The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-06

Perhaps Miss GunnelI. like the msdoht
OF women who are Stendhslans. enter
tains an affection for the man who In IN
first ten years Of the nineteenth century
openly proclaimed his belief IN equa
rights for the Sex; but he hated vome'
authors, Nine. de Stael In particular. Chi
new addition to the rapidly swelling
stendhal literature 10 pubiished. 1909, q
Paris by Charles Boese.)
Stendhal says that he was In London
August, 1917; however. he was never par
tioular about the truth. Like Victor
Hugo, he felt that London was . srea'
city without grandeur, and he did no,
miss an attack OF English spleen. OF which
Heine later wrote 80 e~ngagingly. Be
lieving In local color. he began drinking
ale at Calais on the occasion OF his hrs'
visit (1s21), and he admits having q merrJ
time. He stopped at the Tsvistool
Hotel, Covent Garden. As soon - he
could he went to the Haymarket Theatre
and saw 'She Stops to Conquer; ther
Kean >as Ohsuo. He was enthusiastic
over the defamation and attitudes OF
this actor; later he witnessed the per
IOTIlduCSo Ol h0uuOiC, IL O@AyS ~
Smithson (the Henrietta Smithson who
was to become the wife Of Berlioz) and
others. he was impressed by the mag
nihcent trees In the parks OF London
Stendhal had the cult Of trees, as had,
following him, Hippolyte Tame. He saw
eight criminals hanged, which spectacle
shocked him. Sutton Sharpe, q barrister,
vas his friend: the son Of q distinguished
man who was an intimate Of Person, Opie,
Flaxman, Stothard, his wife, daughter
Of Thomas Rogers and sister to Samuel
Rogers (banker, poet, author Of The
Pleasures Of Memory. Stendhal, be-
cause Of this social connection. secured an
invitation to a ball at Almaok's, then (ls2o)
the most exclusive social function in
London. At one Of these balls. 30 the
story goes, the Duke OF Wellington was
refused admittance because he was not
In regulation attire. The Iron Duke
probably retired with the ifonio comment:
Knee breaches be damned!'
Stendhal met Theodore Hook. tho wit
and author who nightly burned his brain
with brandy 80 that he might amuse So
ciety. Miss Gunnell quotes the story
told by H. Dalton Barham about a friend
OF Hook who, calling upon him, found
him in a miserable condition. Hook very
bravely said: well. you see me as ] am
at last-all the buoklings end paddings
and washings and ~brushings dropped
forever-apo poor, old, gray haired man with
my belly about my knees THE Sun has
commented at length on Beyle-Stendhal's
meeting with Lord Byron in La Scala.
Milan; OF his unfeigned idolaty for the
poet and OF the correspondence that en-
sued. All this lie presented. and the boast
of Stendhal that he knew Shelley init
mately 10 subjected to a scrutiny that neg
atives the Frenohman's assertion. stend-
hal knew Lord Brougham; also Lady
Morgan, in whose diaries he is described
as the brilliant Belle Mary Clarke,
who became the wife Of the savant Mohl.
he visited. Sarah Newton. the wife Of
Victor Tracy. he admired for her wit.
He visited too the Edwards family. the
brother Of Milne-Edwards; indeed, q close
friend was Edward Edwards, a duellist
and rather eccentric parsonage. or all
his English friends Sutton Sharpe re-
manned the closest.
VII the SOulllcLt oUoLOIldi IlSo LAeiiohi
travellers and never tired Of telling mali
cious anecdotes about their insularity and
ignorance OF art. Seeing some workmen
repairing the wall OF the Coliseum. an Eng
lishman remarked: BY Jove! The Col
iseum is the most pleasing edi6oe ] have
seen in Rome. 1t will be magnificent
when they shall have finished it This
seems too good to be true.
Stendhal was q keen student OF the
British political structure. He abhorred
politics. yet he knew all about that thrice
also a bete noir. He foresaw a national
smash 'seventy-five years before German
airships worried the homes OF Englishmen.
In this be was no prophet. British oant
and hypocrisy aroused his rage. He laid
to the account OF the Bible England's
Judaizaton and bigotry. The Old Testa-
ment was in the very marrow OF the ACE
he said. He smiled at the domestic ala
very OF women, ct the harsh jealousy
Of the English husband. To-day he might
smile at the free" antics OF the sutra-
gettes. He was a Shakespearian. yet
could discriminate in his worship. Scott
he detested, Byron was a star in the poetic
ornament Alasl he could praise Thomas
Moore's .Lalla Rookh.' and no wrote
this praise in q letter to the Iriehmsn.
The mystery surrounding StendhAl's
personality set Moore questioning every
one he knew in Paris about Count Stend-
He refers to him in his correspond
nee and once, when in Paris. actually
about looking for the literary
Count perhaps the title vas tho chief
Itmay seem astonishing that
though Stendhal raj unread in his own
country his books we're speedily trans
lated into English a few months after
they appeared. He wrote much for
the NeV Monthly Moodsins, the London
Magazine, the Ahsnoum and the Edin-
burgh Review. There Is no denying
that English literature influenced his
He studied Shakespeare as a psy-
chologist. Fielding and Sterne. as we'll