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[written] 30

[typed] revolution so as to know Milton, and in French Rev. we are just
beginning Mirabeau. I haven't found out about Victor Hugo's poems
yet but shall soon. I shall leave the rest of this for extra ideas-
so good night- your loving....

Tuesday - Dec. 17, '95.

I didn't realize this would be a Christmas letter or
I should have begun on more Christmasy paper - but I must tell you
about"Napoleon's retreat from Moscow". I asked Prof. Andersen about
it and he said he had never published it but that he would copy it
for me - providing I would never let it get into print as sometime
he intended to publish it. Of course, I would not listen to his
going to so much trouble and he supplied me with pen, paper and the
original to copy it myself. As I did so he glanced over my shoulder
and read the whole thing through. He said that he wrote it one night
when we was preparing a lecture on Victor Hugo - he wanted some ex-
tract of his works to illustrate with and the volume of translations
was so poor that he turned to this passage and translated it himself
as he said, he thought he could do better than "those fellows"(the
volume of translations) The result was the best work he ever did.
He said the passage in the original had always been a favorite of his
and he had translated it into the heroic meter as that best gave the
idea of the rugged system rhythmn of the French verse. He went on to say
that this was only a part of the series of Victor Hugo's portrayals
of Napoleon's eventful life, and the the Expiation at last came when
Napoleon arose from his gorgeous tomb and beheld the debauched reign
of his successor according to Hugo's thought. We had a delightful
talk, and he took my copy and put his signature to it and date. Wasn't
it lovely of him_I was so happy I wanted to hug him. In Browning
he read "Strafford" to us and when he came to the last scene, there