exquisite of vulgarians! Victor Hugo--mere common sense dressed up as
art.

_Stendhal_

The inventor of a psychological automaton moved by clock work.

_Balzac_

A nightmare, a dream produced by indigestion, a chill, rare acuteness,
equal obtuseness, a delirium of splendours, cheap hardware, of pretence
and bad taste. Because of his ugliness, because of his genius, because
of his immorality, the Danton of printers' ink.

_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