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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com +and John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz + + + + + +WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF BALZAC + +By Juanita Helm Floyd + + + + + TO + + MY SISTER NANNIE + + + + " . . . for no one knows the secret of my life, + and I do not wish to disclose it to any one." + /Lettres a l'Etrangere/, V. I, p. 418, July 19, 1837. + + + + PREPARER'S NOTE + + This text was originally published in 1921 by Henry Holt and + Company. + + + + PREFACE + +In presenting this study of Balzac's intimate relations with various +women, the author regrets her inability, owing to war conditions, to +consult a few books which are out of print and certain documents which +have not appeared at all in print, notably the collection of the late +Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul. + +The author gladly takes this opportunity of acknowledging her deep +gratitude to various scholars, and wishes to express, even if +inadequately, her appreciation of their inspiring contact; especially +to Professor Chester Murray and Professor J. Warshaw for first +interesting her in the great possibilities of a study of Balzac. To +Professor Henry Alfred Todd she is grateful for his sympathetic +scholarship, valuable suggestions as to matter and style, and for his +careful revision of the manuscript; to Professor Gustave Lanson, for +his erudition and versatile mind, which have had a great influence; to +Professor F. M. Warren, for reading a part of the text and for many +general ideas; to Professor Fernand Baldensperger, for reading the +text and for encouragement; to Professor Gilbert Chinard, Professor +Earle B. Babcock and Professor LeBraz for re-reading the text and for +valuable suggestions; and to Professor John L. Gerig for his +sympathetic interest, broad information, and inspiring encouragement. + +To still another would she express her thanks. The Princess Radziwill +has taken a great interest in this work, which deals so minutely with +the life history of her aunt, and she has been most gracious in giving +the author much information not to be found in books. She has made +many valuable suggestions, read the entire manuscript, and approved of +its presentation of the facts involved. + + JUANITA H. FLOYD. +Evansville, Indiana. + + + + INTRODUCTION + +A quantity of books have been written about Balzac, some of which are +very instructive, while others are nothing but compilations of gossip +which give a totally wrong impression of the life, works and +personality of the great French novelist. Having the honor of being +the niece of his wife, the wonderful /Etrangere/, whom he married +after seventeen years of an affection which contained episodes far +more romantic than any of those which he has described in his many +books, and having been brought up in the little house of the rue +Fortunee, afterwards the rue Balzac, where they lived during their +short married life, I can perhaps better appreciate than most people +the value of these different books, none of which gives us an exact +appreciation of the man or of the difficulties through which he had to +struggle before he won at last the fame he deserved. And the +conclusion to which I came, after having read them most attentively +and conscientiously, was that it is often a great misfortune to +possess that divine spark of genius which now and then touches the +brow of a few human creatures and marks them for eternity with its +fiery seal. Had Balzac been one of those everyday writers whose names, +after having been for a brief space of time on everyone's lips, are +later on almost immediately forgotten, he would not have been +subjected to the calumnies which embittered so much of his declining +days, and which even after he was no longer in this world continued +their subterranean and disgusting work, trying to sully not only +Balzac's own colossal personality, but also that of the devoted wife, +whom he had cherished for such a long number of years, who had all +through their course shared his joys and his sorrows, and who, after +he died, had spent the rest of her own life absorbed in the +remembrance of her love for him, a love which was stronger than death +itself. + +Having spent all my childhood and youth under the protection and the +roof of Madame de Balzac, it was quite natural that every time I saw +another inaccuracy or falsehood concerning her or her great husband +find its way into the press, I should be deeply affected. At last I +began to look with suspicion at all the books dealing with Balzac or +with his works, and when Miss Floyd asked me to look over her +manuscript, it was with a certain amount of distrust and prejudice +that I set myself to the task. It seemed to me impossible that a +foreigner could write anything worth reading about Balzac, or +understand his psychology. What was therefore my surprise when I +discovered in this most remarkable volume the best description that +has ever been given to us of this particular phase of Balzac's life +which hitherto has hardly been touched upon by his numerous +biographers, his friendships with the many distinguished women who at +one time or another played a part in his busy existence, a description +which not only confirmed down to the smallest details all that my aunt +had related to me about her distinguished husband, but which also gave +an appreciation of the latter's character that entirely agreed with +what I had heard about its peculiarities from the few people who had +known him well, Theophile Gautier among others, who were still alive +when I became old enough to be intensely interested in their different +judgments about my uncle. After such a length of years it seemed +almost uncanny to find a person who through sheer intuition and hard +study could have reconstituted with this unerring accuracy the figure +of one who had remained a riddle in certain things even to his best +friends, and who in the pages of this extraordinary book suddenly +appeared before my astonished eyes with all the splendor of that +genius of his which as years go by, becomes more and more admired and +appreciated. + +One must be a scholar to understand Balzac; his style and manner of +writing is often so heavy and so difficult to follow, reminding one +more of that of a professor than of a novelist. And indeed he would +have been very angry to be considered only as a novelist, he who +aspired and believed himself to be, as he expressed it one day in the +course of a conversation with Madame Hanska, before she became his +wife, "a great painter of humanity," in which appreciation of his work +he was not mistaken, because some of the characters he evoked out of +his wonderful brain remind one of those pictures of Rembrandt where +every stroke of the master's brush reveals and brings into evidence +some particular trait or feature, which until he had discovered it, +and brought it to notice, no one had seen or remarked on the human +faces which he reproduced upon the canvas. Michelet, who once called +St. Simon the "Rembrandt of literature," could very well have applied +the same remark to Balzac, whose heroes will live as long as men and +women exist, for whom these other men and women whom he described, +will relive because he did not conjure their different characters out +of his imagination only, but condensed all his observations into the +creation of types which are so entirely human and real that we shall +continually meet with them so long as the world lasts. + +One of Balzac's peculiarities consisted in perpetually studying +humanity, which study explains the almost unerring accuracy of his +judgments and of the descriptions which he gives us of things and +facts as well as of human beings. In his impulsiveness, he frequented +all kinds of places, saw all kinds of people, and tried to apply the +dissecting knife of his spirit of observation to every heart and every +conscience. He set himself especially to discover and fathom the +mystery of the "eternal feminine" about which he always thought, and +it was partly due to this eager quest for knowledge of women's souls +that he allowed himself to become entangled in love affairs and love +intrigues which sometimes came to a sad end, and that he spent his +time in perpetual search of feminine friendships, which were later on +to brighten, or to mar his life. + +Miss Floyd in the curious volume which she has written has caught in a +surprising manner this particular feature in Balzac's complex +character. She has applied herself to study not only the man such as +he was, with all his qualities, genius and undoubted mistakes, but +such as he appeared to be in the eyes of the different women whom he +had loved or admired, and at whose hands he had sought encouragement +and sympathy amid the cruel disappointments and difficulties of an +existence from which black care was never banished and never absent. +With quite wonderful tact, and a lightness of touch one can not +sufficiently admire, she has made the necessary distinctions which +separated friendship from love in the many romantic attachments which +played such an important part in Balzac's life, and she has in +consequence presented to us simultaneously the writer, whose name will +remain an immortal one, and the man whose memory was treasured, long +after he had himself disappeared, by so many who, though they had +perhaps never understood him entirely, yet had realized that in the +marks of affection and attachment which he had given to them, he had +laid at their feet something which was infinitely precious, infinitely +real, something which could never be forgotten. + +Her book will remain a most valuable, I was going to say the most +valuable, contribution to the history of Balzac, and those for whom he +was something more than a great writer and scholar, can never feel +sufficiently grateful to her for having given it to the world, and +helped to dissipate, thanks to its wonderful arguments, so many false +legends and wild stories which were believed until now, and indeed are +still believed by an ignorant crowd of so-called admirers of his, who, +nine times out of ten, are only detractors of his colossal genius, and +remarkable, though perhaps sometimes too exuberant, individuality. + +At the same time, Miss Floyd, in the lines which she devotes to my +aunt and to the long attachment that had united the latter and Balzac, +has in many points re-established the truth in regard to the character +of a woman who in many instances has been cruelly calumniated and +slandered, in others absolutely misunderstood, to whom Balzac once +wrote that she was "one of those great minds, which solitude had +preserved from the petty meannesses of the world," words which +describe her better than volumes could have done. She had truly led a +silent, solitary, lonely life that had known but one love, the man +whom she was to marry after so many vicissitudes, and in spite of so +many impediments, and but one tenderness, her daughter, a daughter who +unfortunately was entirely her inferior, and in whom she could never +find consolation or comfort, who could neither share her joys, nor +soothe her sorrows. + +In her convictions, Madame de Balzac was a curious mixture of atheism +and profound faith in a Divinity before whom mankind was accountable +for all its good or bad deeds. All through her long life she had been +under the influence of her father, one of the remarkable men of his +generation, who had enjoyed the friendship of most of the great French +writers of the period immediately preceding the Revolution, including +Voltaire; he had brought her up in an atmosphere of the eighteenth +century with its touch of skepticism, and the Encyclopedia had always +remained for her a kind of gospel, in spite of the fact that she had +been reared in one of the most haughty, aristocratic circles in +Europe, in a country where the very mention of the words /liberty/ and +/freedom of opinion/ was tabooed, and that her mother had been one of +those devout Roman Catholics who think it necessary to consult their +confessor, even in regard to the most trivial details of their daily +existence. Placed as she had been between her parents' incredulity and +bigotry, my aunt had formed opinions of her own, of which a profound +tolerance and a deep respect for the beliefs and convictions of others +was the principal feature. She never condemned even when she did not +approve, and she hated hypocrisy, no matter in what shape or aspect it +presented itself before her eyes. This explains the courage she +displayed when against the advice and the wishes of her family, she +persisted in marrying Balzac, though it hardly helps us to understand +from what we know of the latter's character, how he came to fall so +deeply in love with a woman who in almost everything thought so +differently from what he thought, especially in regard to those two +subjects which absorbed and engrossed him until the last days of his +life, religion and politics. + +That he loved her, and that she loved him, in spite of these +differences in their points of view, is to their mutual honor, but it +adds to the mystery and to the enigmatical side of a romance that has +hardly been equalled in modern times; and it accounts for the fact +that some friction occurred between them later on, when my aunt found +herself trying to restrain certain exuberances on the part of her +husband regarding her own high lineage, about which she never thought +much herself, though she had always tried to live up to the duties +which it imposed upon her. I am mentioning this circumstance to +explain certain exaggerations which we constantly find in Balzac's +letters in regard to his marriage. His imagination was extremely +vivid, and its fertility sometimes carried him far away into regions +where it was nearly impossible to follow him, and where he really came +to believe quite sincerely in things which had never existed. For +instance in his correspondence with his mother and friends, he is +always speaking of the necessity for Madame Hanska to obtain the +permission of the Czar to marry him. This is absolutely untrue. My +aunt did not require in the very least the consent of the Emperor to +become Madame de Balzac. The difficulties connected with her marriage +consisted in the fact that having been left sole heiress of her first +husband's immense wealth, she did not think herself justified in +keeping it after she had contracted another union, and with a +foreigner. She therefore transferred her whole fortune to her +daughter, reserving for herself only an annuity which was by no means +considerable, and it was this arrangement that had to be sanctioned, +not by the sovereign who had nothing to do with it, but by the Supreme +Court of Russia, which at that time was located in St. Petersburg. +Balzac, however, wishing to impress his French relatives with the +grandeur of the marriage he was about to make, imagined this tale of +the Czar's opposition, in order to add to his own importance and to +that of his future wife, an invention which revolted my aunt so much +that in that part of her husband's correspondence which was published +by her a year or two before her death, she carefully suppressed all +the passages which contained this assertion which had so thoroughly +annoyed as well as angered her. I have sometimes wondered what she +would have said had she seen appear in print the curious letter which +Balzac wrote immediately after their wedding to Dr. Nacquart in which +he described with such pomp the different high qualities, merits, and +last but not least, brilliant positions occupied by his wife's +relatives, beginning with Queen Marie Leszczinska, the consort of +Louis XV, and ending with the husband of my father's stepdaughter, +Count Orloff, whom the widest stretch of imagination could not have +connected with my aunt. + +I cannot refrain from mentioning here an anecdote which is very +typical of Balzac. He was about to return to Paris from Russia after +his marriage. My aunt coming into his room one morning found him +absorbed in writing a letter. Asking him for whom it was intended she +was petrified with astonishment when he replied that it was for the +Duke de Bordeaux, as the Comte de Chambord was still called at the +time, to present his respects to him upon his entrance into his +family! My aunt at first could not understand what it was he meant, +and when at last she had grasped the fact that it was in virtue of her +distant, very distant, relationship with Queen Marie Leszczinska that +he claimed the privilege of cousinship with the then Head of the Royal +House of France, it was with the greatest difficulty and with any +amount of trouble that she prevailed upon him at last to give up this +remarkable idea, and to be content with the knowledge that some +Rzewuski blood flowed in the veins of the last remaining member of the +elder line of the Bourbons, without intruding upon the privacy of the +Comte de Chambord, who probably would have been somewhat surprised to +receive this extraordinary communication from the great, but also +snobbish Balzac. + +It was on account of this snobbishness, which had something childish +about it, that he sometimes became involved in discussions, not only +with my aunt, but also with several of his friends, Victor Hugo among +others, who could not bring themselves to forgive him for thinking +more of the great and illustrious families with which his marriage had +connected him than of his own genius and marvelous talents. Hugo most +unjustly accused my aunt of encouraging this "aberration," as he +called it, of Balzac's mind; in which judgment of her he was vastly +mistaken, because she was the person who suffered the most through it, +and by it. But this unwarranted suspicion made him antagonistic to +her, and probably inspired the famous description he left us of +Balzac's last hours in the little volume called /Choses vues/. This +was partly the cause why people afterwards said that my aunt's married +life with the great writer had been far from happy, and had resolved +itself into a great disappointment for both of them. The reality was +very different, because during the few months they lived together, +they had known and enjoyed complete and absolute happiness, and Madame +de Balzac's heart was forever broken when she closed with pious hands +the eyes of the man who had occupied such an immense place in her +heart as well as in her life. Many years later, talking with me about +those last sad hours when she watched with such tender devotion by his +bedside, she told me with accents that are still ringing in my ears +with their wail of agony: I lived through a hell of suffering on that +day. + +Nevertheless she bore up bravely under the load of the unmerited +misfortunes which had fallen upon her. Her first care, after she had +become for the second time a widow, was to pay Balzac's debts, which +she proceeded to do with the thoroughness she always brought to bear +in everything she undertook. She remained upon the most affectionate +terms with his family, and it was due to her that Balzac's mother was +able to spend her last years in comfort. These facts speak for +themselves, and, to my mind at least, dispose better than volumes on +the subject could do of the conscious or unconscious calumny cast by +Victor Hugo on my aunt's memory. It must here be explained that the +real reason why he did not see her, when he called for the last time +on his dying friend, and concluded so hastily that she preferred +remaining in her own apartments than at her husband's side, consisted +in the fact that she did not like the poet, who she instinctively +felt, also did not care for her, so she preferred not to encounter a +man whom she knew as antagonistic to herself at an hour when she was +about to undergo the greatest trial of her life, and she retired to +her room when he was announced. But Hugo, who had often reproached +Balzac for being vain, had in his own character a dose of vanity +sufficient to make him refuse to admit that there could exist in the +whole of the wide world a human being who would not have jumped at the +chance of seeing him, even under the most distressing of +circumstances. + +I have said already that my aunt's opinions consisted of a curious +mixture of atheism and a profound belief in the Divinity. Her mind was +far too vigorous and too deep to accept without discussion the dogmas +of the Roman Catholic Church to which she belonged officially, and she +formed her own ideas as to religion and the part it ought to play in +human existence. She held the firm conviction that we must always try, +at least, to do what is right, regardless of the sorrow this might +entail upon us. In one of her letters to my mother, she says: + + "You will know one day, my dear little sister, that what one cares + the most to read over again in the book of life are those + difficult pages of the past when, after a hard struggle, duty has + remained the master of the battle field. It has buried its dead, + and brushed aside all the reminders that were left of them, and + God in his infinite mercy allows flowers and grasses to grow again + on this bloody ground. Don't think that by these flowers, I mean + to say that one forgets. No, on the contrary, I am thinking of + remembrance, the remembrance of the victory that has been won + after so many sacrifices; I am thinking of all those voices of the + conscience which come to soothe us, and to tell us that our Father + in Heaven is satisfied with what we have done." + +A person who had intimately known both Balzac and my aunt said one day +that they completed each other by the wide difference which existed in +their opinions in regard to the two important subjects of religion and +politics. The remark was profoundly true, because it was this very +difference which allowed them to bring into their judgments an +impartiality which we seldom meet with in our modern society. They +mutually respected and admired each other, and even when they were not +in perfect accord, or just because they were not in perfect accord as +to this or that thing, they nevertheless tried, thanks to the respect +which they entertained for each other, to look upon mankind, its +actions, follies and mistakes, with kindness and indulgence. The +curious thing in regard to their situation was that my aunt who had +been born and reared in one of the most select and prejudiced of +aristocratic circles, never knew what prejudice was, and remained +until the last day of her life a staunch liberal, who could never +bring herself to ostracize her neighbor, because he happened to think +or to believe otherwise than she did herself. She was perfectly +indifferent to advantages of birth, fortune or high rank, and she was +rather inclined to criticize than to admire the particular society and +world amidst which she moved. Balzac on the contrary, though a +/bourgeois/ by origin, cared only for those high spheres for which he +had always longed since his early youth, and of which a sudden freak +of fortune so unexpectedly had opened him the doors. In that sense he +was the /parvenu/ his enemies have accused him of being, and he often +showed himself narrow minded, until at last his wife's influence made +him consider, without the disdain he had affected for them before, +people who were not of noble birth or of exalted rank. On the other +hand, Madame de Balzac, thanks to her husband's Catholic and +Legitimistic tendencies and sympathies, became less sarcastic than had +been the case when she had, perhaps more than she ought, noticed the +smallnesses and meannesses of the particular set of people who at that +period constituted the cream of European society. They both came to +acquire a wider view of the world in general, thanks to their +different ways of looking at it, and this of course turned to their +great mutual advantage. + +I will not extend myself here on the help my aunt was to Balzac all +through the years which preceded their marriage, when there seemed no +possibility of the marriage ever taking place. She encouraged him in +his work, interested herself in all his actions, praised him for all +his efforts, tried to be for him the guide and the star to which he +could look in his moments of dark discouragement, as well as in his +hours of triumph. Without her affection to console him, he would most +probably have broken down under the load of immense difficulties which +constantly burdened him, and he never would have been able to leave +behind him as a legacy to a world that had never property appreciated +or understood him, those volumes of the /Comedie humaine/ which have +made his name immortal. Madame Hanska was his good genius all through +those long and dreadful years during which he struggled with such +indomitable courage against an adverse fate, and her devotion to him +certainly deserved the words which he wrote to her one day, "I love +you as I love God, as I love happiness!" + +All this has taken me very far from Miss Floyd's book, though what I +have just written about my uncle and aunt completes in a certain sense +the details she has given us concerning the wonderful romance which +after seventeen years of arduous waiting, made Madame Hanska the wife +of one of the greatest literary glories of France. Her work is +magnificent and she has handled it superbly, and reconstituted two +remarkable figures who were beginning to be, not forgotten, which is +impossible, but not so much talked about by the general public, who a +few years ago, had shown itself so interested in their life history as +it was first disclosed to us in the famous /Lettres a l'Etrangere/, +published by the Vicomte Spoelberch de Lovenjoul. She has also cleared +some of the clouds which had been darkening the horizon in regard to +both Balzac and his wife, and restored to these two their proper +places in the history of French literature in the nineteenth century. +She has moreover shown us a hitherto unknown Balzac, and a still more +unknown /Etrangere/, and this labor of love, because it was that all +through, can only be viewed with feelings of the deepest gratitude by +the few members still left alive of Madame de Balzac's family, my +three brothers and myself. I feel very happy to be given this +opportunity of thanking Miss Floyd, in my brothers' name as well as in +my own, for the splendid work which she has done, and which I am quite +certain will ensure for her a foremost place among the historians of +Balzac. + + CATHERINE, PRINCESS RADZIWILL. + + + + AUTHOR'S NOTE + +The steady rise of Balzac's reputation during the last few decades has +been such that almost each year new studies have appeared about him. +While the women portrayed in the /Comedie humaine/ are often commented +upon, no recent work dealing in detail with the novelist's intimate +association with women and which might lead to identifying the +possible sources of his feminine characters in real life has been +published. + +The present study does not undertake to establish the origin of all +the characters found in the /Comedie humaine/, but is an attempt to +trace the life of the novelist on the side of his relations with +various women,--a story which is even more thrilling than those +presented in many of his novels,--in the hope that it will help +explain some of the interesting enigmas presented by his work. So far +as the writer could find the necessary evidence, many of the women in +Balzac's novels have been here identified with women he knew in the +course of his life; and while giving due weight to the suggestions of +various writers, and indicating some of the most striking +resemblances, she has tried to avoid a mere promiscuous identification +of characters. + +In the case of many novelists such an investigation would not be worth +while, but Balzac's place in literature is so transcendent and his +life and writings are so closely and fascinatingly interblended, that +it is hoped that the following study, in which the writer has striven +to maintain correctness of detail, may not be unwelcome, and that it +will throw light on Balzac's complex character, and help his readers +better to understand and appreciate some of his most noted women +characters. It is believed that this study will show that the +influence of women on Balzac was much wider and his acquaintance with +them much broader than has previously been supposed. + +Apropos of remarks made by Sainte-Beuve and Brunetiere regarding +Balzac's admission to the higher circles of society, Emile Faguet has +this to say: + + "I would point out that the duchesses and viscountesses at the end + of the Restoration were known neither to Sainte-Beuve nor to + Balzac, the former only having begun to frequent aristocratic + drawing-rooms in 1840, and Balzac, in spite of his very short + /liaison/ with Madame de Castries, having become a regular + attendant only a few months before that date. Sainte-Beuve himself + has told us that the Faubourg Saint-Germain /was closed to men of + letters before 1830/, and since it had to spend a few years + becoming accustomed to their admittance, Sainte-Beuve's testimony + is not at all valid as regards the great ladies of the + Restoration, even at the end." + +Perhaps it is due partly to the above statement and partly to the fact +that Balzac tried to give the impression that he led a sort of +monastic life, that it is generally believed the novelist never had +access to the aristocratic society of his time, and never had an +opportunity of observing the great ladies or of frequenting the +marvelous balls and receptions that fill so large a place in his +writings. Whether he made a success of such descriptions is not the +question here, but the following pages will at least furnish proof +that he not only had many social opportunities, but that his presence +was sought by many women belonging to high life and the nobility. + +In presenting in the following pages a somewhat imposing list of +duchesses, countesses and women of varying degrees of nobility, it is +not intended to picture Balzac as a /preux chevalier/, for he was far +from being one. Even in the most refined of /salons/, he displayed his +Rabelaisian manners and costume, and remained the typical author of +the /Contes drolatiques/; but to maintain that he never knew women of +the upper class or never even entered their society, involves a +misapprehension of the facts. Neither would the present writer give +the impression that this was the only class of women