1 July, Friday – Weather: 18 to 20 to 13 C, clouded, rain
around 4 pm, stormy wind
After the heat of
June the month of July brought nicer weather: lower temperatures and a welcome
amount of rain on a number of days. It started poorly though, with a severe
storm.
2 July, Saturday – W: 11 to 20 C, clouded, rain around 7.25 am,
strong wind
3 July, Sunday – W: 13 to 20 C, low clouds, grey sky
4 July, Monday – W: 12 to 24 C, clouded morning, quite bright
afternoon
The Journal de Bruxelles had news again
about Pierre-Jean-Joseph Parent (← 13 June). A second pamphlet he had written in
June about the, in his view, show trial of March, was quickly seized by the
police, but the text, posted at his house at Rue de la Madeleine 74, drew
crowds of interested people. Now he had issued a third pamphlet, which was
quickly confiscated again. This time Parent (not related to Zoë Parent) had gone too far,
in insulting judges and other high “fonctionnaires public.” Not long afterwards
he was sentenced to two years in prison.
The same newspaper
wrote about a ‘petition of a great number of noble habitants of the
manufacturing districts of the north and northeast of Yorkshire, complaining
about the distress of the people.
5 July, Tuesday – W: 17 to 22 to 14 C, pretty clouded, rain
between 12 and 2 pm, a fine rainbow visible around 8.15 pm in the southeast
L’Indépendant gave figures for June of travelers from London to Ostend. On 39
journeys 620 people had been brought to Belgium. The number of passengers had
sharply increased, due to lower tariffs, caused by the fact that the General
Steam Navigation Company now had to compete with a Belgian company sailing
between Antwerp and London. More ships had become available, and the average
number of passengers per ship had increased by more than 50%.
The newspaper also
had an advertisement for a cigar and tea shop. Maybe Heger bought his cigars
there, at least sometimes. Twelve days later there was an ad for another cigar
shop, at the Rue de l’Infirmerie. There will surely have been more shops where
one could buy cigars.
Below it a dentist
ad can be seen. Dentists often
advertised. There was one very close to the statue of Belliard too.
6 July, Wednesday – W: 11 to 20 C, partly clouded, rain in early
afternoon
The King arrives
back in Belgium, after cutting short his annual visit to Queen Victoria because
of national unrest over sharply increased French import tariffs. Especially
Flanders’ linen industry would be hard hit by these measures, announced at the
end of June.
L’Indépendant reported that in the Uccle district three new cemeteries had been established,
in Ixelles, St Job and Boitsfort. The latter is probably the one where many
years later the Hegers were buried.
7 July, Thursday – W: 11 to 21 C, sunny morning, clouded
afternoon with a little bit of rain
8 July, Friday – W: 14 to 22 C, fairly clouded
Some people in
Brussels may have awoken earlier than normal, as a very early partial solar
eclipse had been predicted. It began at 5.09 am and ended at 7.02 am in
Brussels, almost as predicted, but it was obscured by clouds and nothing could
be seen of the spectacle. At the Observatory glimpses only of the very
beginning and the very end were observed.
9 July, Saturday – W: 13 to 22 C, clouded, rain during most of
the evening
L’Indépendant had the first of two long pieces about the distress in England, the new
‘pauperism’ created by the industrialization, and how Parliament debated about
it. It featured the Irish MP Daniel O’Connell (← 15 June), who again was widely quoted in the
papers of the 12th, about the parliamentary debates. For the first
time (in this year at least) this piece was signed, albeit with only initials,
“E. R.” Earlier we had already found out that this author was Eugène Robin (1812-1848).
10 July, Sunday – W: 14 to 22 C, fairly clouded, rain at night
A ‘grand concert’
was given in the Park’s kiosque, performed by the ‘Régiment des guides.’ It was
a charity concert, the entrance fee was only 30 centimes.
11 July, Monday – W: 11 to 22 C, quite sunny
12 July, Tuesday – W: 18 to 23 to 15 C, clouded, a heavy shower
between 9.35 and 10.15 am
13 July, Wednesday – W: 11 to 23 C, cumulus clouds
First results of
parliament elections in France came in. It should perhaps be remembered that
Europe was still an unstable continent. The year 1840 had been quite
revolutionary here and there, and it was only six years before 1848, the year
that shook up Europe.
14 July, Thursday – W: 15 to 24 C, cumulus clouds
For some time it
had already been known that the great actress Rachel, “l’illustre tragedienne,”
was coming to Brussels. On this day l’Indépendant announced that her first performance would
take place on the 22th of July, at the Théâtre Royal. The entrance fees varied
from 60 centimes to 7 francs 75.
15 July, Friday – W: 12 to 23 C, fairly clouded
L’Indépendant was the first to report on the tragic death of the French crown prince,
the Duc d’Orléans, on the 13th. A horse driving his carriage had gone out of control.
The prince tried to jump out, but was fatally injured when he did. It was big
news which continued to dominate in the next week or two. Next day, l’Indépendant, even expressed its worries for ‘the future of the European peace.’ On
the the 17th the Belgian king and queen would leave Brussels to go
to Paris. She was the sister of the deceased. In early June he had visited her,
spending a few days in Brussels.
16 July, Saturday – W: 9 to 22 C, very sunny
Emily Jane Brontë finished her Lettre (Madame) essay on this day
17 July, Sunday – W: 12 to 23 C, almost cloudless
The people in
Brussels were left with a good cliffhanger this day. L’Indépendant wrote about the rumour of London being in a ‘plain revolutionary
state.’ And there would not be newspapers, with the latest news, on Monday.
