It is commonly known that Victor Hugo felt only contempt and hatred for Napoleon III and his Second Empire, so readers of Hugo's History of a Crime might easily expect that the Emperor's vengeful wrath would fall on the poet. However, far from trying to destroy Hugo financially, Napoleon not only allowed the sale of numerous of his masterpieces in France (with the exception of Châtiments and other writings considered insulting to the regime) but he did not interfere with the performance of the Hugolian repertoire on the stage of Parisian theatres.