ical airs.
. . . This is simply a style that I have taken on, I assure you. . . ."

Sainte-Beuve had every reason to be alarmed, and the confessor was quite
right in his surmises. The crisis of romanticism had commenced. It
was to take an acute form and to reach its paroxysm during the Venice
escapade. It is from this point of view that we will study the famous
episode, which has already been studied by so many other writers.

No subject, perhaps, has excited the curiosity of readers like this one,
and always without satisfying that curiosity. A library could be formed
of the books devoted to this subject, written within the last ten years.
Monsieur Rocheblave, Monsieur Maurice Clouard, Dr. Cabanes, Monsieur
Marieton, the enthusiastic collector, Spoelberch de Lovenjoul and
Monsieur Decori have all given us their contributions to the debate.(19)
Thanks to them, we have the complete correspondence of George Sand and
Musset, the diary of George Sand and Pagello's diary.

(19) Consult: Rocheblave, _La fin dune Legende;_ Maurice
Clouard, _Documents inedits sur A. de Musset;_ Dr. Cabanes,
_Musset et le Dr. Pagello_; Paul Marieton, _Une histoire
d'amour;_ Vicomte Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, _La vrai histoire
d'Elle et Lui;_ Decori, _Lettres de George Sand et Musset._

With the aid of all these documents Monsieur Charles Maurras has written
a book entitled _Les Amants de Venise_. It is the work of a psychologist
and of an artist. The only fault I have to find with it is that the
author of it seems to see calculation and artifice everywhere, and not
to believe sufficiently in sincerity. We must not forget, either, that
as early as the year 1893, all that is essential had been told us by
that shrewd writer and admirable woman, Arvede Barine. The chapter which
she devotes to the Venice episode, in her biography of Alfred de Musset,
is more clear and simple, and at the same time deeper than anything that
had yet been written.

It is a subject that has been given up to the curiosity of people and
to their disputes. The strange part is the zeal which at once animates
every one who takes part in this controversy. The very atmosphere seems
to be impregnated with strife, and those interested become, at once,
the partisans of George Sand or the partisans of Musset. The two parties
only agree on one point, and that is, to throw all the blame on the
client favoured by their adversary. I must confess that I cann