The Life of Charlotte Brontë — Volume 2Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
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The Life of Charlotte Brontë — Volume 2
Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
Brontë, Charlotte, 1816-1855; Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Biography
"The past three weeks have been a dark interval in our humble home.
Branwell's constitution had been failing fast all the summer; but still,
neither the doctors nor himself thought him so near his end as he was.
He was entirely confined to his bed but for one single day, and was in
the village two days before his death. He died, after twenty minutes'
struggle, on Sunday morning, September 24th. He was perfectly conscious
till the last agony came on. His mind had undergone the peculiar change
which frequently precedes death, two days previously; the calm of better
feelings filled it; a return of natural affection marked his last
moments. He is in God's hands now; and the All-Powerful is likewise
the All-Merciful. A deep conviction that he rests at last--rests well,
after his brief, erring, suffering, feverish life--fills and quiets
my mind now. The final separation, the spectacle of his pale corpse,
gave me more acute bitter pain than I could have imagined. Till the
last hour comes, we never how know much we can forgive, pity, regret a
near relative. All his vices were and are nothing now. We remember only
his woes. Papa was acutely distressed at first, but, on the whole, has
borne the event well. Emily and Anne are pretty well, though Anne is
always delicate, and Emily has a cold and cough at present. It was my
fate to sink at the crisis, when I should have collected my strength.
Headache and sickness came on first on the Sunday; I could not regain
my appetite. Then internal pain attacked me. I became at once much
reduced. It was impossible to touch a morsel. At last, bilious fever
declared itself. I was confined to bed a week,--a dreary week. But,
thank God! health seems now returning. I can sit up all day, and take
moderate nourishment. The doctor said at first, I should be very slow in
recovering, but I seem to get on faster than he anticipated. I am truly
MUCH BETTER."
I have heard, from one who attended Branwell in his last illness, that
he resolved on standing up to die. He had repeatedly said, that as long
as there was life there was strength of will to do what it chose; and
when the last agony came on, he insisted on assuming the position just
mentioned. I have previously stated, that when his fatal attack came on,
his pockets were found filled with old letters from the woman to whom
he was attached. He died! she lives still,--in May Fair. The Eumenides,
I suppose, went out of existence at the time when the wail was heard,
"Great Pan is dead." I think we could better have spared him than those
awful Sisters who sting dead conscience into life.
I turn from her for ever. Let us look once more into the Parsonage at
Haworth.
"Oct. 29th, 1848.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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