I am not aware of all the circumstances which led to the relinquishment
of the Lille plan. Brussels had had from the first a strong attraction
for Charlotte; and the idea of going there, in preference to any other
place, had only been given up in consequence of the information received
of the second-rate character of its schools. In one of her letters
reference has been made to Mrs. Jenkins, the wife of the chaplain of the
British Embassy. At the request of his brother--a clergyman, living not
many miles from Haworth, and an acquaintance of Mr. Bronte's--she made
much inquiry, and at length, after some discouragement in her search,
heard of a school which seemed in every respect desirable. There was an
English lady who had long lived in the Orleans family, amidst the various
fluctuations of their fortunes, and who, when the Princess Louise was
married to King Leopold, accompanied her to Brussels, in the capacity of
reader. This lady's granddaughter was receiving her education at the
pensionnat of Madame Heger; and so satisfied was the grandmother with the
kind of instruction given, that she named the establishment, with high
encomiums, to Mrs. Jerkins; and, in consequence, it was decided that, if
the terms suited, Miss Bronte and Emily should proceed thither. M. Heger
informs me that, on receipt of a letter from Charlotte, making very
particular inquiries as to the possible amount of what are usually termed
"extras," he and his wife were so much struck by the simple earnest tone
of the letter, that they said to each other:--"These are the daughters of
an English pastor, of moderate means, anxious to learn with an ulterior
view of instructing others, and to whom the risk of additional expense is
of great consequence. Let us name a specific sum, within which all
expenses shall be included."
This was accordingly done; the agreement was concluded, and the Brontes
prepared to leave their native county for the first time, if we except
the melancholy and memorable residence at Cowan Bridge. Mr. Bronte
determined to accompany his daughters. Mary and her brother, who were
experienced in foreign travelling, were also of the party. Charlotte
first saw London in the day or two they now stopped there; and, from an
expression in one of her subsequent letters, they all, I believe, stayed
at the Chapter Coffee House, Paternoster Row--a strange, old-fashioned
tavern, of which I shall have more to say hereafter.
Mary's account of their journey is thus given.
"In passing through London, she seemed to think our business was and
ought to be, to see all the pictures and statues we could. She knew the
artists, and know where other productions of theirs were to be found. I
don't remember what we saw except St. Paul's. Emily was like her in
these habits of mind, but certainly never took her opinion, but always
had one to offer . . . I don't know what Charlotte thought of Brussels.
We arrived in the dark, and went next morning to our respective schools
to see them. We were, of course, much preoccupied, and our prospects
gloomy. Charlotte used to like the country round Brussels. 'At the top
of every hill you see something.' She took, long solitary walks on the
occasional holidays."
Mr. Bronte took his daughters to the Rue d'Isabelle, Brussels; remained
one night at Mr. Jenkins'; and straight returned to his wild Yorkshire
village.
What a contrast to that must the Belgian capital have presented to those
two young women thus left behind! Suffering acutely from every strange
and unaccustomed contact--far away from their beloved home, and the dear
moors beyond--their indomitable will was their great support. Charlotte's
own words, with regard to Emily, are:--
"After the age of twenty, having meantime studied alone with diligence
and perseverance, she went with me to an establishment on the
continent. The same suffering and conflict ensued, heightened by the
strong recoil of her upright heretic and English spirit from the
gentle Jesuitry of the foreign and Romish system. Once more she
seemed sinking, but this time she rallied through the mere force of
resolution: with inward remorse and shame she looked back on her
former failure, and resolved to conquer, but the victory cost her
dear. She was never happy till she carried her hard-won knowledge
back to the remote English village, the old parsonage-house, and
desolate Yorkshire hills."
They wanted learning. They came for learning. They would learn. Where
they had a distinct purpose to be achieved in intercourse with their
fellows, they forgot themselves; at all other times they were miserably
shy. Mrs. Jenkins told me that she used to ask them to spend Sundays and
holidays with her, until she found that they felt more pain than pleasure
from such visits. Emily hardly ever uttered more than a monosyllable.
Charlotte was sometimes excited sufficiently to speak eloquently and
well--on certain subjects; but before her tongue was thus loosened, she
had a habit of gradually wheeling round on her chair, so as almost to
conceal her face from the person to whom she was speaking.
And yet there was much in Brussels to strike a responsive chord in her
powerful imagination. At length she was seeing somewhat of that grand
old world of which she had dreamed. As the gay crowds passed by her, so
had gay crowds paced those streets for centuries, in all their varying
costumes. Every spot told an historic tale, extending back into the
fabulous ages when Jan and Jannika, the aboriginal giant and giantess,
looked over the wall, forty feet high, of what is now the Rue Villa
Hermosa, and peered down upon the new settlers who were to turn them out
of the country in which they had lived since the deluge. The great
solemn Cathedral of St. Gudule, the religious paintings, the striking
forms and ceremonies of the Romish Church--all made a deep impression on
the girls, fresh from the bare walls and simple worship of Haworth
Church. And then they were indignant with themselves for having been
susceptible of this impression, and their stout Protestant hearts arrayed
themselves against the false Duessa that had thus imposed upon them.
The very building they occupied as pupils, in Madame Heger's pensionnat,
had its own ghostly train of splendid associations, marching for ever, in
shadowy procession, through and through the ancient rooms, and shaded
alleys of the gardens. From the splendour of to-day in the Rue Royale,
if you turn aside, near the statue of the General Beliard, you look down
four flights of broad stone steps upon the Rue d'Isabelle. The chimneys
of the houses in it are below your feet. Opposite to the lowest flight
of steps, there is a large old mansion facing you, with a spacious walled
garden behind--and to the right of it. In front of this garden, on the
same side as the mansion, and with great boughs of trees sweeping over
their lowly roofs, is a row of small, picturesque, old-fashioned
cottages, not unlike, in degree and uniformity, to the almshouses so
often seen in an English country town. The Rue d'Isabelle looks as
though it had been untouched by the innovations of the builder for the
last three centuries; and yet any one might drop a stone into it from the
back windows of the grand modern hotels in the Rue Royale, built and
furnished in the newest Parisian fashion.
