HUGO'S HOUSE IN PARIS 



Le transfcrt du musec du Luxcrabourf; 

 dans U; bruinient dc r.-mcicu scniin.iiri; 

 de Saint-Sulpicc est chose decidec, et Ics trn- 

 vaux de transformation ct d'amenagemcnt , 

 necessites par ccttc operation vont etrc cn- 

 trepris inccssammeut. M. Simyan, rappor- 

 teur du budget des beaux-arts, — qui bier 

 matin, cn compagnic de M. Leonce Bencditc, 

 conservateur du Luxembourg, a visite les 

 batiments de I'ancien seminaire, — presente- 

 ra dans qnelques jours a la Chambre un ra[>- 

 port special tendant au vote des credits ne- 

 cessaires. On estime des maintenant que Ics 

 frais de ce traJisfert n'cxccderont pas deux; 



millions. 



Victor ItuKo, the most bclovrtl poet nnd 

 novelist of the French people, whs honored 

 upon the anniversary ot.hls centenary on 

 May -X'l, 18a->, by havlnR the house In Paris, 

 In which li« passeil (Iftcen years of - hlH 

 life, purchased lhrou«li tho active Inter- 

 est of Paul Meurlfie, and set aside as a 

 museum. Mr. Meurlce was an Intimate 

 friend of tho }Iugo family. 



Dui-lns his lifetime Huro had occupied 

 many houses In tho French capital, and It 

 was no easy cholqe to select tho one about 

 which was clustered the best memories of 

 the great writer. But finally Mr. Meurlce 

 decided that the Place de; 

 dence was the most fitting- < 



There are few places In Paris so full of 

 interesting associations as this,, for It wag 

 once the fashionable quarter, and it was 

 on this street that the celebrated Cardinal 

 Richelieu occupied a house after he had 

 given the Palais Royal to the king. Be- 

 cause this special house had been the home 

 I of Marlon de Lorme, Hugo was attracted 

 j to It. His first drama, of which she. had , 

 [ been the heroine,, had been a brilliant, sue- 



, The-opening of the house was made with 

 /very,; little cererriony, and the public was 

 not invited. There were 500 Invitations 

 sent to a carefully selected list of people, 

 wrhlch Included five delegates from the 

 j French Academy; several of the artists of 

 1 the Theatre Frangais; the president of the 

 Society of Dramatic Authors, some of the 

 surviving members of "Victor Hugo's fam- 

 ily, together with men and women of the 

 highest literary standing In France. 



The house was officially presented by 

 M. Meurlce to the mayor of Paris, and 

 Jules Claretle, a personal friend of Hugo, 

 delivered the chief address. The houses 

 along this famous French street were built 

 In 1604, at which time it was called the 

 Place Royale and was the dwelling ground 

 of French aristocracy. After having had 

 several other names, it was finally called 

 the Place des A''osges under the republic, 

 as It was the department of Vosges that 

 at that period sent the first contribution 

 of money to the State. 



Vicor Hugo was only twenty-one when 

 he moved to the Place des Vosges and a 

 - year' previous had married Mile. Foucher. 

 It was there during the next fifteen years 

 that he accomplished his best work, which 

 included ti^p beginning of "I^es Misferables." ' 

 He was much Interested in social questions 

 ' at this time and first called this story 

 . "The Manuscript of the Bishop." It was 

 , also while there that he was elected to 

 \ the Academy, raised to the peerage and 

 ' made a deputy from Paris. 

 I The concierge of the house,, who had 

 .held the position ' for fifty-four years,-.-, 



■ counted the time of residence of the Hugo;^ 



■ family as most momentous. His gossip is ' 

 .'fuir of fascination. -When- he was young 



he was a soldier of the Tenth of the line, 

 '< and when his service expired he became 

 1 concierge of the Hugo house and spent the 

 ! rest of ills life here. He said that one of 

 j Victor Hugo's first visitors was Prince 

 Louis Napoleon, the candidate for the 

 , presidency of the republic. "He came on 

 foot like an ordinary citizen," said the old 

 1 man. In Hugo's "History of a Crime" h« 

 recounts this interview. 



Jerome Bonaparte, the former king of 

 ■SVestphaVja. often came to pay a visit to 

 the "cradle of romancism," as this house 

 wa.s .then- called. Among other distin- 

 guished visitors ware: Alexander I>uma«, 

 Balzac, Lamartine, ■fecrenger and Theophlle 

 'Gautier, together with .many hotables of 



^'^It from this house that he started, 



after a hasty breakfast, on Dec. 3, 1851, to 

 attend the Assembly and read, from a pol- 

 ler on a .wall the announcement of the 

 i coup d'Stat of Napoleon III. He tried In 

 vain to tear It off the wall. 

 .'■ Then the concierge tells of the terror 

 . and atixlety of the family when a note 

 came from Dumas saying that a price had 

 been set on the head of Victor Hugo^ Th. 

 , ^.,.1 ,-1.,,. tiir nollre came to arrest him, wu* 



