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
Haworth, the new place of Mr. Brontë's incumbency, which has been well
and very fully described by many writers, is situated on the western
confines of the parish of Bradford, and stands on a somewhat lofty
eminence. It is, however, protected in great measure from the western
storms by still higher ground, which consists of irreclaimable moors
and morasses.
The church in which he, for the remainder of his life, performed his
religious services, and in which his more gifted children repose, after
their brief but memorable lives, was of ancient date. A chantry was
founded there at the beginning of the reign of Edward III., where a
priest celebrated daily for the repose of the soul of Adam de Battley,
and for the souls of his ancestors, and for all the faithful departed.
The church, which is dedicated to the glory of God, in honour of St.
Michael the archangel, has been recently, to a great extent,
re-edified. The old structure retained traces of one still older, of
the early English style. Invested as it was with the evidences of the
periods of taste good and bad through which it had passed, and with the
associations which attach to old and familiar internal arrangements, it
was endeared to the inhabitants. Of such associations the present
church--though an architectural gain upon its predecessor--is
necessarily destitute, and the world-wide interest with which the
former structure was invested through the genius of the Brontës has
been almost destroyed by the substitution of an edifice in which they
never prayed, and which they never saw; though their remains repose, it
is true, under its pavement, as is indicated by memorial tablets.
During the existence of the old church, Haworth was visited by
continuous streams of people; but, on its removal, little was left to
attract pilgrims from afar, and there was a manifest diminution of
visitors to the village.
In the recent alterations, the parsonage also, in which the children of
the Rev. Patrick Brontë lived and won for themselves enduring fame in
the path of literature, has undergone considerable changes. It has been
found necessary to add a new wing to the house, in order to obtain
larger accommodation, and, to beautify the parsonage still further, the
old cottage panes, through which light fell on precious and invaluable
pages of elaborate manuscript, as they passed through delicate and
gifted hands, have given way to plate-glass squares. Altogether the
house, both inside and out, presents a very different appearance from
that which it did in the time of the Brontës.
The chapelry at Haworth, when Mr. Brontë accepted the perpetual curacy,
was much more populous and important than that of Thornton. The stipend
of £170 per annum, with a fair residence attached, and a sum of £27
13s. for maintenance, made the change a desirable one on pecuniary
grounds; and, with Mrs. Brontë's annuity of £50 a year, anxiety on this
head was no doubt allayed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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