The Project Gutenberg EBook of His Excellency the Minister, by Jules Claretie

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Title: His Excellency the Minister

Author: Jules Claretie

Translator: Henri Roberts

Release Date: May 29, 2005 [EBook #15934]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIS EXCELLENCY THE MINISTER ***

Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Jonathan Niehof and the
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THIS EDITION
DEDICATED TO THE HONOR OF THE
ACADEMIE FRANCAISE
IS LIMITED TO ONE THOUSAND NUMBERED AND REGISTERED
SETS, OF WHICH THIS IS

NUMBER 358

THE ROMANCISTS
JULES CLARETIE
HIS EXCELLENCY THE MINISTER

BIBLIOTHEQUE
DES CHEFS-D'OEUVRE
DU ROMAN
CONTEMPORAIN

_HIS EXCELLENCY
THE MINISTER_

JULES CLARETIE

OF THE ACADEMIE FRANCAISE

PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY BY

GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, PHILADELPHIA
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY G.B. & SON

THIS EDITION OF
HIS EXCELLENCY THE MINISTER
HAS BEEN COMPLETELY TRANSLATED
BY
HENRI ROBERTS

THE ETCHINGS ARE BY
EUGENE WALLET
AND DRAWINGS BY
ADRIEN MARIE

TO ALPHONSE DAUDET

My dear friend,

Ideas sometimes float about in the air like the pollen of flowers. For
years past I have been at work collecting notes for this book which I
have decided to dedicate to you.

In one of your charming prefaces, you told us lately that you only
painted from nature. We are both of us, I imagine, in our day and
generation, quite captivated and carried away by that modern society
from which in your exquisite creations you have so well understood how
to extract the essence.

What is it that I have desired to do this time? That which we have both
been trying to do at one and the same time: to seize, in passing, these
stirring times of ours, these modern manners, that society which
perpetuates the antediluvian uproar, that feverish, bustling world
always posing before the footlights, that market for the sale of
appetites, that kirmess of pleasure that saddens us a little and amuses
us a great deal, and allows us romance-writers, simple seekers after
truth, to smile in our sleeves at the constant seekers after portfolios.

This book is true, I have seen the events na