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VICTOR HUGO
_HIS LIFE AND WORK_
BY G. BARNETT SMITH,
AUTHOR OF
'SHELLEY: A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY,' 'POETS AND NOVELISTS,' ETC.
_WITH A PORTRAIT OF VICTOR HUGO._
LONDON:
WARD AND DOWNEY,
12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1885.
[_All Rights Reserved._]
[Illustration: Victor Hugo]
I INSCRIBE THIS VOLUME TO ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE,
REJOICING THUS TO CONNECT THE GREAT BARD AND PROPHET OF FRANCE
WITH THE ENGLISH SINGER OF A YOUNGER DAY,
WHO HAS DRUNK DEEPLY OF THE MASTER'S SPIRIT.
_G. B. S._
PRELIMINARY NOTE.
I began this study of Victor Hugo in December last, and arrangements
were made for its early publication. The great poet has now passed away,
and this melancholy event gives the biographical portion of the present
volume a completeness not originally anticipated. Notwithstanding the
multitude of criticisms which have appeared in our own and other
languages upon Hugo's works, this is the only book which relates the
full story of his life, and now traces to its close his literary career.
More than twenty years have elapsed since the publication of Madame
Hugo's memorials of the earlier portion of the poet's history, and since
that time M. Barbou's work (excellently translated by Miss Frewer) is
the only narrative of a biographical character which has appeared. The
writings of various French and English critics, the two works I have
named, and those valuable chroniclers, the journals of London and Paris,
have been of considerable service to me in the preparation of the
biography now offered to the public.
The writings of Victor Hugo are so varied and multifarious, and many of
them are so well known to English readers, that I have not deemed it
necessary to subject them to a detailed analysis. At the same time, the
reader unfamiliar with these powerful works will, I trust, be able to
gather something of their purport and scope from the ensuing pages. As
they have impressed all minds, moreover, by their striking originality,
I thought that it would not be without its value if, while venturing to
record my own impressions, I gave at the same time a representation of
critical contemporary opinion upon them. Finally, it has been my object
to present to the reader, within reasonable compass, a complete survey
of the life and work of the most celebrated Frenchman of the nineteenth
century.
G. BARNETT SMITH.
HIGHGATE, LONDON, N.,
_June 3rd, 1885_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. EARLY YEARS 1
II. DAWNINGS OF GENIUS 18
III. VICTOR HUGO'S HUMANITARIANISM 37
IV. THE TRIUMPH OF ROMANTICISM 49
V. 'NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS' 65
VI. 'MARION DE LORME' AND OTHER DRAMAS 77
VII. LAST DRAMATIC WRITINGS 92
VIII. THE FRENCH ACADEMY 110
IX. PERSONAL AND POLITICAL 121
X. THE POET IN EXILE 141
XI. IN GUERNSEY.--'LES MISERABLES' 152
XII. LITERARY AND DRAMATIC 169
XIII. PARIS AND THE SIEGE 186
XIV. 'QUATRE-VINGT-TREIZE.'--POLITICS, ETC. 201
XV. POEMS ON RELIGION 217
XVI. PUBLIC ADDRESSES, ETC. 223
XVII. 'LA LEGENDE DES SIECLES,' ETC. 237
XVIII. HONOURS TO VICTOR HUGO 248
XIX. PERSONAL AND MISCELLANEOUS 261
XX. THE POET'S DEATH AND BURIAL 274
XXI. GENIUS AND CHARACTERISTICS 304
VICTOR HUGO:
HIS LIFE AND WORK.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS.
The glory of France touched its zenith at the period when our narrative
opens. Europe virtually lay at the feet of Napoleon, who had risen to a
height of authority and power which might well have satisfied the most
vaulting ambition. Nations whose records extended back into the ages of
antiquity trembled before him; and only one people, that of this
sea-girt isle of Britain, declined to bend the knee to the
all-conquering First Consul. Yet the philosophic mind, reflecting that
the stability of a nation or a throne must be measured by its growth,
must surely have distrusted the permanence of a grandeur and a greatness
thus rapidly achieved. And speedily would such prevision have been
justified, for in little more than one brief decade the sun of Napoleon
set as suddenly as it arose.
But while as yet the fame and the splendour of the conqueror were in
their noonday, there was born at Besancon another child of genius, whose
triumphs were to be won in a different and a nobler sphere. He was
destined to touch, as with Ithuriel's spear, the sleeping spirit of
French poesy, and to animate it with new life, vigour, and enthusiasm;
he was to recall the divine muse from the drear region of classicism,
and, by revivifying almost every branch of imaginative literature, he
was himself to gain the triple crown of poet, romancist, and dramatist.
