Life of Charlotte Brontë | Page 4

visit to London--She breakfasts with Mr. Rogers, visits the Great Exhibition, and sees Lord Westminster's pictures--Return to Haworth and letter thence--Her comment on Mr. Thackeray's Lecture--Counsel on development of character.
CHAPTER X.
Remarks on friendship--Letter to Mrs. Gaskell on her and Miss Martineau's views of the Great Exhibition and Mr. Thackeray's lecture, and on the "Saint's Tragedy"--Miss Bronte's feelings towards children--Her comments on Mr. J. S. Mill's article on the Emancipation of Women--More illness at Haworth Parsonage--Letter on Emigration--Periodical returns of illness--Miss Wooler visits Haworth--Miss Bronte's impressions of her visit to London--Her account of the progress of Villette--Her increasing illness and sufferings during winter--Her letter on Mr. Thackeray's Esmond-- Revival of sorrows and accessions of low spirits--Remarks on some recent books--Retrospect of the winter of 1851-2--Letter to Mrs. Gaskell on "Ruth."
CHAPTER XI.
Miss Bronte revisits Scarborough--Serious illness and ultimate convalescence of her father--Her own illness--"Villette" nearly completed--Further remarks on "Esmond" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin"--Letter respecting "Villette"--Another letter about "Villette"--Instance of extreme sensibility.
CHAPTER XII.
The biographer's difficulty--Deep and enduring attachment of Mr. Nicholls for Miss Bronte--Instance of her self-abnegation--She again visits London--Impressions of this visit--Letter to Mrs. Gaskell--Reception of the critiques on "Villette"--Misunderstanding with Miss Martineau--Letter on Mr. Thackeray's portrait--Visit of the Bishop of Ripon to Haworth Parsonage--Her wish to see the unfavourable critiques on her works--Her nervous shyness of strangers, and its cause--Letter on Mr. Thackeray's lectures.
CHAPTER XIII.
Letter to Mrs. Gaskell on writing fiction, etc.--The biographer's account of her visit to Haworth, and reminiscences of conversations with Miss Bronte--Letters from Miss Bronte to her friends--Her engagement to Mr. Nicholls, and preparations for the marriage--The marriage ceremony and wedding tour--Her happiness in the married state--New symptoms of illness, and their cause--The two last letters written by Mrs. Nicholls--An alarming change--Her death.
CHAPTER XIV.
Mourners at the funeral--Conclusion.
CHAPTER I
During this summer of 1846, while her literary hopes were waning, an anxiety of another kind was increasing. Her father's eyesight had become seriously impaired by the progress of the cataract which was forming. He was nearly blind. He could grope his way about, and recognise the figures of those he knew well, when they were placed against a strong light; but he could no longer see to read; and thus his eager appetite for knowledge and information of all kinds was severely balked. He continued to preach. I have heard that he was led up into the pulpit, and that his sermons were never so effective as when he stood there, a grey sightless old man, his blind eyes looking out straight before him, while the words that came from his lips had all the vigour and force of his best days. Another fact has been mentioned to me, curious as showing the accurateness of his sensation of time. His sermons had always lasted exactly half an hour. With the clock right before him, and with his ready flow of words, this had been no difficult matter as long as he could see. But it was the same when he was blind; as the minute-hand came to the point, marking the expiration of the thirty minutes, he concluded his sermon.
Under his great sorrow he was always patient. As in times of far greater affliction, he enforced a quiet endurance of his woe upon himself. But so many interests were quenched by this blindness that he was driven inwards, and must have dwelt much on what was painful and distressing in regard to his only son. No wonder that his spirits gave way, and were depressed. For some time before this autumn, his daughters had been collecting all the information they could respecting the probable success of operations for cataract performed on a person of their father's age. About the end of July, Emily and Charlotte had made a journey to Manchester for the purpose of searching out an operator; and there they heard of the fame of the late Mr. Wilson as an oculist. They went to him at once, but he could not tell, from description, whether the eyes were ready for being operated upon or not. It therefore became necessary for Mr. Bronte to visit him; and towards the end of August, Charlotte brought her father to him. He determined at once to undertake the operation, and recommended them to comfortable lodgings, kept by an old servant of his. These were in one of numerous similar streets of small monotonous-looking houses, in a suburb of the town. From thence the following letter is dated, on August 21st, 1846:--
"I just scribble a line to you to let you know where I am, in order that you may write to me here, for it seems to me that a letter from you would relieve me from the feeling of strangeness I have in this big town. Papa and I came here on Wednesday; we saw Mr. Wilson, the oculist,