‘Expectoration accompanies the cough. The shortness of breath is aggravated by the slightest exertion. The patient’s sleep is supposed to be tolerably good at intervals, but disturbed by paroxysms of coughing. Her resolution to contend against illness being very fixed, she has never consented to lie in bed for a single day—she sits up from 7 in the morning till 10 at night. All medical aid she has rejected, insisting that Nature should be left to take her own course. She has taken no medicine, but occasionally, a mild aperient and Locock’s cough wafers, of which she has used about 3 per diem, and considers their effect rather beneficial. Her diet, which she regulates herself, is very simple and light.
‘The patient has hitherto enjoyed pretty good health, though she has never looked strong, and the family constitution is not supposed to be robust. Her temperament is highly nervous. She has been accustomed to a sedentary and studious life.
‘If Dr. Epps can, from what has here been stated, give an opinion on the case and prescribe a course of treatment, he will greatly oblige the patient’s friends.
‘Address—Miss Brontë, Parsonage, Haworth, Bradford, Yorks.’
[183a] The original of this letter is lost, so that it is not possible to fill in the hiatus.
[183b] Emily—who was called the Major, because on one occasion she guarded Miss Nussey from the attentions of Mr. Weightman during an evening walk.
[190] In his next letter Mr. Williams informed her that Miss Rigby was the writer of the Quarterly article.
[221] In Hathersage Church is the altar tomb of Robert Eyre who fought at Agincourt and died on the 21st of May 1459, also of his wife Joan Eyre who died on the 9th of May 1464. This Joan Eyre was heiress of the house of Padley, and brought the Padley estates into the Eyre family. There is a Sanctus bell of the fifteenth century with a Latin inscription, ‘Pray for the souls of Robert Eyre and Joan his wife.’—Rev. Thomas Keyworth on ‘Morton Village and Jane Eyre’—a paper read before the Brontë Society at Keighley, 1895.
[259a] Miss Miles, or A Tale of Yorkshire Life Sixty Years Ago, by Mary Taylor. Rivingtons, 1890.
[259b] The First Duty of Women. A Series of Articles reprinted from the Victorian Magazine, 1865 to 1870, by Mary Taylor. 1870.
[262] See letter to Ellen Nussey, page 78.
[275] Miss Brontë was paid £1500 in all for her three novels, and Mr. Nicholls received an additional £250 for the copyright of The Professor.
[280] A Mr. Hodgson is spoken of earlier, but he would seem to have been only a temporary help.