Chapter Bronté to Brougham and Vaux of B by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Bronté to Brougham and Vaux

Bronté, Charlotte (1816-1855).—Novelist, daughter of the Rev. Patrick B., a clergyman of Irish descent and of eccentric habits who embittered the lives of his children by his peculiar theories of education. Brought up in a small parsonage close to the graveyard of a bleak, windswept village on the Yorkshire moors, and left motherless in early childhood, she was “the motherly friend and guardian of her younger sisters,” of whom two, Emily and Anne, shared, but in a less degree, her talents. After various efforts as schoolmistresses and governesses, the sisters took to literature and published a vol. of poems under the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, which, however, fell flat. Charlotte then wrote her first novel, The Professor, which did not appear until after her death, and began Jane Eyre, which, appearing in 1847, took the public by storm. It was followed by Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1852. In 1854 she was married to her father’s curate, the Rev. A. Nicholls, but after a short though happy married life she died in 1855. Anne B. (1820-1849) was the authoress of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey (1848). She had not the intellectual force of her sisters. The novels of Charlotte especially created a strong impression from the first, and the published of Jane Eyre gave rise to much curiosity and speculation as to its authorship. Their strength and originality have retained for them a high place in English fiction which is likely to prove permanent. There is a biography of Charlotte by Mrs. Gaskell (q.v.).

Bronté, Emily (1818-1848).—Novelist and poet. Sister to Charlotte and Anne. Wrote a story of extraordinary reality and imagination in Wuthering Heights; in whose pages the Yorkshire moors are given a wild and tragic personal reality. The same emotional force marks the best of her poems, though written with an apparently heedless pen for her own relief.

Brooke, Fulke Greville, Lord (1554-1628).—Poet and statesman, born at Beauchamp Court, Warwickshire, and educated at Shrewsbury and Cambridge, was a Privy Councillor, and held various important offices of state, including that of Chancellor of the Exchequer (1614-21). In the latter year he was created a peer. He was murdered by a servant. His works, which were chiefly published after his death, consist of tragedies and sonnets, and poems on political and moral subjects, including Cœlica (109 sonnets). He also wrote a Life of Sir P. Sidney, whose friend he was. His style is grave and sententious. He is buried in the church at Warwick, and the inscription on his tomb, written by himself, is a compendious biography. It runs: “Fulke Greville, servant to Queen Elizabeth, counsellor to King James, friend to Sir Philip Sidney.”

Brooke, Henry (1703-1783).—Novelist and dramatist, born in Ireland, son of a clergyman, studied law, but embraced literature as a career. He wrote poems, dramas, and novels; but the only work which has kept its place is The Fool of Quality (5 vols. 1766-70), which was a favourite book with John Wesley. His now forgotten poem, Universal Beauty (1735), was admired by Pope. His daughter, Charlotte, the only survivor of 22 children, tended him to his last days of decay, and was herself a writer, her principal work being Reliques of Irish Poetry (1789). She died 1793.

Brooks, Charles William Shirley (1816-1874).—Journalist and novelist, born in London, began life in a solicitor’s office. He early, however, took to literature, and contributed to various periodicals. In 1851 he joined the staff of Punch, to which he contributed “Essence of Parliament,” and on the death of Mark Lemon (q.v.) he succeeded him as editor. He published a few novels, including Aspen Court and The Gordian Knot.

Brooks, Maria (Gowan) (1795?-1845).—American poetess, was early married to a merchant, who lost his money, and left her a young widow, after which she wrote highly romantic and impassioned poetry. Her chief work, Zophiël or The Bride of Swen, was finished under the auspices of Southey, who called her “Maria del Occidente,” and regarded her as “the most impassioned and imaginative of all poetesses,” but time has not sustained this verdict.

Broome, William (1689-1745).—Poet and translator, born at Haslington, Cheshire, and educated at Eton and Cambridge, entered the Church, and held various incumbencies. He translated the Iliad in prose along with others, and was employed by Pope, whom he excelled as a Greek scholar, in translating the Odyssey, of which he Englished the 8th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th, and 23rd books, catching the style