I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas: they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.
Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights

dinsdag 16 juni 2009

Parsonage museum

On the interior of the Parsonage, Juliet Barker writes:

Though the garden was neglected, the house was not. Mrs. Gaskell commented that [relating to her visit in 1853]

'Everything about the place tells of the most dainty order, the most exquisite cleanliness. The door-steps are spotless; the small old-fashioned window panes glitter like looking-glass. Inside and outside of that house cleanliness goes up into its essence, purity.'

By the time Mrs Gaskell visited, Charlotte, her father and their servants, Tabitha Aykroyd and Martha Brown, were the only inhabitants of the parsonage and substantial changes had been made to its fabric and decoration.

Ellen Nussey, visiting Haworth for the first time some twenty years earlier, also found the Parsonage scrupulously clean but considerably more austere. There were no curtains at the windows because, she said, of Patrick's fear of fire though internal wooden shutters more than adequately supplied their place.43

'There was not much carpet any where except in the Sitting room, and on the centre of the study floor. The hall floor and stairs were done with sand stone, always beautifully clean as everything about the house was, the walls were not papered but coloured in a pretty dove-coloured tint, hair-seated chairs and mahogany tables, book-shelves in the Study but not many of these elsewhere. Scant and bare indeed many will say, yet it was not a scantness that made itself felt . . .'











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Een bezoek aan de pastorie
1. Ingang
De pastorie ("Parsonage") werd in 1778, in neo klassieke stijl gebouwd van zandsteen uit de omgeving van Haworth. Een eeuw later liet dominee John Wade, Mr. Bröntes opvolger, de noordvleugel aan het huis bijbouwen. Hierin bevinden zich thans de bibliotheek en de expositieruimte, In het gedeelte van het huis dat de Bröntes oorspronkelijk bewoonden zijn meubels en persoonlijke bezittingen van de familie ondergebracht. Het gebouw werd in 1928 aan de Brönte Society geschonken door de in Haworth geboren Sir James Roberts. Charlotte liet verscheidene veranderingen aan het huis aanbrengen; zo werden de eetkamer en de slaapkamer erboven groter gemaakt ten koste van de hal en de kinderkamer. Vrijwel alle meubels in het huis waren eigendom van de Bröntes en het grootste deel van de inrichting van de kamers stamt uit hun tijd.

2. Mr. Bröntes Studeerkamer
De kamer rechts was Mr. Bröntes studeerkamer. Hier deed hij veel aan zijn parochiewerk en vaak gebruikte hij er alleen, zijn maaltijd. Eén van de wandtafels is dan ook voor hem gedekt. Op het bureau voor de haard liggen zijn psalmenboek en vergrootglas. De piano was van zijn kinderen en werd voornamelijk door Emily bespeeld.

3. De Eetkamer
In de eetkamer deden de zusters veel van hun werk. Hier staat de schommelstoel waar Anne gewoonlijk zat met haar voeten op de haardrand en de sofa waarop Emily is overleden. Volgens Mrs. Gaskell, Charlottes biografe, was de overheersende kleur in de kamer karmozijnrood. Charlotte schreef: We hebben gordijnen voor de eetkamer gekregen. Ik heb ze in de fabriek karmozijnrood laten verven, maar ze zijn slecht geverfd en staan me niet aan. Boven de schoorsteenmantel hangt een reproductie van George Richmonds portret van Charlotte, boven de sofa bevindt zich, in de vorm van een gipsen medaillon, een portret van Patrick Branwell Brönte dat gemaakt is door Joseph Leyland. Aan de andere muur hangen gravures van twee van Charlottes helden: De hertog van Wellington en William Makepeace Thackeray. Charlotte liet de kamer groter maken toen ze succes kreeg als schrijfster.

4. de Keuken
Deze veranderde aanzienlijk toen er in 1878 een gang van werd gemaakt, het raam werd dichtgemetseld, er kwam een nieuwe ingang en het oude, grote fornuis werd verwijderd. De keuken is zoveel mogelijk in oude staat teruggebracht en bevat het oorspronkelijke huisraad. Aan de tafel kneedde Emily iedere week het deeg terwijl ze haar Duits leerde. Het keukengerei en serviesgoed dat hier te zien is, was eigendom van de Bröntes.

5. Mr. Nicholls studeerkamer
De studeerkamer was oorspronkelijk een voorraadkamer die alleen via de achterkant van het huis bereikbaar was. In mei 1854 liet Charlotte, met de bedoeling een studeerkamer voor haar toekomstige echtgenoot te maken, de hoogte van de vloer veranderen, een haard inbouwen en een nieuw raam plaatsen. Aan de muren bevinden zich kerkbankdeurtjes uit de oude parochiekerk van Haworth die in 1879 werd afgebroken.