In the thirteenth century, the Rue d'Isabelle was called the Fosse-aux-
Chiens; and the kennels for the ducal hounds occupied the place where
Madame Heger's pensionnat now stands. A hospital (in the ancient large
meaning of the word) succeeded to the kennel. The houseless and the
poor, perhaps the leprous, were received, by the brethren of a religious
order, in a building on this sheltered site; and what had been a fosse
for defence, was filled up with herb-gardens and orchards for upwards of
a hundred years. Then came the aristocratic guild of the cross-bow
men--that company the members whereof were required to prove their noble
descent--untainted for so many generations, before they could be admitted
into the guild; and, being admitted, were required to swear a solemn
oath, that no other pastime or exercise should take up any part of their
leisure, the whole of which was to be devoted to the practice of the
noble art of shooting with the cross-bow. Once a year a grand match was
held, under the patronage of some saint, to whose church-steeple was
affixed the bird, or semblance of a bird, to be hit by the victor. {5}
The conqueror in the game was Roi des Arbaletriers for the coming year,
and received a jewelled decoration accordingly, which he was entitled to
wear for twelve months; after which he restored it to the guild, to be
again striven for. The family of him who died during the year that he
was king, were bound to present the decoration to the church of the
patron saint of the guild, and to furnish a similar prize to be contended
for afresh. These noble cross-bow men of the middle ages formed a sort
of armed guard to the powers in existence, and almost invariably took the
aristocratic, in preference to the democratic side, in the numerous civil
dissensions of the Flemish towns. Hence they were protected by the
authorities, and easily obtained favourable and sheltered sites for their
exercise-ground. And thus they came to occupy the old fosse, and took
possession of the great orchard of the hospital, lying tranquil and sunny
in the hollow below the rampart.
But, in the sixteenth century, it became necessary to construct a street
through the exercise-ground of the "Arbaletriers du Grand Serment," and,
after much delay, the company were induced by the beloved Infanta
Isabella to give up the requisite plot of ground. In recompense for
this, Isabella--who herself was a member of the guild, and had even shot
down the bird, and been queen in 1615--made many presents to the
arbaletriers; and, in return, the grateful city, which had long wanted a
nearer road to St. Gudule, but been baffled by the noble archers, called
the street after her name. She, as a sort of indemnification to the
arbaletriers, caused a "great mansion" to be built for their
accommodation in the new Rue d'Isabelle. This mansion was placed in
front of their exercise-ground, and was of a square shape. On a remote
part of the walls, may still be read--
PHILLIPPO IIII. HISPAN. REGE. ISABELLA-CLARA-EUGENIA HISPAN.
INFANS. MAGNAE GULDAE REGINA GULDAE FRATRIBUS POSUIT.
In that mansion were held all the splendid feasts of the Grand Serment
des Arbaletriers. The master-archer lived there constantly, in order to
be ever at hand to render his services to the guild. The great saloon
was also used for the court balls and festivals, when the archers were
not admitted. The Infanta caused other and smaller houses to be built in
her new street, to serve as residences for her "garde noble;" and for her
"garde bourgeoise," a small habitation each, some of which still remain,
to remind us of English almshouses. The "great mansion," with its
quadrangular form; the spacious saloon--once used for the archducal
balls, where the dark, grave Spaniards mixed with the blond nobility of
Brabant and Flanders--now a schoolroom for Belgian girls; the cross-bow
men's archery-ground--all are there--the pensionnat of Madame Heger.
This lady was assisted in the work of instruction by her husband--a
kindly, wise, good, and religious man--whose acquaintance I am glad to
have made, and who has furnished me with some interesting details, from
his wife's recollections and his own, of the two Miss Brontes during
their residence in Brussels. He had the better opportunities of watching
them, from his giving lessons in the French language and literature in
the school. A short extract from a letter, written to me by a French
lady resident in Brussels, and well qualified to judge, will help to show
the estimation in which he is held.
"Je ne connais pas personnellement M. Heger, mais je sais qu'il est peu
de caracteres aussi nobles, aussi admirables que le sien. Il est un des
membres les plus zeles de cette Societe de S. Vincent de Paul dont je
t'ai deja parle, et ne se contente pas de servir les pauvres et les
malades, mais leur consacre encore les soirees. Apres des journees
absorbees tout entieres par les devoirs que sa place lui impose, il
reunit les pauvres, les ouvriers, leur donne des cours gratuits, et
trouve encore le moyen de les amuser en les instruisant. Ce devouement
te dira assez que M. Heger est profondement et ouvertement religieux. Il
a des manieres franches et avenantes; il se fait aimer de tous ceux qui
l'approchent, et surtout des enfants. Il a la parole facile, et possde a
un haut degre l'eloquence du bon sens et du coeur. Il n'est point
auteur. Homme de zele et de conscience, il vient de se demettre des
fonctions elevees et lucratives qu'il exercait a l'Athenee, celles de
Prefet des Etudes, parce qu'il ne peut y realiser le bien qu'il avait
espere, introduire l'enseignement religieux dans le programme des etudes.
J'ai vu une fois Madame Heger, qui a quelque chose de froid et de
compasse dans son maintien, et qui previent peu en sa faveur. Je la
crois pourtant aimee et appreciee par ses eleves."
There were from eighty to a hundred pupils in the pensionnat, when
Charlotte and Emily Bronte entered in February 1842.
M. Heger's account is that they knew nothing of French. I suspect they
knew as much (or as little), for all conversational purposes, as any
English girls do, who have never been abroad, and have only learnt the
idioms and pronunciation from an Englishwoman. The two sisters clung
together, and kept apart from the herd of happy, boisterous,
well-befriended Belgian girls, who, in their turn, thought the new
English pupils wild and scared-looking, with strange, odd, insular ideas
about dress; for Emily had taken a fancy to the fashion, ugly and
preposterous even during its reign, of gigot sleves, and persisted in
wearing them long after they were "gone out." Her petticoats, too, had
not a curve or a wave in them, but hung down straight and long, clinging
to her lank figure. The sisters spoke to no one but from necessity. They
were too full of earnest thought, and of the exile's sick yearning, to be
ready for careless conversation or merry game. M. Heger, who had done
little but observe, during the few first weeks of their residence in the
Rue d'Isabelle, perceived that with their unusual characters, and
extraordinary talents, a different mode must be adopted from that in
which he generally taught French to English girls. He seems to have
rated Emily's genius as something even higher than Charlotte's; and her
estimation of their relative powers was the same. Emily had a head for
logic, and a capability of argument, unusual in a man, and rare indeed in
a woman, according to M. Heger. Impairing the force of this gift, was a
stubborn tenacity of will, which rendered her obtuse to all reasoning
where her own wishes, or her own sense of right, was concerned. "She
should have been a man--a great navigator," said M. Heger in speaking of
her. "Her powerful reason would have deduced new spheres of discovery
from the knowledge of the old; and her strong imperious will would never
have been daunted by opposition or difficulty; never have given way but
with life." And yet, moreover, her faculty of imagination was such that,
if she had written a history, her view of scenes and characters would
have been so vivid, and so powerfully expressed, and supported by such a
show of argument, that it would have dominated over the reader, whatever
might have been his previous opinions, or his cooler perceptions of its
truth. But she appeared egotistical and exacting compared to Charlotte,
who was always unselfish (this is M. Heger's testimony); and in the
anxiety of the elder to make her younger sister contented she allowed her
to exercise a kind of unconscious tyranny over her.
