The times of Napoleon and the First Empire seem to be more than a
lifetime away from us; and yet it was in that day that Victor Hugo lived
as a child in the old convent of the Feuillantines so graphically
described in "Les Miserables." Here he and his two brothers lived with
their mother in the strictest seclusion, while the father, General Hugo,
a soldier of the Empire, was off with the Grand Army at some distant
point, either in garrison or in the field. The child, who was afterwards
to hold Napoleon the Little up to the execration of the world, felt his
earliest emotions of patriotism stirred by the glorious conquests of
Napoleon the Great. General Hugo was one of the most gallant soldiers of
the day, and placed in many positions of trust and of responsibility, as
well as of danger, by Napoleon. He it was who conducted the terrible
retreat from Spain just before the fall of Napoleon. His soldiers were
the only protection to the lives of twenty thousand French fugitives,
who were fleeing from Madrid wild with terror; for the pursuing
Spaniards would not have hesitated to massacre the helpless multitude,
had they found it in their power to do so. From every bush projected the
muzzle of a gun, charged with the death of an invader; every pass
concealed an ambush; every height bristled with guns in the hands of the
patriots. But General Hugo conducted the fugitives through in safety,
and proceeded to take command of the fortress at Thionville, soon to be
besieged.
He defended this outpost of the Empire with great gallantry, and it was
the last citadel over which the tri-color waved. But at last General
Hugo was forced to surrender it to the Allies, and the star of Napoleon
had set forever. Madame Hugo had been a royalist always, although she
had not been allowed to influence the minds of the children in that
direction; but after the fall of the Emperor she openly proclaimed her
sympathy with the Bourbons, and was so demonstrative in her enthusiasm
that it led to a complete estrangement between herself and her husband.
Victor as a boy sided with his mother, and was royalist to the core; but
as soon as he became a man he gravitated at once to his father's side.
The years which he passed with his mother and brothers, and the priest
who was their tutor, in the old garden of the Feuillantines, were as
peaceful and happy as the years of childhood should always be. It was in
an almost deserted quarter of Paris, and the grounds were spacious,
being the remains of a park once attached to the convent. They were,
however, neglected; and everything had run wild here, until it seemed to
the city children almost like a forest. A ruined chapel was in this
wood, which always excited the imagination of the boys, who were
thoughtful and fanciful beyond their years. Beautiful horse-chestnut
trees cast their shadows round this ruin, and were the home of
innumerable birds who nested there. Upon the walls among the cankered
and unnailed espaliers were niches for Madonnas and fragments of
crucifixes; and vines hung there in ragged festoons to the ground.
Through these dismantled cloisters and spacious abbey-chambers the
imagination of the boys ran riot, and it cast a sort of poetic glamour
over their young and solitary lives.
To this secluded place came, at one period of Victor's childhood,
General Lahorie, his godfather, hiding from the authorities, who had set
a price upon his head; and here he was securely hidden by Madame Hugo
for two years, as Victor Hugo afterwards pictured Jean Valjean as being
concealed there by the old gardener. Lahorie was implicated in Moreau's
plot against Napoleon, and was being diligently sought after by the
police all the time he occupied the ruined chapel in the old
convent-garden. His camp bed was under the shelter of the altar; in a
corner were his pistols; and although the rain and snow came in through
the dilapidated windows, he bivouacked here in winter as well as summer.
The children never knew who he was; he was called simply "the General,"
and was much loved by the boys, to whom he talked much of their country
and of liberty. After a time, under the promise of pardon if he came
forward to receive it, he was betrayed into giving himself up; was
arrested at once, cast into prison, and afterward shot,--one of the most
infamous of the acts of Napoleon, noted throughout his whole career for
treachery and insatiable bloodthirstiness.
This devilish betrayal of his early friend did not fail to impress the
mind of such a boy as Victor Hugo, and to add to his natural hatred of
tyrants and their deeds. It was perhaps the most lasting and impressive
lesson that he ever learned, and the world has seen its results in his
life. Throughout all the varied years of a long and eventful career, it
was ever at the shrine of liberty that he paid his devotions, ever her
praises that he sung in his loftiest verse, ever for her that he struck
the strongest blows of which his arm was capable.