Bezoekers die nu de trap op te gaan, waar ze een reproductie kunnen zien van Branwells beroemde portret van Anne, Emily en Charlotte. Hier staat tevens de klok die Mr. Brönte iedere avond opwond als hij naar bed ging.

6. de slaapkamer van de Dienstboden
Deze kamer kon men aanvankelijk alleen binnenkomen via een stenen trap aan de achterzijde van het huis. Tabitha Aykroyd kwam in 1825 voor de Bröntes werken en is 30 jaar lang bij hen in dienst geweest. Ze overleed in 1855 en is begraven nabij de tuinmuur van de pastorie. Martha Brown kwam op tienjarige leeftijd bij de familie werken en deed het huishouden tot de dood van Mr. Brönte dit gedeelte van het huis werd veranderd ten tijde van de Bröntes: het raam met de verticale, stenen stijlen in de westelijke muur werd afgesloten (een gedeelte van het kozijn is nog zichtbaar rechtsboven de haard) en vervangen door het huidige raam aan de zuidzijde.

7.Charlottes kamer
Rechts, aan de voorzijde van het huis, bevindt zich de kamer waar Mrs. Brönte in 1821 is overleden. Haar zus Elisabeth Branwell nam na haar dood de zorg voor de nog jonge kinderen op zich en trok bij de familie in. In deze kamer leerde tante Branwell de meisjes nauwkeurig borduurwerk en huishoudelijk werk. U ziet hier de kleine schoentjes en een jurk van Charlotte, evenals vele persoonlijke bezittingen van de zussen en een deel van het familieservies. De kamer bevat tevens een opmerkelijk haardrooster.

8. De Kinderkamer, later Emily?s kamer
Voor de verbouwing in 1850 was deze kamer groter. De kinderen brachten hier vele gelukkige uren door terwijl ze speelden, lazen en avonturen verzonnen voor hun speelgoedsoldaatjes. Later werd deze kamer waarschijnlijk Emily's slaapkamer.

9. Mr. Bröntes slaapkamer
Mr. Brönte gebruikte deze kamer na de dood van zijn vrouw. Later deelde hij hem met Branwell. Het bed is een moderne reproductie, gebaseerd op een tekening van Branwell waarop hijzelf, slapend op bed, te zien is. De andere meubels en kledingstukken in de slaapkamer waren eigendom van de Bröntes.

10. Branwells Atelier
Zo genoemd omdat zich hier voorbeelden bevinden van Branwells werk als schilder. Hij kreeg tekenles in Keighley en had eveneens les van William Robinson, een bekend kunstenaar uit Leeds. Het beroemde portret van Emily en dat van de drie zussen is te zien in de National Portrait gallery in Londen. Branwell verdiende wat geld door korte tijd als portretschilder te werken in Bradford.

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The Parlour

The Parlour

Parsonage

Parsonage

Charlotte Bronte

Presently the door opened, and in came a superannuated mastiff, followed by an old gentleman very like Miss Bronte, who shook hands with us, and then went to call his daughter. A long interval, during which we coaxed the old dog, and looked at a picture of Miss Bronte, by Richmond, the solitary ornament of the room, looking strangely out of place on the bare walls, and at the books on the little shelves, most of them evidently the gift of the authors since Miss Bronte's celebrity. Presently she came in, and welcomed us very kindly, and took me upstairs to take off my bonnet, and herself brought me water and towels. The uncarpeted stone stairs and floors, the old drawers propped on wood, were all scrupulously clean and neat. When we went into the parlour again, we began talking very comfortably, when the door opened and Mr. Bronte looked in; seeing his daughter there, I suppose he thought it was all right, and he retreated to his study on the opposite side of the passage; presently emerging again to bring W---- a country newspaper. This was his last appearance till we went. Miss Bronte spoke with the greatest warmth of Miss Martineau, and of the good she had gained from her. Well! we talked about various things; the character of the people, - about her solitude, etc., till she left the room to help about dinner, I suppose, for she did not return for an age. The old dog had vanished; a fat curly-haired dog honoured us with his company for some time, but finally manifested a wish to get out, so we were left alone. At last she returned, followed by the maid and dinner, which made us all more comfortable; and we had some very pleasant conversation, in the midst of which time passed quicker than we supposed, for at last W---- found that it was half-past three, and we had fourteen or fifteen miles before us. So we hurried off, having obtained from her a promise to pay us a visit in the spring... ------------------- "She cannot see well, and does little beside knitting. The way she weakened her eyesight was this: When she was sixteen or seventeen, she wanted much to draw; and she copied nimini-pimini copper-plate engravings out of annuals, ('stippling,' don't the artists call it?) every little point put in, till at the end of six months she had produced an exquisitely faithful copy of the engraving. She wanted to learn to express her ideas by drawing. After she had tried to draw stories, and not succeeded, she took the better mode of writing; but in so small a hand, that it is almost impossible to decipher what she wrote at this time.