After consulting with his wife, M. Heger told them that he meant to
dispense with the old method of grounding in grammar, vocabulary, &c.,
and to proceed on a new plan--something similar to what he had
occasionally adopted with the elder among his French and Belgian pupils.
He proposed to read to them some of the master-pieces of the most
celebrated French authors (such as Casimir de la Vigne's poem on the
"Death of Joan of Arc," parts of Bossuet, the admirable translation of
the noble letter of St. Ignatius to the Roman Christians in the
"Bibliotheque Choisie des Peres de l'Eglise," &c.), and after having thus
impressed the complete effect of the whole, to analyse the parts with
them, pointing out in what such or such an author excelled, and where
were the blemishes. He believed that he had to do with pupils capable,
from their ready sympathy with the intellectual, the refined, the
polished, or the noble, of catching the echo of a style, and so
reproducing their own thoughts in a somewhat similar manner.
After explaining his plan to them, he awaited their reply. Emily spoke
first; and said that she saw no good to be derived from it; and that, by
adopting it, they should lose all originality of thought and expression.
She would have entered into an argument on the subject, but for this, M.
Heger had no time. Charlotte then spoke; she also doubted the success of
the plan; but she would follow out M. Heger's advice, because she was
bound to obey him while she was his pupil. Before speaking of the
results, it may be desirable to give an extract from one of her letters,
which shows some of her first impressions of her new life.
"Brussels, 1842 (May?).
"I was twenty-six years old a week or two since; and at this ripe time of
life I am a school-girl, and, on the whole, very happy in that capacity.
It felt very strange at first to submit to authority instead of
exercising it--to obey orders instead of giving them; but I like that
state of things. I returned to it with the same avidity that a cow, that
has long been kept on dry hay, returns to fresh grass. Don't laugh at my
simile. It is natural to me to submit, and very unnatural to command.
"This is a large school, in which there are about forty externes, or day
pupils, and twelve pensionnaires, or boarders. Madame Heger, the head,
is a lady of precisely the same cast of mind, degree of cultivation, and
quality of intellect as Miss ---. I think the severe points are a little
softened, because she has not been disappointed, and consequently soured.
In a word, she is a married instead of a maiden lady. There are three
teachers in the school--Mademoiselle Blanche, Mademoiselle Sophie, and
Mademoiselle Marie. The two first have no particular character. One is
an old maid, and the other will be one. Mademoiselle Marie is talented
and original, but of repulsive and arbitrary manners, which have made the
whole school, except myself and Emily, her bitter enemies. No less than
seven masters attend, to teach the different branches of
education--French, Drawing, Music, Singing, Writing, Arithmetic, and
German. All in the house are Catholics except ourselves, one other girl,
and the gouvernante of Madame's children, an Englishwoman, in rank
something between a lady's maid and a nursery governess. The difference
in country and religion makes a broad line of demarcation between us and
all the rest. We are completely isolated in the midst of numbers. Yet I
think I am never unhappy; my present life is so delightful, so congenial
to my own nature, compared to that of a governess. My time, constantly
occupied, passes too rapidly. Hitherto both Emily and I have had good
health, and therefore we have been able to work well. There is one
individual of whom I have not yet spoken--M. Heger, the husband of
Madame. He is professor of rhetoric, a man of power as to mind, but very
choleric and irritable in temperament. He is very angry with me just at
present, because I have written a translation which he chose to
stigmatize as '_peu correct_.' He did not tell me so, but wrote the word
on the margin of my book, and asked, in brief stern phrase, how it
happened that my compositions were always better than my translations?
adding that the thing seemed to him inexplicable. The fact is, some
weeks ago, in a high-flown humour, he forbade me to use either dictionary
or grammar in translating the most difficult English compositions into
French. This makes the task rather arduous, and compels me every now and
then to introduce an English word, which nearly plucks the eyes out of
his head when he sees it. Emily and he don't draw well together at all.
Emily works like a horse, and she has had great difficulties to contend
with--far greater than I have had. Indeed, those who come to a French
school for instruction ought previously to have acquired a considerable
knowledge of the French language, otherwise they will lose a great deal
of time, for the course of instruction is adapted to natives and not to
foreigners; and in these large establishments they will not change their
ordinary course for one or two strangers. The few private lessons that
M. Heger has vouchsafed to give us, are, I suppose, to be considered a
great favour; and I can perceive they have already excited much spite and
jealousy in the school.
"You will abuse this letter for being short and dreary, and there are a
hundred things which I want to tell you, but I have not time. Brussels
is a beautiful city. The Belgians hate the English. Their external
morality is more rigid than ours. To lace the stays without a
handkerchief on the neck is considered a disgusting piece of indelicacy."
The passage in this letter where M. Heger is represented as prohibiting
the use of dictionary or grammar, refers, I imagine, to the time I have
mentioned, when he determined to adopt a new method of instruction in the
French language, of which they were to catch the spirit and rhythm rather
from the ear and the heart, as its noblest accents fell upon them, than
by over-careful and anxious study of its grammatical rules. It seems to
me a daring experiment on the part of their teacher; but, doubtless, he
knew his ground; and that it answered is evident in the composition of
some of Charlotte's _devoirs_, written about this time. I am tempted, in
illustration of this season of mental culture, to recur to a conversation
which I had with M. Heger on the manner in which he formed his pupils'
style, and to give a proof of his success, by copying a _devoir_ of
Charlotte's with his remarks upon it.
