The morning call., 1894-07-29
AN ODD PRINCE.
He Owned Victor Hugo's
Partisan Home.
1T HAS BEEN DISPOSED OF.
Soon 1t Will Be DemoliShed-A
Sketch of the Late Owner
and His Family.
1T HAS BEEN DISPOSED OF.

years of his life, has been sold to a Jewish
banker. Soon the house will bedestr0yed,
and in its place will be constructed a build
ing of more profitable character. Thus
disappeared the home Of Lamartine and
thus. to increase the Baroness de Rotbs-
child's garden, the residence OF Balzac
was destroyed. When Victor Hugo took
up his residence in the Avenue Victor
Hugo, his son-in-law, Nj. LOckroy, tried to
buy the property. but refused when be
found the price was $40. 900.
Because Victor Hugo had chosen it for
his abode the value rapidly increased, and
when the family decided to pay the $4,000
demanded they found that S15O.OOO would
be required as the amount of purchase
money. The poet dying in the house. it
was considered sacred by the owner and
valued accordingly. The executors of the
Hugo estate have. therefore, bought a
house in the same avenue, in which they
reproduced as faithfully as possible the
drawing room, bedrooms and library of the
poets home.
Yesterday. wishing to see the walls Oh
that historic building, made pilgrimage
to the house and vividly recalled the year
1881, when first met the poet.
Then it was that Hugo. although in his
eighlieth year, every evening surrounded
himself with friends. One evening each
week was devoted to politics. Then we
talked with Gambetta, Louis Blanc, Jules
Simon, Emile de Girardln; then there were
the international days with the Prince,
now King of ROumania, Parnell. Castelar,,
General Skobeleff. Bought. Lord Gran
VILE, and the literary days with VacQuerie,
mi A Alnhnnca nandat
| Houssaye, etc.
Victor Hugo's bedroom and sanctum
sanctorum were iu the second story. The
| latter during his lifetime was closed to all
but himself. His friends knew only that
sometimes the floor was piled with mounds
of journals, pamphlets and papers of all
kinds. Letters received from all parts of
the world were always carried to this
! room. There he worked every morning
until the noon breakfast, but 10 one inter
fered if he made no sign of life before
3 or o'clock in the afternoon, AS the
poet composed days before he committed
his thoughts to paper, the mornings were
spent in state OF Indifference to all about
him-he looked without seeing When
writing he always stood, and for this rea-
son in bedroom and study were very high
tables provided during his lifetime with
an abundant supply of Holland paper, the
gift of an admlrIDg friend. LII a thought
came TO him in the night he arose, anG Ia
darkness (iOr the time occupied in lighting
a candle might have been sufficient to lose
the tn ougnO fixed the idea on paper. His
manuscripts were seldom corrected. but
his handwriting showed great variation in
twenty years. There were several thou
sand manuscripts in the seel safe near the
poets deathbed. OF these all that were
written before his exile were in microscop-
ical characters; the others in a bolder
style.
Victor Hugos bedroom had a ceiling of
| tapestry representing landscapes, and
walls and windows were hung with bril-
liant red silk damask. The bedstead, in
the style of the sixteenth century, had
| twisted columns supporting a superb
canopy, but the poet used neither bolster
nor pillows.
Downstairs a glass-covere1 balcony ex-
tends the length of the house. and this
served as summer parlor or smoking
room. Here the smokers were driven, for
Hugo never smoked. At the extremity of
this balcony was bust of the poet by
David dangers, dated 1874. This bust
represents Hugo in all his manhood's
splendOr. His heavy hair is thrown back
from his broad forehead, and his lips
above the beardless chin have a singular
| expression of power. 1t is the head
not of thinker but of victorious ath-
lete. Even in this, however, one fOresees
the serenity that descended with years
upon this grand face.
| A yestlbule opens into the hall of the
house and here is a door. Opposite the
entrance are double glass doors leading
! into a vestibule richer than the first. Here
! is the staircase and the door opening in to
the grand salon. This room has many
times been described. for here was the
| furniture used by the poet in his previous
home, Rue de Clichy In the golden bamboo
| chairs have sat the celebrities of the last
| half century. The greatest glory OF men
| of this century, in the eyes of the French,
| is 10 have been contemDOrary with Victor
| Hugo.
| Separated from the salon by siken por-
| there's was smaller salon, the jewel of tn g
! house. The curtains were of Chinese en-
| brodered silk, the ceiling of Gobelin tapes
| try and the furniture upholstered with fig
| ured and gilded leather OF the rarest
beauty. Next to this was the dining room.
| Dark-green velvet hangings formed a
| background for pictures of the masters"
| The ceiling was green, laminated with sill
| yer, and the furniture of the richest carved
| woods.
| The eccentric owner Of the property de-
| serves especial notice. He is King of Cy-
pruS, Jerusalem and Armenia, and Is
! styled (by himself Prince Guy of Lusig-
nan. | had always supposed that the last
! King Guy OF Lusignan, who regned in
| Palestine, died some time in the twelfth
| century, and naturally was much sur
/ priSed when l heard that his descendant
and heir lived in the Avenue Victor Hugo
l was anxious to see a king between
whom and his throne had rolled seven
centuries, and on inquiry found that
| Princess Marie"-Guy's wife-had ap-
! pointed an afternoon for the reception of
chevaliers and ladies of honor, and that
all who wished TO pay her homage would
| be welcome. Curiosity led ne to lay
aside all ceremony and scruples, and
with the others wenG to 'pay homage" to
! the Queen of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Ar
menla. The house was next to that occu-
pied by Victor Hugo, and built in the
style of a country villa.
At the entrance door an usher announced
! the name of each guest. The Princess,
robed in black velvet. her hair floating
| throne in the recess of a Dow-window.
she condescendngly offered and then took
open for the reception. Perhaps 800 peo-
pie were present, but among them not one
French person of note, thus proving that
the French believe the Lusignan family
| became extinct years ago. could not hell
| smiling at the naivete, the innocence of our
! coDpatriots, who were represented in num-
bers and who felt highly honored TO be in
the palaces OF king. One charming g
| woman from a Southern city looked en-
| chanted as the King" copversed with her,
and L overheard some of the remarks. She
| had told him of the husband and children
left at homo in America. when the Prince