And not alone for this was the child Victor Hugo to grow into manhood
and venerable age. He was to become a great apostle of liberty, and as
his life opened with the triumphs of the first Napoleon, so before its
close he was destined to behold the last of that name pass away in the
whirlwind, and France recover much of her prosperity and her power under
the aegis of the Republic, of which the poet sang and for which he
laboured.
The ancestry of Victor Hugo were not undistinguished. Documents
concerning them before the fifteenth century were lost in the pillage of
Nancy, but since that time a clear genealogy is claimed. There was one
Hugo, a soldier, who obtained in 1535 letters patent of nobility for
himself and his descendants from Cardinal Jean de Lorraine, Archbishop
of Rheims, which letters were subsequently confirmed by the Cardinal's
brother, Antoine, Duke of Lorraine. The fifth descendant from this
warrior-noble, Charles Hyacinthe Hugo, obtained new letters patent; and
his grandson, Joseph Leopold Sigisbert, was the father of the poet. In
the seventeenth century, a member of the Hugo family was known both in
the Church and in literature, and became Abbe of Estival and Bishop of
Ptolemais. Another who lived in the eighteenth century, Louis Antoine
Hugo, was a member of the Convention, and was executed for moderatism.
Thus in career, as in character, there was much variety in the Hugo
family.
Sigisbert Hugo, who entered the army as a cadet in 1788, ultimately
attained the rank of General under the First Empire. Although the
hereditary title of Count was the appanage of this rank, he never took
it up. While brave and fearless in war, he is represented as being
devotion and goodness personified, and humane to a fault. 'He set his
children a fine example of duty, being ever their instructor in the
paths of honour.' During a period of military service at Nantes, he
became acquainted with Sophie Trebuchet, the daughter of a wealthy
shipowner. An attachment soon sprang up between them, and they were
married in Paris, Hugo having been summoned thither as reporter to the
first council of war on the Seine.
Though the grandfather of Victor Hugo on the maternal side was engaged
in commerce, he belonged to an old family, and one famous in La Vendee
for its devotion to the Royalist cause. A cousin of Madame Hugo was the
Count de Chasseboeuf, better known as Volney, the author of _Les
Ruines_; and another cousin was Count Cornet, who was very prominent in
political matters both before and during the First Empire. Two sons were
born to Major Hugo and his wife, and then they looked forward with hope
to the birth of a daughter, whom it was decided to name Victorine.
Another son, however, came instead, and one so weakly and diminutive
that the accoucheur declared strongly against his chances of life. The
babe was taken to the mairie at Besancon, and registered as having been
born on the 26th of February, 1802. He received the names of Victor
Marie Hugo, and his godfather was Major Hugo's intimate friend, General
Lahorie, chief of the staff to General Moreau. It has been pointed out
that the word Hugo in old German was the equivalent of the Latin word
_spiritus_, and this fact, combined with the Christian name of Victor,
caused Dumas the elder to say that 'the name of Victor Hugo stands forth
as the conquering spirit, the triumphant soul, the breath of victory.'
But for some time there could be little presage of triumph or victory in
connection with Victor Hugo. Languid and ailing in body, he became
unusually sad for a child of such tender years, and 'was sometimes
discovered in a corner, weeping silently without any reason.' He
afterwards described his untoward childhood in the opening lines of the
_Feuilles d'Automne_. For some time the Hugo family accompanied its head
in his military journeyings; but when Major Hugo was ultimately ordered
to join the army of Italy, he settled his wife and their three young
children in Paris, in the Rue de Clichy. That the youngest scion of the
house could not really have been as feeble and frail as he looked, and
that he must have had the basis of a good, sound constitution, is proved
by his long life; but we must not forget also in this regard the great
care and assiduous attention lavished upon him by his mother. His career
furnishes another illustration of the truth that while the most glorious
promise sometimes sets in gloom and premature death, on the other hand
genius also not infrequently advances from the wavering spark to a noble
flame, and out of weakness is made strength.
Major (afterwards General) Hugo rendered conspicuous service in Italy by
the capture of the notorious bandit chief, Fra Diavolo, and the
pacification of Naples. For these acts he was made Colonel of Royal
Corsica and Governor of Avellino. When not quite five years old Victor
was taken by his mother, with his brothers, Abel and Eugene, to
Avellino, and the journey to Italy is associated with his first
observations of natural scenery. Though so young, his imagination was
fired by all he saw, and the impressions he formed were very
distinct--so much so that in after life he would discuss with Alexandre
Dumas the aspects of the country through which he had travelled in his
childhood.
