The Washington herald., 1907-07-07

THE WASHIN
lions recognize you, and hush their
voices. The King Of Beasts is silent in
the presence of the King of Men. Vic
tor Hugo bowed and turned the matter
over in his mind. Then, after meditation,
he said: "Pelleport. that was a happy
thought of yours. Couldn't you write
something about it, And Pelleport
wrote a sonnet about II, and the fame OF
the master stood on a higher pinnacle
than ever.
And finally there was the case OF Du-
mas, of whom It may almost be said
that his whole life was an advertisement
Some one once said Of him that his vanity
was such that he was capable OF getting
up behind his own carriage in order TO
demonstrate that he had a negro foot
man in his service He certainly did
many things almost as absurd as that In
his restless pursuit Of reclame. one OF
his delights was to clothe his noble pro-
portions in uniform and 10 embellish
the uniform with decorations 20 which he
was not entitled. He even went so far
as to himself design the uniform in which
he fought-or rather did not fight. for he
arrived after the lighting was over-in
Garlbaldis army; and he achieved tre-
mendOus advertisement by conducting a
weli-known actress to a court ball to
which she had not been invited. He got
another advertisement by allowing him
self TO be sued for non-delivery Of
feuilleton. He was utterly In the wrong
and be lost his case; but he kept the
court In roars Of laughter while he eS-
planned his literary methods.
a recent commentator on Character in
Dialogue" writing in The Academy with
special reference to the stage, also
touches upon the subject as It relates to
the novel He says, justly enough, that
while In fiction dialogue is delightful, the
novelist can tell his tale without it, haY-
ing many other ways Of barring his char
acters 10 the reader Few novelsts to-
day however. feel that they can do with
out dialogue, and il is a little surprising
that few Of them achieve anything very
satisfactory in this direction. Novels OF
modern life predOminate. The dialogue
in them ought not 10 make a very difficult
job. Yet, as a rule. the talk In this fiction
Is practically without character. No
doubt this IS because the various per
sonages introduced are without character.
but even more, we believe the want Of
good dialogue is due 10 the artificial con-
ception Of the matter which has crept IN.
owing to the influence Of writer's like
Henry James or the late John oliver
Hobbies Novelists set out with the de-
liberate intention of being subtle" or
smart" They think first OF their cpl
gram and only seCondarily, II az all, OF
the character and atmosphere OF the sup
posititious speaker. Their own sit is
what they want 20 impose upon the read
or. This comes out rather oddly some
times In a collection of short stories In
each tale there IS a new set Of characters.
and there Is a new situation. but the
favor Of the talk is always the same.
As for the so-called society" novels. the
dialogue in them Is a fearful and wonder
ful creation. perhaps the QueaTest 30 be
found in latter-day fiction.
The memorable meeting between Goethe
and Napoleon is described in the second
volume OF Bielchowskis Life Of Goethe"
Punam), the second volume Of which is
now ready. when Goethe entered, the
French Emperor gazed OF him long and
attentively. then exclaimed with admira-
ton. VOLTA uu homme" Goethe was no
stranger 10 him; he had formed an excel
len; idea OF him from 'Werther,' which he
had read seven times. The poets per-
s0ual appearance however. seemed TO
surpass his expectations. He did not enter
at once into a discussion Of 'Werther', he
inquired first about GOcthe's dramas. In
this connection Daru. VINO was present.
mentioned the fact that Goethe had trans
lated Volnlre's 'Mahomet.' That IS not
good play, replied the Emperor. and
then gave a very detailed exposition OF
how improper It is that the great world
COnQuer0r should be made 10 give such an
unfavorable description Of himself After
that he turned the conversation TO 'Wer-
ther. and Goethe now learned for the first
time that Napoleon was one Of his read
ers He made various ingenious remarks,
among others that Goethe had weakened
the impression Of Wcrthcr's ovcrpowering
love by mingling the suicide motive with
that OF offended ambition In addition he
pointed ont a certain passage (never def
nitely indicated by Goethe. and hence dif-
hcult 10 discover, and said. why did
you do that? It is not NATURAL and gave
extended reasons for this criticism, which
were perfectly just Weimer was filed
with JOY we read further and Goethe
Shared IN the general reI1ioing in his own way.
He had had q vETy exalted conception q Va
pocons genius before, but ne had not expected
that this genius would ever unfold itself 50
amiaby and richly before him. ''V1ila mn hrmme."
Napoleon had said Of him. Goythe could urt ask
anything more than the recognition contained in
these words coming from such a mouth lie de-
carcd that Napoleon had put the dot above the
tof his lfel. To Gotta he wrote. Z viii cl1dly
confess that nothing higher and uorc pleasing
could have happened % me In an my life than 10
have stood before the French Emperor on such
fcotng. Without entering into the details of our
conversation. ! may say that I have never before
been so received by one Of higher rank; be ac-
cspted ne for what ] was, and with especial con
fdcucc. and no gave me 10 understand that my
Daturu -1T7~off41 fl him