He told me that one day this summer (when the Brontes had been for about
four months receiving instruction from him) he read to them Victor Hugo's
celebrated portrait of Mirabeau, "mais, dans ma lecon je me bornais a ce
qui concerne _Mirabeau orateur_. C'est apres l'analyse de ce morceau,
considere surtout du point de vue du fond, de la disposition de ce qu'on
pourrait appeler _la charpente_ qu'ont ete faits les deux portraits que
je vous donne." He went on to say that he had pointed out to them the
fault in Victor Hugo's style as being exaggeration in conception, and, at
the same time, he had made them notice the extreme beauty of his
"nuances" of expression. They were then dismissed to choose the subject
of a similar kind of portrait. This selection M. Heger always left to
them; for "it is necessary," he observed, "before sitting down to write
on a subject, to have thoughts and feelings about it. I cannot tell on
what subject your heart and mind have been excited. I must leave that to
you." The marginal comments, I need hardly say, are M. Heger's; the
words in italics are Charlotte's, for which he substitutes a better form
of expression, which is placed between brackets. {6}
IMITATION.
"Le 31 Juillet, 1842.
PORTRAIT DE PIERRE L'HERMITE. CHARLOTTE BRONTE
"De temps en temps, il parait sur la terre des hommes destines a etre
les instruments [predestines] {Pourquoi cette suppression?} de grands
changements moraux ou politiques. Quelquefois c'est un conquerant, un
Alexandre ou un Attila, qui passe comme un ouragan, et purifie
l'atmosphere moral, comme l'orage purifie l'atmosphere physique;
quelquefois, c'est un revolutionnaire, un Cromwell, ou un Robespierre,
qui fait expier par un roi {les fautes et} les vices de toute une
dynastie; quelquefois c'est un enthousiaste religieux comme Mahomet,
ou Pierre l'Hermite, qui, avec le seul levier de la pensee, souleve
des nations entieres, les deracine et les transplante dans des climats
nouveaux, _peuplant l'Asie avec les habitants de l'Europe_. Pierre
l'Hermite etait gentilhomme de Picardie, en France, {Invtile, quand
vous ecrivez er francais} pourquoi donc n'a-t-il passe sa vie comma
les autres gentilhommes, ses contemporains, ont passe la leur, a
table, a la chasse, dans son lit, sans s'inquieter de Saladin, ou de
ses Sarrasins? N'est-ce pas, parce qu'il y a dans certaines natures,
_une ardour_ [un foyer d'activite] indomptable qui ne leur permet pas
de rester inactives, _qui les force a se remuer afin d'exercer les
facultes puissantes, qui meme en dormant sont pretes, comme Sampson, a
briser les noeuds qui les retiennent_?
{Vous avez commence a parler de Pierre: vous etes entree dans le
sujet: marchez au but.}
"Pierre prit la profession des armes; _si son ardeur avait ete de
cette espece_ [s'il n'avait eu que cette ardeur vulgaire] qui provient
d'une robuste sante, _il aurait_ [c'eut] ete un brave militaire, et
rien de plus; mais son ardeur etait celle de l'ame, sa flamme etait
pure et elle s'elevait vers le ciel.
"_Sans doute_ [Il est vrai que] la jeunesse de Pierre _etait_ [fet]
troublee par passions orageuses; les natures puissantes sont extremes
en tout, elles ne connaissent la tiedeur ni dans le bien, ni dans le
mal; Pierre donc chercha d'abord avidement la gloire qui se fletrit et
les plaisirs qui trompent, mais _il fit bientot la decouverte_
[bientot il s'apercut] que ce qu'il poursuivait n'etait qe'une
illusion a laquelle il ne pourrait jamais atteindre; {Vnutile, quand
vous avez dit illusion} il retourna donc sur ses pas, il recommenca le
voyage de la vie, mais cette fois il evita le chemin spacieux qui mene
a la perdition et il prit le chemin etroit qui mene a la vie;
_puisque_ [comme] le trajet etait long et difficile il jeta la casque
et les armes du soldat, et se vetit de l'habit simple du moine. A la
vie militaire succeda la vie monastique, car les extremes se touchent,
et _chez l'homme sincere_ la sincerite du repentir amene
[necessairement a la suite] _avec lui_ la rigueur de la penitence.
[Voila donc Pierre devenu moine!]
"Mais _Pierre_ [il] avait en lui un principe qui l'empechait de rester
long-temps inactif, ses idees, sur quel sujet _qu'il soit_ [que ce
fut] ne pouvaient pas etre bornees; il ne lui suffisait pas que lui-
meme fut religieux, que lui-meme fut convaincu de la realite de
Christianisme (sic), il fallait que toute l'Europe, que toute l'Asie,
partageat sa conviction et professat la croyance de la Croix. La
Piete [fervente] elevee par la Genie, nourrie par la Solitude, _fit
naitre une espece d'inspiration_ [exalta son ame jusqu'a
l'inspiration] _dans son ame_, et lorsqu'il quitta sa cellule et
reparut dans le monde, il portait comme Moise l'empreinte de la
Divinite sur son front, et _tout_ [tous] reconnurent en lui la
veritable apotre de la Croix.
"Mahomet n'avait jamais remue les molles nations de l'Orient comme
alors Pierre remua les peuples austeres de l'Occident; il fallait que
cette eloquence fut d'une force presque miraculeuse _qui pouvait_
[presqu'elle] persuad_er_ [ait] aux rois de vendre leurs royaumes
_afin de procurer_ [pour avoir] des armes et des soldats _pour aider_
[a offrir] a Pierre dans la guerre sainte qu'il voulait livrer aux
infideles. La puissance de Pierre [l'Hermite] n'etait nullement une
puissance physique, car la nature, ou pour mieux dire, Dieu est
impartial dans la distribution de ses dons; il accorde a l'un de ses
enfants la grace, la beaute, les perfections corporelles, a l'autre
l'esprit, la grandeur morale. Pierre donc etait un homme petit, d'une
physionomie peu agreable; mais il avait ce courage, cette constance,
cet enthousiasme, cette energie de sentiment qui ecrase toute
opposition, et qui fait que la volonte d'un seul homme devient la loi
de toute une nation. Pour se former une juste idee de l'influence
qu'exerca cet homme sur les _caracteres_ [choses] et les idees de son
temps, il faut se le representer au milieu de l'armee des croisees
dans son double role de prophete et de guerrier; le pauvre hermite,
vetu _du pauvre_ [de l'humble] habit gris est la plus puissant qieun
roi; il est entoure _d'une_ [de la] multitude [avide] une multitude
qui ne voit que lui, tandis qui lui, il ne voit que le ciel; ses yeux
leves semblent dire, 'Je vois Dieu et les anges, et j'ai perdu de vue
la terre!'
