Musset's comedies and tales to which Herr Lindau treats his readers--the dreariest kind of reading when an author is not in himself essentially inaccessible. Either one has not read Alfred de Musset's comedies or not felt the charm of them--in which case one will not be likely to resort to Herr Lindau's memoirs--or one _has_ read them, in the charming original, and can therefore dispense with an elaborate German _resume_. [1] "_Biographie de Alfred de Musset: sa Vie et ses Oeuvres._" Par PAUL DE MUSSET. Paris: Charpentier. [2] "_Alfred de Musset._" Von PAUL LINDAU. Berlin: Hofmann. In saying just now that M. Paul de Musset's biography of his brother is disappointing, we meant more particularly to express our regret that he has given us no letters--or given us at least but two or three. It is probable, however, that he had no more in his hands. Alfred de Musset lived in a very compact circle; he spent his whole life in Paris, and his friends lived in Paris near him. He was little separated from his brother, who appears to have been his best friend (M. Paul de Musset was six years Alfred's senior), and much of his life was passed under the same roof with the other members of his family. Seeing his friends constantly, he had no occasion to write to them; and as he saw little of the world (in the larger sense of the phrase), he would have had probably but little to write about. He made but one attempt at travelling--his journey to Italy, at the age of twenty-three, with George Sand. "He made no important journeys," says Herr Lindau, "and if one excepts his love affairs, he really had no experiences." But his love affairs, as a general thing, could not properly be talked about. M. de Musset shows good taste in not pretending to narrate them. He mentions two or three of the more important episodes of this class, and with regard to the others he says that when he does not mention them they may always be taken for granted. It is perhaps indeed in a limited sense that Alfred de Musset's love affairs may be said to have been in some cases more important than in others. It was his own philosophy that in this matter one thing is about as good as another-- Aimer est le grand point; qu'importe la maitresse? Qu'importe le flacon pourvu qu'on ait l'ivresse?