SOURCE: “Alfred de Vigny: Poet,” in Temple Bar, Vol. 9, October, 1863, pp. 500-505.

In the following anonymous essay, the critic reviews Vigny's career and works.

“Let no oration be pronounced over my tomb.” Such was the expressed wish of Alfred de Vigny only a short time before his death; and it was a wish consonant with that silent reserve with which he had enshrouded himself from public notice during the last half of his life. He shuddered at the thought of cold official praises being uttered over his tomb, and would have blamed himself for sanctioning it beforehand, as a sort of posthumous indiscretion. The single and innocent vanity of which he has left a trace was the desire that military honours should be paid to his coffin. In this he was faithful to one of the dearest, the liveliest, and the most constant instincts of his character. The...