Almost solitary as were the lives of the children under Madame Hugo's
watchful eyes, the one visitor who was admitted to their companionship
was welcomed with more than the accustomed warmth of children. This was
a little girl named Adele Foucher (about thirteen or fourteen years old
when she first visited them), who used occasionally to spend the day
with the boys in the garden. Victor soon felt for her the most tender
and chivalric regard. He has himself described it once and again, the
first time in the story of Pepita, in "Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamne,"
where "he sees her in all her charms, just fourteen years of age, with
large lustrous eyes and luxuriant hair, with rich golden-brown skin and
crimson lips; he dwells on the proud emotion which he felt as she leaned
upon his arm; he recounts how they wandered, talking softly, along the
shaded walks; he tells how he picked up for her the handkerchief she had
dropped, and was conscious of her hands trembling as they touched his
own. And he recollects how they talked about the birds, the stars, and
the golden sunset,--sometimes, too, about her school-fellows, her
dresses, and her ribbons; they blushed together over the most innocent
of thoughts." Again, in "Les Miserables," Victor Hugo reverts to the
scenes of his youth, and to his child-love.
"Marius" is but a free variation of himself; the circumstances are
changed, but the character is the same, and the garden scenes between
Marius and Cosette are but faint reproductions of passages in the
courtship of the poet and Mlle. Foucher. Victor had begun to write
poetry by this time, and some of his earlier efforts had attracted
considerable attention. His whole ambition lay in this direction. We are
told by his biographer that--
"his greatest pleasure was to accompany his mother to M. Foucher's
house, and there spend long evenings in unspoken admiration of the
maiden to whom his whole heart was devoted. It was not long before
these admiring glances were noticed by the parents, to whom the
danger of encouraging such a passion was apparent, as both the
young people were of an age when marriage was out of the question.
By mutual consent the two families broke off their intimacy for a
time. Victor Hugo found expression for his grief at the separation,
in a poem that is full of sad and gentle dignity. . . . In spite of
apparent resignation, the obstacles placed in the way of his
passion only increased its intensity, and absence, instead of
extinguishing his love, served only to increase it. His fevered
imagination devised a thousand means by which he might catch a
glimpse of one without whom he felt it impossible to exist.
Numberless are the stratagems he contrived, and incredible the
ingenuity with which they were executed; the freshness of his
romance was itself an exquisite idyl. . . . Victor never despaired;
but in the midst of his anticipations he was overwhelmed by a
terrible blow."
Madame Hugo died very suddenly in the summer of 1821, and the grief of
her son was deep and lasting. He could no longer remain away from the
one being he felt could afford him comfort, and he went boldly to the
house of M. Foucher and declared his love for Mlle. Adele, asking of her
parents her hand in marriage. Although both were so young, and they had
as yet no means of living, the parents did not deny the suit, only
stipulating that there should be no present thought of marriage. Victor
was very poor at this time, his allowance from his father having been
withdrawn, and he having no settled employment; so the lovers were
unwillingly forced to accept these terms. They were very happy at this
time, despite his privations, which were very real, and hard for one
brought up in comfort, as he had been, to endure. For a whole year he
lived on seven hundred francs, which he earned by his pen, cooking his
own meals in his humble lodgings, and finding them sometimes scanty and
unsatisfactory. He tells us he had but three shirts at this time, and
sometimes found it difficult to be as neat as he desired. It was not
long, however, before the verses of the young poet attracted the
attention of the king, who bestowed a pension upon him of one thousand
francs, from his private purse. This enabled the poet to consummate his
marriage with Mlle. Foucher, which was done in October, 1822. The
bridegroom, whose fortune consisted of eight hundred francs, presented
his bride with a wedding dress of French cashmere. The brightness of the
occasion was destroyed by a sudden attack of insanity which overtook
Victor's brother Eugene,--an attack from which he never recovered.
Victor now began in earnest his literary work, and soon published his
first novel, "Han d'Islande," which is said to bear a marked resemblance
to the works of Walter Scott. He soon followed this with his plays,
"Marion Delorme" and "Hernani," the former of which was soon prohibited
by the Government.
