New-York tribune., 1909-10-10

not simply to sit at the feet Of the new celebrity.
but 10 give him their hearts. We have cai.eI
him a 'sbounder" The epithet seems Just be-
cause in his relations with these devotees Of his
he was cruelty selfish. and rarely waited % be
off with the old love before he with The
new. If one could detect the fire Of true pas
sion in any of his infatuatons one might look
at him with friendIier eye but there Is some
thing contemplate about the way in which d.
treated the women who loved him. one IS not
even sure that he was above sponging on them.
He certainly allowed Delphine De Custine %
lend him money and the DUChesse De Duras %
develop a scheme for the settlement Of his debts
which must in the long run have cost her
round sum. Napoleon thought him ideaus-.
but the shrewd Nine. de- BOigne knew better.
M. Chateaubriand," she says. cared nothing
about the human race; he was entirely occu-
pied with his own personality and 10 the task
Of creating a pedestal from which he could loos
down upon his age" Why, then is n not
merely revolving 20 US. merely an image Of cold
and impIacable selfshness?
Mime. de Boigne says that "he always made
himself little atmosphere Of his own. Of which
he was the SUM- and she goes on to admit that
while he in his atmosphere one
could be kinder or more amiable, or send forth
his beams with more grace" Every reader of
Chateaubriand knows how eloquent he could Dee.
what a glamour he could throw over anything
that ne chose to touch. Mr.. Gribble speaks of
'the grand style which he used toward his init
mates both in his actions and in his letters. II
is no wonder that they were captivated It is no
wonder that. as have said. this book about
him is really amusing. There is something
splendid about his insolence There is some
thing colossal. and therefore impressive, about
the seIf-conceit governing all his proceedings.
And besides. there is questioning his
mantle air. his Byronic color and richness We
despise the very soul of him. but watch him
with absorbed interest. as we might watch some
parsonage on the stage. Even
as in his sixties, winning that reckless
young pagan. Hortense Allart de Meritens only
to have her gayIy bid him farewell for another
he somehow escapes the last abyss of humiIia-
tion. He may invite a certain scorn. but he is
not exactly ridiculous. No. he was too much
the born enslaver of women's hearts for that.
He is. after ALL perfectly natural in his ignObIe
preOccupatiOns and his immeasurabIe egoisrl
Sincerity. OF sort. stamps his queer transac-
tiOns- Mr. GribbIe's portrait is that of an in
tenseIy human type.
1t is refreshing to turn from the hothouse at
mosphere OF Chateaubriand's circle 20 the stern
traits Of Mr.. Dunn-PattisOn's twenty-sfx heroes.
In 'NapOleOn's MarshaIs- he pOrtrays a group OF
men who no doubt had their faults. and indeed
were far from being plaster saints" but who AT
least did some substantial work in the world.
Take, for example. Massena. Prince OF EsSling
who is also known as the spOilt child OF vic-
tory. He was a man of almost ulimitabl.
meanness. The COachman and foOtman who
shared his perils through the Wagrau campaign
Won a compliment even from Napoleon himself.
who said that they were the bravest OF all the
hundred and thirty thousand men engaged
Massena, moved for once out Of his accustomed
avarice. talked of giving to them each four hun
dred francs. whereupOn one OF his officers point
ed out that he might make it a pension. to save
them from want in their old age In n fury
the marshal exclaimed: Wretch do YOU want
to ruin me- What. annuity of four hundred
francs' No. no. no. four hundred francs one,
and for ALL" and he turned 20 his stafT savine
4 would sooner see you all shot and set a bul-
let through my arm than bind myself To give an
annuity of four hundred francs 10 any one I'm
his Portuguese campaign he Carried his brutal
ity to the point of positive infary Decidedly
Massena is not man to praise even ut the eN-
pense of an eplcurean like Chateaubriand But
this is what Wellington said Of him. speakins
once about the French Commanders he had en-
cOuntered in the field: "Mass&na gave me more
trouble than any of them. because when
expected to find him weak he generally CON
trived somehow that should find him strong
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