n author in
a paroxysm of mortified vanity, nor the energy which he discovers when
stung by the poisoned darts of sarcasm; but, on the other hand, the man
that is roused to fighting-fury by a personal attack usually subsides
very promptly. The more phlegmatic race, who take these things quietly,
lay their account with the oblivion which speedily overtakes the
spiteful article. These are the truly courageous men of letters; and if
the weaklings seem at first to be the strong men, they cannot hold out
for any length of time.

During that first fortnight, while the fury was upon him, Lucien poured
a perfect hailstorm of articles into the Royalist papers, in which he
shared the responsibilities of criticism with Hector Merlin. He was
always in the breach, pounding away with all his might in the _Reveil_,
backed up by Martainville, the only one among his associates who stood
by him without an afterthought. Martainville was not in the secret of
certain understandings made and ratified amid after-dinner jokes, or
at Dauriat's in the Wooden Galleries, or behind the scenes at the
Vaudeville, when journalists of either side met on neutral ground.

When Lucien went to the greenroom of the Vaudeville, he met with no
welcome; the men of his own party held out a hand to shake, the
others cut him; and all the while Hector Merlin and Theodore Gaillard
fraternized unblushingly with Finot, Lousteau, and Vernou, and the rest
of the journalists who were known for "good fellows."

The greenroom of the Vaudeville in those days was a hotbed of gossip, as
well as a neutral ground where men of every shade of opinion could
meet; so much so that the President of a court of law, after reproving a
learned brother in a certain council chamber for "sweeping the greenroom
with his gown," met the subject of his strictures, gown to gown, in the
greenroom of the Vaudeville. Lousteau, in time, shook hands again with
Nathan; Finot came thither almost every evening; and Lucien, whenever he
could spare the time, went to the Vaudeville to watch the enemies, who
showed no sign of relenting towards the unfortunate boy.

In the time of the Restoration party hatred was far more bitter than in
our day. Intensity of feeling is diminished in our high-pressure age.
The critic cuts a book to pieces and shakes hands with the author
afterwards, and the victim must keep on good terms with his slaughterer,
or run the gantlet of innumerable jokes at his expense. If he r