he knew or +associated with, for he certainly was acquainted with many of the +/bourgeoisie/ and of the peasant class; but here it is difficult to +make out a case, since his letters to or about women of these classes +are rare, and literary men of his day have not given many details of +his association with them. + +From Balzac's youth, his most intense longings were to be famous and +to be loved. At times it might almost be thought that the second +desire took precedence over the first, but it was not the ordinary +woman that this future /Napoleon litteraire/ was seeking. His desire +was to win the affection of some lady of high standing, and when urged +by his family to consider marriage with a certain rich widow of the +/bourgeoisie/, it can be imagined with what a sense of relief he wrote +his mother that the bird had flown. An abnormal longing to mingle with +the aristocracy remained with him throughout his life; and during his +stay at Wierzchownia, after having all but made the conquest of a very +rich lady belonging to one of the most noted families of Russia, he +flattered himself by exaggerating her greatness. + +Not being crowned from the first with the success he desired, Balzac +needed encouragement in his work. For this he naturally turned to +women who would give him of their time and sympathy. In his early +years, he received this encouragement and assistance from his sister +Laure, from Madame de Berny, Madame d'Abrantes, Madame Carraud and +others, and in his later life he was similarly indebted to Madame +Hanska. They gave him ideas, corrected his style, conceived plots, +furnished him with historical background, and criticized his work in +general. Is it surprising then that, having received so much from +women, he should have accorded them so great a place in his writings +as well as in his personal life? + +While Balzac did not, as is often stated, /create/ the "woman of +thirty," this characteristic type having already appeared in Madame de +Stael's /Delphine/, in Benjamin Constant's /Adolphe/, and in +Stendhal's /Le Rouge et le Noir/, he must be credited with having +magnified her charms and presented her advantages and superiority to a +much higher degree than had been done before. Women indeed play in +general an important role in his work, many of his novels bear their +names; about one-third of the stories of /La Comedie humaine/ are +dedicated to women; and while not quite so large a proportion of the +characters created are women, they are numbered among the most +important personages of his prolific fancy. + +If we are to believe his own testimony, his popularity among women was +by no means limited to his Paris environment, for he writes: "Fame is +conveyed to me through the post office by means of letters, and I +daily receive three or four from women. They come from the depths of +Russia, of Germany, etc.; I have not had one from England. Then there +are many letters from young people. It has become fatiguing. . . ." + +It was only a matter of justice that women should show their +appreciation thus, for Balzac rendered them a gracious service in +prolonging, by his enormous literary influence, the period of their +eligibility for being loved. This he successfully extended to thirty +years, even to forty years; with rare skill he portrayed the charm of +a declining beauty--as one might delight in the glory of a brilliant +autumn or of a setting sun. At the same time, and on the one hand, he +depicted the young girl of various types, and women of the working and +servant class. And since his own life is so reflected throughout his +work, it is of interest to become acquainted with the inner and +intimate side of his genius, which has left us some of the greatest +documents we possess concerning human nature. + +Balzac knew many women, and to understand him fully one should study +his relations with them. If he has portrayed them well, it is because +he loved them tenderly, and was loved by many in return. These +feminine affections formed one of the consolations of his life; they +not only gave him courage but helped to soften the bitterness of his +trials and disappointments. + +While an effort has been made in the following work to solve the +questions as to the identity of the /Sarah, Maria, Sofka, Constance- +Victoire, Louise, Caroline,/ and the /Helene/ of Balzac's dedications, +and to show the role each played, no attempt has here been made to +lift the tightly drawn veil which has so long enveloped one side of +Balzac's private life. Whoever wishes to do this may now consult the +recent publication of the late Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, or +the /Mariage de Balzac/ by the late Count Stanislas Rzewuski. It is +far more pleasant--even if the charges be untrue--to think as did the +late Miss K. P. Wormeley, that no supporting testimony has been +offered to prove anything detrimental to the great author's character. +Though doubtless much overdrawn, one prefers the delightful picture of +him traced by his old friend, George Sand. + + + + + + WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF BALZAC + + + + CHAPTER I + + BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF BALZAC + +In the delightful city of Tours, the childhood of Honore de Balzac was +spent in the midst of his family. This consisted of an original and +most congenial old father, a nervous, business-like mother, two +younger sisters, Laure and Laurentia, and a younger brother, Henri. +His maternal grandmother, Madame Sallambier, joined the family after +the death of her husband. + +At about the age of eight, Honore was sent to a semi-military +/college/. Here, after six years of confinement, he lost his health, +not on account of any work assigned to him by his teachers, for he was +regarded as being far from a brilliant student, but because of the +abnormal amount of reading which he did on the outside. When he was +brought home for recuperation, his old grandmother alternately +irritated him with her "nervous attacks" and delighted him with her +numerous ways of showing her affection. At this time he wandered about +in the fresh air of the province of Touraine, and learned to love its +beautiful scenery, which he has immortalized in various novels. + +After he had spent a year of this rustic life, his family moved to +Paris in the fall of 1814. There he continued his studies with M. +Lepitre, whose Royalist principles doubtless influenced him. He +attended lectures at the Sorbonne also, strolling meanwhile about the +Latin Quarter, and in 1816 was placed in the law office of M. de +Guillonnet-Merville, a friend of the family, and an ardent Royalist. +After eighteen months in this office, he spent more than a year in the +office of a notary, M. Passez, who was also a family friend. + +It was probably during this period of residence in Paris that he first +met Madame de Berny, she who was later to wield so great an influence +over him and who held first place in his heart until their separation +in 1832. Probably at this same period, too, he met Zulma Tourangin, a +schoolmate of his sister Laure, and who, as Madame Carraud, was to +become his life-long friend. Of all the friendships that Balzac was +destined to form with women, this with Madame Carraud was one of the +purest, longest and most beautiful. + +Having attained his majority and finished his legal studies, Balzac +was requested by his father to enter the office of M. Passez and +become a business man, but the life was so distasteful to him that he +objected and asked permission to spend his time as best he might in +developing his literary ability, a request which, in spite of the +opposition of the family, was finally granted for a term of two years. +He was accordingly allowed to establish himself in a small attic at +No. 9 rue Lesdiguieres, while his family moved to Villeparisis. + +His father's weakness in thus giving in to his son was most irritating +to Balzac's mother, who was endowed with the business faculties so +frequently met with among French women. She was convinced that a +little experience would soon cause her son to change his mind. But he, +on his part, ignored his hardships. He began to dream of a life of +fame. In his garret, too, he began to develop that longing for luxury +which was to increase with the years, and which was to cost him so +much. At this time, he took frequent walks through the cemetery of +Pere-Lachaise around the graves of Moliere, La Fontaine and Racine. He +would occasionally visit a friend with whom he could converse, but he +usually preferred a sympathetic listener, to whom he could pour out +his plans and his innermost longings. Otherwise his life was as +solitary as it was cloistered. He confined himself to his room for +days at a time, working fiercely at the manuscript of the play, +/Cromwell/, which he felt to be a masterpiece. + +This work he finished and took to his home for approval in April, +1820. What must have been his disappointment when, certain of success, +he not only found his play disapproved but was advised to devote his +time and talents to anything except literature! But his courage was +not daunted thus. Remarking that /tragedies/ appeared not to be in his +line, he was ready to return to his garret to attempt another kind of +literature, and would have done so, had not his mother, seeing that he +would certainly injure his health, interposed; and although only +fifteen months of the allotted two years had expired, insisted that he +remain at home, and later sent him to Touraine for a much needed rest. + +During his stay at home, he was to suffer another disappointment. His +sister Laure, to whom he had confided all his secrets and longings, +was married to M. Surville in May, 1830, and moved to Bayeux. He was +thus deprived of her congenial companionship. The separation is +fortunate for posterity, however, since the letters he wrote to her +reveal much of the family life, both pleasant and otherwise, together +with a great deal concerning his own desires and struggles. Thus early +in life, he realized that his was a very "original" family, and +regretted not being able to put the whole group into novels. His +correspondence gives a very good description of their various +eccentricities, and he has later immortalized some of these by +portraying them in certain of his characters. + +Continually worried by his irritable mother, feeling himself forced to +make money by writing lest he be compelled to enter a lawyer's office, +he produced in five years, with different collaborators, a vast number +of works written under various pseudonyms. He tutored his younger and +much petted brother Henri, but found his pleasures outside of the +family circle. It was arranged that he should give lessons to one of +the sons of M. and Mme. de Berny, and thus he had an opportunity of +seeing much of Madame de Berny, whose patience under suffering and +sympathetic nature deeply impressed him. On her side, she took an +interest in him and devoted much time in helping and indeed "creating" +him. Unhappy in her married life, she must have found the +companionship of Balzac most interesting, and realizing that the young +man had a great future, she acted as a severe critic in correcting his +manuscripts, and cheered him in his hours of depression. Her mother +having been one of the Queen's ladies in waiting, the Royalist +principles previously instilled in the mind of the young author were +reinforced by this charming woman, as well as by her mother, who could +entertain him indefinitely with her exciting stories of imprisonment +and hairbreadth escapes. + +After a few years of life at Villeparisis, Balzac removed to Paris. He +had met an old friend, M. d'Assonvillez, whom he told of the conflict +between his family and himself over his occupation, and this gentleman +advised him to seek a business that would make him independent, even +offering to provide the necessary funds. Balzac took the advice, and +with visions of becoming extremely rich, launched into a publishing +career, proposing to bring out one-volume editions of various authors' +complete works, commencing with La Fontaine and Moliere. As he did not +have the necessary capital for advertising, however, his venture +resulted in a loss. His friend then persuaded him to invest in a +printing-press, and in August, 1826, he made another beginning. He did +not lack courage; but though he later manipulated such wonderful +business schemes in his novels he proved to be utterly incapable +himself in practical life. + +A second time he was doomed to failure, but with his indomitable will +he resolved that inasmuch as he had met with such financial disasters +through the press, he would recover his fortunes in the same way, and +set himself to writing with even greater determination than ever. Now +it was that Madame de Berny showed her true devotion by coming to his +aid in his financial troubles as well as in his literary ones; she +loaned him 45,000 francs, saw to it that the recently purchased type- +foundry became the property of her family, and, with the help of +Madame Surville, persuaded Madame de Balzac to save her son from the +disgrace of bankruptcy by lending him 37,000 francs. Thus, after less +than two years of experience, he found himself burdened with a debt +which like a black cloud was to hang over him during his entire life. +Other friends also came to his rescue. But if Balzac did not have +business capacity, his experience in dealing with the financial world, +of which he had become a victim, furnished him with material of which +he made abundant use later in his works. + +In September, 1828, after this business was temporarily out of the +way, Balzac went to Brittany to spend a few weeks with some old family +friends, the Pommereuls. There he roved over the beautiful country and +collected material for /Les Chouans/, the first novel which he signed +with his own name. Notwithstanding the fact that before he had reached +his thirtieth year, he was staggering under a debt amounting to about +100,000 francs, Balzac with his never-failing hope in the future and +his ever-increasing belief in his destiny, cast aside his depression, +and fought continually to attain the greatness which was never fully +recognized until long after his death. + +He had entered on what was indeed a period of struggle. Establishing +himself in Paris in the rue de Tournon, and later in the rue de +Cassini, he battled with poverty, lacking both food and clothing; but +his courage never wavered. Drinking black coffee to keep himself +awake, he wrote eighteen hours a day, and when exhausted would run +away to the country to relax and visit with his friends. The Baron de +Pommereul was only one of a rather numerous group. He frequently +visited Madame Carraud at her hospitable home at Frapesle, and M. de +Margonne in his chateau at Sache on the Indre. Often he would spend +many weeks at a time with the latter, where he made himself perfectly +at home, was treated as one of the family, and worked or rested just +as he wished. Leading the hermit's life by preference, he needed the +quietude of the country atmosphere in order to recover from the great +strain to which he subjected himself when the fit of authorship was +upon him. Thus it happened that several of his works were written in +the homes of various friends. + +/Les Chouans/ and other novels met with success. Balzac's reputation +now gradually rose, so that by 1831 he was attracting much favorable +attention. Among the younger literary set who sought his acquaintance +was George Sand with whom he formed a true friendship which lasted +throughout his life. Now, too, though he was not betrayed into +neglecting his work for society, he accepted invitations, won by his +growing reputation, to some of the most noted salons of the day, among +them the Empire salon of Madame Sophie Gay, where he met many of the +literary and artistic people of his time, including Delphine, the +daughter of Madame Gay, who, as Madame de Girardin, was to become one +of his intimate friends. Here he met Madame Hamelin and the Duchess +d'Abrantes, who was destined to play an important role in his life, +and also the tender and impassioned poetess, Madame Desbordes-Valmore. +The beautiful Madame Recamier invited him to her salon, too, and had +him read to her guests, and he was also a frequent visitor in the +salon of the Russian Princess Bagration, where he was fond of telling +stories. Besides the salons, he was invited to numerous houses, dining +particularly often with the Baron de Trumilly, who took a great +interest in his work. + +As his fame increased, letters arrived from various part of Europe. +Some of these were anonymous, and many were from women. Several of the +latter were answered, and early in 1832 Balzac learned that one of his +unknown correspondents was the beautiful Marquise de Castries (later +the Duchess de Castries). Throwing aside her incognito, she invited +him to call, and he, anxious to mingle with the exclusive society of +the Faubourg Saint-Germain, gladly accepted and promptly became +enraptured with her alluring charm. It was doubtless owing to the +influence of her relative, the Duc de Fitz-James, that he became +active in politics at this time. + +In the course of this same year (1832) there came to him an anonymous +letter of great significance, dated from the distant Ukraine, and +signed /l'Etrangere/. Though not at that time giving him the slightest +presentiment of the outcome, this letter was destined eventually to +change the entire life of the novelist. A notice in the /Quotidienne/ +acknowledging the receipt of it brought about a correspondence which +in the course of events revealed to the author that the stranger's +real name was Madame Hanska. + +Love affairs, however, were far from being the only things that +occupied Balzac. He was continually besieged by creditors; the clouds +of his indebtedness were ever ready to burst over his head. Meanwhile, +his mother became more and more displeased with him, and impatient at +his constant calls upon her for the performance of all manner of +services. She now urged him to make a rich marriage and thus put an +end to his troubles and hers. But such was not Balzac's inclination, +and he rightly considered himself the most deeply concerned in the +matter. + +All the while he was prodigiously productive, but the profits from his +works were exceedingly small. This fact was due to his method of +composition, according to which some of his works were revised a dozen +times or more, and also to the Belgian piracies, from which all +popular French authors suffered. In addition to this, his extravagant +tastes developed from year to year, and thus prevented him from +materially reducing his debts. + +Unlike most Frenchmen, Balzac was particularly fond of travel in +foreign countries, and when allured by the charms of a beautiful +woman, he forgot his financial obligations and allowed nothing to +prevent his responding to the call of the siren. Thus he was enticed +by the Marquise de Castries to go to Aix and from there to Geneva in +1832, and one year later he rushed to Neufchatel to meet Madame +Hanska, with whom he became so enamored that a few months afterwards +he spent several weeks with her at this same fatal city of Geneva +where the Marquise had all but broken his heart. In the spring of 1835 +he followed a similar desire, this time going as far as the beautiful +city of the blue Danube. + +The charms of his sirens were not enough, however, to keep so +indefatigable a writer from his work. He permitted himself to enjoy +social diversions for only a few hours daily and some of his most +delightful novels were written during these visits, where it seemed +that the very shadow of feminine presence gave him inspiration. It +should be added, too, that in the limited time given to society during +these journeys, he not only worshipped at the shrine of his particular +enchantress of the moment, but managed to meet many other women of +social prominence. + +As his fame spread, his extravagance increased; with his famous cane, +he was seen frequently at the opera, at one time sharing a box with +the beautiful Olympe. But his business relations with his publisher, +Madame Bechet, which seemed to be promising at first, ended unhappily, +and the rapidly declining health of his /Dilecta/, Madame de Berny, +not to mention the failure of another publisher Werdet, which there is +not space here to recount, cast a gloom from time to time over his +optimistic spirit. He now became the proprietor of the /Chronique de +Paris/, but aside from the literary friendships involved, notably that +of Theophile Gautier, he derived nothing but additional worries from +an undertaking he was unfitted to carry out. An even greater anxiety +was the famous lawsuit with Buloz, which was finally decided in his +favor, but which proved a costly victory, since it left him physically +exhausted. + +In order to recuperate, he sought refuge in the home of M. de +Margonne, and travelled afterwards with Madame Marbouty to Italy, +where he spent several pleasant weeks looking after some legal +business for his friends, M. and Mme. Visconti. It was on his return +from this journey that he learned of the death of Madame de Berny. + +During this period of general depression, Balzac devoted a certain +amount of attention to another correspondent, Louise, whom he never +met but whose letters cheered him, especially during his imprisonment +for refusing to serve in the Garde Nationale. In the same year (1836), +he was drawn by the charming Madame de Valette to Guerande, where he +secured his descriptive material for /Beatrix/. + +In the spring of 1837, he went to Italy for the second time, hoping to +recuperate, and wishing to see the bust of Madame Hanska which had +been made by Bartolini. He visited several cities, and in Milan he was +received in the salon of Madame Maffei, where he met some of the best +known people of the day. He had now thought of another scheme by means +of which he might become very rich,--always a favorite dream of his. +He believed that much silver might be extracted from lead turned out +of the mines as refuse, and was indiscreet enough to confide his ideas +to a crafty merchant whom he met at Genoa. A year later, when Balzac +went to Sardinia to investigate the possibility of the development of +his plans, he found that his ideas had been appropriated by this +acquaintance. On his return from this trip to Corsica and Sardinia, on +which he had endured much physical suffering, and had spent much money +to no financial avail, he stopped again at Milan to look after the +interests of the Viscontis. In the Salon of the same year (1837), the +famous portrait by Boulanger was displayed. About the same time, +together with Theophile Gautier, Leon Gozlan, Jules Sandeau and +others, he organized an association called the /Cheval Rouge/ for +mutual advertisement. + +Balzac now bought a piece of land at Ville d'Avray (Sevres), and had a +house built, /Les Jardies/, which afforded much amusement to the +Parisians. He went there to reside in 1838 while the walls were still +damp. Here he formed another scheme for becoming rich, this time in +the belief that he would be successful in raising pineapples at his +new home. /Les Jardies/ was a three-story house. The principal +stairway was on the outside, because an exterior staircase would not +interfere with the symmetrical arrangement of the interior. The garden +walls, not long after completion, fell down as they had no +foundations, and Balzac sadly exclaimed over their giving way! After a +brief residence here of about two years, he fled from his creditors +and concealed his identity under the name of his housekeeper, Madame +de Brugnolle, in a mysterious little house, No. 19, rue Basse, Passy. + +Aside from his novels, which were appearing at a most rapid rate, +Balzac wrote many plays, but they all met with failure for various +reasons. Other literary activities, such as his brief directorship of +the /Revue Parisienne/, numerous articles and short stories, and his +cooperation in the /Societe des Gens-de-Lettres/, which was organized +to protect the rights of authors and publishers, occupied much of his +precious time; in addition, he had his unremitting financial +struggles. + +This "child-man," however, with his imagination, optimism, belief in +magnetism and clairvoyance, and great steadfastness of character, kept +on hoping. Not discouraged by his ever unsuccessful schemes for +becoming a millionaire, he conceived the project of digging for hidden +treasures, and later thought of making a fortune by transporting to +France oaks grown in distant Russia. + +In the spring of 1842 Balzac's novels were collected for the first +time under the name of the /Comedie humaine/. This was shortly after +one of the most important events of his life had occurred, when on +January 5 he received a letter from Madame Hanska telling of the death +of her husband the previous November. Balzac wished to leave for +Russia immediately, but Madame Hanska's permission was not +forthcoming, and it was not until July of 1843 that Balzac arrived at +St. Petersburg to visit his "Polar Star." + +On his return home he became very ill, and from this time onward his +robust constitution, which he had so abused by overwork and by the use +of strong coffee, began to break under the continual strain and his +illnesses became more and more frequent. His visit to his +/Chatelaine/, however, had increased his longing to be constantly in +her society, and he was ever planning to visit her. During her +prolonged stay in Dresden in the winter and spring of 1845, he became +so desperate that he could not longer do his accustomed work, and when +the invitation to visit her eventually came, he forgot all in his +haste to be at her side. + +With Madame Hanska, her daughter Anna, and the Count George Mniszech, +Anna's fiance, Balzac now traveled extensively in Europe. In July, +after some preliminary journeys, Madame Hanska and Anna secretly +accompanied him to Paris where they enjoyed the opportunity of +visiting Anna's former governess, Lirette, who had entered a convent. +In August, after visiting many cities with the two ladies, Balzac +escorted them as far as Brussels. In September he left Paris again to +join them at Baden, and in October, went to meet them at Chalons +whence all four--Count Mniszech being now of the party--journeyed to +Marseilles and by sea to Naples. After a few days at Naples, Balzac +returned to Paris, ill, having spent much money and done little work. + +Ever planning a home for his future bride, and buying objects of art +with which to adorn it, Balzac with his numerous worries was +physically and mentally in poor condition. In March, 1846, he left +Paris to join Madame Hanska and her party at Rome for a month. He +traveled with them to some extent during the summer, and a definite +engagement of marriage was entered into at Strasbourg. In October he +attended the marriage of Anna and the Count Mniszech at Wiesbaden, and +Madame Hanska visited him secretly in Paris during the winter. + +He was now in better spirits, and his health was somewhat improved, +enabling him to do some of his best work, but he was being pressed to +fulfil his literary obligations, and, as usual, harassed over his +debts. In September he left for Wierzchownia, where he remained until +the following February, continually hoping that his marriage would +soon take place. But Mme. Hanska hesitated, and the failure of the +Chemin de Fer du Nord added more financial embarrassments to his +already large load. The Revolution of 1848 brought him into more +trouble still, and his health was obviously becoming impaired. Yet he +continued hopeful. + +After spending the summer in his house of treasure in the rue +Fortunee, he again left, in September, 1848, for Wierzchownia, this +time determined to return with his shield or upon it. During his +prolonged stay of eighteen months, while his distraught mother was +looking after affairs in his new home, his health became so bad that +he could not finish the work outlined during the summer. No sooner had +he recovered from one malady than he was overtaken by another. Unable +to work, distracted by bad news from his family, and being the witness +of several financial failures incurred by Madame Hanska, Balzac +naturally was supremely depressed. At this time, a touch of what may +not uncharitably be termed snobbishness is seen in his letters to his +family when he extols the unlimited virtues of his /Predilecta/ and +the Countess Anna. + +After seventeen long years of waiting, with hope constantly deferred, +Balzac at last attained his goal when, on March 14, 1850, Madame +Hanska became Madame Honore de Balzac. His joy over this great triumph +was beyond all adequate description, but he was unable to depart for +Paris with his bride until April. After a difficult journey, the +couple arrived at Paris in May, but the condition of Balzac's health +was hopeless and only a few more months were accorded him. With his +usual optimism, he always thought that he would be spared to finish +his great work, and when informed by his physician on August 17 that +he would live but a few hours, he refused to believe it. + +Unless he had been self-centered, Balzac could never have left behind +him his enormous and prodigious work. In spite of certain unlovely +phases of his private character and failure to fulfil his literary and +financial obligations, he was a man of great personal charm. Though at +various times he was under consideration for election to the French +Academy, his name is not found numbered among the "forty immortals." +But he was the greatest of French novelists, a great creator of +characters, who by some competent critics has been ranked with +Shakespeare, and he has left to posterity the incomparable, though +unfinished /Comedie humaine/, which is in itself sufficient for his +"immortality." + + + + CHAPTER II + + RELATIVES AND FAMILY FRIENDS + + + BALZAC'S MOTHER + + "Farewell, my dearly beloved mother! I embrace you with all my + heart. Oh! if you knew how I need just now to cast myself upon + your breast as a refuge of complete affection, you would insert a + little word of tenderness in your letters, and this one which I am + answering has not even a poor kiss. There is nothing but . . . Ah! + Mother, Mother, this is very bad! . . . You have misconstrued what + I said to you, and you do not understand my heart and affection. + This grieves me most of all! . . ." + +The above