The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-06-09
GEORG n SAND.


the camp Of BOulOgne, parted with her husband
for the slke II taking advantage Of the comforts
which Paris provided t. woman about to be
confined. The child she brought into the world
was gir whom fate destined to play. In tho
history Of her century, almost az prominent a
part by the extent OF her genius as by the eccen-
trcltv Of her temperament.
| Llcuten mt DUNN, besides being o gallant on
Ger Of the then glorious army. had royal blood
in MS veins, although that blood W.. not quite
| pure. His full name was Dupn d, Francueil
| He was the son Of the General Receiver Of that
| name, who married tho widow Of the Comte de
| Horn. The lady was an illegItimate daughter
Of Maurice de SAKE, who, In his turn, was the IL
legitimate son Of August IL, King OF Poland, by
Aurora Knniesmark. II Is after that great
grandmother Of hers that the little Nile. Dupin
received the name Of Aurore.
By her maternal lineage tho child was OF a
much less distinguished extraction, and we
should probably nave known but little Of the
antecedents of her parents had she not thought
It nt, when grown up, to write the history Of her
| life. In the sixth volume Of this unneces-
sary and most unsatisfactory work, George
| Sand tolls us that "this accident OF being born
| happened to me In Paris on the 9th Messdor year
| XII. 9th July, 1900, just a month after my
parents had concluded tho irrevocabe union
| with each other" This would have been quite
| enough to say OF ones own origin, but George
Sand goes further, and tells us about her mother
that " from her tenderest age the force OF cir
cumstances exposed her to tho most frightfuI
hazards"
| -Four years after his marriage Dupin fell
from bis horse and was killed, leaving his
wife and child without any means except
those which his mother, tho old Mime.
Dupin, could be expected TO supply. This
circumstance placed the little Aurore upon
trial which Is seld ON gone through without
leaving dee i'm preston pom the whole of a hui
man beings life. The moment the father was
dead.the m other and the grandm OF her.who could
not endure each other, inaugurated III ut for the
possession Of the little glrl. The grandmother
was a strange mixture of the aristocrstic pre-
tensions Of her birth with tho ultra liberal ideas
| OF the eighteenth century. Wealthy, refined, Of
| excellent connections In society, she could not
stand her sypsy-like dauRhter-in-law. and as the
latter hid no money whatever, she bad to Yield
to the dictaton of the old lady, aud the little
Aurore taken to the Chateau de Nohant,
the old seat OF Dupins family In the Berri.
| 1t Is to the early I'M pressions produced by the
SURROUNDINGS Of this ancient family seat, and by
| the old folk lore OF that quaint province, that
10 due the extraof binary developm ent of the
imaginative faculties OF the future romancer.
| To judge from George Sands confessions, her
| early sympathies were with her mother,
not with her Grandmother. The old lady
was too proud, too still, too dogmatic
for the child but In the course Of years her
feelings changed. Nine. Dupin, imbued with
| Voltaranism to the back bone. gave the little
girl all the freedom she could possibly crave for
| The least desire OF the child was law at Nonaut
Dressed Ia boys clothes, she was all day long on
| horseback, with no other chaperon than a peas
| ant groom about as old as herself. 1t IL to the
| recoliections OF these years that We owe all her
| delightful pastoral stories like " FRANCOIS lie
ChsmDi," LA Petite fadette," and La Mare
| su Disbe."
| As the girl grew older and the question OF ed
ucation began to press itself, sue was placed for
| three years at the convent of the English Au-
gustines, Rue des FosseS-St.- Victor, an insttu
| tion which laid In her the foundation OF that
| mixture Of scepticism and mysticism, for
which she became sfterward distinguished. At
the time of her frst communion, we see her
Frustrated on the tiles OF the convent chapel
door absorbed in the reading OF tue Gospel, and
on the point OF becoming a nun while about a
year later We see her organizing private theatri-
| Gals In the same convent for the benefit Of the
| Sisters, most OF whom made their list acQu.int-
| ance with Moliere through the little Aurore
| Dupin.
The girhood OF George Sand Is a romance OF
the most thrilling psvch ologic Il interest There
| Is everything In IT, from the iliegtimate birth to
the attempt to commit suicide by throwing her
self over a precpce while riding on horseback.
In the history OF her life she tells us good deal
OF IL, yet much less than We could expect, for
at the conclusion of seven volumes we
ind her stll playing with a doll. Her
chief weakness as writer was that Of phloso-
phizing, while nature had made her poet and
a narrator The whole Of the ten volumes OF
these memoirs are full Of dissertations concern
In tue law Of inheritance OF parental peculiar
tiles. That she inherited u great many Of these
| peculiarties both from her father and her
mother cannot be DOUBTED. But the regrettable
fact Is that at the present hour, when the biog-
rdphy OF tue great novelist is to be written, we
find IN her memoirs but very scanty material
concerning that lost interesting time Of her life
the line neu she was no longer the little Aurore
Dupin, but the famous George sand Emile de
Girardin, that celebrated Paris combination Of
| L. I. Barnum and j. G.. Bennett (seniorl, has
probably never made a greater mistake than
when he paid an exorbitant price for these
memoirs, to be run through the columns OF La
Prose-. He expected, as the public OF France
did, that George sand would give a record OF
the whole OF her life and OF all Of her love ad-
ventures. Instead Of that, she furnished ten
volumes Of philosophical and psychological
dissertations, interviewer here and there with
sad revelations concerning her parents.
When old Nine. Dupin died, the little Aurore
became the heiress to the whole Of her property,
including the Chateau de Nohant. In which she
subsequently, wrote the greater portion Of heT
works. There was a clause Ia the Will which
forbade the mother TO exercise any influence on
the further education OF the girl. This com
mand " the old ady's vas, however, incom patti
BILE with the law Of the country, and Nine. Du
pin easily obtained the custody OF her child
From that day began for the young girl the SO
verest trial OF her life. Profoundly Illuminated
by the attitude Of her mother-in-law, and re.
seuting the affection which the girl showed u
the old lady, the mother began now TO torture
her daughter in every way that an EN- bittcreC
heart aud awcked head could suggest. II woul,
seem that the position Of the girl became 81
unbeatable that after several attempts at eyad
ing this miserable subsection, she threw hersel
into the arms OF tue first man who could IL &
rate her by leading her to the altar. That maj
was NJ. Dudeyant, inegitimate son OF Baro
Dudevant, a distinguished Colonel Of the Firs
Emplre,