New-York tribune., 1896-10-25


Reuve as follows. You have always thought
me ruled by my head. whereas am guided by
nv heart To love- and to need love ana friehd-
shin apply these two words as you like. is the
principle of my existence. whether In JOY or
grief before the world or In private. heart-Whoie
or not" To throw this out of court entirely
might seem cynical To say that 1t was just
Hugo's talk might seem unsympathetc' ie. II
is impossible to keep these sceptical thoughts
st a distance. They are present throughout d
study Of his works and in q perusal or MS cor
rcspondence they follow the reader down every
page.
Hugo took himself with papal seriousness our
fng the years Of idolatry which the French Ma
tion gave him in his prime. He took hmse1 IN
much the same way before he had made MS
mark one of the early letters in this new VOL
ume is addressed to Nj. Louis Pave, father OF
voung Victor Pavie who, al the time OF TINS
correspondence, was beginning literary career
with criticism and original work. Hugo writes
To thank Pavie pere for some kindness received
md then goes on "You do more; you send me
your own works. so matured SO fuii OF "isuoi'
and esprit and your sons verses, which spaiA'e
with youth and poetic feeling These latter are
your productions too, dear SIR ana pe'e>o
shall not offend your ne tural prlde as an au'Hoi
and father by asserting that. remarkapie as are
Your writings. your son is still the Creates vi
vour works This by the way is what was
said of Homer apropos OF Virgil Tell your
voune aglet dear sir your Victor. that there
Is another Victor who would envy him-if envy
could co-exist with affection-his fine poem on
David, lie Juif. la Mer,' and lie Lac an IN
eenious and inspired composition, and, above ALL
his charming elegy of TEnfant.' Tell MN
especially not TO hide his head under MS wing
his wings are made TO soar alo1t. ana HIS ese0
"a gaze at the SUM- If my ive-and-twenty years
Cor am near thaD gave me some right OF al
yising his eighteen, / should advise him'-but
on this climax we may pause Couid ahE'h'hs
be more pompous, more artificial? 1t is easy 10
cav that Hugos immaturty explains it. but as
a matter of fact it does nothing Of sae sort. He
wrote that way all his life long The present
volume is full of similar solemnties. and, indeed
the collection threatens to be, for this reason a
dreadful bore But it is interesting to get at
Hugo's personality Whether for good or bad ne
Is no commonplace subject, and nowhere does
he draw his portrait with so much accuracy as
IN these pages OF unconscious rhetoric
The last phrase points TO the secret of his
character and indicates moreover, not only what
IS cheap but what is fine In the man. The rhe-
,or,caI oN1atus sometimes has it's root in large,
generous turn of mind, in a warmth or IDEAS,
which Is not unrelated to warmth of feeling. and
there is always a hope in Hugo's reader always
a vague belief that somehow, at the bottom or
his SOUL the man had an inspiration of grandeur
and would have made it heroicaly manifest II
his passion for language had not run away with
him. That it did run away with him is undenia-
BILE in the face of his novels, and the fact Is still
more patent 10 the observer in the presence OF
the correspondence, but the saving touch comes
out ir the latter in the works Take. in IL
lustration, the passage in which Hugo alludes
n Delacroix in letter to Baron Taylor There
was a richness of tone and breadth of feeling
to the man who could in 1879, year almost as
significant as the one which followed, write a
thing like this: Talking Of great painters. do
not believe with few stupid newspapers IN
the front rank Of which | unhesitatngy place
The Globe that DelacroiX is not up 10 the
mark His 'Sardanapalus is a splendid thing.
and so grand that 1t cannot be grasped by small
minds" There you have the sympathetic and
Intelligent nature, speaking out at a time when
intelligence and understanding seemed dead
But Immediately follows the revealing trait which
carries us back to the lesser Hugo: Il only re-
gret one thing. and that is. that he did not rep
resent the funera-pile as on fire; this line scene
u,ou1d have been still finer had the foreground
been a mass of flames" Is not this plea pure
Hugo the very sign manual Of his taste for png
Pelion upon Ossa?
Part Of this excess In Victor Hugo sprang from
his innermost nature part OF 1t was due TO the
role which fell to him on the threshold OF his
career The story OF Hermann need not be
retold In this place Everyone recalls at the
mere mention OF the drama all that II meant to
the France Of the thirties, and especially to the
wang writers Of Paris. Gauters red wastcOat
4. one OF the most familiar things in the history
~ the theatre But these letters of Hugos give a
renewed sense Of his own connection with the
great romantic campaign. Many OF them were
x,r,tten in the thick Of his first theatrical eX-
n,otts and they revive perfectly the atmosphere
IN which he lived 1t is. perhaps. not to be
wondered at that he took himself seriously He
was in the eye Of Paris. He found himself the
standard- bearer OF a new literature. HIS tactics
imply what the condition OF things must have
heen When he writes TO the Minister OF the In
terror protesting against the decision OF the GEN.
.orship against Marion de Lorme," and begging
Cor fa,rer treatment Of Hermann" he explains
frankly the light in which ne regards his official
.rit,cs. "Ths dramatic censors." he says. "are
al, taken from the literary party opposed 10 us.
which Is a compliment to the party that claims
f,,Il liberty in artistic matters. to which am
rroud to belong mot that l wish to saddle the
whole Of the old school with the faults of some
of its members but II Is a fact point out by the
,,.,, Now these cengOrs. mostly dramatic all-