Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell
Brontë family manuscripts: an introduction
Francis O'Gorman, Professor of Victorian Literature at the University of Leeds, introduces the Brontë family manuscripts, part of the original Brotherton Collection.
More
Charlotte Brontë manuscripts
Description of Charlotte Bronte material in Bronte Family Manuscripts.
More
Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell
Description of letters from Charlotte Brontë & Elizabeth Gaskell describing each other.
More
Revd. Arthur Bell Nicholls
Description of A B Nicholls letter to Ellen Nussey following Charlotte Brontë's death.
More
Branwell Brontë poetry
Description of Branwell Bronte manuscripts in the Brotherton Collection, part 1
More
Branwell Brontë artwork
Description of Branwell Brontë artwork in Brontë family manuscripts collection
More
Branwell Brontë 'Our Lady of Greif'
Description of Branwell Bronte's sketch '‘Our Lady of Grief’.
More
In this manuscript, Charlotte describes her meeting with friend and future biographer Elizabeth Gaskell alongside some of Gaskell's consequential discussion of Haworth and Charlotte's father the Revd. Patrick Brontë.
Charlotte remarks on 1 July 1851 that Gaskell is a 'woman of many fine qualities and deserves the epithet which I find is generally applied to her charming'.
On the other hand, Gaskell is determined to judge Patrick harshly:
He was very polite & agreeable to me; paying rather elaborate old-fashioned compliments, but I was sadly afraid of him in my inmost soul; for I caught a glare of his stern eyes over his spectacles at Miss Brontë once or twice which made me know my man.
