The Brontës: Wild Genius on the Moors: The Story of a Literary Family

by Juliet Barker

We can only guess at what happened. Marriage was definitely in the air in the early summer of 1808, for Patrick at long last arranged for his name to be removed from the boards at Cambridge on 26 May.107 This meant that he had given up the possibility of being elected a college fellow, and the only reason for doing so, after two years, was that he intended to get married: only unmarried men could hold fellowships. Over the next few months he seems to have encountered opposition from the Burder family, which obliged him to give up his engagement because Mary was under the legal age to marry without consent. To ensure that there were no clandestine meetings, Mary was removed to Great Yeldham, perhaps under the impression that Patrick would wait for her until she was old enough to marry without her guardian’s permission. The lovers were allowed a last meeting at which to say their farewells and Mary seems to have promised that, if Patrick came to Wethersfield again, she would receive him as a friend.108 While Mary was kept away from her suitor and had to face the wrath and curiosity of her family and neighbours, Patrick’s position was equally difficult. His authority in Wethersfield had been considerably compromised by the affair, not least because the Burders refused to accept his assurance that he would not pursue Mary. There was nothing else for him to do but to look for another post.