[To M. CATULLE MENDES] … that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, “This was a man!” SHAKESPEARE: JULIUS CAESAR. Midnight struck at the Bourse, beneath a sky crowded with stars. At this period the demands of martial law were still pressing on the citizens, and the waiters of the establishments still […]

[To M. THEODORE DE BANVILLE] “Light, Light!” Last words of Goethe Pascal tells us that, so far as actions are concerned, good and evil are a question of “latitude.” One human action, in fact, is called a crime in one place, but somewhere else a good deed; and so inversely. In Europe, for instance, one […]

Many years ago, as evening was closing in, the venerable Pedro Arbuez d’Espila, sixth prior of the Dominicans of Segovia, and third Grand Inquisitor of Spain, followed by a fra redemptor, and preceded by two familiars of the Holy Office, the latter carrying lanterns, made their way to a subterranean dungeon. The bolt of a […]

[To MME. LA COMTESSE D’ OSMOY] The form of the body is more essential to him than its substance. LA PHYSIOLOGIE MODERNE. Love, said Solomon, is stronger than Death. And truly, its mysterious power knows no bounds. Not many years since, an autumn evening was falling over Paris. Towards the gloomy Faubourg Saint-Germain carriages were […]