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The complete correspondence is of very considerable interest. In 1786, Casanova published 'Le soliloque d'un penseur', in which he speaks of Saint-Germain and of Cagliostro. On the 23rd December 1792, Zaguri wrote Casanova that Cagliostro was in prison at San Leo.

"Umbriel, a l'instant, vieil gnome rechigne, Va d'une aile pesante et d'un air renfrogne Chercher en murmurant la caverne profonde, Ou loin des doux raions que repand l'oeil du monde La Deesse aux Vapeurs a choisi son sejour, Les Tristes Aquilons y sifflent a l'entour, Et le souffle mal sain de leur aride haleine Y porte aux environs la fievre et la migraine.

'Roman d'un Spahi deals with Algiers. Taton-gaye is a true 'bete-humaine', sunk in moral slumber or quivering with ferocious joys. It is in this book that Loti has eclipsed Zola. In 1884 was published 'Les trois Dames de la Kasbah, relating also to Algiers, and then came 'Madame Chrysantheme' , crowned by the Academy.

He wrote romances, of little power, the best being "Rose et Ninette" of 1892, but his imaginative work steadily declined in value. He published in 1887 his reminiscences, "Trente Ans de Paris," and later on his "Souvenirs d'un Homme de Lettres." He suffered more and more from his complaint, from the insomnia it caused, and from the abuse of chloral.

"La faim, les créanciers, les soldats, la corvée, Lui font d'un malheureux la peinture achevée." You see that your soldiers of 1858 are angels in comparison with our soudards of the monarchy.

I will not run the risk of weakening the force of Moerenhout's description of the prophetic state by translating it: "Un individu, dans cet etat, avait le bras gauche enveloppe d'un morceau d'etoffe, signe de la presence de la Divinite. Il ne parlait que d'un ton imperieux et vehement. Ses attaques, quand il allait prophetiser, etaient aussi effroyables qu'imposantes.

I have two or three others that have been loaned to me for a long time; I shall send them off, and I shall read yours at the end of the week, during a little two-days' trip that I am forced to take to Pont-l'Eveque and to Honfleur for my Histoire d'un coeur simple, a trifle now "on the stocks," as M. Prudhomme would say. I am very glad that Jack has pleased you. It is a charming book, isn't it?

His enthusiasm glowed in his face: one sees it in his portraits and on the medals struck to commemorate his victory. "Beau comme un Apollon, il avait tout le prestige d'un archange envoyé par le Seigneur pour exterminer les ennemis de la Foi." Squadron after squadron begins to crowd the Straits of Messina.

More and worse of this hideous realism is to be found in About's books, such, for instance, as "Germaine"; but from which censure I like to exclude the rollicking fun of "Le Nez d'un Notaire." As to the recent realistic atrocities of Zola, and even of Tolstoi, a more rare sinner, if we exclude his disgusting drama of peasant life, I prefer to say little.

Sand, in her "Lettres d'un Voyageur," depicts the painful lethargy which seizes the artist when, having incorporated the emotion which inspired him in his work, his imagination still remains under the dominance of the insatiate idea, without being able to find a new incarnation.