CHAPTER IV

Page 16.

1. 2. Le dialogue inconnu. This interview is entirely fictitious and has often been found fault with, especially by M. Mole. Another famous perversion of history on de Vigny's part is the scene in which he makes Milton, on his return from Italy, read Paradise Lost, which was not written till twenty years later, to some French men of letters in the salon of Marion Delorme. He defends himself as follows, "Pour les poètes et la postérité il suffit de savoir que le fait soit beau et probable. Aussi je réponds sur Laurette et les autres : Cela pourrait avoir été vrai." If we compare de Vigny's view of Napoleon as represented in this scene with such an estimate as M. Taine's; we see how many points he has seized.