1 May, Sunday – Weather: 11 to 22 C, largely unclouded
At the beginning of
chapter 23 of Villette Lucy Snowe
says that “on the first of May, we had all – i.e. the twenty boarders and the
four teachers … notice to rise at five o’clock of the morning [for a] breakfast
in the country.” It could well have happened this day. A Sunday would have been
a good day for it. The weather certainly turned out to be very good for such an
excursion.
The Journal de Bruxelles wrote about a City
Council question, about whether it was true that pupils of the renowned Athenée Royale, where M. Heger
was a teacher, had been insulting people after leaving their classes (← 28 April, → 2 May).
2 May, Monday – W: 6 to 20 C, another sunny day
The City Council’s
rulers acted quickly to dispel the rumours about the Athenée pupils (← 1 May). It may well be
that these were not boys from the Athenée, as there were other schools nearby, they
said. And apart from that, nobody has complained to the préfet des études of the Athenée. They added that “many men who nowadays make
the glory of our country, had their education at the Athenée of Brussels.” It was
thus important to keep its reputation clean.
The Journal de Bruxelles reported that negotiations had started between Belgium and the United Kingdom about a postal convention, meant surely to send mail between the two countries easier.
The Journal de Bruxelles reported that negotiations had started between Belgium and the United Kingdom about a postal convention, meant surely to send mail between the two countries easier.
3 May, Tuesday – W: 7 to 16 C, a sunny day
The first
indication of a drought comes from Valenciennes, in France, just over the
border with Belgium. L’Indépendant
quotes from the Echo de la Frontière: “The continuation of the drought, in a season
when rain is so necessary, is beginning to occasion serious questions for the
farmers here.” M. Heger would by now indeed have been quite busy with watering
his garden plants.
L’Indépendant also wrote that “despite the beautiful weather which prompted many
people to go out walking, and despite the many concerts that have been given
this year, the musical ‘soiree’ given by M. Baldeneeker [a young pianist]
attracted a large crowd.”
4 May, Wednesday – W: 7 to 16 C, clouded, with a little bit of
rain at the end of the morning
On this day M.
Heger gave back to Charlotte her devoir Le
Nid (← 30 April), with his comments, the British
Queen left Antwerp for its first voyage to New York (← 20 March), and the
Belgian king and queen came back from Paris, from one of their many travels
abroad.
Belgium saw a few cases
where the extent of the matter of freedom of speech was tested. The Journal de Bruxelles on this day wrote
that two book printers had been arrested, after the newspaper had filed a
complaint against them for suggesting the Journal
endorsed a certain novel. In fact, it was Auguste Luchet’s Nom de famille, a novel that went against all the religious and
moral principles of the newspaper. In France Luchet was convicted to two years
in prison for this book. The Journal regularly
raged against it. Eventually though the printers were not brought to face
trial.
5 May, Thursday – W: 6 to 17 C, fairly clouded
On this day the first of a series of concerts was given at the Jardin
Botanique, performed by the orchestra of the Société Philharmonique, on all Thursdays until well into the autumn. The
concerts began at 18.30 hrs.
A devastating city-wide fire began in Hamburg. It would rage for three
days, aided by strong winds, and the drought. It would take until 11 May before
the first reports were published in the Brussels newspapers.
There were more reports in 1842 of fires wiping away whole towns in Europe.
Another notable example was Kazan, Russia, with another four-day burning
disaster, in early September.
And there were numerous reports about fire destroying one or more houses in
Brussels and in Belgium as a whole. The pictures show what at best could have
done against a fire – not that much. The equipment that can be seen in the
first picture (below right) resembles that of one on a firemen photograph of
some time later, the second picture.
The danger of it alone would be good reason for Madame Heger to inspect the
building at the end of the day, to check if all the stoves and candles and
fireplaces were put out.
L’Indépendant reported that “a family which already had enough to cry about
irreparairable losses,” had now, three weeks after the death of Mme la Comtesse de Bassompiere, lost one of her brothers. She was perhaps
the grandmother of Louise de Bassompiere, Charlotte and Emily’s schoolfellow.
Louise was a friend of Emily, and at some, unknown, time this year Emily gave
her a drawing she made of a fir tree. Charlotte used the surname for one of the
Villette characters.
6 May, Friday – W: 11 to 16 C, clouded, quite some rain in the morning
No newspapers today, as it was Ascension Day. So, it was also a holiday.
7 May, Saturday – W: 8 to 14 C, clouded, with quite a lot of rain in the afternoon,
combined with a very strong wind coming from the southeast
The newspapers wrote about a large Chartist demonstration in London on 2
May.
8 May, Sunday – W: 8 to 14 C, a bright day, but the stormy wind continues
Another disaster took place in Versailles on this day. The train to Paris
caught fire and about 50 people died. This news took three days to get to
Brussels.
Martha Taylor left Brussels for a
temporary journey back to England, as shown by a letter from Tom Dixon,
in Brussels, to his sister Mary, in Leeds, quoted by Joan Stevens in Letters from New Zealand, dated by her
as “late April or early May.” Tom says Mary and Martha “did not come to Church
last Sunday so I can say nothing about them except that on Wednesday last they
were all quite well. One of the young ladies will go over on the 8th
of May so you may expect a posse of letters … .” It very much suggests that the
letter was written before Sunday the 1st, some days after the
previous Sunday (24 April) and that that Wednesday referred to was 20 April.
A letter from
Charlotte to Ellen Nussey from this month has survived. The specific date is
not known, but it is quite possible that it is one of the letters Martha took
with her to Yorkshire.
