 Flaubert continued to act as his literary godfather.His friendship with the Goncourts was of short duration; his frank and practical nature reacted against the ambiance of gossip, scandal, duplicity, and invidious criticism that the two brothers had created around them in the guise of an 18th-century style salon.Maupassant was one of a fair number of 19th-century Parisians (including Charles Gounod, Alexandre Dumas, "fils", and Charles Garnier) who did not care for the Eiffel Tower.