THE SECRET OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË

CONTENTS

PART I

CHARLOTTE BRONTË'S LETTERS TO M. HEGER
_(These Letters supply the Key to the Secret of Charlotte Brontë)_

CHAPTER I
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF CHARLOTTE
BRONTË, CREATED BY A FALSE CRITICAL
METHOD

CHAPTER II
THE KEY TO THE PROBLEM

CHAPTER III
CHARLOTTE'S LAST YEAR AT BRUXELLES, 1842-43

CHAPTER IV
THE CONFESSION AT STE. GUDULE

CHAPTER V
THE LEAVE-TAKING--THE SCENE IN THE CLASS-ROOM
--'MY HEART WILL BREAK'

CHAPTER VI
THE LOVE-LETTERS OF A ROMANTIC

PART II

SOME REMINISCENCES OF THE REAL
MONSIEUR AND MADAME HEGER

CHAPTER I
THE HISTORICAL DIFFICULTY: TO DISENTANGLE
FACT FROM FICTION

CHAPTER II
MY FIRST INTRODUCTION TO CHARLOTTE
BRONTË'S PROFESSOR

CHAPTER III
MONSIEUR AND MADAME HEGER AS I SAW THEM:
AND BELGIAN SCHOOLGIRLS AS I KNEW
THEM

CHAPTER IV
MY SECOND INTERVIEW WITH M. HEGER. THE
WASHING OF 'PEPPER.' THE LESSON IN
ARITHMETIC

CHAPTER V
THE STORY OF A CHAPEAU D'UNIFORME

CHAPTER VI
MADAME HEGER'S SENTIMENT OF THE JUSTICE
OF RESIGNATION TO INJUSTICE


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

CHARLOTTE BRONTË .... _Frontispiece_
THE FRONT OF THE SCHOOL IN THE RUE D'ISABELLE
M. HEGER AT SIXTY
DRAWING BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË OF ASHBURNHAM CHURCH
(_Copyright of Author_)
MADAME HEGER AT SIXTY
(_Copyright of Author_)
THE ALLÉE DÉFENDUE
(_Copyright of Author_)
THE GALERIE AND GARDEN IN WINTER
(_Copyright of Author_)



THE SECRET OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË

PART I

CHAPTER I

THE 'PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM' OF CHARLOTTE
BRONTË, CREATED BY A FALSE
CRITICAL METHOD


We live in an epoch when impressionist methods of criticism, admissible,
and often illuminative, in the domains of art and of imaginative
literature, have invaded the once jealously guarded paths of historical
criticism, to the detriment of correct standards of judgment. Leading
critics, whose literary accomplishments, powers of persuasive argument,
and unquestionable good faith, lend great influence to their decisions,
show no sort of hesitation in undertaking to interpret the characters
and careers of famous men and women, independently of any examination
of evidence, by purely psychological methods. I am not denying that, as
literary exercises, some of these impressionist portraits of men and
women of genius, seen through the temperament of writers who are,
_sometimes_, endowed with genius themselves, are very interesting. But
what has to be remembered (and what is constantly forgotten) is, that if
these psychological interpretations of people who once really existed
are to be accorded any authority as historical judgments, they must have
been preceded by an attentive enquiry, enabling the future interpreter,
before he begins to employ psychology, to feel perfectly certain that he
has clearly in view the particular Soul he is undertaking to penetrate,
with its own special qualities, and placed amongst, and acted upon by,
the real circumstances of its earthly career. Where the preliminary
precaution of this enquiry, into the true facts that have to be
penetrated, and explained, has been neglected, no psychological
subtlety, no pathological science, no sympathetic insight, can protect
the most accomplished literary impressionist from forming, and
fostering, false opinions about the historical personages he is judging
from a standpoint of assumptions that do not allow him to exercise the
true function of criticism, defined by Matthew Arnold as: 'an impartial
endeavour to see the thing as in itself it really is.'

In the case of Charlotte Brontë, her first, and, still, classical
biographer, Mrs. Gaskell, carried through, now fifty-seven years ago,
with great literary skill, and also with historical exactitude, the
study of her parentage and youth; of her experiences in England as a
governess; of her family trials and losses; of the sudden development of
her talent, or rather, of her genius as a writer, that, at one bound,
after the publication of her first novel, made her famous throughout
England; and soon famous throughout Europe: and that proved her (since
Charlotte has been 'dead'--as people use the phrase--more than half a
century, and since her books are still living spirits, we may be allowed
to affirm this) one of the immortals.