Part 2 (1/2)

Victor Hugo soon gave a pledge, though not in some respects a successful one, of the sincerity of his own convictions M Taylor, Commissaire Royal at the Comedie Francaise, and afterwards widely known in the world of art, asked the poet on one occasion why he never wrote for the theatre Hugo replied that he was thinking of doing so, and had already commenced a dra should only be acted by Tal between the fareatly depressed, taking gloo that his own career had been a failure--had never fulfilled its ends No one knehat he o, but now he expected to die without having really acted once

Nevertheless, froinal, and he had always longed to act Cromwell In response, the author explained his intentions with regard to the proposed play, and also his views upon the draed upon in the preface to the play He asserted that there were three epochs in poetry, each corresponding to an era in society; and these were the ode, the epic, and the draes are the lyric, ancient tis of eternity, the epic records history, the drama depicts life

The characters of the ode are colossal--Adaantic--Achilles, Atreus, Orestes; those of the drama are human--Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth The ode contemplates the ideal; the epic, the sublime; the drama, the real And, to sum up the whole, this poetical triad emanates from three fountain-heads--the Bible, Hoo, he intended to substitute a drae, reality for conventionalism; the piece was to pass from the heroic to the positive; the style was to include all varieties, epic, lyric, satiric, grave, comic; and there were to be no verses for effect The author repeated his first line, '_Det-cinq juin, mil six cent cinquante-sept_,' which was certainly ludicrously hted with the whole idea, and begged the poet to complete his work at once Unfortunately the actor died soon afterwards, and the draed upon the preface he saw solish at the Odeon, and the representations affected hied his dramatic views At the close of 1827 _Croreat indeed was the controversy to which it gave rise The period dealt as not ould be considered one of the most dramatic in the career of the Protector It was that 'when his a's death,' when, having attained what any othernot only land, but by his army, his navy, and his diploed onwards to fulfil the visions of his youth, and toCroly idea, with the prelies which led up to his resolution, were delineated with subtle power and psychological skill

But it was not the play so much as its preface--which the author put forward as the manifesto of hiall of the critics A writer in the _Gazette de France_, referring to Hugo's avowed aim to break 'all those threads of spiders'

hich the army of Liliput have undertaken to chain the dra,' reminded him that in this liliputian army there were sost others stood out those e from _Le Cid_ down to _Cromwell_ 'But ould these men be worth in the eyes of him who calls Shakespeare the God of the Theatre? It is necessary to possess soiants; and when one undertakes to dethrone writers hole generations have united in adht them eapons which, if not equal to theirs, are at least so constructed as to have some chance' M

de Remusat in _Le Globe_ endeavoured to hold the scales of justice between the contending parties, while the fa-cry for the supporters of the new principles M Sou the dra beauties; and although in your preface you spokeivy, I cannot do less than acknowledge your adrand in the style of Michael Angelo--as I formerly spoke of your odes'

About the tio was severely visited in his domestic relations Madareat virtues, passed away; and on the 28th of January, 1828, the poet's father died suddenly of apoplexy The General and his second wife had been quite reconciled to Victor and his brothers, and the Governnised the title of the old soldier as General of Division He was happy in the affection of his sons, his daughter-in-law, and Victor Hugo's two children--Leopoldine and Charles On the evening of his death he had spent several happy hours with the poet, but in the night the apoplexy struck him with the rapidity of a shot, and he iined, profoundly affected the sensitive and io

Soo had, in conjunction with M

Soumet, written a play entitled _A able to agree as to the value of each other's contributions, the two authors separated, each bearing away his own drao afterwards handed over his play to his brother-in-law, Paul Foucher, who produced the piece in his own naes in it that uno, and the latter chivalrously wrote to the newspapers to say that those parts which had been hissed were his oork This acknowledg men to the theatre, ere as loud in their applause as a large portion of the audience were in their condeether, matters became so lively that the Government interfered, and, to allay the tumult, interdicted the play

