New-York tribune., 1907-11-16

Readers OF Matthew Arnold are aware of the
fsct that he held rather scornful opinions of
sbelley's immediate circle. Yet they also re-
member that he once paid a visit to George
sand whose circle was 10 ShelIeys what lasting
frenzy IS TO passing intoxication. Whv was #
that the English critic. who doubted if II was
worth while ito go so far to meet such a fat
old Muse" nevertheless made the journey down
into Berry? What was it that made this amaz-
ing Frenchwonan superior to the long scandal
Of her career and secured to her the homage OF
many If not most, Of the brilliant minds of her
generation? Mr. Gribble does not quite answer
the question. He Is a gossip rather than A
portrait painter. and mis- observations ON George
Sands character leave untouched the secret OF
her charm. He throws a brief ray OF light o..
the subject when, IN alluding to the fact that
his heroine lived down her past without adopt-
ing penitential tone. he records that "lhe
young generation growing up around her took
her amours seriously. matters Of historical
Importance, respecting her as the incarnation
Of the great ideas Of the Romantic Movement"
But he would have done more to initiate the
reader into one OF the most picturesque mys-
teries Of that movement II he had substituted
for the classical portrait Of George Sand which
serves as his frontispiece, the study of her made
by Delacroix when she was still young woman
That portrait reveals the soul Of George sand
the soul Of a witch
It brings out all the didblerie Of the descend
aut Of Maurice de SAKE; the clever. Wild. and ir-
resistibly piquant young woman who came up
20 Paris from the provinces leaving a distaste-
ful husband TO look after her two children and
resolved to win her way in the world with her
pen what time she got out Of life all the amuse-
nent II could be made TO yield. II II became
necessary TO throw her bonnet over the wind
Inill-there would be nothing in the act
curing prodigious audacity. More than
bonnet in her family had gone that way. When
the ambitious Nine Dudevant took some of her
manuscripts to NJ Latouche. OF Figaro" he
Iold her that they lacked common sense"
That humdrum commodity was never likely to
take I'D much space in the baggage OF the fut-
ure George Sand She was a born romanticist
and her life to be devoted to the pursuit Of
romantic sensation. My heart is cemetery"
she said in her elder years 1T is a metropolis"
observed Jules Sandeau, when the saying was
repeated TO him. he had reason to know, for
his heart was the first be laid away amongst
the tonlbs erected by George Sand in her priv
ate domain. The scale on which she formed
her collection. leaving those of her youthful
period 10 lie in dusty forgetfuness. may be in
ferred from the anecdote which Mr.. -Gribble
quotes from ". Jules Claretie:
One evening in the editorial office of the Revue
des Deux Mondes," a bald little man, OF military
way with fat lady with the dark complexion Of q
7 beg your pardon, madame
Ana then. when sandeau had taken his seat:
who is that lady?" he asked
'@What?" was the answer. 1T is you who ask
that question! Why, that is George SandT
Is there a note of pathos IN the episode"
Hardly. George Sands countrymen have no
doubt taken her amours seriously. but, after all,
II is hard to read the pages Of her present biog-
-Fapher without feeling that there was some
thing crazily fantastic about her love affairs
something in them suggestive of a world turned
upside down and i'll calculated to cause any
reader who has a sense of proportion to dilate
with grave emotion. 1t was very well for her
and Alfred de Musset to talk at large about an
"Imperishable marriage of the intelligence" but
there was nothing imperishable about the ro-
mantle hurnors described in this volume.
II is Impossible TO be forlorn with woman
whose woes are so easily consoled. When she
vearies OF Sandeau can she not turn to Mus
set? And on her break with him is not
PageIlo available? There are readers who can
wax solemn indeed over the notorious journey
TO Venice, but there others, we fear. for
whom in this quaint business the comic vein is
always cropping out. Maternal grief IS, OF
course. 10 be treated with reverence, but there
is really something droIl about Nine. de Mus
sets defeat at the hands Of the woman who was
bent upon decamping with her precious son.
The poets mother has herself told how her OBJ
sections TO the Italian trip were overcome. He
lad wept ar her feet and declared that he would
play the part Of a good son. The poor lady
reckoned without the witch who that evening
drove up in d cab and asked for Nine. de Mus
set Here is the latter's history of their meet
ing:
went downstairs. followed by servant sgs-
pecting neth!ng Seeing woman be1 alone s IN e Ine
ployed all the resources Of the eloquence OF which
she was past sfS n3e 10 Pfafe faf se e would ove
him like a mother. and would take better care OF
tEV2 The siren snatched q consent from me.
rIsded 70 her, with tears in my eyes. and against
fbe instincts Of my heart; for he had a prudent
mother. though she has dared TO say the contrary
in Ellie Ct Lul."
AIusset's brother saw the pair off, ION misty
melancholy evening" and noted. amongst other
dark ornens that 1.-The coach in which the tray
elIers took their seats was the thirteenth TO
leave the yard" but for the life Of us we cannot
share his soleYnnity. The travellers met Stend-
hal al LYONS. After supper che was very merry.
got rather drunk and danced round the table
IN his big topboots" In Florence they could
not make I'D their minds whether TO go TO Rome
or TO Venice and settled the matter by the toss
of = coin Is it possible to care much for the
fortunes OF two such needless -cynics? After
the parting from Musset and the short-lived
.ugaruation with Pagello, the renewal Of her
passion for the poet is merely disgusting TO the
onlooker. and he finds that passage like the
following from the journal Intime' rings
hollow:
Ldszt told me this evening that only God was
worthy TO be loved 1t may be So put II Is very
man II is such a different sort OF love. II IS
tr1e that Liszt adoed th9I h al ms e' one ne hut