New-York tribune., 1900-03-31
VICTOR HUGO.
A NEW VOLUME OF FRAGMENTS.

THE MEMOIRS OF VICTOR HUGO: With 1a,a
Preface by Paul Meurce Translated py 5onn
Company.
The title of the volume translated by MI
Harding is hardly exact. This is really collec-
ton of scraps. one of those posthumous volumes
which speak OF industrious rummaging among
the miscellaneous papers OF a great writer The
fragments presented, nevertheless. are all ex-
trennely characteristic and for that reason In
teresting The very first lines delightfully."-
Husoesoue 1T was at Rheims that heard
the name OF Shakespeare for the first time. IL
was pronounced by Charles Nodier. That was
in 1898 during the coronation of Charles x
1t is an introduction in the very style and
manner of the famous Frenchman. and so also
is the whole chapter There is much about his
first acquaintance with Shakespeare; there is
much about other things Among the "other
things" find these lines on the cathedral:
For the coronation Of the King Of France they
had transformed a church into theatre; and 1t
mas since been repeated with perfect accuracy,
that arriving at the entrance asked of the
bodyguard on duty: Where is my box?'
This cathedral of Rheims is beautiful above
all cathedrals On the facade kings; the
apsis. people being put to the torture by execu-
TONERS. Coronation of kings with the accom-
paninent of victims The facade is of the
most magnificent symphonies ever sung by that
music. architecture. One dreams for a long time
before this oretorio.
one day | glanced down from the top of the
tower through embrasure The entire facade
sheered straight below me. perceived in the
depth, top of a long stone spout that extend
ed down the wall directly beneath to the
carpment. that its bottom was lost, sort Of
round basin. Rain water had collected there
and formed a narrow mirror at the bottom.
There were also tuft of grass with flowers in
it. and swallows nest. Thus in a space only
two feet in diameter were a lake, garden and
q habitation-a birds paradise AS 1 gazed the
swallow giving water to her brood. Round
the upper edge OF the basin were what looked
af11e - h-s sbHco he lnty
had built her nest. / examined these crenelles
They had the form of f1eur de lys. The support
stone of old king. And If God were
asked: 'Of what this Lothario this
Philip. this Charles, this Louis this emperor
this king" God peradventure would reply: He
had this statue made and lodged a swallow"
If that fragment were imbedded in Of
writings by dozen other authors, it would still
be identified by any experienced student
fragment of Victor Hugo's This volume, in
deed. for all that it embraces the merest odds
and ends, is amusing in its illustration Of Hugo's
rhetoric, his self-concet, and, be il said, his
power of making picture in prose. An eye
witness of the execution of Louis XVI describes
that occurrence to Hugo, and he in his turn
passes on the scene to US. painting it in his
inrntable fashion. The arrival of Napoleon in
Paris on March 20, 1915, is also celebrated in
short but effective sketch. Grouped together
under the title of Visions of the Real five
vignettes On most curious subjects. The first Of
these, The Howell" is squalid to the point of
giving the reader shudder of disgust, but 1t
is marvellously written chapter. In another
division of the book. devoted to the theatre, are
brilliant little portraits of Joanny, Mile Mars
and Frederic LemaftSe. There some inter
esting political notes, some relating to the
Chamber of Peers, others TO the Revolution of
1S4S. Sketches Made in the National Assem-
bly, include some striking portraits, and there
are equally readable pages the siege Of Paris
and on Louis Bonaparte. The book contains
mary anecdotes, the more effective because they
are told in Hugos curt yet always subtly
pompous manner A considerable literature has
grown about Victor Hugo Some Of these days
biographer will boil II down into two or three
volumes. When he takes up the task this book
will be of use to him, and in the mean time
readers Of the novels will enjoy dipping into
these pages. The translation seems fairly ade-