156 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



In dealing with Victor Hugo we tread upon surer 

 ground. The French poet had not a few of the 

 characteristics of the neuropathic subject. His genius 

 developed itself in his boyhood ; he was flighty, un- 

 teachable, self-centred, and wholly incapable of calm 

 judgment. Of his two brothers, Abel showed liter- 

 ary talent ; the other brother, Eugene, became insane 

 at tioenty. It has pleased the poet himself and his 

 biographers to conclude that he inherited much of 

 his individuality from his mother, ti^e Sophie Tr^- 

 buchet. Between mother and son there existed cer- 

 tainly a strong likeness of feature, judging by their 

 portraits. But of moral resemblance there was little. 

 The published letters of Madame Hugo, written about 

 the time of her marriage with Major, afterwards 

 General Hugo, and during the poet's boyhood, exhibit 

 her as an orderly, thrifty, and industrious housewife, 

 and as a good mother also, bright in disposition and 

 solicitous for the welfare of her children. Happily 

 there are many mothers of that stamp in the world. 

 Sons like Victor Hugo, however, are rare ; and we 

 have to look further into the family history to under- 

 stand what prompted the youthful Victor to write in 

 his scrap-book, " Je veux etre Chateaubriand ou rien," 

 and what furnished him, above all, with the means of 



