llaiSliE^^H OsS'-^SirsO J, RAMS DEN Strata, £?e» fotk BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 ^'liniHIl llimi ''°'"*'^"'''' "'• Misrepresentati 3 1924 013 440 320 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013440320 THE BRONTE HOMELAND. THE BRONTE HOMELAND OR MISREPRESENTATIONS RECTIFIED. BY J. RAMSDEN. K ROXBURGHE PRESS, FIFTEEN, VICTORIA STREET, WESTMrNSTER. PREFACE. In launching these corrections of a now popular work upon the public, I may say that if it had not been for the enterprise and encouragement of numerous friends and relations of the Bronte family, both in England and Ireland, I should scarcely have felt it incumbent upon me to make the venture, knowing precisely the general dislike of the public to the appearance of anything antagonistic, as it were, to what it has heretofore regarded as almost oracular testimony. I must acknowledge my special indebtedness to one eminent Irish clergyman, who had previously conceived the idea of writing upon similar lines, but who, appreciating my research and earnest desire to arrive at the truth of the statements generally, vouchsafed me much important infor- mation, and a clear explanation of what would otherwise have remained as doubtful, but — at least to me — incontestable evidence. vi. PREFACE. I take this opportunity to thank the Irish relatives of the Brontes who have heartily rendered me their unstinted assistance, and much invaluable testimony regarding many very knotty points. I also acknowledge a deep debt of gratitude I owe to Justice Kene and to the Rev. R. Oswald, Drumballyroney Glebe, Rathfriland, who have furnished, at no small cost of time and labour, a harvest of information bearing out the facts I submit for public consideration. I found it convenient to divide the work into two parts — the first illustrating the manner which led up to the research, and the second will speak for itself. With the Church of Ireland, the Church of England, Presbyterianism, Orangeism, Roman Catholicism, etc., I have nothing in common, but recognize the equality of each in its endeavour for good ; therefore, in my remarks upon any sect, my opinion is unbiassed. I have no antipathy towards workers in any of these Institutions, but a sincere regard for many connected with each. I have expressed myself freely and strongly, and, it would appear, in dire antagonism. However, fully conscious of human fallibility, I don't presume PREFACE. vii to stand in judgment upon sentiment, nor deny private opinions and belief, but I do assert and maintain that such sentiments and opinions should be imposed upon the public openly, in the usual manner and undertheir appropriate titles indicative of the true nature of the contents. My meaning will unfold itself as the narrative proceeds. J. Ramsden. CONTENTS. Page. Chapter I. ... ... ... ... 15 Preliminary. The Bronte Public. Influence of the Bronte Works. The Bronte Society and Museum. Belies. PUgrimages to Haworth. The New Channel of Interest. Visitors to Ireland. Irish Eoads. The Bronte District. Visits to the Bronte District. Acquaintance with the People. Incidents. Explanations. Chapter II. ... ... ... ... 22 The Voyage. Belfast Lough. Lisburn, an Ancient Historical Town. The Rebellion in 1641. Charter Granted to the Town by Chailes n., Enabling the People to Elect Two Eepresentatives for Parlia- ment. Condition of the Town Commercially. English Taste and Industry. Interesting Items in an Irish Journey. Scenery. Historic Associa- tions. The People. Prom Lisbum to Lissue. Lissue. Chapter III. ... ... ... ... 26 Hillsborough. The HiU Family. The Old Castle Buius and Church. Regium Donum. The Campaign. Monument. The Church. A Traveller's Impression of Hillsborough. Prom Hillsborough to Dromore. Dromore. Its Antiquity. A Street in Dromore. The DweUing- Houses. Its History. The Founding of the Abbey. The Charter of James I. The Eebellion of 1641. The See Conferred upon Bishop Jeremy Taylor. The Dun. A Local Tradition. The Old Cross. No Convenient Hotel Accommodation. X. CONTENTS. Page. Chapter IV. ... ... ... ••• 31 The Borderland of the Bronte District. Banbridge. Its Streets. Its Change Since the Time of Patrick Bronte. Captain James Crozier's Monument. A Prophet has no Honour in his own Country. The Bracing Irish Air and Enchanting Scenery. Suburban Residences. Irish Wealth. Irish Peasantry. Alien Influence. The Irishman at Home and in England. Irish Intellect and Befinement. . A Comparison. From Banbridge to Loughbrickland. The Churches of Loughbrick- land. Sir Marmaduke Whiteohapel. Lake Bricenn. A Peculiar Incident. The M'Clory PamUy. Chapter V. ... ... ... ... 37 The Bronte District. The Lake. The Kelatives of Charlotte Bronte. Bronte Characteristics. Direction to Glasoar School. View of the Surrounding Country. Knock Hill. Covey HiU. Alterations Since the Time of Patrick Bronte. The Old School. Henry McFaddon and the Bronte Duel. Reminiscences of the Bronte Family. Charlotte's " Clivemess," and " Good Business." Ballynaskeagh Manse. The Old Residence of David McKee. The Haunted Glen. The House where Patrick was Born. The Homes of the Brontes, as Representing the Fortunes of the Family. Popular Peeling of Indignation against " The Brontes in Ireland." The Ghosts of the Glen. Unreliable Account of the Irish Brontes. Pact u. Fiction. PART II. Chapter I. ... ... ... ... 43 The Parent Stock. Patrick and Alice M'Clory's Home. Patrick M'Clory meets Hugh Bronte. Hugh Marries Alice. . Hugh's Strange and Fascinating Powers of Story-Telling. Hugh's CONTENTS. xi. Page. Family. The Eldest Son Patrick. Haworth and Emdale. The Kiln. Hugh's Story. The Finding of a Child by Hugh's Grandfather. The Adoption. Welsh. Death of the Old Grandfather Hugh. Foul Play Suspected. Welsh's Proposal to Marry Mary Scornfully EepeUed. His Vow of Vengeance. Intrigues, The Marriage. The Decline of Welsh's Fortune, and Rise of the Brontes. Welsh and Mary Adopt their Nephew. Little Hugh Arrives at His New Home. Struck down with Fever. The Runaway. Chapter II. ... ... ... ... 54 The Myth. Controversy. Hugh Bronte's Father. Confusions. Contradiction. He Only Quotes Hugh Bronte. The Importance of Small and Trivial Blunders. Argumentum ad hominem. Hugh's Story-Telling. Aunt Mary's Pusillanimity. An Inconsistency. A Mere Metaphrase. Evidence waiting the searching for. The Folly of an Uncritioised Acceptance of a Work in its Proper Light. Something Pleasant. Chapter III. ... ... ... ... 63 The Bronte Ghost-Baiting. Hugh, the Giant. Bronte Characteristics. Practical Joking. Lack of an Intelligent Explanation from the Biographer. The Story of the Murder in the Glen. Another Ghost. One of Hugh's Freaks. Dr. Wright's Version. The Buffalo Horn. What Became of It. The Haunted House. A Peculiar Horse. Frazer's Ghost. Hugh's Challenge. His Dying Declaration. The Truth of the Matter. Hugh's Accident. His Last Hours. The Neighbours. Their Gossip. The Roasting of the Devil. Chapter IV. ... ... ... ... 77 The Bronte Brothers. Definition of a Shebeen. Advantages of Keeping a Shebeen. Welsh did not set up a Shebeen Late in Life. Welsh's Two Sons. The Tragic Death. The Poem on Welsh's Death. The Cruel River Bann. Another Con- xii. CONTENTS. Page. tradiotion. Corny's Age. Another Shebeen. A Malicious Plot. Universal Drinking. Tipsy Irish Ministers. The Temperance Movement. A Threatening Deputation. The Leader of Temperance Imbibes. William's Doings Ignored. Chapter V. ... ... ... ... 90 The Last of the Bronte Aunts. The Sisters. Was Alice Responsible for the Bronte Myth? A Host of Inconsistencies. Alice Eeproved. McKee & Co. Alice Bronte's Annuity. Dr. Caldwell, not Maginnis. Honour Where Honour is Due. Pargeter's Charity. A Letter Prom a Grand-Niece. An Account of the Death and Burial of Alice. Her Wish Gratified. Was the Name Prunty, or Bronte. A Theory. Nobody's Business. Chapter VI. ... ... ... ... loi Who was the Tenant-Righter. The Statement About Donoughmore Incorrect. A Contrast. The Ashburn Act. Rehoboamic in Principles. Why Call it " The Brontes in Ireland ? " ANovel. Sentiments of Dillon, Davitt & Co. Hugh at the Lime-Kilns. Before they came in Vogue. Orangeism. What its Principles are. The Two Orange Brethren. DoUy's Brae Fight, as Told by Dr. Wright. As it Really Was. Hugh Bronte's Defiant Nature. Such a Characteristic Reply. The History of Martin and Mitchell. A Title Suggested. Chapter VII.... ... ... ... 115 Alter Idem. The Church is Not Christ's. An Appeal to a Parson. What they get their Living For. Their Character Generally. The World is not God's. Landlords. Ireland, not the King's. Rapacious Brigands. His Pleasantries in English Society. The Agent, and Sub-Agent. How the Brontes were Swindled. Irish Law not Justice. Obedience to Law not a Duty. Patriotism not a Virtue. Why Men are Patriotic. A Justice- Loving People. Tenant-Right Theory. How to CONTENTS. jdii. Page. Revolutionize Ireland. George III. A Deduction. A Metamorphosis. A Clerical Punch and Judy. Pair Bents ; Eeduced Rents ; No Rents. Davitt's' Confession. A Trite Truth. The Result of Agitation. Home Rule. The Irish Parmer's Advantage over the English. Hateful Tyranny of Landlords. Members of Parliament Charged. A Conspiracy. Its Objects. Result of the Com- mission's Investigation. Chapter VIII. ... ... ... 137 Let Justice be Done, Though the Heavens Pall in. A Ventriloquist. The 12th of July and St. Patrick's Day. What Made the North of Ireland ? What Orangemen Really Are. Presbyterian Church Demands Graces as well as Gifts. Therefore Patrick is Advised to Enter the Epis- copal. Bronte Glory in a Presbyterian Knapsack. A Bag of Chafi. Patrick's Pirst Love Afiair. Patrick in Trouble. Inconsistent Statements. Out of Employment. Another Situation. Memorial Tablets in Honour of John and James Rogers. An Insertion. Helen's Name. All Blarney. Chapter IX. ... ... ... ... 149 Gowg de Grace. The Reading of Jane Eyre. McKee's Home the Centre of Activity. The Joy of the Uncles. Bronte All Over. Another, and Different Version. Hugh Visits McKee Alone. Mr. McKee Proclaims it Gran'. Hugh's Trans- formation after the Approval. Contradiction. Another Discrepancy. The Brontes Stoicism. The Porce of the Bronte Character. The Reading of the Reviews. The Quarterly Onslaught. Hugh's Terrible Passion. He Visits Haworth. Reveals His Mission. His Reception. Goes in Search of the Reviewer. Patrick Sends the 4th Edition Copy of Jane Eyre. Hugh never went to London. Hugh's Visit to England During Charlotte's Childhood. The Robin Hood Legend. A Peculiar Coincidence. XIV. CONTENTS. Chapter X. ... Couolusion. Judgment Severe. Disappointment m" Brontes m Ireland." Neglects to use Valuable Information. An Apology to tlie Public. Pacts, not Guesses. A History of the Irish Brontes Still Wantmg. Confessions of Ignorance The Brontes and their Eeligion. Their Style of Dress Discharge of a Duty. Conclusion Page. The Bronte Homelaitd. PART I. I. PRELIMINARY. IT can unhesitatingly be declared that public interest respecting the Bronte family, instead of declining with years, is on the perpetual increase. The Bronte public is enormous. " Jane Eyre " and " Shirley " are absent from no intelligent, edu- cated man's library, their health-giving, vitalizing pages form a topic of almost daily discourse in many unexpected quarters. Their influence is universal. In fact, it is no distortion of the truth to assert that besides a Shakespearian, we have now a "Bronte" language, — a flow of familiar, every-day expressions which had their origin in the bleak Haworth parsonage. Even Carlyle's lumbering, unwieldy metaphor can scarcely be said to have been favoured with such universal approbation and assimilation as the easy-flowing, rhythmic expres- sions which grace the immortal pages of "Jane i6 PRELIMINAR Y. Eyre," "Shirley," or "Wuthering Heights" with such unfailing and continual regularity. We are still more Hibernian than German. Through the instigation, and by the unstinted labour of a few veteran Bronte lovers and enthusi- asts, we have now a large Bronte Society, together with, a valuable acquisition in the shape of a Bronte Museum, near the sacred place wherein the immortal sisters toiled, and where all the relics attainable, connected with this remarkable family, are carefully and religiously preserved ; and which, to the thousands who yearly make a pilgrimage to this interesting place, contribute largely to the interest and enjoyment of Bronte worshippers. Then consider the thousands who yearly make their pilgrimage to the Bronte waterfall. Winding along the narrow moor-land track in the heat of a noon-day summer's sun ; drinking in the pure air, redolent with the springy turf and heather-bells ; noting the sombre tones of the moors, lightened here and there by graceful trees, and framed by the pale-tinted sky, dull with over- charged clouds, we think of those gone before. On, — past the little well where the sisters used to rest, — catching the sounds of the murmurous waters THE liRUXTE WATKRFALL. PRELIMINARY. 17 far below, till we reach the dell where the silvery water falls from the moors into the lazily-running stream at the foot. It is a solitary, peaceful retreat, away from the warring world : one of God's freeholds, therefore, round it lies a decree that it shall be unalterable. As you gaze, the thought comes — is it well to seek out the haunts, and thus efface with our modernism the iniluence of those who once poured forth into this sheltering lap of Nature the griefs of their swelling hearts, which their stern lips refused to utter elsewhere. Yet we are not infallible, and to worship the truly great, and the things which they have enjoyed, can be little detraction now, for we view but the outer ; hidden, are wondrous secrets within the still, cold boulders which remain witnesses of what has gone. Lashed into their stony recesses by the flowing water are the most beauteous lights of minds that to us are shown but in glintings from the purest flames. Could we penetrate these forces : receive the spiritual vision to interpret the symbols therein, would there not be revealed truths such as would quell us — make us feel our incapacity to gauge what we believed to have fathomed to the full ? — i8 PRELIMINAR Y. The shallow water has naught to unfold ; regardful only of the -passing moment, it sweeps on. Move quietly up by the fall side ; walk with reverent feet over the sodden weeds and grass, knowing whose footfalls are 'neath the decay ; start not to see the small, starry, blue flowers — smiling through the tear-drops — another of the silent plead- ers for remembrance ; the spiky grasses, the ferns rearing their graceful fronds out of the mossy ground, all reveal delicately-tinted pictures. Pause on this flat rock, which the water scarcely heeds in its headlong course, and the projecting masses above form into an alcove; yet, shudder not if an eerie feeling creeps over you. The birds have hushed their song, and the sun shines not ; still no wind has passed across the close air, and the rippling music does not cease. Chase away these ominous foreshadowings in musings on the past. Take thy fill of this harbour of peace, losing thy grasp on the mundane, and wing forth into serener heights of inward communing. In nurturing these exalted passions, may there not gather round the presences who have drawn strength from this solitude, and power to burst the shackles of con- PRELIMINAR Y. 19 ventuality, to rise from such tJiraldom unto a plane of individual thought. If fancy plays thus, give it free scope ; 'twill gather sweet thoughts to dwell upon in after days, or it may bind thee with a more lasting link to the souls of the Brontes. But a new channel of interest has been explored and opened out by Dr. Wright's valuable addition to the store of Bronte lore, in his "Brontes in Ireland." Not that the public are becoming weary of that hallowed spot wherein is contained the Bronte treasures, but already a pardonable inquisitiveness has turned their eyes yearningly to that New World of investigation,' the Bronte homeland. And this is the sole excuse I offer for approach- ing a wary public, and placing at its disposal the few observations I have been able to make, and information I have been enabled to gather, together with more minute directions than has hitherto been given regarding the Bronte district, which I think will greatly facilitate the visitor's progress through this interesting part of Ireland, and assist in removing some of the difficulties and inconveniences B 20 PRELIMINAR Y. invariably experienced in such a country as Ireland. Beyond the confines of the city, Irish roads are not all that could be desired, although in some districts they are what might be called tolerable. The Bronte district itself is unapproachable by railway, but the jaunting car being very much en evidence, that is a matter of small consideration. Nor is the latter commodity an absolute necessity, provided the traveller is possessed of what would in Yorkshire be termed ordinary " gumption." In the course of the narrative, it would appear the writer had paid but one visit to the Bronte district, but I have only assumed that form to facilitate reference where the information serves as a guide ; having, in fact, had exceptional advantages during a course of repeated and extended visits, for making my observations and gathering my informa- tion, having also made some intimate acquaintance with the people of the district — not only with those who count as the "respectable" class, but with many of the poorer and older denizens, from whom I could obtain the desired information. Some of the incidents that I shall recount, though apparently occurring during the same visit, have taken place at different periods. PRELIMINAR Y. 21 With these few explanations, and fully conscious of my inadequacy to do full justice to a theme, which, had others of greater ability seen fit to take up, might have been served out with greater attraction, it is with no few qualms and misgivings I take up my task, which I hope will meet with some approval. II. LISBURN. We had been favoured with one of the stormiest nights in '96 during our passage across the Irish Sea — at least so said the steward of the " Duke of York." We certainly felt more comfortable as we entered the comparatively smooth waters of Belfast Lough. As we bounded up the harbour, amid the incessant clanging of the thousands of hammers in the ship- building yards, the sunrise augured well, inspiring us with a favourable impression of Hibernian weather. However, Belfast will not be an object of very striking interest to Bronte pilgrims ; therefore, a hearty breakfast, a hurried leave, and we are being joggled in an Irish train out into the country, past Balmoral, and on to Lisburn, a distance of some seven and a half Irish miles from Belfast. LIS BURN. 23 Lisburn is an ancient, historical town, on the Antrim side of the Lagan. It was here that in 1641, the rebels under Sir Phelim O'Neill, Sir Con Magennis, and General Plunket, were defeated, and in 1648, John Monro and his army were overcome by local Volunteers, and forced to retire. After the Restoration, Charles II., in order to mark his sense of the loyalty of the denizens of Lisburn, m- refusing allegiance to Cromwell during the Crom- wellian dynasty, granted a charter to the town enabling the people to elect two representatives for the Irish parliament. The parish church was also raised to the dignity of Cathedral of Down and Connor. The little town seems in a flourishing, prosperous condition, boasting four large spinning mills, a beetling mill, two bleach-greens, two factories for the weaving of linen, and two for the manufacture of damasks. I don't think there is another town in Ireland where the effects of English taste and industry are more conspicuous than in Lisburn, and the English language is spoken more purely by the populace of this district, than by the same class in many parts of England. Though the destination of the traveller is 24 LIS BURN. supposed to be " the cradle of the Brontes," never- theless, the determination to see as much of County Down as lies on the route, will well repay the tourist ; and considering the plenitude of interest — the peculiarities of the people, rural beauty, and historic association, no better advice can be given to the traveller on pleasure bent, than — avoid 'the railway. It seems almost an impossibility to become fatigued in this truly interesting country. The scenery is delightful, the country comparatively flat, though relieved here and there by picturesque, green-clad hills, each with its " history '' of battles fought, and often the remains of some mound, barricade, or fortress. Then the people are unique. Generous and hospitable to a fault; in fact, to know the Irishman, to see him in his true light, to comprehend him, you must see him at home, on his native soil — Ireland for the Irish. It was early spring ; yet, though scarce a flower decked the country wayside in the north of England, in County Down they were blooming fresh and plenteous, and as we tramped along the road from Lisbum to Lissue, the pure air and ever-varying scenery kept us in a spirit of elation that bid defiance to weariness. Arrived at Lissue, LIS BURN. 25 which consists merely of a few houses scattered about, the traveller turns and leaves the high-road at right angles, taking the road for Hillsborough. III. HILLSBOROUGH AND DROMORE. Hillsborough derives its name from the family of Hill ; Sir Peter, eldest son of Sir Moyses, having built a fort or castle here during the reign of Charles I. Charles II. raised the castle to the dignity of a royal fortress in 1660, Sir Arthur and his heirs being appointed hereditary constables, with 24 warders under his command. These warders still continue to be enlisted, and wear the uniform of the Dutch Guards during the time of William III. The present family reside in the modern castle, the older fortification being kept in tolerable repair. A glimpse of the old ruins and church is obtainable from the high-road, though special permission would have to be sought for nearer inspection. In one of the rooms is the bed in which King William slept during his stay at the Castle on the 20th and 2 1 St of June, 1690. THE CHURCH AT HAWuRTH BEFORE ITS DESECRATIdX. HILLSBOROUGH AND D ROM ORE. 27 It was in this castle he signed the memorable document authorizing the payment of Regiuin Donuin to the presbyterian ministry in Ireland ; and here, also, he issued the orders to his army to take the field in that campaign on the issue of which so much depended. On the hill leading to Dromore stands a very fine monument, about 150 feet high, surmounted by a statue erected in 1848, to the memory of Arthur, third marquis of Downshire. The church is an exceptionally fine structure, having a tower upwards of 100 feet high, and flanked by two smaller towers. The cost of building was ;£'20,000 ; a large edifice, considering the population is only about 950. It was opened in 1775. The old church stood formerly at the foot of Barrack street, but a new church was built and consecrated in 1662, the old one having lain in ruins from the time of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The present church succeeded both these. Altogether, the traveller's impression of Hills- borough is a favourable one, the squalidness so prominent in many other Irish towns being con- spicuously absent. 