extract is sadly typical of a relationship of thirty years, +1820-1850, between a mother, on the one hand, who never understood or +appreciated her son--and a son, on the other, whose longings for +maternal affection were never fully gratified. To his mother Balzac +dedicated /Le Medicin de Campagne/, one of his finest sociological +studies. + +Madame Surville has described Balzac's mother, and her own, as being +rich, beautiful, and much younger than her husband, and as having a +rare vivacity of mind and of imagination, an untiring activity, a +great firmness of decision, and an unbounded devotion to her family; +but as expressing herself in actions rather than in words. She devoted +herself exclusively to the education of her children, and felt it +necessary to use severity towards them in order to offset the effects +of indulgence on the part of their father and their grandmother. +Balzac inherited from his mother imagination and activity, and from +both of his parents energy and kindness. + +Madame de Balzac has been charged with not having been a tender mother +towards her children in their infancy. She had lost her first child +through her inability to nurse it properly. An excellent nurse, +however, was found for Honore, and he became so healthy that later his +sister Laure was placed with the same nurse. But she never seemed +fully to understand her son nor even to suspect his promise. She +attributed the sagacious remarks and reflections of his youth to +accident, and on such occasions she would tell him that he did not +understand what he was saying. His only reply would be a sweet, +submissive smile which irritated her, and which she called arrogant +and presumptuous. With her cold, calculating temperament, she had no +patience with his staking his life and fortune on uncertain financial +undertakings, and blamed him for his business failures. She suffered +on account of his love of luxury and his belief in his own greatness, +no evidence of which seemed sufficient to her matter-of-fact mind. She +continued to misjudge him, unaware of his genius, but in spite of her +grumbling and harassing disposition, she often came to his aid in his +financial troubles. + +Contrary to the wishes of his parents, who had destined him to become +a notary, Balzac was ever dreaming of literary fame. His mother not +unnaturally thought that a little poverty and difficulty would bring +him to submission; so, before leaving Paris for Villeparisis in 1819 +she installed him in a poorly furnished /mansard/, No. 9, rue +Lesdiguieres, leaving an old woman, Madame Comin, who had been in the +service of the family for more than twenty years, to watch over him. +Balzac has doubtless depicted this woman in /Facino Cane/ as Madame +Vaillant, who in 1819-1820 was charged with the care of a young +writer, lodged in a /mansard/, rue Lesdiguieres. + +After fifteen months of this life, his health became so much impaired +that his mother insisted on keeping him at home, where she cared for +him faithfully. On a former occasion Madame de Balzac had had her son +brought home to recuperate, for when he was sent away to /college/ at +an early age, his health became so impaired that he was hurriedly +returned to his home. Balzac probably refers to this event in his life +when he writes, in /Louis Lambert/, that the mother, alarmed by the +continuous fever of her son and his symptoms of /coma/, took him from +school at four or five hours' notice. + +During the five years (1820-1825) that Balzac remained at home in +Villeparisis, he longed for the quiet freedom of his garret; he could +not adapt himself to the bustling family circle, nor reconcile himself +to the noise of the domestic machinery kept in motion by his vigilant +and indefatigable mother. She was of a nervous, excitable nature, +which she probably inherited from her mother, Madame Sallambier. She +imagined that he was ill, and of course there was no one to convince +her to the contrary. Had she known that while she thought she was +contributing everything to the happiness of those around her, she was +only doing the opposite, we may be sure that she of all women would +have been the most wretched. + +Balzac having failed in his speculations as publisher and printer, was +aided by his mother financially, and she figured as one of his +principal creditors during the remainder of his life. (E. Faguet in +/Balzac/, is exaggerating in stating that Madame de Balzac sacrificed +her whole fortune for Honore, for much of her means was spent on her +favorite son, Henri.) + +M. Auguste Fessart was a contemporary of the family, an observer of a +great part of the life of Honore, and his confidant on more than one +occasion. In his /Commentaires/ on the work entitled /Balzac, sa Vie +et ses Oeuvres/, by Madame Surville, he states that the portrait of +Madame de Balzac is flattering--a daughter's portrait of a mother--and +declares that Madame de Balzac was very severe with her children, +especially with Honore, adding that Balzac used to say that he never +heard his mother speak without experiencing a certain trembling which +deprived him of his faculties. Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, in reviewing +the /Commentaires/ of M. Fessart, notes the recurring instances in +which pity is expressed for the moral and material sufferings almost +constantly endured by Balzac in his family circle. These sufferings +seem to have impressed him more than anything else in the career of +the novelist. In speaking of Balzac's financial appeal to his family, +M. Fessart notes: "And his mother did not respond to him. She let him +die of hunger! . . . I repeat that they let him die of hunger; he told +me so several times!" When Madame Surville speaks of their keeping +Balzac's presence in Paris a secret, saying that it was moreover a +means of keeping him from all worldly temptations, M. Fessart replies: +"And of giving him nothing, and of allowing him to be in need of +everything!" Finally, when Madame Surville speaks of her parents' not +giving Balzac the fifteen hundred francs he desired, M. Fessart +confirms this, saying that his family always refused him money. + +A letter from Balzac to Madame Hanska testifies to this attitude of +his family towards him: "In 1828 I was cast into this poor rue +Cassini, in consequence of a liquidation to which I had been +compelled, owing one hundred thousand francs and being without a +penny, when my family would not even give me bread." + +MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire, to whose admirable work we shall have +occasion to refer often, state that Madame de Balzac advanced thirty- +seven thousand six hundred francs for Balzac on August 16, 1822, and +that his parents paid a total of forty-five thousand francs for him. + +Having read M. Fessart's description of Madame de Balzac, one can +agree with Madame Ruxton in saying that Balzac has portrayed his own +youth in his account of the early life of Raphael in /La Peau de +Chagrin/, Balzac's mother, instead of Raphael's father, being +recognized in the following passage: + + "Seen from afar, my life appears to contract by some mental + process. That long, slow agony of ten years' duration can be + brought to memory to-day in some few phrases, in which pain is + resolved into a mere idea, and pleasure becomes a philosophical + reflection . . . When I left school, my father submitted me to a + strict discipline; he installed me in a room near his own study, + and I had to rise at five in the morning and retire at nine at + night. He intended me to take my law studies seriously. I attended + school, and read with an advocate as well; but my lectures and + work were so narrowly circumscribed by the laws of time and space, + and my father required of me such a strict account, at dinner, + that . . . In this manner I cowered under as strict a despotism as + a monarch's until I became of age." + +In confirmation of this idea, Madame Ruxton[*] quotes Madame Barnier, +granddaughter of the Duchesse d'Abrantes, who knew both Balzac and his +mother, and who describes her as a cold, severe, superior, but hard- +hearted woman, just the opposite of her son. Balzac himself states: +"Never shall I cease to resemble Raphael in his garret." + +[*] In /La Dilecta de Balzac/, Balzac states that he has described his + own life in /La Peau de Chagrin/. For a picture of Balzac's + unhappy childhood drawn by himself, see /Revue des deux Mondes/, + March 15, 1920. + +After the death (June 1829) of her husband, Madame de Balzac lived +with her son at different intervals, and during his extended tour of +six months in 1832 she attended to the details of his business. With +her usual energy and extreme activity, she displayed her ability in +various lines, for she had to have dealings with his publisher, do +copying, consult the library,--sending him some books and buying +others,--have the servant exercise the horses, sell the horses and +carriage and dismiss the servant, arrange to have certain payments +deferred, send him money and consult the physician for him, not to +mention various other duties. + +While Madame de Balzac was certainly requested to do far more than a +son usually expects of his mother, her tantalizing letters were a +source of great annoyance to him, as is seen in the following: + + "What you say about my silence is one of those things which, to use + your expression, makes me grasp my heart with both hands; for it + is incredible I should be able to produce all I do. (I am obeying + the most rigorous necessity); so if I am to write, I ought to have + more time, and when I rest, I wish to lay down and not take up my + pen again. Really, my poor dear mother, this ought to be + understood between us once for all; otherwise, I shall have to + renounce all epistolary intercourse. . . . And this morning I was + about to make the first dash at my work, when your letter came and + completely upset me. Do you think it possible to have artistic + inspirations after being brought suddenly face to face with such a + picture of my miseries as you have traced? Do you think that if I + did not feel them, I should work as I do? . . . Farewell, my good + mother. Try and achieve impossibilities, which is what I am doing + on my side. My life is one perpetual miracle. . . . You ask me to + write you in full detail; but, my dear mother, have you yet to be + told what my existence is? When I am able to write, I work at my + manuscripts; when I am not working at my manuscripts, I am + thinking of them; I never have any rest. How is it my friends are + not aware of this? . . . I beg of you, my dear mother, in the name + of my heavy work, never to write me that such a work is good, and + such another bad: you upset me for a fortnight." + +Balzac appreciated what his mother did for him, and while he never +fully repaid her the money she had so often requested of him, she +might have felt herself partially compensated by these kind words of +affection: + + "My kind and excellent mother,--After writing to you in such haste, + I felt my inmost heart melt as I read your letter again, and I + worshipped you. How shall I return to you, when shall I return to + you, and can I ever return to you, by my love and endeavors for + your happiness, all that you have done for me? I can at present + only express my deep thankfulness. . . . How deep is my gratitude + towards the kind hearts who pluck some of the thorns from my life + and smooth my path by their affection. But constrained to an + unceasing warfare against destiny, I have not always leisure to + give utterance to what I feel. I would not, however, allow a day + to pass without letting you know the tenderness your late proofs + of devotion excite in me. A mother suffers the pangs of labor more + than once with her children, does she not, my mother? Poor + mothers, are you ever enough beloved! . . . I hope, my much + beloved mother, you will not let yourself grow dejected. I work as + hard as it is possible for a man to work; a day is only twelve + hours long, I can do no more. . . . Farewell, my darling mother; I + am very tired! Coffee burns my stomach. For the last twenty days I + have taken no rest; and yet I must still work on, that I may + remove your anxieties. . . . Keep your house; I had already sent + an answer to Laura, I will not let either you or Surville bear the + burden of my affairs. However, until the arrival of my proxy, it + is understood that Laura, who is my cash keeper, will remit you a + hundred and fifty francs a month. You may reckon on this as a + regular payment; nothing in the world will take precedence of it. + Then, at the end of November to December 10, you will have the + surplus of thirty-six thousand francs to reimburse you for the + excess of the expenditure over the receipts during the time of + your stewardship; during which, thanks to your devotion, you gave + me all the tranquility that was possible. . . . I entreat you to + take care of yourself! Nothing is so dear to me as your health! I + would give half of myself to keep you well, and I would keep the + other half, to do you service. My mother, the day when we shall be + happy through me is coming quickly; I am beginning to gather the + fruits of the sacrifices I have made this year for a more certain + future. Still, a few months more and I shall be able to give you + that happy life--that life without cares or anxiety--which you so + much need. You will have all you desire; our little vanities will + be satisfied no less than the great ambitions of our hearts. Oh + do, I pray you, nurse yourself! . . . Your comfort in material + things and your happiness are my riches. Oh! my dear mother, do + live to see my bright future realized!"[*] + +[*] In speaking of Balzac's relations to his mother, Mr. F. Lawton + (/Balzac/) states: "Madame Balzac was sacrificed to his + improvidence and stupendous egotism; nor can the tenderness of the + language--more frequently than not called forth by some fresh + immolation of her comfort to his interests--disguise this + unpleasing side of his character and action. . . . And his + epistolary good-byes were odd mixtures of business with + sentiment." + +Thus did the poor mother alternately receive letters full of scoldings +and of terms of endearment from her son whose genius she never +understood. She was faithful in her duties, and her ambitious son +probably did not realize how much he was asking of her. But she may +have had a motive in keeping him on the prolonged visit during which +this last letter was written, for she was interested in his +prospective marriage. Although her full name is never mentioned, the +women in question, Madame D----, was evidently a widow with a fortune, +and in view of this prospect was most pleasing to Madame de Balzac. +However, this matrimonial plan fell through, and Balzac himself was +never enthusiastic over it. He felt that his attentions to Madame +D---- would consume his very precious time, and that the affair could +not come off in time to serve his interests. Could it be that Balzac +was alluding to this same Madame D---- when he wrote some time later: +"My beloved mother,--the affair has come to nothing, the bird was +frightened away, and I am very glad of it. I had no time to run after +it, and it was imperative it should be either yes or no." + +This marriage project, like many others planned either for or by +Balzac, came to naught, and his mother evidently became displeased +with him, for she left him on his return, when he was in great need of +consolation and sympathy. As frequently happened under such +circumstances, Balzac expressed his deep regrets at his mother's +conduct to one of his best friends, Madame Carraud, and confided to +her his loneliness and longings. + +Madame de Balzac was much occupied with religious ideas, and had made +a collection of the writings of the mystics. Balzac plunged into the +study of clairvoyance and mesmerism, and his mother, interested in the +marvelous, helped him in his studies, as she knew many of the +celebrated clairvoyants and mesmerists of the time. + +At various times, Balzac's relations with his mother were much +estranged; at one time he did not even know where she was. When she +was disappointed in her favorite child, Henri, she seemed to recognize +the great wrong involved in her lack of affection for Honore and his +sister Laure. But she never gave him the attentions that he longed +for. In May, 1840, he wrote to Madame Hanska that he was especially +sad on the day of his /fete catholique/ (May 16) as, since the death +of Madame de Berny, there was no one to observe this occasion, though +during her life every day was a /fete/ day; he was too busy to join +with his sister Laure in the mutual observance of their birthdays, and +his mother cared little for him; once the Duchesse de Castries had +sent him a most beautiful bouquet,--but now there was no one. + +The same year (1840) he took his mother to live with him /Aux +jardies/. This he regarded as an additional burden. Her continual +harassing him for the money he still owed her, her nervous and +discordant disposition, her constant intrigues to force him to marry, +and her numerous little acts that placed him in positions beneath the +dignity of an author's standing were an incessant source of annoyance +to him. + +She did not remain with him long, but he tried to perform his filial +duties and make her comfortable, as various letters show. One of these +reads as follows: + + "My dear Mother,--It is very difficult for me to enter into the + engagement you ask of me, and to do so without reflection would + entail consequences most serious both for you and for myself. The + money necessary for my existence is, as it were, wrung from what + should go to pay my debts, and hard work it is to get it. The sort + of life I lead is suitable for no one; it wears out relations and + friends; all fly from my dreary house. My affairs will become more + and more difficult to manage, not to say impossible. The failure + of my play, as regards money, still further complicates my + situation. I find it impossible to work in the midst of all the + little storms raised up in a household where the members do not + live in harmony. My work has become feeble during the last year, + as any one can see. I am in doubt what to do. But I must come to + some determination within a few days. When my furniture has been + sold, and when I have disposed of 'Les Jardies,' I shall not have + much left. And I shall find myself alone in the world with nothing + but my pen, and an attic. In such a situation shall I be able to + do more for you than I am doing at this moment? I shall have to + live from hand to mouth by writing articles which I can no longer + write with the agility of youth which is no more. The world, and + even relations, mistake me; I am engrossed by my work, and they + think I am absorbed in myself. I am not blind to the fact, that up + to the present moment, working as I work, I have not succeeded in + paying my debts, nor in supporting myself. No future will save me. + I must do something else, look out for some other position. And it + is at a time like this that you ask me to enter into an + engagement! Two years ago I should have done so, and have deceived + myself. Now all I can say is, come to me and share my crust. You + were in a tolerable position; I had a domestic whose devotion + spared you all the worry of housekeeping; you were not called on + to enter into every detail, you were quiet and peaceful. You + wished me to count for something in your life, when it was + imperative for you to forget my existence and allow me the entire + liberty without which I can do nothing. It is not a fault in you, + it is the nature of women. Now everything is changed. If you wish + to come back, you will have to bear a little of the burden which + is about to weigh me down, and which hitherto has only pressed + upon you because you chose to take it to yourself. All this is + business, and in no way involves my affection for you, which is + always the same; so believe in the tenderness of your devoted + son." + +Later, when Balzac purchased his home in the rue Fortunee, his mother +had the care of it while he was in Russia. He asked her to visit the +house weekly and to keep the servants on the alert by enquiring as +though she expected him; yet Balzac wrote his nieces to have their +grandmother visit them often, lest she carry too far the duties she +imposed on herself in looking after his little home. He cautioned her +to allow no one to enter the house, to insist that his old servant +Francois be discreet, and especially that she be prudent in not +talking about his plans; and that by all means she should take a +carriage while attending to his affairs; this request was not only +from him but also from Madame Hanska. + +She was most faithful in looking after his home and watching the +workmen to see that his instructions were carried out. In fact, she +never left the house except when, on one occasion, owing to the +excessive odors of the paint, she spent two nights in Laure's home. + +Balzac's stay at Wierzchownia, however, was far from tranquil, for his +mother was discontented with the general aspect of his affairs and +increased his vexations by writing a letter in which she addressed him +as /vous/, declaring that her affection was conditional on his +behavior, a thing he naturally resented. "To think," he writes, "of a +mother reserving the right to love a son like me, seventy-two years on +the one side, and fifty on the other!" + +This letter caused a serious complication in his affairs in Russia, +but the mother evidently became reconciled for a few months later she +wrote to him expressing her joy at the news of his recovery, and +asking him to extend to his friends her most sincere thanks for their +care of him in his serious illness. Aside from knowing of his illness +and her inability to see him, she was most happy in feeling that he +was with such good friends. + +She complained of his not writing oftener, but he replied that he had +written to her seven times during his absence, that the letters were +posted by his hostess and that he did not wish to abuse the +hospitality with which he was so royally and magnificently +entertained. He resented his mother's dictating to him, a man of fifty +years of age, as to how often he should write to his nieces, for while +he enjoyed receiving their letters, he thought they should feel +honored in receiving letters from him whenever he had time to write to +them. + +When the poor mother attempted to be gracious to her son by sending +him a box of bonbons, she only brought him trouble, for she packed it +in newspapers, and in passing the custom-house, it was taken out and +the candy crushed. Instead of thanking her for her good intentions, he +rebuked her for her stupidity in regard to sending printed matter into +Russia, as it endangered his stay there. + +Balzac was always striving to pay his mother his long-standing +indebtedness, but the Revolution of 1848, in connection with his +continued illness, made this impossible. This burden of debt was also, +at this time, preventing his obtaining a successful termination of his +mission to Russia, for, as he explained to his mother, the lady +concerned did not care to marry him while he was still encumbered with +debt. Being a woman past forty, she desired that nothing should +disturb the tranquillity in which she wished to live. + +Owing to this critical situation and to his poor health, Balzac had +repeatedly requested his mother never to write depressing news to him, +but she paid little attention to this request and sent him a letter +hinting at trouble in so vague a manner and with such disquieting +expressions that, in his extremely nervous condition, it might have +proved fatal to him. Yet it did not affect him so seriously as it did +Madame Hanska, who read the letter to him, for owing to his terrible +illness and the method of treatment, his eyes had become so weak that +he could no longer see in the evening. Madame Hanska was so deeply +interested in everything that concerned Balzac that this news made her +very ill. For them to live in suspense for forty days without knowing +anything definite was far worse than it would have been had his mother +enumerated in detail the various misfortunes. From the preceding +revelations of the disposition of Madame de Balzac, one can easily +understand how it happened that her son has immortalized some of her +traits in the character of /Cousine Bette/. + +During the remainder of Balzac's stay in the Ukraine, he was +preoccupied with the thought of his mother having every possible +comfort, with his becoming acclimatized in Russia,--impossible though +it was for him in his condition,--and above all with the realization +of his long-cherished hope. But he cautioned his mother to observe the +greatest discretion in regard to this hope, "for such things are never +certain until one leaves the church after the ceremony." + +What must have been his feeling of triumph when he was able to write: + + "My very dear Mother,--Yesterday, at seven in the morning, thanks + be to God, my marriage was blessed and celebrated in the church of + Saint Barbara, at Berditchef, by the deputy of the Bishop of + Jitomir. Monseigneur wished to have married me himself, but being + unable, he sent a holy priest, the Count Abbe Czarouski, the + eldest of the glories of the Polish Roman Catholic Church, as his + representative. Madame Eve de Balzac, your daughter-in-law, in + order to make an end of all obstacles, has taken an heroic and + sublimely maternal resolution, viz., to give up all her fortune to + her children, only reserving an annuity to herself. . . . There + are now two of us to thank you for all the good care you have + taken of our house, as well as to testify to you our respectful + /tendresses/." + +Balzac was not only anxious that his bride should be properly +received, but also that his mother should preserve her dignity. On +their way home he writes her from Dresden to have the house ready for +their arrival (May 19, 20, 21), urging that she go either to her own +home or to Laure's, for it would not be proper for her to receive her +daughter-in-law in the rue Fortunee, and that she should not call +until his wife had called on her. After reminding her again not to +forget to procure flowers, he suggests that owing to his extremely +feeble health he meet her at Laure's, for there he would have one less +flight of stairs to climb. These suggestions, however, were +unnecessary, as his mother had been ill in bed for several weeks in +Laure's house. + +After the novelist's return to Paris with his bride, his physical +condition was such that in spite of the efforts of his beloved +physician, Dr. Nacquart, little could be done for him, and he was +destined to pass away within a short time. Balzac's mother, she with +whom he had had so many misunderstandings, she who had doubtless never +fully appreciated his greatness but who had sacrificed her physical +strength and worldly goods for his sake, an old woman of almost +seventy-two years, showed her true maternal love by remaining with her +glorious and immortal son in his last moments. + + + MADAME SURVILLE--MADAME MALLET--MADAME DUHAMEL + + "To the Casket containing all things delightful; to the Elixir of + Virtue, of Grace, and of Beauty; to the Gem, to the Prodigy of all + Normandy; to the Pearl of the Bayeux; to the Fairy of St. + Laurence; to the Madonna of the Rue Teinture; to the Guardian + Angel of Caen, to the Goddess of Enchanting Spells; to the + Treasury of all Friendship--to Laura!" + +Two years younger than Balzac, his sister Laure, not only played an +important part in his life, but after his death rendered valuable +service by writing his life and publishing a part of his +correspondence.