The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-13

point of asceticlsm. He only Quilted his bed
chamber In the early morning 10 take a cold
douche. From o o'clock until IL O'Clock In the
morning Victor HuEo's time was entirely de-
voted 10 his work. At the last-named hour
his working dey ended. Then he had a heavy
luncheon and made it q matter of dmour propre
TO show of his appetite. Nobody was allowed
to 20 to his garrett and Interrupt him upon any
excuse during working hours. Notwithstanding
this, he Invited NJ. Rochefort several times
to go and see him at work. One day when he
heard him on the stairs he asked him to come
In. The visitor opened the door of a tiny room
and stepped inside with all sorts of precautions
for fear OF trending upon the wet sheets OF
manuscript, which were lying about on the
mantelpiece, the bed and the floor. A proof of
the rapidity with which Victor Hugo worked
was that the ink on tho medium-siZed blush
paper he used was scarcely dry before a second
sheet was we'll nigh completed. He Invariably
wrote with Goose-nuill pens, which splnttcrcd
occasionally ana left blots en- route. His manu-
script was 80 spaced that each page contained
ten lines at the outside. NJ. Rochefort asked
him one morning how much he had earned
when he threw one OF his pages OF copy aside.
About a hundred francs q page" he answered.
Victor Hugo has been accused of avarice.
The truth, according to Rochefort,i is that every
day while he lived in Brussels he had Ave or
VIA kuchto u Hb thUle, "ltHous o'uhs'hh ho
own children, and Rochefort. who was living In
his family. THE most casual acquaintance
that came from Paris to shake hands with me
was invited to dinner. and l was often ashamed
at Introducing strangers to whom he showed
himself AS hospitable and thoughtful AS II he
had known them FOR years" Attic same time
the author of these volumes protests that his
admiration for the great poet never led him to
shut his eyes to his failings. They were not
very serious, indeed. and consisted almost
exclusively OF preoccupations concerning the
false judgments of public opinion and Of
old literary prejudiccs which sometimes caused
him to be unjust. When he was not in
hisicsl by personal luminosity. the Impair
TALLY. clearness, and exnctness OF his apprecia-
ton were most striking. We are told that all
his admiration was centred upon La Fontaine.
whose style impressed him to such a dcGree that
he appeared to be Jealous OF him. He was always
haunted. too. by AuCuste Barbier's "1ambes."
There are" he said. "some remarkable lines
in his work which probably he could not write
again, and which certainly nobody else
could write. Some of them might have
been penned on the bnrricades." His good
faith prompted him to be moro outspoken than
he would have been. had the pride ex-
listed which has been So often imputed to him
by those who knew nothing OF the man. Not
only did he unhesitatingly and unreservedly
bow down before any work which he pro-
claimed great and beautiful. but he loved to do
SO. On the other hand. he would never 90 back
upon his disnpproval; for instance, Rochefort
endeavore6 to get him to read Stendhal's
Rouge ct Noir." II tried to read that thing"
said Victor Hugo: how could you get further
thnn the fourth page? You understand dialect,
then ~ "Iknow II is not well written replied
Rochefort. still. In his language and actions.
tbn peraona1itr ~ Jplten S,ral In nopa tho lasa
the type which represents the passions, audaci-
ties. ambitions as we'll as the incoher-
encies and violences Of human activity. Every
young man at a given moment has been more or
less n Julien Sorel. Unless you admit that, how
can you eI plain the success of q book which has
already cnerossed two generations7 ?" Put"
rejoined Victor Hugo. obstinately. I'm not en-
crossed In French grammatical errors. Every
time l try to decipher n phrase in your favorite
hook. 1t is rs though | were having a tooth
drawn. The only works which have q chance OF
traversing centuries are those that are properly
written. Do you think II voltaire's Candilc'
were in the same style as Rouge ct Noir' we
should still read in Montesquieu lives because
he Is well written. NJ. Stendhnl can never live be-
cause he did not conceive for an instant what
writing was. Nobody has moro admiration than
! have for the almost miraculous insight of
Bnlzac. His 10 q brain Of the first order. But
1t Is only n brain; II is not a pen. Style Is the
art OF expressing every sensation BY the aid OF
words. Head Balzac again. You will very soon
notice that he is ignorant OF his language. and
almost invariably fails to convey the excellent
things he wants to say. For this reason his
hour to sink into oblivion will come much
sooner than is thought"
vi.
chapter Is devoted by Rochefort to the muir
der OF Victor Noir. a crimo which had much to
do with the final overthrow Of the Second
Empire. 1t was Rochefort himself whom
Prince Pierre Bonaparte insulted and intended
to assassirate. But It 80 happened that. before
ROcheforts seconds had arrived. Paschal
Grousset's. of whom Victor NOir was one. were
admitted to the apartment OF the Prince, who
strRightway fred on Victor Noir Mt close quar-
tiers. We are told that. on hearing OF the assas-
~slnation, the Empress let fall a word which
depicted the state OF mind prevailing
at the Tu!leries. All. what n good
cousln!" she cried. referring to the
murderer. She did not worry about the muir.
dered man. 1t will be remembered that Prince
Pierre maintained that he shot in self-defence.
Victor Noir having slapped his face. As n mat
ter Of fact his companion. Uric de Fonvielle,
on whom the Prince subsequently turned his
weapon, assured Rochefort that not only did
his friend not slap Pierre Bonaparte's face,
but. on the contrary. held his bat In his gloved
hand during the whole of the interview, was
calm throughout, and did not make the slightest
gesture which conld conceivably be regarded as
indicating IN aggressive intent.
Rochefort saw nothing OF the beginning of
the Paris Commune. for IL was during his ILL.,
ness and convalescence that the revolution OF
March ID. 1871. broke out. Its Incidents were
related to him later in the prison where he was
confined In company with those who had taken
part in 1t. From the multitude of stories told
him tho thing which remained the most firmly
fixed in his mind was that the necessity of u
bleeding" had been decided upon by Theirs
and Ernest Picard. who exchanged dispatches
on the subject, which were discovered by Olivier
Pain during the This correspond
ence was put on one side by him. and would
have thrown q light upon the secrets and
the origin of tho movement that ended In the
proclamation OF the Unfortunately.
after hia arrest his wife, who knew that the
discovery OF any papers OF a suspicious nature
wns enough TO get her husband shot, threw