Heath's Modern Language Series.
Par ÉMILE SOUVESTRE.
EDITED, WITH ENGLISH NOTES
BY
O. B. SUPER, PH.D.
Professor of Modern Languages in Dickinson College
BOSTON, U. S. A.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
1892
Copyright, 1889,
BY O. B. SUPER.
PRINTED MY C. H. HEINTZEMANN, BOSTON, MASS., U. S. A.
| Biographical Sketch. Le mari de madame de Solange:I.II.III.IV.V. Notes. |
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EMILE SOUVESTRE was born at Morlaix in Brittany,April 15, 1806. His father was a civil engineer, and he intendedfollowing the same profession. After his father'sdeath he changed his mind and began to study law, butbeing ambitious to shine as a writer he soon abandonedthe law also.
His first literary work was a drama entitled "The Siegeof Missolonghi," but this, like many other works of itsclass, was never produced on the stage. The misfortunesof his family soon compelled him to devote himself tomaking money, and in 1828 he became a book-keeper inNantes. He did not, however, entirely renounce literature,but published numerous articles in various periodicals, themost noted of which was a series entitled "Les DerniersBretons," which appeared in "La Revue des Deux Mondes."These established his reputation as a writer of taste, andduring the next twenty years he wrote a large number ofstories and tales, most of which were originally publishedin newspapers and reviews. His constant aim was notonly to please the reading public, but also to inculcate theprinciples of sound morality.
His next venture was the co-principalship of a privateschool at Nantes, but he soon resigned his position andbecame the editor of a paper at Brest. This he was sooncompelled to give up for political reasons, and he thenaccepted a professorship of rhetoric in the same place, andafterwards in Mühlhausen.
The professor's chair, however, does not seem to havebeen congenial to his tastes, for in 1836 he removed toParis, determined to devote himself exclusively to literature.He took up his abode in the fourth story of a house in aretired part of the city, and of his life there he gives uscharming glimpses in his "Philosophe sous les Toits."His thoroughly human and sympathetic nature made hima favorite with all who knew him, especially with the laboringclasses, with whom he loved to associate. It is to thiscircumstance that we owe "Les Confessions d'un Ouvrier."
The State in 1848 founded an "École d'Administration,"in order to train young men for the civil service, andhe was made one of the professors. Here he deliveredfour lectures to workingmen, which were very popular; butwhen Louis Napoleon overthrew the republic he regardedSouvestre's lec