[*] Being reared by the same nurse as he, and having +had the same home environment, she was the first of his intimate +companions, and throughout a large part of his life remained one of +the most sympathetic of all his confidantes. As children they loved +each other tenderly, and his chivalrous protection of her led to his +being punished more than once without betraying her childish guilt. +Once when she arrived in time to confess, he asked her to avow nothing +the next time, as he liked to be scolded for her. + +[*] MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire, /Le Jeunesse de Balzac/, have correctly + observed that Balzac's sister, Madame Surville, has written a most + delicate and interesting book, but that she had not correctly + portrayed her brother because she was blinded by her devotion to + him. + +He it was who accompanied her to dances, but having had the misfortune +to slip and fall on one such occasion he was so sensitive to the +amused smiles of the ladies that he gave up dancing, and decided to +dominate society otherwise than by the graces and talents of the +drawing-room. Thus it was that he became merely a spectator of these +festivities, the memory of which he utilized later. + +It was to Laure that, in the strictest confidence, he sent the plan of +his first work, the tragedy /Cromwell/, writing it to be a surprise to +the rest of the family when finished. To her he looked for moral +support, asking her to have faith in him, for he needed some one to +believe in him. To her also he confided his ambitions early in his +career, saying that his two greatest desires were to be famous and to +be loved. + +Laure was married in May, 1820, to M. Midi de la Greneraye Surville, +and moved from her home in Villeparisis to Bayeux. When she became +homesick Balzac wrote her cheerful letters, suggesting various means +of employing her time. His admiration of her was such that he even +asked her to select for him a wife of her own type. He explained to +her that his affection was not diminished an atom by distance or by +silence, for there are torrents which make a terrible to-do and yet +their beds are dry in a few days, and there are waters which flow +quietly, but flow forever. + +Madame Surville seems to have been the impersonation of discretion and +appreciation; she was intimately acquainted with all the characters in +his work and made valuable suggestions; he was most happy when +discussing plans with her. He longed to have his glory reflect on his +family and make the name of Balzac illustrious. When carried away with +some beautiful idea, he seemed to hear her tender voice encouraging +him. he felt that were it not for her devotion to the duties of her +home, their intimacy might have become even more precious and that +stimulated by a literary atmosphere she might herself have become a +writer. + +He consulted her frequently with regard to literary help, once asking +her to use all her cleverness in writing out fully her ideas on the +subject of the /Deux Rencontres/, about which she had told him, for he +wished to insert them in the /Femme de trente Ans/. As early as 1822 +she received a similar request asking her to prepare for him a +manuscript of the /Vicaire des Ardennes/; she was to prepare the first +volume and he would finish it. And many years later (1842), Balzac +asked his sister to furnish him with ideas for a story for young +people. After the name of this story had been changed a few times, it +was published under the title of /Un Debut dans la Vie/. This explains +why Balzac used the following words in dedicating it to her: "To +Laure. May the brilliant and modest intellect that gave me the subject +of this scene have the honor of it!" This, however, was not the first +time he had honored her by dedicating one of his works to her, for in +1835 he inscribed to "Almae Sorori" a short story, /Les Proscrits/. + +Balzac was often depressed, and felt that even his own family was not +in sympathy with his efforts; he told his sister that the universe +would be startled at his works before his relations or friends would +believe in their existence. Yet he knew that they did appreciate him +to a certain extent, for his sister wrote him that in reading the +/Recherche de l'Absolu/, and thinking that her own brother was the +author of it, she wept for joy. + +In his youth, at all events, Balzac seems to have had no secrets from +his sister, and it is to her that the much disputed letter of +Saturday, October 12, 1833, was addressed. Their friendship was +sincere and devoted; and yet there were coolnesses, caused largely by +the influence of their mother,--and of M. Surville, whose jealous and +tyrannical disposition prevented their seeing each other as frequently +as they would have liked. She once celebrated her birthday by visiting +her brother, but she held her watch in her hand as she had only twenty +minutes for the meeting. For awhile, he could not visit her; later, +this estrangement was overcome, and after the first presentation of +his play /Vautrin/ (1840), his sister cared for him in her home during +his illness. + +Madame Surville performed many duties for her brother but was not +always skilful in allaying the demands of his creditors. On Balzac's +return from a visit to Madame Hanska in Vienna, he found that his +affairs were in great disorder, and that his sister, frightened at the +conditions, had pawned his silverware. In planning at a later date to +leave France, however, he did not hesitate to entrust his treasures to +his sister, saying that she would be a most faithful "dragon." He was +also wisely thoughtful of her; on one occasion when she had gone to a +masked ball contrary to her husband's wishes, Balzac went after her +and took her home without giving her time to go round the room. + +She evidently had more influence over their mother than had he, for he +asked her when on the verge of taking Madame de Balzac into his home +again, to assist him in making her reasonable: + + "If she likes, she can be very happy, but tell her that she must + encourage happiness and not frighten it away. She will have near + her a confidential attendant and a servant, and that she will be + taken care of in the way she likes. Her room is as elegant as I + can make it. . . . Make her promise not to object to what I wish + her to do as regards her dress: I do not wish her to be dressed + otherwise than as she /ought to be/, it would give me great + pain . . ." + +During his prolonged stay in Russia, he requested his sister to +conceal from their mother the true condition of his illness and the +uncertainty of his marriage, and to entreat her to avoid anything in +her letters which might cause him pain. Feeling that she would never +have allowed such a thing had she known of it, he informed her in +detail concerning their mother's letter which had caused him endless +trouble. + +While Madame Surville was a great stimulus to Balzac early in his +literary career, she in turn received the deepest sympathy from him in +her financial struggle, and, while he was so happy and was living in +such luxury in Russia, he only regretted that he could not assist her, +for he had enjoyed hospitality in her home. + +Madame Surville had at least one of her mother's traits--that of +continually harassing Balzac by trying to marry him to some rich +woman; once she had even chosen for him the goddaughter of Louis- +Philippe. But the most serious breach of relations between the two +resulted from her failure to approve of Balzac's adoration of Madame +Hanska. While admitting the extreme beauty of the celebrated Daffinger +portrait, she was jealous of his /Predilecta/. When she saw the bound +proofs of /La Femme superieure/ which he had intended for Madame +Hanska, she felt that she was being neglected. In the end, he robbed +his /Chatelaine/ to the profit of his /cara sorella/. But when she +became impatient at Balzac's prolonged stay at Wierzchownia, he +resented it, explaining that marriage is like cream--a change of +atmosphere would spoil it,--that bad marriages could be made with the +utmost ease, but good ones required infinite precautions and +scrupulous attention. He tried to make her see the advantage of this +marriage, writing her: + + "Consider, dear Laura, none of us are as yet, so to speak, + /arrived/; if, instead of being obliged to work in order to live, + I had become the husband of one of the cleverest, the best-born, + and best-connected of women, who is also possessed of a solid + though circumscribed fortune, in spite of the wish of the lady to + live retired, to have no intercourse even with the family, I + should still be in a position to be much better able to be of use + to you all. I have the certainty of the warm kindness and lively + interest which Madame Hanska takes in the dear children. Thus it + is more than a duty in my mother, and all belonging to me, to do + nothing to hinder me from the happy accomplishment of a union + which /before all is my happiness/. Again, it must not be + forgotten that this lady is illustrious, not only on account of + her high descent, but for her great reputation for wit, beauty, + and fortune (for she is credited with all the millions of her + daughter); she is constantly receiving proposals of marriage from + men of the highest rank and position. But she is something far + better than rich and noble; she is exquisitely good, with the + sweetness of an angel, and of an easy compatibility in daily life + which every day surprises me more and more; she is, moreover, + thoroughly pious. Seeing all these great advantages, the world + treats my hopes with something of mocking incredulity, and my + prospects of success are denied and derided on all sides. If we + were all to live . . . under the same roof, I could conceive the + difficulties raised by my mother about her dignity; but to keep on + the terms which are due to a lady who brings with her (fortune + apart) most precious social advantages, I think you need only + confine yourself to giving her the impression that my relations + are kind and affectionate amongst themselves, and kindly + affectionate towards the man she loves. It is the only way to + excite her interest and to preserve her influence, which will be + enormous. You may all of you, in a great fit of independence, say + you have no need of any one, that you intend to succeed by your + own exertions. But, between ourselves, the events of the last few + years must have proved to you that nothing can be done without the + help of others; and the social forces that we can least afford to + dispense with are those of our own family. Come, Laura, it is + something to be able, in Paris, to open one's /salon/ and to + assemble all the /elite/ of society, presided over by a woman who + is refined, polished, imposing as a queen, of illustrious descent, + allied to the noblest families, witty, well-informed, and + beautiful; there is a power of social domination. To enter into + any struggle whatever with a woman in whom so much influence + centers is--I tell you this in confidence--an act of insanity. Let + there be neither servility, nor sullen pride, nor susceptibility, + nor too much compliance; nothing but good natural affection. This + is the line of conduct prescribed by good sense towards such a + woman." + +One can see how Madame Surville would resent such a letter, especially +when she might have arranged another marriage, advantageous and +sensible, for him. But poor Balzac, knowing her interest in his +happiness, writes to her a joyful letter the day after his marriage: +"As to Madame de Balzac, what more can I say about her? I may be +envied for having won her: with the exception of her daughter, there +is no woman in this land who can compare with her. She is indeed the +diamond of Poland, the gem of this illustrious house of Rzewuski." +After explaining to her that this was a marriage of pure affection, as +his wife had given her fortune to her children and wished to live only +for them and for him, Balzac tells his sister that he hoped to present +Madame Honore de Balzac to her soon, signing the letter, "Your brother +Honore at the summit of happiness." + + +A great attraction for Balzac in the home of Madame Surville were his +two nieces, Sophie and Valentine, to whom he was devoted, and with +whom he frequently spent his evenings. The story is told that one +evening on entering his sister's home, he asked for paper and pencil, +which were given him. After spending about an hour, not in making +notes, as one might imagine, but in writing columns of figures and +adding them, he discovered that he owed fifty-nine thousand francs, +and exclaimed that his only recourse was to blow his brains out, or +throw himself into the Seine! When questioned by his niece Sophie in +tears as to whether he would not finish the novel he had begun for +her, he declared that he was wrong in becoming so discouraged, to work +for her would be a pleasure; he would no longer be depressed, but +would finish her book, which would be a masterpiece, sell it for three +thousand /ecus/, pay all his creditors within two years, amass a dowry +for her and become a peer of France! + +Balzac had forbidden his nieces to read his books, promising to write +one especially for them. The book referred to here is /Ursule Mirouet/ +which he dedicated to Sophie as follows: + + "To Mademoiselle Sophie Surville. + + "It is a real pleasure, my dear niece, to dedicate to you a book of + which the subject and the details have gained the approbation--so + difficult to secure--of a young girl to whom the world is yet + unknown, and who will make no compromise with the high principles + derived from a pious education. You young girls are a public to be + dreaded; you ought never to be permitted to read any books less + pure than your own pure souls, and you are forbidden certain + books, just as you are not allowed to see society as it really is. + Is it not enough, then, to make a writer proud, to know that he + has satisfied you? Heaven grant that affection may not have misled + you! Who can say? The future only, which you, I hope, will see, + though he may not, who is your uncle + "BALZAC." + +To Valentine Surville he dedicated /La Paix du Menage/. + +The novelist was interested in helping his sister find suitable +husbands for her daughters. He and Sophie had a wager as to which--she +or he--would marry first; so when Balzac finally reached his own long- +sought goal, he did not forget to remind his niece that she owed him a +wedding gift. + +Sophie became an accomplished musician, having for her master Ambroise +Thomas. Balzac spoke very lovingly of Valentine during her early +childhood; but she was so attractive that he feared she would be +spoiled. And spoiled she was, or perhaps naturally inclined to +indolence, for he wrote her a few years later: + + "I should be very glad to learn that Valentine studies as much as + the young Countess, who, besides all her other studies, practices + daily at her piano. The success of this education is owing to hard + work, which Miss Valentine shuns a little too much. Now, I say to + my dear niece that to do nothing except what we feel inclined to + do is the origin of all deterioration, especially in women. Rules + obeyed and duties fulfilled have been the law of the young + Countess from childhood, although she is an only child and a rich + heiress. . . . Thus I beg Valentine not to exhibit a Creole + /nonchalance/; but to listen to the advice of her sister, to + impose tasks on herself, and to do work of various sorts, without + neglecting the ordinary and daily cares of the household, and, + above all, constantly to withstand the inclination we all have, + more or less, to give ourselves up to what we find pleasant; it is + by this yielding to inclination that we deteriorate and fall into + misfortune." + +While Balzac was living in Wierzchownia, he urged his nieces to write +to him oftener, as the young Countess Anna took the greatest interest +in their chatter; they were like two nightingales coming by post to +enchant the Ukrainian solitude. He had portrayed them so well that all +took an interest in them, and their letters were called for first +whenever he received a package from Paris. He requested them to send +him certain favorite recipes, and planned to have Sophie play with the +young countess. + +Sophie seemed to have some of the traits of her grandmother; for the +novelist wrote his sister: + + "Sophie has traced out a catechism of what she considers /my + duties/ towards you, just as last year my mother wrote me a + catechism of my duties towards my nieces; it is a sort of cholera + peculiar to our family, to lecture uncles both at home and abroad. + I make fun if it, but all these little things are remarked upon, + which I do not like; then these blank pages make me furious. I + forgive Sophie on account of the /motif/, which is you, and for + all she and Valentine have done for your /fete/. Ah! if my wishes + are ever realized, how I shall enjoy introducing my dear nieces, + both so unspoiled by the devil! I have sung their praises here. I + have said Sophie is a great musician: I add, Valentine is a /man + of letters/, and she is tired with writing three pages." + + +If certain letters received by Balzac from his family irritated him, +he perhaps unconsciously was making his sister jealous by continually +extolling the young Countess Mniszech: + + "She has a genius, as well as a love, for music; if she had not + been an heiress, she would have been a great artiste. If she comes + to Paris in eighteen months or two years, she will take lessons in + thorough bass and composition. It is all she needs as regards + music. She has (without exaggeration) hands the size of a child of + eight years old. These minute, supple, white hands, three of which + I could hold in mine, have an iron power of finger, in the + proportion, like that of Liszt. The keys, not the fingers, bend; + she can compass ten keys by the span and elasticity of her + fingers; this phenomenon must be seen to be believed. Music, her + mother, and her husband: these three words sum up her character. + She is the Fenella of the fireside; the will-o'-wisp of our souls; + our gaiety; the life of the house. When she is not here, the very + walls are conscious of her absence--so much does she brighten them + by her presence. She had never known misfortune; she knows nothing + of annoyance; she is the idol of all who surround her, and she had + the sensibility and goodness of an angel: in one word, she unites + qualities which moralists consider incompatible; it is, however, + only a self-evident fact to all who know her. She is evidently + well informed, without pedantry; she has a delightful /naivete/; + and though long since married, she has still the gaiety of a + child, loving laughter like a little girl, which does not prevent + her from possessing a religious enthusiasm for great objects. + Physically, she has a grace even more beautiful than beauty, which + triumphs over a complexion still somewhat brown (she is hardly + sixteen);[*] a nose well formed, but not striking, except in the + profile; a charming figure, supple and /svelte/; feet and hands + exquisitely formed, and wonderfully small, as I have just + mentioned. All these advantages are, moreover, thrown into relief + by a proud bearing, full of race, by an air of distinction and + ease which all queens have not, and which is now quite lost in + France, where everybody wishes to be equal. This exterior--this + air of distinction--this look of a /grande dame/, is one of the + most precious gifts which God--the God of women can bestow. The + Countess Georges speaks four languages as if she were a native of + each of the countries whose tongue she knows so thoroughly. She + has a keenness of observation which astonishes me; nothing escapes + her. She is besides extremely prudent; and entirely to be relied + on in daily intercourse. There are no words to describe her, but + /perle fine/. Her husband adores her; I adore her; two cousins on + the point of /old-maidism/ adore her--she will always be adored, + as fresh reasons for loving her continually arise." + +[*] For the incorrectness of this statement, see the chapter on the + Countess Mniszech. + +Such adoration of Madame Hanska's daughter was enough to make Madame +Surville jealous, especially when she was so despondent over her +financial situation, but Balzac tried to cheer her thus: "You should +be proud of your two children, they have written two charming letters, +which have been much admired here. Two such daughters are the reward +of your life; you can afford to accept many misfortunes."[*] + +[*] Sophie Surville, the older daughter, whose matrimonial + possibilities were so much discussed, was finally unhappily + married to M. Mallet. She was a good harpist, and taught the harp. + She died without issue. Valentine was married, 1859, to M. Louis + Duhamel, a lawyer. She had a good voice for singing and literary + talent; she took charge of having Balzac's correspondence + published. She had two children; a daughter who became Mme. Pierre + Carrier-Belleuse, wife of an artist, and a son, /publiciste + distingue/. Laurence de Balzac had two sons; the older Alfred de + Montzaigle, dissipated, a friend of Musset, died in 1852 without + issue. The younger son, Alfonse, married Mlle. Caroline Jung; he + died in 1868 at Strasbourg. Of their three children, only one, + Paul de Montzaigle, lived. M. Surville-Duhamel, Mme. Pierre + Carrier-Belleuse, and M. de Montzaigle are the only living + relatives of Balzac. Mme. Belleuse and M. de Montzaigle have each + a little daughter. + + + MADAME SALLAMBIER--MADAME DE MONTZAIGLE--MADAME DE BRUGNOLLE-- + MADAME DELANNOY--MADAME DE POMMEREUL--MADAME DE MARGONNE + + "Ah we are fine specimens in this blessed family of ours! What a + pity we can't put ourselves into novels." + +Another member of Balzac's family circle was his affectionate and +amiable grandmother, whom he loved from childhood. After her husband's +death, Madame Sallambier lived with her daughter, Madame de Balzac. +She seems to have had a kind disposition, and having the requisite +means, she could indulge Honore in various ways. When he was brought +back from /college/ in wretched health, she condemned the schools for +their neglect. + +While studying at home, Balzac frequently spent his evenings playing +whist or Boston with her. Through voluntary inattention or foolish +plays, she allowed him to win money which he used to buy books. +Throughout his life he loved these games in memory of her. she +encouraged him in his writings, and when /L'Heritiere de Birague/ was +sold for eight hundred francs, he was sure of the sale of the /first/ +copy, for she had promised to buy it. He was devoted to her, and when +he had neglected writing to her for some time, he atoned by sending to +her a most affectionate letter. + +After the marriage of his sister Laure, Balzac kept her informed in +detail concerning the family life. Of his grandmother, we find the +following: + + "Grandmamma begs me to say all the pretty things she would write if + that unfortunate malady did not rob her of all her facilities! + Nevertheless she begins to think her head is better, and if the + spring comes there is every reason to hope she will recover her + wonted gaiety. . . . Grandmamma is suffering from a nervous + attack; . . . Papa says that grandmamma is a clever actress who + knows the value of a walk, of a glance, and how to fall gracefully + into an easy chair." + +If Madame Sallambier with her nervous attacks annoyed Balzac in his +youth, he spoke beautifully of her after her death, and referred to +her as his "grandmother who loved him," or his "most excellent +grandmother." In speaking of his grief over the death of Madame de +Berny, he said that never, since the death of his grandmother, had he +so deeply sounded the gulf of separation. One of his characteristics +he inherited from his grandmother, that of keeping trivial things +which had belonged to those he loved. + + +Not a great deal is said of Balzac's younger sister, Laurentia, but he +has left this pen picture of her: + + "On the whole you know that Laurentia is as beautiful as a picture + --that she has the prettiest of arms and hands, that her + complexion is pale and lovely. In conversation people give her + credit for plenty of sense, and find that it is all a natural + sense, which is not yet developed. She has beautiful eyes, and + though pale many men admire that. . . . You are not aware that + Laurentia has taken a violent fancy to Augustus de L----- . Say + nothing that might lead her to suspect I have betrayed the secret, + but I have all the trouble in the world to get it into her head + that authors are the most villainous of matches (in respect of + fortune, be it understood). Really Laurentia is quite romantic. + How she would hate me if she knew with what irreverence I allude + to her tender attachment." + +This attachment was evidently not very serious, for not long afterward +Laurentia was married to Monsieur de Montzaigle. His family had a +title and stood well in the town, so Laurentia's parents were pleased +with the marriage. This was a great event in the family, and Balzac +describes to his married sister, Laure, the accompanying excitement in +the home: + + "Grandmamma is in a great state of delight; papa is quite + satisfied,--so am I,--so are you. As to mamma, recall the last + days of your own /demoisellerie/, and you will have some idea of + what Laurentia and I have to endure. Nature surrounds all roses + with thorns: mamma follows nature."[*] + +[*] It was from the father of Laurentia's husband that M. and Madame + de Berny bought their home in Villeparisis. + +The happiness of poor Laurentia was of short duration. She died five +years after her marriage, having two children. Her husband did not +prove to be what the Balzac family had expected, and her children were +left destitute for Madame de Balzac to care for. Balzac always spoke +tenderly of her, and once in despair he exclaimed that at times he +envied his poor sister Laurentia, who had been lying for many years in +her coffin. + + +After Balzac's return from St. Petersburg, his letters were filled +with allusions to Madame de Brugnolle, his housekeeper and financial +counselor. He brought presents to various friends, and her he +presented with a muff. Besides being very practical, economical and +kind, she was a good manager for Balzac financially and strict with +him regarding his diet; the /bonne montagnarde/ did almost everything +possible, from running his errands to making his home happy. He sent +business letters under her name, and her fidelity and devotion are +seen in her denying herself clothes in order to buy household +necessities for him. + +She served the novelist as a spy when he and Gavault disagreed. When +Lirette visited Paris, she treated her very kindly and gave up her own +room in order to arrange comfortable quarters for her. She had some +relatives who had entered a convent, and she talked of ending her days +in one, but Balzac begged her to keep house for him. He felt that she +was born for that! Madame de Brugnolle was of much help to him in +looking after Lirette's financial affairs, visiting her in the +convent, and carrying messages to her from him. Many times she +comforted him by promising to look out for his family, even consenting +to go to Wierzchownia, if necessary, as Lirette's visit had helped her +to realize as never before the angelic sweetness of his /Loup/. + +In return for this devotion, he took her with him to Frankfort and to +Bury to visit Madame de Bocarme. He celebrated the birthday of the +/montagnarde/ in 1844, giving her some very attractive presents. Her +economy and devotion seemed to increase with time, and enabled him to +travel without any worry about his home. What must not have been the +trial to him when this happy household came to be broken up later by +her marriage! + + +Madame Delannoy was an old family friend of the Balzacs. She aided +Balzac in his financial troubles as early in his career as 1826, and +though he remained indebted to her for more than twenty years, he +tried to repay her and was ever grateful to her, calling her his +second mother. The following, written late in his career, reveals his +general attitude towards her: + + "I have just written a long letter to Madame Delannoy, with whom I + have settled my business; but this still leaves me with + obligations of conscientiousness towards her, which my first book + will acquit. No one could have behaved more like a mother, or been + more adorable than she has been throughout all this business. She + has been a mother, I will be a son." + +But if she remained one of his principal creditors, she received many +literary proofs of his appreciation. As early as 1831 he dedicated to +her a volume of his /Romans et Contes philosophiques/, but later +changed the title to /Etudes philosophiques/, and dedicated to her /La +Recherche de L'Absolu/: + + "To Madame Josephine Delannoy, nee Doumerg. + + "Madame, may God grant that this book have a longer life than mine! + The gratitude which I have vowed to you, and which I hope will + equal your almost maternal affection for me, would last beyond the + limits prescribed for human feeling. This sublime privilege of + prolonging the life in our hearts by the life of our works would + be, if there were ever a certainty in this respect, a recompense + for all the labor it costs those whose ambition is such. Yet again + I say: May God grant it! + + "DE BALZAC." + +Balzac once thought of buying from Madame Delannoy a house that was +left her by her friend, M. Ferraud, but which she could not keep. He +felt that this would be advantageous to them both, but the plan was +never carried out. Besides their financial and literary relations, +their social relations were most cordial. He speaks of accompanying +her and her daughter to the Italian opera twice during the absence of +Madame Visconti. + +In 1842, Balzac dedicated /La Maison-du-Chat-qui-pelote/ to +Mademoiselle Marie de Montbeau, the daughter of Camille Delannoy, a +friend of his sister, and the granddaughter of Madame Delannoy. + + +Another friend of Balzac's family was Madame de Pommereul. In the fall +of 1828 after his serious financial loss, Balzac went to visit Baron +and Madame de Pommereul in Brittany, where he obtained the material +for /Les Chouans/, and became familiar with the chateau de Fougere. To +please Madame de Pommereul, Balzac changed the name of his book from +/Le Gars/ to /Les Chouans/, after temporarily calling it /Le Dernier +Chouan/. + +She has given a beautiful pen portrait of the youthful Balzac in which +she describes minutely his appearance, noting his beautiful hands, his +intelligent forehead and his expressive golden brown eyes. There was +something in his manner of speaking, in his gestures, in his general +appearance, so much goodness, confidence, naivete and frankness that +it was impossible to know him without loving him, and his exuberant +good nature was infectious. In spite of his misfortunes, he had not +been in their company a quarter of an hour, and they had not even +shown him to his room, before he had brought the general and herself +to tears with laughter. + + "On some evenings he remained in the drawing-room in company with + his hosts, and entered into controversies with Madame de + Pommereul, who, being very pious herself, tried to persuade him to + make a practice of religion; while Balzac, in return, when the + discussion was exhausted, endeavored to teach her the rules of + backgammon. But the one remained unconverted and the other never + mastered the course of the noble game. Occasionally he helped to + pass the time by inventing stories, which he told with all the + vividness of which he was master." + +A few months after this prolonged visit, Balzac wrote to General de +Pommereul, expressing his deep appreciation of their hospitality, and +in speaking of the book which he had just written, hoped that Madame +de Pommereul would laugh at some details about the butter, the +weddings, the stiles, and the difficulties of going to the ball, etc., +which he had inserted in his work,--if she could read it without +falling asleep. + +Balzac made perhaps his most prolonged visits in the home of another +old family friend, M. de Margonne, who was living with his wife at +Sache. He describes his life there thus: + + "Sache is the remains of a castle on the Indre, in one of the most + delicious valleys of Touraine. The proprietor, a man of fifty- + five, used to dandle me on his knee. He has a pious and intolerant + wife, rather deformed and not clever. I go there for him; and + besides, I am free there. They accept me throughout the region as + a child; I have no value whatever, and I am happy to be there, + like a monk in a monastery. I always go there to meditate serious + works. The sky there is so blue, the oaks so beautiful, the calm + so vast! . . . Sache is six leagues from Tours. But not a woman, + not a conversation possible!" + +Not only did Balzac visit them when he wished to compose a serious +work, but he often went there to recuperate from overwork. He probably +did not enjoy their company, as he spoke of "having" to