Charlotte Bronte in Brussels

In Villette then, Miss Bronte pictures Lucy Snowe's arrival  in Brussels much as it occurred to herself on her second visit. Now let us follow her, step by step " for the first time " to her predestined home. " Having left behind us the miry Chaussee "hat is to say, the Chaussec de Gand " the diligence rattled over the pavement, passed through the Porte de Flandre, and stopped at the bureau. Hence Dr. John Bretton courteously conducted Miss Snowe along the boulevards, on foot, through darkness, fog, and rain, past the Alice Verte " at that time " almost a civic pleasaunce, referred to in The Professor^ but now an arid waste of sand and stone, a mere eastern quay to the Canal de Willebroeck " until by the Rue Ducale or the Rue de la Loi the north-east gate of the Park was reached, and the park " crossed " to an opening into the Rue Royale opposite the Montagne du Pare, which descends to the Lower Town. Here her guide left her, after having instructed her how to reach a decent inn by descending the Belliard steps.It has been supposed that this would in reality have been too long a walk; but in the author's eyes it must have been a mere ramble, for in The Professor the newly affianced Crims worth and Frances Henri celebrate their engagement by making *' a tour of the city by the Boulevards " " a jaunt of twice the distance which tired the lady but *'a little." Lucy's progress from this point to the Pensionnat has created some difficulty in readers' minds, yet it is clear enough. Misunderstanding her instructions, she missed the Belliard steps ' to the Rue d'Isabelle, wherein, at its junction with the Rue des Douze Apotres and the Rue de la Chancellerie was supposed to stand the inn of ' The opening in the Rue Royale would not reveal to the passer-by, particularly at night-time, the existence of the Belliard steps, because the head of the stairway is masked by the pedestal of the General's statue. forgottenbooks