The Life of Charlotte Bronte-2 [0]
The Life of Charlotte Bronte-Volume 2
by Elizabeth Claghorn Gaskell
CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO
CHAPTER I. Mr. Bronte afflicted with blindness, and relieved by a successful operation for cataract--Charlotte Bronte's first work of fiction, "The Professor"--She commences "Jane Eyre"--Circumstances attending its composition--Her ideas of a heroine--Her attachment to home--Haworth in December--A letter of confession and counsel.
CHAPTER II. State of Charlotte Bronte's health at the commencement of 1847-- Family trials--"Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey" accepted by a publisher--"The Professor" rejected--Completion of "Jane Eyre", its reception and publication--The reviews of "Jane Eyre", and the author's comments on them--Her father's reception of the book--Public interest excited by "Jane Eyre"--Dedication of the second edition to Mr. Thackeray--Correspondence of Currer Bell with Mr. Lewes on "Jane Eyre"--Publication of "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey"--Miss Bronte's account of the authoress of "Wuthering Heights"--Domestic anxieties of the Bronte sisters--Currer Bell's correspondence with Mr. Lewes--Unhealthy state of Haworth--Charlotte Bronte on the revolutions of 1848--Her repudiation of authorship--Anne Bronte's second tale, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall"--Misunderstanding as to the individuality of the three Bells, and its results--Currer and Acton Bell visit London--Charlotte Bronte's account of her visit--The Chapter Coffee House--The Clergy Daughters' School at Casterton--Death of Branwell Bronte--Illness and death of Emily Bronte.
CHAPTER III The Quarterly Review on "Jane Eyre"--Severe illness of Anne Bronte--Her last verses--She is removed to Scarborough--Her last hours, and death and burial there--Charlotte's return to Haworth, and her loneliness.
CHAPTER IV. Commencement and completion of "Shirley"--Originals of the characters, and circumstances under which it was written--Loss on railway shares--Letters to Mr. Lewes and other friends on "Shirley," and the reviews of it--Miss Bronte visits London, meets Mr. Thackeray, and makes the acquaintance of Miss Martineau--Her impressions of literary men.
CHAPTER V. "Currer Bell" identified as Miss Bronte at Haworth and the vicinity--Her letter to Mr. Lewes on his review of "Shirley"--Solitude and heavy mental sadness and anxiety--She visits Sir J. and Lady Kay Shuttleworth--Her comments on critics, and remarks on Thackeray's "Pendennis" and Scott's "Suggestions on Female Education"--Opinions of "Shirley" by Yorkshire readers.
CHAPTER VI. An unhealthy spring at Haworth--Miss Bronte's proposed visit to London--Her remarks on "The Leader"--Associations of her walks on the moors--Letter to an unknown admirer of her works--Incidents of her visit to London--Her impressions of a visit to Scotland--Her portrait, by Richmond--Anxiety about her father.
CHAPTER VII. Visit to Sir J. and Lady Kay Shuttleworth--The biographer's impressions of Miss Bronte--Miss Bronte's account of her visit to the Lakes of Westmoreland--Her disinclination for acquaintance and visiting--Remarks on "Woman's Mission," Tennyson's "In Memoriam," etc.--Impressions of her visit to Scotland--Remarks on a review in the "Palladium."
CHAPTER VIII. Intended republication of "Wuthering Heights" and "Agnes Grey"-- Reaction after her visit to Scotland--Her first meeting with Mr. Lewes--Her opinion of Balzac and George Sand--A characteristic incident--Account of a friendly visit to Haworth Parsonage--Remarks on "The Roman," by Sydney Dobell, and on the character of Dr. Arnold--Letter to Mr. Dobell.
CHAPTER IX. Miss Bronte's visit to Miss Martineau, and estimate of her hostess--Remarks on Mr. Ruskin's "Stones of Venice"--Preparations for another visit to London--Letter to Mr. Sydney Dobell: the moors in autumn--Mr. Thackeray's second lecture at Willis's Rooms, and sensation produced by Currer Bell's appearance there--Her account of her visit to London--She breakfasts with Mr. Rogers, visits the Great Exhibition, and sees Lord Westminster's pictures--Return to Haworth and