Charles Baudelaire was born April 9, 1821; Gustave Flaubert, December 12 in the same year. Their families belong to a cultivated and wealthy bourgeois class which offers to them all the advantages of such a milieu. They grow up during the time that French Romanticism attains the quintessence of its literary expression; their intelligence is stimulated by their reading of Victor Hugo's dramas, those of Alexandre Dumas, Sr., and of Théophile Gautier's poetry. At school, both are mediocre students who excel each in one scholastic exercise—Flaubert is awarded first prize in history, Baudelaire third prize in Latin poetry. They are too preoccupied with literature, too conscious of the first awakenings of their latent genius. Having no respect for their professors, they spend their time as best suits their fancy. Flaubert writes letters to his cherished friend, Ernest Chevalier: Lundi soir, 15 avril 1839, classe du sire Amyot, théorie des éclipses, lequel a l'esprit bougrement éclipsé.