These  limitations  in  some  sort  approximate  toward
those  of  painting  :  the  dramatic  author  is  tied  down,
not  indeed  to  a  moment,  but  to  the  duration  of  each
scene  or  act  ;  he  is  confined  to  the  stage,  almost  as
the  painter  is  confined  within  his  frame.  But  the
great  restriction  is  this,  that  a  dramatic  author  must
deal  with  his  actors,  and  with  his  actors  alone.  Cer-
tain moments  of  suspense,  certain  significant  disposi-
tions of  personages,  a  certain  logical  growth  of  emo-


VICTOR  FIUGO' S  ROMANCES.  31

tion,  these  are  the  only  means  at  the  disposal  of  the
playwright.  It  is  true  that,  with  the  assistance  of  the
scene-painter,  the  costumer  and  the  conductor  of  the
orchestra,  he  may  add  to  this  something  of  pageant,
something  of  sound  and  fury  ;  but  these  are,  for  the
dramatic  writer,  beside  the  mark,  and  do  not  come
under  the  vivifying  touch  of  his  genius.  When  we
turn  to  romance,  we  find  this  no  longer.  Here  noth-
ing is  reproduced  to  our  senses  directly.  Not  only
the  main  conception  of  the  work,  but  the  scenery,  the
appliances,  the  mechanism  by  which  this  conception
is  brought  home  to  us,  have  been  put  through  the
crucible  of  another  man's  mind,  and  come  out  again,
one  and  all,  in  the  form  of  written  words.  With  the
loss  of  every  degree  of  such  realism  as  we  have  de-
scribed, there  is  for  art  a  clear  gain  of  liberty  and  large-
ness of  competence.  Thus,  painting,  in  which  the
round  outlines  of  things  are  thrown  on  to  a  flat  board,
is  far  more  free  than  sculpture,  in  which  their  solidity
is  preserved.  It  is  by  giving  up  these  identities  that
art  gains  true  strength.  And  so  in  the  case  of  novels
as  compared  with  the  stage.  Continuous  narration  is
the  flat  board  on  to  which  the  novelist  throws  every-
thing. And  from  this  there  results  for  him  a  great
loss  of  vividness,  but  a  great  compensating  gain  in  his
power  over  the  subject ;  so  that  he  can  now  subordi-
nate one  thing  to  another  in  importance,  and  introduce
all  manner  of  very  subtle  detail,  to  a  degree  that  was
before  impossible.  He  can  render  just  as  easily  the
flourish  of  trumpets  before  a  victorious  emperor  and


32  VICTOR  HUGO'S  ROMANCES.
