578 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



intrigue and mystification. From his childhood he had been edu- 

 cated in strictly Roman Catholic schools, and everything was done 

 by his pious parents and teachers to render him sound in the faith. 

 Long before arriving at man's estate he had thrown off these influ- 

 ences and cast in his lot with unbelievers, although he continued to 

 go to mass, confession, and communion. "While a pupil in the Cath- 

 olic College of St. Louis, at Marseilles, he was strongly attracted 

 to the political views of the radical party as set forth in Roche- 

 fort's Lanterne, and soon began to write for the press; in 1871 

 he joined the editorial staff of Egalite, and published for two years 

 a humoristic journal — La Marotte (Fool's Bauble). It is not neces- 

 sary to give a detailed sketch of this man's life. Suffice it to say 

 that he was violently anticlerical, and was repeatedly fined and im- 

 prisoned for articles insulting to the Church and to ecclesiastical 

 dignitaries. On December 29, 1881, at Montpellier, he was con- 

 demned to pay a fine of sixty-five thousand francs for publishing 

 a book entitled The Secret Amours of Pius IX. He appealed from 

 this decision, and, after repeated efforts, succeeded in having the 

 indictment quashed. A new edition appeared in 1885, and was 

 announced by large placards, in the center of which was a medallion 

 of the Pope's head, encircled with the heads of a bevy of beautiful 

 women, forming, according to the author, a fitting halo for his 

 Holiness. "We may add that the sensational revelations contained 

 in this book, as well as in the Scandalous Llistory of the Orleans 

 and similar works, are for the most part mere figments of the 

 imagination recorded as facts, for the purpose of mystifying a cred- 

 ulous public. In 1880 he founded a " Society of Freethinkers," 

 which, with its numerous branches, numbered in a few years about 

 seventeen thousand members. The remarkable success of this 

 movement was due in a great measure to the energy with which 

 he advocated it in the columns of the Repuhlique Anti-Clericale, of 

 which he was the editor. 



Perhaps the most comical episode in his strange career is his 

 pretended repentance, resulting in the return of this black sheep 

 to the fold of the Catholic Church. In his Confessions the arrant 

 renegade relates how, on April 3, 1885 (April 1st would have been 

 a more appropriate date), while engaged in writing a book on Joan 

 of Arc designed to excite animosity against the clergy, his fell pur- 

 pose was suddenly shaken by strong compunctions, and soon a fear- 

 ful agitation convulsed his whole being. His description of his 

 contrition and self-reproaches is quite sensational and thrilling, 

 and shows rare talent as an actor, if we only bear in mind that 

 the whole thing was a farce. " I burst into sobs. ' Pardon 

 me, God! ' I cried out in a voice choked with tears. 'Pardon 