"_Dans ce moment le_ [mais ce] pauvre _habit_ [froc] gris est pour lui
comme le manteau d'Elijah; il l'enveloppe d'inspiration; _il_ [Pierre]
lit dans l'avenir; il voit Jerusalem delivree; [il voit] le saint
sepulcre libre; il voit le Croissant argent est arrache du Temple, et
l'Oriflamme et la Croix rouge sont etabli a sa place; non-seulement
Pierre voit ces merveilles, mais il les fait voir a tous ceux qui
l'entourent; il ravive l'esperance et le courage dans [tous ces corps
epuises de fatigues et de privations]. La bataille ne sera livree que
demain, mais la victoire est decidee ce soir. Pierre a promis; et les
Croises se fient a sa parole, comme les Israelites se fiaient a celle
de Moise et de Josue."
As a companion portrait to this, Emily chose to depict Harold on the eve
of the battle of Hastings. It appears to me that her _devoir_ is
superior to Charlotte's in power and in imagination, and fully equal to
it in language; and that this, in both cases, considering how little
practical knowledge of French they had when they arrived at Brussels in
February, and that they wrote without the aid of dictionary or grammar,
is unusual and remarkable. We shall see the progress Charlotte had made,
in ease and grace of style, a year later.
In the choice of subjects left to her selection, she frequently took
characters and scenes from the Old Testament, with which all her writings
show that she was especially familiar. The picturesqueness and colour
(if I may so express it), the grandeur and breadth of its narrations,
impressed her deeply. To use M. Heger's expression, "Elle etait nourrie
de la Bible." After he had read De la Vigne's poem on Joan of Arc, she
chose the "Vision and Death of Moses on Mount Nebo" to write about; and,
in looking over this _devoir_, I was much struck with one or two of M.
Heger's remarks. After describing, in a quiet and simple manner, the
circumstances under which Moses took leave of the Israelites, her
imagination becomes warmed, and she launches out into a noble strain,
depicting the glorious futurity of the Chosen People, as, looking down
upon the Promised Land, he sees their prosperity in prophetic vision.
But, before reaching the middle of this glowing description, she
interrupts herself to discuss for a moment the doubts that have been
thrown on the miraculous relations of the Old Testament. M. Heger
remarks, "When you are writing, place your argument first in cool,
prosaic language; but when you have thrown the reins on the neck of your
imagination, do not pull her up to reason." Again, in the vision of
Moses, he sees the maidens leading forth their flocks to the wells at
eventide, and they are described as wearing flowery garlands. Here the
writer is reminded of the necessity of preserving a certain
verisimilitude: Moses might from his elevation see mountains and plains,
groups of maidens and herds of cattle, but could hardly perceive the
details of dress, or the ornaments of the head.
When they had made further progress, M. Heger took up a more advanced
plan, that of synthetical teaching. He would read to them various
accounts of the same person or event, and make them notice the points of
agreement and disagreement. Where they were different, he would make
them seek the origin of that difference by causing them to examine well
into the character and position of each separate writer, and how they
would be likely to affect his conception of truth. For instance, take
Cromwell. He would read Bossuet's description of him in the "Oraison
Funebre de la Reine d'Angleterre," and show how in this he was considered
entirely from the religious point of view, as an instrument in the hands
of God, preordained to His work. Then he would make them read Guizot,
and see how, in this view, Cromwell was endowed with the utmost power of
free-will, but governed by no higher motive than that of expediency;
while Carlyle regarded him as a character regulated by a strong and
conscientious desire to do the will of the Lord. Then he would desire
them to remember that the Royalist and Commonwealth men had each their
different opinions of the great Protector. And from these conflicting
characters, he would require them to sift and collect the elements of
truth, and try to unite them into a perfect whole.
This kind of exercise delighted Charlotte. It called into play her
powers of analysis, which were extraordinary, and she very soon excelled
in it.
Wherever the Brontes could be national they were so, with the same
tenacity of attachment which made them suffer as they did whenever they
left Haworth. They were Protestant to the backbone in other things
beside their religion, but pre-eminently so in that. Touched as
Charlotte was by the letter of St. Ignatius before alluded to, she
claimed equal self-devotion, and from as high a motive, for some of the
missionaries of the English Church sent out to toil and to perish on the
poisonous African coast, and wrote as an "imitation," "Lettre d'un
Missionnaire, Sierra Leone, Afrique."
Something of her feeling, too, appears in the following letter:--
"Brussels, 1842.
"I consider it doubtful whether I shall come home in September or not.
Madame Heger has made a proposal for both me and Emily to stay another
half-year, offering to dismiss her English master, and take me as
English teacher; also to employ Emily some part of each day in
teaching music to a certain number of the pupils. For these services
we are to be allowed to continue our studies in French and German, and
to have board, &c., without paying for it; no salaries, however, are
offered. The proposal is kind, and in a great selfish city like
Brussels, and a great selfish school, containing nearly ninety pupils
(boarders and day pupils included), implies a degree of interest which
demands gratitude in return. I am inclined to accept it. What think
you? I don't deny I sometimes wish to be in England, or that I have
brief attacks of home sickness; but, on the whole, I have borne a very
valiant heart so far; and I have been happy in Brussels, because I
have always been fully occupied with the employments that I like.
Emily is making rapid progress in French, German, music, and drawing.
Monsieur and Madame Heger begin to recognise the valuable parts of her
character, under her singularities.
"If the national character of the Belgians is to be measured by the
character of most of the girls is this school, it in a character
singularly cold, selfish, animal, and inferior. They are very
mutinous and difficult for the teachers to manage; and their
principles are rotten to the core. We avoid them, which it is not
difficult to do, as we have the brand of Protestantism and Anglicism
upon us. People talk of the danger which Protestants expose
themselves to in going to reside in Catholic countries, and thereby
running the chance of changing their faith. My advice to all
Protestants who are tempted to do anything so besotted as turn
Catholics, is, to walk over the sea on to the Continent; to attend
mass sedulously for a time; to note well the mummeries thereof; also
the idiotic, mercenary aspect of all the priests; and then, if they
are still disposed to consider Papistry in any other light than a most
feeble, childish piece of humbug, let them turn Papists at once--that's
all. I consider Methodism, Quakerism, and the extremes of High and
Low Churchism foolish, but Roman Catholicism beats them all. At the
same time, allow me to tell you, that there are some Catholics who are
as good as any Christians can be to whom the Bible is a sealed book,
and much better than many Protestants."