28 HILLSBOROUGH AND DROMORE. We kept on the high-road from Hillsborough to Dromore, which latter we reached as evening approached. Dromore would not strike the casual visitor as being a place of much interest, yet, nevertheless, the antiquarian would here find ample excuse to rush wildly, and gesticulatingly about, frantically demanding the undivided attention of the whole populace to his invaluable discoveries. You enter Dromore by a gradually sloping street, the most conspicuous peculiarity of which is its excessive squalor. The doors of the houses are after the style of our English stable-doors, divided in the centre, and the inmates behaving in a manner similar to horses when popping their heads over the lower portion of the door, inhaling and apparently enjoying the soft evening breeze. The most striking difference between these dwellings and our well-kept stables, is that the latter are much more comfortably furnished, inasmuch as the harness supplies relief for what would otherwise be bare walls. Yet the history of this town is exceptionally interesting, contributing largely to the history of the country. It is also, as I have said, a place of great antiquity. Here, St. Colman founded the INTERIOR OP HAWORTH CHURCH BEFORE IT WAS REBUILT. HILLSBOROUGH AND DROMORE. 29 abbey of canons regular about the year 500, A.D. The old castle, now in ruins, was built by William Worsley. By the charter of James I., 1609, the church was termed Eccelsia Christi Redemptoris de Dromore. At the Reformation the castle was in ruins, but when James I. conferred extensive possessions upon the Bishop, in 1610, it was put in repair. However, in 1641, during the Rebellion, the church suffered with the town, being reduced to ruins by the parliamentary forces. And so it remained until Charles II. conferred the See in commendam on Bishop Jeremy Taylor, under whose direction the present Cathedral was built on the ruins of the preceding one. One of the largest duns or forts in County Antrim stands at the east end of the town, beside the Lagan. It is nearly 600 feet in circumference, nearly 60 feet high, the diameter at the summit being about 55 feet. At the north end there is a treble fosse, and at the south end there is an outpost sloping to the river. According to local tradition there is immense wealth concealed in a room in the centre of the fort, and many attempts have been made to discover it, but if it ever was there, it is there still. 30 HILLSBOROUGH AND D ROM ORE. The old Cross of Dromore, to which the parish stocks were until recently attached, has been repaired and placed on a pedestal near the cathedral. However, dusk put a stop to our more intimate observations, and, as Dromore possesses no hotel accommodation, we were obliged to take the train for Banbridge, a distance of some seven Irish miles, and the centre of commercial enterprise in this part of Ireland. IV. THE BORDERLAND. Banbridge could not fail to impress the visitor favourably. Its broad, well-kept streets — or rather I should say street, for it consists chiefly of one principal thoroughfare, of which the others are branches, the town itself being only as large as a moderate-sized English village — form a striking contrast to the mud-bedabbled streets of some of our inland towns. I wonder if it has undergone any great change since the time when the father of our popular novelists trudged to its market with his hand- woven cloth ? From its appearance I should judge not; unless, indeed, we take exception to the addition of the Provincial Bank and one or two buildings of minor importance. The town lies on the old coach-road from Belfast to Dublin, and on both banks of the Bann. The principal street, which commences at the bridge, is 32 THE BORDERLAND. straight and spacious, and forms part of the thoroughfare between Belfast and Dublin. A monument of great interest is that erected in the square, to the memory of Captain James Crozier, R.N., who was a native of Banbridge, and second in command in Sir John Franklin's Arctic Expe- dition. It forms a beautiful and picturesque object. However, a fact more interesting even than the existence of the town itself, is that of its being, as it were, the borderland of the Bronte district. Nevertheless, on enquiring from our hostess of the ' Imperial " for information respecting the Brontes, her bewilderment only reminded us of the proverb- ial prophet : " honour in his own country," etc. The morning had opened well, promising fair weather for our plunge into the heart of the Bronte homeland. Our interest and enthusiasm seemed to rise too, as well as our appetites, for Irish air is bracing, and its scenery enchanting. The anti- quarian, the health-seeker, the lover of nature — virginal and artificial, and even a morbid aristocrat would find an Irish trip as remunerative to their various objects even as a continental ; the wonder is that it is not more patronised. The Irish bog THE BORDERLAND. 33 teems with biological gems ; the Irish sunset behind the crimson-crested hills serves as a stimu- lus for poetic inspiration ; while the exquisite peacefulness and calm which reigns amid its rural expanse — what more needs the jaded, over- worked business man, the harassed journalist, the sickly- clerk, or the over-dissipated drone ? Leaving Banbridge by the high-road to Newry, you ascend what might have been called a hill if it had only been higher, but which, nevertheless, commands a view the beauty of which is rarely equalled. As far as the eye can pierce stretch the verdant plains, but what would otherwise tend to produce monotony, finds relief in the regular undulations which seem to form the background of some premeditated picture scheme, while here and there some woody copse throws its dark outline against the clear blue sky, and the nearer beauty is enhanced by the picturesque suburban residences of some of the wealthier denizens, whose grounds serve as infallible indications of the artistic taste and skill of the owners. But wealth is very unevenly diffused in Ireland. There is a marked absence of the " middle class," so characteristic and great a portion of English 34 THE BORDERLAND. society. From the castle gate of the absentee landlord you step almost right into the midst of unfurnished mud-cabins, where "porkey" brings up his numerous progeny on intimate terms with his master's children. That is, of course, when you leave such towns as Dublin and Belfast, which are not absolutely Irish, but an unhealthy conglomera- tion or admixture of aliens. To know the Irish peasant's true character, to be able to advantage- ously study it, you must see it as it really is, uncontaminated by contact with foreign influences, before the snubs and despotism of an alien race have called forth that stubborn resistibility and devil-may-care nature, so common a feature in the " Irishman in England." Nor is the intelligence of the people in general the most note-worthy feature of the " Irishman at home," but the innate refinement and courtesy observed incessantly in their attentions upon strangers ; the low-bred insolence of over-civilised vulgarity, so common to a large portion of the English labourers, being conspicuously absent. But perhaps such a comparison is unfair, the circumstances under which the two characteristics are developed being so widely different. True, the THE BORDERLAND. 35 Irish peasant is not cramped from early dawn till dusk within the prison walls of a noisome factory, but from the cradle has full advantages of the refining surroundings of nature ; nor has he to cope so determinedly and unceasingly against the in- consistencies of a fate which keeps our English workman at the mercy of a fitful employer. However, it is only about two and a half miles from Banbridge to Loughbrickland, and the spire and tower of the Churches of Rome and England respectively soon loom up in the distance. The Church of Ireland, we subsequently learned, was built 300 years ago. Loughbrickland is a typical Irish town or village, the inhabitants almost exclusively Celts. It owes its size to Sir Marmaduke Whitechapel, to whom Queen Elizabeth bequeathed the adjacent lands in 1585. The nobleman built a castle on the shore of the lake, and soon after, a church and a mill. The name was formerly the Lake of Bricenn. A pecu- liar little incident occurred as we approached the village, illustrating the Irish emigration craze. Walking up to an old Irishman, I enquired if a family of the name of M'Clory lived thereabouts ? " Sure," he said, " and ye be the young M'Clor/ c 36 THE BORDERLAND. that went to Ameriky, an's come back with your money to spend it, and settle down in your old country ? Right glad I am to see you," etc. There is no scarcity of M'Clorys in Lough- brickland, and no doubt since some lingering remembrances are afloat regarding some romantic marriage, which took place more than a century ago, between a certain Hugh Bronte — whose family have since " gained a good reputation " — and a certain Alice M'Clory, who was the beauty of the whole country-side, and " a pure Celt," they one and all desire to claim relationship. So it ap- peared, too, when conversing with Patrick M'Clory, who keeps the store on the right-hand side of the road as you enter the village. He is certainly possessed of remarkably fine blue eyes, and pre- sents a handsome appearance generally. — " Oh yes, we have been told that we are descended from a M'Clory who was a brother of Alice M'Clory, whom Hugh Bronte married for her beauty. She was the grandmotiier of the famous Charlotte Bronte." V. THE BRONTE DISTRICT. We leave Loughbrickland and turn up the hill to the left, and go by the road leading along the shore of the lake, which is on our right-hand side. The road, which leads right into the Emdale district, is banked on both sides by hedges the whole of the way. We pass Ballynaskeagh post- office on our left. Not far from here dwell two female relatives of Charlotte, and with whom, if she had been alive, no doubt a strong affinity would have existed. I had occasion to call upon them, and eagerly looked for traces of the characteristics of our famous novelists. And I was not disappointed. There lurked the fiery streaks in the deep-set, dark eyes ; the voice was tunefully modulated ; the quiet movements, and shy, nervous manner — all these reminded me of the word-painting of Charlotte Bronte. Seen in the profile, the face impresses one with a sense of 38 THE BRONTE DISTRICT. beauty and repose, and on that brow I felt that the hand of a Bronte had laid its hallowing seal ; the somewhat hollow cheeks, and large, firm mouth, truthfully determined the peculiarities of her race. The slim figure, neatly robed, further indicated the refinement so notable in the three English sisters. What was more remarkable and interesting still, was the fact that literary talent of no mean order often betrayed itself, though in a quiet, unconscious, and unassuming manner. Long be it ere the Bronte blood shall finally die out. We keep on past the Ballynaskeagh post-office until we reach the cross-roads, and the best road to take is that leading to the right, which will bring us to Glascar School. Standing on the hill upon which the school is built, a fine view of the surrounding country is obtained, Knock Hill forming a prominent fea- ture, while on the left looms up the memorable Covey Hill. The school has undergone consider- able alterations since the time of its illustrious teacher, Patrick Bronte. In fact the old school- house, which was a thatched building, has been pulled down, and the exact spot where it stood is now a blank space in the front of a house which, I THE BRONTE DISTRICT. 39 understand, formerly contributed to the dimensions of the old building. It is occupied by an old man of ninety-eight years of age, named Henry McFaddon, an interesting person from the fact that he was present as a boy at that interesting episode in the local history : the Bronte duel. The details of the incident have, however, been made popular by the researches of Dr. Wright. As the old man stood by our side on the brow of the hill, crutchless, spectacleless, and jacketless, in a drizzling rain which had just set in, bare-headed, hale, and hearty, he seemed a living testimony to the health-giving virtues of his country. Did he remember the Bronte family ? Well, he should say so. Wasn't he there when Welsh licked that spalpeen Clarke? Aye, an' how the Bronte brothers used to " brag " about what Charlotte did in England. He supposed she " did a good busi- ness," though, and was " tarrible cliver." Whether the old man desired to compliment me, or that he had thoughts of having committed himself, I don't know, but, gazing rather earnestly into my face, he said : " You 'favour' the Brontes ; if you had only Hugh's stature, you might have been Hugh himself." 40 THE BRONTE DISTRICT. However, leaving the matter open to conjecture — at least as far as old Henry was concerned, we resumed our interrogations, opening the inquisitorial battery with queries respecting the Devil's Parlour, the Ducking Pond, and the Haunted Glen, with all of which, together with the stories connected, he seemed fully conversant, even to the minutest detail. Leaving the school-house, we skirted the hill upon which rests Ballynaskeagh Manse. This manse was not in existence at the time of the Brontes, being a later addition to the houses in the neighbourhood. Instead of the comfortable-looking residence, there was only a straw-thatched mud cabin, part of the ruins of which are still to be seen behind the present modern building. This was in the time of David McKee, a queer personage, by all accounts, who used to attend meetings in white corduroy togs, and was a very eccentric individual generally. A walk of about half-a-mile from the manse, and we are at the foot of the Haunted Glen. The house where Patrick Bronte was born, stands on the road which leads from the cross-roads backwards, but a little before we reach the Glen. But more of this later. THE BRONTE DISTRICT. 41 The Glen is a poetic spot ; woody and secluded. It has lately become an attraction as a pleasure resort or picnic grounds for numbers of people from the neighbouring towns, who patronize it frequently during the summer. As we mount the hill, the Glen is to the right of us, while to our left are the two houses which represent, as it were, the fortunes, or rather, circumstances of the Bronte family. The lowest one down the hill, we were informed, was the home of Welsh Bronte, while the one higher up, and which is occupied by a man named M'Clory, a descendant of the family of Alice M'Clory, and called the " better house," is the one the Brontes built later, when the star of their fortunes was in the ascendancy, and the more lucrative employment of macadamizing roads had taken the place of the corn kiln. Together with a popular feeling of indignation — of which the following conversation I had with a lady who resides not far from the Glen, is but a type, and a poor representation of the high feeling regarding the " Brontes in Ireland," — and a sense of injustice done to the family in my own private sentiments, led to the writing of the following chap- 42 THE BRONTE DISTRICT. ters. Why? the reader will see as the narrative proceeds. "Ever scared by the ghosts of the Glen?" I jocularly ventured. "Well," laughed the honour- able dame, " we have lived here almost all our lives and never been favoured with a visit yet." " But you are in terrible proximity to their haunts," I continued, "are you not?" A serio-comic expression for a moment flitted across her countenance, and she answered in a half- injured tone : " Well I suppose you are given to understand so in England." "Then you would not have us place absolute reliance upon those who pose as authorities on the Irish Bronte theme ? " I enquired, following up her suggestion. " Certainly not," was the somewhat sharp reply, " and all that has been written, as yet, is nearly all lies, and I would not have it in my house." Whether her outspoken chagrin was the outcome of a sentiment that considered the divulgence of local tradition as sacrilegious, or that we had really been treated to a spicy dish of romance and distorted truth, instead of " stolid facts," the reader will learn from the following pages. KEV. P, BRONTE. PART II. THE PARENT STOCK. ABOUT 204 years ago there lived at a place called the Watery Forth, a man by the name of M'Clory. No possible record is now obtainable regarding the forefathers of this particular M'Clory. About the time I mention he removed to a place by the name of Drumsallagh, but only stopped there about two years and then removed to Ballynaskeagh, and rented some land from a Mr. Sheppard. Patrick M'Clory and his sister Alice were reared in Ballynaskeagh, and it was here that a certain Hugh Bronte, who came from no one knew whither, met this Alice M'Clory, of whom it is asserted she was the beauty of the whole country- side, and "a pure Celt," fell in love with, and eventually married, her. 44 THE PARENT STOCK. The whole thing stripped of its romantic wrappings — which were, as I will show later, simply romantic wrappings — lies in this simple narrative : — Patrick M'Clory, alias Red Paddy, as he was more familiarly known, in one of his journeyings met with a young man at the lime kilns of Mount Pleasant, near Dundalk? A friendly attachment sprung up between the two, which ended in Hugh Bronte, which is, of course, the young man referred to, receiving an invitation to spend the Christmas with his new friend. Red Paddy, which invitation was eagerly accepted. Yet another story, of equally good authority, is advanced regarding Hugh Bronte. It is stated that he came from beyond the hills, from Farghart it is supposed, and came merely as a hired servant, to assist in the harvesting and other menial occupations, so that indeed it would appear that whichever theory — and they are but theories — may be accepted, each is open to serious doubt. How- ever, if the balance goes down on the side of either, it will be for the former. But more of this anon. Hugh Bronte, after the usual course of courtship, married Red Paddy's sister, Alice M'Clory, and THE PARENT STOCK. 45 settled down near Ballynaskeagh. But as to his origin, his ancestry, I can unhesit^atingly assert, and will discuss at some length later, absolutely nothing can be assumed to be beyond doubt. As indeed we might infer from the wonderful talent of his remarkable grand-daughters, Hugh Bronte himself was a remarkable man. He possessed the rare faculty of holding spell-bound the simple country folk who flocked nightly to his humble corn-kiln to hear his strange stories, glowing accounts of suffering and heroism, himself the centre of all the intrigues. There it was that he and his wife Alice reared a large family of ten children, five sons, and as many daughters. Their names were Patrick, William, Hugh (afterwards better known as the giant), Welsh, and Jamie. The girls were Mary, Rose, Jane, Sarah, and Alice who died but a few years ago, but was better known by the familiar name of "Ayles." Patrick early betrayed a wonderful aptitude for "larning," and at an early age relinquished his trade as a linen weaver, and took the post of teacher in Glascar school, Ballynaskeagh. There he worked hard and earnestly, and, under the kind 46 THE PARENT STOCK. tutelage of the Rev. Harshaw, made rapid and striking progress. He eventually took a scholar- ship, and entered Cambridge University, where he graduated, and ultimately took Holy Orders. Further interest ceases until we find him Incumbent of Haworth, with a salary of about ;£^200 a year, and the father of a family of five girls and one son. However sombre and bleak may be the word portrayal of the Haworth parsonage, yet, between this and the little mud cabin in which this remarkable son of Erin was born and for some time lived, there is a wide, nay, but for those who have visited the shrine, an inconceivable contrast. The little hole in which the sun first strove — and he would have to strive too: — to cast his beaming rays, is scarcely large enough to turn round in ; but of the living-room or kitchen, there is scarcely any of it left, though the foundations are sufficiently distinct to enable one to gather a correct idea of its dimensions, which, however, were scarcely perceptibly larger than the former room. Adjoin- ing is a field which still retains the name of the " kiln " field. And this was the cabin in which, while becking the kiln, and by the ruddy glow of the fire, HAWORTH PARSONAGE. THE PARENT STOCK. 47 Patrick's father, Hugh, was wont to spin his fascinating yarns, but one of which, however, survives, and that, alas, we are asked to accept as the authentic account of his own origin and career. Taking himself as the hero of his own story, he says he was brought up with an uncle and an aunt named Welsh and Mary. This Welsh, he would affirm, had been picked up by his grand- father when crossing from Liverpool, after having been there to dispose of some cattle. No one coming forward to claim the child, Hugh's grand- father and grandmother adopted him, and brought him up with their own children. This child, who was afterwards named Welsh on account of his ruddy and foreign appearance, so ingratiated himself into the old man's favour, that he took first place in the Bronte household, which, according to Hugh's account, was somewhat large, consisting of a large number of brothers and sisters. This old Hugh Bronte, for such we are given to understand was his name, died on board during one of his cattle-selling expeditions, and at the time was supposed to have with him a large sum of money, the proceeds of what had been a tremendous sale of cattle. 