In the Rue Notre-Das of poets and wits, when Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset would recite poe the day, and Meriuene Delacroix were also to be seen there; and once the venerable Benjaer was condes, Victor Hugo visited hih obnoxious to the authorities, was the idol of the populace His cell was generally full of visitors, and he was inundated with pates, gareat stride in roo's _Orientales_, which appeared in 1828 These lyrical poey and inspiration, and it was clear that the very antithesis of the classical style had now been reached They enhanced the reputation of the writer, while they charour

In July, 1829, a brilliant co of a new play by the poet, the fainally called _A Duel under Richelieu_ The writer, it was soon seen, had avoided the faults which marked the construction of _Cromwell_, and had produced a real drae representation The co included Balzac, Delacroix, Alfred de Musset, Meriny, Duenerous frankness which always characterized hi the play: 'I listened with aded with sadness, for I felt that I could never attain to such a powerful style I congratulated Hugo very heartily, telling him that I, deficient in style as I was, had been quite overwhelnificence of his' But there was one point upon which Dumas, supported by Sainte-Beuve and Meri satisfied that Didier should o yielded to the pressure put upon hily The news of a new play by Victor Hugo brought forward the ers at once, but it had already been promised to M Taylor for the Theatre Francais However, there was the ordeal of the censors yet to pass through, and fears were entertained as to the fourth act, in which Louis XIII was described as a hunter, and represented as governed by a priest--points in which everybody would see a resemblance to Charles X Pero appealed to the King, who renac), the dra act hiive his sanction to the representation of the draranted the poet a fresh pension of 4,000 francs

Hugo was indignant, and at once wrote declining the pension, upon which the _Constitutionnel_ remarked, 'Youth is less easily corrupted than the Ministers think' With regard to the drama itself, it has been well remarked that 'had Marion, in spite of her heroism and her repentance, been adequately chastised for her lapse from virtue, probably much of the sentih now exploded, at the tireat depravity of taste, and invested the ”Dames aux Camellias” and the ”Mimis” of Bohemian life with an interest that they did not deserve'

Undiso now devoted himself to the composition of another drama, and his _Hernani_ was shortly in the hands of M Taylor for production The censors again interfered, and in the course of a very impertinent report, observed that the play was 'a tissue of extravagances, generally trivial, and often coarse, to which the author has failed to give anything of an elevated character Yet while we anirant faults, we are of opinion that not only is there no har the representation of the piece, but that it would be inadvisable to curtail it by a single word

It will be for the benefit of the public to see to what extreo, when freed from all restraint' These literary censors did, however, require the alteration or renity were handled with too much freedohout the piece

The supporters of the classical drama strenuously exerted the produced, but in vain Of course, this creation of a new style meant the decline of the old one The play went into rehearsal, and the author had a passage of arms with Mademoiselle Mars, who took the part of Dona Sol This lady, whose power had o, and when threatened with the loss of her part, she consented to deliver a disputed phrase as written The time for production came, and when the author was asked to na to custo that there would be no systematic applause The play excited the liveliest curiosity Benjaed for seats, and M Thiers wrote personally to the author for a box The literary friends of Victor Hugo attended in great nu Gautier, Borel, and Balzac The theatre was crowded, and the feeling of all parties intense As the play progressed froained in its hold upon the audience When the fourth act closed, M Maine, a publisher, sought out Victor Hugo, and offered him 6,000 francs for the play, but the matter, he said,that the success of the piece ht be less coreater,' replied the publisher 'At the second act I thought of offering 2,000 francs; at the third act I got up to 4,000; I now at the fourth act offer 6,000; and after the fifth I aly concluded the bargain for 6,000 francs, and ith the eager publisher into a tobacco shop to sign a roughly ireement The play concluded brilliantly, Madereat triumph in the last act The whole house applauded vociferously, and the triumph of romanticism was complete

