Mr. Robinson did die (May 26, 1846), and then
Branwell insisted that by his will he had prohibited his wife from
marrying, under penalties of forfeiting the estate. A copy of the
document is in my possession:
_The eleventh day of September_ 1846 _the Will of the Reverend Edmund
Robinson_, _late of Thorp Green_, _in the Parish of Little Ouseburn_,
_in the County of York_, _Clerk_, _deceased_, _was proved in the
Prerogative Court of York by the oaths of Lydia Robinson_, _Widow_,
_his Relict_; _the Venerable Charles Thorp and Henry Newton_, _the
Executors_, _to whom administration was granted_.
Needless to say, the will, a lengthy document, put no restraint whatever
upon the actions of Mrs. Robinson. Upon the publication of Mrs.
Gaskell's Life she was eager to clear her character in the law-courts,
but was dissuaded therefrom by friends, who pointed out that a withdrawal
of the obnoxious paragraphs in succeeding editions of the Memoir, and the
publication of a letter in the _Times_, would sufficiently meet the case.
Here is the letter from the advertisement pages of the Times.
'8 BEDFORD ROW,
'LONDON, _May_ 26_th_, 1857.
'DEAR SIRS,--As solicitor for and on behalf of the Rev.
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