Fontan was condemned to ten years' imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 francs. The sentence was rather too severe, and it caused a great outcry. It will be admitted that the article was not good enough to deserve this severe treatment. The result was to raise Fontan to the height of a martyr. And Fontan, who was of an energetic and headstrong character, made no attempt to justify himself before his judges. "Messieurs," he said simply, "whether or not I intended my article to bear the interpretation you put upon it, I have the right of withholding any explanation of the subject; I allow no man to examine the inner sanctuary of my conscience. I wished to write an article about a mad sheep and I did it; that is the only explanation I ought or desire to give you." I used to know Fontan very well at M. Villenave's house--he was a great friend of Théodore--an unpolished sort of man, who nevertheless did not lack some poetic feeling. He was unclean to the point of cynicism, and less aristocratic than Schaunard in the _Vie de bohème_; instead of having one pipe for continual smoking and a finer one when he went out, he had but one cutty pipe which never left his mouth, which smelt vilely when alight and between his teeth, but which smelt far worse when it was extinguished and in his pocket. This condemnation made Fontan's name notorious. I believe the revolution of July found him at Poissy. He reappeared amidst a certain measure of popularity, but it was only the transient popularity of persecution. Harel, who was the manager of the Odéon, quickly conceived the notion of turning this popularity to account by asking Fontan to write a play for him. Fontan complied, and wrote _Jeanne la Folle_, but it was a failure, or, at any rate, only a partial success. Harel came up to me after the representation and said-- "Unmistakably I have been deceived in Fontan. There is more of the prison about him than of talent!" This was, unfortunately, true. Poor Fontan died quite young and left nothing remarkable behind him; he published a volume of poetry and saw two or three dramas or tragedies put on the stage. Barthélemy's sentence was less severe; he had three months' imprisonment and was fined 1000 francs. We will give the reasons that led to his trial. We have already entertained our readers with the débuts of Barthélemy and Méry. They are aware how these two poets came together and how the _Villéliade_, the _Peyronnéide_, the _Corbiéréide_ and a host of other pieces were concocted which kept public attention spell-bound for a couple of years. The most important of these poems was _Napoléon en Égypte_. It took tremendously, and ran into ten editions in less than six months' time.