Of the two schoolfellows with whom Charlotte Bronte regularly
corresponded from childhood till death, Mary Taylor and Ellen Nussey, the
former had destroyed every letter; and thus it came about that by far the
larger part of the correspondence in Mrs. Gaskell's biography was
addressed to Miss Ellen Nussey, now as 'My dearest Nell,' now simply as
'E.' The unpublished correspondence in my hands, which refers to the
biography, opens with a letter from Mrs. Gaskell to Miss Nussey, dated
July 6th, 1855. It relates how, in accordance with a request from Mr.
Bronte, she had undertaken to write the work, and had been over to
Haworth. There she had made the acquaintance of Mr. Nicholls for the
first time. She told Mr. Bronte how much she felt the difficulty of the
task she had undertaken. Nevertheless, she sincerely desired to make his
daughter's character known to all who took deep interest in her writings.
Both Mr. Bronte and Mr. Nicholls agreed to help to the utmost, although
Mrs. Gaskell was struck by the fact that it was Mr. Nicholls, and not Mr.
Bronte, who was more intellectually alive to the attraction which such a
book would have for the public. His feelings were opposed to any
biography at all; but he had yielded to Mr. Bronte's 'impetuous wish,'
and he brought down all the materials he could find, in the shape of
about a dozen letters.
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