, 1863-09-05
Victor Hugo, at Home,

Victor Hugo lives now in seclu-
sion at Hauteville House Guern-
sey, surrounded by a happy do
mestic circle, which fate, so cru
ell to him otherwise, has left him
as palladium and consolation in
his many trials. His cherished
wife still hves-she whose love
he once awakened by his mex
pressibly tender lyrics; his daugh-
ter, generous and worthy of her
father, still is the staff and stay of
his age. With pride he looks
upon his two sons, Charles and
Francis, one of whom, as an in
spired translator of Shakespeare,
has won already fame and dis
tinction. He still loves children
as of old. Every Wednesday he
gives dinner party to fifteen lit
tie boys and girls, selected among
the poorest of the island. lie
takes pleasure in attending him
self to their little wants during
the meal. Thus as he says in
one of his letters, he tries to make
equality and fraternity under
stood, if only in his immediate
neighborhood." Some other
French exiles who live on the ISL
and often visit him : they have
become members of his family.
Now and then an old friend will
come from France to press his
hand and to cheer him in his soil
tude.
The coup d'etat ruined Victor
Hugo's fortune he was scarcely
able to save some debris of his
former wealth, and only the
greatest efforts enabled him to
maintain himself in the foreign
country. Only the four hundred
thousand francs he received for
his recent book, "Les MlSerableS, %
made him a rich man again, al
though as he deeply regrets, not
rich enough to enable him to
crafty his charitable and benevo-
lent inclinatiOns to their full ex-
tent. The purchase of Hauteville
House has procured him the in
violable rights of an English citi-
zen. His house is his castle, and
the Emperor Nopoleon would be
unable now to drive him from
Guernsey, as he before caused
his expulsion first from Belgium,
next from Jersey. The exile of
'Napoleon the Little" has thus
done to secure himself against
fourth place of Punishment, and
he has at least the consolation of
living now in the midst of a peo-
pie half French, and in full view
of his ardently beloved country.
Victor Hugo has dogs, birds,
flowers. He always loved them;
in the solitude of his banishment
he doubly loves them. Soon he
will add to them a carriage and a
horse to drive through the green
meadows of the island through
the garden like luxuriance of the
fields, and along the shores of
the roaring waves; for our poet
is growing old, and the walks of
the seashore, which used to form
the delight of his heart, cannot
be as far extended as he would |
like. And yet he is hale and
hearty, and full Of elastic vitality.
81 rise early" he wrote us late
ly, work the whole day and 90
early to bed. / do not smoke,
but | eat roast beef like an En-
glishman, and drink occasionally |
a little beer" which he adds
playfully, " does not prevent the
ESpana, an ultramontaine journal
of Madrid, to assert that there is
no Victor Hugo in existence, and
that the true name of the author
of Les MaSera5leS is Satan"
In favorable weather he walks
in his beautiful gardens, and his
fauteu2 there, is a fiat rock with
a charming view of the sea. Let
us add, also, that Hugo loves the
worthy, industrious little people
in whose midst he lives, and that
his affection is very generally and
ardently reciprOcated. The in
habitants of Guernsey, without
exception, honor and love the
great French exile, who has been
among them now over seven
years.-ET.
THE area of the new State of
Western Virginia is twenty-three