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    220 REMARKS ON VICTOR HUGO'S "l*ES MISER...

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    ¦ « By Frances Power Cobbe. It Is Either...

    our childish tears fell on tlie story of the / ' Lepreux de a cite d' Aoste . " Naythe accumulated hate and despair which the reader sees dimly

    , swelling higher and higher in the sonl of the convict , adds a darker shade to the picture than the physical sufferings of the poor outcast

    leper . It is awful to contemplate the state of a human soul , enr during such wrongsand wandering on in storm and darkness , the

    , blackened heavens overhead showing for him no ray of God's love , and the homes of his fellows closed against him , as he prowls like

    a wolf around them , and watches the household fires shine through the windows , while he stands without perishing with hunger and

    with cold . , Are there such human outcasts in our land ? God help us , if

    there be , to find them out and feed their famishing hearts with at least some crumbs of the kindness we would lavish on a strayed dog , or

    a robin perishing in the snow . At least , it is well to know that in that better way of treating our criminals which England will soon

    copy from Ireland , there is nothing like this state of things possible , "but the released convict is aided effectually and durably to regain .

    have his place been among guilty , his not fellows of murder . But , cruelt our y fallen , robbery women , like ? the Those convicts wha _,,

    but of frailty , helpless yielding to passion , ( or perhaps to dire starvar fio ? i ) are there none of these poor souls wandering like ghostsat

    , , night , round innocent and happy homes , whose light shines through some chink upon their soiled and pallid faces ? Oh , father , brother ,

    sister , if such there be around your door , open it to them wide ; and if their need be not of earthly shelterthen open the doors of your

    , hearts and let them sit awhile by the warm hearth of home affectionsbefore their poor brief day of cloud and storm comes to its

    , eternal close ! Victor Hugo has brought his convict ' s woes to their bourne at

    the house of a saintly bishop , who receives him , gives him food and shelter , and treats him with trust and kindnesswhich at first only

    , confound and startle him . We are not disposed to quarrel with the portraiture of this bishop , all superhuman though it be . The

    poet meant to draw a saint ,- —and who shall dictate how far the aureole of such should be pictured to shine into the dark ? Let us

    blame those who create fiends more black than human nature ever shows ; but leave by themselves images of seraphic goodness , to

    prove that what men perchance cannot yet be , men can at least conceive of . and revere . The Romans of old and the Spaniards of the

    Middle Ages fought none the less bravely for believing that the Dioscuri and St . Iago led their battles . Perchance we also should

    hold ourselves none the worse on the great field of life , could we more readily believe that demigods and saints of glory mingle yet

    in the war . We have heroes still . Is it so utterly incredible , there are also saints upon earth like the good bishop of Victor Hugo ?

    True to nature , however , the convict is not represented as gained

    at once even by the angelic goodness and confidence of Ms host .

    220 Remarks On Victor Hugo's "L*Es Miser...

    220 REMARKS ON VICTOR HUGO ' S " l _* ES MISERABLES . "

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1862, page 220, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121862/page/4/