48 THE PARENT STOCK. This money, of course, never landed into the hands of the Bronte sons and daughters, and rumours were whispered that old Hugh had met his fate by no fair play. Welsh was naturally suspected of having appropriated the money to his own purpose. He subsequently confirmed the suspicion by appearing one night in the family circle, dressed up in such style and fashion as he had never before been known to be, and volunteered to restore the fallen fortunes of the bereaved family, by continuing the " dealing," but, only on one condition. This condition was that he might marry their youngest sister, Mary. This was regarded as a defamatory proposition by the family, and was rejected with unconcealed scorn and hatred. They scouted the idea, and somewhat roughly and peremptorily dismissed him. However, Bronte's own sons had been kept in comparative luxury and happy ignorance of all worldly matters themselves, and were therefore unable to continue in their father's line of business. Nevertheless, an indescribable loathing of the man Welsh, together with an independent spirit, coupled with what they called an insult to the family honour, in the joining of one of their own THE PARENT STOCK. 49 flesh and blood with the man they looked upon as a villain of the deepest dye, and a foreigner, caused them to treat all his propositions with scorn and disdain, and to issue an imperious command to leave the house, or he would be subjected to forcible ejection. Quit the house he did, but with the usual vow of villains in a romance to bring sorrow, disgrace and ruin upon the inmates ; in fact, " he would scatter them like chaff from that house, which should be his home, and at all risks he would yet call Mary his wife." Then followed the usual intrigues, during which the good fortunes of the oppressed family declined, and those of the unscrupulous villain gradually assumed overwhelming and distorted proportions. The foundling Welsh had obtained the invidious and lucrative — and to the Irish tenants detestable — employment of sub-agent. In this capacity he was enabled to employ devious methods of harassing and discomfitting the unfortunate Bronte family, namely, by extracting enormous sums of money for rent, by continually raising their rent, and contriving to bring all manner of disaster upon the family. so THE PARENT STOCK. The crowning glory of his villainy was, as he had threatened, the secret marriage of the youngest daughter Mary to his lordly self. This he is said to have managed with the help of a spey woman named Meg, and a villainous, low-bred scoundrel named Gallagher. By a series of inexplicable intricacies with the agent under whom he served, he then managed to obtain sole possession of the whole of the Bronte possessions, including the old homestead and extensive farm property, expelling for ever the rightful owners. Then follows the usual decline of the sinning one, and the rise of the fortunes of the oppressed. The neighbours of Welsh became infuriated at his oppression of so respectable a family, together with his extortionate demands for over-payment of rent, and in a mad rage burned down his house. His fortunes from then rapidly declined. From the large house of the old Hugh Bronte, he was obliged to live with his family, which consisted of himself, his wife and the inevitable pig and fowls, together with the sanctimonious scoundrel Gallagher, in a one-roomed cottage, the only part of the old house which was saved from the mob. Meanwhile, the brothers whom he had so THE PARENT STOCK. 51 treacherously and unscrupulously robbed, were making comfortable homesteads for themselves, and one, whose name is not known, but whom Hugh, Patrick's father, always represented as his father, had become the happy parent of a numerous progeny, among which was, of course, himself, the grandfather of Charlotte. It was about the time when Hugh would be five years old that the erring uncle and aunt, Welsh and Mary, came on a visit to Hugh's parents with a scheme for adopting one of their nephews. Their choice, it seems, fell upon the little Hugh. Formalities are said to have been gone through, and terms agreed upon for adoption, among the many conditions being the one that Welsh should give a good, sound education to Hugh, and Hugh's father in return would pay ^^50 per annum for his maintenance and comfort. Also, the parents agreed never to visit their son, nor in any way give any information to the child which would enable him to return home or find his friends. Finally, all was satisfactorily agreed upon and settled, and one night Hugh was placed in a gig between his uncle and aunt, and set out for his long ride and new home. 52 THE PARENT STOCK. He had been buoyed up with bright visions of ponies, dogs, and all kinds of impossible amuse- ments for a child of five years, therefore, when his wicked uncle commenced chastising him before they had scarcely got beyond sight of his parent's home, and continued his harsh treatment until they reached his miserable home, it was, as may naturally be expected, a terrible awakening for the poor child ; a severe and cruel contrast to his brilliant expectations. He had arrived at his new home, tired and weary after endless sufferings and torture, when his uncle poured into his young ears the full benefit of his vile vocabulary which was almost entirely limited to oft repeated oaths and execrations with which he was wont to "blast" his enemies to eternal perdition. But little Hugh was in a fever, and unable to arise next day. The fever continued many weeks, and when finally restored to health, he had to take upon himself the drudgery of the farm. So he lived on, according to the narrative, until he reached the age of fifteen, but in continual fear of his uncle who never missed an opportunity of ill-treating him ; until one day, when Hugh had in THE PARENT STOCK. 53 prospect one of the severest thrashings he had ever been subjected to, he himself turned thrasher and afterwards betook himself to new fields of labour. This, in substance, is the pith of one of Hugh Bronte's most popular stories, but of course, it has been considerably altered by those who remember it. That the story, as related, expanded, and varied by Dr. Wright, is the story of Hugh's own life, I am fully prepared to deny. It is too contra- dictor}', meagre, and altogether unreliable to be accepted as "fact." It is pure assumption, repudiated with indignation by the surviving race and other reliable authorities. II. THE MYTH. Much discussion has been indulged in, and many authorities have advanced their candid opinions regarding the substantiality of this " Bronte Myth," that is, the story of the parentage of Hugh Brontg. Even if I was unable to supply satisfactory evidence of its unauthenticity, there is in it and of it much that lays the matter open for severe criticism in Dr. Wright's version of the " Brontes in Ireland." I have here I think, sufficient evidence to prove most conclusively that it is a myth. On page i6 he says : — " Hugh Bronte, according " to his own account, belonged to a large family of " brothers and sisters. His father lived somewhere "in the South of Ireland. He was a man in " prosperous circumstances, and Hugh's early child- " hood was spent in a comfortable home." THE MYTH. 55 But on page 19 he confounds confusion, for he says : — " Hugh Bronte's father, the great-great- " grandfather (notice the greats) of the novelists " used to live in a farm on the banks of the Boyne, " somewhere above Drogheda." Yet again on page 49: — "What is of more " importance is the fact that the ancient home of the "Brontes, where Hugh's grandfather — the great- " great-great-grandfather of the novelists — lived, was "on the north side of the river Boyne, between " Oldbridge and Navan, not far from the spot where " William of Orange won the famous battle of the " Boyne." Ignoring the contradiction in the first two statements, Hugh Bronte's father was not the great-great-grandfather of the novelists, since Hugh was the grandfather, Hugh's father would only be their great-grandfather. With this glaring inconsistency at the outset, how are we to retain anything approaching an intelligible understanding of this biography of the Irish Brontes ? Yet, again, the biographer asserts that he only quotes the statement of Hugh Bronte himself — easy way out of the difficulty — so that S6 THE MYTH. the fault really lies in Hugh, and not in his biographer. I doubt it. In a state of pyrexical excitement, such as that which prevails anent the Bronte question, biographer and public alike are apt to overlook such small and apparently trivial blunders, yet, viewed in their proper importance, they render a question of hitherto seeming simplicity one of extreme complexity and knottiness. A generation completely knocked out of time is not a matter of much consequence though ! This confusion on the part of Hugh and his biographer favours the idea of its mythical origin. It seems a very unlikely and improbable thing indeed, that, assuming the existence of such a man as this foundling " "Welsh," and the villainous part he is said to have played in the life of Hugh, that Hugh would call one of his own sons by the accursed name. In fact, the whole thing savours more of some spicy romance than a living truth ; an image called up by the intense imagination of the story-telling Hugh ; a lightning flash of inspiration, which, having found birth in a real storm element of adverse winds and threatening grey -black clouds, startles and bewilders beholders THE MYTH. 57 by the sudden violence of its unexpected outburst, momentarily dazzling them by the sudden electrical illumination of the sombre-tinted scene, and by the unforeseen and unpremeditated union of forces causing the phenomenon ; that is, the esemplasti- cation of commonplace and may be altogether uninteresting facts with the mystic chord of the genius' inspiration, whereby the inimitable Hugh might enthral his spell-bound and wonder-stricken audience. Nor, granting this, did he lay himself open to the charge of miscitation. He simply and uncon- sciously assumed the indisputable right of all romancers : Over the inartistic and apparently useless fabric he swept the wand of his fiery, untamed genms, calling forth in most vivid and vary-coloured patterns his metaphorical object- lesson. If the woman " Mary," supposed to be Hugh's aunt, and whom it is stated she afterwards became, through shameless intrigue, the wife of the interloper Welsh, really participated in the efforts of her husband to adopt the son of one of her brothers, then, knowing the nature of the arch- fiend, her husband, she was equally as bad and 58 THE MYTH. diabolical as he. If not, why — when this self-styled precocious child was suffering such extreme mental and physical agony, when still within sight of his home, for " he could see the lights of home shining warm into the darkness, but he felt a heavy hand grasping him and choking the voice out of him," then, why, at this crisis, did she not take the child's part and sternly refuse to be a party to her husband's villainy? Such pusillani- mity in a Bronte is inexplicable. Then again, in her sympathetic communicative- ness, when mutual suffering under the lash of a common tyrant had drawn out her pity, one would naturally expect that she would acquaint Hugh with the knowledge of the whereabouts of his parents ; the least she could possibly do would be to render him the assistance he required to direct him to his home, which favour she evidently never extended. Yet it is stated that aunt Mary did divulge this long legend about her husband's villainy, together with the tragic story of the dispersion of the Bronte family. The long parody about the family oath may be an easy way of explaining the insufficiency of evidence on Dr, Wright's part, but it is all a farce. THE MYTH. 59 A very unconscionable, undesirable, and un- natural parent too, who, knowing the devilish nature of his own mortal enemy, would, together with an agreement to pay ^^50 per annum as a good-riddance fee, also agree to lose all right and interest in one of his own flesh and blood. Yet such we are given to understand was the nature of Hugh's natural, or rather I should say, "un-natural" father. However plausible this eclaircissement of the Bronte fountain-head might appear at first glance, the unbiassed dissection of it only too clearly reveals its purely speculative nature, in fact, the absence of all documentary evidence, and added to this the inunanimity of opinion in the Bronte family (according to the Dr.'s statement) reduces this romantic narrative to its natural basis ; a mere flimsy metaphrase, or as it were, a misapprehension and misapplication, of Hugh Bronte's characteristic rhapsodies. So that indeed, before any absolutely conclusive, or rather I might say practical, evidence has been given to the contrary, this plausible theory, it will be seen, is altogether too weak to bear even a superficial scan, where it is attempted 6o THE MYTH. to palm it upon an unsuspecting public as a real life of Hugh Bronte. Ill-concealed paralogism. There can be no possible excuse at all on the part of the writer for such an egregious blunder, such weak repetition. The evidence pointing to the contrary was there in Ballynaskeagh and Drumballyroney awaiting the searching for ; and if he had any desire at all to get at the truth, and nothing but the truth, very little trouble indeed would have assured him that he was on the wrong track altogether. Evidently he allows the unsound judgment of unlettered old men, all in their dotage, and full of country gossip, run rife before his own puny ability to discern fact from fiction. And trusting to such biographer, we are asked to allow the badly dished up shreds of country super- stition to go down to posterity as an overwhelming mass of unsophisticated truth which it took — tell it not in Gath ! — twenty-five long weary years to accumulate. And this of the ancestry of one of our most honoured and worshipped families in England ! No scathing denunciation, however forcibly expressed, can be sufficiently strong in denouncing such unpardonable presumption. THE MYTH. 6l Yet the public is an arrant fool ; guilty of unpardonable folly. Enthusiasm, indeed, in a Britisher's mind drives out all common-sense or calm reasoning. Instead of scanning and criticising such a work as a biography, instead of looking at the thing as it ought to have been looked at, the child of a British public had got something to please it — a novel — a little fairy tale. Whether it was reality or mere fiction, it has not even yet, in its childish delight, had time to investigate. However, Hugh Bronte did belong to a family of brothers and sisters, and strange to say — let it be plain enough — ke was one of them ! Does the English mind comprehend ? Yet another assertion. There never was such a man as the foundling Welsh, whom Dr. Wright asserts was the uncle of Hugh, the grandfather of our novelists. This I can unhesitatingly affirm. Never was such a man heard of in the Bronte family, until the tale was issued from the fertile and imaginative brain of the learned Dr. Wright. The knowledge was a great surprise to the surviving Brontes. The aunt Mary of whom he speaks so often as 62 THE MYTH. being the wife of Welsh, was not Hugh's aunt at all, she was his own sister. Therefore, of course, she was the aunt of Hugh's children, Patrick, William, and Hugh the giant. I hope this fact will be of sufficient clearness to the obtuse mind of the public to dispel for ever the weak assumption that Hugh Bronte's story was the story of his own life. III. THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING; It will now be seen that the Bronte Myth is irretrievably exploded. Even without any evidence to the contrary of Dr. Wright's simple deductions, common-sense and reason would justify its rejection. Having settled this question then by incontrovertible testimony, we are now at liberty to take a general view of the Bronte household and their manner of living. Hugh's children throve well, and one of them, named after his father — Hugh — took upon himself as a distinction, the name of "the giant." None of them, however, gained any marked distinction beyond the confines of their own immediate neighbourhood, except the eldest son Patrick. Nevertheless, they were distinct from their neigh- bours. They were stamped with the characteristic seal of genius ; and, therefore, were objects of curiosity and often targets of animosity at some 64 THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. periods from their illiterate neighbours. When they became better understood, they accordingly gained the appreciation and respect of their fellow- men, and, among the people who were favoured with their intimate acquaintance, I have not, in all my investigations, yet met with one who did not speak with admiration and respect of the Bronte brothers. The Brontes liked to have practical jokes at the expense of their neighbours, and derived consider- able amusement from one particular freak they inadvertently stumbled to, that of playing off ghosts among them. Yet one would naturally expect some intelligible explanation of this somewhat doubtful amusement from such a responsible individual as a biographer. But, I am sorry to saj', such an explanation we have not been favoured with from the source expected, the would-be biographer being too much engrossed airing his own political and religious sect, cramming his work with unnecessary records of the doings and virtues of his " own party," the utter uselessness and absurdity of the other party, that the task of rendering comprehensible the doings of the Bronte family has been left to myself. THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. 65 The Haunted Glen, is close by the home of the Brontes, and when the " ghost-baiting " was at its height, Welsh was keeping a public-house and shop in the house which stands lowest down the road, which runs nearly parallel with the Glen. All kinds of freaks were indulged in by the brothers, and especially by Hugh, who took an unaccountable delight in keeping up their repu- tation of being strange and uncanny. A story had gone the rounds of the neighbour- hood, started, of course, by Hugh, that a woman had at some time been murdered in the Glen by her false lover. The murderer had taken his victim to Rathfriland for the purpose of purchasing the wedding ring. However, some little hitch had occurred, causing a sudden estrangement between them, and they had parted. But he waylaid her on her way home to her mother's, attacking her in the Glen, " and murdering her under circumstances of great atrocity." That very night the ghost of the woman took revenge upon her murderer. " She rushed upon her assassin and with a wild scream dragged him from his bed, through the window of his cabin, and down with unearthly yells to the bottomless pit." They had both been 66 THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. doomed by Hugh, to walk the earth for a thousand years, and had taken up their permanent abode in the vicinity of the Glen. Another man, who was said to have committed suicide, had also found it convenient to make the Glen the habitation of his ghost. With such admirable materials to work upon, the Bronte brothers enjoyed some lively sport at the expense of their unsuspecting neighbours. Thus they earned for themselves the wonderful reputation of "ghost-baiters." Hugh the giant used to clothe himself in a white sheet, and having scooped out the inside of a turnip, and shaped it after the style of a human head, with a nose, and sockets for the eyes, he would place a lighted candle within the bogus skull — which, of course, would give it an uncanny appearance — and then set out to his neighbours' houses. He would carry a bundle of clothes in his arms, from the top of which the skull would appear, so that it had the appearance of a child. His plan was to knock at the door, and on the knock being answered by the appearance of one of the inmates — generally the mistress of the house- hold — he would ask in pitiful tones for a night's THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. 67 lodgings. If the people refused, he would contrive, in turning away, to expose the grinning, flaring apparition with the lighted sockets. The sight, of course, almost froze the blood in the veins of the startled people, and they would close their doors horror-stricken and terrified. If lodgings were granted to him, he would quietly and quickly glide away into the darkness, after having treated the kind folks to a good look at the spectral turnip. This little freak gave rise to the story narrated in the " Brontes in Ireland." "There was supposed to be a white-sheeted " figure that used to frequent the Glen, carrying a " little child in her arms. It was said that she was " in the habit of asking for a night's lodgings, but " never seemed disposed to accept it. She generally " kept her face covered or averted ; but when it " was exposed it proved to be a toothless, grinning "skull, with a light shining from each eyeless "socket." In one of their many ramblings about the country, the Bronte brothers had come upon the skeleton of a buffalo, and had taken therefrom the horn. This they took home with them, and it eventually became of great service to the sisters. 68 THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. When the brothers were out road-making, they often used to be great distances from their dwell- ing, but as their horses would never eat well when away from their own stables, and the Brontes themselves were very funny about partaking of anyone's hospitality, they always desired to return home to their meals. The sisters would therefore go up the Glen and blow the buffalo horn as a means of calling their absent brothers home. Now when the horn was reversed, that is, blown through what is commonly called the " bell end," the sisters discovered that it would produce a wailing, discordant and creepy sound. The sisters would V often, when they had called their brothers, go into the Glen and blow the horn, meanwhile turning themselves round so as to make the sound die out in a long-drawn wail. When this was done at night, the others of the family who were in the different buildings near the Glen would contrive to make the lights in the dwellings disappear one by one, and sometimes flicker about from place to place. The neighbours were puzzled at this, to them, unaccountable phenomenon, and tried all manner and means of explanation. This is the one Dr. Wright stumbled upon : — THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. 