Laura Rocklyn writes from New York:
Every
time I have read the passage at the beginning of The Professor in which
William Crimsworth summons up his memories of Brussels saying, “Belgium! I repeat the word now as I sit alone
near midnight. It stirs my world
of the past like a summons to resurrection,” (Professor 41), I have
wanted to visit Belgium and the spots that Charlotte Brontë knew while living
there. This spring I finally
realized that dream when I was able to stop in Brussels during a trip around
Belgium with my mother.
As
I began planning for my day in Brussels, I was astounded by how little
information is available about the Brontë sights in modern-day Brussels, but,
through the magic of the internet, I found a little book entitled Brussels
for Pleasure that details thirteen walks around the city and included one
called “Charlotte Brontë and the royal quarter.” Many of the sights that I had wanted to visit from The
Professor, Villette and from the letters Charlotte wrote during her
time in Brussels were included in the walk.
Excitement
had me up early on my morning in Brussels and ready to set out to find all of
the places I was looking for in the city. First
on my list was the site of the Pensionnat Heger where Charlotte and Emily both
studied, and where Charlotte spent time as a teacher. I knew that the actual building had been demolished in 1909,
but that the statue of General Belliard and the worn flight of steps described
in Villette and in The Professor were still there to mark the
spot.
After
making good use of my rusty high school French to ask directions, we finally
made our way as far as the Place Royale.
I felt an enormous rush of excitement when I saw the beautiful white
buildings rising up before me -- “the magnificent street and square, with the
grandest houses round” (Villette 55) that Lucy had hurried through in
search of the inn that Graham had directed her to upon her arrival in Villette
-- and I knew that I was close to the end of my search. I followed the Rue Royale, with
anticipation rising at every step, until the statue of General Belliard
appeared on my left just as Graham had said it would in his directions to
Lucy. And there I, like William
Crimsworth, “stood awhile to contemplate the statue of General Belliard and
then I advanced to the top of the great staircase just beyond” (The
Professor 45). Sadly, the
staircase is now covered with graffiti and the view at the bottom is of a
disappointingly modern street, but it was still such a splendid feeling to be
standing on that spot I had read about so many times!
Next,
I crossed the street and went into the Parc de Bruxelles where Lucy ended up at
the Assumption Day fete. We found the bandstand where she spotted Graham and
Paulina, which Lucy describes as “ a Byzantine building – a sort of kiosk near
the park’s center,” (Villette 425). It was really thrilling for me to find this particular site
because it was one of the spots I had been afraid would be too well-hidden for
me to find in the somewhat overgrown and labyrinthine park with so little
direction from the novel.
After
exploring the park, I walked down the hill to the Cathedral of Saint Gudule
where both Lucy in Villette and Charlotte in real life were moved to
make confession. I could not imagine
the feelings of someone who was brought up in Haworth upon being confronted
with the portentous grandeur of this cathedral. On the cloudy day of my visit, I could easily see the
aptness of the description in Villette, “It was an old solemn church,
its pervading gloom not gilded but purpled by light shed through stained glass”
(Villette 147). In the side
isles of the nave some of the beautiful antique carved Confessionals were still
on display – three on each side of the nave. A thrill at the thought of Charlotte’s experience in one of
these Confessionals made me stop in my tracks and examine the ornate carvings
of the Confessionals more closely.
I bought a small medallion of St. Gudule in the gift shop before we left
as a reminder of the day and of the experience.
The
next stop was Waterloo in honor of the victory won there by Arthur Wellesley,
1st Duke of Wellington, and father of Arthur Adrian Wellesley, who young
Charlotte Brontë turned into the Duke of Zamorna as the hero of her Angrian
tales. I began at the Wellington
museum, which has been created at the inn where the Duke spent the night before
the battle in 1815. In the room
where the Duke of Wellington had staid, a waxwork figured of him has been
placed as if working at his desk, and it was a strange thrill on a
Brontë-themed trip to see the portrait behind him labeled “Arthur Wellesley.”
Next
I went out to the battlefield itself where I scaled the Lion Mount to view the
surrounding fields. It was
difficult to imagine that such a horrible, bloody event had taken place on that
peaceful, green farmland. It was
also remarkable to contemplate the number of works of literature that have
taken inspiration form the events that took place at that field on June 18,
1815. Many of my favorite novels,
from Thackeray’s Vanity Fair to Tolstoy’s War and Peace to Hugo’s
Les Miserables, have pivotal scenes set during and around the Battle of
Waterloo.
The
quick visits I was able to make to each of these spots only made me want to
return and explore them with more leisure, and to see if I could not unearth
other well-hidden Brontë sites in Brussels. The beauty and interest of the sites made them all well
worth the visit, and I would highly recommend such a trip to any other Brontë
enthusiast!
Brief Bibliography:
Blyth, Derek. Brussels for Pleasure:
Thirteen Walks Through the Historic City. (London: Pallas Athene, 2003).
Brontë, Charlotte, The Professor.
(Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Classics, 1994).
Brontë, Charlotte, Villette.
(Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Classics, 1994).
Richard Wilcocks adds: The Brussels Brontë Blog can be found here.
