rote some critical essays, witty and satirical in tone,
in which his genius appears in another light. It is not generally known
that he was the translator into French of De Quincey's 'Confessions
of an Opium Eater' (1828). He was also a prominent contributor to the
'Revue des Deux Mondes.' In 1852 he was elected to the French Academy,
but hardly ever appeared at the sessions. A confrere once made the
remark: "De Musset frequently absents himself," whereupon it is said
another Immortal answered, "And frequently absinthe's himself!"

While Brunetiere, Lemattre, and others consider De Musset a great
dramatist, Sainte-Beuve, singularly enough, does not appreciate him as a
playwright. Theophile Gautier says about 'Un Caprice' (1847): "Since the
days of Marivaux nothing has been produced in 'La Comedie Francaise'
so fine, so delicate, so dainty, than this tender piece, this
chef-d'oeuvre, long buried within the pages of a review; and we are
greatly indebted to the Russians of St. Petersburg, that snow-covered
Athens, for having dug up and revived it." Nevertheless, his bluette,
'La Nuit Venetienne', was outrageously treated at the Odeon. The
opposition was exasperated by the recent success of Hugo's 'Hernani.'
Musset was then in complete accord with the fundamental romantic
conception that tragedy must mingle with comedy on the stage as well as
in life, but he had too delicate a taste to yield to the extravagance
of Dumas and the lesser romanticists. All his plays, by the way, were
written for the 'Revue des Deux Mondes' between 1833 and 1850, and they
did not win a definite place on the stage till the later years of the
Second Empire. In some comedies the dialogue is unequalled by any writer
since the days of Beaumarchais. Taine says that De Musset has more real
originality in some respects than Hugo, and possesses truer dramatic
genius. Two or three of his comedies will probably hold the stage
longer than any dramatic work of the romantic school. They contain the
quintessence of romantic imaginative art; they show in full flow that
unchecked freedom of fancy which, joined to the spirit of realistic
comedy, produces the modern French drama. Yet De Musset's prose has in
greater measure the qualities that endure.

The Duke of Orleans created De Musset Librarian in the Department of the
Interior. It was sometimes stated that there was no library at all. It
is certain that it was a sinecure, though the pay, 3,000 francs, was
sm