69 " The mill at the lower end of the Glen, where "now stand Mr. Ratcliffe's dwelling-houses and " offices, was haunted. Lights flitted through it at " night, and no one would go near it after sunset. "When the terror was at its height, Hugh Bronte " armed himself with a sword and a Bible, and went " alone to encounter the ghost, or devil, or whatever " it might be. " The neighbours, who saw Bronte marching to "his doom, stood afar off in the darkness and " awaited the result. Unearthly noises were heard, " and it was clear that a serious contest was pro- "ceeding. After a long delay Bronte returned, "bruised and battered and greatly exhausted, "but he would give no account of what had " transpired. " His secrecy regarding his adventure increased " the terror of the superstitious, for it was given out " and believed that Bronte, having been worsted in "the encounter, saved himself by making some "compact with the fiend or ghost, and some even " believed that he was ever after in league with the ' powers of darkness. "This awe-inspiring theory seemed to be con- " firmed by Hugh Bronte's subsequent action. One 70 THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. "dark and dismal night the ghost in the Glen " began to wail like a child in distress. The people " barred their doors and covered their heads in bed " with their blankets, and stopped their ears to keep " out the unearthly sounds ; but Hugh Bronte went " down quietly to the Glen and soothed the ghost, "until by little and little its moaning died away. "On several occasions it was believed that Hugh "Bronte was actually seen in the Glen, standing " with his hand on the mane of a magnificent black "horse, but when any neighbour drew near the " black horse dwindled into a great black cat, which "kept purring around Bronte and rubbing itself "against his legs. As soon as the neighbour "withdrew, the cat would again develop into the "large black horse, and Bronte was often seen " riding up and down upon it, over precipices and " ravines where there was no path." The house was declared to be haunted in which a man named Frazer had hanged himself. Near it lived one of the Bronte sisters. Here is the story according to Dr. Wright : — "Apparitions appeared in it both night and day, " but especially at night. Noises were heard, and "rumblings in the rooms during the hours of THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. 71 "darkness. When the inmates slept at night, "something like a huge frog with claws used to " rush up the clothes from the foot of the bed, and " settle on their chests and almost suffocate them. " Hugh went to his sister's house one night, " taking his gun with him. He upbraided Frazer's "ghost for his ungallant and mean conduct in " frightening lone women, and then called on him "to come out like a man and face him. But " nothing appeared, the ghost evidently declining to " face a loaded musket. Bronte was importunate in " his challenge, taunting the ghost with all kinds of " sarcastic gibes and accusations, that he might " irritate it into appearing, but the ghost would not "be drawn. Then he fired off his gun, and "challenged the ghost to meet him face to face, " using every scornful and reproachful epithet to " drive it into a passion ; but all in vain. "On the following night Hugh returned to the " haunted house with a fiddle, and tried to coax the "ghost to appear in response to the music. The "ghost, however, remained obdurate, regardless " alike of threats, reproaches, and blandishments. " Bronte returned home that night in a state of "wild excitement. All the way he incessantly 72 THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. "called on Frazer to come and shake hands with "him and make up their quarrel. He retired to " bed in a delirium of frenzy, and during the night " the ghost appeared to him and gave him a terrific "squeeze, from which he never recovered. He "died shortly after in great suffering, upbraiding "Frazer for his heartless cruelty and cowardice, " and he declared on dying, that when he reached "the land of shadows he would take measures to " prevent Frazer from haunting his sister and niece. " After Hugh's death the rumblings and apparitions " ceased to trouble his sister's house any more." Now one can tolerate a ghost story, and to some extent enjoy it ; but when such an assertion as the following is penned, and allowed to pass unex- plained, in fact, when the writer himself appears to believe the story, we are fully justified in disbeliev- ing such " doubtful " testimony. He says : — " Hugh Bronte retired to bed in a "delirium of frenzy, and during the night the "ghost appeared to him and gave him a terrific "squeeze, from which he never recovered. He "died shortly after in great suffering, upbraiding " Frazer for his heartless cruelty and cowardice. THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. 73 ". , After Hugh's death the rumblings and " apparitions ceased. , , ." Hugh Bronte did not retire to bed in a delirium of frenzy, nor did the ghost appear to him and give him a squeeze from which he never recovered. The Brontes never told such a story to anyone, therefore, this story must have been taken from the mere ramblings and imaginings of the old fogies who lived around, and whose incoherent ramblings have evidently run away with the learned doctor's good judgment, or he would never have wasted printer's ink with such flimsy rubbish as mere gossip to work upon. Hugh Bronte, the giant, had once sustained a severe internal injury, from the effects of which he never wholly recovered. It used to be the custom to put their grain into 5-cwt. sacks instead of 2-cwt. as now. While carrying or removing some of these sacks, Hugh wrenched himself, causing a severe rupture. He was scarcely ever after entirely free from pain, and lived a good while under restraint from physical exercise or labour. It was, however, eventually, the cause of his death. When the time for his departure was drawing near, he was fully 74 THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. aware of it, but was calm and peaceful to the end, retaining full possession of all his faculties. He was never in a delirium at all, nor did his death take place so soon after his " lark," or '' prank " with Frazer's ghost. When death came, it was as the day was declining, late in the afternoon. That same morning, while Hugh was laid on his bed in an upstairs room, calmly and fearlessly awaiting the end he knew to be so near, a confab was proceeding downstairs, the substance of which he evidently heard and understood. Someone was enquiring for a " drag," a kind of long pole with a head something after the fashion of, but not exactly the same as, a hay-rake, with which things which were far out of reach of the hands could be grabbed and pulled nearer. Hugh, knowing just where the instrument lay, called out down the stairs in as clear a voice as he was ever known to speak in, and " with never a quiver in it," nor any indication of faintness or declining strength, telling them where they would find the article required. No indication whatever was apparent in him to give the slightest suspicion of the coming end, save Hugh's own feeling or instinctive foreknowledge, the same as is often experienced by dying persons, THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. 75 together with a feeling of restfulness that over- comes and defies the fear of death, and seems to give strength and courage to face fearlessly the ordeal through which they are destined so soon to pass. His death took place on March, 1863. The neighbours of the Brontes would often, during the day, call at Welsh's public-house, and discuss the wonderful phenomena they had witnessed the night previous. They would tell about the lights disappearing, and the wailing of the child, never failing, of course, to exaggerate everything to monstrous proportions. On many occasions the sisters would go out into the road to enjoy a laugh and give vent to a pent-up feeling of mirth they were no longer able to conceal. Welsh would listen to their stories with a very grave and thoughtful countenance, and never missed an opportunity of feeding the flame of mysteriousness and superstition. Nevertheless, the story of Hugh going down with a fiddle to coax the ghost to appear is an untruth. Since the death of a favourite sister, which was many years previous to this, he could never have been prevailed upon to put a bow to a string. 76 THE BRONTE GHOST-BAITING. To the wide-mouthed, wondering gossips who used to frequent his brother Welsh's public-house, he would often relate how once, when watching for a ghost, his satanic majesty himself put in an appearance, but, nothing daunted, he had seized upon him by the horns and roasted him alive. So much for " the ghosts." IV. THE BRONTE BROTHERS. Before proceeding to clear the Bronte name from one of the most slanderous and libellous accusations yet uttered against them, it will be necessary for me to explain the meaning of the word shebeen. It is painfully evident that Dr. Wright is in blissful ignorance of the insinuation and slur he has cast upon the Bronte name in making such free use of that signiiicant and disagreeable word. Beer and liquor license is let out in Ireland on similar principles as the English licensing system. There is what is known as an out-license, where people can buy the spirits but are not allowed to consume them on the premises. Then there is the common public-house license, the customers being able to remain on the premises. Now a shebeen is neither of these. The keeper 78 THE BRONTE BROTHERS. of a shebeen is a man who deals in liquors without any license ; or it may be one who has only a license to sell for consumption off the premises, but who secretly allows his customers to enjoy the brain-devouring liquid within the precincts of his dwelling. A very severe fine is imposed if the delinquent be found out. If the holder of off-licensed premises has been found guilty of allowing his commodities to be consumed on his premises, then, being a first offence, he is only fined. If that is ineffectual, and he errs a second time in allowing himself to be caught, severer punishment is inflicted, while if he still persists in his lawless pursuit, his license is taken altogether from him, and he is also punished as the law directs. They are usually such men who afterwards turn to keeping a shebeen. He is, of course, able to sell at a discount, being free from license, and therefore gets a fair number of customers, often not the most law-abiding of citizens. As Dr. Wright has truly said, Welsh was the most gentlemanly of the brothers. No one who knew him, ever speaks but with marked respect of him and his doings. But the following, which will THE BRONTE BROTHERS. 79 be found on page 162 in "Brontes in Ireland," is wrong in every detail : — " Late in life he — Welsh — set up a shebeen in the " little house in Ballynaskeagh. He had two sons ; " one of them was drowned and swept away by a " water-spout flood when he was crossing the river "Bann. The other son, brought up in a shebeen, "became a drunkard, and after a swift career of "debauchery, compared with which Branwell's "vices sink into insignificance, the kindly earth " covered the pestilent thing out of sight." Where such slanderous information can have been derived from, would puzzle most people in County Down. Such was never a Bronte. Welsh never did keep a shebeen ; he kept a full-licensed public-house, and that not late in life. He gave up the public-house a long time before his death, in fact, full thirty years before. He had two sons. One of them named Welsh, while crossing the Bann on his way to Lacken for turf, was drowned. Some say that he was returning with his load, and was not in the soberest of states. But that is incorrect. That he was on his way, and not coming back, is a fact indisputable ; nor was he the worse for drink. He was a good swimmer. 80 THE BRONTE BROTHERS. but, the water-spout catching him quite suddenly, the cart was overturned, and Welsh underneath it. The horse, however, escaped, and Welsh's body was recovered about forty yards lower down the stream from where he was struck. So that indeed he was not swept away, which shows the very little trouble the doctor has taken to render his infor- mation correct. Soon after Welsh was drowned, a bridge was erected to prevent any similar catastrophe occurring. Welsh was engaged to a sweet country maid named Ann M'Clory. Both were very popular and well respected by their neighbours. The accident causing his death created great excitement in the vicinage, and formed a fit subject for an interesting epic poem which was at one time very popular. Few, however, of the present generation are acquainted with it, but many of the older inhabitants about Ballynaskeagh and Emdale recollect a few verses. As the poem will be of great interest to lovers of Bronte lore, I have taken trouble to gather up every fragment of it, but the original tune, I am sorry to say, I have been unable to find, as the people seem to adapt whatever tune THE BRONTE BROTHERS. 8i will go with the words. It may not be perfect as far as rhythm and the niceties of grammar are concerned, but the reader must remember that Irish pronunciation is not exactly similar to the English, as "grave" would rhyme with "retrieve," (retrave) and " those who knows," is, of course, not good English, being inadmissible in prose and ambiguous in verse. The orphans referred to in the 7th verse are his uncles and aunts left behind, not, as would appear, the children of Welsh, for he was not married. Ye nymyhs and swains of tender fame, Come with me sympathize ; You lovers all, on you I call, To sing the obsequies. 'Tis of a youth of candid truth Who did my heart trepan ; But alas ! of late his cruel fate Was in the river Bann. 'Twas little he thought 'twould be his lot, When he from home did steer ; The Bann to cross, for Lacken Moss, Thinking no danger near. With courage good he faced the flood, Thinking his steps to scan ; But alas ! of late his cruel fate Was in the river Bann. It was in the year of thirty- three, September twenty-two ; My darling boy, sweetheart and joy, He bid his last adieu. 82 THE BRONTE BROTHERS. To his parents dear, and friends sincere, And his dear, loving Ann, And from the grave there's no retrieve, O cruel river Bann I The father's sigh, and mother's cry, And orphan s fallen tear. May testify as well as I The loss of kindred dear. But here's to those who only knows The woes of weeping Ann ; For, from the grave there's no retrieve, O cruel river Bann ! Had he went an emigrant Unto America, We might lament, live discontent And mourn both night and day. But letters kind would ease the mind Of his dear loving Ann, And from the grave there's no retrieve, O cruel river Bann I The partial streams let no man blame. Nor yet investigate ; Nor blame the Hand, who created man For his untimely fate. Let none despise God's ways on high. Who limits life to man ; And from the grave there's no retrieve, O cruel river Bann. The Christian name I will explain With letters just and true ; The first you take, make no mistake. It is a W. With A and L the next you spell With C and H you'll scan ; The christian name it is the fame Of the deep river Bann. THE BRONTE BROTHERS. 83 B R and U next comes in view, And N T Y also, It mentions he who heareth me. Great sorrow, grief and woe. But here's to those that only knows The woes of weeping Ann, And from the grave there's no retrieve, O cruel river Bann ! The writer of the poem received from the young man's father, Welsh, a half-sovereign, and each of the sisters, his uncles and aunts — the orphans referred to in the poem — each gave him a half-crown. They were at this time in very prosperous circumstances, nor had their fortunes begun to decline, as Dr. Wright asserts they had, through them being the best customers for their own commodities — intoxicants. On that point he is wide of the mark. He says : — " The other son, brought up in the "shebeen, became a drunkard, and after a swift "career of debauchery compared with which "Branwell's vices sink into insignificance, the "kindly earth covered the pestilent thing out of " sight." Firstly, he was not brought up in a shebeen, for his father, as I have already stated, never kept such a lawless place. 84 THE BRONTE BROTHERS. Secondly, his career was not one of swift debauchery and drunkenness, and the remark about the misdoings of the much abused Branwell is altogether unnecessary and uncalled for, while his opprobrious reference to a creature of God's own handiwork as " a pestilent thing " is un- principled blasphemy against the human race and a blight upon God's name. The other son referred to is, of course, Cornelius, better know as Nayles or Corny Bronte. If " high talk" could sustain a work, "Brontes in Ireland" would be immortal. But "high talk" usually means unsound judgment, a muddled brain, bigoted and egotistical opinions, together with a pitiful inability to discern and appreciate the finest fibres in human nature. Corny Bronte lived to the good age of 57. He died in 1875, that is twenty-one years ago. His worst sin was that he sometimes took a drop too much. In all other respects, he was a straight- forward, honest man, and respected as such. We have yet another shebeen to deal with. Dr. Wright says : — " William, or, as he was called, " Billy, was a United Irishman. The story of his " adventures at the battle of Ballynahinch forms an THE BRONTE BROTHERS. 85 " interesting chapter, for which I regret I have no " space here. He kept late in life a shebeen on the " Knock Hill. Many stories, probably the exagger- " ations of his enemies, are told of his powers in " the use of strong language and strong drink. He " is said to have occasionally cleared out his own " stock, and then to have spent the next six months "in repentance and close application to business. " He finally retired from the public-house on the " advice of Mr. McKee, and went and lived with a " prosperous son in Ballyroney. He had six sons, " all of whom got on well in life." Here again truth prevails upon me to give the doctor a flat contradiction. William never did keep a shebeen. He had in trust an off-license. One day, he was stood in his house when there called a certain party who asked for drinks. Contrary to custom, instead of taking the drink off the premises, he swigged off his draught in the shop, but there being a shower on at the time, William thought little of the matter, and was rather taken aback when the hounds of the law called upon him the next day vvith a summons to appear and explain his conduct. The evilly- disposed person had " informed " against him. It 86 THE BRONTE BROTHERS. was nothing short of a mean, malicious plot against William's good name, and many people, who were by no means possessed of the most noble attributes of human nature, would afterwards refer maliciously to William's shop as the shebeen. This I am prepared to prove is the simple truth of the matter. Perhaps the doctor's knowledge of the country and people, being himself, of course, reared not many miles from this now historical site, will enable him to inform us who this evil-minded person was. His race is not yet quite extinct. Here I shall call the learned doctor over the rolls for his unfairness. A hatred of Orangeism, and all creeds of religion except Presbyterianism, seems to run paramount in his brain. Everything bad and diabolical, according to the doctor, comes from Orangeism, while all that is good pertains to the Orders he himself holds sacred. He says : — "In those days everybody drank. At births, at " baptisms, at weddings, at wakes, at funerals, and " in all the other leading incidents of life, intoxi- " eating liquors were considered indispensable. " If a man were too hot he drank, or if he were "too cold he drank. He drank if he were in "sorrow, and he drank when in joy. When his THE BRONTE BROTHERS. 87 "gains were great he drank and he drank also " when crushed by losses. The symbol of universal " hospitality was the black bottle." " Ministers of the gospel used to visit their "people quarterly. On those visitations the " minister was accompanied by one of his deacons " or elders. Into whatever house they entered they "were immediately met by the hospitable bottle " and two glasses, and they were always expected " to fortify themselves with spirituous draughts "before beginning their spiritual duties, and they "did. As the visitors called at from twelve to "twenty houses on their rounds, they must have " been unco' fu' by the close of the day." "It is interesting to remember that when the " drinking habits were at their height, the temper- " ance reformation was begun in Great Britain by "the best friend the Brontes had, the Rev. David " McKee. It is of still greater interest, in our " present investigation, to know that Mr. McKee " was moved to the action which has resulted in "the great temperance reform, by the Bronte " public-houses at his door, and by the demorali- " sation they were creating. "The little incident which has led to such 88 THE BRONTE BROTHERS. " momentous results came about in this way. The "Rev. David McKee, of Ballynaskeagh was the " minister of the Presbyterian Church of Anaghlone. "He had built his church, and he was largely " independent of his congregation. One Sunday he " thought fit to preach on the Rechabites. In the " sermon he ridiculed and denounced the drinking " habits of the time. The sermon fell on the congre- "gation like a thunderbolt from a cloudless sky. " Blank amazement in the audience was succeeded " by hot indignation." He then continues with a description of the parishioners waiting upon Mr. McKee, and resumes : — "The deputation, some of them Orangemen, "were in no mood to listen to radical doctrines "subversive to their time-honoured customs, and "they began to threaten. Mr. McKee who "was six feet four inches high, and of great " muscular power, drew himself up to his full "stature, and calling to his servant, told him to " saddle his best mare, as he wished to ride in haste "to Newry to publish his sermon in time for " circulation at church on the following Sunday. " Then, turning to the deputation, he thanked them " for their early visit, which he hoped would bear THE BRONTE BROTHERS. 