VAPEREAU'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY

Hector Henri Malot was born at La Bouille (Seine Inf.) on the 2oth May, 1830. He began his studies at Rouen, and completed them at Paris, under the spécial direction of M. Gibon, as his father, a retired conveyancer, wished to make a lawyer of bim ; he qualified {fit son droite as it is called in French), and commenced work in a solicitor's office. His turn for literature, howcver, soon set him to work writing for the papers, and he contributed some articles to " Didot's General Biography." He tried his hand also at playwriting, and wrote the theatrical articles in the French Lloyd, besides drawing up some political pamphlets for a senator. It was not till 1859, however, that he began work as a novelist. Les Victimes d^Amour^ of which the first volume, Les Amants (1859), met with an immédiate success, was foUowed by Les Époux (1865), and Les Enfants^ 1866.

The next works were : Les Amours des Jacques (1860), Un BeaU'Frire (1869), Une Bonne Affaire {iSjo)y Mme, Obemin (1870), £/« Curé de Province (iSj 2), Un Mariage sous le Second Empire 1873), L^ Auberge du Monde (1875),

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Vi SHORT ACCOUNT OF H. MALOT'S LIFE AND WORKS.

Les Batailles du Mariage (1877), Cara (1878), and then in the same year, Sans FainilUy which s^ork was crowned by the French Academy. There are olher works which we hâve passed over, but we think that the last named book, from which the foUowing " Épisode " has been extracted, is that which will give him the most universal popularity, especially in England, and of which we may say, that as a novel, in which the incidents enlist our keenest sympathies without containing a single word or suggestion that could by any possibility shock the most sensitive, it will be sure to be fully appreciated and read wfth pleasure.

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