In 1808 Colonel Hugo was sent to Madrid in the train of Joseph
Bonaparte; but, as Spain was disturbed by war, he would not hazard the
presence of his wife and children in that country. Madame Hugo
accordingly went to Paris, and established herself at the house No. 12,
in the Impasse des Feuillantines, where she now devoted herself to the
education of her children. Late in life, Victor Hugo described the
household in the Feuillantines. Near by there was an aged priest, who
acted as tutor to the boys, teaching them a good deal of Latin, a
smattering of Greek, and the barest outlines of history. In the gardens,
and amid the ruins of an old convent in the grounds, the Hugo boys
passed many happy days. 'Together in their work and in their play,
rough-hewing their lives regardless of destiny, they passed their time
as children of the spring, mindful only of their books, of the trees,
and of the clouds, listening to the tumultuous chorus of the birds, but
watched over incessantly by one sweet and loving smile.' 'Blessings on
thee, O my mother!' was the invocation of the poet in his later years.
Once the family received an accession in the person of General Lahorie,
who had been connected with Moreau's conspiracy, and was condemned to
death for contumacy. Madame Hugo, in her secluded dwelling, and in a
little chapel buried amongst the foliage, gave him a secure shelter for
eighteen months. Young Victor did not then know that the stranger in
whom he took so deep an interest, and in whom he begat an equal
interest, was his godfather. Lahorie took kindly to the boy, and
frequently conversed with him, saying to him on one occasion with great
impressiveness, 'Child, everything must yield to liberty!' The
precautions of Lahorie and his friends were in the end of no avail. In
1811 he was arrested at the Feuillantines, tried and condemned by
court-martial, and shot on the plain of Grenelle. Napoleon was
implacable in his revenge; his wrath might sleep, but it was never
allowed to die.
Another visitor to the Feuillantines was General Louis Hugo, uncle to
the youths. With that strong poetic imagery which characterized him,
little Victor said that the entrance of his uncle into the salon 'had on
us the effect of the Archangel Michael appearing on a beam of light.'
The visitor came at the request of his brother to hasten the departure
of the family for Spain. The boys Hugo were informed by their mother
that they must learn Spanish, and just as they would have performed much
more impossible feats under such a command, they acquired the language
in the course of a few weeks.
In the spring of 1811, Madame Hugo and her children began their journey
into Spain. At Bayonne they had to await a convoy for Madrid. Here the
travellers paid several visits to the theatre, which made a deep
impression upon Victor, yet one which, while more lasting perhaps, was
not so deep as that made by the little daughter of a widow, who seems to
have quite captivated the boy. He afterwards referred to this attachment
as bearing the same relation to love that the light of dawn bears to the
full blaze of day. But he never saw again the youthful _inamorata_ who
stirred 'the first cry of the awakening heart.'
The dilatory progress of the convoy to Madrid, though irksome to Madame
Hugo, was not so to her youngest son. He delighted in observing the
features of the scenery and the towns through which they passed. With
Ernani he was especially pleased, and subsequently gave to one of his
dramas the name of this town. After a number of adventures, some of them
of a trying character, the convoy entered Madrid, and Madame Hugo and
her family were accommodated at the palace of Prince Masserano. Their
rooms and all the appointments were very sumptuous, and there was a
great display of Bohemian and Venetian glass and magnificent China
vases. Concerning the latter, Victor Hugo said that he had 'never since
met with any so remarkable.' Victor's eldest brother, Abel, was made a
page to King Joseph, and it was intended that Victor himself should
follow his example. Meanwhile Eugene and Victor were placed in the
Seminary of Nobles, a proceeding which affected them deeply, and made
them inexpressibly miserable after the happiness they had found in the
Masserano Palace.
But great and dire events were impending in Napoleonic history. By the
beginning of the year 1812 the position of French affairs generally
became so threatening that General Hugo decided to send his wife and the
two younger children back to Paris. Not many months elapsed before his
prescience was justified. Bonaparte's army was decimated by the
inclement snows of Russia after the burning of Moscow, and the kings he
had set up in the European capitals began to tremble for the stability
of their thrones.
Madame Hugo and her two sons safely reached Paris after a tedious
journey, and once more established themselves in the Feuillantines. The
biographical work written by the poet's wife shows that Madame Hugo had
liberal ideas on the subject of education: that where religion was in
question she was averse to forcing any particular persuasion on her
sons, or to interfere with their natural tendencies; neither did she
wish to tax their intelligence any more than their consciences. In the
matter of reading she was equally liberal: the boys were allowed the
greatest freedom, and read Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, and other
authors; but the works of such writers paled in comparison with Captain
Cook's travels, which had a great fascination for the young students.
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. She
restrained them by her authority, and, while attending to their mental
and moral development, she did not neglect the physical. She desired
them to grow up healthy and complete in mind and body alike.
The troubles in Spain thickened apace, and King Joseph left Madrid,
being followed by General Hugo. The victory of the Allies at Vittoria
practically settled the fate of Joseph Bonaparte and the Spanish crown.