89 " fruit, and bowed them out of the parlour." Whether that be so or not, the Rev. David McKee was among the best customers for the Bronte whiskey. There is still in the possession of the Brontes, now resident not far from Drum- ' ballyroney church, the very chair in which the rev. gentleman used to imbibe the fiery liquid, which does not speak favourably of the inaugurator of the Great Temperance Reform. Dr. Wright had it pointed out to him while collecting a mass of Bronte lore which, for the simple reason that he took up too much space in encomiums upon the McKees, McAllisters, Dr. Edgars and a whole host of Presbyterians and Low-Nationalists, matter connected with his title-page and the people of whom he should write, he could not find space. Instead of an account of the doings of William in the battle of Ballynahinch, (page 160), we are bored with scathing denunciations of Irish Landlordism and Orangeism, and nothing what- ever to do with the Brontes at all. V. ALICE, THE LAST OF THE BRONTE AUNTS. Till now we have almost entirely neglected the Bronte sisters. As far as can be ascertained, they seem to have been rare types of womanhood, partaking largely of the peculiarities of their brothers. The last survivor was Alice, better known as "Ayles." This is the only one of which any particular record remains. She would often tell gleefully of the doings about the Glen, and how herself and her niece Margaret, the daughter of Welsh used to run out into the road to give vent to their pent-up mirth when the neighbours were relating the blood-curdling scenes they were sure must have been enacted by the ghosts the night before in the Glen. They enjoyed the fun as well as their brothers. LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS. 91 Alice is quoted as being responsible in some measure for the " Bronte Myth." Dr. Wright says on page 50 : — " That the ancestors of the Brontes lived on the " banks of the Boyne, six or seven generations back, "is beyond all doubt. Hugh's account was precise " and definite, and his daughter Alice distinctly "remembered the aunt Mary, Welsh's widow, "coming from the neighbourhood of Drogheda to "visit Hugh and his family in County Down. " Indeed, she referred to the fact, in a short "interview in 1890 with the Rev. J. B. Lusk, when " she was on her death-bed." In a footnote he continues : — " With the exception of Alice . . . none of "the Irish Brontes knew anything of the early " history of the family. I visited most of them, and "the vague information they had to communicate " was merely an echo from the English biographers. ''Even Alice tnixed up different events in a way ' sometimes that made it very difficult to disentangle ' them'' (The italics are mine.) Yet he seems in a perfect muddle, asserting and :ontradicting, building up and pulling down with 92 LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS. careless indiscrimination, and all in a single breath. For he says on page 48 : — " Hugh, though he believed he had come from " the south, never had the slightest idea as to where " his father's house was located." Then again on page 49 : — " But unless some "document now unknown to me, comes to light, " the early home of Hugh Bronte will never be " known." " What is of more importance is the fact that "the ancient home of the Brontes, where Hugh's " grandfather — the great-great-great-grandfather of " the novelists — lived, was on the north side of the "river Boyne, between Oldbridge and Navan, not " far from the spot where William of Orange won " the famous battle of the Boyne." Now, when Alice was reproved by some of her relatives for having given such incorrect infor- mation, she flatly denied having done so. If Alice Bronte referred to an aunt Mary, there can be no possible excuse at all for muddling her up in such a simple fashion as being also the aunt of Alice's father. She must have been a peculiar individual to have so divided herself It is evident from Dr. Wright's contradictory statements that he has LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS. 93 misunderstood and misconstrued everything ; per- haps not wilfully, but carelessly. Yet on page 270, we have another instance of one of the "clique" of McKees, McAllisters and Co. running off with laurels not their own, in the person of the Rev. D. Maginnis. In a footnote he says : — " It has been often said that Smith, Elder and " Co. paid a small annuity to the last of the Bronte " aunts ; but this is not correct. An annuity of " jf 20 per annum was granted by the trustees of "Pargeter's Charity on the representation of one " of the trustees, the Rev. D. Maginnis. The " grant was made to Alice in March, 1 882, and "lapsed with the death of the annuitant on the " iSth of January, 1891." It was through the influence of the late Dr. Caldwell, of Birmingham, formerlyof Ballynaskeagh, that Alice received her annuity. Before ever the Rev. D. Maginnis had become interested in the movement at all. Dr. Caldwell had raised a goodly subscription upon which Alice was living. How- ever, this was insufficient, and through the assiduity of Dr. Caldwell, in the first instance, the annuity was ultimately got for her from the Pargeter's 94 LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS. Charity. The amount was £20 per annum. The Pargeter's Charity is an admirable one, it is for the benefit of deserving women never having been married, of fifty-five years of age and upwards; and the religious persuasion of the recipient is not taken into account. The trustees are the ministers professing and holding Arian and Unitarian doctrines, and officiate in and have charge of certain chapels in and around Birmingham. It has been asserted that Alice received an annuity from Patrick Bronte, but that is incorrect, for one of his grand-nieces submits to me a letter to this effect, which appeared in the Banbridge Chronicle : — " Sir, — Allow me to contradict a statement made " in the article entitled " The Bronte Country," by "J. Erskine Stewart, Heckmondwike, which "appeared in the Banbridge Chronicle of the 9th " inst. In it he states that Miss Alice Bronte was " supported by a charity of i^'ao a year from the " Pargeter Charity since the death of her brother, "the Rev. Patrick Bronte. Allow me to tell Mr. " Stewart he has been misinformed ; that at the "death of her brother Patrick, Miss Bronte was " living with her brothers and sisters in comfortable LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS. 95 'circumstances, on a farm of their own, of 21 Irish 'acres in the townland of BaUinagross and Bally- ' naskeagh, in a two-storey, slated dwelling-house ' erected by themselves years before, and which is ' still standing unruined, and known in the neigh- ' bourhood as " the Glen." It was in the year 1881 'that her means of living were exhausted, being 'the only survivor of her family, at the age of 'eighty-four years, and that she received the first 'annuity from this fund, obtained through the ' influence of the late Dr. Caldwell, of Birmingham, 'formerly of Ballynaskeagh. Her death occurred 'in January, 1891, so that she was only ten years ' receiving this pension. Hoping Mr. Stewart will • correct this error before he gives his book to ' the press and thanking you for your space, " I am, etc., "A GRAND-NIECE OF THE BRONTES. 'Ballynaskeagh, i8gj." The account of Alice's death and funeral I shall jive as it appeared in the local newspaper, the 3anbridge Chronicle : — " Among the very old people whom the present severe winter has cut off, is to be numbered Miss 96 LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS. " Alice Bronte, who entered into rest on Thursday "last, the isth inst., at Dromorebrague, in the " Parish of Aghaderg. This old lady, who had " reached the age of ninety-five years, was aunt of " Charlotte Bronte, the authoress, and the youngest " of the ten children of Hugh and Alice Bronte, of " Lisnacreevy, on the west slope of the hill known as " Knock-Iveagh, in the Parish of Drumballyroney. "In the church of this parish they were all " baptized, and there on last Saturday, among the " bones of the Brontes, in the humble grave close " to the sacred edifice on the south side, were laid "the mortal remains of Alice, the last survivor of " her generation. The burial service in the church " and at the grave was read by the Rev. H. W. "Lett, rector of Aghaderg, assisted by the Rev. " R. Oswald, rector of Ballyroney. "In accordance with the wish she had long since ' expressed, that when her time came she might be " taken to the churchyard by the same route the " rest of the family had been carried ; the funeral " went by the hilly road close to the Knock, and " past the very spot where Alice had had her home " for eighty years. The patriarchal age which she " had reached formed a veritable link with the long LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS. g? " past. Though so advanced in years she possessed "the use of all her faculties (except her hearing, "which was slightly impaired) up to a few weeks "ago. Her health had always been very robust, "and she often said that she had never had an " illness, and had enjoyed the best of health all her " long life, a consummation which she attributed to " having been reared on an oatmeal diet, for which "in the form of porridge and griddle cakes, she " retained a partiality till the last. " Some of the old ' residenters ' who remember "to have seen Alice Bronte and a sister and two "brothers attending divine service in Aghaderg " Parish Church, in the village of Loughbrickland, "which they did on changing their residenee into " Ballynaskeagh townland, have described them as " tall, strongly-built, big men and women. It was " only when the distance of their home, three " miles from the church, became too much for their " age, that they were missed. "The eldest brother of Alice, the Rev. Patrick " Bronte, was educated at a school near Glascar, " and became tutor in the family of the Rev. Thos. " Tighe, rector of Drumgooland. He entered "college in 1802, graduated at Cambridge 98 LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS. " University, and took Holy Orders in the Church "of England. He was for some years rector of "Haworth in Yorkshire, where he died in 1861, " aged eighty-five years. "This place has been rendered famous by its "connection with his three daughters, Charlotte, " Emily, and Anne Bronte, the writers of the well- " known novels, ' Wuthering Heights,' "^ Jane Eyre,' "'The Professor,' 'Shirley,' 'Vilette,' 'Agnes "Grey," and 'Wildfell Hall." " The passing away of this nonagenarian in- " habitant of the County of Down, reminds one " how many changes have passed over the district "during the century. To sit and talk with Alice " Bronte was like conversing with 'the last minstrel,' " the sole survivor of a race. Her very accent was " so different from the present vulgar tongue of the " locality to which these remarks . refer, it had that " decided Scottish flavour for which the inhabitants " were formerly remarkable." This chapter on Alice Bronte I have given at the request of some of her near relatives, the evidence on some of the questions which have hitherto served as substance for controversy being UKY. A. B. NIOHOLLS. (Cliarlntte'H hiisbnnd.) LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS, 99 sufficiently conclusive to stop all further attempts to manufacture printer's copy therefrom. Still another point I would introduce before :oncluding this chapter; that is, respecting a question upon which much unnecessary discussion, time, labour, and printer's ink have been wasted. It s whether the name was spelt Brunty, Prunty, or Bronte originally. Now I can't see why anyone with half a grain of ;ommon-sense should take it into his head to make ;uch a hairbrained assertion that Patrick changed lis own name Prunty into the "high-sounding" jreek name " Bronte," which means " thunder." Dne writer even went so far as to assert that he :hanged it to suit his own handsome person. Bronte is the immortal name with which :he inimitable Charlotte signed off all her corres- Dondence. She is the nucleus around which all nterest centres, and her name was Bronte. Then et it suffice. If her Irish relatives ever signed iheir names in any other way, it was simply jecause they were unlettered. But perhaps the more grammatically fastidious vould like a formal statement showing the action )f Grimm's law upon the matter. If so, let us see G icx) LAST OF BRONTE AUNTS. if we cannot satisfy even this fusty old crab. The student of the useless trash called "philology" well knows that an original Indo- European ''p," becomes in primitive Teutonic " ph," and then " b," etc. For instance the Greek word pdTrip, Latin, frater, becomes in English, brother, German, B-ruder. Now in this case, Patrick, having gained a knowledge of these languages, would be quite justified, and indeed his action would be most commendable, if, his name being Prunty, he brought it up-to-date by putting it under the action of Grimm's law, and making it Bronte. By similar formulae we might attempt to explain the disappearance of the u and y, but it is unnecessary ! With many others I would say, for goodness sake, let newspaper editors have something else to fill their columns with, for when all such high- sounding phrases as " baseless assertion " and "unprecedented presumption" have been exhausted from the limited vocabularies of penny-a-liners and word-jugglers, the fact still remains — "it is no- body's business." VI. WHO WAS THE TENANT-RIGHTER ? We will now take a sweeping glance at some of the more popular and public themes, including in our survey, the tenant-rights, deducting therefrom, and trying, if possible, to ascertain the feelings and sentiments which incited the author to pen such extreme and invidious doctrines. The question, of course, which most immediately concerns us is : are these the pure sentiments of Hugh Bronte, or have they been falsely appropri- ated for some ulterior motive ? See what the book will disclose, stripped of its superfluous wrappings, and the reader shall be the judge. The statement about Donoughmore, as well as many another, is absolutely incorrect. The principal part of the said townland is freehold, and has been for generations, subject to the small rental — nay, I {might say mere acknow- ledgment — of three shillings per Irish acre, and I02 WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER ? yet, notwithstanding the low rental, the greater part of the owners have so neglected their agricultural business, that they have been bank- rupted, while in neighbouring townlands, where the tenants are paying from 20 shillings to 30 shillings per acre, they are in a most flourishing state, and able to meet all demands. In fact, it is an occurrence very often observed, and often com- mented upon, that among the Irish, as soon as a man becomes possessed of some land he can call his own, he ceases to be industrious, and the result is that in many cases the farms are bought out on the " Ashburn Act," and they have since become insolvent. In many cases they have mortgaged the land to money-owners and loan banks, and have been evicted by the same. So that indeed, were the landlords to-morrow completely swept out of Ireland, in a generation another class of landlords would arise, owing to the fact that these mortgagees would become possessed of large portions of land, and these men would not act in the same generous manner in which the noblemen have always acted towards their tenants. In fact, in this new land proprietor, a remarkable illustration of their con- duct towards their tenants, is the conduct of WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? 103 Rehoboam when the men of Israel said unto him (i Kings, nth chapter, ist verse): " Thy father made our yoke grievous : now, therefore, make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, Hghter, and we will serve thee." And his reply was in the nth verse of the 1 2th chapter of Kings : "And now, whereas, my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father has chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." In fact, it seems that Dr. Wright has had in his mind, ideas of some great political question, and found the title of " The Brontes in Ireland " a convenient one for diffusing his extreme political and religious notions ; being, of course, assured of a greater sale with this little deceptive trick. Instead of a book purely upon the Brontes, we are treated to a tirade of popular Irish questions, with a few remarks — true or untrue, it seems to matter little to Dr. Wright — ^just occasionally thrown in. It is well-known in the neighbourhood that these ideas have been grafted into his mind since his early boyhood, his ancesters having been extreme tenant-right's men. In Chapter 4 he introduces Welsh Bronte. It is I04 WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? just a novel in which the very worst sides of the very worst landlords that ever existed are brought into discussion, Welsh Bronte representing the land-grabber. Then he represents the character of the indispen- sable sub-agent or bailiff, and, having exaggerated the worst features that ever existed in the most inhuman landlord and his officials, he introduces the extreme Nationalist views about the Land Question, and from these extreme and imaginative cases, holds up all the Irish landlords, without a single exception, as hemg facsimiles of this chapter, which is nothing else than a bit of a novel, written for the express purpose of vomiting forth his own low ideas concerning the Irish protestant land- proprietor. One reading his superlative remarks concerning the brutal treatment that the Irish tenantry here receive, would at once imagine he was reading from the Nationalist Press, and even the very vilest production of Dillon, Davitt, & Co., in these highly-coloured organs, in their ridiculous representations of the noblemen of Ireland. And from these he draws a universal conclusion. In his 9th Chapter, we are presented with a WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? 105 picture of Hugh Bronte at the lime kiln of Mount Pleasant. He says : — "When Hugh arrived at the kilns, there were "thirty or forty carts from Down, Armagh, and " Lough, waiting for their loads, and there were not " enough hands to supply them. Lime-stone had "to be quarried and wheeled to the kilns, then " broken and thrown in at the top with layers of "coal. After burning for a time, the lime was " drawn out from the eye of the kiln into shallow " barrels, and emptied into carts, the price being so " much per barrel." Now in these days, lime-stone was quarried and drawn home. Each farmer had his own kiln on his own lands, and then burnt the lime himself, the landlord allowing, in many cases, a sum of money towards the lime, as a manure which fertilised and enriched the land. It is only in quite modern times, not more than forty years at the outmost, that the process de- scribed by Dr. Wright came into vogue. He is equally wide of the mark with a glaring miscalculation in Chapter 10, where he speaks of them driving up in a "gig." Oh, the folly of thoughtlessness ! I wonder where they got the io6 WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? " gig)" such a conveyance was not known in that part of the globe in the year 1763, nor for more than half a century afterwards. Though he seems to possess a faculty for dis- carding dates, in fact, seems to regard them as altogether unnecessary as means of substantiation, yet, here and there we find some bungling figure standing out conspicuously in perplexing solitude. So we find that Hugh was married in 1776. Also that it was in the middle of the last century, when Hugh was five or six, when his mythical uncle adopted him, or, he says, rather earlier. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, then, we will say that Hugh would be born in the year 1745. He had reached sixteen when he ran away, and in two years the starved, ragged boy became a large, handsome man. That was the time he drove up to M'Clory's house in new spangled attire, and in a 19th century gig ! However that may be, we will leave Hugh to his courtship, and have a cursory peep at Chapter 11. In it. Dr. Wright takes occasion to vent his spleen against the Orangemen when he says : — " He was a good Protestant, who, sober as well " as drunk, cursed the Pope on the 1 2th of July, "wore orange colours, and played with fife and WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? 107 " drum a tune known as the " Battle of the Boyne," "and he was a good Catholic, who, in whatever " condition, used equally emphatic language regard- " ing King William. No more genuine expression " of religious feeling was looked for on either side." This statement shows the utter ignorance of this clerical gentleman concerning the Order he here holds up to public odium, and presents in a most unjust light to the public gaze. " Orangeism " is founded on the Old Book, which Dr. Wright takes as his guide, and by the circula- tion of which, as Secretary, he makes his living, and the principles and doctrines of that Book are the principles of Orangeism. The rules of this society inculcate Sobriety, Love, Charity, and Long-suffering to their Roman Catholic fellow- countrymen, bigotry is no part of the Orangeman's creed, and hence his statements are here quite beside the truth. No doubt he makes these state- ments from ignorance, and therefore we must excuse him. As for the story in this chapter he repeats ; — " There is a story told in the M'Clory district which " illustrates the current religious sentiment. ' Two " ' brother Orangemen, good men after their lights. 108 WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? " ' had long been fast friends. They seldom missed " ' an opportunity, in the presence of Catholics, of " ' consigning the Pope to the uncomfortable place " ' to which he himself had been wont to consign " ' heretics. " ' It happened that one of the two Orangemen " ' fell sick, and when he was at the point of death, " ' his friend became greatly concerned about his " ' spiritual state, and visited him. He found him " ' in an unconscious condition, and sinking fast, " ' and, putting his lips close to the ear of his sick " ' friend, he asked him to give him a sign that he " ' felt spiritually happy. The dying man, with a "'last supreme effort, raised his voice above a " ' whisper, and, in the venerable and well-known " ' formula, cursed the Pope. His friend was com- " ' forted, believing all was well.' " That story is not a story of the M'Clory's or Bronte's district, but is a story told all through Ireland by Romanists and pseudo-Protestants against Orangeism, and we are astonished that a man of Dr. Wright's mental calibre would think of repeating what he himself must know is a vile slander on Orangeism, and employ his pen in WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? 