During a year previous to September, 1850, George Sand had been giving her attention once more to dramatic art, which, she writes: "Being novel to me, has restored me of late somewhat, and it is the only work to which I have been able to apply myself for an entire year." Her experience of the reception of _Cosima_ in no way seems to have discouraged her. Indeed, we know that she expressed herself as satisfied. _François le Champi_, a pastoral comedy adapted from her novel of the same title, was produced in 1849 at the Odéon. Its success was genuine, and was followed by _Claudie_, in 1851, which was likewise received with public favor; their simple rural qualities were a novelty which was heartily appreciated. This period of labor was interrupted by the political situation in 1851, which had become turbulent: numberless arrests had been made; among others, of many of her oldest comrades and friends, and Madame Sand emerged from her retirement, not as a passionate writer, but as a pleader with President Louis Napoléon in behalf of the unfortunates involved, in which she was successful in a number of individual cases. The drama _Maître Favilla_, produced at the Odéon, was also written at this period; it had been performed previously at the private theatre at Nohant, which had for years been one of the delightful pastimes of the home circle. In the same year, she wrote _Le Mariage de Victorine_, a society comedy, which met with deserved success; and in 1852, _Les Vacances de Pandolphe_, a piece written, she says, "while anguish was gnawing my soul." In 1853, another drama appeared: _Le Pressoir_; it is a story of rural life, and, like its predecessors of the same kind, it enjoyed a very favorable reception. This series of excursions into bucolic scenes carried George Sand's popularity to the point of enthusiastic appreciation. The novel _Les Maîtres Sonneurs_ was also written in 1853; it deals with rustic life of the century before, and is a delightful specimen of the author's imaginative work. We must, however, pass over many of the minor works that go to make up the imperishable monument to the fame of this great writer. In 1855, the _Histoire de ma Vie_ was published, which consists of a series of narratives of particular circumstances of her life rather than a close or connected autobiography. We have already seen that George Sand was constrained, in the preparation of this work, to sacrifice much to her sensitiveness on the score of others.