Victor Hugo - The Man Who Laughs - Cosmopolitan University 2

night, which is called power. He carries a dark lantern in his hand. He
lights up the spot he wishes, and remains in darkness himself. What he
seeks with his lantern is not a man, it is a fool. What he finds is the
king.
Kings do not like to see those about them pretend to greatness. Irony
aimed at any one except themselves has a charm for them. The talent of
Barkilphedro consisted in a perpetual dwarfing of the peers and princes
to the advantage of her Majesty's stature, thus increased in proportion.
The master-key held by Barkilphedro was made with two sets of wards, one
at each end, so as to open the inner apartments in both Josiana's
favourite residences--Hunkerville House in London, Corleone Lodge at
Windsor. These two houses were part of the Clancharlie inheritance.
Hunkerville House was close to Oldgate. Oldgate was a gate of London,
which was entered by the Harwich road, and on which was displayed a
statue of Charles II., with a painted angel on his head, and beneath his
feet a carved lion and unicorn. From Hunkerville House, in an easterly
wind, you heard the peals of St. Marylebone. Corleone Lodge was a
Florentine palace of brick and stone, with a marble colonnade, built on
pilework, at Windsor, at the head of the wooden bridge, and having one
of the finest courts in England.
In the latter palace, near Windsor Castle, Josiana was within the
queen's reach. Nevertheless, Josiana liked it.
Scarcely anything in appearance, everything in the root, such was the
influence of Barkilphedro over the queen. There is nothing more
difficult than to drag up these bad grasses of the court--they take a
deep root, and offer no hold above the surface. To root out a
Roquelaure, a Triboulet, or a Brummel, is almost impossible.
From day to day, and more and more, did the queen take Barkilphedro into
her good graces. Sarah Jennings is famous; Barkilphedro is unknown. His
existence remains ignored. The name of Barkilphedro has not reached as
far as history. All the moles are not caught by the mole-trapper.
Barkilphedro, once a candidate for orders, had studied a little of
everything. Skimming all things leaves naught for result. One may be
victim of the _omnis res scibilis_. Having the vessel of the Danaïdes in
one's head is the misfortune of a whole race of learned men, who may be
termed the sterile. What Barkilphedro had put into his brain had left it
empty.
The mind, like nature, abhors vacuum. Into emptiness nature puts love;
the mind often puts hate. Hate occupies.
Hate for hate's sake exists. Art for art's sake exists in nature more
than is believed. A man hates--he must do something. Gratuitous
hate--formidable word! It means hate which is itself its own payment.
The bear lives by licking his claws. Not indefinitely, of course. The
claws must be revictualled--something must be put under them.
Hate indistinct is sweet, and suffices for a time; but one must end by
having an object. An animosity diffused over creation is exhausting,
like every solitary pleasure. Hate without an object is like a
shooting-match without a target. What lends interest to the game is a
heart to be pierced. One cannot hate solely for honour; some seasoning