dine with them +and he is perhaps even chargeable with ingratitude when he speaks of +their parsimony. + +Like his own family, these old people were interested in seeing him +married to a rich lady, but to no avail. In spite of his unkind +remarks about them, Balzac appreciated their hospitality, and +expressed it by dedicating to M. de Margonne /Une Tenebreuse Affaire/. + + + MADAME CARRAUD--MADAME NIVET + + "You are my public, you and a few other chosen souls, whom I wish + to please; but yourself especially, whom I am proud to know, you + whom I have never seen or listened to without gaining some + benefit, you who have the courage to aid me in tearing up the evil + weeds from my field, you who encourage me to perfect myself, you + who resemble so much that angel to whom I owe everything; in + short, you who are so good towards my ill-doings. I alone know how + quickly I turn to you. I have recourse to your encouragements, + when some arrow has wounded me; it is the wood-pigeon regaining + its nest. I bear you an affection which resembles no other, and + which can have no rival, because it is alone of its kind. It is so + bright and pleasant near you! From afar, I can tell you, without + fear of being put to silence, all I think about your mind, about + your life. No one can wish more earnestly that the road be smooth + for you. I should like to send you all the flowers you love, as I + often send above your head the most ardent prayers for your + happiness." + +Balzac's friendship with Madame Zulma Carraud was not only of the +purest and most beautiful nature, but it lasted longer than his +friendship with any other woman, terminating only with his death. It +was even more constant than that with his sister Laure, which was +broken at times. Though Madame Surville states that it began in 1826, +the following passage shows an earlier date: "I embrace you, and press +you to a heart devoted to you. A friendship as true and tender now in +1838 as in 1819. Nineteen years!" The first letter to her in either +edition of his correspondence, however, is dated 1826. + +Madame Carraud, as Zulma Tourangin, attended the same convent as +Balzac's sister Laure. Her husband was a distinguished officer in the +artillery and a man of learning, but absolutely lacking in ambition, +preferring to direct the instruction of Saint-Cyr rather than to risk +the chances of advancement presented in active service. He became +inspector of the gunpowder manufactory at Angouleme, and later retired +to his home at Frapesle, near Issoudun. Though an excellent husband, +his inactivity was a great annoyance to his wife. According to several +Balzacian writers, Madame Carraud became the type of the /femme +incomprise/ for Balzac, but the present writer is inclined to agree +with M. Serval when he calls this judgment astonishing, since she was +a woman who adored her husband and sons, was an author of some moral +books for children, and nothing in her suggested either vagueness of +soul or melancholy. Madame Carraud herself gives a glimpse of her +married life in saying to Balzac that she and her husband are not +sympathetic in everything, that being of different temperaments things +appear differently to them, but that she knows happiness, and her life +is not empty. + +Often when sick, discouraged, overworked or pursued by his creditors, +Balzac sought refuge in her home, and with a pure and disinterested +maternal affection, she calmed him and inspired him with courage to +continue the battle of life. It was indeed the maternal element that +he needed and longed for, and Madame Carraud seems to have been a rare +mother who really understood her child. He confided in her not only +his financial worries, but also his love affairs, his aspirations in +life, and his ideas of woman: + + "I care more for the esteem of a few persons, amongst whom you are + one of the first, both in friendship and in high intellect--one of + the noblest souls I have ever known,--than I care for the esteem + of the masses, for whom I have, in truth, a profound contempt. + There are some vocations that must be obeyed, and something drags + me irresistibly towards glory and power. It is not a happy life. + There is in me a worship of woman, and a need of loving, which has + never been completely satisfied. Despairing of ever being loved + and understood as I desire, by the woman I have dreamt of (never + having met her, except under one form--that of the heart), I have + thrown myself into the tempestuous region of political passions + and into the stormy and parching atmosphere of literary glory. + . . . If ever I should find a wife and a fortune, I could resign + myself very easily to domestic happiness; but where are these + things to be found? Where is the family which would have faith in + a literary fortune? It would drive me mad to owe my fortune to a + woman, unless I loved her, or to owe it to flatteries; I am + obliged, therefore, to remain isolated. In the midst of this + desert, be assured that friendships such as yours, and the + assurance of finding a shelter in a loving heart, are the best + consolations I can have. . . . To dedicate myself to the happiness + of a woman is my constant dream, but I do not believe marriage and + love can exist in poverty. . . . I work too hard and I am too much + worried with other things to be able to pay attention to those + sorrows which sleep and make their nest in the heart. It may be + that I shall come to the end of my life, without having realized + the hopes I entertained from them. . . . As regards my soul, I am + profoundly sad. My work alone keeps me alive. Will there never be + a woman for me in this world? My fits of despondency and bodily + weariness come upon me more frequently, and weigh upon me more + heavily; to sink under this crushing load of fruitless labor, + without having near me the gentle caressing presence of woman, for + whom I have worked so much!" + +Though Balzac and his mother were never congenial, he became very +lonely after she left him in 1832. In the autumn of that year he had a +break with the Duchesse de Castries, so he began the new year by +summing up his trials and pouring forth his longings to Madame Carraud +as he could do to no other woman, not even to his /Dilecta/. In +response to this despondent epistle, she showed her broad sympathetic +friendship by writing him a beautiful and comforting letter, in which +she regretted not being able to live in Paris with him, so as to see +him daily and give him the desired affection. + +Not only through the hospitality of her home, but by sending various +gifts, she ministered to Balzac's needs or caprices. To make his study +more attractive, she indulged his craving for elegance and grace by +surprising him with the present of a carpet and a lovely tea service. +In thanking her for her thoughtfulness, he informed her that she had +inspired some of the pages in the /Medicin de Campagne/. + +Besides being so intimate a friend of Madame Carraud, the novelist was +also a friend of M. Carraud, whom he called "Commandant Piston," and +discussed his business plans with him before going to Corsica and +Sardinia to investigate the silver mines. M. Carraud had a fine +scientific mind; he approved of Balzac's scheme, and thought of going +with him; his wife was astonished on hearing this, since he never left +the house even to look after his own estate. However, his natural +habit asserted itself and he gave up the project. + +Madame Carraud was much interested in politics, and many of Balzac's +political ideas are set forth in his letters to her when he was a +candidate for the post of deputy. She reproached him for a mobility of +ideas, an inconstancy of resolution, and feared that the influence of +the Duchesse de Castries had not been good for him. To this last +accusation, he replied that she was unjust, and that he would never be +sold to a party for a woman. + +Another tie which united Balzac to Madame Carraud was her sympathy for +his devotion to Madame de Berny, of whom she was not jealous. Both +women were devoted to him, and were friendly towards each other, so +much so that in December, 1833, she invited Balzac to bring Madame de +Berny with him to spend several days in her home at Frapesle. This he +especially appreciated, since neither his mother nor his sister +approved of his relations with his /Dilecta/. + +Madame Carraud occupied in Balzac's life a position rather between +that of Madame de Berny and that of a sister. Indeed, he often +referred to her as a sister, and she was generous minded enough to ask +him not to write to her when she learned how unpleasant his mother and +sister were in regard to his writing to his friends. + +Seeing his devotion to her, one can understand why he begged her to +spare him neither counsels, scoldings nor reproaches, for all were +received kindly from her. One can perceive also the sincerity of the +following expressions of friendship: + + "You are right, friendship is not found ready made. Thus every day + mine for you increases; it has its root both in the past and in + the present. . . . Though I do not write often, believe that my + friendship does not sleep; the farther we advance in life, + precious ties like our friendship only grow the closer. . . . I + shall never let a year pass without coming to inhabit my room at + Frapesle. I am sorry for all your annoyances; I should like to + know you are already at home, and believe me, I am not averse to + an agricultural life, and even if you were in any sort of hell, I + would go there to join you. . . . Dear friend, let me at least + tell you now, in the fulness of my heart, that during this long + and painful road four noble beings have faithfully held out their + hands to me, encouraged me, loved me, and had compassion on me; + and you are one of them, who have in my heart an inalienable + privilege and priority over all other affections; every hour of my + life upon which I look back is filled with precious memories of + you. . . . You will always have the right to command me, and all + that is in me is yours. When I have dreams of happiness, you + always take part in them; and to be considered worthy of your + esteem is to me a far higher prize than all the vanities the world + can bestow. No, you can give me no amount of affection which I do + not desire to return to you a thousand-fold. . . . There are a few + persons whose approval I desire, and yours is one of those I hold + most dear." + +Among those to whom Balzac could look for criticism, Madame Carraud +had the high intelligence necessary for such a role; he felt that +never was so wonderful an intellect as hers so entirely stifled, and +that she would die in her corner unknown. (Perhaps this estimate of +her caused various writers to think that Madame Carraud was Balzac's +model for the /femme incomprise/.) Balzac not only had her serve him +as a critic, but in 1836 he requested her to send him at once the +names of various streets in Angouleme, and wished the "Commandant" to +make him a rough plan of the place. This data he wanted for /Les deux +Poetes/, the first part of /Les Illusions perdues/. + +Like his family and some of his most intimate friends, she too +interested herself in his future happiness, but when she wrote to him +about marriage, he was furious for a long time. Concerning this +question, Balzac informs her that a woman of thirty, possessing three +or four hundred thousand francs, who would take a fancy to him, would +find him willing to marry her, provided she were gentle, sweet- +tempered and good-looking, although enormous sacrifices would be +imposed on him by this course. Several months later, he writes her +that if she can find a young girl twenty-two years of age, worth two +hundred thousand francs or even one hundred thousand, she must think +of him, provided the dowry can be applied to his business. + +If the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul is correct in his statement, +Balzac showed Madame Carraud the first letter from /l'Etrangere/, in +spite of his usual extreme prudence and absolute silence in such +matters. She answered it, so another explanation of Balzac's various +handwritings might be given. At least, Madame Carraud's seal was used. + +In later years, Madame Carraud met with financial reverses. The +following letter, which is the last to her on record, shows not only +what she had been to Balzac in his life struggle, but his deep +appreciation and gratitude: + + "We are such old friends, you must not hear from any one else the + news of the happy ending of this grand and beautiful soul-drama + which has been going on for sixteen years. Three days ago I + married the only woman I have ever loved, whom I love more than + ever, and whom I shall love to my life's end. I believe this is + the reward God has kept in store for me through so many years of + neither a happy youth nor a blooming spring; I shall have the most + brilliant summer and the sweetest of all autumns. Perhaps, from + this point of view, my most happy marriage will seem to you like a + personal consolation, showing as it does that Providence keeps + treasures in store to bestow on those who endure to the end. . . . + Your letter has gained for you the sincerest of friends in the + person of my wife, from whom I have had no secrets for a long time + past, and she has known you by all the instances of your greatness + of soul, which I have told her, also by my gratitude for your + treasures of hospitality toward me. I have described you so well, + and your letter has so completed your portrait, that now you are + felt to be a very old friend. Also, with the same impulse, with + one voice, and with one and the same feeling in our hearts, we + offer you a pleasant little room in our house in Paris, in order + that you may come there absolutely as if it were your own house. + And what shall I say to you? You are the only creature to whom we + could make this offer, and you must accept it or you would deserve + to be unfortunate, for you must remember that I used to go to your + house, with the sacred unscrupulousness of friendship, when you + were in prosperity, and when I was struggling against all the + winds of heaven, and overtaken by the high tides of the equinox, + drowned in debts. I have it now in my power to make the sweet and + tender reprisals of gratitude . . . You will have some days' + happiness every three months: come more frequently if you will; + but you are to come, that is settled. I did this in the old times. + At St. Cyr, at Angouleme, at Frapesle, I renewed my life for the + struggle; there I drew fresh strength, there I learned to see all + that was wanting in myself; there I obtained that for which I was + thirsty. You will learn for yourself all that you have + unconsciously been to me, to me a toiler who was misunderstood, + overwhelmed for so long under misery, both physical and moral. Ah! + I do not forget your motherly goodness, your divine sympathy for + those who suffer. . . . Well, then as soon as you wish to come to + Paris, you will come without even letting us know. You will come + to the Rue Fortunee exactly as to your own house, absolutely as I + used to go to Frapesle. I claim this as my right. I recall to your + mind what you said to me at Angouleme, when broken down after + writing /Louis Lambert/, ill, and as you know, fearing lest I + should go mad. I spoke of the neglect to which these unhappy ones + are abandoned. 'If you were to go mad, I would take care of you.' + Those words, your look, and your expression have never been + forgotten. All this is still living in me now, as in the month of + July 1832. It is in virtue of that word that I claim your promise + to-day, for I have almost gone mad with happiness. . . . When I + have been questioned here about my friendships you have been + named the first. I have described that fireside always burning, + which is called Zulma, and you have two sincere woman-friends + (which is an achievement), the Countess Mniszech and my wife."[*] + +[*] Balzac is not exaggerating about the free use he made of her home, + for besides going there for rest, he worked there, and two of his + works, /La Grenadiere/ and /La Femme abandonnee/, were signed at + Angouleme. + +His devotion is again seen in the beautiful words with which he +dedicates to her in 1838 /La Maison Nucingen/: + + "To Madame Zulma Carraud. + + "To whom, madame, but to you should I inscribe this work, to you + whose lofty and candid intellect is a treasury to your friends, to + you who are to me not only an entire public, but the most + indulgent of sisters? Will you deign to accept it as a token of a + friendship of which I am proud? You, and some few souls as noble + as your own, will grasp my thought in reading /la Maison Nucingen/ + appended to /Cesar Birotteau/. Is there not a whole social + contrast between the two stories? + + "DE BALZAC." + +While hiding from his creditors, Balzac took refuge with Madame +Carraud at Issoudun, where he assumed the name of Madame Dubois to +receive his mail. Here he met some people whose names he made immortal +by describing them in his /Menage de Garcon/, called later /La +Rabouilleuse/. The priest Badinot introduced him to /La Cognette/, the +landlady to whom the vineyard peasant sold his wine. La Cognette, some +of whose relatives are still living, plays a minor role in the +/Comedie humaine/. Her real name was Madame Houssard; her husband, +whom Balzac incorrectly called "Pere Cognet," kept a little cabaret in +the rue du Bouriau. "Mere Cognette," who lost her husband about 1835, +opened a little café at Issoudun during the first years of her +widowhood. Balzac was an intermittent and impecunious client of hers; +he would enter her shop, quaff a cup of coffee, execrable to the +palate of a connoisseur like him, and "chat a bit" with the good old +woman who probably unconsciously furnished him with curious material. + +The coffee drunk, the chat over, Balzac would strike his pockets, and +declaring they were empty, would exclaim: "Upon my word, Mere +Cognette, I have forgotten my purse, but the next time I'll pay for +this with the rest!" This habit gave "Mere Cognette" an extremely +mediocre estimate of the novelist, and she retained a very bad +impression of him. Upon learning that he had, as she expressed it, +"put me in one of his books," she conceived a violent resentment which +ended only with her death (1855). "The brigand," she exclaimed, "he +would have done better to pay me what he owes me!" + +Another poor old woman, playing a far more important role in Balzac's +work, lived at Issoudun and was called "La Rabouilleuse." For a long +time, she had been the servant and mistress of a physician in the +town. This wretched creature had an end different to the one Balzac +gave his Rabouilleuse, but just as miserable, for having grown old, +sick, despoiled and without means, she did not have the patience to +wait until death sought her, but ended her miserable existence by +throwing herself into a well. + +The doctor, it seems, at his death had left her a little home and some +money, but his heirs had succeeded in robbing her of it entirely.-- +Perhaps this story is the origin of the contest of Dr. Rouget's heirs +with his mistress. + +This Rabouilleuse had a daughter who inherited her name, there being +nothing else to inherit; she was a dish washer at the Hotel de la +Cloche, where Balzac often dined while at Issoudun. Can it be that he +saw her there and learned from her the story of her mother? + + +Balzac was acquainted also with Madame Carraud's sister, Madame +Philippe Nivet. M. Nivet was an important merchant of Limoges, living +in a pretty, historical home there. It was in this home that Balzac +visited early in his literary career, going there partly in order to +visit these friends, partly to see Limoges, and partly to examine the +scene in which he was going to place one of his most beautiful novels, +/Le Cure de Village/. While crossing a square under the conduct of the +young M. Nivet, Balzac perceived at the corner of the rue de la +Vieille-Poste and the rue de la Cite an old house, on the ground-floor +of which was the shop of a dealer in old iron. With the clearness of +vision peculiar to him, he decided that this would be a suitable +setting for the work of fiction he had already outlined in his mind. +It is here that are unfolded the first scenes of /Le Cure de Village/, +while on one of the banks of the Vienne is committed the crime which +forms the basis of the story. + + + + CHAPTER III + + LITERARY FRIENDS + + + MADAME GAY--MADAME HAMELIN--MADAME DE GIRARDIN--MADAME + DESBORDES-VALMORE--MADAME DORVAL + + "O matre pulchra filia pulchrior!" + +Though Balzac did not go out in "society" a great deal, he was +fortunate in associating with the best literary women of his time, and +in knowing the charming Madame Sophie Gay, whose salon he frequented, +and her three daughters. Elisa, the eldest of these, was married to +Count O'Donnel. Delphine was married June 1, 1831, to Emile de +Girardin, and Isaure, to Theodore Garre, son of Madame Sophie Gail, an +intimate friend of Madame Gay. These two women were known as "Sophie +la belle" and "Sophie la laide" or "Sophie de la parole" and "Sophie +de la musique." Together they composed an /opera-comique/ which had +some success. In 1814, Madame Gay wrote /Anatole/, an interesting +novel which Napoleon is said to have read the last night he passed at +Fontainebleau before taking pathetic farewell of his guard. A few +years before this, she wrote another novel which met with much +success, /Leonine de Monbreuse/, a study of the society and customs of +the /Directoire/ and of the Empire. + +Madame Gay had made a literary center of her drawing-room in the rue +Gaillon where she had grouped around her twice a week not only many of +the literary and artistic celebrities of the epoch, but also her +acquaintances who had occupied political situations under the Empire. +Madame Gay, who had made her debut under the /Directoire/, had been +rather prominent under the Empire, and under the Restoration took +delight in condemning the government of the Bourbons. Introduced into +this company, though yet unknown to fame, Balzac forcibly impressed +all those who met him, and while his physique was far from charming, +the intelligence of his eyes reveled his superiority. Familiar and +even hilarious, he enjoyed Madame Gay's salon especially, for here he +experienced entire liberty, feeling no restraint whatever. At her +receptions as in other salons of Paris, his toilet, neglected at times +to the point of slovenliness, yet always displayed some distinguishing +peculiarity. + +Having acquired some reputation, the young novelist started to carry +about with him the enormous and now celebrated cane, the first of a +series of magnificent eccentricities. A quaint carriage, a groom whom +he called Anchise, marvelous dinners, thirty-one waistcoats bought in +one month, with the intention of bringing this number to three hundred +and sixty-five, were only a few of the number of bizarre things, which +astonished for a moment his feminine friends, and which he laughingly +called /reclame/. Like many writers of this epoch, Balzac was not +polished in the art of conversing. His conversation was but little +more than an amusing monologue, bright and at times noisy, but +uniquely filled with himself, and that which concerned him personally. +The good, like the evil, was so grossly exaggerated that both lost all +appearance of truth. As time went on, his financial embarrassments +continually growing and his hopes of relieving them increasing in the +same proportion, his future millions and his present debts were the +subject of all his discourses. + +Madame Gay was by no means universally beloved. In her sharp and +disagreeable voice she said much good of herself and much evil of +others. She had a mania for titles and was ever ready to mention some +count, baron or marquis. In her drawing-room, Balzac found a direct +contrast to the Royalist salon of the beautiful Duchesse de Castries +which he frequented. In both salons, he met a society entirely +unfamiliar to him, and acquainted himself sufficiently with the +conventions of these two spheres to make use of them in his novels. + +The /Physiologie du Mariage/, published anonymously in December, 1829, +gave rise to a great deal of discussion. According to Spoelberch de +Lovenjoul, two women well advanced in years, Madame Sophie Gay and +Madame Hamelin, are supposed to have inspired the work, and even to +have dictated some of its anecdotes least flattering to their sex. +This Madame Hamelin, born in Guadeloupe about 1776, was the marvel of +the /Directoire/, and several times was sent on secret missions by +Napoleon. The role she played under the /Directoire/, the /Consulat/ +and the Empire is not clear, but she was a confidential friend of +Chateaubriand, lived in the noted house called the /Madeleine/, near +the forest of Fontainebleau, and wrote about it as did Madame de +Sevigne about /Les Rochers/. While living there, she received her +Bonapartist friends as well as her Legitimist friends. Having lived in +a society where life means enjoyment, she had many anecdotes to +relate. She was a fine equestrienne, a most beautiful dancer, +apparently naturally graceful, and bore the sobriquet of /la jolie +laide/. Her marriage to the banker, M. Hamelin, together with her +accomplishments, secured her a place in the society of the +/Directoire/. Balzac, in a letter to Madame Hanska, refers to her as +/une vieille celebrite/, and states that she wept over the letter of +Madame de Mortsauf to Felix in /Le Lys dans la Vallee/. It is +interesting to note that he later built his famous house and breathed +his last in the rue Fortunee to which Madame Hamelin gave her +Christian name, since it was cut through her husband's property, the +former Beaujon Park, and that it became in 1851 the rue Balzac. + + +Delphine Gay, the beautiful and charming daughter of Madame Sophie +Gay, was called "the tenth muse" by her friends, who admired the +sonorous original verses which she recited as a young girl in her +mother's salon. She became, in June, 1831, the wife of Emile de +Girardin, the founder of the /Presse/. Possessing in her youth, a +/bellezza folgorante/, Madame de Girardin was then in all the splendor +of her beauty; her magnificent features, which might have been too +pronounced for a young girl, were admirably suited to the woman and +harmonized beautifully with her tall and statuesque figure. Sometimes, +in the poems of her youth, she spoke as an authority on the subject of +"the happiness of being beautiful." It was not coquetry with her, it +was the sentiment of harmony; her beautiful soul was happy in dwelling +in a beautiful body. + +She held receptions for her friends after the opera, and Balzac was +one of the frequenters of her attractive salon. Of her literary +friends she was especially proud. According to Theophile Gautier, this +was her coquetry, her luxury. If in some salon, some one--as was not +unusual at that time--attacked one of her friends, with what eloquent +anger did she defend them! What keen repartees, what incisive sarcasm! +On these occasions, her beauty glowed and became illuminated with a +divine radiance; she was magnificent; one might have thought Apollo +was preparing to flay Marsyas! + + "Madame de Girardin professed for Balzac a lively admiration to + which he was sensible, and for which he showed his gratitude by + frequent visits; a costly return for him who was, with good right, + so avaricious of his time and of his working hours. Never did + woman possess to so high a degree as Delphine,--we were allowed to + call her by this familiar name among ourselves--the gift of + drawing out the wit of her guests. With her, we always found + ourselves in poetical raptures, and each left her salon amazed at + himself. There was no flint so rough that she could not cause it + to emit one spark; and with Balzac, as you may well believe, there + was no need of trying to strike fire; he flashed and kindled at + once." (Theophile Gautier, /Life Portraits, Balzac/.) + +Balzac was interested in the occult sciences--in chiromancy and +cartomancy. He had been told of a sibyl even more astonishing than +Mademoiselle Lenormand, and he resolved that Madame de Girardin, Mery +and Theophile Gautier should drive with him to the abode of the +pythoness at Auteuil. The address given them was incorrect, only a +family of honest citizens living there, and the old mother became +angry at being taken for a sorceress. They had to make an ignominious +retreat, but Balzac insisted that this really was the place and +muttered maledictions on the old woman. Madame de Girardin pretended +that Balzac had invented all this for the sake of a carriage drive to +Auteuil, and to procure agreeable traveling companions. But if +disappointed on this occasion, Balzac was more successful at another +time, when with Madame de Girardin he visited the "magnetizer," M. +Dupotet, rue du Bac. + +Besides enjoying for a long time the "happiness of being beautiful," +Delphine also enjoyed almost exclusively, in her set, that of being +good. In this respect, she was superior to her mother who for the sake +of a witticism, never hesitated to offend another. She had but few +enemies, and, wishing to have none, tried to win over those who were +inimical towards her. For twenty-five years she played the diplomat +among all the rivals in talent and in glory who frequented her salon +in the rue Laffitte or in the Champs-Elysees. She prevented Victor +Hugo from breaking with Lamartine; she remained the friend of Balzac +when he quarreled with her autocratic husband. She encouraged Gautier, +she consoled George Sand; she had a charming word for every one; and +always and everywhere prevailed her merry laughter--even when she +longed to weep. But her cheery laugh was not her highest endowment; +her greatest gift was in making others laugh. + +Balzac had a sincere affection for Delphine Gay and enjoyed her salon. +In his letters to her he often addressed her as /Cara/ and /Ma chere +ecoliere/. Her poetry having been converted into prose by her prosaic +husband, she submitted her writings to Balzac as to an enlightened +master. He asked /Delphine Divine/ to write a preface for his /Etudes +de Femmes/, but she declined, saying that an habitue of the opera who +could so transform himself so as to paint the admirable Abbe +Birotteau, could certainly surpass her in writing /une preface de +femme/. She did, however, write