Mrs. Gaskell: Haunts, Homes, And Stories (1913 · New And Revised Edition)
"THE widespread interest taken in the celebration of Mrs. Gaskell's centenary in September, 1910 (in commemoration of which the original edition of this work was published), proved how highly Mrs. Gaskell and her works are valued, not only in the British Isles, but throughout the English-speaking world. As the only biographical volume on the author of Cranford and of the Life of Charlotte Bronte, the earlier edition attracted considerable attention.For further research, I have revisited many of the haunts connected with Mrs. Gaskell, and I have been fortunate in meeting those who knew the novelist intimately. In addition, a number of correspondents, some personally unknown to me, others connected by family relationship with Mrs. Gaskell, have most generously supplied me with additional information, which they have kindly permitted me to use. This has enabled me to verify difficult points, which previous investigation had failed to reveal.
The enormous amount of research necessary for the completion of this volume would have proved insurmountable had it not been for the uniform kindness and help which I have received from many sources in every district associated with Mrs. Gaskell and her novels. When she died, nearly fifty years ago, all the usual channels of information were sealed, the consequence being that the little which had been written previously contained a number of errors, especially concerning dates.
After repeated efforts I have succeeded in obtaining certificates and authentic information relating to all the important events of Mrs. Gaskell's life, including the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Gaskell's birth, and her mother's and her father's death. A hiatus in two important registers, and the four different ways in which Stevenson was spelt, added to the difficulties of obtaining reliable information, which even Mrs. Gaskell's own family had not been able to supply." (Preface)
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In The Footsteps Of The Brontës (1914)
"MY first copy of Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Brontë was sent to me from Haworth, and some years afterwards fate decreed that I should go to live on the edge of the glorious moors, within bowshot of the Haworth vicarage. It mattered not to me that Mrs. Gaskell had described the moorland village as bleak, wild, and desolate ; it was the home of the Brontes, and therein lay its charm.After living in Haworth for nearly two years, I had the good fortune to reside for the next six years in two other districts closely associated with the Brontës, on the borders of the Shirley country, and within a pleasant walk of Woodhouse Grove. In those days now nearly thirty years ago there were many who had known the famous family at the Haworth parsonage, including Dr. Ingham, the medical adviser to the Brontës ; the sexton's family ; and Mr. Wood, the village carpenter, who never failed to tell visitors that he made all the coffins for the Brontë family except Anne's. Since those days, I have met many, in different parts of England as well as in Brussels, who knew Charlotte and Emily Brontë.
When opportunities offered I made repeated pilgrimages to every Brontë shrine, both in England and abroad. To be a devotee of the Brontës is to find an Open Sesame wherever true literature is valued, and it is one of the pleasantest recollections of my life to remember that in no single instance have I met with a refusal when seeking permission to see the interiors of houses and schools with which the Brontës have been connected." (Preface)
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