Only a month before she wrote this essay, Monsieur Heger had presented Charlotte with a copy of his speech at the annual prizegiving at the Athénée Royal.21 In it, he had stoutly defended the importance of encouraging pupils to strive to emulate the best in everything they did; emulation was the key to self-improvement. The speech had obviously struck a chord in Charlotte’s nature as she drew on it in her essay; having left his country and gone abroad, the poor painter declared: I lacked neither courage nor fortitude, I set to work immediately; sometimes, it is true, despair overwhelmed me for
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