I am tempted, in illustration of this season of mental culture, to recur to a conversation which I had with M.Heger on the manner in which he formed his pupils' style, and to give a proof of his success, by copying a _devoir_ of Charlotte's with his remarks upon it.
He told me that one day this summer (when the Brontes had been for about four months receiving instruction from him) he read to them Victor Hugo's celebrated portrait of Mirabeau, "mais, dans ma lecon je me bornais a ce qui concerne _Mirabeau orateur_.

C'est apres l'analyse de ce morceau, considere surtout du point de vue du fond, de la disposition de ce qu'on pourrait appeler _la charpente_ qu'ont ete faits les deux portraits que je vous donne." He went on to say that he had pointed out to them the fault in Victor Hugo's style as being exaggeration in conception, and, at the same time, he had made them notice the extreme beauty of his "nuances" of expression.

They were then dismissed to choose the subject of a similar kind of portrait.

This selection M.Heger always left to them; for "it is necessary," he observed, "before sitting down to write on a subject, to have thoughts and feelings about it.

I cannot tell on what subject your heart and mind have been excited.