his own pleasure, he was either unwilling or
unable to write them under a regular commission. As he grew older he
unfortunately became addicted to the constant and excessive use of
stimulants. He was elected to the Academy in 1852, but produced little
of value thereafter, and died in 1857. Alfred de Musset's work,
notwithstanding his comparatively short life and his want of regular
energy, is not inconsiderable in amount, and in quality is of the
highest merit and interest. His poems, its most important item, are
deficient in strictly formal merit. He is a very careless versifier and
rhymer, and his choice of language is far from exquisite. He has,
however, a wonderful note of genuine passion, somewhat of the Byronic
kind, but quite independent in species, and entirely free from the
falsetto which spoils so much of Byron's work. Besides this his lyrics
are, in what may be called 'song-quality,' scarcely to be surpassed.
_Les Nuits_, a series of meditative poems in the form of dialogues
between the poet and his muse on nights in the month of May, August,
October, and December; _Rolla_, an extravagant but powerful tale of the
_maladie du siecle_; the addresses to Lamartine and to Malibran, and a
few more poems, yield to no work of our time in genuine, original, and
passionate music. Next to his poems in subject, though not in merit, may
be ranked the prose _Confession d'un Enfant du Siecle_. His prose tales,
_Emmeline_, _Frederic et Bernerette_, etc., are of great merit, but
inferior relatively to his poems, and to his remarkable dramas. These
latter are among the most original work of the century. It was some time
before they commended themselves to audiences in France, but they have
long won their true position. They are of very various kinds. Some, and
perhaps the happiest, are of the class called, in French, _proverbes_,
dramatic illustrations, that is to say, of some common saying, _Il ne
faut jurer de rien: Il faut qu'une porte soit ouverte ou fermee_, etc.
The grace and delicacy of these, the ingenuity with which the story is
adapted to the moral, the abundant wit (for wit is one of Musset's most
prominent characteristics) which illustrates and pervades them, make
them unique in literature. Others, such as _Les Caprices de Marianne_,
_Le Chandelier_, are regular comedies, admitting, as against the
classical tradition, that a comedy may end ill; and others, as
_Lorenzaccio_, nearly attain to the dignity of the histori