Bonaparte; and
that as administrator of the Comedie Francaise he directed, in 1899, an
open letter to the "President and Members of the Court Martial trying
Captain Dreyfus" at Rennes, advocating the latter's acquittal. So much
about Claretie as a politician!

The number of volumes and essays written by Jules Claretie surpasses
imagination, and it is, therefore, almost impossible to give a complete
list. As a historian he has selected mostly revolutionary subjects. The
titles of some of his prominent works in this field are 'Les Derniers
Montagnards (1867); Histoire de la Revolution de 1870-71 (second
edition, 1875, 5 vols.); La France Envahie (1871); Le Champ de Bataille
de Sedan (1871); Paris assiege and Les Prussiens chez eux (1872); Cinq
Ans apres, L'Alsace et la Lorraine depuis l'Annexion (1876); La Guerre
Nationale 1870-1871', etc., most of them in the hostile, anti-German
vein, natural to a "Chauvinist"; 'Ruines et Fantomes (1873). Les Femmes
de la Revolution (1898)' contains a great number of portraits, studies,
and criticisms, partly belonging to political, partly to literary,
history. To the same category belong: Moliere, sa Vie et ses OEuvres
(1873); Peintres et Sculpteurs Contemporains, and T. B. Carpeaux (1875);
L'Art et les Artistes Contemporains (1876)', and others. Quite different
from the above, and in another phase of thought, are: 'Voyages d'un
Parisien (1865); Journees de Voyage en Espagne et France (1870);
Journees de Vacances (1887)'; and others.

It is, however, as a novelist that the fame of Claretie will endure. He
has followed the footsteps of George Sand and of Balzac. He belongs
to the school of "Impressionists," and, although he has a liking for
exceptional situations, wherefrom humanity does not always issue without
serious blotches, he yet is free from pessimism. He has no nervous
disorder, no "brain fag," he is no pagan, not even a nonbeliever, and
has happily preserved his wholesomeness of thought; he is averse to
exotic ideas, extravagant depiction, and inflammatory language. His
novels and tales contain the essential qualities which attract and
retain the reader. Some of his works in chronological order, omitting
two or three novels, written when only twenty or twenty-one years old,
are: 'Pierrille, Histoire de Village (1863); Mademoiselle Cachemire
(1867); Un Assassin, also known under the title Robert Burat (1867);
Madeleine Bertin, replete with moderated sentiment, tender passion,