109 writing something like an old woman's gossip or story. Further on in this same chapter he makes reference to Dolly's Brae fight, and says : — "At Dolly's Brae a battle was fought in 1849, in " presence of a large body of troops and constabu- "lary, who remained neutral spectators of the "conflict till the Catholics fled, and then the " constabulary joined with the victors in firing on " the flying foe. " The scenes of these struggles, such as Tilly- "orier, Catesbridge, Hilltown, the Diamond, etc., "are classic spots now. Each had its poet, and " ballads are sung to celebrate the prowess of the ■'victors, who were uniformly the Orangemen, " inasmuch as they used firearms, while the Catho- " lies generally fought with pikes and scythes." It is evident from this that Dr. Wright's information about Dolly's Brae is very limited indeed, as well as about the weapons with which the Catholics were furnished. On that memorable day, the Orangemen of the Rathfriland district marched in peaceable and loyal order to Lord Roden's Park, to celebrate that great no WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? victory only for which Dr. Wright would never have been a Protestant minister. When passing over Dolly's Brae in the morning, large crowds of Roman Catholics were seen upon the hills. But they offered no opposition, nor did the Orangemen in any way provoke their opponents in faith. In the evening, when the procession was return- ing, the Roman Catholics had taken refuge behind those immense stone walls, which are all round that part of the country, and without any notice, or the slightest indication of their presence whatever, the first salutation the Orangemen met was a volley of red-hot balls poured down upon their heads, but, fortunately, without much effect. So much for Dr. Wright's statement that the Catholics fought with pikes and scythes, and not with fire-arms. The priest of the parish cheered on his men as soon as the Orangemen had returned the compli- ment, telling them not to be afraid of the Orange arms, as he could catch the balls, unhurt, in his hand. For several hours the battle raged, until at last the Roman Catholics fled in all directions, and then the constabulary and soldiers appeared, not to WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? in join in the chase, as Dr. Wright here states, but to preserve the peace of the country. The Orangemen, it will thus be seen, were not the aggressors, but the defenders on the occasion. Skipping over to page 90, we are introduced to Hugh Bronte calling upon the M'Clorys, to undergo a kind of religious catechism. He says : — " When several bottles of M'Clory's whiskey had "been drunk, and the temperature of the guests "had risen proportionately, the religious question " was approached. Bronte was urged in peremp- "tory tones to abjure Protestantism. He had his "answer ready. He was no more a Protestant " than they were, and he had no Protestantism to " abjure. "'Will you then curse King William?' said a " fiery little man, who had taken too much whiskey, "and who seemed to be the spokesman of the "party. . . . " ' Curse King William ! ' shouted the fiery little " man, supported by the hoarse echo from the other " half-tipsy guests, all of whom had turned fierce " and glowing eyes upon the supposed Protestant. " ' I cannot curse King William,' replied Hugh, " smiling ; ' he never did me any harm ; besides, he 112 WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? " is beyond the region of my blessings and curs- " ings ; but,' he added, warming with his subject, ' I "should not mind cursing the Pope if he is the "author of your fierce and besotted religion.' " Not the best theologian in the world could have made a more characteristic reply to such a request. Here we find a man utterly unlearned, knowing nothing whatever regarding the two religions, who, suddenly, by some unaccountable method — ^just to suit the whim and convenience of the narrator — develops most wonderful powers of oratory, and proves himself by his speech to be possessed with a knowledge of the profoundest details connected with theological controversy. The whale that swallowed up Jonah would not find this morsel to stick so much in his throat, as a sensible public would find this daintily served up little fib uncon- genial to their somewhat fastidious palates. Better far, had Dr. Wright taken the hint his own suggestion implies, and let the Brontes alone in his political and religious ravings, for on page 96 he humbly confesses, as he also does in many another place, that : " the probability is that Hugh " Bronte hired with my grandfather [he is quoting "John Harshaw], whose land touched the Lough, WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? 113 " but I fear it is too true that he passed through " my grandfather's service, leaving no permanent " record behind him." Strange to say, on page 97 he drops his history of the Brontes, and proceeds to give us, in a most unaccountable manner, the history of John Martin and John Mitchell, and after having confessed that he knew nothing about the opinions of Bronte at this time, he yet proceeds to say that Hugh Bronte, through the minds of the Harshaws, instilled into the minds of these two eminent Irishmen the disloyal doctrines for which they suffered. Does the doctor want to make us believe that Hugh Bronte was the originator of those doctrines, for which John Mitchell was sent to penal servitude, and John Martin transported to Van Dieman's Land? There is no connection between Hugh Bronte and Mitchell and Martin, save the connec- tion that existed in Dr. Wright's brain, and the predilection between John Martin's and John Mitchell's sentiments and those of the learned doctor. Why did not Dr. Wright act like a man ? and if he wished to produce a work on the principles of sedition, why did he not take as his title-page : 114 WHO WAS TENANT-RIGHTER? " The Curse of Irish Landlords," " The Ascendancy and Rule of the Doctrines of the Convicts Martin and Mitchell," " The Salvation of Ireland ? " Did he, I wonder, for a moment think that the public would not see through the delusion ? The "Brontes in Ireland" was a popular theme ; a splen- did title-page, bound to secure thousands of readers, and a return of ample pecuniary remuneration ; whereas the former and more correct title of his book would never have gone through a first edition. VII. ALTER IDEM. For obvious reasons, I quote in full what is given in Chapter i6. In it, Hugh Bronte is presented to us as being a most expert Biblical reader and a rare theologian. He says : — " Hugh Bronte always began with a little black " Bible in his hand, or on his knee, and his first " negative assertion was : — " I. The Church Is Not Christ's. " Laying his hand on the little book he would " declare that he found grace in the Bible, but in " the Church only greed. Once, and only once, he "had appealed to a parson. He was hungry, " naked, and bleeding ; but the great, double- " chinned, red-faced man had looked on him as if " he were a rat, and, without hearing his story, had "him driven off by a grand-looking servant in H Ii6 ALTER IDEM. " livery, who cracked his whip over his head and " swore at him. " In Hugh's eyes the parsons got their livings "for political services, and not for learning or " goodness. Enormous sums were paid to them to "do work they did not do. They rarely visited " their parishes, and their duties were performed by " hungry, ill-paid curates. When they did return " occasionally to their livings, they were heard of at "banquets, where they ate and drank too freely, " and at other resorts, where they gambled reck- " lessly. They were seen riding over the country " after foxes and hounds, and sitting in judgment " on the men whose grain they had trampled down, " and sending them to penal servitude for trapping " hares in their own gardens. They were said to " be ignorant, but they were known to be immoral, "irreligious, arrogant, and cruel. They acted as " the ministers of the gentry, before whom they " were very humble ; and they utterly despised the " people who paid for their luxuries and supported " their own priests besides. " They gave the sanction of the Church to "violence, craft, and crime in high places, and " they were as far removed as men could be, in ALTER IDEM. 117 " origin, position, and practice, from the Apostles " of the New Testament. And yet, he added, " they claimed in the most haughty manner, that " they, and they alone, were the successors of the " Apostles ; although they showed no signs of "apostolic spirituality or apostolic service. " Hugh Bronte declared that he could not "submit to the Protestant parson, who despised " him because he was poor, and could not aid in " his promotion ; nor could he yield obedience to " the Catholic priest who demanded utter sub- " jection and prostration of both body and mind, " and enforced his Church's claims with a stout " stick. With these views, it is not to be won- " dered at that Hugh Bronte did not belong to "any Church. " To us now, who know the high character of " the Irish clergy, his statements appear exagger- "ated and sweeping; but it must be remembered " that he spoke of them generally, in the closing "decades of the last century. He expressed " himself fiercely regarding the parsons, and in " return they dubbed him Atheist. " His second negative assertion was : — Ii8 ALTER IDEM. "2. The World Is Not God's. " He knew from the Bible that God had made "all things very good, and that 'He loved the " world ; ' but he held that a number of people "had got in between God and His World, and "made it very bad and hateful. They were " known as kings and emperors and rulers, and " they had seized on the world by fraud and force. " They lived on the best of everything that the "land produced, and when they disagreed among " themselves, they sent their people to kill each " other on their account, while they sat at home " in peace and luxury. " These usurpers not only held sway over the " possessions and lives of men, but they decreed " the very thoughts men were to entertain con- " cerning God, and the exact words they were to " speak regarding Him, and when men presumed " to obey God rather than men, they were tied to " stakes and burnt to death as blasphemers. For " such sentiments as these, Hugh Bronte was "denounced as a Socialist, a very bad and "dangerous name at the beginning of the present "century. ALTER IDEM. 119 " His third negative proposition was : — "3. Ireland Is Not The King's. " He understood that King George III. was not " a wise man, but that he was a humane man. " Ireland was not governed by King George III., "but by a gang of rapacious brigands. They "constantly invoked the King's name, only to " serve more fully their own selfish ends. By the " King's authority they carried out their policy " of systematic outrage, until he hated the very " name of the King whom he always wished to " love. "The chief business of the King's representatives "was to plunder His Majesty's poorer subjects. " For this purpose the country was parcelled out, " and divided among a number of base and greedy "adventurers in return for odious services. Each "of these adventurers became petty king, or " landlord, in his own district, and lived on the " wretched natives. Every meskin of butter made "on the farm, every pig reared in the cabin, " every egg laid by the hens that roosted in the " kitchen, went to support the landlord king. " The cottages were mud-hovels ; the land was 120 ALTER IDEM. " bog and barren waste ; the men and women "were in rags; the children were hungry, pinched, "and bare-footed. But the landlord carried off "everything except the potato crop, which was " barely sufficient to sustain life. "The landlord was a very great man. He " lived in London near the King, in more than " royal splendour, or he passed his time in some " of the great cities of Europe, spending as much " on gay women as would have clothed and fed all " the starving children on his estate. " In English society his pleasantries were said " to be most entertaining regarding the poverty, " misery, and squalor of his tenants, whom he " fleeced ; but he took care never to come near " them, lest his iine sensibilities should be shocked " at their condition. His serious occupation was " the making of laws to increase his own power "for rapacity, and to take away from the people "every vestige of right that they might have " inherited. " ' The landlord takes everything, and gives " nothing,' was Hugh Bronte's simple form of the "fine modern phrase regarding landlord's pri- " vileges and duties. ALTER IDEM. 121 " Hugh Bronte maintained that the landlord " was a courteous gentleman, graced with polished " manners, and that if he had lived among his "people, he might in time have developed a heart. " At least, he could hardly have kept up a gentle- " manly indifference in the presence of squalor " and misery. " But he kept quite out of sight of his tenantry, " or he could hardly have made so much merri- " ment about the pig which was being brought up "among the children, to pay for his degrading " extravagances. " The landlord's place among the people was " taken by an agent, an attorney, and a sub-agent. " The agent was a local potentate, whose will was "law; the attorney's business was to make the "law square with the agent's acts; and the " under-agent was employed to do mean and vile "and inhuman acts, that neither the agent nor "the attorney could conveniently do. " The duty of the three was to find out by " public inspection and private espionage the " uttermost farthing the tenants could pay, and "extract it from them legally. In getting the " landlord's rent, each got as much as he could for 122 ALTER IDEM. " himself. The key of the situation was the word " 'eviction.' Then Hugh told the story of his "ancestors' farm. " The Brontes had occupied a piece of forfeited •' land, with well-defined obligations to a chief or " landlord. Soon the landlord succeeded in re- " moving all legal restraints which in any way " interfered with his absolute control of the place. " Remonstrance and entreaty were alike unavail- " ing. The alterations in title were made by the "authority of George III., by the grace of God " King of England, etc. " Hugh's grandfather drained the bog, and im- " proved the land at enormous expense. Every " improvement was followed by a rise in the rent. " His grandfather built a fine house on the land " by money made in dealing, and again the rent " was raised on the increased value given to the " place by the tenant's improvements. Then the " vilest creature in human form having ingratiated " himself with the agent by vile services, the place " was handed over to him, without one farthing of " compensation to the heirs of the man whose " labour had made the place of value. All these "things were done in the name of George HI., ALTER IDEM. 123 " though the King had no more to do with the " nefarious transactions than the child unborn. " From this conclusion, Hugh Bronte proceeded " to his fourth negative proposition : — " 4. Irish Law Is Not Justice. " He expressed regret that he was unable to " respect the laws of the country. According to his " views, the laws were made by an assembly of " landlords, purely and solely to serve their own " rapacious desires, and not in accordance with " any dictates of right or wrong. As soon might " the lambs respect the laws of the wolves, as the " people of Ireland respect the laws of the land- " lords. " From this point he naturally arrived at his " fifth negative proposition : — " 5. Obedience To Law Is Not A Duty. " He said it might be prudent to obey a bad law " cruelly administered, because disobedience might " entail inconvenient consequences ; but there "was no moral obligation impelling a man to " obey a law which outraged decency, and against "which every righteous and generous instinct " revolted. Human laws should be the reflection 124 ALTER IDEM. " of Divine laws ; but the landlord-made laws of " Ireland had neither the approval of honest men, " nor the sanction of Divine justice. " Hugh's sixth and last negative proposition "was: — "6. Patriotism Is Not A Virtue. " He held that every man should love his " country, and that every Irishman did ; but he " could not do violence to the most sacred "instincts of his nature, by any zeal to uphold a "system of government which dealt with Ireland " as the legitimate prey of plunderers. "In other lands men were patriotic because " they loved their country. He loved his country " too well to be patriotic. Love of country, more "than any other passion, had prompted to the "purest patriotism; but who would do heroic "acts to maintain a swarm of harpies to pollute "and lacerate his country? Who would have his "zeal aglow to maintain the desolators of his " native land ? " Hugh Bronte gave out his views with a "warmth that betrayed animus arising from. " personal injury. He was, therefore, declared to ALTER IDEM. 125 " be disloyal, and that at a time when there was " danger in disloyalty. . . . " Having completed his negative assertions or " paradoxes, Hugh Bronte proceeded to state his " theories, or positive conclusions. He laid it " down as an axiom that justice must be at the " root of all good government, and he declared "emphatically, what O'Connell and agent Towns- " end have since maintained, that the Irish were " the most justice-loving people in the world. He "also held that unjust laws were the fruitful " source of nearly all the turbulence and crime in " Ireland. "Justice, he said, was nothing grand. It simply " meant that every man should have his own by " legal right. This definition brought him to his " tenant-right theory. In illustration, he returned "to the story of his ancestral home, and the "wrongs of his ancestors. He maintained that "when his forefathers drained the bog and im- " proved the land, they were entitled to every " ounce of improvement they had made. The "landlord had done nothing for the land. He " never went near it ; and he should not have " been entitled to confiscate to his own profit the 126 ALTER IDEM. "additional value given to it by the labour of " others. "He further declared that a just and wise "legislation should secure to every man, high and " low, the fruits of his own labour ; and he main- " tained that such simple, natural, justice would "produce confidence in Ireland, and that con- " fidence would beget content and industry, and " that a contented and industrious people would " soon learn to love both king and country, and " make Ireland happy, and England strong. Just " laws would silence the agitator and the blunder- " buss, and range the people on the side of the " rulers. " Hugh Bronte preached his revolutionary doc- " trine of simple justice, in the cheerless east " wind ; but a little seed, carried, I know not how, " took root in genial soil, and the revolutionary "doctrine of 'Every man his own,' at which the "political parsons used to cry 'Anathema,' and "the short-sighted politicians used to shout " ' Confiscation,' has become one of the common- " places of the modern reformation programme of " fair play. . . . " The daring character of Hugh Bronte's specu- ALTER IDEM. 127 ' lations in their paradoxical form, combined with ' the fierce energy of his manner in making them, ' secured for him an audience, and an amount of ' consideration to which, as an uneducated work- ' ing man, he could have had no claims. Indeed, ' Hugh Bronte's revolutionary doctrines were ' known far beyond his own immediate neigh- ' bourhood ; and while many said he was mad, ' some declared that he only saw a little clearer ' than his contemporaries." Dr. Wright then asserts that Hugh Bronte mentions King George IH. as being a humane man, but not a wise man. We must conclude From this then that King George HI., was ruling in his time. But it is a lame assertion when he contradicts himself by stating that the farm of Hugh's grandfather had been confiscated by the landlord, by the authority of King George HI., by the grace of God King of England, etc. Now it requires no skilful manipulation of figures and dates to prove that Dr. Wright haS' made a complete ass of himself in attempting to palm this weak conglomeration of inconsistencies upon even a British public, in attributing these issertions to Hugh Bronte. On page 16 he 128 ALTER IDEM. informs us that " in the middle of last century, or " a little earlier, the family of Hugh Bronte were " thrown into excitement by the arrival of an uncle "and an aunt of whom they had never heard." He says that Hugh would be about six years old at that time. Then it must have been about the year 1750 or before, and deducting from that the age of Hugh, we have 174s, or thereabouts, as the year Hugh would be born. Now according to Dr. Wright's myth, this foundling Welsh had seized the property of the Bronte's more than 40 years previous to this, " for they were getting on in years when they adopted Hugh," and the family had been a long time scattered. Therefore how came it that the confiscation was done in the reign of King George III, for he did not ascend the throne until 1760? — Oh! — This will speak for itself. If Hugh Bronte had ever told such a story he would know which king was ruling at his day, and being such an intellect- ual individual he would never make the mistake of thinking the reigning monarch was responsible for wrongs done 100 years before. Does Dr. Wright want to make us believe that these doctrines and teachings were ever formulated ALTER IDEM. 129 3y Hugh Bronte? No one believes it. Hugh Bronte for the time being becomes Dr. Wright, 3r Dr. Wright, in other words, is metamorphosed into Hugh Bronte. They are the doctor's views, which he has re- peated over and over again, and which are being repeated by his own family, that we here read. All Dr. Wright wanted, was some effigy representing some famous family, behind which he could stand, md, like a clercial punch and judy, mimic on real roices, but at the same time preached his own ioctrines ; and though here he has acted — I nearly >aid "clever" — ventriloquist, the public, from the Tiost intellectual to the working man with a scythe n his hand, and with whom I conversed this day, jn the subject, has detected the delusion, and all exclaim, — " dear Doctor, this is not what Hugh Bronte said, but this is the image and superscrip- ;ion of the learned Dr. Wright." Now let us examine minutely these little ideas )f his regarding tenants' rights. I shall scarcely need to remind my reader that his land question has been made the great question "or all the late agitation which has disturbed both )ur own country and Ireland for some years past. I30 ALTER IDEM. In fact, under the reckless oratory of political fire- brands and unprincipled agitators, a reign of terrors was begotten which well-nigh culminated 'in civil war. From the cry of fair rents, then reduced rents, and finally no rents at all, the movement proceeded until to enforce just claims, the whole wisdom and strength of the law were required. Davitt confessed in his speeches, and others said: — "The land question was inaugurated as a powerful means for the attainment of complete separation from England, and as the best way to enlist the sympathy and co-operation of the people." It is a trite truth, verified by history, that make a man believe, no matter how healthy he may be, he is under the power of some fatal malady which unfits him for business — let this faith take full possession of his mind — and the result will be melancholia, and a total cessation from useful em- ployment, and invariably ending in mendicancy. If you go forth upon a mission to demoralise a people by teaching them to make the property of their neighbours the object of their covetous desire, it requires