New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-10-10
vIC7OR HUGOS HOME ~ EXILE.
From The Manchester Examiner.

Manchester EJOntpcT
n the visitor to Guernsey wants to see the island
in hurry. he take his seat in one of the public
cars But tie best method Is to walk, with no
other membranes than stout stuck. Victor
lingo saws that for purposes of poetic inspiration
walk in the early morning is AZ good rs one IN the
evening, and while the traveller climbs the antique
Rue DIES Comets and part of another hill appropr-
ately called Hauteville, he may mediate upon the
poets words until he arrives opposite the potts
house in the middle of the street last named the
first idea of stranger might be that the great
mansion is either barrack or a workhouse but
he will soon recollect that neither the nor the
other would look SO terrficallv gloomy and will
probably come to the conc fusion. without assist
ance that this fortress must be the abode OF genius
So it u.s. or rather was for the great man lives in
Paris now and his ssteT-in-law. Madame Chenay,
and the servants are the only occupants of the
place except for a few months during the summer
when NJ. Hugo and his grandchildren, With their
mother and few friends, come over for n holiday
But though always gloomy outside. the house was
once full of sweetness and light. when Madame
Hugo held sort of little court at which half the
genius in France periodically did homage; when
the qrand frceur, Alexandra Dumas, pre- used to
meet the sedate Vacquerie; when Lockroy as
cussed politics with Louis Blame when the smok-
inp room rang with denunrations of " &c mcnS0nge
All eat PEmpire" which would have made the
NapOeonc ears Jingle when to be a prosc'd was
TO have the enres to Hautevie House, before death
had struck down every of the family except the
prandsire and The two children who are the sole
heritOrs of his name !,
words of another poet. All are vanished now and
fed some married. some are dead =; ana me
great house is gwen 1P 10 sIeGe ana ov TIS
is welcome to go through it for the asking, and to
visit such of the as are not shut mp altogether
or used by the members of the household. Every
part of the place bears the impress of the mind
which created Hermann" and Ruy Bias" fou
feel the presence of the very spirit OF rOnaiilclsm
in the sombre magnihcence of the great drawing
room i'm the gloom of the " oak gallery" hed with
artistic treasures of extreme rarity ana value, I'D
the dining room with its walls covered WIN Dulch
tiles and its great canopied chair or rather throne,
viii. stands at one end of the table. ana across
which is a stout iron cham intended to prevent any
one sitting there except the gnost of the ancestor
of all the HugOs who is supposed sometimes 10 pre-
side at dinner
a severe taste but all are eminently CHARACTERISTIC
of the owner and like Hoods " Haunted House..
the man is full Of sense of mystery and OF awe
If the owner is not there you may be permitted 10
90 into his private apartments. one oil which. inc
sIeeping-r room is not much better furnished than
a cell in Newgatc or "a wOrkhonsc dormltory, the
simple tastes of the occupant being quite satisfied
with a hard pallet to lie upon and such bedroom
furniture as is absolutely necessary. .
The other is low room opening out on the broad
leads at the top of the house. and to literary men
il is one of the most interesting spots in the world
Here a great part of Les Miserablcs' written.
Here were indicted Les ChatlIenis" ana ,ha
Man of December" Here. too, were written.
wholly or in part. Les Contemplatons," y La
Legende DIES s,Gces eS treze and
other works. some Of which have yet TO be pub
lishcd and which, with all their faults OF eXtrava
manner anu wv
mere afiectation have gained for their author the
foremost place among the literati OF his time.
II e room is little more tbs n garret. BOOKS are
piled up anyhow against TIE walls, ana lew pen
and1,nk sketches by NJ. Hugo himself, one repre-
sent,ng dead smuggler hanging in chains from
pibbet ~ described in EHOmmc Qui Kit" are 'he
sole decorative features of the place.
From the leads outside which form promenade
ali round the honse. the view is magnificent 80,
low on the left il the town of ISL Peter Fort ana
The harbOr alive in summer withyachts and sailing
boats. Far away are the CasQuets and Alderney;
and nearer the islands of Herm, Jethon, and Sark
with. behind them, if the day is sufficiently clear
10 allow il to be seen, the coast OF France and the
eve may follow the horizon down to Jersey. having
by the time the view Ii Intercepted swept over
range of more than hundred miles