When the Brontes first went to Brussels, it was with the intention of
remaining there for six months, or until the _grandes vacances_ began in
September. The duties of the school were then suspended for six weeks or
two months, and it seemed a desirable period for their return. But the
proposal mentioned in the foregoing letter altered their plans. Besides,
they were happy in the feeling that they were making progress in all the
knowledge they had so long been yearning to acquire. They were happy,
too, in possessing friends whose society had been for years congenial to
them, and in occasional meetings with these, they could have the
inexpressible solace to residents in a foreign country--and peculiarly
such to the Brontes--of talking over the intelligence received from their
respective homes--referring to past, or planning for future days. "Mary"
and her sister, the bright, dancing, laughing Martha, were
parlour-boarders in an establishment just beyond the barriers of
Brussels. Again, the cousins of these friends were resident in the town;
and at their house Charlotte and Emily were always welcome, though their
overpowering shyness prevented their more valuable qualities from being
known, and generally kept them silent. They spent their weekly holiday
with this family, for many months; but at the end of the time, Emily was
as impenetrable to friendly advances as at the beginning; while Charlotte
was too physically weak (as "Mary" has expressed it) to "gather up her
forces" sufficiently to express any difference or opposition of opinion,
and had consequently an assenting and deferential manner, strangely at
variance with what they knew of her remarkable talents and decided
character. At this house, the T.'s and the Brontes could look forward to
meeting each other pretty frequently. There was another English family
where Charlotte soon became a welcome guest, and where, I suspect, she
felt herself more at her ease than either at Mrs. Jenkins', or the
friends whom I have first mentioned.
An English physician, with a large family of daughters, went to reside at
Brussels, for the sake of their education. He placed them at Madame
Heger's school in July, 1842, not a month before the beginning of the
_grandes vacances_ on August 15th. In order to make the most of their
time, and become accustomed to the language, these English sisters went
daily, through the holidays, to the pensionnat in the Rue d'Isabelle. Six
or eight boarders remained, besides the Miss Brontes. They were there
during the whole time, never even having the break to their monotonous
life, which passing an occasional day with a friend would have afforded
them; but devoting themselves with indefatigable diligence to the
different studies in which they were engaged. Their position in the
school appeared, to these new comers, analogous to what is often called
that of a parlour-boarder. They prepared their French, drawing, German,
and literature for their various masters; and to these occupations Emily
added that of music, in which she was somewhat of a proficient; so much
so as to be qualified to give instruction in it to the three younger
sisters of my informant.
The school was divided into three classes. In the first were from
fifteen to twenty pupils; in the second, sixty was about the average
number--all foreigners, excepting the two Brontes and one other; in the
third, there were from twenty to thirty pupils. The first and second
classes occupied a long room, divided by a wooden partition; in each
division were four long ranges of desks; and at the end was the
_estrade_, or platform, for the presiding instructor. On the last row,
in the quietest corner, sat Charlotte and Emily, side by side, so deeply
absorbed in their studies as to be insensible to any noise or movement
around them. The school-hours were from nine to twelve (the luncheon
hour), when the boarders and half-boarders--perhaps two-and-thirty
girls--went to the refectoire (a room with two long tables, having an oil-
lamp suspended over each), to partake of bread and fruit; the _externes_,
or morning pupils, who had brought their own refreshment with them,
adjourning to eat it in the garden. From one to two, there was fancy-
work--a pupil reading aloud some light literature in each room; from two
to four, lessons again. At four, the externes left; and the remaining
girls dined in the refectoire, M. and Madame Heger presiding. From five
to six there was recreation, from six to seven, preparation for lessons;
and, after that succeeded the _lecture pieuse_--Charlotte's nightmare. On
rare occasions, M. Heger himself would come in, and substitute a book of
a different and more interesting kind. At eight, there was a slight meal
of water and _pistolets_ (the delicious little Brussels rolls), which was
immediately followed by prayers, and then to bed.
The principal bedroom was over the long classe, or schoolroom. There
were six or eight narrow beds on each side of the apartment, every one
enveloped in its white draping curtain; a long drawer, beneath each,
served for a wardrobe, and between each was a stand for ewer, basin, and
looking-glass. The beds of the two Miss Brontes were at the extreme end
of the room, almost as private and retired as if they had been in a
separate apartment.
During the hours of recreation, which were always spent in the garden,
they invariably walked together, and generally kept a profound silence;
Emily, though so much the taller, leaning on her sister. Charlotte would
always answer when spoken to, taking the lead in replying to any remark
addressed to both; Emily rarely spoke to any one. Charlotte's quiet,
gentle manner never changed. She was never seen out of temper for a
moment; and occasionally, when she herself had assumed the post of
English teacher, and the impertinence or inattention of her pupils was
most irritating, a slight increase of colour, a momentary sparkling of
the eye, and more decided energy of manner, were the only outward tokens
she gave of being conscious of the annoyance to which she was subjected.
But this dignified endurance of hers subdued her pupils, in the long run,
far more than the voluble tirades of the other mistresses. My informant
adds:--"The effect of this manner was singular. I can speak from
personal experience. I was at that time high-spirited and impetuous, not
respecting the French mistresses; yet, to my own astonishment, at one
word from her, I was perfectly tractable; so much so, that at length, M.
and Madame Heger invariably preferred all their wishes to me through her;
the other pupils did not, perhaps, love her as I did, she was so quiet
and silent; but all respected her."
With the exception of that part which describes Charlotte's manner as
English teacher--an office which she did not assume for some months
later--all this description of the school life of the two Brontes refers
to the commencement of the new scholastic year in October 1842; and the
extracts I have given convey the first impression which the life at a
foreign school, and the position of the two Miss Brontes therein, made
upon an intelligent English girl of sixteen. I will make a quotation
from "Mary's" letter referring to this time.
"The first part of her time at Brussels was not uninteresting. She spoke
of new people and characters, and foreign ways of the pupils and
teachers. She knew the hopes and prospects of the teachers, and
mentioned one who was very anxious to marry, 'she was getting so old.'
She used to get her father or brother (I forget which) to be the bearer
of letters to different single men, who she thought might be persuaded to
do her the favour, saying that her only resource was to become a sister
of charity if her present employment failed and that she hated the idea.
Charlotte naturally looked with curiosity to people of her own condition.