no superhuman gifts to find a certain num- ber of followers and adherents for such doctrines. ALTER IDEM. 131 And what has been the result of the continued agitation and dissatisfaction carried on by paid and unprincipled agitators and orators who have grafted into the minds of the most ignorant the pungent doctrines that, until the landlords are rooted out of the soil, the English garrison expelled, and Home Rule established, Ireland can accomplish nothing praiseworthy or successful. It will be almost un- necessary for me to tell you that where this vile, abominable, and paralyzing teaching has found congenial soil, the result has been a black and thorny harvest of idleness, want, rebellion, and crime against all legal and constituted authority. Dr. Wright, if there is a grain of sense and reason in you, contrast loyal Ulster with your other mud- cabin ridden provinces 1 Yet the prosperity which characterises that province cannot be attributed to any natural or political advantage over the other three provinces, for notwithstanding the fact of its natural sterility, it has attained a prosperity utterly impossible for the Home Rule section of the Irish community to rival, for the simple reason stated above. Is not that an undeniable fact ? — yea, it is evident to the veriest ignoramus isolated amid the Irish bogs, therefore cannot fail to have struck the 132 ALTER IDEM. muddled brain of our would-be Bronte recorder and impressed him with its brilliant truth. Again, does not my clerical enthusiast know that Davitt, while in penal servitude, first conceived the idea which he eventually — through the aid of his coadjutors, — hatched and reared up to an alarming position of strength andpower,all for revenge against England. I think I scarcely need inform him also that he was not moved by the noble feeling of pat- riotism, nor for any love he felt for the Irish farmer. The Irish farmer has advantages denied the English agriculturalist. If dissatisfied with his rental, he can summon his landlord to appear at court, and have a judicial rent fixed by an independant author- ity, the basis of which is generally against the landlord. Again, so long as a tenant pays his rent his land- lord is absolutely powerless to interfere with him. He is wholly independent. Then the condition in many cases in which the tiller of the soil under the legislation of Government in power in '96 was that he could become sole owner of his land, and the capital and interest be paid by easy instalments, spreading over a number of years, and thus, in many cases, owing to the ALTER IDEM. 133 splendid munificence of our " detestable govern- ments " in giving a sum of thirty-three millions to the tenant farmers in Ireland to purchase out their farms, farmers have become the sole proprietors. No wonder that at the present time there is con- siderable agitation in England to have some of the provisions of the Irish Land Act extended to the farmers of this country. No farmer in any other country is so well treated as the Irish farmer. I defy Dr. Wright to deny this, or any of his low Nationalist clique. And in the face of all this, and with full knowledge of the favourable circumstances in which the Irish agriculturalist is placed, we cannot but wonder at the barefaced falsehoods, and black lies, invented and circulated by such unprincipled agitators about what they call — not (W)right-fully, but (W)rongly — the " hateful tyranny of landlords." I do not mean to deny that there have been and are bad landlords, and bad agents too, — men who have been guilty of cruel and unfeeling acts. But, even Dr. Wright must admit, such are the excep- tions and not the rule. And this is the unprincipled disloyalty with which Dr. Wright has sought to tarnish the Bronte 134 ALTER IDEM. name, and whose unpardonable presumption led him to think that such a blemish would remain eternally concealed within such a dim, and flimsy screen. Perish such blasphemy ! And what are these principles when we minutely examine them ; and what are the characters which uphold them ? I will teach you. Sixty-five members of Parliament were charged by The Times newspaper with the subjoined offences : — I. — That the respondents (the 65 Nationalist members) were members of a conspiracy and organisation having for its ultimate object to establish the absolute independence of Ireland. 2. — That one of the immediate objects of their conspiracy was, by a system of coercion and intimidation, to promote an agrarian agitation against the payment of agricultural rents, for the purpose of impoverishing and expelling from the country the Irish landlords, who were styled ' the English garrison.' 3. — That when, on certain occasions, they thought it politic to denounce, and did denounce certain crimes in public, they afterwards led their sup- porters to believe such denunciation was not sincere. ALTER IDEM. 135 4. — That they disseminated The Irish World and other newspapers tending to incite to sedition, and the commission of other crime. S- — That they, by their speeches and payments for that purpose, incited persons to the commission of crime — including murder. 6. — That they did nothing to prevent crime, and expressed no bond fide disapproval of it. 7. — That they subscribed testimonials for, and were intimately associated with notorious criminals, defended persons supposed to be guilty of agrarian crime, supported their families and made payments to secure the escape of criminals from justice. 8. — That they made payments to persons who had been injured in the commission of a crime. 9. — That the respondents invited the assistance and co-operation of, and accepted subscriptions of money from known advocates of crime and dynamite. Lack of space forbids me going into the evidence produced before the Commission in support of the above charges, but if I give the result of the Commission's investigation, that, I feel assured will suffice. 136 ALTER IDEM. This was the result : — i, charge is proved against eight members of Parliament ; 2, is proved against forty- three of them ; 3, is not proved of all ; 4, is proved against all of them ; 5, is not proved of all ; 6, is not altogether proved ; 7, is partly proved ; 8, is proved against all of them ; 9, is proved against all of them. It is evident then, that out of nine ignominious charges against sixty-five Home Rulers and tenant- righters, only two of those charges — three and five- were not proved against them ; while the other seven were partly or wholly proved either against some or all of them. Further comment on that subject I think is unnecessary. VIII. FIAT JUSTITIA, RUAT CCELUM. Before commencing this chapter, allow me to make it clearly understood that I have nothing at all to do with the Orange Order, though I respect its doctrines, and many of its adherents. I simply plead for justice, and take it in with the rest as having been unfairly treated, in the most bigoted and cowardly fashion, inasmuch as the attack is cloaked and the real offender would seek conceal- ment by assuming a position similar to a ventrilo- quist who manipulates his dolls, himself supplying the ideas. On page i86 he takes occasion to make another fling at the much-abused Orangeman. He says: — "To drink on the 12th of July and on St. " Patrick's Day was part of the celebration. I can " speak from personal observation of the 12th of " July. To drink was to be loyal, and to drink " deeply was to be a good Orangeman. The man 1 3 8 FIA T JUS TITIA, RUAT CCEL UM. "who did not- drink on the 12th of July, exposed " himself to the suspicion of being little better than " a P apish. "There was no fastidiousness as to the stuff " that was drunk. The more fiery and pungent the " liquor, it was considered the more excellent and "palatable; and I often witnessed the contortions " of countenance, with which not only boys and "girls, but even strong men, swallowed the " potations that burnt down to the stomach, and "flushed up to the brain. " The fiery orations were furnished by clergymen " who were supposed to be ministers of the gospel, "and the maddening drinks by the keepers of " roadside shebeens. An orange flag always floated " on the steeple of Rathfriland Episcopalian " Church during the whole month of July, and the "shebeen windows were abaze with orange lilies " throughout the same month." These statements are a downright libel on the character of the Orange Order, and one is astonished at Dr. Wright for holding them up in this false light. What has made the North of Ireland what it is ? — The loyal principles of loyal Protestants and true Orangemen. Belfast, which FIAT JUSTITIA, RUAT CCELUM. 139 is the homeof Orangeism — in fact, the greater part of Ulster as well — will speak for themselves. Orangemen are not the vile, drunken reprobates Dr. Wright would make them appear, nor are they the irreligious characters he represents them to be, and it is no doubt from ignorance, from dense ignorance of the institution, as well as from pre- judice that makes him thus speak. Ministers of his own church, as well as those of the Church of Ireland, now belong to the Order, and count it an honour to stand on the 12th of July, on a loyal plank and proclaim those great and grand principles for which their fathers fought and bled. But it is evident that loyalty is at a very small ebb in Dr. Wright's constitution, for, from the book erroneously called " The Brontes in Ireland," one would naturally conclude that a microscope might detect an atom of loyalty in the Doctor's portly constitution, and yet perhaps this is even doubtful, as the learned Doctor's compo- sition is innocent of even that small particle. Oh ! shade of Dr. Cook, look down in pity on him, thy degenerate son. A final dismissal of this subject brings us to the more immediate one of Patrick Bronte. Dr. I40 FIAT JUSTITIA, RUAT CCELUM. Wright has placed him under the eye of a Mr, Harshaw, a Presbyterian minister. Even here the same strain continues : — " Mr. Harshaw, as a Presbyterian minister, " might have been expected to guide the youth to "the gate from which he himself had emerged, "trailing clouds of glory, but he was an honest " man, and he did not. He knew that Bronte "was a youth of ability, and of enthusiastic " temperament ; but he knew that the Presbyterian "Church demanded graces as well as gifts in her " ministers, and had testing questions on the " subject, and he did not believe that Bronte's " spiritual nature had ever been kindled or " quickened. He therefore advised him to choose as " a profession the Episcopal ministry." (Italics are mine.) There we have further evidence of the unfair and one-sided manner in which he treats his subject. Because Dr. Wright is Home Rule in his principles, forsooth, the Brontes are Home Rulers. Because he is a Presbyterian, forsooth, Patrick Bronte must be a Presbyterian. It may be that while teaching at Glascar under a Presbyterian, that Patrick attended the Presby- FIAT JUSTITIA, RUAT CCELUM. 141 terian meeting-house as part of his duty. It is well known that Presbyterians will not accept teachers belonging to other Protestant denomina- tions, except they conform to their wishes and become members, for the time being, of their church. But the Brontes, from a most reliable source, were never Presbyterians, but always members of the then United Church of England and Ireland. He knows full well, and he can't by any means do away with the fact, that Patrick Bronte was a minister of the Church of England, but he tries in his fertile brain — and oh, how fertile ! — in invention and myth, to make us believe that the reason why Patrick did not become a Presbyterian minister was because he lacked in grace and qualifications for that office. Now, to say the least of it, is this not casting a tremendous slight upon the ability of the Bronte family, whom he tries, here and there amid his political and religious ravings, to exalt ? Dr. Wright, according to his name, must always be (W) right, no matter how wrong his conduct, and yet, — oh ! how inconsistent ! — with one hand he builds up and with the other pulls down. And yet he says, I am (W) right. 142 FIAT JUSTITIA, RUAT CCELUM. I wonder if he knows that it is a matter of public notoriety in that part of the country, that Patrick Bronte, until he became teacher of Drumballyroney school, under the management of the Rev. Thos. Tighe, received little aid from anyone, either in a pecuniary or intellectual manner. Mr. Tighe, for whom he was tutor, assisted Patrick BrontS in every possible way, and through him he became a minister of the Church of England. It is evident from Dr. Wright's book, and Dr. Wright's plates in his book, that he wants to carry all the glory of the Bronte family in a Presbyterian knapsack on his back. Relation's houses, Presby- terian meeting-houses, built generations after Patrick Bronte had been in Ireland, are presented to the reader's view, and having no connection at all with the said Patrick ; while Drumballyroney church in which he preached his first sermon, and the school-house wherein he taught are passed over almost unnoticed. Chapters are required to produce encomiums on Presbyterian ministers and Presbyterian doctrines, and reviling Irish land- lords and other personages according to Dr. Wright's whims, and only a few paragraphs in reference to the Bronte family. Surely in this X - o - FIAT JUS TITIA, RUAT CCELUM. 143 case we have the proverbial bag of chaff, but— oh where are we to find a grain of truth ? This brings us to the time of Patrick's dismissal Tom Glascar school. It is certainly a clever piece of penmanship, the little story of Patrick's first love affair, and it would stand, no doubt, as a romance ; but when it is asserted to be a " fact," Enigma must have a say in the matter. Dr. Wright says : — " Bronte's teaching in Glascar came to an " abrupt termination in a very characteristic " manner. There was a mature maiden in the " school, with hair as red as his own. She was " the daughter of a substantial farmer with aristo- " cratic tendencies, as he had more acres and " more cattle than most of his neighbours. "Patrick, 'as the master,' had always been "welcome at the farmhouse. The girl and her ' brothers had been allowed to remain longer at " school at his special request, and as they were " studying advanced subjects he helped them in the ' evening with their lessons. " One afternoon, on approaching the farmer's ' house, the master met his red-haired pupil ' among the corn stacks and kissed her. The 144 FIAT JUSTITIA, RUAT CCELUM. " tender incident was observed by one of her "brothers, who immediately reported the result "of his observations at headquarters. War was " instantly declared against the ' mongrel and "papish brat,' who had dared to kiss their Helen. " The allied brothers proceeded directly to chastise "Bronte; but the affair became complicated by " the fiery-headed Helen, teterrima causa bella, "rushing in, and espousing Bronte's cause with " great spirit and vigour. " When the storm of battle had cleared away, " it was discovered that teacher and pupil were " desperately in love with each other, and that " opposition had only fanned the flame. Helen's "pockets and desk were found to be full of " Patrick's amatory poetry, and both claimed the " right to act as they pleased. It was understood " that the first tender advances had been on the " lady's part, and her lover felt bound to remain " loyal to her so long as she held out. " He (Dr. W.) then goes on to tell us that there " were many versions of the incident, from which " it would be difficult to weave one consistent " narrative, nor is it a matter of much consequence. "" One thing is certain, namely, that all parties FIAT JUSTITIA, RUAT CCELUM. 145 " concerned made great fools of themselves, of " whom the greatest was Patrick Bronte. " Helen's father was an important officer in the " Glascar Presbyterian Church, to which a young " minister, John Rogers, had just been called. " The new minister was wholly unacquainted with " Bronte, or with the merits of the difficulty into " which he had got ; but on the representation of " so influential a member of his congregation, he " consented to the closing of the school and the " dismissal of the master. Thus Patrick Bronte " by his own folly, found himself without employ- " ment in the memorable, but miserable years of " 1797 and 1798." I will not trouble the reader with the details worked in about this love affair, but will let it suffice by stating that he brings Mr. Harshaw again on the scene as Bronte's guiding genius, who gets him another situation, after a year or more of sulking, at the parish school of Drumballyroney. Now in the Glascar school-house there is to be seen a memorial erected to the Revs. John and James Rogers. It is made of Carrara marble, with side and central pilasters in fluted Cork red marble. The 146 FIAT JUSTJTIA, RUAT CCBLUM. cornice and plinths are richly moulded, and on the pediment is an admirably wrought intercised monogram. The background is of polished Galway flag marble. Under the text, — "These died in faith," are the following inscriptions : — " First panel. — Erected by this congregation as a memorial of the holy love and faithful ministry of the ^ev. John Rogers, M.A. He was an eloquent preacher, a tender shepherd, and a sagacious bishop ; honoured by the Church, and held in esteem by all good men. Born July loth, 1774; ordained 12th August, 1798." " Second panel. — Erected by this congregation in remembrance of the worth of James Rogers. His father's assistant, he zealously carried on the Work of God in this Church, and proved himself a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Born 3rd July, 18 10; ordained 12th August, 1834; died 5th January, 1884. From this it will be seen that the Rev. John Rogers was not at Glascar at all, at the time of the closing of the school, and Patrick's temporary cessation from teaching, and I have also ascertained, and can fearlessly assert that the Rev. John Rogers had nothing at all to do with Patrick's dismissal. FIAT JUSTITIA, RUAT CCELUM. 147 Whenever it was their fortune to come into each other's company they were always the best of friends, and each held for the other a marked esteem. From this it will be seen that Dr. W., being unable to give any tangible reason for Patrick's leaving of Glascar, invented this little affair to fill in the time he could give no possible account for. Patrick Bronte would not make such a fool of himself as he seems to think. In a foot-note he says "that he purposely " abstains from giving Helen's name, as the almost " forgotten incident might give pain. Her descen- " dants are among the most respected people of the " neighbourhood." Of course, he " purposely " abstains from giving Helen's name. There never were such people in the neighbourhood, with aristocratic tendencies. Nor are there any descendants about whom he need fear to give a shock or pain. It is simply a "much ado about nothing." If the Doctor had been so sensitive and considerate about hurting the feelings of some obscure nobodies, he would have been more considerate in his sweeping abuses and slanders of so illustrious a family as the Brontes. That asser- tion of his is all " blarney." K 148 FIAT JUSTITIA, RUAT CCELUM. That the Brontes in Ireland are still writhing 'neath his falsities he cannot deny, and he knows full well that if he trusted his portly figure among them he would find to his cost that the spirit of the Brontes was not yet quite extinct. CHARLOTTE BRONTE. IX. COUP DE GRACE. There are few people, I surmise, who, possessing instinctive refinement and qualitative judgment, do not grasp the combined sweetness and whole- someness pervading the work of Charlotte Bronte. Whence came this outpouring of hitherto un- known power of literary expression is a question yet unsolved ; but we have been led to think that the Irish Brontes were the main springs of the fountain, for it is said the " Brontes in Ireland neither read nor wrote romances. They lived them." Naturally we think that such being their nature, Charlotte's uncles and aunts would have read Jane Eyre with eagerness and full of sym- pathetic intuition towards the writer ; whereas " they laid the \vork down in despair. But after a little while Hugh resolved to show it to Mr. McKee" (p. 272). Taking for granted that the Irish Brontes re- ISO COUP DE GRACE. ceived this first edition of Jane Eyre from Charlotte does it not show great weakness of mind on their part to take the novel to Mr. McKee for criticism. On page lO we find " Mr. McKee's home was the " centre of mental activity in that neigh ourhood, "and the early copies of the novels that came to " the uncles were cut, read, and criticised by Mr. " McKee, and his criticisms forwarded to the nieces " in Haworth. " Great was the joy of the Bronte uncles and " aunts when Mr. McKee's approval was given to "the works of his nieces. The arrival oi Jane " Eyre was an event of some importance. It was " brought to the manse by Hugh Bronte before any " notice of it had appeared. He handed it over " to the great man (he was six feet four inches "high) with a doubtful air (of which more here- " after), as if it were the evidence of a youthful " indiscretion on the part of his niece Charlotte. " That novel was read enfamille, and sober work " was suspended till it was finished. When the " last word was read, all rose to disperse, and Mr. " McKee said, ' That is the greatest novel that has " been written in my time ; but it is Bronte all " over, from beginning to end.' " COUP DE GRACE. 151 How honoured the Brontes would have been had they lived to see this charmingly worded description of the bending of their strong, deter- mined minds to listen meekly to the opinion of this great man. (Where exists the evidence of his greatness ?) Then on page 273 we have a different version, an undesirable second scene of one act. "The Irish Brontes had never seen a book like Jane Eyre before — three volumes of babble that would have taken a whole winter to read !" There is too much disparity in the time it took Mr. McKee to read the work to the statement above, that we pause to wonder and contemplate what slow-willed people the Brontes must have been ! But, continuing, on the same page, Dr. Wright says : " He (Hugh) tied up the three volumes in a " red handkerchief and called with them at the " manse. Contrary to his usual custom, he asked " if he could see Mr. McKee alone. The interview, " of which my information came from an eye- " witness, took place in a large parlour which con- " tained a bed and a central table on which Mr. " McKee's tea was spread out. 152 COUP DE GRACE. " Hugh Bronte began in a low mysterious " whisper and with a regretful air to unfold his sad " tale to Mr. McKee, as if his niece had been " guilty of some serious indiscretion. Mr. McKee "comforted him by suggesting that the book " might not have been written by his niece at all. " At this point Hugh Bronte was prevailed upon " to draw up to the table to partake of the "abundant tea that had been prepared for Mr. " McKee, while the latter proceeded to examine " the book." We are then treated to a description of how much of the good things Hugh Bronte could swallow, while this £reat man is oblivious to every- thing else but the fascinating story. When he had finished, " Hughey," he said, breaking the silence, "the book bears the Bronte stamp on " every sentence and idea, and it is the grandest " novel that has been produced in my time;" and, then he added, " The child Jane Eyre is your " father in petticoats, and Mrs. Reed is the wicked " uncle by the Boyne." " The cloud passed from Hugh Bronte's brow, "and the apologetic tone from his voice. He " started up as if he had received new life, wrung COUP DE GRACE. 