Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo: His Life and Work is by George Barnett Smith. The title page says the volume comes with a portrait of Victor Hugo. The dedication inscribes the volume to Algernon Charles Swinburne, rejoicing thus to connect the great bard and prophet of France with the English singer of a younger day. The preliminary note says the study of Victor Hugo was begun in December last, and that the great poet has now passed away, which gives the biographical portion of the present volume a completeness not originally anticipated.

The text says Madame Hugo judged that any errors her sons were likely to imbibe in their wide and catholic reading would be rendered innocuous by the influence of a good example and the purity of the home life. A summary of a story says that in the middle of the night Valjean is overcome by wild impulses, steals the spoons from the cupboard over the bed of the sleeping bishop, and escapes through the garden. The text says the modern Gallic politician is about the most impulsive creature of which we have any knowledge.