As a rule translations from a foreign language lose much of the charm and subtlety of the originals. No truer example of this has come to our notice than the Letters of Victor Hugo, done into English by Paul Meurice (Houghton Mifflin and Co.) It is a work of remarkable interest, including as it does Hugo's unpublished letters to his father, wife, children, and to many famous persons. But much of the refinement and delicacy of phrase is lost in the translating; and the reader feels that he is hearing Hugo's words from the lips of some one else and not from the author himself.
Hugo's letters show him to have posessed a strong and lovable character, there being but little suggestion of the extravagance of thought and diction which often marred his romances.
The work is valuable to every booklover and should be in his library unless a French edition can be purchased.
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