18 July, Monday – W: 11 to 24 C, quite clouded
This Monday,
marking the beginning of the Kermesse,
was a holiday surely for the Pensionnat too. It was of origin a medieval
religious feast, which manifested itself on this day with special church
services. The next days would just see public entertainment.
On this Monday the
renowned actress Rachel arrived in Brussels, having first arrived in Antwerp
from London earlier that day. She was to give a series of theatre performances
in Brussels.
Charlotte and Emily
could have gone to a talk in English at the Société Philharmonique by a
M. Rigaud, deputy of the London branch of the Society for Peace. He spoke about
this Society, what it stood for, and its progress in England, America and
France.
19 July, Tuesday – W: 15 to 26 C, quite clouded, rain in the
evening
The newspapers had
nothing about a revolutionary state in London. It had indeed just been a
rumour.
Among today’s Kermesse’s
events were the ‘jeu dit Ternoyen’ for men, and, elsewhere, the jeu d’oeufs for
women. The latter is probably a race, in which the participants attempted to
walk as fast as possible a certain distance while safely carrying an egg in a
spoon. Because of the Kermesse, the newspapers wrote, cafes were allowed to
stay open all night, and museums were opened for the public the whole week.
Because of the bad
weather in the evening the ‘countryside feast’ (“fête champêtre”) the Société de la Grande Harmonie intended to give at Tivoli had to be postponed.
Tivoli was outside the city walls, on the northeastern side.
L’Indépendant for once had a true headline.
After lengthy
negotiations Belgium and France had reached a treaty, counterbalancing the
effects of the French decree of 26 June on import tariffs. The tariff for
Belgian linen was lowered, and Belgium lowered the import tariff for French
wine.
20 July, Wednesday – W: 17 to 22 C, clouded with a whole lot of
rain (27 mm!), thunderstorms around 1.15, 3.15 and and 3.40 pm
The Journal de Bruxelles reported about unrest
in towns near Birmingham and Newcastle, with people shouting they would rather
be shot by soldiers than see their children die of hunger. It also said that on
Monday next a meeting was convened in Leeds for bankers, merchants and
manufacturers to discuss the disastrous industrial situation and the misery of
the country, and to appeal again to Parliament.
L’Indépendant carried an ad about a house for rent in the Rue d’Isabelle.
21 July, Thursday – W: 13 to 20 C, quite clouded, rainy evening,
rain around 11 am, between 1 and 2 pm with a short thunderstorm and more
showers in the afternoon and evening
Charlotte finished
her Lettre d’invitation à une
ecclesiastique devoir on this
day.
Belgium celebrated
King Leopold’s enthronement in 1831 on this day. A military parade had to be
cut short though because of the bad weather.
22 July, Friday – W: 16 to 22 C, wholly clouded, quite a lot
of rain at night and around noon
Franz Liszt arrived
in Brussels on this day, to give a few concerts.
Rachel gave her
first performance at the Royal Theatre, to “applaudissements frenetiques.” L’Indépendant had a lengthy review on the 25th (the day of her second
performance), as they would have of all her performances in the coming weeks,
as did the Moniteur belge. The Journal de Bruxelles on the other hand
never wrote a word about Rachel.
23 July, Saturday – W: 12 to 19 C, pretty clouded
24 July, Sunday – W: 13 to 21 C, clouded
Liszt and others
give a concert at the Temple des Augustins. Among the works performed were Beethoven’s
seventh symphony. Robert Wallace in his article about ‘Emily Brontë and music’ (Brontë Society Transactions 1982) suggests that it was one of “three
musical events so out of the ordinary that they would have impressed themselves
on Emily Brontë’s imagination whether she heard them or not.”
Wallace wrongly
states this ‘gala concert’ was held on 26 July. It was on this Sunday, the 24th,
as a review in L’Indépendant of the 26th makes clear.
Liszt seems to have
given another concert on the next day, but the newspapers on this day wrote
that the venue was still unknown. They didn’t report about it afterwards.
25 July, Monday – W: 10 to 20 C, quite clouded
26 July, Tuesday – W: 10 to 20 C, quite clouded
Emily finished her Lettre (Ma chere Maman) essay.
27 July, Wednesday – W: 9 to 20 C, clouded morning, fairly bright
afternoon and evening
“The presence of
Mlle Rachel in Brussels has attracted many strangers and replenished the
theatre’s cash register,” L’Indépendant reported. Her first performance had made 7600
francs, and due to some problems there hadn’t even been a full audience. Rachel
was the equivalent of a pop star of nowadays. The paper wrote about fans at her
hotel. Charlotte Bronte had ambiguous feelings about such a famous actress as
Rachel, yet at the same time time the
actress must also have been an inspiration for her, as she showed a woman could
be a successful independent artist.
28 July, Thursday – W: 9 to 23 C, cumulus clouds
Emily finishes her
poem ‘Had there been falsehood in my breast.’
29 July, Friday – W: 14 to 23 C, clouded, with some rain
30 July, Saturday – W: 11 to 18 C, quite some rain, in the early
morning, afternoon and evening
The birthday of
Emily Jane Brontë.
31 July, Sunday – W: 13 to 18 C, quite clouded, rain again at
various times.
Charlotte finished
her Imitation, Portrait de Pierre
l’Hermite essay.
Somewhere in July
the Wheelwright family moved to Brussels, and Frances, Sarah and Julia
Wheelwright began to attend the Heger school. Joshua Green, who wrote an
article about the Wheelwrights, wrote that Charlotte did “often spend Sundays
with the Wheelwrights, and was welcome to come whenever she inclined. Emily
they cordially disliked, and was most unsociable.”
An undated letter
from Charlotte to Ellen Nussey was probably written during this month.
Eric Ruijssenaars
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