The King dismissed his retinue of officers and retired into private
life, and General Hugo returned to Paris with his son Abel. Madame Hugo
and the other children had moved into the Rue du Cherche-Midi. Having
herself been an invader, it was now the turn of France to be invaded.
General Hugo was no favourite with the Emperor (who had not forgotten
the Moreau conspiracy), but when his country was in danger he could not
remain inactive. So he volunteered, and went into the provinces, where
he rendered conspicuous service. He long held Thionville, keeping the
Allies at bay, and refused to open the town until he received official
despatches from his General-in-Chief announcing the cessation of
hostilities. The restoration of the Bourbons followed, and, although
this was hailed with great joy by Madame Hugo, it led to General Hugo
being deprived of his command and removed from active employment,
together with all the officers who had shared in the defence of
Thionville.
Eugene and Victor Hugo now lost the liberty they had for some time
enjoyed, and were sent to school, being placed in the College Cordier et
Decotte, in the Rue Ste. Marguerite. At first the removal was especially
bitter to Victor, as it separated him from Adele Foucher, a young girl
who had completely won his youthful heart. This love continued to grow
from its inception in the Rue du Cherche-Midi till the time when Adele
became his devoted wife, and returned Victor Hugo's affection with an
ardour equal to his own.
The Hugo boys were naturally the subject of a cross-fire in regard to
politics. Their father was devoted to the Empire, and their mother was
equally devoted to the Royalists. But as the influence of a mother
always has priority in regard to time, Victor Hugo was for a season
enthusiastic about royalty. He could not, with his warm temperament and
lively imagination, be half-hearted about anything. Nor need it surprise
us that he yielded first to the influence of his mother as regarded the
Bourbons, and then to that of his father as regarded the Bonapartes. In
youth it is the imagination which is developed; the judgment is formed
by slow stages. It would have surprised us more if Victor Hugo had not
shown himself amenable to the potent influences of his home training.
His father and mother were of no ordinary type; they had both great
latent force of nature and character, which deeply impressed itself upon
their children. In estimating the career of Victor Hugo, then, with its
later changes of opinion, the circumstances which surrounded his early
years, and greatly assisted in moulding his character, must not be
forgotten.
Early in 1815 Paris was electrified by the news that Napoleon had
returned from Elba. For a brief period the magic of his name once more
exercised a profound influence; and under this revival of Bonapartist
prospects General Hugo was again despatched to take the command of
Thionville. He exhibited the same capacity and spirit as before, but all
was of no avail. The crowning disaster of Waterloo extinguished the
hopes of the Bonapartists, and Napoleon fell, 'like Lucifer, never to
rise again.'
It is matter for regret that the differences between General and Madame
Hugo on the subject of politics and dynasties led to a separation
between them, though one that was mutually desired. Each felt too
strongly on these subjects to give way, and thereby stultify his or her
convictions. But political disagreements did not affect the deep
interest of both parents in their children. The boys made great progress
at school, and also attended courses of lectures in physics, philosophy,
and mathematics at the College Louis-le-Grand. Their proficiency was
especially marked in mathematics, and it obtained for both honourable
mention in the examinations.
Poetry, however, even thus early, was the real mistress of Victor Hugo.
His tentative efforts in this direction were as varied as they were
numerous, and he has left an amusing record of his first wooings of the
Muse. He alternated fights at the college (he and Eugene were the kings
of the school) with flights of the imagination. Nothing came amiss to
him, whether ode, satire, epistle, lyric, tragedy, elegy, etc.; and he
imitated Ossian and translated from Virgil, Horace, and Lucan at an age
when others only just begin to acquire an appreciation and understanding
of those authors. Nor were such writers as Martial and Ausonius unknown
to him. Then from poetry he would turn to romances, fables, stories,
epigrams, madrigals, logographs, acrostics, charades, enigmas, and
impromptus; and he even wrote a comic opera.
In one of these youthful pieces he deprecated the exercise of the
reader's satirical rage over the effusion; and certainly the chief
impression which these initial attempts at composition leave upon the
reader is not a critical one founded upon their manifest crudity and
inconsequences of thought, but one of surprise at the exuberance of
fancy and command of expression so soon and so singularly displayed.
There was more than sufficient in them to the observant eye to
foreshadow the genius which their author afterwards developed. Each of
these poems was an effort of the imagination after strength of wing. But
of all those who perused these early poetic efforts, Madame Hugo was
probably the only one able to gauge the great promise of the writer. She
could not but anticipate much from that genius which was just essaying
to unfold itself in the sun. Yet even she could not fully foresee the
magnificent, eagle-like flights of which these imaginings were but the
first faint flutterings of the eaglet's wing.