the sonnet on the /Marguerite/ which +Lucien de Rubempre displayed as one of the samples of his volume of +verses to the publisher Dauriat; also /Le Chardon/. Balzac made use of +this poem, however, only in the original edition of his work; it was +replaced in the /Comedie humaine/ by another sonnet, written probably +by Lassailly. Madame de Girardin brings her master before the public +by mentioning his name in her /Marguerite, ou deux Amours/, where a +personage in the book tells about Balzac's return from Austria and his +inability to speak German when paying the coachman. + +It was at the home of Madame de Girardin that Lamartine met Balzac for +the first time, June, 1839. He asked her to invite Balzac to dinner +with him that he might thank him, as he was just recovering from an +illness during which he had "simply lived" on the novels of the +/Comedie humaine/. The invitation she wrote Balzac runs as follows: +"M. de Lamartine is to dine with me Sunday, and wishes absolutely to +dine with you. Nothing would give him greater pleasure. Come then and +be obliging. He has a sore leg, you have a sore foot, we will take +care of both of you, we will give you some cushions and footstools. +Come, come! A thousand affectionate greetings." And Lamartine has left +this appreciation of her and her friendship for Balzac: + + "Madame Emile de Girardin, daughter of Madame Gay who had reared + her to succeed on her two thrones, the one of beauty, the other of + wit, had inherited, moreover, that kindness which inspires love + with admiration. These three gifts, beauty, wit, kindness, had + made her the queen of the century. One could admire her more or + less as a poetess, but, if one knew her thoroughly, it was + impossible not to love her as a woman. She had some passion, but + no hatred. Her thunderbolts were only electricity; her + imprecations against the enemies of her husband were only anger; + that passed with the storm. It was always beautiful in her soul, + her days of hatred had no morrow. . . . She knew my desire to know + Balzac. She loved him, as I was disposed to love him myself. . . . + She felt herself in unison with him, whether through gaiety with + his joviality, through seriousness with his sadness, or through + imagination with his talent. He regarded her also as a rare + creature, near whom he could forget all the discomforts of his + miserable existence." + +A few years after their meeting, Lamartine inquired Balzac's address +of Madame de Girardin, as she was one of the few people who knew where +he was hiding on account of his debts. Balzac was appreciative of the +many courtesies extended to him by Madame de Girardin and was +delighted to have her received by his friends, among whom was the +Duchesse de Castries. + +Madame de Girardin made constant effort to keep the peace between +Balzac and her husband, the potentate of the /Presse/. Balzac had +known Emile de Girardin since 1829, having been introduced to him by +Levavasseur, who had just published his /Physiologie du Mariage/. +Later Balzac took his Verdugo to M. de Girardin which appeared in /La +Mode/ in which Madame de Girardin and her mother were collaborating; +but these two men were too domineering and too violent to have +amicable business dealings with each other for any length of time. +Balzac, while being /un bourreau d'argent/, would have thought himself +dishonored in subordinating his art to questions of commercialism; M. +de Girardin only esteemed literature in so far as it was a profitable +business. They quarreled often, and each time Madame de Girardin +defended Balzac. + +Their first serious controversy was in 1834. Balzac was no longer +writing for /La Mode/; he took the liberty of reproducing elsewhere +some of his articles which he had given to this paper; M. de Girardin +insisted that they were his property and that his consent should have +been asked. Madame de Girardin naturally knew of the quarrel and had a +difficult role to play. If she condemned Balzac, she would be lacking +in friendship; if she agreed with him, she would be both disrespectful +to her husband and unjust. Like the clever woman that she was, she +said both were wrong, and when she thought their anger had passed, she +wrote a charming letter to Balzac urging him to come dine with her, +since he owed her this much because he had refused her a short time +before. She begged that they might become good friends again and enjoy +the beautiful days laughing together. He must come to dinner the next +Sunday, Easter Sunday, for she was expecting two guests from Normandy +who had most thrilling adventures to relate, and they would be +delighted to meet him. Again, her sister, Madame O'Donnel, was ill, +but would get up to see him, for she felt that the mere sight of him +would cure her. + +Anybody but Balzac would have accepted this invitation of Madame de +Girardin's, were it only to show his gratitude for what she had done +for him; but Balzac was so fiery and so mortified by the letter of M. +de Girardin that, without taking time to reflect, he wrote to Madame +Hanska: + + "I have said adieu to that mole-hill of Gay, Emile de Girardin and + Company. I seized the first opportunity, and it was so favorable + that I broke off, point-blank. A disagreeable affair came near + following; but my susceptibility as man of the pen was calmed by + one of my college friends, ex-captain in the ex-Royal Guard, who + advised me. It all ended with a piquant speech replying to a + jest." + +However, in answering the invitation of Madame de Girardin, Balzac +wrote most courteously expressing his regrets at Madame O'Donnel's +illness and pleading work as his excuse for not accepting. This did +not prevent the ardent peacemaker from making another attempt. Taking +advantage of her husband's absence a few weeks later, she invited +Balzac to lunch with Madame O'Donnel and herself. But time had not yet +done its work, so Balzac declined, saying it would be illogical for +him to accept when M. de Girardin was not at home, since he did not go +there when he was present. The following excerpts from his letters, +declining her various invitations, show that Balzac regarded her as +his friend: + + "The regret I experience is caused quite as much by the blue eyes + and blond hair of a lady who I believe to be my friend--and whom I + would gladly have for mine--as by those black eyes which you + recall to my remembrance, and which had made an impression on me. + But indeed I can not come. . . . Your /salon/ was almost the only + one where I found myself on a footing of friendship. You will + hardly perceive my absence; and I remain alone. I thank you with + sincere and affectionate feeling, for your kind persistence. I + believe you to be actuated by a good motive; and you will always + find in me something of devotion towards you in all that + personally concerns yourself." + +Her attempts to restore the friendship were futile, owing to the +obstinacy of the quarrel, but she eventually succeeded by means of her +novel, /La Canne de Monsieur de Balzac/. In describing this cane as a +sort of club made of turquoises, gold and marvelous chasings, Madame +de Girardin incidentally compliments Balzac by making Tancrede observe +that Balzac's large, black eyes are more brilliatn than these gems, +and wonder how so intellectual a man can carry so ugly a cane. + +This famous cane belongs to-day to Madame la Baronne de Fontenay, +daughter of Doctor Nacquart. In October, 1850, Madame Honore de Balzac +wrote a letter to Doctor Nacquart, Balzac's much loved physician, +asking him to accept, as a souvenir of his illustrious friend, this +cane which had created such a sensation,--the entire mystery of which +consisted in a small chain which she had worn as a young girl, and +which had been used in making the knob. There has been much discussion +as to its actual appearance. He describes it to Madame Hanska (March +30, 1835), as bubbling with turquoise on a chased gold knob. The +description of M. Werdet can not be relied on, for he states that +Gosselin brought him the cane in October, 1836, and that Balzac +conceived the idea of it while at a banquet in prison, but, as has +been shown, the cane was in existence as early as March, 1835, and +Madame de Girardin's book appeared in May, 1836. As to the description +of the cane given by Paul Lacroix, the Princess Radziwill states that +the cane owned by him is the one that Madame Hanska gave Balzac, and +which he afterwards discarded for the gaudier one he had ordered for +himself. This first cane was left by him to his nephew, Edouard +Lacroix. Several years later (1845), Balzac had Froment Meurice make a +cane /aux singes/ for the Count George de Mniszech, future son-in-law +of Madame Hanska, so the various canes existing in connection with +Balzac may help to explain the varying descriptions. + +Balzac could not remain indifferent after Madame de Girardin had thus +brought his celebrated cane into prominence. He was absent from Paris +when the novel appeared, and scarcely had he returned when he wrote +her (May 27, 1836), cordially thanking her as an old friend. He also +after this made peace with M. de Girardin. But one difficulty was +scarcely settled before another began, and the ever faithful Delphine +was continually occupied in trying to establish peace. Her numerous +letters to Balzac are filled with such expressions as: "Come +to-morrow, come to dinner. Come, we can not get along without you! +Come, Paris is an awful bore. We need you to laugh. Come dine with us, +come! Come!!! Now come have dinner with us to-morrow or day after +to-morrow, to-day, or even yesterday, every day!! A thousand greetings +from Emile." Thus with her hospitality and merry disposition, she +bridged many a break between her husband and Balzac. + +Finally, not knowing what to do, she decided not to let Balzac mention +the latest quarrel. When he referred to it, she replied: "Oh, no, I +beg you, speak to Theophile Gautier. If is not for nothing that I have +given him charge of the /feuilleton/ of the /Presse/. That no longer +concerns me, make arrangements with him." Then she counseled her +husband to have Theophile Gautier direct this part of the /Presse/ in +order not to contend with Balzac, but the novelist was so unreasonable +that M. de Girardin had to intervene. "My beautiful Queen," once wrote +Theophile to Delphine, "if this continues, rather than be caught +between the anvil Emile and the hammer Balzac, I shall return my apron +to you. I prefer planting cabbage or raking the walls of your garden." +To this, Madame de Girardin replied: "I have a gardener with whom I am +very well satisfied, thank you; continue to maintain order /du +palais/." + +The relations between M. de Girardin and the novelist became so +strained that Balzac visited Madame de Girardin only when he knew he +would not encounter her husband. M. de Girardin retired early in the +evening; his wife received her literary friends after the theater or +opera. At this hour, Balzac was sure not to meet her husband, whose +non-appearance permitted the intimate friends to discuss literature at +their ease. + +Although Madame de Girardin was married to a publicist, she did not +like journalists, so she conceived the fancy of writing a satirical +comedy, /L'Ecole des Journalistes/, in which she painted the +journalists in rather unflattering colors. The work was received by +the committee of the Theatre-Francais, but the censors stopped the +performance. Balzac was angry at this interdiction, for he too +disliked journalists, but Madame de Girardin took the censorship +philosophically. In her salon she read /L'Ecole des Journalistes/ to +her literary friends; there Balzac figured prominently, dressed for +this occasion in his blue suit with engraved gold buttons, making his +coarse Rabelaisian laughter heard throughout the evening. + +Balzac's fame increased with the years, but he still regarded the +friendship of Madame de Girardin among those he most prized, and in +1842 he dedicated to her /Albert Savarus/. When she moved into the +little Greek temple in the Champs-Elysees, she was nearer Balzac, who +was living at that time in the rue Basse at Passy, so their relations +became more intimate. Yet when, after his return from St. Petersburg +where he had visited Madame Hanska in 1843, the /Presse/ published the +scandalous story about his connection with the Italian forger, he +vowed he would never see again the scorpions Gay and Girardin. + +Madame de Girardin regretted Balzac's not being a member of the +Academy. In 1845, a chair being vacant, she tried to secure it for +him. Although her salon was not an "academic" one, she had several +friends who were members of the Academy and she exerted her influence +with them in his behalf; when, after all her solicitude, he failed to +gain a place among the "forty immortals," she had bitter words for +their poor judgment, Balzac at that time being at the zenith of his +reputation. Some time before this, too, she promised to write a +/feuilleton/ on the great conversationalists of the day, maintaining +that Balzac was one of the most brilliant; and she was thoughtful in +inserting in her /feuilleton/ a few gracious words about his recent +illness and recovery. + +Balzac confided to Madame de Girardin his all absorbing passion for +Madame Hanska. She knew of the secret visit of the "Countess" to Paris +and of his four days' visit with her in Wiesbaden. She knew all the +noble qualities and countless charms of the adored "Countess," but +never having seen her, she felt that Madame Hanska did not fully +reciprocate the passionate love of her /moujik/. Becoming ironical, +she called Balzac a /Vetturino per amore/, and told him she had heard +that Madame Hanska was, to be sure, exceedingly flattered by his +homage and made him follow wherever she went--but only through vanity +and pride,--that she was indeed very happy in having for /patito/ a +man of genius, but that her social position was too high to permit his +aspiring to any other title. + +When the /Avant-Propos/ of the /Comedie humaine/ was reprinted in the +/Presse/, October 25, 1846, it was preceded by a very flattering +introduction written by Madame de Girardin. She continued to entertain +the novelist, sending him many amusing invitations. In spite of the +"Potentate of the /Presse/," her friendship with Balzac lasted until +1847, when she had to give him up. + +The ever faithful Delphine knew of Balzac's financial embarrassment +and persuaded her husband to postpone pressing him for the debts which +he had partially paid before setting out for the Ukraine. The +Revolution of February seriously affected Balzac's financial matters. +After the death of Madame O'Donnel, in 1841, Madame de Girardin's +friendship lost a part of its charm for Balzac and the rest of it +vanished in these troubles. Since the greater part of the last few +years of Balzac's life was spent in the Ukraine, she saw but little of +him, but she hoped for his return with his long sought bride to the +home he had so lovingly prepared for her in the rue Fortunee. + +Whether Balzac was fickle in his nature, or whether he was trying to +convince Madame Hanska that she was the only woman for whom he cared, +one finds, throughout his letters to her, various comments on Madame +de Girardin, some favorable, some otherwise. He admired her beauty +very much, and was saddened when, at the height of her splendor, she +was stricken with smallpox. He was grateful to her for the service she +rendered him in arranging for the first presentation of his play +/Vautrin/, throughout the misfortune attending this production she +proved to be a true friend. Although he accepted her hospitality +frequently, at times being invited to meet foreigners, among them the +German Mlle. De Hahn, enjoying himself immensely, he regretted the +time he sacrificed in this manner, and when he quarreled with her +husband, he expressed his happiness in severing his relations with +them. While a charming hostess at a small dinner party, she became, +Balzac felt, a less agreeable one at a large reception, her talents +not being sufficient to conceal her /bourgeois/ origin. + +Madame de Girardin was in the country near Paris when she heard the +sad news of the death of the author of the /Comedie humaine/. The +shock was so great that she fainted, and, on regaining consciousness, +wept bitterly over the premature death of her fried. A few years +before her own death, in 1855, Madame de Girardin was greatly +depressed by painful disappointments. The death of Balzac may be +numbered as one of the sad events which discouraged, in the decline of +life, the heart and the hope of this noble woman. + + +Madame Desbordes-Valmore was another literary woman whom Balzac met in +the salon of Madame Sophie Gay, where she and Delphine recited poetry. +Losing her mother at an early age under especially sad circumstances +and finding her family destitute, after long hesitation, she resigned +herself to the stage. Though very delicate, by dint of studious +nights, close economy and many privations, she prepared herself for +this work. At this time she contracted a /habit/ of suffering which +passed into her life. She played at the /Opera Comique/ and recited +well, but did not sing. At the age of twenty her private griefs +compelled her to give up singing, for the sound of her own voice made +her weep. So from music she turned to poetry, and her first volume of +poems appeared in 1818. She began her theatrical career in Lille, +played at the Odeon, Paris, and in Brussels, where she was married in +1817 to M. Valmore, who was playing in the same theater. Though she +went to Lyons, to Italy, and to the Antilles, she made her home in +Paris, wandering from quarter to quarter. + +Of her three children, Hippolyte, Undine (whose real name was +Hyacinthe) and Ines, the two daughters passed away before her. Her +husband was honor and probity itself, and suffered only as a man can, +from compulsory inaction. He asked but for honest employment and the +privilege to work. She was so sensitive and felt so unworthy that she +did not call for her pension after it was secured for her by her +friends, Madame Recamier and M. de Latouche. A letter written by her +to Antoine de Latour (October 15, 1836) gives a general idea of her +life: "I do not know how I have slipped through so many shocks,--and +yet I live. My fragile existence slipped sorrowfully into this world +amid the pealing bells of a revolution, into whose whirlpool I was +soon to be involved. I was born at the churchyard gate, in the shadow +of a church whose saints were soon to be desecrated." + +She was indeed a "tender and impassioned poetess, . . . one who united +an exquisite moral sensibility to a thrilling gift of song. . . . Her +verses were doubtless the expression of her life; in them she is +reflected in hues both warm and bright; they ring with her cries of +love and grief. . . . Hers was the most courageous, tender and +compassionate of souls." + +A letter written to Madame Duchambye (December 7, 1841), shows what +part she played in Balzac's literary career: + + "You know, my other self, that even ants are of some use. And so it + was I who suggested, not M. de Balzac's piece, but the notion of + writing it and the distribution of the parts, and then the idea of + Mme. Dorval, whom I love for her talent, but especially for her + misfortunes, and because she is dear to me. I have made such a + moan, that I have obtained the sympathy and assistance of--whom do + you guess?--poor Thisbe, who spends her life in the service of the + /litterrateur/. She talked and insinuated and insisted, until at + last he came up to me and said, 'So it shall be! My mind is made + up! Mme. Dorval shall have a superb part!' And how he laughed! + . . . Keep this a profound secret. Never betray either me or poor + Thisbe, particularly our influence on behalf of Mme. Dorval." + +His friendship for her is seen in a letter written to her in 1840: + + "Dear Nightingale,--Two letters have arrived, too brief by two + whole pages, but perfumed with poetry, breathing the heaven whence + they come, so that (a thing which rarely happens with me) I + remained in a reverie with the letters in my hand, making a poem + all alone to myself, saying, 'She has then retained a recollection + of the heart in which she awoke an echo, she and all her poetry of + every kind.' We are natives of the same country, madame, the + country of tears and poverty. We are as much neighbors and fellow- + citizens as prose and poetry can be in France; but I draw near to + you by the feeling with which I admire you, and which made me + stand for an hour and ten minutes before your picture in the + Salon. Adieu! My letter will not tell you all my thoughts; but + find by intuition all the friendship which I have entrusted to it, + and all the treasures which I would send you if I had them at my + disposal." + +Soon after Balzac met Madame Hanska, he reserved for her the original +of an epistle from Madame Desbordes-Valmore which he regarded as a +masterpiece. Balzac's friendship for the poetess, which began so early +in his literary life, was a permanent one. Just before leaving for his +prolonged visit in Russia, he wrote her a most complimentary letter in +which he expressed his hopes of being of service to M. Valmore at the +Comedie Francaise, and bade her good-bye, wishing her and her family +much happiness. + +Madame Desbordes-Valmore was one of the three women whom Balzac used +as a model in portraying some of the traits of his noted character, +Cousin Bette. He made Douai, her native place, the setting of /La +Recherche de l'Absolu/, and dedicated to her in 1845 one of his early +stories, /Jesus-Christ en Flandres/: + + "To Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, + + "To you, daughter of Flanders, who are one of its modern glories, I + dedicate this naïve tradition of old Flanders. + + "DE BALZAC." + + +Though Balzac's first play, and first attempt in literature, +/Cromwell/, was a complete failure, this did not deter him from +longing to become a successful playwright. After having established +himself as a novelist, he turned again to this field of literature. +Having written several plays, he was acquainted, naturally, with the +leading actresses of his day; among these was Madame Dorval, whom he +liked. He purposed giving her the main role in /Les Ressources de +Quinola/, but when he assembled the artists to hear his play, he had +not finished it, and improvised the fifth act so badly that Madame +Dorval left the room, refusing to accept her part. + +Again, he wished her to take the leading role in /La Maratre/ (as the +play was called after she had objected to the name, /Gertrude, +Tragedie bourgeoise/). To their disappointment, however, the theater +director, Hostein, gave the heroine's part to Madame Lacressoniere; +the tragedy was produced in 1848. The following year, while in Russia, +Balzac sketched another play in which Madame Dorval was to have the +leading role, but she died a few weeks later. + +Mademoiselle Georges was asked to take the role of Brancadori in /Les +Ressources de Quinola/, presented for the first time on March 19, +1842, at the Odeon. + +Balzac was acquainted with Mademoiselle Mars also, and was careful to +preserve her autograph in order to send it to his "Polar Star," when +the actress wrote to him about her role in /La grande Mademoiselle/. + + + LA DUCHESSE D'ABRANTES + + "She has ended like the Empire." + +Another of Balzac's literary friends was Madame Laure Junot, the +Duchesse d'Abrantes. She was an intimate friend of Madame de Girardin +and it was in the salon of the latter's mother, Madame Sophie Gay, +that Balzac met her. + +The Duchesse d'Abrantes, widow of Marechal Junot, had enjoyed under +the Empire all the splendors of official life. Her salon had been one +of the most attractive of her epoch. Being in reduced circumstances +after the downfall of the Empire and having four children (Josephine, +Constance, Napoleon and Alfred) to support, her life was a constant +struggle to obtain a fortune and a position for her children. But as +she had no financial ability, and had acquired very extravagant +habits, the money she was constantly seeking no sooner entered her +hands than it vanished. Wishing to renounce none of her former +luxuries, she insisted upon keeping her salon as in former days, +trying to conceal her poverty by her gaiety; but it was a sorrowful +case of /la misere doree/. + +Feeling that luxury was as indispensable to her as bread, and finding +her financial embarrassment on the increase, she decided to support +herself by means of her pen. She might well have recalled the wise +words of Madame de Tencin when she warned Marmontel to beware of +depending on the pen, since nothing is more casual. The man who makes +shoes is sure of his pay; the man who writes a book or a play is never +sure of anything. + +Though the Generale Junot belonged to a society far different from +Balzac's they had many things in common which brought him frequently +to her salon. Balzac realized the necessity of frequenting the salon, +saying that the first requisite of a novelist is to be well-bred; he +must move in society as much as possible and converse with the +aristocratic /monde/. The kitchen, the green-room, can be imagined, +but not the salon; it is necessary to go there in order to know how to +speak and act there. + +Though Balzac visited various salons, he presented a different +appearance in the drawing-room of Madame d'Abrantes. The glories of +the Empire overexcited him to the point of giving to his relations +with the Duchesse a vivacity akin to passion. The first evening, he +exclaimed: "This woman has seen Napoleon as a child, she has seen him +occupied with the ordinary things of life, then she has seen him +develop, rise and cover the world with his name! She is for me a saint +come to sit beside me, after having lived in heaven with God!: This +love of Balzac for Napoleon underwent more than one variation, but at +this time he had erected in his home in the rue de Cassini a little +altar surmounted by a statue of Napoleon, with this inscription: "What +he began with the sword, I shall achieve with the pen." + +When Balzac first met the Duchesse d'Abrantes, she was about forty +years of age. It is probably she whom he describes thus, under the +name of Madame d'Aiglemont, in /La Femme de trente Ans/: + + "Madame d'Aiglemont's dress harmonized with the thought that + dominated her person. Her hair was gathered up into a tall coronet + of broad plaits, without ornament of any kind, for she seemed to + have bidden farewell forever to elaborate toilets. Nor were any of + the small arts of coquetry which spoil so many women to be + detected in her. Only her bodice, modest though it was, did not + altogether conceal the dainty grace of her figure. Then, too, the + luxury of her long gown consisted in an extremely distinguished + cut; and if it is permissible to look for expression in the + arrangement of materials, surely the numerous straight folds of + her dress invested her with a great dignity. Moreover, there may + have been some lingering trace of the indelible feminine foible in + the minute care bestowed upon her hand and foot; yet, if she + allowed them to be seen with some pleasure, it would have tasked + the utmost malice of a rival to discover any affectation in her + gestures, so natural did they seem, so much a part of old childish + habit, that her careless grace absolves this vestige of vanity. + All these little characteristics, the nameless trifles which + combine to make up the sum of a woman's beauty or ugliness, her + charm or lack of charm, can not be indicated, especially when the + soul is the bond of all the details and imprints on them a + delightful unity. Her manner was in perfect accord with her figure + and her dress. Only in certain women at a certain age is it given + to put language into their attitude. Is it sorrow, is it happiness + that gives to the woman of thirty, to the happy or unhappy woman, + the secret of this eloquence of carriage? This will always be an + enigma which each interprets by the aid of his hopes, desires, or + theories. The way in which she leaned both elbows on the arm of + her chair, the toying of her inter-clasped fingers, the curve of + her throat, the freedom of her languid but lithesome body which + reclined in graceful exhaustion, the unconstraint of her limbs, + the carelessness of her pose, the utter lassitude of her + movements, all revealed a woman without interest in life. . . ." + +Balzac's parents having moved from Villeparisis to Versailles, he had +an excellent opportunity of seeing the Duchess while visiting them, as +she was living at that time in the Grand-Rue de Montreuil No. 65, in a +pavilion which she called her /ermitage/. In /La Femme de trente Ans/, +Balzac has described her retreat as a country house between the church +and the barrier of Montreuil, on the road which leads to the Avenue de +Saint-Cloud. This house, built originally for the short-lived loves of +some great lord, was situated so that the owner could enjoy all the +pleasures of solitude with the city almost at his gates. + +Soon after their meeting, a sympathetic friendship was formed between +the two writers; they had the same literary aspirations, the same love +for work, the same love of luxury and extravagant tastes, the same +struggles with poverty and the same trials and disappointments. + +Since Balzac was attracted to beautiful names as well as to beautiful +women, that of the Duchesse d'Abrantes appealed to him, independently +of the wealth of history it recalled. He was happy to make the +acquaintance of one who could give him precise information of the +details of the /Directoire/ and of the Empire, an instruction begun by +the /commere Gay/. Thus the Duchesse d'Abrantes was to exercise over +him, though in a less degree, the same influence for the comprehension +of the Imperial world that Madame de Berry did for the Royalist world, +just as the Duchesse de Castries later was to initiate him into the +society of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. + +Madame d'Abrantes, pleased as she was to meet literary people, +welcomed most cordially the young author who came to her seeking +stories of the Corsican. Owing to financial difficulties she was +leading a rather retired and melancholy life, and the brilliant and +colorful language of Balzac, fifteen years her junior, aroused her +heart from its torpor, and her friendship for him took a peculiar +tinge of sentiment which she allowed to increase. It had been many +years since she had been thus moved, and this new feeling, which came +to her as she saw the twilight of her days approaching, was for her a +love that meant youth and life itself. + +Hence her words pierced the very soul of Balzac and kindled an +enthusiasm which made her appear to him greater than she really was; +she literally dazzled and subjugated him. Her gaiety and animation in +relating incidents of the Imperial court, and her autumnal sunshine, +its rays still glowing with warmth as well as brightness, compelled +Balzac to perceive for the second time in his life the insatiability +of the woman who has passed her first youth--the woman of thirty, or +the tender woman of forty. The fact is, however, not that Balzac +created /la femme sensible de guarante ans/, as is stated by Philarete +Chasles, so much as that two women of forty, Madame de Berny and +Madame d'Abrantes, created him. + +This affection savored of vanity in both; she was proud that at her +years she could inspire love in a man so much younger than herself, +while Balzac, whose affection was more of the head than of the heart, +was flattered--it must be confessed--in having made the conquest of a +duchess. Concealing her wrinkles and troubles under an adorable smile, +no woman was better adapted than she to understand "the man who bathed +in a marble tub, had no chairs on which to sit or to seat his friends, +and who built at Meudon a very beautiful house without a flight of +stairs."