His ideal of the greatness of the individual is derived logically from his conception of an aristocratic society under the triumvirate of the poet, the priest and the soldier. "Before all, to be a great man and a saint for one's self;" that, for Baudelaire, is the one ambition worthy of a superior nature. He has indicated the principal traits of the ideal "dandy" that he has sought unceasingly. The dandy is not only the most elegant of men, of the most original and discriminating tastes, which he exercises in his habits, in the choice of his books or his mistress; he is armed with a will superior to all obstacles, opposing caprice with invincible energy, and correcting in himself the inevitable faults of nature with all the resources of art. The two manuscripts in which these ideals are scattered differ so slightly that it might seem impossible to decide which should be read first. A closer examination, however, indicates that _Rockets_ is of the period about ten years before the author's death, while _My Heart Laid Bare_ belongs entirely to the days when he felt the first attacks of the illness that was to bear him off. No effort has been made to group the paragraphs according to topic; they are printed as they appear in the manuscript (the page divisions of which are indicated by the successive numbers). The documents furnish an interesting supplement to the more formal works of the poet, and a valuable contribution to literature. INTIMATE PAPERS ROCKETS I Even if God did not exist, religion would still be holy and divine. God is the only being who, to govern, need not even exist. That which is created by the mind lives more truly than matter. Love is the desire of prostitution. There is not even one noble pleasure which cannot be reduced to prostitution. At a play, at a ball, each one finds pleasure in all. What is art? Prostitution. The pleasure of being in a crowd is a mysterious expression of joy in the multiplication of number. _All_ is number. Number is in _all_. Number is in the individual. Intoxication is a number. The desire of productive concentration ought to replace, in a mature being, the desire of deperdition. Love may spring from a generous emotion: desire of prostitution; but it is soon corrupted by the desire of possession. Love would like to come out of itself, to merge itself in its victim, as the victor in the vanquished, while still preserving the privileges of the conqueror. The delights of whoso keeps a mistress partake at once of the angel and of the proprietor. Charity and ferocity. They are even independent of sex, of beauty, of the animal kind. Immense depth of thought in popular phrases, hollowed out by generations of ants. II Of the femininity of the Church, as the reason for its omnipotence. Of the color violet (restrained, mysterious, veiled love, color of canoness).