New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-04-15
4 NOTELIST AT COURT.
OCTAVE FEtyILIETs LETTERS TO HIS
WIFE-THE CENSOR WOULD HAVE
FOUND THEM HARMLESS.
Paris. March %.

FOUND THEM HARMLESS.
Paris, March %.
have ALWAYS felt that a man or woman of great
mind could not abide among courtiers at a court
without getting like one caught In quicKshno'
Swift who knew something OF Windsor ana " hite-
hall in the time OF Queen Anne. expressed the Same
Idea when he described the Liliputians tying down
CULVER with packthreads. Racine shivered shriV-
elled I'd and died because Louis XIV showed ne
was tired OF him. He could endure the severe disci-
pline of Port Royal in his early days; but In the
mature period OF his life he could not bear cola
look from a king who had been his patron.
still more remarkable instance of the willing IN
nuence OF q court on a fine mind Is given III the
letters just published OF Octave Feuillet to his WIFE,
They were written from the Chateau OF Compiegne'
where he was often a favored guest OF the late
En,peror OF the French and OF the Empress
Eugene and from the Chateau OF Fontainepieau
after he was appointed TO the post OF librarian
there Octave Feuillet had high and well-merited
reputaton I'm the sixties. He was. as novelist, the
paInter OF a society that has disappeared. HIS
hcroines were beauties in crlnoines, who drove
daily round the ponds In the Bots and sauted as
acGuaintances the Imperial pair as they took their
aIrngs there I'm an open carriage and four escorted
bv generals and preceded by outriders. Inc! "ere
rcgiousIy irreigious. and were always SHINING ana
thinking they rcpented NJ dc Camors. the hero OF
a novel bearing his name. a De Morny. poetized
and embelllshed. but still well observed ana sood
sample OF what best accorded with the society OF
the second Empire. Octave Feulet was always
graceful and was often powerful, and was IL oeliS
Innossible for him 10 write with frankness. always
suggestive There was far more in his words tnan
mo, the ear Nor was his moral nature low.
He showed he could be disnterested by throw
ing up when the Empire was swept away,
tho ensy and lucrative post OF Librarian at the
Fontainebleau Palace.
The publication OF his letters 10 his wire from
that palace and from Compegne belittles him wo-
fully They embrace period from lSS2 when ms
favor az a novelist was in the ascendant In the
court circle 10 1868 More to come. The style
s nleasng and there IS often a light, playful man
ner But the sentiment IS serve and there IL no
such thing 4 thought. To think one must De IN
fresher air than that OF court. which In the
nature Of thingE IS relaxing and shut In. Conven-
t,onailties and nctons reign the sovereigns being
held down b. them Jove was by the Fates In
reading Octave FeuIlets letters 10 his wife that
massage occurs 70 mo " La Bruyere In which he
saws tho supreme felicity % the courtier Is TO be
able 10 contemplate the face OF the sovereign. II
also occurs 10 mo that perhaps he was AFRAID MS
letters would be- intercepted in the postohice. and
took care In prasing remain In the conventional
diapason and TO avoid showing that he had insight
into character The Cabinet Nolr. as the room was
called IN which letters intercepted. was SIN
guIarly active department OF the postofhce under
the Empire. and ia not vet / am sorry 10 say en-
TREY extinct. Well II Octave Feuiiets letters
were opened there and copied. and copies sent to
their Imperial ma jesties they would have liked him
all the better he fell completely into the pre-
vaung moods Of their court. and so constantly
he,rays the happiness he feels al being able to oask
in the light Of the soyereigns countenance.
I never before realized completely as in read
Inc these letters how completely the Empire is
Thing Of tho past. The sentiment which permeates
them Is entirely foreign to that OF the present gen
erotlon The following Is communicated as an inn
portant biz OF news TO Nine. octave Feuiet
They insisted me taking part In the charade
which was to deal with the flower garden one lady
was "A bueiack another. n rose; another poppy
and was to be the gardener. | donned my absurd
costume and made up we'll as | could my head
with powder 10 look like a white-haired old man.
NV opera hat was set well on II and garanded with
flowers The Emperor did laugh so on seeing me.
Again. THE Emperor is so kind. He is almost
too kind: not to me- but TO many others. FOR my
part am personally and truly attached to him.
one might think he feels that am. lie looks often
AT me and do YOU know that l often feel an
affectlonate something In his gaze In speaking OF
the charade the novelist says: our frst tableau
was triumphantly successful The Emperor laughed
so heartily at the sight OF my glded helmet. which
at the last moment was made to serve instead OF
the hat"
The verb TO laugh Is given in every mood ana
tense I'm connection with the Emperor But the
writer does not make clear what there was TO pro-
woke laughter 1t may be that the surrounding CIR
cu,nstances were fiat that any small incident or
n gay kind tIckled the Imperial parsonage nightly
lie and NJ. Feuillet talked OF a new law 10 extend
the liberty OF the press. OF which Napoleon III
owned himself afraid. lie instanced Rocheforts
"Ianterne" as n reason for his fears. Every one.
| said reads La Lanterne." but every one
desplses it. DO you say so,' he returned. laugh
Ing"
The accounts of what goes on at the palace are
ihicky set with adverbs The poorest little tribes are
recorded. THE Empress was walking In the forest
and sat down. She pointed 10 a rock on the other
side OF the path | understood her gesture and went
and sat on IL respectfully. Imagine Il master
OF style thus using the adNerO.
In one OF his letters he speaks or Eugene wanting
to see a painting that had been recently hung In Il
dark corridor 'She impatently called for a lamp.
though the sun was at its zenith. IL was brought,
and ! held II while the Empress inspected the
picture" The horoscope he draws OF her Is thus
worded: This sweet and brave Majesty Will leave
in the history OF the world her eternal trace. her
charm. her grace, her perfume. Is II not time TO
leave off quoting? r. -