The literary hich ensued was very fierce In the provinces, as in Paris, it divided the public into hostile cas which it excited that in Toulouse a duel was fought over the play, and one of the antagonists was killed Armand Carrel was especially bitter in his assaults upon _Hernani_, but Hugo wasletter from Chateaubriand: 'I was present, sir, at the first representation of _Hernani_ You kno much I admire you My vanity attaches itself to your lyre, and you know the reason I a I colory ought to pray for the dead' As an a pendant to this, it may be mentioned in connection with the poet and _Hernani_, that a provincial French inscription to be placed on his too'

In spite of the attacks in the press, also of personal threats and of the deliberate and almost unparalleled attempts to stifle the play in the theatre itself, _Hernani_ held its own, and continued to be played with great pecuniary success until the enforced absence of Madee, and not acted again for some years But the play had practically established the new drama It was the herald of the renaissance, and for this reason must continue to occupy a conspicuous position whenever an attempt is o

CHAPTER V

'NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS'

There is a natural desire to know soreat What would the world give, for example, for a faithful account of the character, the appearance, the sayings, the habits of Shakespeare, written by a friend and a conteo we fortunately have such a description from the pen of one of his most enthusiastic admirers, Theophile Gautier The sketch represents the poet as he appeared at the time which we have now reached in his history, that is when he was about twenty-eight years of age

Gautier was exceedingly nervous over his conteo, and twice failed to su On the third occasion he found himself in the poet's study

All his prepared eloquence, we are told, at once vanished away; the long apostrophe of praise which he had spent whole evenings in co He felt like Heine, hen he was going to have an intervieith Goethe, prepared an elaborate speech beforehand, but at the crucialbetter to say to the author of _Faust_ than that the plum-trees on the road between Jena and Weimar bore plums that were very nice when one was thirsty But the Jupiter of German poetry was probably more flattered by his visitor's bewilderiuyrics, here is what he wrote concerning the person of Hugo: 'He was then twenty-eight years of age, and nothing about hi than his forehead, that like a marble monument rose above his calm and earnest countenance: the beauty of that forehead ell-nigh superhuht be written within, but it was capable of bearing the coronet of gold or the chaplet of laurel with all the dignity of a divinity or a Caesar This splendid broas set in a frarow to considerable length behind His face was closely shaven, its peculiar paleness being relieved by the lustre of a pair of hazel eyes, keen as an eagle's The curved lips betokened a firm determination, and when half opened in a s whiteness

His attire was neat and faultless, consisting of black frock-coat, grey trousers, and a s in his appearance could ever have led anyone to suspect that this perfect gentleh-bearded, dishevelled set that was the terror of the se, asit in that first interview, has never faded from our memory It is a portrait that we cherish tenderly; its s a clear and phosphorescent glory!'

In the year 1831 Victor Hugo published a hich, if he had written nothing else, would have given hist the immortal writers of France This was his _Notre-Dame de Paris_, undertaken and produced under extraordinary circumstances It was received with mixed favour by the critics, but at once made its way to the heart of the people Any number of hostile revieould have been insufficient to check the progress of so singular and powerful a work The author had ement to write this book for a publisher named Gosselin, and the latter now claiinally to have been ready by the close of 1829, but in July, 1830, it was not yet begun, and a new contract was prepared, under which it was to be coreatly disturbed the progress of the romance, and a further difficulty was created by the loss of manuscript notes which had taken two o's books and manuscripts from the house in the Rue Jean Goujon to the Rue du Cherche-Midi, these valuable notes went astray They were not recovered till some years afterwards, when they were incorporated in a later edition of the novel A still further delay was granted by the publisher, in accordance hich the author was to co just five o set to ith iven of the way in which he laboured with his rorey worsted knitting which enveloped him from the neck to the heels; he locked up his clothes, in order not to be teo out, and worked at his novel as if in a prison He was very -table except to eat and to sleep, and occasionally to read over some chapters to his friends The book was finished on the 14th of January, and as the writer concluded his last line and his last drop of ink at the sa the title of the novel, and calling it 'The Contents of a Bottle of Ink' This title, which was not thus used, however, was subsequently adopted by Alphonse Karr