Several
of the more influential inhabitants of Haworth and the neighbourhood were
mill-owners; they remonstrated pretty sharply with him, but he believed
that his conduct was right and persevered in it.
His opinions might be often both wild and erroneous, his principles of
action eccentric and strange, his views of life partial, and almost
misanthropical; but not one opinion that he held could be stirred or
modified by any worldly motive: he acted up to his principles of action;
and, if any touch of misanthropy mingled with his view of mankind in
general, his conduct to the individuals who came in personal contact with
him did not agree with such view. It is true that he had strong and
vehement prejudices, and was obstinate in maintaining them, and that he
was not dramatic enough in his perceptions to see how miserable others
might be in a life that to him was all-sufficient. But I do not pretend
to be able to harmonize points of character, and account for them, and
bring them all into one consistent and intelligible whole. The family
with whom I have now to do shot their roots down deeper than I can
penetrate. I cannot measure them, much less is it for me to judge them.
I have named these instances of eccentricity in the father because I hold
the knowledge of them to be necessary for a right understanding of the
life of his daughter.
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