The first representation of "Hernani" was an event long remembered in
Paris. It was supposed that the classical school would receive the new
drama with little favor, and would perhaps drive it from the stage; so
the friends of the new movement in literature determined to organize for
its defence; and as Victor Hugo had decided against having the usual
paid _claquers_, they determined to form themselves into such a body and
carry the play through at all hazards. Fired with zeal, all the young
_litterateurs_ of the day organized in companies, each under a captain
of its own, and at an early hour in the afternoon of the day set for the
performance, appeared before the theatre. Among those selected as
captains was Theophile Gautier, then but nineteen years old. He
determined to appear in a dress worthy of the occasion, and demanded
such a costume of his tailor as that worthy man had never before
prepared for a human being,--not even a poet. The waistcoat was of
scarlet satin, and, according to Gautier's directions, it was made to
open behind. The trousers were of a pale-green tint, with a stripe of
black velvet down the seams, a black coat with broad velvet facings, and
a voluminous gray overcoat turned up with green satin. A piece of
watered ribbon did duty both for collar and neck-tie. With his long hair
streaming down his back, and in this remarkable costume, Gautier must
certainly have presented a picturesque appearance. Many other of the
"Hernani" partisans appeared in costumes quite as eccentric. The
passers-by stopped and stared at them in astonishment. Some of them wore
soft felt hats, some appeared in coats of velvet or satin, frogged,
broidered, or trimmed with fur; others were enveloped in Spanish cloaks,
and the array of caps was quite miraculous. Most of them wore prodigious
beards and long hair, at a time when every well-regulated citizen was
closely cropped and shaven. They waited more than six hours in the
street, and the moment the doors were opened rushed in and took
possession of the theatre. They had brought their lunches; and eggs,
sausages, and bottles of wine were consumed in the seats of the theatre
where the fine ladies usually sat. The evening was tumultuous in the
extreme; but whenever the classics hissed, the disciples of Romanticism
not only cheered, but rose to their feet and howled. When the groans of
the Philistines became unbearable, the enthusiasts of the pit would
drown them by shouting "To the guillotine with the sycophants." But
though the evening was a continual uproar, no doubt was entertained at
its close that the victory was with the Romanticists; and at the
conclusion of the performance the name of the author was proclaimed as
that of a victorious general, and the shouts of acclamation overwhelmed
the storm of hisses. Victor Hugo was the great star of the French
capital from that day.
Meanwhile, all was happiness in the poet's household. The wife of his
youthful dreams presided with tact and grace over his home and her dark
Spanish beauty was much admired by the crowds of youthful friends who
now began to frequent the house. This type of beauty appears almost as
constantly in Victor Hugo's books as the head of La Fornarina did in the
pictures of Raphael. He seems constantly to seek to immortalize her whom
he had chosen for his own. Madame Hugo's picture was painted for the
_Salon_ by their friend M. Louis Boulanger, and was thus described at
the time:--
"A full, well-developed bust, white arms of perfect form; a pair of
plump, delicate hands that a queen might envy; the hips high, and
setting off a figure that was faultless in its contour and
flexibility."
She performed her duties as hostess with infinite grace, and her _salon_
was filled with celebrities like Lamartine, who would write verses in
her album, and with women like Madame de Girardin. The house was always
filled with visitors, attracted by the fascinations of the hostess as
much as by the joyousness of the poet. As Victor Hugo's fame increased,
we are told that--
"the calm serenity of his early years of married life was somewhat
disturbed by the cares and anxieties that glory brings; but at the
time of his residence in the Place Royale, of which we have been
speaking, there was great happiness in the household, with the
young and beautiful children."
The beautiful Madame Drouet, then an actress upon the Parisian stage,
was said to have come between the poet and his wife at a later day; and
it is certain that she shared his banishment, assisting him much in his
literary labor, and finally, after the death of the poet's wife, came to
preside over his home in the last days, cherishing her love for him to
the very close of his life. She is said to have been very beautiful,
even in old age, when her hair, Alphonse Daudet tells us, was as white
as swan's-down.
It is not our purpose to deal with the public life of Victor Hugo, and
we pass over all that occurred up to the time of the exile, after the
_coup d'etat_ of Louis Napoleon. The historian tells us that--
"Victor Hugo had asked the Assembly whether, having had a Napoleon
the Great, they were now to have a Napoleon the Little; he had
inquired of the Royalists how it was that they entered into such
strange fellowship with the Empire, pointing out significantly how
the Imperialists who had murdered the Duc D'Enghien, and the
Legitimatists who had shot Murat, were now grasping each other's
blood-stained hands. From the tribune he had proclaimed that the
Republic is invincible, and that in France it would prove itself
indestructible, as being identical on the one hand with the age, on
the other with the people. In lofty language, alike prophetic of
the future and condemnatory of the present, he had poured out his
indignation in the ears of the nation. The result of all this was
that Bonaparte wrote his name at the head of the list of the
proscribed."
