There he was married, and his two children, Maria and
Elizabeth, were born. At the expiration of that period, he had the
living of Thornton, in Bradford Parish. Some of those great West Riding
parishes are almost like bishoprics for their amount of population and
number of churches. Thornton church is a little episcopal chapel of
ease, rich in Nonconformist monuments, as of Accepted Lister and his
friend Dr. Hall. The neighbourhood is desolate and wild; great tracts of
bleak land, enclosed by stone dykes, sweeping up Clayton heights. The
church itself looks ancient and solitary, and as if left behind by the
great stone mills of a flourishing Independent firm, and the solid square
chapel built by the members of that denomination. Altogether not so
pleasant a place as Hartshead, with its ample outlook over
cloud-shadowed, sun-flecked plain, and hill rising beyond hill to form
the distant horizon.
Here, at Thornton, Charlotte Bronte was born, on the 21st of April, 1816.
Fast on her heels followed Patrick Branwell, Emily Jane, and Anne. After
the birth of this last daughter, Mrs. Bronte's health began to decline.
It is hard work to provide for the little tender wants of many young
children where the means are but limited. The necessaries of food and
clothing are much more easily supplied than the almost equal necessaries
of attendance, care, soothing, amusement, and sympathy.
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