[*] + +[*] This house, /Les Jardies/, was at Ville-d'Avray and not at Meudon. + +But the love on Balzac's side must have been rather fleeting, for many +years later, on March 17, 1850, he wrote to his old friend, Madame +Carraud, announcing his marriage with Madame Hanska: "Three days ago I +married the only woman I have ever loved." Evidently he had forgotten, +among others, the poor Duchess, who had passed away twelve years +before. + +But how could Balzac remain long her ardent lover, when Madame de +Berny, of whom Madame d'Abrantes was jealous, felt that he was leaving +her for a duchess? And how could he remain more than a friend to +Madame Junot, when the beautiful Duchesse de Castries was for a short +time complete mistress of his heart,[*] and was in her turn to be +replaced by Madame Hanska? The Duchess could probably understand his +inconstancy, for she not only knew of his attachment to Madame de +Castries but he wrote her on his return from his first visit to Madame +Hanska at Neufchatel, describing the journey and saying that the Val +de Travers seemed made for two lovers. + +[*] It is an interesting coincidence that the Duchess whose star was + waning had been in love with the fascinating Austrian ambassador, + Comte de Metternich, and the Duchess who was to take her place, + was just recovering from an amorous disappointment in connection + with his son when she met Balzac. + +Knowing Balzac's complicated life, one can understand how, having gone +to Corsica in quest of his Eldorado just before the poor Duchess +breathed her last, he could write to Madame Hanska on his return to +Paris: "The newspapers have told you of the deplorable end of the poor +Duchesse d'Abrantes. She has ended like the Empire. Some day I will +explain her to you,--some good evening at Wierzschownia." + +Balzac wished to keep his visits to Madame d'Abrantes a secret from +his sister, Madame Surville, and some obscurity and a "mysterious +pavilion" is connected with their manner of communication. For a while +she visited him frequently in his den. He enjoyed her society, and +though oppressed by work, was quite ready to fix upon an evening when +they could be alone. + +It was not without pain that she saw his affection for her becoming +less ardent while hers remained fervent. She wrote him tender letters +inviting him to dine with her, or to meet some of her friends, +assuring him that in her /ermitage/ he might feel perfectly at home, +and that she regarded him as one of the most excellent friends Heaven +had preserved for her. + + "Heaven grant that you are telling me the truth, and that indeed I + may always be for you a good and sincere friend. . . . My dear + Honore, every one tells me that you no longer care for me. . . . I + say that they lie. . . . You are not only my friend, but my + sincere and good friend. I have kept for you a profound affection, + and this affection is of a nature that does not change. . . . Here + is /Catherine/, here is my first work. I am sending it to you, and + it is the heart of a friend that offers it to you. May it be the + heart of a friend that receives it! . . . My soul is oppressed on + account of this, but it is false, I hope." + +Balzac continued to visit her occasionally, and there exists a curious +specimen of his handwriting written (October, 1835) in the album of +her daughter, Madame Aubert. He sympathized with the unfortunate +Duchess who, raised to so high a rank, had fallen so low, and tried to +cheer her in his letters: + + "You say you are ill and suffering, and without any hope that finer + weather will do you any good. Remember that for the soul there + arises every day a fresh springtime and a beautiful fresh morning. + Your past life has no words to express it in any language, but it + is scarcely a recollection, and you cannot judge what your future + life will be by that which is past. How many have begun to lead a + fresh, lovely, and peaceful life at a much more advanced age than + yours! We exist only in our souls. You cannot be sure that your + soul has come to its highest development, nor whether you receive + the breath of life through all your pores, nor whether as yet you + see with all your eyes." + +Being quite a linguist, Madame d'Abrantes began her literary career by +translations from the Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, and by writing +novels, in the construction of which, Balzac advised her. As she had +no business ability, he was of great assistance to her also in +arranging for the publication of her work: + + "In the name of yourself, I entreat you, do not enter into any + engagement with anybody whatsoever; do not make any promise, and + say that you have entrusted your business to me on account of my + knowledge of business matters of this kind, and of my unalterable + attachment to yourself personally. I believe I have found what I + may call /living money/, seventy thousand healthy francs, and some + people, who will jump out of themselves, to dispose in a short + time of 'three thousand d'Abrantes,' as they say in their slang. + Besides, I see daylight for a third and larger edition. If + Mamifere (Mame) does not behave well, say to him, 'My dear sir, M. + de Balzac has my business in his charge still as he had on the day + he presented you to me; you must feel he has the priority over the + preference you ask for.' This done, wait for me. I shall make you + laugh when I tell you what I have concocted. If Everat appears + again, tell him that I have been your attorney for a long time + past in these affairs, when they are worth the trouble; one or two + volumes are nothing. But twelve or thirteen thsousand francs, oh! + oh! ah! ah! things must not be endangered. Only manoeuver + cleverly, and, with that /finesse/ which distinguishes Madame the + Ambassadress, endeavor to find out from Mame how many volumes he + still has on hand, and see if he will be able to oppose the new + edition by slackness of sale or excessive price. + + "Your entirely devoted." + (H. DE BALZAC.) + +Such assistance was naturally much appreciated by a woman so utterly +ignorant of business matters. But if Balzac aided the Duchess, he +caused her publishers much annoyance, and more than once he received a +sharp letter rebuking him for interfering with the affairs of Madame +d'Abrantes. + +It was doubtless due to the suggestion of Balzac that Madame +d'Abrantes wrote her /Memoires/. He was so thrilled by her vivid +accounts of recent history, that he was seized with the idea that she +had it in her power to do for a brilliant epoch what Madame Roland +attempted to do for one of grief and glory. He felt that she had +witnessed such an extraordinary multiplicity of scenes, had known a +remarkable number of heroic figures and great characters, and that +nature had endowed her with unusual gifts. + +A few years before her death, /La Femme abandonnee/ was dedicated: + + "To her Grace the Duchesse d'Abrantes, + + "from her devoted servant, + + "HONORE DE BALZAC." + +If such was the role played by Balzac in the life of Madame +d'Abrantes, how is she reflected in the /Comedie humaine/? + +It is a well known fact that Balzac not only borrowed names from +living people, but that he portrayed the features, incidents and +peculiarities of those with whom he was closely associated. In the +/Avant-propos de la Comedie humaine/, he writes: "In composing types +by putting together traits of homogeneous natures, I might perhaps +attain to the writing of that history forgotten by so many +historians,--the history of manners." + +In fact, he too might have said: "I take my property wherever I find +it;" accordingly one would naturally look for characteristics of +Madame d'Abrantes in his earlier works. + +According to M. Joseph Turquain, Mademoiselle des Touches, in +/Beatrix/, generally understood to be George Sand, has also some of +the characteristics of Madame d'Abrantes. Balzac describes +Mademoiselle des Touches as being past forty and /un peu homme/, which +reminds one that the Countess Dash describes Madame d'Abrantes as +being rather masculine, with an /organe de rogome/, and a virago when +past forty. Calyste became enamored of Beatrix after having loved +Mademoiselle des Touches, while Balzac became infatuated with Madame +de Castries after having been in love with Madame d'Abrantes, in each +case, the blonde after the brunette. + +Mademoiselle Josephine, the elder and beloved daughter of Madame +d'Abrantes, entered the Convent of the Sisters of Charity of Saint- +Vincent de Paul, contrary to the desires of her mother. In writing to +the Duchess (1831), Balzac asks that Sister Josephine may not forget +him in her prayers, for he is remembering her in his books. Balzac may +have had her in mind a few years later when he said of Mademoiselle de +Mortsauf in /Le Lys dans la Vallee/: "The girl's clear sight had, +though only of late, seen to the bottom of her mother's heart. . . ." +for Mademoiselle Josephine entered the convent for various reasons, +one being in order to relieve the financial strain and make marriage +possible for her younger sister, another perhaps being to atone for +the secret she probably suspected in the heart of her mother, and +which she felt was not complimentary to the memory of her father. And +also, in /La Recherche de l'Absolu/: "There comes a moment, in the +inner life of families, when the children become, either voluntarily +or involuntarily, the judges of their parents." + +In writing the introduction to the /Physiologie du Mariage/, Balzac +states that here he is merely the humble secretary of two women. He is +doubtless referring to Madame d'Abrantes as one of the two when he +says: + + "Some days later the author found himself in the company of two + ladies. The first had been one of the most humane and most + intellectual women of the court of Napoleon. Having attained a + high social position, the Restoration surprised her and caused her + downfall; she had become a hermit. The other, young, beautiful, + was playing at that time, in Paris, the role of a fashionable + woman. They were friends, for the one being forty years of age, + and the other twenty-two, their aspirations rarely caused their + vanity to appear on the same scene. 'Have you noticed, my dear, + that in general women love only fools?'--'/What are you saying, + Duchess?/' "[*] + +[*] M. Turquain states that Madame Hamelin is one of these women and + that the Duchesse d'Abrantes in incontestably the other. For a + different opinion, see the chapter on Madame Gay. The italics are + the present writer's. + +In /La Femme abandonnee/, Madame de Beauseant resembles the Duchess as +portrayed in this description: + + "All the courage of her house seemed to gleam from the great lady's + brilliant eyes, such courage as women use to repel audacity or + scorn, for they were full of tenderness and gentleness. The + outline of that little head, . . . the delicate, fine features, + the subtle curve of the lips, the mobile face itself, wore an + expression of delicate discretion, a faint semblance of irony + suggestive of craft and insolence. It would have been difficult to + refuse forgiveness to those two feminine failings in her in + thinking of her misfortunes, of the passion that had almost cost + her her life. Was it not an imposing spectacle (still further + magnified by reflection) to see in that vast, silent salon this + woman, separated from the entire world, who for three years had + lived in the depths of a little valley, far from the city, alone + with her memories of a brilliant, happy, ardent youth, once so + filled with fetes and constant homage, now given over to the + horrors of nothingness? The smile of this woman proclaimed a high + sense of her own value." + +In the postscript to the /Physiologie du Mariage/, Balzac mentions a +gesture of one of these "intellectual" women, who interrupts herself +to touch one of her nostrils with the forefinger of her right hand in +a coquettish manner. In /La Femme abandonnee/, Madame de Beauseant has +the same gesture. Another gesture of Madame de Beauseant in /La Femme +abandonnee/ indicates that Balzac had in mind the Duchesse d'Abrantes: +". . . Then, with her other hand, she made a gesture as if to pull the +bell-rope. The charming gesture, the gracious threat, no doubt, called +up some sad thought, some memory of her happy life, of the time when +she could be wholly charming and graceful, when the gladness of her +heart justified every caprice, and gave one more charm to her +slightest movement. The lines of her forehead gathered between her +brows, and the expression of her face grew dark in the soft candle- +light. . . ." The Duchesse d'Abrantes had on two occasions rung to +dismiss her lovers, M. de Montrond and General Sebastiani. Balzac had +doubtless heard her relate these incidents, and they are contained in +the /Journal intime/, which she gave him.[*] + +[*] Madame d'Abrantes presented several objects of a literary nature + to Balzac, among others, a book of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a few + leaves of which he presented to Madame Hanska for her collection + of autographs. + +In /La Femme abandonnee/, Balzac describes Madame de Beauseant as +having taken refuge in Normandy, "after a notoriety which women for +the most part envy and condemn, especially when youth and beauty in +some way excuse the transgression." Can it be that the novelist thus +condones the fault of this noted character because he wishes to pardon +the /liaison/ of Madame d'Abrantes with the Comte de Metternich? + +Is it then because so many traces of Madame d'Abrantes are found in +/La Femme abandonnee/, and allusions are made to minute episodes known +to them alone, that he dedicated it to her? + +Was Balzac thinking of the Duchesse d'Abrantes when, in /Un Grand +Homme de Province a Paris/, speaking of Lucien Chardon, who had just +arrived in Paris at the beginning of the Restoration, he writes: "He +met several of those women who will be spoken of in the history of the +nineteenth century, whose wit, beauty and loves will be none the less +celebrated than those of queens in times past." + +In depicting Maxime de Trailles, the novelist perhaps had in mind M. +de Montrond, about whom the Duchess had told him. Again, many +characteristics of her son, Napoleon d'Abrantes, are seen in La +Palferine, one of the characters of the /Comedie humaine/. + +If Madame de Berny is Madame de Mortsauf in /Le Lys dans la Vallee/, +Madame d'Abrantes has some traits of Lady Dudley, of whom Madame de +Mortsauf was jealous. The Duchess gave him encouragement and +confidence, and Balzac might have been thinking of her when he made +the beautiful Lady Dudley say: "I alone have divined all that you were +worth." After Balzac's affection for Madame de Berny was rekindled, +Madame d'Abrantes, who was jealous of her, had a falling out with him. + +It was probably Madame Junot who related to Balzac the story of the +necklace of Madame Regnault de Saint-Jean d'Angely, to which allusion +is made in his /Physiologie du Mariage/, also an anecdote which is +told in the same book abut General Rapp, who had been an intimate +friend of General Junot. At this time Balzac knew few women of the +Empire; he did not frequent the home of the Countess Merlin until +later. While Madame d'Abrantes was not a duchess by birth, Madame Gay +was not a duchess at all, and Madame Hamelin still further removed +from nobility. + +It is doubtless to Madame d'Abrantes that he owes the subject of /El +Verdugo/, which he places in the period of the war with Spain; to her +also was due the information about the capture of Senator Clement de +Ris, from which he writes /Une tenebreuse Affaire/. + +M. Rene Martineau, in proving that Balzac got his ideas for /Une +tenebreuse Affaire/ from Madame d'Abrantes, states that this is all +the more remarkable, since the personage of the senator is the only +one which Balzac has kept just as he was, without changing his +physiognomy in the novel. The senator was still living at the time +Madame d'Abrantes wrote her account of the affair, his death not +having occurred until 1827. In her /Memoires/, Madame d'Abrantes +refers frequently to the kindness of the great Emperor, and it is +doubtless to please her that Balzac, in the /denouement/ of /Une +tenebreuse Affaire/, has Napoleon pardon two out of the three +condemned persons. Although the novelist may have heard of this affair +during his sojourns in Touraine, it is evident that the origin of the +lawsuit and the causes of the conduct of Fouche were revealed to him +by Madame Junot. + +Who better than Madame d'Abrantes could have given Balzac the +background for the scene of Corsican hatred so vividly portrayed in +/La Vendetta/? Balzac's preference for General Junot is noticeable +when he wishes to mention some hero of the army of the Republic or of +the Empire; the Duc and Duchesse d'Abrantes are included among the +noted lodgers in /Autre Etude de Femme/. It is doubtless to please the +Duchess that Balzac mentions also the Comte de Narbonne (/Le Medecin +de Campagne/). + +Impregnating his mind with the details of the Napoleonic reign, so +vividly portrayed in /Le Colonel Chabert/, /Le Medecin de Campagne/, +/La Femme de trente Ans/ and others, she was probably the direct +author of several observations regarding Napoleon that impress one as +being strikingly true. Balzac read to her his stories of the Empire, +and though she rarely wept, she melted into tears at the disaster of +the Beresina, in the life of Napoleon related by a soldier in a barn. + +The Generale Junot had a great influence over Balzac; she enlightened +him also about women, painting them not as they should be, but as they +are.[*] + +[*] M. Joseph Turquain states that when the correspondence of Madame + d'Abrantes and Balzac, to which he has had access, is published, + one will be able to determine exactly the role she has played in + the formation of the talent of the writer, and in the development + of his character. His admirable work has been very helpful in the + preparation of this study of Madame d'Abrantes. + +During the last years of the life of Madame d'Abrantes, a somber tint +spread over her gatherings, which gradually became less numerous. Her +financial condition excited little sympathy, and her friends became +estranged from her as the result of her poverty. Under her gaiety and +in spite of her courage, this distress became more apparent with time. +Her health became impaired; yet she continued to write when unable to +sit up, so great was her need for money. From her high rank she had +fallen to the depth of misery! When evicted from her poverty-stricken +home by the bailiff, her maid at first conveyed her to a hospital in +the rue de Chaillot, but there payment was demanded in advance. That +being impossible, the poor Duchess, ill and abandoned by all her +friends, was again cast into the street. Finally, a more charitable +hospital in the rue des Batailles took her in. Thus, by ironical fate, +the widow of the great /Batailleur de Junot/, who had done little else +during the past fifteen years than battle for life, was destined to +end her days in the rue des Batailles. + + + LA PRINCESSE BELGIOJOSO.--MADAME MARBOUTY.-- + LA COMTESSE D'AGOULT.--GEORGE SAND. + + "The Princess (Belgiojoso) is a woman much apart from other women, + not very attractive, twenty-nine years old, pale, black hair, + Italian-white complexion, thin, and playing the vampire. She has + the good fortune to displease me, though she is clever; but she + poses too much. I saw her first five years ago at Gerard's; she + came from Switzerland, where she had taken refuge." + +The Princesse Belgiojoso had her early education entrusted to men of +broad learning whose political views were opposed to Austria. She was +reared in Milan in the home of her young step-father, who had been +connected with the /Conciliatore/. His home was the rendezvous of the +artistic and literary celebrities of the day; but beneath the surface +lay conspiracy. At the age of sixteen she was married to her fellow +townsman, the rich, handsome, pleasure-loving, musical Prince +Belgiojoso, but the union was an unhappy one. Extremely patriotic, she +plunged into conspiracy. + +In 1831, she went to Paris, opened a salon and mingled in politics, +meeting the great men of the age, many of whom fell in love with her. +Her salon was filled with people famous for wit, learning and beauty, +equaling that of Madame Recamier; Balzac was among the number. If +Madame de Girardin was the Tenth Muse, the Princesse Belgiojoso was +the Romantic Muse. She was almost elected president of /Les Academies +de Femmes en France/ under the faction led by George Sand, the rival +party being led by Madame de Girardin. + +Again becoming involved in Italian politics, and exiled from her home +and adopted country, she went to the Orient with her daughter Maria, +partly supporting herself with her pen. After her departure, the +finding of the corpse of Stelzi in her cupboard caused her to be +compared to the Spanish Juana Loca, but she was only eccentric. While +in the Orient she was stabbed and almost lost her life. In 1853 she +returned to France, then to Milan where she maintained a salon, but +she deteriorated physically and mentally. + +For almost half a century her name was familiar not alone in Italian +political and patriotic circles, but throughout intellectual Europe. +The personality of this strange woman was veiled in a haze of mystery, +and a halo of martyrdom hung over her head. Notwithstanding her +eccentricities and exaggerations, she wielded an intellectual +fascination in her time, and her exalted social position, her beauty, +and her independence of character gave to her a place of conspicuous +prominence. + +As to whether Balzac always sustained an indifferent attitude towards +the Princesse Belgiojoso there is some question, but he always +expressed a feeling of nonchalance in writing about her to Madame +Hanska. He regarded her as a courtesan, a beautiful /Imperia/, but of +the extreme blue-stocking type. She was superficial in her criticism, +and received numbers of /criticons/ who could not write. She wrote him +at the request of the editor asking him to contribute a story for the +/Democratie Pacifique/. + +Balzac visited her frequently, calling her the Princesse +/Bellejoyeuse/, and she rendered him many services, but he probably +guarded against too great an intimacy, having witnessed the fate of +Alfred de Musset. He was, however, greatly impressed by her beauty, +and in the much discussed letter to his sister Laure he speaks of +Madame Hanska as a masterpiece of beauty who could be compared only to +the Princesse /Bellejoyeuse/, only infinitely more beautiful. Some +years later, however, this beauty had changed for him into an ugliness +that was even repulsive. + +It amused the novelist very much to have people think that he had +dedicated to the Princesse Belgiojoso /Modeste Mignon/, a work written +in part by Madame Hanska, and dedicated to her. In the first edition +this book was dedicated to a foreign lady, but seeing the false +impression made he dedicated it, in its second edition to a Polish +lady. He did, however, dedicate /Gaudissart II/ to: + + Madame la Princesse de Belgiojoso, nee Trivulce. + + +Balzac found much rest and recuperation in travel, and in going to +Turin, in 1836, instead of traveling alone, he was accompanied by a +most charming lady, Madame Caroline Marbouty. She had literary +pretensions and some talent, writing under the pseudonym of /Claire +Brune/. Her work consisted of a small volume of poetry and several +novels. She was much pleased at being taken frequently for George +Sand, whom she resembled very much; and like her, she dressed as a +man. Balzac took much pleasure in intriguing every one regarding his +charming young page, whom he introduced in aristocratic Italian +society; but to no one did he disclose the real name or sex of his +traveling companion. + +On his return from Turin he wrote to Comte Frederic Sclopis de +Salerano explaining that his traveling companion was by no means the +person whom he supposed. Knowing his chivalry, Balzac confided to the +Count that it was a charming, clever, virtuous woman, who never having +had the opportunity of breathing the Italian air and being able to +escape the ennui of housekeeping for a few weeks, had relied upon his +honor. She knew whom the novelist loved, and found in that the +greatest of guarantees. For the first and only time in her life she +amused herself by playing a masculine role, and on her return home had +resumed her feminine duties. + +During this journey Madame Marbouty was known as /Marcel/, this being +the name of the devoted servant of Raoul de Nangis in Meyerbeer's +masterpiece, /Les Huguenots/, which had been given for the first time +on February 29, 1836. The two travelers had a delightful but very +fatiguing journey, for there were so many things to see that they even +took time from their sleep to enjoy the beauties of Italy. In writing +to Madame Hanska of this trip, he spoke of having for companion a +friend of Madame Carraud and Jules Sandeau. + +Madame Marbouty was also a friend of Madame Carraud's sister, Madame +Nivet, so that when Balzac visited Limoges he probably called on his +former traveling companion. + +When the second volume of the /Comedie humaine/ was published (1842), +Balzac remembered this episode in his life and dedicated /La +Grenadiere/ to his traveling companion: + + "To Caroline, to the poetry of the journey, from the grateful + traveler." + +In explaining this dedication to Madame Hanska, Balzac states that the +/poesie du voyage/ was merely the poetry of it and nothing more, and +that when she comes to Paris he will take pleasure in showing to her +this intimate friend of Madame Carraud, this charming, intellectual +woman whom he has not seen since. + +Balzac went to Madame Marbouty's home to read to her the first acts of +/L'Ecole des Menages/, which she liked; a few days later, he returned, +depressed because a great lady had told him it was /ennuyeux/, so she +tried to cheer him. /Souvenirs inedits/, dated February, 1839, left by +her, and a letter from her to Balzac dated March 12, 1840, in which +she asks him to give her a ticket to the first performance of his +play,[*] show that they were on excellent terms at this time. But +later a coolness arose, and in April, 1842, Madame Marbouty wrote /Une +fausse Position/. The personages in this novel are portraits, and +Balzac appears under the name of Ulric. This explains why the +dedication of /La Grenadiere/ was changed. Some writers seem to think +that Madame Marbouty suggested to Balzac /La Muse du Departement/, a +Berrichon bluestocking. + +[*] The play referred to is doubtless /Vautrin/, played for the first + time March 14, 1840. + + +Among the women in the /Comedie humaine/ who have been identified with +women the novelist knew in the course of his life, Beatrix (Beatrix), +depicting the life of the Comtesse d'Agoult, is one of the most noted. +Balzac says of this famous character: "Yes, Beatrix is even too much +Madame d'Agoult. George Sand is at the height of felicity; she takes a +little vengeance on her friend. Except for a few variations, /the +story is true/." + +Although Balzac wrote /Beatrix/ with the information about the heroine +which he had received from George Sand, he was acquainted with Madame +d'Agoult. Descended from the Bethmanns of Hamburg or Frankfort, she +was a native of Touraine, and played the role of a "great lady" at +Paris. She became a journalist, formed a /liaison/ with Emile de +Girardin, and wrote extensively for the /Presse/ under the name of +Daniel Stern. She had some of the characteristics of the Princesse +Belgiojoso; she abandoned her children. Balzac never liked her, and +described her as a dreadful creature of whom Liszt was glad to be rid. +She made advances to the novelist, and invited him to her home; he +dined there once with Ingres and once with Victor Hugo, but he did not +enjoy her hospitality. Notwithstanding the aversion which Balzac had +for her, he sent her autograph to Madame Hanska, and met her at +various places. + + +Among women Balzac's most noted literary friend was George Sand, whom +he called "my brother George." In 1831 Madame Dudevant, having +attained some literary fame by the publication of /Indiana/, desired +to meet the author of /La Peau de Chagrin/, who was living in the rue +Cassini, and asked a mutual friend to introduce her.