The proprietor of the Figaro has this week amused himself
by hoaxing half Europe. He announced that he had sold his paper for a huge sum to the Republicans, but had consented to edit it for a day in their interest, and accordingly published a letter from Rochefort, a poem from Victor Hugo, and a host of distinctively Republican writings, all of them extremely clever imitations. A note at the end of the gaper betrayed the hoax, but the public did not notice it, and rushed in crowds to purchase the new organ of the Republic. Some 150,000 copies were sold, special corre- spondents telegraphed the great event everywhere—taking-in the Times, for example—and for a few hours it was believed that Imperialism had lost its wittiest advocate. The breadth of the joke makes its success amusing, but it is said that M. de Villemessant's motive was not altogether to raise a laugh. He wanted to warn the Tuileries that if not treated with a little more consideration he could hit hard.
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