Feeling that if he remained in Paris his life would be sacrificed to no
purpose, he endeavored to get away from the city. This was no easy
matter to accomplish, and had it not been for the active and skilful
assistance of Madame Drouet, he would doubtless have been imprisoned,
with his many friends, who crowded all the jails of Paris. A price was
set upon his head; twenty-five thousand francs was offered to any one
who would either kill or arrest him, and there were many assassins
lurking about in waiting for him. Madame Drouet took him in a _fiacre_,
and secretly started out to seek for him a refuge. She thought she had
friends who would shelter him, as Madame Hugo had sheltered Lahorie
during the troublous times of the first Empire. She applied to friend
after friend in vain. She wept, she implored, she tried to bribe,--in
vain. The citizens were too much intimidated to dare shelter one of the
proscribed,--even Victor Hugo, perhaps the most honored man in the
nation. Madame Drouet, however, would not yield to despair, but pursued
her way with undaunted determination. The drive was terrible,--past
ruined barricades and pointed cannon, through bloody patrols, and among
the police so thoroughly accustomed to the hunting of men. They passed
more than one Javert in that fearful ride; and when Victor Hugo
afterwards described the sensations of a man pursued like Jean Valjean,
he did not have to draw very strongly upon his imagination. The horrible
feeling of doubt and distrust, and the cold thrills of dread at every
change of circumstance, were well known to his own soul. Madame Drouet's
perseverance was at last rewarded by finding a temporary retreat for her
charge under the roof of a distant relative of the poet, where he
remained five days, filled with the most harrowing anxiety for the
friends whom he was endangering, as well as for himself. His two sons
were already in prison, and fears for their safety were added to his
other burdens. But he escaped at last, in disguise, and fled to
Brussels, now filled with French exiles. He managed to communicate with
his wife, but his sons in their prison-cells could only conjecture as to
his fate. But they heard the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry
outside the walls, and knew that the prison was overflowing with
victims; and they feared the worst. Madame Hugo soon joined her husband
in Brussels, and he immediately set to work to write "L'Histoire d'un
Crime," and completed it in five months. With the power of a Tacitus he
describes the scenes of the great historical drama he has taken part in,
and with the pen of a Juvenal lashes the betrayers of the Republic. The
book was not published till 1877, but it will tell the story of a
shameful epoch in French history to the remotest time. He was not
allowed to enjoy his refuge in Brussels long; almost as soon as he had
printed his "Napoleon the Little," which book he wrote after completing
the "History of a Crime," he was requested by the Belgian government to
leave the country.
He repaired to the Island of Jersey, where he was joined by his sons
upon their release, and by quite a party of friends. He took a small
house known as Marine Terrace, on the sea-shore, and there set up his
household gods once more. The house was only one story high, but it had
a balcony, a terrace, and a garden; and it overlooked the sea, which
seemed more than all to Victor Hugo. His income was now but seven
thousand francs, and he had nine persons to provide for. No more money
could be expected from France, and probably no more from literature, at
present. But his busy pen kept at its work, trusting to the future; and
the time passed not altogether unpleasantly to the little body of
exiles. Jersey is of itself delightful, and the poet found great
pleasure in its climate, its scenery, and its luxuriant vegetation. But
Napoleon did not at all enjoy the proximity of his great enemy, and soon
took measures to drive him from his retreat. Hearing of the new move
against him, Victor Hugo took occasion to defy Napoleon, and to "warn
him that whether it be from France, from Belgium, from England, or from
America, my voice shall never cease to declare that sooner or later he
will have to expiate the crime of the 2d of December. What is said is
true: there is a _personal quarrel_ between him and me; there is the old
quarrel of the judge upon the bench and the prisoner at the bar." They
were ordered to quit the Island of Jersey, and were treated to some
scenes of violence before departing, which they did with considerable
regret, having found life in that favored region comfortable, if not
inspiring. They received a warm welcome at Guernsey, whither they
retreated, and soon made a new home on that hospitable shore. A large
and convenient residence, known as Hauteville House, situated on the top
of a cliff, was rented and repaired, and served as a home for the poet
and his friends during all the remaining years of his exile, which were
destined to be many. Victor Hugo changed and beautified the house
according to his own ideas, doing much of the work with his own hands;
and the result is something eminently characteristic of the man.
