New-York tribune., 1883-06-17
JUDITH GAUTIER.
rHE poET-YovELlsT OF THE ORIENT.


IN sneak of Judith Gautier. after speaking Of
Chatrian. is like leaving an odiashloned
garden filed with thyme and hollyhocks and sweet
with psnsies and pinks and glllyfowers, to enter
conservatory, rich in palms and rare exotics and
heavy with the drowsy perfume OF magnolias ann
Nile lilies. dare not myself describe her, but |
borrow Frederic Bazin's words: "a princess, a
Queen of the Orient. with the oval face of the
moon, HaGz would say with the eyes of the lotus.
Bhartrihari would say; with brow Of polished
Jasper, Li-Tai-p6 would say ;-such she appears 10
u.s. in all the mysterious splendor of antique Orl-
entail beauty, with her exquisite pallOr, the calm
royalty Of her features, and the strange sweetness
Of her eyes,"
He is enthusiastic. but il would be impossible not
to be; sue is not merely modern rhymer but
another Sappho. tuning her Tyre on the yellow
sands and singing the white moon beams OF the
opal skies The daughter of Theophie Gautier, she
has not only Inherited her fathers rare talent but
added to it the wonderful grace and beauty OF her
own. Gounod says "There are three great priest
hoods: that of the Good that of the True, that OF
tho Beautiful saints thinkers artists ere the three
distinctive forms of this substantial unity winch is
the IDEAL" Madame Gauter is the prestess OF TINS
soul lworsbp, and poet IN so true anu eAaltou
way that her very heart-beats seem response 10
the rhythm of an all surrounding Poetry. She
writes however, culy in prose-but sucn prose
Many authors have chosen for their themes tunes
and deeds remote from the quiet. practical life OF
70 day. But Madame Gautier says: Z" The Orient
remains STILL with Persia, India the splendOrs of
Ramayana and the sweet words Of Buddha, HIM
who thinks -" and these she has conquered for her
self The entire East is bors. Her works are all
Chinese or Persian. The Imperial Dragon Is II
story of royal Chinese life. The Usurper" is an
episode in japanese history. "Iskender" IL
purely Persian poem. ana the Book OF jasper"
dedicated to the great Chinese poet Tin-Tun-LnG.
is collection of unique little poems in prose, after
the manner of Henri Heine, dainty and beautiful
as Chinese embroderies in gay silks on creamy
Grape There is about them the sweetness and
charm OF pink peach blossoms or the pale leaves OF
willow trees, which she sings.
All that Madame GautieI writes is touching and
tender and though there is word of sorrow in it,
sadness emanates from every line like perfume from
a flower. Her poems are. everything, tiower-like,
exotic and they have the fragile delicacy of rare,
white blooms. Her oyalfaced almond eyed hero
ines with sweet names of Daughter of Sunlight,
or Fcwsr Of Blooming Rcefelds, and her heroes
with cleaning armor of bronze. move 10 their flow
ing robes of ard azure satns OF gorgeous Silks
over the jasper floors of imperial palaces among
curying pillars of malachite and amethyst, and
golden statues OF writhing dragons or Hundred
the uOtous richness of color, that they are dazzling
and bewildering but nothing but such scenes could
serve as backgrounds to the exalted deeds of her
people. Her heroes are heroes indeed mighty III
courage and yalOr each like Sir Galahad whose
Strength was as the strength of ten,
Because his heart was pure
She is a dweer on Olympus and everything she
writes is ssionate. ennoblins, high above the
peitness OF everyday lifs and broad as the Tree
breath of mountain winds in the northern land of
the Sagas Her work is full OF poetry-iti is all
poetry; and by that do not mean only the songs
or poet-thoughts which heck its continuous flow like
scattered rose petals on a running stream, but an
all pervadng breadth of poetry, which is found in
everv ne an elevation of soul and thought, almost
mystic in its intense deality, and strong and pure
as the epcs of the Greeks.
Que of the great beauties OF Madame GautieTs
novels to saraRs is their astonishing truth aud ac-
euracy of detail No one but the authOrknows
what a tour de force novel like Uarda," Hy-
patian or even Buwer's /" Last Days of Pompe'
is; and what desp study and minute research are
necessary to make IL chronolOgically correct But
Judith Gautiers studies Of life in China and Japan
are so perfect that Chinese critics for her name is
well-known to the letered OF the Celestial Empirel
cannot understand by what mysterious power OF
dyination Partisan could obtain thorough a
ture IL seems truly divIaation for Madame
Gautier has never been in China; and yet she
knows 1t so well that her descriptions of it are flaw
less could not Say absolutely hawless. for she
told me that when The Imperial Dragon" ap
peared she received letter from Chinese writer,
who informed her that the book was strictly aeon
rate and perfect in every detail. one In the
chapter in which the pOot is separated from his
friends she says he unlOcks door. when she should
have said unbolt for there are no locks in China
This error IN book of more than three hundred
pages, with all the quantness of custom and nan
ner of Chinese life so depicted that seems on
reading il transported 10 the shores of the Yellow
Sea. was very amusing to me but Madame Gautsr
is so conscientious that she going 70 have the mis-
take corrected in the next edition of the work.
She seems to think her knowledge of Chinese lit
erature the most natural thing in the world. She
has always liked the Chinese. whom she considers
among the most poetic people of modern times. and
she has always known them, for she has for years
been the spoiled cho OF the Chinese Legation and
Embassies in Paris. Her little low parlor is COM
plsteY filled with Oriental bIc-abrac and screens,
banners. lanterns Jars vases, and dragon-wreathed
mirrors, make 1T look though it had beer taken
bodily from Pekin, and dropped in her apartment
on the Avenue des Champs ElysGes.
Judith Gautier io one of tie most BEAUTIFUL
woman / have ever seem singularly beautiful;
oueenly la stature, ststuesque IN repose, aud 50
graceful in every movement, that
When she has passed, II IL like
The ceasing Of exquisite music.
Her complexion is of creamy pallOr; her eyes,
dreamy and far-looking are black with golden
beams, and so deep to be fathOmless. There is
about her the supple litbeness OF panther. and the
fascination uf tho magnificent wild beasts of Indian
jungles she is Oriental passionate; and her
genius is Oriental. passionate. +, as child she
was not like other children; instead of playing
with her doll she used to dress it like an Egyptian
mummy and bury il with strange rites and weird
lamentations. One day, when she twelve years