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Reminiscences of the Late Miss Ellen Nussey Brontë Society Transactions ISSN: 0309-7765 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ybst19 Reminiscences of the Late Miss Ellen Nussey. William Scruton To cite this article: William Scruton (1898) Reminiscences of the Late Miss Ellen Nussey., Brontë Society Transactions, 1:8, 23-42, DOI: 10.1179/bronsoc.1898.1.8.23 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/bronsoc.1898.1.8.23 Published online: 18 Jul 2013. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 9 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ybst19 Download by: [University of Sydney Library] Date: 06 June 2016, At: 23:08 one ever moved men so deeply, so permanently, so marvellously, and the secret of his magic is buried in his grave. Noone since his death has risen to repeat the achievement. Dr. Fawcett had as his pupil a Yorkshire man of whom Yorkshire people ought to make more. He was a great. essaYist, and critic, and moralist, John Foster, and he left some interesting information as to the state of religion and morals in this country at that time. I think a good service would b~ rendered by some member of the Bronte Society who would· trace the revival of religion in. Yorkshire and. its effects in Haworth. The religious history of Haworth ·in the time. of the Brontes has been very. iInperfectly .sketch,~d, yet it is evidently a story worth telling, and the lives of. Grimshaw, Fawcett, Henry Venn, of Huddersfield, and others, would furnish materials. We are met, however. tq-ni~ht, :not so much . to. discuss the religious opinion of the ·Brontes as. to express our abiding reverence for their genius and their goodness. We feel, all of uSt that we have learnt much from their books and their .lives, and, aboveall~ we feel they taught us by precept· and example one of the greatest of aU lessons-" How sublime a thing it is to suffer and be strong." REMINISCENCES OF THE LATE MISS ELLEN NUSSEY. By WILLIAM SCRUTON. As a. Bronte ..enthusiast I may claim to have been pretty early in the field, for my memory goes back to the Brontë Society Transactions 1898.1:23-42. time when. Jane ~'Jre first took the world by surprise. A surprise it. truly was, for, with perhaps the single excep- tion of [Tncle Tom's Cab£n, bv Mrs. Stowe, no book of modern. times took so sudden" and complete a grip of the public. taste, and became so popular, as did that fascinating novel by "Currer Bell." I have also a pleasant recollection of a .pilgrimage made to Haworth on a fine summer's day somewhere in the fifties and not long after Charlotte Bronte had ended "life's fitful fever" when I had the privilege (for I accounted. it· no less) of seeing a tall, venerable-looking old man, with hair as white as snow, and· a face full of intelligence and benevolence, enter the old church, walk down the aisle, mount the 24- three-decker· pulpit (for it was the Sabbath), and preach what was then known as "the afternoon sermon." This was the Rev. Patrick Bronte. His appearance, to say the least, could not fail to inspire feelings of reverence, and when, soon after, I learnt from Mrs. Gaskell's narrative the life story of this remarkable man, and of his still more remarkable children, this, my first visit to ..the. moorland village of Haworth became all the more deeply impressed upon my memory. Sometime during the year I 884-1 contributed a short article to a Yorkshire monthly magazine, of which the now popular novelist, •Mr. J. S..·.·Fletcher, was proprietor and editor, on "The Birthplace of Charlotte Bronte," which was afterwards issued··asa booklet. I had often heard of Miss Nusseyas Charlotte Bronte's life-long friend, and the heroine of one of her novels, and when a literary ·friend of mine who wason intimate terms with that lady kindly offered to give me a letter of introduction to her I was only too glad to avail myself of so tempting an opportunity of becoming personally acquainted with one who held so interesting and unique a position. I forwarded the letter of introduction along with.an epistle of my own, and a copy of my little book, to· Miss Nussey, who then resided at Fieldhead, near Birstall, and. in a few days I received from her a neatly written letter in which she said that she would be at home on the following Saturday (March 7th, 1885), and if I would call in the afternoon she would be pleased to see me-as a friend of the lady who had given me the •letter of introduction. The.appointed time found me, I need scarcely say, at the little hamlet known as Fieldhead, which is about Brontë Society Transactions 1898.1:23-42. a mile.