_Goethe_
If a militia of genius should be formed on Parnassus, Goethe would be
the drum-major. He is so great, so majestic, so serene, so full of
talent, so abounding in virtue, and yet, so antipathetic!
_Chateaubriand_
A skin of Lacrymae Christi that has turned sour. At times the good
Viscount drops molasses into the skin to take away the taste of vinegar;
at other times, he drops in more vinegar to take away the sweet taste of
the molasses. He is both moth-eaten and sublime.
_Victor Hugo_
Victor Hugo, the most talented of rhetoricians! Victor Hugo, the most
exquisite of vulgarians! Victor Hugo--mere common sense dressed up as
art.
_Stendhal_
The inventor of a psychological automaton moved by clock work.
_Balzac_
A nightmare, a dream produced by indigestion, a chill, rare acuteness,
equal obtuseness, a delirium of splendours, cheap hardware, of pretence
and bad taste. Because of his ugliness, because of his genius, because
of his immorality, the Danton of printers' ink.
_Poe_
A mysterious sphinx who makes one tremble with lynx-like eyes, the
goldsmith of magical wonders.
_Dickens_
At once a mystic and a sad clown. The Saint Vincent de Paul of the
loosened string, the Saint Francis of Assisi of the London Streets.
Everything is gesticulation, and the gesticulations are ambiguous. When
we think he is going to weep, he laughs; when we think he is going to
laugh, he cries. A remarkable genius who does everything he can to make
himself appear puny, yet who is, beyond doubt, very great.
_Larra_ [Footnote: A Spanish poet and satirist (1809-37), famous
under the pseudonym of Figaro. He committed suicide. The poet Zorrilla
first came into prominence through some verses read at his tomb.]
A small, trained tiger shut up in a tiny cage. He has all the tricks of
a cat; he mews like one, he lets you stroke his back, and there are
times when his fiercer instincts show in his eyes. Then you realize that
he is thinking: "How I should love to eat you up!"