The Brontë Family, with special reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë. Vol. 1 of 2Leyland, Francis A.
History
The Brontë Family, with special reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë. Vol. 1 of 2
Leyland, Francis A.
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography; Brontë family; Brontë, Patrick Branwell, 1817-1848
In the account which Mr. Brontë gives of the aim and scope of the work
from which I have made an extract, and the state of his mind while
engaged upon it, we have a retrospect of the inner life of the father
of the Brontës, during his sojourn at Hartshead as perpetual curate,
prior to his marriage with Miss Branwell. In this period of his life,
he seems to have been perfectly happy, no cloud or anticipation of
future sorrow having obscured or diminished the fulness of his peace.
The marriage was celebrated on the 29th of December, 1812, at Guiseley,
near Bradford, by the Rev. W. Morgan, minister of Bierley, the
gentleman engaged to 'Cousin Jane.' It is a very curious circumstance
that on the same day, and at the same place, Mr. Brontë performed the
marriage ceremony between his wife's cousin, Miss Jane Fennel, only
daughter of the Mr. Fennel alluded to above, and the Rev. W. Morgan,
who had just been, as described, the officiating clergyman at his own
wedding.
Mr. Fennel would naturally have performed the ceremony for his niece
and Mr. Brontë, had it not fallen to his lot to give the lady away.
When Mr. Brontë found himself settled in married life at Hartshead, and
with the probability of a young family rising around him, he felt
pleasure in the contemplation of the future. Mrs. Brontë, ever gentle
and affectionate in her household ways, comforted and encouraged him in
his literary pursuits, and, by her acute observation and accurate
judgment, directed and aided his own. It was at this time that Mr.
Brontë wrote a book, entitled 'The Rural Ministry,' which was published
at Halifax, in 1813. The work consisted of a miscellany of descriptive
poems, with the following titles: 'The Sabbath Bells,' 'Kirkstall
Abbey,' 'Extempore Verses,' 'Lines to a Lady on her Birthday,' 'An
Elegy,' 'Reflections by Moonlight,' 'Winter,' 'Rural Happiness,' 'The
Distress and Relief,' 'The Christian's Farewell,' 'The Harper of Erin.'
It cannot be doubted that, in consequence of his two publications while
he was at Hartshead, Mr. Brontë became known in the surrounding
districts as an aspiring man, and one of literary culture and ability.
Mr. Brontë had taken his bride to his house at High Town, and it was
there that his daughters Maria and Elizabeth were born. Maria was
baptized on April the 23rd, 1814, and is entered in the register as the
'daughter of Patrick Brontë and Maria his wife.' The Rev. Mr. Morgan
was the officiating minister. There is no such entry there relating to
Elizabeth, for she was baptized at Thornton with the other children.
Mr. Brontë, after having been nearly five years minister of
Hartshead-cum-Clifton, resigned the benefice, and accepted, from the
vicar of Bradford, the incumbency of Thornton, a perpetual curacy in
that parish. This, probably, on the suggestion of Mr. Morgan, who was
then incumbent of Christ's Church at Bradford.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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