Theophile Gautier & Eugene de Mirecourt 
Famous French Authors 
Biographical Portraits of Distinguished French Writers

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Theophile Gautier, was born at Tarbes, August 31st, 1811. When three years old, he went to live in Paris, we might say he returned there, so much is he a part of Paris. He writes of himself, I learned to read at the age of five years, and after that time, I could say with Apelles, Nulla dies sine linea. He took his first lessons at the college of Louis le Grand, and ended them as day-pupil at Charlemagne. His father, a very good linguist, assisted him in Latin; but the boy’s taste was not for the purely classic authors. Livy and Cicero wearied him; Martial, and Catullus, Apuleius and Petronius, were his delight. So dear to him were these writers of the decadence, that he sought to imitate them in all varieties of metre.