Norwich bulletin., 1922-07-19
Famous Literary Mysteries
was victor Hugo Of Noble pirshf

Was Victor Hugo of Noble birth9
 The court of FRance has always heen nest suseeHtibie te genius. It is for this reason that 1t accepted all of the stater ments made by Victor Hugo, wcrshippee at his shrine, felt nothing of shame [ the double life he led. and today points with pride to him as a name being second to none in the literary annals of their na- tieR.
 Why was 1t necessary for Victor Hugo to feel that ancestors were essential 10 his suhlimity? Certainly his talent was of the character to make his name tFa- mortal without misrepresentation. Hugo gave himself out as a scion of the houke of the Hugos of Lorraine, and great grandson Of Charles Hyaeinthe Hugo. and his obedient biegfaDher wrote down the statement, and the world believed it.
 But 1t is not true All the statements
 of Charles HYacinthe Hugo, chevaiier, etc, have been traced, and Victor Hugo Is rsot included in their number. On the ethef hand. Huge's ancestors have been traced through four generations, and there is neither ehevalier, cpnseiliier- maitre to be found among them. His father was an officer who had risen from | the ranks; his grandfather was a eaF- penter, and from that back as far as the lineage can be traced the ancestors were i peasants.
 Of the. women whom these ancestors married the mesT prominent was nur- 1 sery geverness. Among the eollaterals we find a corn factor. baker, a barber and l three dressna nakeFs-useful and highly re- ] spectacle members of the community but l not aristocratic. Consequently our first i glimpse of Victor Hugo Is glinps. of a I plebian dissatisfied with his humble origin 1 perching himself on another mans family I tree, and successfully peFsuading his ad-
 mirers' that he has every right to be I there.
 Hugo's mother was the daughter of a 1 Nantes merchant in the shipping trade | and upon her, in pace of armerial bear ings, he bestowed tradition of romantic but quite imaginary adventures. "Ths of 15, fled to the Bocage and became z brigand"-that Is to say. Vendean in
 surrectionist A romantic story, indeed but absolutely false. From the beginning of the Vendean revolt Sophie Frebuche
 and her father never quilted Nantes or il any way transgressed the principles O ] republican cireumspection, and 1t was for tunate for them that they did not. Therefore. while Victor Hugo hinsel
 would have the public believe that he wa : an aristocrat of long descent, yet it was instead, a plebian who by his genius, hal , burst his births invidieus bar. He woul have us believe that as a husband h
 bcavely married young for love. and tha
 his domestic department was a model | |, be admired and initiated. yet he figured a the ideal lover of Magdalen of the cour
 texan class. who. purified by his passie , and protected by his influence. shared hi
 affection with his wife, was equally hon : .ored with her by his friends and helped t : inspire his genius for half century. The legend side of the life of Viete Hugo is a wonderful one, and the greates
 of all the wonders connected with 1t ; i that it did not grow up after the poet 7 death, but was imposed and accepted du, i. l .Hg his lifetime.
 z Nor was it of his percentage and of h domestic life that Hugo desired only | . boast, but likewise of his own ability. fe :. he laid claim to the fact that he had bee . cheated out Of prize when he was onl Is at the French Academy when tt
 actual fact is that in a field of 46 cen |, netitors he took net the first nor yet u 4 second, but only the ninth place, and 2 !. it appears from the documents in u archives of the academy, only receive
 his honorable mention because u z judges felt that Encouragement was dl Z him on account of his tender years.