GEORGE SAND.
BY
BERTHA THOMAS.
BOSTON:
ROBERTS BROTHERS.
1883.
Copyright, 1883,
By Roberts Brothers.
University Press:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.
PREFATORY NOTE.
The authentic materials available for an account of the life of GeorgeSand, although lately increased by the publication of a large part ofher correspondence, are still incomplete. Her memoirs by her own hand,dealing fully with her early life alone, remain unsupplemented by anyentire and detailed biography, for which, indeed, the time seems hardlyyet come. Hence one among many obvious difficulties in the way of thisattempt to prepare for English readers a brief sketch that shall atleast indicate all the more salient features of a life of singularlyvaried aspect.
Much, though of interest in itself, must here be omitted, as beyond thescope of the present study. There are points again into which, astouching persons still living or quite recently deceased, it would bepremature to enter. But none seem of such importance as to forbid theendeavor, by a careful review of those facts in the life of George Sandwhich most justly represent her character as a whole, and were thedetermining influences on her career and on her work, to arrive at truthand completeness of general outline, the utmost it is possible to hopeto accomplish in this little volume.
Bertha Thomas.
CONTENTS.
Early Years
Girlhood and Married Life
Début in Literature
Lélia—Italian Journey
Mental Development
Solitude, Society and Socialism
Consuelo—Home Life at Nohant
Novelist and Politician
Pastoral Tales
Plays and Later Novels
Artist and Moralist
Later Years
GEORGE SAND.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS.
In naming George Sand we name something more exceptional than even agreat genius. Her rise to eminence in the literature of her century, is,if not without a parallel, yet absolutely without a precedent, in theannals of women of modern times.
The origin of much that is distinctive in the story of her life may betraced