From the Deutsche Schnellpost.
The celebrated Pianist, Franz Liszt, is now in Spain. He makes a great sensation in Madrid. The Queen, before whom he has played several times, has conferred upon him the order of Charles IIId, and made him a present, besides, of a diamond breast pin. ‘The Franz Liszt fever,’ says the Gazette of Cologne, ‘runs as high in Madrid as it did in Berlin. Flowers and garlands fall in heaps; serenades are the order of the night; Franz is, of course, called for ten times at least; and when he, collecting his laurels, returns to the inn, he is accompanied by a body-guard of some thousand enthusiastic amateurs. What sympathy between the Manzanares and the Spree.’
Sue’s “Wandering Jew” finds a rapid sale, though pursued by anathemas from many quarters. The sympathy of the public increases, day by day, and Sue is again one of the lions of Paris. The great sources of interest arise from his having woven into his work the Jesuits and the Organization of Labor.
Eugene Sue was born at Paris, 10th December, 1804. The Empress Josephine and Eugene Beauharnais were his godmother and godfather. His father was a physician, and descended from a family of physicians. Eugene, too, studied for this profession, attended the army in Spain, as surgeon, 1823; went to sea in 1824, visited the Antilles, and, later, the Mediterranean, and was present at the battle of Navarino. Soon after, he left the service, and went to Paris, where, rich and independent, he dedicated himself to study the arts and sciences. Painting, especially, attracted him, and he became intimate with Gudin (the most distinguished French painter of sea-pieces.) In 1830, a friend, casually, said to him “Eugene, Cooper’s romances have brought the sea into fashion. You should follow his lead, write down your experiences, and give us sea-romances of our own.” Sue caught at the thought, began to write; thus arose the “Pirate Kernock,” “The Salamander,” and others. Then followed a history of the French Marine under Louis XIV, a sketch of the naval history of all nations, then he undertook historical novels (“Latreaumont,” “Jean Cavalier,” “Letorieres, the Commander of Malta,”) then moral tales, such as Arthur and some dramas;—finally the novels of society, in which he is now engaged.
Sue lives in the suburb St. Honoré, in a small, peculiarly arranged, and somewhat lonely house, adorned with a flower-garden, statuary, old and new styles of furniture, books, vases, and pictures by Delacroix, Gudin, Isabey, Vernet, with drawings by Madame La Martine and others.—In the vestibule are a stuffed wolf and bird of prey; in the garden two grey-hounds, presented to him by Lord Chesterfield, have their home. Gold pheasants and other pretty birds wander on the green turf, and an old servant who has been with Sue for fifteen years, keeps every thing in the best order.
The prohibition of ‘The Wandering Jew,’ the formal anathema of the Church pronounced, both in France and other regions, upon this work, the zeal with which the Jesuits contend against its circulation, have naturally contributed much to extend the fame and popularity of the book. The ‘Constitutionnel’ makes known that it will publish all ten volumes of ‘The Wandering Jew’ in one, when finished; and has also concluded with Sue a contract for another novel, in seven volumes, which will appear by the end of 1845, under the title of ‘The Seven Deadly Sins.”*
“Franz Lizst and Eugene Sue.” New-York Daily Tribune, 11 January 1845, p. 1.
