“After I left the Cardinal last night,” he said, “I went to the Palais Royal. I tried to see the Duc, but he was not in Paris. He had gone to the country having left, they then informed me, the day before yesterday, so he had certainly not taken Amé with him.
“It was then that the idea came to me to learn what I could of what went on both in the Palais Royal and in the poor parts of Paris from which it gains so much support. I spent the rest of the night learning what Hell must be like. Yes, Hell, Hugo, and I speak the words in no theoretical way.
“I have been into the back of the bookshops where the lampoons are sold. I have talked with men who make a trade out of libel, whose living depends on how much they can defame their betters. I have sat with those who dip their pens in filth to
