Emma Brown and Branwell reappearing

We have an alert today from Menlo Park, California:

Little House Book Club
Discussing "Emma Brown" by Clare Boyland and Charlotte Bronte. Dec. 6, 1-2 p.m. Free.

Little House, 800 Middle Ave., Menlo Park.

Miss Eyre has written to us to let us know about a very impressive .gif. Unfortunately we don't know who the author is, although we do recall someone from the Brontë List 'uncovering' Branwell from the shadowy pillar in the Pillar Portrait. What we don't know is whether she, the author, too made this fabulous .gif. Does this Branwell match your Branwell?

EDIT:
Several journals are publishing about the newly found letter by Patrick Brontë. Some things can be added to the information we already posted:

Mr Wilks, who intends to publish the letter in the Bronte Society Journal next autumn, said: "I have always supported the idea that Patrick was a compassionate man.

"It was fashionable to think of him as a bad tempered man and there may have been some of that, but overall he was very compassionate.

"The best thing about the letter is what he says about missing the company and companionship of his family.

"The letter is a missing piece of the jigsaw and will startle and delight Bronte enthusiasts."

It was sent to Longley in 1855 while he was Bishop of Ripon, thanking him for his words of comfort, but also reveals how Patrick's faith had been challenged by the devastation.

He says: "The Lord gave and the Lord took early awaybut I have often found and find in this last sad trial that it is often frequently extremely difficult to walk entirely by faith and sincerely to pray They will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'"

The sentiments in the letter contradict comments made by Mrs Gaskell in a magazine article. She said Patrick was a "cassocked savage who ought to be have been taken out into the garden and shot."

Ann Dinsdale, the Bronte Parsonage librarian, said the letter revealed Patrick as a loving father.

"Elizabeth Gaskell had an axe to grind. The Bronte novels at the time were perceived as brutal and shocking and she was trying to protect Charlotte.

"The way she did it was to make the case that what else could they write about when they were living in this backward place with a half-mad father and alcoholic brother?"

In reality Patrick was a compassionate father who suffered and missed his children, she added. (Clive White in The Telegraph & Argus)

Categories: Alert, Sequels, Branwell Brontë, Patrick Brontë