The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-07

correspondence. Two huge volumes of
the love letters of Robert and Elizabeth
Barrett Browning were printed, and
thousands of people who have long been
appreciative and sympathetic readers of
the work OF one or both these authors,
felt almost as if the thing were per-
sonal insult. Reading that poem of
Browning in which he expressed his
views on such matters. who can doubt
that he would have felt that the scatter
ing of his most private thoughts in the
market-place would have been an offence
to him? Here is a part of the poem
evidence enough, one would think:
Invite the world. as my bctters have done?
Take notice; this building remains ON view,
Its suites of reception every one
Its private apartment and bedroom, too;
''For ticket, apply to the Publisher
No; thanking the public. | must decline.
peep through the window. if folk prefer;
But. please you, no foot over threshold Of
mine!
Outside must suffice for evidence;
And whose desires TO penetrate
Deeper must dive by the spirit-sense-
No optics like yours, at any rate!
"Hoity-toity! street to explore.
Your house the exception! With this same
Shakespeare unlocked his heart once more!'
Did Shakespeare? II so, the less Shakespeare
hci
Following this piece of Dissertation, so
clearly in contradiction to the expressed
wishes of Browning and to the still more
shrinking and delicate nature of his wife,
came the publication of the love letters
of Bismarck and of Victor Hugo. and
other people less prominent. This kind of
thing is bad enough when it occurs in
the natural course of biography, for the
biographer should be clever enough to
give a true idea of his subject without
raking out of the past documents which
the writer would prefer to keep private;
but 1t is sometimes excusable, if the
lection is tactfully made and the letters
of real assistance in ascertaining the
character and influence of the writer. But
when the amatory missives are gathered
into a pile by themselves and published
under the label Love Letters with the
deliberate purpose of attracting readers
whose curiosity is greater than their
good taste, the thing is about as bad as
It can be.
Paul Meurice is the person especially
responsible for the Hugo volume, and he
naively remarks in his introduction, after
quoting a bit of poetry written by Victor
Hugo on the love letters of his early
manhood:
They evidently were not written to
be seen by other eyes than those of the
girl he loved; he constantly entreats
her to burn them: they are all the
more valuable on that account"
This sounds rather as If a gossip should
say triumphantly coming into room full
of company,
hos nf1a two nh
the early life-the private life-of Mr..
So-and-So. / overheard him telling it
to his wife. and he entreated her on no
account to repeat II to anybody; so
you can see il is something we all
ought to be glad TO hear
When people get valuable information
by that means. they are generally dis
Greet enough not to go around boasting
of the particular way they took to get It.
But there is mysterious something's
''je ne sails quot de sang-froid," as one
might put II in NJ. Meurice's own lang
uage-a peculiar quality In the French ma
ture which enables a Frenchman, when
he does something of which he ought to
be ashamed, 10 do It with an air OF BEAM
ing and unconscious pride. It is of no use
for the Anglo-Saxon to try to initiate
that air, 1t is indigenous in France.
If Victor Hugo knows anything about
least the consolation of remembering that
they contain nothing of which he need be
ashamed So far as their style and matter
are concerned, they are pure. charming, and
delightful. such letters as any girl might
be proud to receive; and 1t is not much
10 be wondered at that Madame Hugo,
following the instinct of a woman in such
matters, cherished them long after the
writer had become her husband There
IS in these letters none of the idiOuc nom
sense which characterized the love letters
Of certain English novelist. Hugo does
not sign himself 100 own Poodle" nor
does he talk second-rate baby talk to his
inamorata, or address her in terms of en-
dearment ordinarily considered sacred to
the nursery.
He is never gross. undignifled, or in any
way lacking in delicacy, and despite the
ardent devotion expressed in almost every
line, the old-time Formally aid court
esy Of the style remind one of the sedate
lovers of old-fashioned novels, who how
ever great their transports of affection,
never lost their self-control and appeared
ridiculous. II he had written those let
tiers for the eyes of the public he could
hardly have done better, although there
IS no theatrical posing anywhere in them,
and no self-conscious phrase. They are
evidently, as the editor says, written for
the eve of his Adele, and nobody's else
great part of the volume is given up
10 discussions of the possibility Of their
marriage for the difficulties in the way OF
the young lovers were considerable, espe-
oialiy from the point of view Of good French
children. The families on both sides were
opposed to the union. the mother Of Victor
being especially bitter against II: and for
some time II seemed absolutely impossible
that they should ever be betrothed. 1t
was, therefore. eminentiy practical that
they should reassure and comfort one an
other. during this long period OF uncertain
~ and separation, and this they did. If
any Of the readers of the book approach
Il with the expectation of finding much
that is spicy or sensational In it, the re-
suit win be a serious disappointment.
These two young lovers are children with
g. truly mature idea of propriety md flial
duty, and. while they love each other de-
Votedly, and are desolated at the thought
OF d permanent separation. neither OF them
has any idea of wounding the parental af-
lection on either side by doing anything
rash. There is a good deal more sense OF
duty in the letters than there is of any
thing else. (New York; Harper & Bros.
S3Ool
Study of Life.
1.-THE Individual is the title OF j little
book by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, pro-
fossor of geology In Harvard University.
II is one of those books becoming rather
L.. .l,f