Le Sage, with a dash of the dandified impertinence that
mocked the foibles of the old Romanticists. However, he presently
abandoned this style for the more subjective strain of 'Les Voeux
Steyiles, Octave, Les Secretes Pensees de Rafael, Namouna, and Rolla',
the last two being very eloquent at times, though immature. Rolla (1833)
is one of the strongest and most depressing of his works; the sceptic
regrets the faith he has lost the power to regain, and realizes in lurid
flashes the desolate emptiness of his own heart. At this period the
crisis of his life was reached. He accompanied George Sand to Italy, a
rupture between them occurred, and De Musset returned to Paris alone in
1834.

More subdued sadness is found in 'Les Nuits' (1832-1837), and in 'Espoir
en Dieu' (1838), etc., and his 'Lettre a Lamartine' belongs to the most
beautiful pages of French literature. But henceforth his production grows
more sparing and in form less romantic, although 'Le Rhin Allemand', for
example, shows that at times he can still gather up all his powers. The
poet becomes lazy and morose, his will is sapped by a wild and reckless
life, and one is more than once tempted to wish that his lyre had ceased
to sing.

De Musset's prose is more abundant than his lyrics or his dramas. It is
of immense value, and owes its chief significance to the clearness with
which it exhibits the progress of his ethical disintegration. In
'Emmeline (1837) we have a rather dangerous juggling with the psychology
of love. Then follows a study of simultaneous love, 'Les Deux Mattresses'
(1838), quite in the spirit of Jean Paul. He then wrote three sympathetic
depictions of Parisian Bohemia: 'Frederic et Bernadette, Mimi Pinson, and
Le Secret de Javotte', all in 1838. 'Le Fils de Titien (1838) and
Croiselles' (1839) are carefully elaborated historical novelettes; the
latter is considered one of his best works, overflowing with romantic
spirit, and contrasting in this respect strangely with 'La Mouche'
(1853), one of the last flickerings of his imagination. 'Maggot' (1838)
bears marks of the influence of George Sand; 'Le Merle Blanc' (1842) is a
sort of allegory dealing with their quarrel. 'Pierre et Camille' is a
pretty but slight tale of a deaf-mute's love. His greatest work,
'Confession d'un Enfant du Siecle', crowned with acclaim by the French
Academy, and classic for all time, was written in 1836, when the poet,
somewhat recovered from the shock, relates his u