_Poe_
A mysterious sphinx who makes one tremble with lynx-like eyes, the
goldsmith of magical wonders.
_Dickens_
At once a mystic and a sad clown. The Saint Vincent de Paul of the
loosened string, the Saint Francis of Assisi of the London Streets.
Everything is gesticulation, and the gesticulations are ambiguous. When
we think he is going to weep, he laughs; when we think he is going to
laugh, he cries. A remarkable genius who does everything he can to make
himself appear puny, yet who is, beyond doubt, very great.
_Larra_ [Footnote: A Spanish poet and satirist (1809-37), famous
under the pseudonym of Figaro. He committed suicide. The poet Zorrilla
first came into prominence through some verses read at his tomb.]
A small, trained tiger shut up in a tiny cage. He has all the tricks of
a cat; he mews like one, he lets you stroke his back, and there are
times when his fiercer instincts show in his eyes. Then you realize that
he is thinking: "How I should love to eat you up!"
THE NATURALISTS
_Flaubert_
Flaubert is a heavy-footed animal. It is plain that he is a Norman. All
his work has great specific gravity. He disgusts me. One of Flaubert's
master strokes was the conception of the character of Homais, the
apothecary, in _Madame Bovary_.
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