This woman almost frightened her. 'She declares there is nothing she can
turn to, and laughs at the idea of delicacy,--and she is only ten years
older than I am!' I did not see the connection till she said, 'Well,
Polly, I should hate being a sister of charity; I suppose that would
shock some people, but I should.' I thought she would have as much
feeling as a nurse as most people, and more than some. She said she did
not know how people could bear the constant pressure of misery, and never
to change except to a new form of it. It would be impossible to keep
one's natural feelings. I promised her a better destiny than to go
begging any one to marry her, or to lose her natural feelings as a sister
of charity. She said, 'My youth is leaving me; I can never do better
than I have done, and I have done nothing yet.' At such times she seemed
to think that most human beings were destined by the pressure of worldly
interests to lose one faculty and feeling after another 'till they went
dead altogether. I hope I shall be put in my grave as soon as I'm dead;
I don't want to walk about so.' Here we always differed. I thought the
degradation of nature she feared was a consequence of poverty, and that
she should give her attention to earning money. Sometimes she admitted
this, but could find no means of earning money. At others she seemed
afraid of letting her thoughts dwell on the subject, saying it brought on
the worst palsy of all. Indeed, in her position, nothing less than
entire constant absorption in petty money matters could have scraped
together a provision.
"Of course artists and authors stood high with Charlotte, and the best
thing after their works would have been their company. She used very
inconsistently to rail at money and money-getting, and then wish she was
able to visit all the large towns in Europe, see all the sights and know
all the celebrities. This was her notion of literary fame,--a passport
to the society of clever people . . . When she had become acquainted with
the people and ways at Brussels her life became monotonous, and she fell
into the same hopeless state as at Miss W---'s, though in a less degree.
I wrote to her, urging her to go home or elsewhere; she had got what she
wanted (French), and there was at least novelty in a new place, if no
improvement. That if she sank into deeper gloom she would soon not have
energy to go, and she was too far from home for her friends to hear of
her condition and order her home as they had done from Miss W---'s. She
wrote that I had done her a great service, that she should certainly
follow my advice, and was much obliged to me. I have often wondered at
this letter. Though she patiently tolerated advice, she could always
quietly put it aside, and do as she thought fit. More than once
afterwards she mentioned the 'service' I had done her. She sent me
10_l_. to New Zealand, on hearing some exaggerated accounts of my
circumstances, and told me she hoped it would come in seasonably; it was
a debt she owed me 'for the service I had done her.' I should think
10_l_. was a quarter of her income. The 'service' was mentioned as an
apology, but kindness was the real motive."
The first break in this life of regular duties and employments came
heavily and sadly. Martha--pretty, winning, mischievous, tricksome
Martha--was taken ill suddenly at the Chateau de Koekelberg. Her sister
tended her with devoted love; but it was all in vain; in a few days she
died. Charlotte's own short account of this event is as follows:--
"Martha T.'s illness was unknown to me till the day before she died. I
hastened to Koekelberg the next morning--unconscious that she was in
great danger--and was told that it was finished. She had died in the
night. Mary was taken away to Bruxelles. I have seen Mary frequently
since. She is in no ways crushed by the event; but while Martha was ill,
she was to her more than a mother--more than a sister: watching, nursing,
cherishing her so tenderly, so unweariedly. She appears calm and serious
now; no bursts of violent emotion; no exaggeration of distress. I have
seen Martha's grave--the place where her ashes lie in a foreign country."
Who that has read "Shirley" does not remember the few lines--perhaps half
a page--of sad recollection?
"He has no idea that little Jessy will die young, she is so gay, and
chattering, and arch--original even now; passionate when provoked, but
most affectionate if caressed; by turns gentle and rattling; exacting
yet generous; fearless . . . yet reliant on any who will help her.
Jessy, with her little piquant face, engaging prattle, and winning
ways, is made to be a pet.
* * * * *
"Do you know this place? No, you never saw it; but you recognise the
nature of these trees, this foliage--the cypress, the willow, the yew.
Stone crosses like these are not unfamiliar to you, nor are these dim
garlands of everlasting flowers. Here is the place: green sod and a
grey marble head-stone--Jessy sleeps below. She lived through an
April day; much loved was she, much loving. She often, in her brief
life, shed tears--she had frequent sorrows; she smiled between,
gladdening whatever saw her. Her death was tranquil and happy in
Rose's guardian arms, for Rose had been her stay and defence through
many trials; the dying and the watching English girls were at that
hour alone in a foreign country, and the soil of that country gave
Jessy a grave.
* * * * *
"But, Jessy, I will write about you no more. This is an autumn
evening, wet and wild. There is only one cloud in the sky; but it
curtains it from pole to pole. The wind cannot rest; it hurries
sobbing over hills of sullen outline, colourless with twilight and
mist. Rain has beat all day on that church tower" (Haworth): "it
rises dark from the stony enclosure of its graveyard: the nettles, the
long grass, and the tombs all drip with wet. This evening reminds me
too forcibly of another evening some years ago: a howling, rainy
autumn evening too--when certain who had that day performed a
pilgrimage to a grave new made in a heretic cemetery, sat near a wood
fire on the hearth of a foreign dwelling. They were merry and social,
but they each knew that a gap, never to be filled, had been made in
their circle. They knew they had lost something whose absence could
never be quite atoned for, so long as they lived; and they knew that
heavy falling rain was soaking into the wet earth which covered their
lost darling; and that the sad, sighing gale was mourning above her
buried head. The fire warmed them; Life and Friendship yet blessed
them: but Jessy lay cold, coffined, solitary--only the sod screening
her from the storm."
This was the first death that had occurred in the small circle of
Charlotte's immediate and intimate friends since the loss of her two
sisters long ago. She was still in the midst of her deep sympathy with
"Mary," when word came from home that her aunt, Miss Branwell, was
ailing--was very ill. Emily and Charlotte immediately resolved to go
home straight, and hastily packed up for England, doubtful whether they
should ever return to Brussels or not, leaving all their relations with
M. and Madame Heger, and the pensionnat, uprooted, and uncertain of any
future existence. Even before their departure, on the morning after they
received the first intelligence of illness--when they were on the very
point of starting--came a second letter, telling them of their aunt's
death. It could not hasten their movements, for every arrangement had
been made for speed. They sailed from Antwerp; they travelled night and
day, and got home on a Tuesday morning. The funeral and all was over,
and Mr. Bronte and Anne were sitting together, in quiet grief for the
loss of one who had done her part well in their household for nearly
twenty years, and earned the regard and respect of many who never knew
how much they should miss her till she was gone. The small property
which she had accumulated, by dint of personal frugality and self-denial,
was bequeathed to her nieces. Branwell, her darling, was to have had his
share; but his reckless expenditure had distressed the good old lady, and
his name was omitted in her will.
