The first performance of _Hernani_ left a unique impression upon theatrical annals; the suspension of _Marion Delorme_, the talk there had been about _Hernani_, had excited public curiosity to the highest pitch, and they were right in looking forward to a stormy night. The people attacked before they had heard a word, and defended without understanding what they were defending. When Hernani learns from Ruy Gomez that he has entrusted his daughter to Charles V., he exclaims-- "... Vieillard stupide, il l'aime!" M. Parseval de Grandmaison, who was a little deaf, mistook it for "Vieil as de pique, il l'aime!" ("Old ace of spades, he loves her!") and, in his unaffected indignation, he could not refrain from shouting out-- "Oh! but really that is going a little too far!" "What is going too far, monsieur?" my friend Lassailly inquired, who was on his left and had heard M. Parseval de Grandmaison's remark, but had not caught what Firmin said. "I say, monsieur," the Academician replied, "that it is going a little too far to call a respectable, worthy old man like Ruy Gomez de Silva, 'old ace of spades'!" "What! It is too strong an expression?" "Yes, say what you like, it is not good taste, especially coming from such a young man as Hernani." "Monsieur," Lassailly replied, "he had a right to say so. Cards were invented--they were invented in the time of Charles VI.; Monsieur l'Académicien, if you are not aware of that fact, I acquaint you with it. Hurrah for the old ace of spades! Bravo, Firmin! Bravo, Hugo! Ah!" You can understand how hopeless it was to attempt to reply to people who attacked and defended in this fashion. _Hernani_ met with great success, although it was more strongly contested than _Henri III._ It is simple enough to find the reason for this: beauties of form and style are least readily appreciated by the vulgar mind, and these were Hugo's particular charms. On the other hand, these beautiful touches, being purely artistic, made a great impression on us, and on me in particular. _Hernani_ received all the tributes customary to triumph: it was outrageously attacked, and defended with equal violence; it was parodied with a clever astuteness directed against the traditionary dramatic customs, under the title of _Arnali, ou la Contrainte par Cor_ (Arnali, or Constraint by Acclamation), a French work translated from the Gothic. And with regard to parodies,--let us make note of a historical fact, the date of which might else be lost in the mists of time, if we did not jot it down here. The story--for such it is--of Cabrion and of M. Pipelet goes back to the month of March 1829. This is what happened, and it caused so much uneasiness to the porters of Paris that they have remained a melancholy race ever since!