Morning journal and courier., 1883-05-19
sandeau and George Sand.
From the London Times.1

M Jules Sandeau was not genius of the first order but he won renown in days when there were intellectual giants ranging over every field of French literature, and, having survived his early comrades, except M. Victor Hugo, the greatest of them all, he found himself in his later years the acknowledged superior of most fiction writers of the new l raea Hs is famous. also. from hasing been the sponsor 51a itegTs of Amantine Aurore Dudevant, better known as George Sand, though it was not he who taught that gifted woman to write, but she, on the contrary, who first put pen into his hands when he was but 20 years old and she 27. Sandeau's in- huence over the lady who appropriated half his name after taking his whole heart seems, while it lasted, to have been great, by her own confession. She says in her Memoirs that she could never attach herself to men who did not hold sway over her reason, and this is shown by the very distinguished, if somewhat mixed, list of persons whom she chose, turn by turn, to be her companions or mentors-Alfred de Musset, Frederic Chopin, the composer; Michel de Bourges, Robert de Lamennais, and Pierre Leroux. Had French law permitted divorce, Mime. Dudevant would probably have married Jules Sandeau when she separated from her husband, and it is doubtful whether he would have been any the happier for this arrangement. His mind was not of strength to master hers long, and it may be that he was too fond of her, for he grieved sincerely when he discovered that constancy was not her leading virtue.
 Soon after she had parted from him a newspaper published that the pair had quar- reled, upon which George Sand wrote with all the bravery of Frenchwoman to say that nobody who knew Sandeau could quarrel with Ca being so gentle;" and to the end of her life she took sisterly interest in his career, sending him long letters whenever he published new book, and reviewing his work with care at once affectionate and shrewd. It is to be hoped these letters will be published, for some of them embody val uable criticisms. There was one in particu lar which Sandeau delighted to show te his friends; it was written in 1859, soon after he had been received into the French Acade- my, and when good-natured people were saying that this learned body had elected him merely out of compliment to his Egeria. George Sand declared in her letter that she saw no reason why she should not sit in the Academy, too, sbut as to your claims," she added, ''who that has read your tales will dis. pute them? You sit as the representative ot no new school but of @ school to which be- long all authors who write without preten. sion, simply and powerfully, books which are taken up with curiosity, read with interest, and laid down with regret" All this was true. Sandeau was no great weaver of plots or word painter, but he was charming re- contour. At the time when he began to write publishers may have told him that there was no 'demand'' for the kind of novel which he supplied, but though the public may not cry out for such works, it is always ready to receive them, and Sandesu achieved a rapid popularity even with rivals like Hugo, Alex andre Dumas, Balzac, Charles de Bernard, Frederic Soulie and Eugene Sue competing with him for public favor.
 The art which Jules Sandeau cultivated WAS one much more difficult of imitation, though "A IL -~f0 Ila was a classic-not that he claimed this title who made his mothers of families decorous, his priests men of proper life, his soldiers honorable, and his judges honest; and yet his characters were no more alike than living men are alike, because they may wear the same costume or uniform. He could define ate oddities with 8 light touch, and as he re- jected improbabilities from his stories, he was obliged to draw very thoughtfully on his imagination for novel situations. Always a slow worker, he liked to consult popular opinion about his writings before they were consigned to the publisher, and to do this he had recourse to the odd device of preparing two or three copies of his manuscripts and leaving them in public places with his name and address on them. It speaks well for the literary taste of the French people that the manuscripts were almost always read by the finders and in this way Sandeau collected some pretty compliments. But he also met
 
 scrupulous person who had found one of his manuscripts sent it to publisher as a pro. duction of his own; but the publisher re- fused it as being poor work. Sandeau somehow came to hear of this, and, mild as he was in temper, he could not stomach the affront. He sent back the manuscript to the publisher ins ssiis own name, and of course it was accepteS this time. Upon this he wrote bitter letter, but the publisher explained that the first manuscript had been put into the hands of 8 reader, whereas the second had been perused, with the utmost admira- ton, , by himself ''This makes the matter worse" ]" said poor Sandeau; the reader may be of the same opinion still, and he was SC much affected that he revised the book all through before he would let it be printed This may serve to show what conscientious writer he was and why his books are not l likely to go out of fashion Easy as the! are to read, they were carefully prepared ir every line, and the author grudged no labol ! in correcting ssg faults that might be point ed out in them, no matter by whom.