When the first shock was over, the three sisters began to enjoy the full
relish of meeting again, after the longest separation they had had in
their lives. They had much to tell of the past, and much to settle for
the future. Anne had been for some little time in a situation, to which
she was to return at the end of the Christmas holidays. For another year
or so they were again to be all three apart; and, after that, the happy
vision of being together and opening a school was to be realised. Of
course they did not now look forward to settling at Burlington, or any
other place which would take them away from their father; but the small
sum which they each independently possessed would enable them to effect
such alterations in the parsonage-house at Haworth as would adapt it to
the reception of pupils. Anne's plans for the interval were fixed. Emily
quickly decided to be the daughter to remain at home. About Charlotte
there was much deliberation and some discussion.
Even in all the haste of their sudden departure from Brussels, M. Heger
had found time to write a letter of sympathy to Mr. Bronte on the loss
which he had just sustained; a letter containing such a graceful
appreciation of the daughters' characters, under the form of a tribute of
respect to their father, that I should have been tempted to copy it, even
had there not also been a proposal made in it respecting Charlotte, which
deserves a place in the record of her life.
"Au Reverend Monsieur Bronte, Pasteur Evangelique, &c, &c.
"Samedi, 5 Obre.
"MONSIEUR,
"Un evenement bien triste decide mesdemoiselles vas filles a retourner
brusquement en Angleterre, ce depart qui nous afflige beaucoup a
cependant ma complete approbation; il est bien naturel qu'elles
cherchent a vous consoler de ce que le ciel vient de vous oter, on se
serrant autour de vous, poui mieux vous faire apprecier ce que le ciel
vous a donne et ce qu'il vous laisse encore. J'espere que vous me
pardonnerez, Monsieur, de profiter de cette circonstance pour vous
faire parvenir l'expression de mon respect; je n'ai pas l'honneur de
vous connaitre personnellement, et cependant j'eprouve pour votre
personne un sentiment de sincere veneration, car en jugeant un pere de
famille par ses enfants on ne risque pas de se tromper, et sous ce
rapport l'education et les sentiments que nous avons trouves dans
mesdemoiselles vos filles n'ont pu que nous donner une tres-haute idee
de votre merite et de votre caractere. Vous apprendrez sans doute
avec plaisir que vos enfants ont fait du progres tresremarquable dans
toutes les branches de l'enseignenient, et que ces progres sont
entierement du a leur amour pour le travail et a leur perseverance;
nous n'avons eu que bien peu a faire avec de pareilles eleves; leur
avancement est votre oeuvre bien plus que la notre; nous n'avons pas
eu a leur apprendre le prix du temps et de l'instruction, elles
avaient appris tout cela dans la maison paternelle, et nous n'avons
eu, pour notre part, que le faible merite de diriger leurs efforts et
de fournir un aliment convenable a la louable activite que vos filles
ont puisees dans votre exemple et dans vos lecons. Puissent les
eloges meritees que nous donnons a vos enfants vous etre de quelque
consolation dans le malheur que vous afflige; c'est la notre espoir en
vous ecrivant, et ce sera, pour Mesdemoiselles Charlotte et Emily, une
douce et belle recompense de leurs travaux.
"En perdant nos deux cheres eleves, nous ne devons pas vous cacher que
nous eprouvons a la fois et du chagrin et de l'inquietude; nous sommes
affliges parce que cette brusque separation vient briser l'affection
presque paternelle que nous leur avons vouee, et notre peine
s'augmente a la vue de tant de travaux interrompues, de tant de choses
bien commencees, et qui ne demandent que quelque temps encore pour
etre menees a bonne fin. Dans un an, chacune de vos demoiselles eut
ete entierement premunie contre les eventualites de l'avenir; chacune
d'elles acquerait a la fois et l'instruction et la science
d'enseignement; Mlle Emily allait apprendre le piano; recevoir les
lecons du meilleur professeur que nous ayons en Belgique, et deja elle
avait elle-meme de petites eleves; elle perdait donc a la fois un
reste d'ignorance et un reste plus genant encore de timidite; Mlle
Charlotte commencait a donner des lecons en francais, et d'acquerir
cette assurance, cet aplomb si necessaire dans l'enseignement; encore
un an tout au plus et l'oeuvre etait achevee et bien achevee. Alors
nous aurions pu, si cela vous eut convenu, offrir a mesdemoiselles vos
filles ou du moins a l'une des deux une position qui eut ete dans ses
gouts, et qui lui eut donne cette douce independance si difficile a
trouver pour une jeune personne. Ce n'est pas, croyez le bien,
Monsieur, ce n'est pas ici pour nous une question d'interet personnel,
c'est une question d'affection; vous me pardonnerez si nous vous
parlons de vos enfants, si nous nous occupons de leur avenir, comme si
elles faisaient partie de notre famille; leurs qualites personnelles,
leur bon vouloir, leur zele extreme sont les seules causes qui nous
poussent a nous hasarder de la sorte. Nous savons, Monsieur, que vous
peserez plus murement et plus sagement que nous la consequence
qu'aurait pour l'avenir une interruption complete dans les etudes de
vos deux filles; vous deciderez ce qu'il faut faire, et vous nous
pardonnerez notre franchise, si vous daignez considerer que le motif
qui nous fait agir est une affection bien desinteressee et qui
s'affligerait beaucoup de devoir deja se resigner a n'etre plus utile
a vos chers enfants.
"Agreez, je vous prie, Monsieur, l'expression respectueuse de mes
sentiments de haute consideration.
"C. HEGER."
There was so much truth, as well as so much kindness in this letter--it
was so obvious that a second year of instruction would be far more
valuable than the first, that there was no long hesitation before it was
decided that Charlotte should return to Brussels.
Meanwhile, they enjoyed their Christmas all together inexpressibly.
Branwell was with them; that was always a pleasure at this time; whatever
might be his faults, or even his vices, his sisters yet held him up as
their family hope, as they trusted that he would some day be their family
pride. They blinded themselves to the magnitude of the failings of which
they were now and then told, by persuading themselves that such failings
were common to all men of any strength of character; for, till sad
experience taught them better, they fell into the usual error of
confounding strong passions with strong character.
Charlotte's friend came over to see her, and she returned the visit. Her
Brussels life must have seemed like a dream, so completely, in this short
space of time, did she fall back into the old household ways; with more
of household independence than she could ever have had during her aunt's
lifetime. Winter though it was, the sisters took their accustomed walks
on the snow-covered moors; or went often down the long road to Keighley,
for such books as had been added to the library there during their
absence from England.