I asked her whether she had ever taken opium, as the description given of its effects in Villette was so exactly like what I had experienced, - vivid and exaggerated presence of objects, of which the outlines were indistinct, or lost in golden mist, etc. She replied, that she had never, to her knowledge, taken a grain of it in any shape, but that she had followed the process she always adopted when she had to describe anything which had not fallen within her own experience; she had thought intently on it for many and many a night before falling to sleep, - wondering what it was like, or how it would be, - till at length, sometimes after the progress of her story had been arrested at this one point for weeks, she wakened up in the morning with all clear before her, as if she had in reality gone through the experience, and then could describe it, word for word, as it had happened. I cannot account for this psychologically; I only am sure that it was so, because she said it. ----------------------She thought much of her duty, and had loftier and clearer notions of it than most people, and held fast to them with more success. It was done, it seems to me, with much more difficulty than people have of stronger nerves, and better fortunes. All her life was but labour and pain; and she never threw down the burden for the sake of present pleasure. I don't know what use you can make of all I have said. I have written it with the strong desire to obtain appreciation for her. Yet, what does it matter? She herself appealed to the world's judgement for her use of some of the faculties she had, - not the best, - but still the only ones she could turn to strangers' benefit. They heartily, greedily enjoyed the fruits of her labours, and then found out she was much to be blamed for possessing such faculties. Why ask for a judgement on her from such a world?" elizabeth gaskell/charlotte bronte



Poem: No coward soul is mine

No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the worlds storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heavens glories shine,
And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.


O God within my breast.
Almighty, ever-present Deity!
Life -- that in me has rest,
As I -- Undying Life -- have power in Thee!


Vain are the thousand creeds
That move mens hearts: unutterably vain;
Worthless as withered weeds,
Or idlest froth amid the boundless main,


To waken doubt in one
Holding so fast by Thine infinity;
So surely anchored on
The steadfast Rock of immortality.


With wide-embracing love
Thy Spirit animates eternal years,
Pervades and broods above,
Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates, and rears.


Though earth and man were gone,
And suns and universes ceased to be,
And Thou wert left alone,
Every existence would exist in Thee.


There is not room for Death,
Nor atom that his might could render void:
Thou -- Thou art Being and Breath,
And what Thou art may never be destroyed.


--
Emily Bronte

Family tree

The Bronte Family

Grandparents - paternal
Hugh Brunty was born 1755 and died circa 1808. He married Eleanor McClory, known as Alice in 1776.

Grandparents - maternal
Thomas Branwell (born 1746 died 5th April 1808) was married in 1768 to Anne Carne (baptised 27th April 1744 and died 19th December 1809).

Parents
Father was Patrick Bronte, the eldest of 10 children born to Hugh Brunty and Eleanor (Alice) McClory. He was born 17th March 1777 and died on 7th June 1861. Mother was Maria Branwell, who was born on 15th April 1783 and died on 15th September 1821.

Maria had a sister, Elizabeth who was known as Aunt Branwell. She was born in 1776 and died on 29th October 1842.

Patrick Bronte married Maria Branwell on 29th December 1812.

The Bronte Children
Patrick and Maria Bronte had six children.
The first child was Maria, who was born in 1814 and died on 6th June 1825.
The second daughter, Elizabeth was born on 8th February 1815 and died shortly after Maria on 15th June 1825. Charlotte was the third daughter, born on 21st April 1816.

Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls (born 1818) on 29th June 1854. Charlotte died on 31st March 1855. Arthur lived until 2nd December 1906.

The first and only son born to Patrick and Maria was Patrick Branwell, who was born on 26th June 1817 and died on 24th September 1848.

Emily Jane, the fourth daughter was born on 30th July 1818 and died on 19th December 1848.

The sixth and last child was Anne, born on 17th January 1820 who died on 28th May 1849.

Top Withens in the snow.

Top Withens in the snow.

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