·from Birstall, and· near to the historic battlefield of Atherton .Moor. Miss Nussey's residence. was a substantial, bay-windowed house, looking towards Birstall, with the Derbyshire hills in. the distance, which are distinctly visible on a clear day. I have a pleasant recollection of the very cordial welcome that I •received onthe occasion of this my first visit to the home of Charlotte Bronte's friend. It seemed to me as if I must have known this amiable. lady for a long time, .there was such a complete absence of that constraint and reserve one expects to .find on a first introduction. And yet there was a quiet dignity in her manner that betokened the lady of culture and refinement. Ofl\tIiss Nussey's personal appearance I need say but little ; that has been already %5 done by abler pens than mine. Nor shall I attempt the method adopted by certain present-day interviewers, who, it seems to me, go very much out of their way to describe every article of furniture, even to the carpets on the floors of the dwellings of the distinguished people whom they interview. The comfortable elegance of Miss Nussey's drawing-room, and the peaceful quiet of it as contrasted with the noisy streets of Bradford, are still impressed upon my memory. Outside, the wind and rain were beating upon the house, which occupied an elevated and unsheltered position, but .within all was brightness and warmth. The curtains were drawn and the shaded lamp brought in. As Miss Nussey sat at table the light from the latter cast a peculiar yet pleasing. effect upon her features, and she looked really beautiful. She was then in her sixty-seventh year, but was far from looking anything like that age. She had a sweet expression which, when brought· into full play by an animated conversation or a humorous story, made her all the more pleasing and attractive. By far the best portrait~ that I have yet seen of Miss Nussey, as representing her in one of her happier moods, is the one at page 207 of Mr. Shorter's work, Charlotte Bronte and her Circle. It was not difficult to understand why this gentle, refined, and intelligent lady had so fascinated Charlotte Bronte, to whom she appears to have been more as a sister than a friend, or that she should have been almost the only person admitted to comparative intimacy with the household at Haworth. Miss Nussey was a good conversationalist, and pleasant indeed was her chat about new books and their authors. She kept herself well. posted up. in current Brontë Society Transactions 1898.1:23-42. events in both the literary and political world, and the topics that arose for comment or criticism were about as plentiful as they were interesting.' I soon discovered that she was not only a good Churchwoman, but a sound Tory to boot, her political views having evidently been matured when the terms" Whig" and" Tory" were the distinctive badges of those political factions; indeed, she assured me that the modern designations of "Liberal" and "Conser- vative" were not at all to her liking. She was not, however, so prejudiced to her party as not to be able to recognise the fact that there were noble and patriotic statesmen. whose political views were in strong contrast to her own. Mr. Gladstone 'was not a favourite of hers as a • See frontispiece. z6 politician,. and with the· Home Rule measure she had no sympathy whatever. In casually alluding to some business matters of her own I was pleased to find that 1 could be of some assistance to her. My offers of help were readily accepted, and this circumstance brought, me into closer contact, and led to a lengthier correspondence with her than would, perhaps, have otherwise been, the case. She occasionally alluded to her antecedents and family connections, but on these, and other matters of a private nature, I do not feel at liberty to speak. It was her lifelong friendship with Charlotte Bro.nte, and the fact that she was almost the last connecting link with that woman of genius that formed the basis of our acquaintance, and it must be in the light of that character alone' that I record the following relniniscences. Miss Nussey was not by any means a bigot ' in, her devotion to the Church to which she belonged. She, was pleased to find that lwas a member of the lVloravianChu:rch ~a religious community towards which she cherished ,a high regard. That Church had long been represented by congregations at Gomersal and ~Iirfield, and Miss Wooller had always been wont to speak of the members thereof to 'her pupils, in terms of the greatest respect.
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