The Brontes

THE BRONTES 39
in Africa, did not emerge at the very begin-
ning. Glasstown, later called Verreopolis or
Verdopolis, was the first invention. This was the
gorgeous city on the banks of the River Niger
which the Twelve Heroes, represented by the toy
soldiers, built with the help of their Guardian
Genii, Talli (Charlotte), Banni (Branwell), Emmi
(Emily) and Anni (Anne), after being shipwrecked
on the African coast and after battling with the
black inhabitants of those regions. Glasstown
grew by magic ; it soon became the most mar-
vellous city in the world, beautiful beyond com-
pare, palatial in its buildings, imperial in its
control and influence, the magnificent Capital of
a Confederacy of Kingdoms ruled by the original
Twelve or their descendants, under the leadership
of the Duke of Wellington. The Duke, however,
did not long remain the central figure ; he was
eclipsed by his eldest son, Lord Arthur Augustus
Adrian Wellesley, Marquis of Douro, Duke of
Zamorna, King of Angria, Emperor Adrian, a
wildly Byronic hero whose achievements in mili-
tary, political, social and domestic spheres were
followed and recorded with a mixture of violent
admiration and equally violent jealousy and scorn
by his younger brother, Lord Charles Albert
Florian Wellesley, an inquisitive, suspicious and
observant youth, or rather child of about ten
years old, with whom Charlotte completely iden-
tified herself. Bran well, on the other hand, in the
persons of Captain, afterwards Lord, John Flower,
Viscount Rich ton and of Alexander Percy, Earl of
Northangerland, was responsible for the political