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Details
BRONTE, Patrick Branwell (1817-1848). Autograph letter signed including 13 unpublished lines (incomplete, lacking ? one leaf), addressed to Francis Grundy ('Dear Sir') Haworth, 22 May 1842, taking the opportunity of 'scribbling a few lines to you while I sit alone - all the household being at church - the sole occupant of an ancient parsonage, among lonely hills which will probably never hear the whistle of an engine till yourself and I are in the grave', describing his recovery 'from almost insanity', contrasting dramatically the isolation of his present life with the 'grovelling carelessness - the malignat yet cold debauchery of his life at Luddenden Foot, and asking for information about possible employmeny on the railways abroad, written on a bifolium, 2½ pages, 4to, the year ('1842') amended in a different hand to '1846', (incomplete, lacking (?) one leaf, probably of further questions about employment, slightly discoloured, small tears in blank portion of 2nd leaf, stitched at centre fold to paper).
The letter is dated some weeks after Branwell's dismissal from the post of Clerk-in-Charge at Luddenfoot station, following the discovery of a serious discrepancy in the accounts, perhaps the result of his neglecting his duties or failing to supervise his clerk or porter there. It has frequently been used to support the view that Branwell's downfall began at Luddenden Foot, his earlier biographers citing a much quoted passage recalling in what are extravagant terms his profligate ways and 'determination to find out how far the mind could carry the body without both being chucked into Hell'.
Although recovered from 'extreme pain and illness, with mental depression worse than either', and able to enjoy company without the stimulus of six glasses of whisky, his progress is retarded by his present isolation which he describes bleakly, 'having nothing to listen to except the wind moaning among old chimneys and older ash trees ... no one to speak to except crabbed old Greeks and Romans who have been dust for these two thousand years'.
In an unpublished passage of approximately 13 lines he goes on to seek Grundy's advice about employment on the railways abroad, 'in Russia, Sweden, Belgium, France or the Sardinian Dominions', if qualified by 'the usual branches of a gentleman's education', recommendations and securities. Grundy shared rooms in Halifax with George Robert Stephenson, nephew of the railway pioneer, and must therefore have seemed in a strong position to advance Branwell's claim.
The version of the letter published by Grundy in Pictures of the Past (1879) omits this paragraph, and the further questions which must have followed it (Grundy interpolates 'Here follow inquiries as to obtaining some appointment'). The present manuscript lacks part of the final paragraph of the published version, the second leaf beginning in mid-sentence ('... have not wholly forgotten him'). A salutation to Stephenson is added in a postscript beneath the signature, and a number of words and phrases were also altered or re-arranged for publication by Grundy who in his book gives the date of the letter as 1845.
Provenance: by descent from Francis Grundy.
The letter is dated some weeks after Branwell's dismissal from the post of Clerk-in-Charge at Luddenfoot station, following the discovery of a serious discrepancy in the accounts, perhaps the result of his neglecting his duties or failing to supervise his clerk or porter there. It has frequently been used to support the view that Branwell's downfall began at Luddenden Foot, his earlier biographers citing a much quoted passage recalling in what are extravagant terms his profligate ways and 'determination to find out how far the mind could carry the body without both being chucked into Hell'.
Although recovered from 'extreme pain and illness, with mental depression worse than either', and able to enjoy company without the stimulus of six glasses of whisky, his progress is retarded by his present isolation which he describes bleakly, 'having nothing to listen to except the wind moaning among old chimneys and older ash trees ... no one to speak to except crabbed old Greeks and Romans who have been dust for these two thousand years'.
In an unpublished passage of approximately 13 lines he goes on to seek Grundy's advice about employment on the railways abroad, 'in Russia, Sweden, Belgium, France or the Sardinian Dominions', if qualified by 'the usual branches of a gentleman's education', recommendations and securities. Grundy shared rooms in Halifax with George Robert Stephenson, nephew of the railway pioneer, and must therefore have seemed in a strong position to advance Branwell's claim.
The version of the letter published by Grundy in Pictures of the Past (1879) omits this paragraph, and the further questions which must have followed it (Grundy interpolates 'Here follow inquiries as to obtaining some appointment'). The present manuscript lacks part of the final paragraph of the published version, the second leaf beginning in mid-sentence ('... have not wholly forgotten him'). A salutation to Stephenson is added in a postscript beneath the signature, and a number of words and phrases were also altered or re-arranged for publication by Grundy who in his book gives the date of the letter as 1845.
Provenance: by descent from Francis Grundy.