9 May, Monday – W: 8 to 13 C, pretty clouded, with some afternoon rain
10 May, Tuesday – W: 5 to 15 C, quite clouded, a little bit of rain around 2.45 pm
11 May, Wednesday – W: 6 to 17 C, fairly bright
The newspapers have the first reports about the disasters in Hamburg and
Versaiiles. The news from Hamburg went back to 7 May (1300 houses destroyed
already), when the fire was still raging. Both these disasters would continue
to dominate the news for some days (as major incidents do now).
L’Indépendant had two advertisements about learning English – a book and a married
couple of teachers.
12 May, Thursday – W: 6 to 21 C, quite clouded
13 May, Friday – W: 7 to 19 C, a bit clouded
14 May, Saturday – W: 8 to 19 C, bright, but also ‘milky’ (“laiteux”)
On this day the first edition of the Illustrated
London News was published, the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper.
The first edition had pictures from burning Hamburg, and it will only have
taken two days before it could be seen and bought in Brussels.
L’Indépendant reported that the General Steam Navigation Company was going to more
than half the prices for their ships sailing between Ostend and London. Clearly
all this time passengers had paid far too much for their journey. Ten days
later The Times wrote that “The
steamers which ply between Ostend and London are preparing to enter into
vigorous competition.” It was in anticipation of the launching of an Antwerp
company, which was also going to sail between Belgium and England. (→ 12 June)
15 May, (Whit) Sunday – W: 7 to 17 C, clouded
Emily Brontë
finishes writing her first known devoir, Le
chat, a remarkable observation of cats, and one of the best pieces in world
cat literature.
16 May, Monday – W: 9 to 20 C, a sunny day
No newspapers appeared
on this day, as it was Pentecost.
17 May, Tuesday – W: 8 to 19 C, clouded morning, bright
afternoon
Emily clearly used
the long holiday weekend to write her poem ‘In the same place …’ While it is
dated 17 May it must be that she did most of the work on the previous days.
The newspapers
reported two deaths in the city. An unhappily married man had jumped from a
house, in suicide, it was said because of “des chagrins domestiques.” A woman
was reported to have died because a stone fell from the St Michael tower of the
Hotel de Ville (on Saturday), right on top of her. Another woman, “une
demoiselle” of about 20 years, hurled herself in a canal on this day, in front
of the school at the Marché-aux-Porcs. She may have been rescued in time,
as she was alive when she was brought to the Hôpital St Jean. One had to be careful though, it
seems. More people seem to have fallen in the river and the canals by accident.
And most people, including Emily and Charlotte, had never learned how to swim.
Not much later this year plans began to be developed to build a swimming pool
where people could be taught how to swim.
18 May, Wednesday – W: 8 to 19 C, quite clouded, a little bit of
rain
Brussels now also
began to raise money for the victims of the Hamburg fire. The full extent of
the disaster became known by now. Up to 100 people might have died, 2,000
buildings were completely destroyed, 2,000 partly, and more than 20,000 people
had become homeless.
19 May, Thursday – W: 9 to 23 C, pretty clouded
On this day L’Indépendant began publishing lists of persons who had died in Brussels, shortly
afterwards followed by the city’s marriages. The names, addresses and
professions given are an interesting source of information for any Brussels
street, almost. Somehow even here almost nothing happened in the Isabella
quarter. The lists are useful though to come closer to the Rue Notre-Dame-aux-Neiges
inhabitants, for instance. For an unknown reason Charlotte used this street in The Professor.
As a sad reminder
of these old days in which many children died at a young age, only the number
of them having died aged below 7 were given.
20 May, Friday – W: 10 to 18 C, quite clouded
21 May, Saturday – W: 9 to 23 C, pretty bright
22 May, Sunday – W: 9 to 19 C, fairly clouded
A “tres-beau”
meteorite was spotted at 4 am, but apart from the nightwatchman at the
Observatoire very few people will have seen it.
23 May, Monday – W: 12 to 22 C, somewhat clouded
On this and the
following day several thunderstorms were reported, in the country, but Brussels
remained dry. It was also said that the agricultural fields around the city
looked in good shape.
24 May, Tuesday – W: 11 to 24 C, quite clouded
A concert for the
benefit of the victims of the Hamburg fire was held at the Temple des Augustins
on this day.
It was also the day
of the provincial elections. All 6 elected candidates in Brussels were
liberals, but only 985 men out of 2146 had bothered to vote. Not all men had
the right to vote, but there can be no doubt that M. Heger could.
This month, and
this day again, saw a fierce debate on a new communal law, in the newspapers
and in parliament. The main debating point of the proposed law was about who
had the right to appoint mayors. For Charlotte though, and for a modern reader,
this is just dull news, which she would have skipped.
25 May, Wednesday – W: 10 to 20 C, somewhat clouded
26 May, Thursday – W: 9 to 23 C, bright morning, a bit of a clouded afternoon
27 May, Friday – W: 12 to 23 C, somewhat clouded
28 May, Saturday – W: 13 to 18, clouded, rain in the afternoon
29 May, Sunday – W: 12 to 20 C, fairly clouded, a bit of rain in the early evening
On this day the sisters could have gone to two concerts for the benefit of the victims of the Hamburg fire. One was given
in the morning at the Jardin Botanique by the orchestra of the Société
Philharmonique. The Société de la Grande Harmonie performed in the Park in the
afternoon, in the presence of the King and Queen. Together they raised 5000
francs for Hamburg.
30 May, Monday – W: 11 to 24 C, somewhat clouded
It was another Catholic holiday, the forgotten Fête-Dieu (or Fête du Saint-Sacrement). No newspapers.
In England a John Francis attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria. It took
until 3 June before the sisters could read about it in the Belgian newspapers.
31 May. Tuesday – W: 11 to 20 C, pretty clouded
Charlotte’s devoir L’Immensité de Dieu was probably composed and written in this month.
Eric Ruijssenaars
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