There are divisions in this also. _Ferragus_ and
_La Duchesse_ also appeared without _La Fille aux Yeux d'Or_ in 1839,
published in one volume by Charpentier, before their absorption at the
usual time in the _Comedie_.
George Saintsbury
THE THIRTEEN
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
In the Paris of the Empire there were found Thirteen men equally
impressed with the same idea, equally endowed with energy enough to
keep them true to it, while among themselves they were loyal enough to
keep faith even when their interests seemed to clash. They were strong
enough to set themselves above all laws; bold enough to shrink from no
enterprise; and lucky enough to succeed in nearly everything that they
undertook. So profoundly politic were they, that they could dissemble
the tie which bound them together. They ran the greatest risks, and
kept their failures to themselves. Fear never entered into their
calculations; not one of them had trembled before princes, before the
executioner's axe, before innocence. They had taken each other as they
were, regardless of social prejudices. Criminals they doubtless were,
yet none the less were they all remarkable for some one of the virtues
which go to the making of great men, and their numbers were filled up
only from among picked recruits. Finally, that nothing should be
lacking to complete the dark, mysterious romance of their history,
nobody to this day knows who they were.
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