Branwell's Character in his Poetry--The Pious and Tender Tone of Mind which it Displays--Branwell's Tendency to Dwell on the Past rather than on the Future--Illustrated--The Sad Tone of his Mind--He is Inclined to be Morbid--The Way in which Branwell regarded Nature--Observations on the Character Displayed in his Works 287
The Sojourn in Brussels Resolved upon--Why Charlotte fixed on Brussels for Higher Education--Charlotte and Emily take up their Residence with Madame Héger--A Picture of the Prospect in 'Villette' --At the Pensionnat--Madame Héger--Monsieur Héger--Charlotte likes Brussels--Her Contrast between the Belgians and the English--Death of Miss Branwell--Return to Haworth.
It was more than a month before Charlotte received the reply from her Aunt Branwell. Meanwhile she had waited patiently, pending the anxious discussions at the parsonage, and she breathed not a single word of the great project to her friend. It was her way to work in obscurity, and to let her efforts 'be known by their results.' But at last, as I have said, consent was given to her plan; the necessary money was forthcoming; and it only remained for her to make the arrangements for her journey, and Emily had arrangements to make also. There was much of letter-writing to do, letters to Brussels--whither Charlotte would of all cities prefer to go,--and to many other places; and there were clothes to make, and farewells to be said.
It was a great disappointment to Charlotte,--when, having left her situation at Christmas, 1841, she came to Haworth to join the family circle,--that Branwell could not be there, and it troubled him very much too. But the plans were talked over, the letters were written, and Charlotte did not repent her boldness,--nay, she looked forward confidently to the venture. It seems a strange ambitious plan to us, and one showing little knowledge of the world, this of spending six months in Brussels, in that short time to become thoroughly acquainted with French, to be improved in Italian, and get a dash of German; and, so provided with accomplishments, to set up a successful school at Burlington,--for the Dewsbury Moor project had already been relinquished.
Brussels was fixed upon by Charlotte for several reasons: because it was a cheap journey, because education could be had there at any rate as good as at any other place in Europe, and perhaps better; and then, Mary and Martha T----, her friends, were staying at Brussels at the Château de Kokleberg, and Mary, with Mrs. Jenkins, the wife of the English chaplain, would find the desired _pensionnat_. But there was a temporary disappointment: it was reported that the schools in Brussels were not good; and Charlotte immediately set to work to discover another establishment, which was found at Lille--one that Baptist Noel recommended, where the terms were £50 for each pupil. It had been at last arranged that Charlotte and Emily should journey to this place, about the middle of February, 1842, under the escort of Madame Marzials, a lady then in London, when again the plans were changed. Mrs. Jenkins, the chaplain's wife, had discovered, to Charlotte's great delight, the establishment of Madame Héger in the Rue d'Isabelle, at Brussels, which was greatly eulogized, and thither it was finally decided that the two sisters could go.