The mistakes of some of them are well illustrated in an
anecdote related by Mr Abraham Holroyd, a well-known collector of local
lore. When Mr Bronte resided at Thornton it was rumoured in the village
that he had been seen by a Dissenter, through a chamber window, shaving
himself on a Sunday morning, which was considered to be a very serious
disregard of the obligation of Sabbath observance on the part of a
clergyman. Mrs Ackroyd, a lady residing in the parish, had an interview
with Mr Bronte on the subject. On his hearing what she had to say, he
observed: "I should like you to keep what I say in your family; but I
never shaved myself in all my life, or was ever shaved by any one else.
I have so little beard that a little clipping every three months is all
that is necessary."
Occasionally, at the present day, barbers are brought before the
magistrates for working on Sunday. They are summoned under an old Act of
Charles II., for shaving on the Lord's Day. The maximum fine is five
shillings, and the costs of a case cannot be recovered from the
defendant.
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