Before the banquet, I had some conversation with Sir James Kay
Shuttleworth, who had known Miss Bronte very intimately, and bore
testimony to the wonderful fidelity of Mrs. Gaskell's life of her. He
seemed to have had an affectionate regard for her, and said that her
marriage promised to have been productive of great happiness; her husband
being not a remarkable man, but with the merit of an exceeding love for
her.
Mr. Browne now took me up into the gallery, which by this time was full
of ladies; and thence we had a fine view of the noble hall, with the
tables laid, in readiness for the banquet. I cannot conceive of anything
finer than this hall: it needs nothing but painted windows to make it
perfect, and those I hope it may have one day or another.
At two o'clock we sat down to the banquet, which hardly justified that
name, being only a cold collation, though sufficiently splendid in its
way. In truth, it would have been impossible to provide a hot dinner for
nine hundred people in a place remote from kitchens. The principal table
extended lengthwise of the hall, and was a little elevated above the
other tables, which stretched across, about twenty in all. Before each
guest, besides the bill of fare, was laid a programme of the expected
toasts, among which appeared my own name, to be proposed by Mr. Monckton
Milnes. These things do not trouble me quite as much as they used,
though still it sufficed to prevent much of the enjoyment which I might
have had if I could have felt myself merely a spectator.
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