Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-08-23
ROchefOrt
Notable as
Art Critic
Appreciation of One, Now Dead,
Who Gould Sway Multi
tudes Once.

There are many Newark readers of
metropolitan newspapers who will
remember some years ago the brill
liant notices of the Paris salons
which appeared each spring in the
New York Herald. These were writ
ten by the el-devant marquis Henri
Rochefort who has lust been gath
cred to his fathers, as the Evening
Star announced.
Henri Rochefort was one OF the In
stitutions Of Paris. He made light
Of hts tito and this amused the
Parisians He engaged in many
duels. most OF them harmless. This
still further added to the galety of
life in the French capital.
Popular In the Capital.
He was popular In the same degree
that M. Lepine was popular but for
verv different reason. He wrote n
daily article for la Patrie" In hts
declining wears and people would ask,
as thew met In the cafes. "fInve you
seen what Rochefort said?'
There was no particular signih-
canoe In what he wrote, nor Is the
paper of any particular political or
literary Importance. But Roehefort
waB an institution and Ii was the
fashion TO notice what he said
Like James Gordon Bennett,
Rochefort made light OF old age
Tho latter Ia "A while Rochefort was
81 Like MIR. Bennett. he was tall,
thin and elastic, with the came keen.
harsh eyes, He was Il figure ut all
the great picture GALES OF Paris and
at the premiereu IN the theatres.
An Art Connolsseur.
OF art he knew much, and his
criticisms of the canvases In the ga
Ions were particularly noticeable for
their justneHs of spirit, as the French
say.
IL was his constant appearance in
public, the interest he manifested In
Human affairs. the life Of Paris, that
made M. Roohefort n figure of the
boulevard and the cafe. The volatile
public had long ago forgotten the
more dramatic portion of the life OF
Roehefort. his numerous duels, his
imprisonments, and his escapes.
Only those devoted to the study of
contemporary history recalled that he
was one of those who gave the final
blow to the Second Empire and was
instrumental in making an idol of
Boulanger.
Rochefort's Boast.
There was one problem in the ex-
istence of Rochefort that puzzled
students of human nature. He was
man who could say without danger
of being contradicted that with only
one. issue of his fiery pamphlet la
Lanterne," he could bring two hun
dred thousand men down from the
suburban ACCOMPLISHMENTS upon the
centre of Paris. as the friend of the
workingman, yet he lived the life
of the wealthiest without a trait of
charity
Finally, one of his critics. Jules Lee
maitre, discussing la Lanterne" and
IL Intransigeant," declared that
Rochefort had the soul of either a
maniac or scoundrel with the wit of
"boulevardier."
Judgment of a Frenohman.
M. Ernest Diment, in a London Re-
view. says that M. Lemaitre in the
SOS would not have taken so much
pains over Rochefort's case, If he
could have seen in the future the UNI
compromising revolutionary throwing
In his lot with that of Boulanger in
less than two years and, in 1895, on
his return from his last exile in Lon
don, adopting the sober guise of the
society man, more angry at the alb
sence of aestheticism than at social
defiance of justice, and with passion
less wit mildly attacking govern
ments which before he had excoriated.
Truth to tell, times have changed.
The French habit of making talent
predominant over goodness Is on the
decline.
Perhaps Rochefort will be remem-
bered longest, If he is remembered at
all, as one of the few great art critics
of the nineteenth century.