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  THE KEY TO THE
  BRONTE WORKS.




  THE KEY TO THE
  BRONTE WORKS

  THE KEY TO CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S "WUTHERING HEIGHTS,"
  "JANE EYRE," AND HER OTHER WORKS.

  SHOWING THE METHOD OF THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND THEIR
  RELATION TO THE FACTS AND PEOPLE OF HER LIFE.


  BY
  JOHN MALHAM-DEMBLEBY.


  London and Felling-on-Tyne:
  THE WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING CO., LTD.
  NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE.
  1911.

  _All Rights Reserved._




CONTENTS.


  CHAP.                                                     PAGE

     I. OUTLINE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S LIFE                    13

    II. ORIGIN OF THE CANDLE-BEARING BEDSIDE VISITANT AND
          THE UNCOUTH SERVANT IN "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" AND
          "JANE EYRE"                                         20

   III. ORIGIN OF THE FOUNDLING HEATHCLIFFE AND HIS NAME
          IN "WUTHERING HEIGHTS"--ORIGIN OF THE INSANE
          LADY AND THE WHITE VEIL SCENE IN "JANE EYRE"        33

    IV. A RAINY DAY IN CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S CHILDHOOD:
          THE OPENING INCIDENT IN THE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
          OF THE HEROINES OF "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" AND
          "JANE EYRE"                                         37

     V. CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S FRIEND, TABITHA AYKROYD, THE
          BRONTES' SERVANT, AS MRS. DEAN OF "WUTHERING
          HEIGHTS," AND AS BESSIE AND HANNAH OF "JANE EYRE"   43

    VI. CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S CHILD APPARITION IN "THE
          PROFESSOR," "WUTHERING HEIGHTS," AND "JANE EYRE"    52

   VII. THE ORIGINALS OF GIMMERTON, GIMMERDEN, GIMMERTON
          KIRK AND CHAPEL, PENISTON CRAGS, THE FAIRY CAVE,
          ETC., IN "WUTHERING HEIGHTS," AND OF THE FAIRY
          CAVE AND THE FAIRY JANET IN "JANE EYRE"             57

  VIII. THE RIVERS OR BRONTE FAMILY IN "JANE EYRE"            69

    IX. ORIGIN OF THE YORKSHIRE ELEMENT IN CHARLOTTE
          BRONTE'S HUNSDEN OF "THE PROFESSOR"; HEATHCLIFFE
          OF "WUTHERING HEIGHTS"; ROCHESTER OF "JANE EYRE";
          AND YORKE OF "SHIRLEY"                              83

     X. HEATHCLIFFE OF "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" AND ROCHESTER
          OF "JANE EYRE" ONE AND THE SAME                     90

    XI. CATHERINE AND HEATHCLIFFE OF "WUTHERING HEIGHTS"
          AS JANE AND ROCHESTER OF "JANE EYRE"                93

   XII. EUGENE SUE AND CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S BRUSSELS LIFE.
          I. MDLLE. LAGRANGE AND HER MANUSCRIPT
          "CATHERINE BELL, THE ORPHAN"                       104

  XIII. EUGENE SUE AND CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S BRUSSELS LIFE.
          II. ACCUSATIONS AND PROTESTATIONS!                 120

   XIV. THE RECOIL, I.                                       130

    XV. THE RECOIL, II.                                      143

   XVI. THE BRONTE POEMS                                     156


APPENDIX.

  MINOR IDENTIFICATIONS OF PERSONS AND PLACES IN THE
    BRONTE WORKS                                             159

  THE HEGER PORTRAIT OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE IN THE
    NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY                                162

  INDEX                                                      169

  LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE FIRST EDITION                   179




PREFACE.


_The Key to the Bronte Works_ is the absolutely necessary companion
volume to Charlotte Bronte's _Wuthering Heights_, _Jane Eyre_,
_Shirley_, _The Professor_, and _Villette_. Without it the reader cannot
know the real Currer Bell and her people, or see her works as they were
to herself. Great indeed and continuous has been the task of writing
this volume: a comprehension of my duty to law and literature, to
posterity and to Charlotte Bronte, set aside any other consideration. It
could be no compliment to my learned and distinguished subscribers to
assume importance would attach to _The Key to the Bronte Works_ were the
volume a mere skimming of extant Bronte biography, albeit that has its
province of interest. _The Key to the Br