' _The Story of Early Gaelic Literature_, p.
49. By Douglas Hyde, LL.D. T. Fisher Uwin, 1895.
{33} Mrs. Gaskell says 'Dec. 29th'; but Miss Charlotte Branwell of
Penzance writes to me as follows:--'My Aunt Maria Branwell, after the
death of her parents, went to Yorkshire on a visit to her relatives,
where she met the Rev. Patrick Bronte. They soon became engaged to be
married. Jane Fennell was previously engaged to the Rev. William Morgan.
And when the time arrived for their marriage, Mr. Fennell said he should
have to give his daughter and niece away, and if so, he could not marry
them; so it was arranged that Mr. Morgan should marry Mr. Bronte and
Maria Branwell, and afterwards Mr. Bronte should perform the same kindly
office towards Mr. Morgan and Jane Fennell. So the bridegrooms married
each other and the brides acted as bridesmaids to each other. My father
and mother, Joseph and Charlotte Branwell, were married at Madron, which
was then the parish church of Penzance, on the same day and hour.
Perhaps a similar case never happened before or since: two sisters and
four first cousins being united in holy matrimony at one and the same
time. And they were all happy marriages. Mr. Bronte was perhaps
peculiar, but I have always heard my own dear mother say that he was
devotedly fond of his wife, and she of him.
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