On the third story is the study, a kind of belvedere, with its sides and
roof composed of glass. In this study, which overlooked the little town
of St. Sampson and its picturesque promontory, the poet did his work.
Here he finished "Les Miserables," which had been begun in the Place
Royale; here was produced the magnificent essay on Shakspeare; and here
he worked almost literally from morning until night. The house became a
refuge for exiles from many lands, and a chamber, still known as
"Garibaldi's room," was fitted up expressly for that hero, under the
expectation that he would accept the invitation of Victor Hugo to share
his home, at a time when his fortunes were at their lowest ebb. Many
literary men were here at different times, generously cared for by the
host, who called the retreat "the raft of Medusa." There were many pets
also, especially dogs, as Victor Hugo almost shared the sentiment of
Madame de Stael concerning these animals, "The more I know men, the
better I love dogs."
The wonderful success of "Les Miserables," when it was published in
1862, called the attention of the whole world to the illustrious exile
on the sea-girt isle, and after that time he was overwhelmed with
visitors from all parts of the earth, anxious to see one who had come to
be looked upon as the greatest man of his time. The success of the book
was unprecedented, the sales were enormous, and the enthusiasm of
readers and critics almost without a parallel.
Madame Hugo died in 1868, and it was always a great grief to her husband
that she could not have lived to share his return to his native land,
which took place after the downfall of Louis Napoleon in 1870. After
nineteen years of exile, he returned to his country only to find it in
the hands of the Prussians first, and of the Commune afterward. One of
his companions on that eventful journey thus describes the feelings of
the returned exile:--
"Making good their retreat from Mezieres, on their way to Paris,
the remnant of Vinoy's corps, poor, harassed creatures, covered
with dust and discolored with powder, pale with exertion and
discouragement, were lying all along the road. Close behind them
were the Uhlans. There was no alternative for them but flight, if
they would escape the disaster that had befallen the army at Sedan.
Defeat was written in their faces, demoralization was evident in
their attitude, they were dejected and dirty, they were like
pebbles driven along by a hurricane. But what of that? Anyhow, they
were soldiers of France; their uniform proclaimed their
nationality: they wore the blue tunic and the red trousers,--but
what was of infinitely more consequence, they were carrying their
colors back with them. Their defeat did not prevent them bringing
back the tri-color safe and sound.
"Great tears rolled from Victor Hugo's eyes. He leaned from the
carriage-window, and with a voice thrilling in its earnestness, he
kept shouting: 'Vive la France, vive l'armee, vive la patrie!'
Exhausted as they were with hunger and fatigue, the bewildered
soldiers looked up. They scarcely comprehended what he said, but he
continued his shouting, and it was almost like an order of quick
march to them all, when they made out that they were being assured
that they had done their duty, and that it was by no fault of
theirs that they had sustained defeat.
"And so the train went on. The tears still lost themselves in
Victor Hugo's snowy beard. He had lived in the proud illusion that
France was invincible; he was a soldier's son, and could not
conceive that the soldiers of his country were not pledged to
glory."
It was ten o'clock when the train reached Paris, but a great crowd which
had been gathering for hours was there to receive him. With continued
acclamations they bore him to the house of his friend Paul Meurice,
where he was to stay, and called upon him continually for a speech. He
said a few words to the crowd, at the station and at the house, but
gladly sought the seclusion of his new home, being completely overcome
with emotion. This was at the beginning of the investment of the city by
the Prussian troops, and he witnessed the whole of the siege of Paris,
and endured its privations with the people. He also witnessed the
terrible deeds of the Communists, but--sympathizing, as he always had
done, with the poor and the downtrodden--only to condemn them with the
utmost vehemence of his nature. Still, he desired their pardon when all
was over, feeling for the ignorance which had caused their misguided
zeal. About this time his son Charles died very suddenly, which was a
great blow to him, and he began to feel that all things were falling
away from him.
The death of his youngest son, Francois, in 1873, removed the last prop
of his age, and only two young grandchildren remained of all who had
composed his beloved family. The mother of these children, and her
second husband, however, were very much loved by the old poet, and
watched very tenderly over his declining years. The children were a
source of constant interest and pleasure to him, and have become well
known to the world through his work upon "The Art of being a
Grandfather." Of the honors which were showered upon him from every side
in his closing years, it is useless to write. All are familiar with
them, as with the magnificent demonstrations after his death. It is safe
to say that few men have been so honored while living, or held in such
sacred remembrance after death.
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