153 " Mr. McKee's hand, and hurried away comforted, " to comfort others. Mr. McKee had said the " novel was gran'," and that was enough for the Irish Brontes. Here, Hugh Bronte asked to see Mr. McKee alone, and we understand the interview was private, for, " When the servant went in to re- " move the tea things and light the candles, both "men were sitting silent in the gloaming." Yet what a flaring contradiction to the iirst part on page 10, where the novel was read enfamille, and all work was suspended until it was finished. Surely, Dr. Wright knows that poetic license is not justifiable when writing a biography. And where was the eye-witness concealed to give the information of the private interview ? Already there has been too many conflicting repetitions to admit of us swallowing either one or the other of these records as truth. But another discrepancy we will note ere we banish this elaborate construction to its last rest- ing-place, and build with imperishable founda- tions the more solid structure of fact. On page 272, he writes : — " When the volumes " arrived in Ireland there was no room for doubt 1 54 COUP DE GRACE. " as to the authority oijane Eyre. The Brontes had "no other friend in England to send them books, "and even their friends would not have sent them "great bulky expensive novels unless they were the " authors of them themselves. . . . " It was well known to the family that the " clever brother in England had very clever " daughters. . . . Something was expected. " That something caused blank disappoint- " ment. (C)urrer (B)ell was a thin disguise for " (C)harlotte (B)ronte, but it did not deceive the " relatives. Why concealment, if there were " nothing discreditable to conceal ? A very little " reading convinced the uncles and aunts that con- " cealment was necessary.. The book was not "good. . . . But a parcel of lies, the fruit of " living among foreigners." Now the Brontes are shown to us in this wise on page i8 1. . . . " They held aloof in a stoical " manner from all neighbours, and neither sought " nor accepted sympathy." Yet, on page 273, we find him at the manse being comforted by Mr. McKee, and, at the end of the chapter, hurrying away to comfort others because McKee pronounced the book "gran'. ,» )» COUP DE GRACE. 155 How can we reconcile ourselves to the idea that the uncles and aunts were disappointed with the book with this on page 165 and 166 as given by McAllister's friend, the correctness of which Dr. Wright vouches for? " The forms of expression which they used " were as far from commonplace as anything ever " written by the gifted nieces ; and as the uncles' "lives were on a lower plane of civilisation, and " their scant education had not reduced their " tongues to the conventional forms of speech, they " gave utterance to their thoughts with a pent up " and concentrated energy never equalled in rugged "force by the novelists. We had never seen men "like the Irish Brontes, and we had never heard " language like theirs. The quaint conceptions, "glowing thoughts, and ferocious epithets that " struggled for utterance at their unlettered lips, " revealed the original quarry from which the "vicar's daughters chiselled the stones for their " artistic castle-building, and disclosed the original " fountain from which they drew their pathos and " passion." Does this great strength of mind and deep in- sight into the realm of romance show itself in the iS6 COUP DE GRACE. decision that the "book was not good?" Such vacillation in the Bronte character is a poor proof of their genius ! When we have such evidence as this placed for public acceptance, such "shilly- shallying " from the originators or forebearers of the novelists we are proud to call " ours," then we might well think that the Brontes in Ireland had better never have figured within the annals of Bronte literature ; but rather left to moulder quietly in their native soil. Thus far we have been showing the contradic- tions as to the perusal oi Jane Eyre, assuming that Charlotte sent a copy of the first edition to her Irish relatives. This work, according to Dr. Wright, would be received between the years 1847 and 1848, for the Quarterly Review containing the attack on Jane Eyre came out in December, 1848. Seemingly, after McKee's commendation (page 279), " The Irish Brontes read the reviews of their " niece's book with intense delight. To the uncles "and aunts the paeans of praise were successive " whifis of pure incense. They had never doubted " that they themselves were superior to their neigh- " hours, and they felt quite sure that their niece " Charlotte was superior to every other writer. . . . COUP DE GRACE. 157 " (280). Sometimes they would read to uninterested " and unappreciative listeners, scraps of praise cut " from the Newry papers, or supplied to them from " English sources by Mr. McKee. The whole " heaven of Bronte fame was bright and cloudless ; " when suddenly the proverbial bolt fell from the "blue." " The Quarterly onslaught on Jane Eyre appeared, " and all the good things that had been said by the '' other great magazines were forgotten. The news " travelled fast, and reached Ballynaskeagh almost " immediately. . . . The report went round the " district like wild-fire, and it became the common " talk that the Quarterly Review had said that " Charlotte Bronte, the vicar's daughter, was a bad " woman, and an outcast from her kind. . . . " When their acquaintances came, with simpering " smiles to sympathize with them, their gossip was " cut short by the Brontes who judged rightly that " the sense of humiliation pressed lightly on their " comforters. " In their sore distress they went to Mr. McKee. "He was able to show them the review itself . . . " Mr. McKee's words of comment gave no cora- " fort to the Brontes. I am afraid his indignation 1 58 COUP DE GRACE. " at the cowardly attack only served to fan the "flame of their wrath. . . . The uncles of " Charlotte Bronte always expressed themselves, "when roused, in language which combined sim- " plicity of diction with depth of significance. Hugh " was the spokesman. White with passion, the " words hissing from his lips, he vowed to take " vengeance on the traducer of his niece.'' Dr. Wright goes on telling how Hugh went home, from the manse, and set to work to dig up a favourite blackthorn ; of the care and time he takes in preparing it till it is a work of beauty ; how he then sailed from Warrenpoint to Liverpool, and walked thence to Haworth Vicarage, to receive at first a chilling reception. And on page 287 we find:— " The declaration of Hugh's mission of revenge "was received by Charlotte with incredulous " astonishment. But the gentle Anne sympathised " with him, and wished him success. Had it not " been for Anne's enthusiastic encouragement, " Hugh would have returned straight home from ' Haworth in disgust.'' "Patrick, as befitted a clergyman, condemned " the undertaking, and did what he could to amuse COUP DE GRACE. 159 " Hugh, and to draw his mind from its fierce " intent." "When Hugh had exhausted the wonders of " Yorkshire, to which the Vicar looked for moral "effect, he started on his mission to London. A " full and complete account of his search for the " reviewer would be most interesting, though some- " what ludicrous ; but the reader must be content " with the scrappy information at my disposal." Then Dr. Wright gives a flowing account of Hugh's behaviour in London ; he receives an im- possible reception from a 19th century London clique ; but fails entirely in finding the reviewer. He returns to Haworth with patience exhausted and moneyless, so that Charlotte gave him a few sovereigns to get him away home. Of course, " No welcome awaited him at home, " because he had failed in his mission." He gave to Mr. McKee a detailed account of his adventures in England ; but I do not think any other stranger ever heard from him a single word regarding the sad home at Haworth. So much for that theory ! Looking down page 268, I note Dr. Wright con- siders the above evidence conclusive. I do not. i6o COUP DE GRACE. Patrick Bronte sent the book Jane Eyre when in its fourth edition to the Bronte brothers in 1853 ; for in the museum at Haworth the precious relic was for a time deposited. But no copy was sent by the inhabitants of Haworth Parsonage to the Rev. P. Bronte's brothers before this. For where is the need of the explanation in the volume about it being the first work published by his daughter, and of the price she got for selling the copyright of this and her two other books, which he says he may send to them later on, and which is given in Patrick's handwriting. If Hugh had been in England and stayed at the Haworth Parsonage before he went to chastise the reviewer in the years 1848 and 1849, I fancy Hugh would have known far more about the book had he paid such a visit, than the meagre information sent to him in 1853 ! In his letter Patrick settles conclusively that Hugh had never been to Haworth at all, much less searched for the reviewer. It is a dire untruth that Hugh ever came to England at that time. As to his intended chastisement of the reviewer, and his visit to London, others have spared me the trouble of dilating upon it, for it has been con- clusively shown that never were such visits made to COUP DE GRACE. i6i the publishing houses, named by Dr. Wright, by- Hugh Bronte. The reason for this little bit of fiction is obvious. The horn of Mr. McKee is blown to an alarming extent, that one pauses to wonder if that individual was really responsible for the Bronte genius. Of course, in Irish circles, especially round the Emdale district, the " motif" is understood. Years before, when Charlotte was but a child, Hugh Bronte visited Yorkshire, and he also visited London with his brother Patrick, who took him to all the places of interest. When he returned to Ireland he took mementos from Patrick in the shape of a silver thimble for each of his sisters, and to the brothers handsome silver pencil-holders, each set in the end with a stone of different colour. It has been my good fortune to see one of these pencil-cases, which, needless to say, is greatly cherished by its owners. While Hugh was in England at that time, Patrick took him to the places associated with the name of Robin Hood, and a story he told when he came back to Ireland was that of a helmet, which if placed upon the head, would cause all the hair to drop off. Hugh laughingly placed the helmet upon his, and, a 1 62 COUP DE GRACE. strange coincidence, when he got back to Ireland all his hair began to fall until there was not one left. In fact, it was as bare as an infant's. However, after a while, the hair grew again. Is it within the range of possibility that Charlotte Bronte, the quiet, shy girl, and reserved woman, who kept the fact of her authorship of Jane Eyre from her dearest friends for a long time after she became famous, would send to her almost unknown relatives in Ireland one of the first copies ? The craving to be heard of or read was not Charlotte's nature; rather in her sensitiveness did she shrink from publicity of any kind, and to no relative in Ireland did she submit her work in 1847 or 1848. I have authority for writing this, and thus can refute Dr. Wright's story, for as such I will let it pass by. Suffice it to be distinctly understood that the fourth edition oi Jane Eyre was the first book which found its home with the Brontes in Ireland from Haworth. X. CONCLUSION. It will no doubt by many be observed that I have been unmerciful in my austere judgment upon Dr. Wright's "Brontes in Ireland." So I, have; and may all such trumpery be likewise exposed in every age. A true biographer should be a man who is fully prepared conscientiously to do his duty, to take the greatest care with his work, that it may be perfect, or at least as near perfection as it is possible to get it. No single scrap of information should be so uncertain as to leave the slightest loophole for a doubt to creep in. I, along with others, had looked forward with pleasure to the Biography of the Irish Brontes, and I, along with others, especially the relatives of the Brontes and Bronte admirers in Ireland, were literally stunned and bewildered by what did appear. ii 1 64 CONCLUSION. The information which had been kindly placed at the disposal of Dr. Wright for the enriching of the store of Bronte lore, — information of value to a biographer — not a scrap was forthcoming. When written to upon the subject, and the errors pointed out, those errors could not be corrected, because the work hadbeen stereotyped. He there betrays his small sense of responsibility as a biographer. Because his work is stereotyped, forsooth, the public must needs be deceived. Imagination, romance, political and religious j amblings, can go down to posterity as a history of facts about the Brontes. This fact exempts me from apology for expressing myself with freedom, where otherwise I would have been sparing. I did not feel impelled to be merciful. Nevertheless, an apology is due to the public for not having taken up this work sooner, but I had hoped that some person more competent would have relieved me of the uncongenial task. But the persons at whose command that information lay were unable, through a multiplicity of unfavourable circumstances, to fulfil what they felt to be their bounden duty in honour to the dead ; and the relief, I am assured, is welcome. CONCLUSION. 165 In fact, had not it been for the enthusiastic encouragement of these said individuals, I am afraid the public would have had to wait yet longer. As Dr. Wright has truthfully asserted, " We do indeed require more than intense enthusiasm, pains- taking investigation, high appreciation, with only a few guesses thrown in where facts are needed." My greatest sorrow is that I have not been able to add more " facts " to the store of Bronte literature, but before a new and perfect structure can be built upon the foundations of one so imperfect, the old ruins must be razed to the ground to make way for the more substantial edifice. That way is now paved, and the ground cleared of all impediments for a future biographer of Irish Brontes, not a political or religious jumble, but a history of the fountain head of the illustrious Bronte family. There is plenty of scope I feel assured, for such a book. Nor do I doubt, but that the mystery of old Hugh's ancestors, will, at no distant date, be revealed, but if I may venture an opinion, they will not have to be looked for in the south. As will be seen in the notice of the death of Alice, and in many places by Dr. Wright, they spoke with a distinctly Scotch accent, and it is my 1 66 CONCLUSION. firm conviction that when the mystery is solved, the key will be found in the North of Ireland. However, I have as yet been unable to obtain any tangible clue, and would not, feeling uncertain, hazard a suggestion. What is wanted is support- able fact, not mere theories ; and when a biographer swerves from this narrow and sometimes thorny groove for the more congenial and flowery meadows of imagination, he is likely to find himself landed in the most practical manner into a dirty ditch. So it happens that Dr. Wright in many cases gives himself entirely away with a string of involuntary confessions. He says : — " There are " some old people living in his (Hugh's) neighbour- " hood who never understood him, and who are "disposed to think he was in league with the " devil. . . . Bronte dared to teach his neigh- " hours by allowing them to see as well as hear, and "those who were too stupid to understand were "clever enough to denounce." (132). " As they held aloof from everyone, they were "only known by their odd ways and strange "language. Imagination filled up the unknown, " and gossip, as usual, made the most of every little "circumstance." (174). And yet he relates from CONCLUSION, 167 the diction of such unreliable testimony, and asks us to accept it. He practically takes the "gossip," mildly insinuating that it is but gossip and tells us it is fact. He also assures us that Hugh possessed the rare faculty of believing his own stories and making others believe them. Among this latter we must henceforth, since he has unconsciously pleaded guilty, class Dr. Wright. It is evident he has not yet recovered from the spell. In his assertion that the Brontes did not attend any place of worship, we should consider that they were matured, whereas Patrick the eldest was only in his teens. " They were afraid of being stared at as reprobates " so runs the story. But I suppose he means they did not attend the Presbyterian Meet- ing-house where he would have had them. He says "they occasionally dropped into Glascar Meeting-house." At the period he speaks of, the Brontes were regular attenders at the Church. I have also been assured, from a reliable source, that whenever the Bronte brothers in Ireland received letters from England, those letters were duly answered, never in a single instance did they neglect that duty. 1 68 CONCLUSION. In their style of dress they much resembled other people, tne females of the family loving, — as is common to their sex, — to appear in neat silk robes on Sundays or special days. Each of the Bronte sisters had a silk dress to suit her special complexion or figure ; and the woollen garments, Dr. Wright makes such a point of emphasizing, were merely their everyday working-gowns. However, sufficient has been said to place the " Brontes in Ireland " in its true light. Then no more is necessary, and it would only weary the reader. Before ever the annals of Bronte literature can be said to be complete, that cannot be until we have a full and enlightened account of the Irish Brontes. That work though is in the future, not the past ; and we can but hope that some competent litterateur will undertake the task. However, having absolved myself from a duty I felt it incumbent upon me to discharge — not only in the interest of the public, but in honour to those whose memory is cherished by all lovers of true art — I leave it in the hands of a critical public to judge the facts it reveals. THE END. A SELECTION FROM THE LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ISSUED BY THE ROXBURGHE PRESS, CONDUCTED BY MR. CHARLES F. RTDEAL, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, etc. FICTION. THE PINK TULIP. By Caroline Stanley. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. SWEET LILAC. By Marie Louise Eveson. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. THE DAUGHTERS OF MINERVA. A Novel of Social Life. By George Baklow. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. WETHERLEIGH. A Romance of Hampton Court. By Richard Davey. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. WITHOUT PERMISSION. From Punch and Other Periodicals. By Arthur A. Sykes. A Book of Dedications. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. THE MANSLAUGHTER OF DELISHYA. By Merrick O'Relli. Strakeria Cloth, One Shilling. THE SORROWS OF A SOCIETY WOMAN. By Mark English. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. THE MISTRESS OF ELMSHURST. By Con. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. DAUGHTERS OF THE CITY; Or, A Womaa, Some Men, and Womanlty. By the Author of *' A Spirit of Love." THE GREAT JEKYLL DIAMOND. By J. L. Owen. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence, JILTED. By Belton Otterburn. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. A DEAD MAN'S THOUGHTS. By the Rev. T. Edgar Foster, M.A. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. THE STORY OF A CAMPAIGN ESTATE ; Or, The Turn of the Tide. By Robert Thynne. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. THE CHRONICLES OF CHRISTOPHER BATES. Being Notes on the Life of a Peculiar Mortal. By E. Rees. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. THE RESULT OF OBSTINACY. By Malcolm H. Carter. Art Canvas, Half = Crown. THE DREAM OF PILATE'S WIFE. By Mrs. Harold Day. Art Canvas, Three Shillings and Sixpence. FIFTEEN, VICTORIA STREET, WESTMINSTER, Where all Communications should be Addressed. " For dainty book-work commend us to the Roxburghe Press. Everything turned out by this high class house is of the very best description. Good taste and a thorough appreciation of the beautiful, characterises all their publications." — Press Opinion. Agencies in THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, INDIA AND THE CONTINENT. retail through all booksellers. Illustrated Catalogue Post Free on Application. PRESS OPINIONS OF PICCADILLY POEMS. By J. L. OWEN. " These are pieces breathing true sentiment and passion. — Publisher^ Circular. " Many of these vers de socidti are bright and witty . . and the writer is an amiable looker on at the game of West End life." — Bookman. " Mr. Owen's powerful word pictures of society — both East and West — are a revelation, and are boldly, while delicately touched with the hfe of the scenes depicted." — Weekly Dispatch. " Mr. Owen displays humour and inventiveness worthy of fuller development." — Manchester Courier. " Mr. Owen's verse is graceful and tuneful, perhaps the most effective is ' An Actor's Story.' " — Hearth and Home. " There is a good deal of genuine poetry in this book . . . his power as a writer is not less real, because his language is simple." — Book Bits. " . . He sees society with the piercing eye — ... he tells of the pathos of life." — Pall Mall Gazette. " Piccadilly Poems are decidedly smart." — The Gentlewoman. " Mr. Owen's book is readable as reflecting the thoughts and feelings of one who looks on while the figures move in and out of Vanity Fair.'' — The Scotsman. "The merits of the book are far in excess of its faults, and occasional lapses on the author's part, which would probably pass unnoticed in a writer of less ability, are accentuated when placed in conjunction with really good work."— 7%^ Northern Figaro.