAR SIR,--I have true pleasure in inclosing for your son Frank a letter of introduction to Mrs. Gaskell, and earnestly do I trust the acquaintance may tend to his good. To make all sure--for I dislike to go on doubtful grounds--I wrote to ask her if she would permit the introduction. Her frank, kind answer pleased me greatly.

'I have received the books. I hope to write again when I have read _The Fair Carew_. The very t.i.tle augurs well--it has no hackneyed sound.--Believe me, sincerely yours,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'HAWORTH, _May_ 28_th_, 1853.

'MY DEAR SIR,--The box of books arrived safely yesterday evening, and I feel especially obliged for the selection, as it includes several that will be acceptable and interesting to my father.

'I despatch to-day a box of return books. Among them will be found two or three of those just sent, being such as I had read before--_i.e._, Moore's _Life and Correspondence_, 1st and 2nd vols.; Lamartine's _Restoration of the Monarchy_, etc. I have thought of you more than once during the late bright weather, knowing how genial you find warmth and suns.h.i.+ne. I trust it has brought this season its usual cheering and beneficial effect. Remember me kindly to Mrs.

Williams and her daughters, and,--Believe me, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_December_ 6_th_, 1853.

'MY DEAR SIR,--I forwarded last week a box of return books to Cornhill, which I trust arrived safely. To-day I received the _Edinburgh Guardian_, {402} for which I thank you.

'Do not trouble yourself to select or send any more books. These courtesies must cease some day, and I would rather give them up than wear them out.--Believe me, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

CHAPTER XV: WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY

The devotion of Charlotte Bronte to Thackeray, or rather to Thackeray's genius, is a pleasant episode in literary history. In 1848 he sent Miss Bronte, as we have seen, a copy of _Vanity Fair_. In 1852 he sent her a copy of _Esmond_, with the more cordial inscription which came of friends.h.i.+p.

[Picture: Second Thackeray Inscription]

The second edition of _Jane Eyre_ was dedicated to him as possessed of 'an intellect profounder and more unique than his contemporaries have yet recognised,' and as 'the first social regenerator of the day.' And when Currer Bell was dead, it was Thackeray who wrote by far the most eloquent tribute to her memory. When a copy of Lawrence's portrait of Thackeray {403} was sent to Haworth by Mr. George Smith, Charlotte Bronte stood in front of it and, half playfully, half seriously, shook her fist, apostrophising its original as 'Thou t.i.tan!'

With all this hero-wors.h.i.+p, it may be imagined that no favourable criticism gave her more unqualified pleasure than that which came from her 'master,' as she was not indisposed to consider one who was only seven years her senior, and whose best books were practically contemporaneous with her own.

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'HAWORTH, _October_ 28_th_, 1847.

'DEAR SIR,--Your last letter was very pleasant to me to read, and is very cheering to reflect on. I feel honoured in being approved by Mr. Thackeray, because I approve Mr. Thackeray. This may sound presumptuous perhaps, but I mean that I have long recognised in his writings genuine talent, such as I admired, such as I wondered at and delighted in. No author seems to distinguish so exquisitely as he does dross from ore, the real from the counterfeit. I believed too he had deep and true feelings under his seeming sternness. Now I am sure he has. One good word from such a man is worth pages of praise from ordinary judges.

'You are right in having faith in the reality of Helen Burns's character; she was real enough. I have exaggerated nothing there. I abstained from recording much that I remember respecting her, lest the narrative should sound incredible. Knowing this, I could not but smile at the quiet self-complacent dogmatism with which one of the journals lays it down that "such creations as Helen Burns are very beautiful but very untrue."

'The plot of _Jane Eyre_ may be a hackneyed one. Mr. Thackeray remarks that it is familiar to him. But having read comparatively few novels, I never chanced to meet with it, and I thought it original. The work referred to by the critic of the _Athenaeum_, I had not had the good fortune to hear of.

'The _Weekly Chronicle_ seems inclined to identify me with Mrs.

Marsh. I never had the pleasure of perusing a line of Mrs. Marsh's in my life, but I wish very much to read her works, and shall profit by the first opportunity of doing so. I hope I shall not find I have been an unconscious imitator.

'I would still endeavour to keep my expectations low respecting the ultimate success of _Jane Eyre_. But my desire that it should succeed augments, for you have taken much trouble about the work, and it would grieve me seriously if your active efforts should be baffled and your sanguine hopes disappointed. Excuse me if I again remark that I fear they are rather _too_ sanguine; it would be better to moderate them. What will the critics of the monthly reviews and magazines be likely to see in _Jane Eyre_ (if indeed they deign to read it), which will win from them even a stinted modic.u.m of approbation? It has no learning, no research, it discusses no subject of public interest. A mere domestic novel will, I fear, seem trivial to men of large views and solid attainments.

'Still, efforts so energetic and indefatigable as yours ought to realise a result in some degree favourable, and I trust they will.--I remain, dear sir, yours respectfully,

'C. BELL.

'_October_ 28_th_, 1847.

'I have just received the _Tablet_ and the _Morning Advertiser_.

Neither paper seems inimical to the book, but I see it produces a very different effect on different natures. I was amused at the a.n.a.lysis in the _Tablet_, it is oddly expressed in some parts. I think the critic did not always seize my meaning; he speaks, for instance, of "Jane's inconceivable alarm at Mr. Rochester's repelling manner." I do not remember that.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_December_ 11_th_, 1847.

'DEAR SIR,--I have delayed writing to you in the hope that the parcel you sent would reach me; but after making due inquiries at the Keighley, Bradford, and Leeds Stations and obtaining no news of it, I must conclude that it has been lost.

'However, I have contrived to get a sight of _Fraser's Magazine_ from another quarter, so that I have only to regret Mr. Home's kind present. Will you thank that gentleman for me when you see him, and tell him that the railroad is to blame for my not having acknowledged his courtesy before?

'Mr. Lewes is very lenient: I antic.i.p.ated a degree of severity which he has spared me. This notice differs from all the other notices.

He must be a man of no ordinary mind: there is a strange sagacity evinced in some of his remarks; yet he is not always right. I am afraid if he knew how much I write from intuition, how little from actual knowledge, he would think me presumptuous ever to have written at all. I am sure such would be his opinion if he knew the narrow bounds of my attainments, the limited scope of my reading.

'There are moments when I can hardly credit that anything I have done should be found worthy to give even transitory pleasure to such men as Mr. Thackeray, Sir John Herschel, Mr. Fonblanque, Leigh Hunt, and Mr. Lewes--that my humble efforts should have had such a result is a n.o.ble reward.

'I was glad and proud to get the bank bill Mr. Smith sent me yesterday, but I hardly ever felt delight equal to that which cheered me when I received your letter containing an extract from a note by Mr. Thackeray, in which he expressed himself gratified with the perusal of _Jane Eyre_. Mr. Thackeray is a keen ruthless satirist.

I had never perused his writings but with blended feelings of admiration and indignation. Critics, it appears to me, do not know what an intellectual boa-constrictor he is. They call him "humorous," "brilliant"--his is a most scalping humour, a most deadly brilliancy: he does not play with his prey, he coils round it and crushes it in his rings. He seems terribly in earnest in his war against the falsehood and follies of "the world." I often wonder what that "world" thinks of him. I should think the faults of such a man would be distrust of anything good in human nature--galling suspicion of bad motives lurking behind good actions. Are these his failings?

'They are, at any rate, the failings of his written sentiments, for he cannot find in his heart to represent either man or woman as at once good and wise. Does he not too much confound benevolence with weakness and wisdom with mere craft?