[*] After she had +expressed her admiration for the talent of the young author, he in +turn complimented her on her recent work, and as was his custom, +changed the conversation to talk of himself and his plans. She found +this interview helpful and he promised to counsel her. After this +introduction Balzac visited her frequently. He would go puffing up the +stairs of the many-storied house on the quai Saint-Michel where she +lived. The avowed purpose of these visits was to advise her about her +work, but thinking of some story he was writing, he would soon begin +to talk of it. + +[*] Different statements have been made as to who introduced George + Sand to Balzac. In her /Histoire de ma Vie/, George Sand merely + says it was a friend (a man). Gabriel Ferry, /Balzac et ses + Amies/, makes the same statement. Seche et Bertaut, /Balzac/, + state that it was La Touche who presented her to him, but Miss K. + P. Wormeley, /A Memoir of Balzac/, and Mme. Wladimir Karenine, + /George Sand/, state that it was Jules Sandeau who presented her + to him. Confirming this last statement, the Princess Radziwill + states that it was Jules Sandeau, and that her aunt, Madame Honore + de Balzac, has so told her. + +They seem to have had many enjoyable hours with each other. She +relates that one evening when she and some friends had been dining +with Balzac, after a rather peculiar dinner he put on with childish +glee, a beautiful brand-new /robe de chambre/ to show it to them, and +purposed to accompany them in this costume to the Luxembourg, with a +candlestick in his hand. It was late, the place was deserted, and when +George Sand suggested that in returning home he might be assassinated, +he replied: "Not at all! If I meet thieves they will think me insane, +and will be afraid of me, or they will take me for a prince, and will +respect me." It was a beautiful calm night, and he accompanied them +thus, carrying his lighted candle in an exquisite carved candlestick, +talking of his four Arabian horses, which he never had had, but which +he firmly believed he was going to have. He would have conducted them +to the other end of Paris, if they had permitted him. + +Once George Sand and Balzac had a discussion about the /Contes +droletiques/ during which she said he was shocking, and he retorted +that she was a prude, and departed, calling to her on the stairway: +"/Vous n'etes qu'une bete!/" But they were only better friends after +this. + +Early in their literary career Balzac held this opinion of her: "She +has none of the littleness of soul nor any of the base jealousies +which obscure the brightness of so much contemporary talent. Dumas +resembles her in this respect. George Sand is a very noble friend, and +I would consult her with full confidence in my moments of doubt on the +logical course to pursue in such or such a situation; but I think she +lacks the instinct of criticism: she allows herself to be too easily +persuaded; she does not understand the art of refuting the arguments +of her adversary nor of justifying herself." He summarized their +differences by telling her that she sought man as he ought to be, but +that he took him as he is. + +If Madame Hanska was not jealous of George Sand, she was at least +interested to know the relations existing between her and Balzac, for +we find him explaining: "Do not fear, madame, that Zulma Dudevant will +ever see me attached to her chariot. . . . I only speak of this +because more celebrity is fastened on that woman than she deserves; +which is preparing for her a bitter autumn. . . . /Mon Dieu!/ how is +it that with such a splendid forehead you can think little things! I +do not understand why, knowing my aversion for George Sand, you make +me out her friend." Since Madame Hanska was making a collection of +autographs of famous people, Balzac promised to send her George +Sand's, and he wished also to secure one of Aurore Dudevant, so that +she might have her under both forms. + +It is interesting to note that at various times Balzac compared Madame +Hanska to George Sand. While he thought his "polar star" far more +beautiful, she reminded him of George Sand by her coiffure, attitude +and intellect, for she had the same feminine graces, together with the +same force of mind. + +On his way to Sardinia, Balzac stopped to spend a few days with George +Sand at her country home at Nohant. He found his "comrade George" in +her dressing-gown, smoking a cigar after dinner in the chimney-corner +of an immense solitary chamber. In spite of her dreadful troubles, she +did not have a white hair; her swarthy skin had not deteriorated and +her beautiful eyes were still dazzling. She had been at Nohant about a +year, very sad, and working tremendously. He found her leading about +the same life as he; she retired at six in the morning and arose at +noon, while he retired at six in the evening and arose at midnight; +but he conformed to her habits while spending these three days at her +chateau, talking with her from five in the evening till five the next +morning; after this, they understood each other better than they had +done previously. He had censured her for deserting Jules Sandeau, but +afterwards had the deepest compassion for her, as he too had found him +to be a most ungrateful friend. + +Balzac felt that Madame Dudevant was not lovable, and would always be +difficult to love; she was a /garcon/, an artist, she was grand, +generous, devoted, chaste; she had the traits of a man,--she was not a +woman. He delighted in discussing social questions with a comrade to +whom he did not need to show the /galanterie d'epiderme/ necessary in +conversation with ordinary women. He thought that she had great +virtues which society misconstrued, and that after hours of discussion +he had gained a great deal in making her recognize the necessity of +marriage. In discussing with him the great questions of marriage and +liberty, she said with great pride that they were preparing by their +writings a revolution in manners and morals, and that she was none the +less struck by the objections to the one than by those to the other. + +She knew just what he thought about her; she had neither force of +conception, nor the art of pathos, but--without knowing the French +language--she had /style/. Like him, she took her glory in raillery, +and had a profound contempt for the public, which she called +/Jumento/. Defending her past life, he says: "All the follies that she +has committed are titles to fame in the eyes of great and noble souls. +She was duped by Madame Dorval, Bocage, Lammennais, etc., etc. Through +the same sentiment she is now the dupe of Liszt and Madame d'Agoult; +she has just realized it for this couple as for la Dorval, for she has +one of those minds that are powerful in the study, through intellect, +but extremely easy to entrap on the domain of reality." + +During this week-end visit, Madame Dudevant related to Balzac the +story of Liszt and Madame d'Agoult, which he reproduced in /Beatrix/, +since in her position, she could not do so herself. In the same book, +George Sand is portrayed as Mademoiselle des Touches, with the +complexion, pale olive by day, and white under artificial light, +characteristic of Italian beauty. The face, rather long than oval, +resembles that of some beautiful Isis. Her hair, black and thick, +falls in plaited loops over her neck, like the head-dress with rigid +double locks of the statues at Memphis, accentuating very finely the +general severity of her features. She has a full, broad forehead, +bright with its smooth surface on which the light lingers, and molded +like that of a hunting Diana; a powerful, wilful brow, calm and still. +The eyebrows, strongly arched, bend over the eyes in which the fire +sparkles now and again like that of fixed stars. The cheek-bones, +though softly rounded, are more prominent than in most women, and +confirm the impression of strength. The nose, narrow and straight, has +high-cut nostrils, and the mouth is arched at the corners. Below the +nose the lip is faintly shaded by a down that is wholly charming; +nature would have blundered if she had not placed there that tender +smoky tinge. + +Balzac admitted that this was the portrait of Madame Dudevant, saying +that he rarely portrayed his friends, exceptions being G. Planche in +Claude Vignon, and George Sand in Camille Maupin (Mademoiselle des +Touches), both with their consent. + +Madame Dudevant was an excessive smoker, and during Balzac's visit to +her, she had him smoke a hooka and latakia which he enjoyed so much +that he wrote to Madame Hanska, asking her to get him a hooka in +Moscow, as he thought she lived near there, and it was there or in +Constantinople that the best could be found; he wished her also, if +she could find true latakia in Moscow, to send him five or six pounds, +as opportunities were rare to get it from Constantinople. Later, on +his visit to Sardinia, he wrote her from Ajaccio: "As for the latakia, +I have just discovered (laugh at me for a whole year) that Latakia is +a village of the island of Cyprus, a stone's throw from here, where a +superior tobacco is made, named from the place, and that I can get it +here. So mark out that item."[*] + +[*] /Lettres a l'Etrangere. This contradicts the statement of S. de + Lovenjoul, /Bookman/, that Balzac had a horror of tobacco and is + known to have smoked only once, when a cigar given him by Eugene + Sue made him very ill. He evidently had this excerpt of a letter + in mind: "I have never known what drunkenness was, except from a + cigar which Eugene Sue made me smoke against my will, and it was + that which enabled me to paint the drunkenness for which you blame + me in the /Voyage a Java/." This visit to George Sand was made + five years after this letter was written. Or S. de Lovenjoul might + have had in mind the statement of Theophile Gautier that Balzac + could not endure tobacco in any form; he anathematized the pipe, + proscribed the cigar, did not even tolerate the Spanish + /papelito/, and only the Asiatic narghile found grace in his + sight. He allowed this only as a curious trinket, and on account + of its local color. + +George Sand and Balzac discussed their work freely and did not +hesitate to condemn either plot or character of which they did not +approve. Some of Balzac's women shocked her, but she liked /La +premiere Demoiselle/ (afterwards L'Ecole des Manages), a play which +Madame Surville found superb, but which Madame Hanska discouraged +because she did not like the plot. She aided him in a financial manner +by signing one of his stories, /Voyage d'un Moineau de Paris/. At that +time, Balzac needed money and Stahl (Hetzel) refused to insert in his +book, /Scenes de la Vie privee de Animaux/ (2 vols., 1842), this story +of Balzac's, who had already furnished several articles for this +collection. George Sand signed her name, and in this way, Balzac +obtained the money. + +Madame Dudevant not only remained a true friend to Balzac in a +literary and financial sense, but was glad to defend his character, +and was firm in refuting statements derogatory to him. In apologizing +to him for an article that had appeared without her knowledge in the +/Revue independente/, edited by her, she asked his consent to write a +large work about him. He tried to dissuade her, telling her that she +would create enemies for herself, but, after persistence on her part, +he asked her to write a preface to the /Comedie humaine/. The plan of +the work, however, was very much modified, and did not appear until +after Balzac's death. + +Balzac dined frequently with Madame Dudevant and political as well as +social and literary questions were discussed. He enjoyed opposing her +views; after his return from his prolonged visit to Madame Hanska in +St. Petersburg (1843), George Sand twitted him by asking him to give +his /Impressions de Voyage/. + +A story told at Issoudun illustrates further the genial association of +the two authors: Balzac was dining one day at the Hotel de la Cloche +in company with George Sand. She had brought her physician, who was to +accompany her to Nohant. The conversation turned on the subject of +insane people, and the peculiar manner in which the exterior signs of +insanity are manifested. The physician claimed to be an expert in +recognizing an insane person at first sight. George Sand asked very +seriously: "Do you see any here?" Balzac was eating, as always, +ravenously, and his tangled hair followed the movement of his head and +arm. "There is one!" said the Doctor; "no doubt about it!" George Sand +burst out laughing, Balzac also, and, the introduction made, the +confused physician was condemned to pay for the dinner. + +Balzac expresses his admiration for her in the dedication of the +/Memoires de deux jeunes mariees/: + + "To George Sand. + + "This dedication, dear George, can add nothing to the glory of your + name, which will cast its magic luster on my book; but in making + it there is neither modesty nor self-interest on my part. I desire + to bear testimony to the true friendship between us which + continues unchanged in spite of travels and absence,--in spite, + too, of our mutual hard work and the maliciousness of the world. + This feeling will doubtless never change. The procession of + friendly names which accompany my books mingles pleasure with the + pain their great number causes me, for they are not written + without anxiety, to say nothing of the reproach cast upon me for + my alarming fecundity,--as if the world which poses before me were + not more fecund still. Would it not be a fine thing, George, if + some antiquary of long past literatures should find in that + procession none but great names, noble hearts, pure and sacred + friendships,--the glories of this century? May I not show myself + prouder of that certain happiness than of other successes which + are always uncertain? To one who knows you well it must ever be a + great happiness to be allowed to call himself, as I do here, + + "Your friend, + "DE BALZAC." + + + + CHAPTER IV + + BUSINESS AND SOCIAL FRIENDS + + + MADAME BECHET--MADAME WERDET + +A woman with whom Balzac was to have business dealings early in his +literary career was Madame Charles Bechet, of whom he said: "This +publisher is a woman, a widow whom I have never seen, and whom I do +not know. I shall not send off this letter until the signatures are +appended on both sides, so that my missive may carry you good news +about my interests; . . ." + +Thus began a business relation which, like many of Balzac's financial +affairs, was to end unhappily. At first he liked her very much and +dined with her, meeting in her company such noted literary men as +Beranger, but as usual, he delayed completing his work, meanwhile +resorting, in mitigation of his offense, to tactics such as the +following words will indicate: ". . . a pretty watch given at the +right moment to Madame Bechet may win me a month's freedom. I am going +to overwhelm her with gifts to get peace." + +Balzac often caused his publishers serious annoyance by re-writing his +stories frequently, but at the beginning of this business relation he +agreed with Madame Bechet about the cost of corrections. He says of +the fair publisher: "The widow Bechet has been sublime: she had taken +upon herself the expense of more than four thousand francs of +corrections, which were set down to me. Is this not still pleasanter?" + +But this could not last long, for she became financially embarrassed +and then had to be very strict with him. She refused to advance any +money until his work was delivered to her and called upon him to pay +for the corrections. This he resented greatly: + + "Madame Bechet has become singularly ill-natured and will hurt my + interests very much. In paying me, she charges me with corrections + which amount on the twelve volumes to three thousand francs, and + also for my copies, which will cost me fifteen hundred more. Thus + four thousand five hundred francs and my discounts, diminish by + six thousand the thirty-three thousand. She could not lose a great + fortune more clumsily, for Werdet estimates at five hundred + thousand francs the profits to be made out of the next edition of + the /Etudes de Moeurs/. I find Werdet the active, intelligent, and + devoted publisher that I want. I have still six months before I + can be rid of Madame Bechet; for I have three volumes to do, and + it is impossible to count on less than two months to each volume." + +She evidently relented, for he wrote later that Madame Bechet had paid +him the entire thirty-three thousand francs. This, however, did not +end their troubles, and he longed to be free from his obligations, and +to sever all connection with her. + +In the spring of 1836, Madame Bechet became Madame Jacquillart. +Whether she was influenced by her husband or had become weary of +Balzac's delays, she became firmer. The novelist felt that she was too +exacting, for he was working sixteen hours a day to complete the last +two volumes for her, and he believed that the suit with which she +threatened him was prompted by his enemies, who seemed to have sworn +his ruin. Madame Bechet lost but little time in carrying out her +threat, for a few days after this he writes: + + "Do you know by what I have been interrupted? By a legal notice + from Bechet, who summons me to furnish her within twenty-four + hours my two volumes in 8vo, with a penalty of fifty francs for + every day's delay! I must be a great criminal and God wills that I + shall expiate my crimes! Never was such torture! This woman has + had ten volumes 8vo out of me in two years, and yet she complains + at not getting twelve!" + +There had been a question of a lawsuit as early as the autumn of 1835; +to avoid this he was then trying to finish the /Fleur-des-Pois/ +(afterwards /Le Contrat de Mariage/). But their relations were more +cordial at that time, for a short time later, he writes: "My +publisher, the sublime Madame Bechet, has been foolish enough to send +the corrected proofs to St. Petersburg. I am told nothing is spoken of +there but of the /excellence of this new masterpiece/." + +Both Madame Bechet and Werdet were in despair over Balzac's journey to +Vienna in 1835, but things grew even worse the next year. The novelist +gives this glimpse of his troubles: + + "My mind itself was crushed; for the failure of the /Chronique/ + came upon me at Sache, at M. de Margonne's, where, by a wise + impulse, I was plunged in work to rid myself of that odious + Bechet. I had undertaken to write in ten days (it was that which + kept me from going to Nemours!) the two volumes which had been + demanded of me, and in eight days I had invented and composed + /Les Illusions perdues/, and had written a third of it. Think what + such application meant! All my faculties were strained; I wrote + fifteen hours a day. . . ." + +In explaining Balzac's association with Madame Bechet, M. Henri +d'Almeras states that Madame Bechet was interested, at first, in +attaching celebrated writers to her publishing house, or those who had +promise of fame. She organized weekly dinner parties, which took place +on Saturday, and here assembled Beranger, Henri de Latouche, Louis +Reybaud, Leon Gozlan, Brissot-Thivars, Balzac and Dr. Gentil. It was +with Madame Bechet as with Charles Gosselin. The publication, less +lucrative than she expected, of the first series of the /Scenes de la +Vie parisienne/ and the /Scenes de la Vie de Province/ made it +particularly disagreeable to her to receive the reproaches of a writer +who, with his admirable talent, could not become resigned to meet with +less success than other litterateurs not so good as he. + +The termination of their business relations is recounted thus: +"/Illusions perdues/ appears this week. On the 17th I have a meeting +to close up all claims from Madame Bechet and Werdet. So there is one +cause of torment the less." + +If M. Hughes Rebell is correct in his surmise, at least a part of +Werdet's admiration for the novelist was inspired by his wife, who had +become a great admirer of the works of the young writer, not well +known at that time. Madame Werdet persuaded her husband to speak to +Madame Bechet about Balzac, and to advise her to publish his works. +Her husband did so, but Madame Werdet did not stop at this. She +convinced him that he should leave Madame Bechet and become Balzac's +sole publisher; this he was for five years, and, moreover, served him +as his banker. M. Rebell thinks also that Madame Werdet is the +"delicious /bourgeoise/" referred to in Balzac's letter to Madame +Surville. + + + MADAME ROSSINI--MADAME RECAMIER--LA DUCHESSE DE DINO--LA COMTESSE + APPONY--MADAME DE BERNARD--MADAME DAVID--LA BARONNE GERARD + + "You wish to know if I have met Foedora, if she is true? A woman + from cold Russia, the Princess Bagration, is supposed in Paris to + be the model for her. I have reached the seventy-second woman who + has had the impertinence to recognize herself in that character. + They are all of ripe age. Even Madame Recamier is willing to + /foedorize herself/. Not a word of all that is true. I made + Foedora out of two women whom I have known without having been + intimate with them. Observation sufficed me, besides a few + confidences. There are also some kind souls who will have it that + I have courted the handsomest of Parisian courtesans and have + concealed myself behind her curtains. These are calumnies. I have + met a Foedora; but that one I shall not paint; besides, it has + been a long time since /La Peau de Chagrin/ was published." + +Quoting Amedee Pichot and Dr. Meniere, S. de Lovenjoul states that +Mademoiselle Olympe Pelissier is the woman whom Balzac used as a model +for his Foedora, and that, like Raphael, he concealed himself in her +bedroom. She is indeed the woman without a heart; she kept in the rue +Neuve-du-Luxembourg a salon frequented by noted political people such +as the Duc de Fitz-James. Being rich as well as beautiful, and having +an exquisite voice, she was highly attractive to the novelist, who +aspired to her hand, and who regarded her refusal with bitterness all +his life. Several years later she was married to her former voice +teacher, M. Rossini. + +Balzac met the famous Olympe early in his literary career; he says of +her: + + "Two years ago, Sue quarreled with a /mauvaise courtesone/ + celebrated for her beauty (she is the original of Vernet's + /Judith/). I lowered myself to reconcile them, and they gave her + to me. M. de Fitz-James, the Duc de Duras, and the old count went + to her house to talk, as on neutral ground, much as people walk in + the alley of the Tuileries to meet one another; and one expects + better conduct of me than of those gentlemen! . . . As for + Rossini, I wish him to write me a nice letter, and he has just + invited me to dine with his mistress, who happens to be that + beautiful /Judith/, the former mistress of Horace Vernet and of + Sue you know. . . ." + +Some months after this Balzac gave a dinner to his /Tigres/, as he +called the group occupying the same box with him at the opera. +Concerning this dinner, he writes: + + "Next Saturday I give a dinner to the /Tigres/ of my opera-box, and + I am preparing sumptuosities out of all reason. I shall have + Rossini and Olympe, his /cara dona/, who will preside. . . . My + dinner? Why, it made a great excitement. Rossini declared he had + never seen eaten or drunk anything better among sovereigns. This + dinner was sparkling with wit. The beautiful Olympe was graceful, + sensible and perfect."[*] + +[*] The present writer has not been able to find any date that would + prove positively that Balzac knew Madame Rossini before writing + /La Peau de Chagrin/ which appeared in 1830-1831. + +Balzac was a great admirer of Rossini, wrote the words for one of his +compositions, and dedicated to him /Le Contrat de Mariage/. + + +Among the famous salons that Balzac frequented was that of Madame +Recamier, who was noted even more for her distinction and grace than +for her beauty. She appreciated the ability of the young writer, and +invited him to read in her salon long before the world recognized his +name. He admired her greatly; of one of his visits to her he writes: + + "Yesterday I went to see Madame Recamier, whom I found ill but + wonderfully bright and kind. I have heard that she did much good, + and acted very nobly in being silent and making no complaint of + the ungrateful beings she has met. No doubt she saw upon my face a + reflection of what I thought of her, and without explaining to + herself this little sympathy, she was charming." + +Although one would not suspect Madame Hanska of being jealous of +Madame Recamier, perhaps it is because she wished to /foedorize/ +herself that Balzac writes: + + "/Mon Dieu!/ do not be jealous of any one. I have not been to see + Madame Recamier or any one else. . . . As to my relations with the + person you speak of, I never had any that were tender; I have none + now. I answered a very unimportant letter, and apropos of a + sentence, I explained myself; that was all. There are relations of + politeness due to women of a certain rank whom one has known; but + a visit to Madame Recamier is not, I suppose, /relations/, when + one visits her once in three months." + + +One of the famous women whom Balzac met soon after he began to acquire +literary fame was the Duchesse de Dino, who was married to +Talleyrand's nephew in 1809. + + "When her husband's uncle became French Ambassador at Vienna in + 1814, she went with him as mistress of the embassy. When he was + sent to London in 1830, she accompanied him in the same capacity. + She lived with him till his death in 1838, entirely devoted to his + welfare, and she had given us in these pages a picture of the old + Talleyrand which is among the masterpieces of memoir-writing. From + this connection she was naturally for many years in the very heart + of political affairs, as no one was, save perhaps that other + Dorothea of the Baltic, the Princess de Lieven. To great beauty + and spirit she added unusual talents, and in the best sense was a + great lady of the /haute politique/." + +Balzac had met her in the salon of Madame Appony, but had never +visited her in her home until 1836, when he went to Rochecotte to see +the famous Prince de Talleyrand, having a great desire to have a view +of the "witty turkeys who plucked the eagle and made it tumble into +the ditch of the house of Austria." Several years later, on his return +from St. Petersburg, he stopped in Berlin, where he was invited to a +grand dinner at the home of the Count and Countess Bresson. He gave +his arm to the Duchesse de Talleyrand (ex-Dino), whom he thought the +most beautiful lady present, although she was fifty-two years of age. + +The Duchesse has left this appreciation of the novelist: ". . . his +face and bearing are vulgar, and I imagine his ideas are equally so. +Undoubtedly, he is a very clever man, but his conversation is neither +easy nor light, but on the contrary, very dull. He watched and +examined all of us most minutely." + +Notwithstanding that the beautiful Dorothea did not admire Balzac, he +was sincere in his appreciation of her. A novel recently brought to +light, /L'Amour Masque/, or as the author first called it, /Imprudence +et Bonheur/, was written for her. Balzac had been her guest +repeatedly; he had recognized in her one of the rare women, who by +their intelligence and, as it were, instinctive appreciation of genius +can compensate to a great /incompris/ like Balzac for the lack of +recognition on the part of his contemporaries; one of those women near +whom, thanks to tactful treatment, a depressed man will regain +confidence in himself and courage to go on. + + +Of the distinguished houses which were open to Balzac, that of the +Comte Appony was one of the most beautiful. This protégé of the Prince +of Metternich, having had the rare good fortune to please both +governments, was retained by Louis-Philippe, and was as well liked and +appreciated in the role of ambassador and diplomat as in that of man +of the world. The Countess Appony possessed a very peculiar charm, and +was a type of feminine distinction. Balls and receptions were given +frequently in her home, where all was of a supreme elegance. + +Balzac visited the Count and Countess frequently, often having a +letter or a message to deliver for the Comtesse Marie Potocka. He +realized that it would be of advantage to be friendly toward the +Ambassador of Austria, and he doubtless enjoyed the society of his +charming wife. He writes of one of these visits: + + "Alas! your /moujik/ also has been /un poco/ in that market of + false smiles and charming toilets; he has made his debut at Madame + Appony's,--for the house of Balzac must live on good terms with + the house of Austria,--and your /moujik/ had some success. He was + examined with the curiosity felt for animals from distant regions. + There were presentations on presentations, which bored him so that + he placed himself in a corner with some Russians and Poles. But + their names are so difficult to pronounce that he cannot tell you + anything about them, further than that one was a very ugly lady, + friend of Madame Hahn, and a Countess Schouwalof, sister of Madame + Jeroslas. . . . Is that right? The /moujik/ will go there every + two weeks, if his lady permits him." + +The novelist met many prominent people at these receptions, among them +Prince Esterhazy; he went to the beautiful soirees of Madame Appony +while refusing to go elsewhere, even to the opera. + + +Several women Balzac probably met through his intimacy with their +husbands. Among these were Madame de Bernard, whose name was +Clementine, but whom he called "Mentine" and "La Fosseuse," this +character being the frail nervous young girl in /Le Medecin de +Campagne/. In August, 1831, M. Charles de Bernard wrote a very +favorable article about /La Peau de Chagrin/ in the /Gazette de +Franche-Comte/, which he was editing at that time. This naturally +pleased the novelist; their friendship continued through many years, +and in 1844, Balzac dedicated to him /Sarrazine/, written in 1830. + +Early in his literary career Balzac knew Baron Gerard, and in writing +to the painter, sent greetings to Madame Gerard. Much later in life, +while posing for his bust, made by David d'Angers, he saw Madame David +frequently, and learned to like her. He felt flattered that she +thought he looked so much younger than he really was. On his return +from St. Petersburg, in 1843, he brought her a pound of Russian tea, +which, as he explained, had no other merit than the exceeding +difficulties it had encountered in passing through twenty custom- +houses. + + + LA COMTESSE VISCONTI--MADAME DE VALETTE--MADEMOISELLE KOZLOWSKA + + "Madame de Visconti, of whom you speak to me, is one of the most + amiable of women, of an infinite, exquisite kindness; a delicate + and elegant beauty. She helps me much to bear my life. She is + gentle, and full of firmness, immovable and implacable in her + ideas and her repugnances. She is a person to be depended on. She + has not been fortunate, or rather, her fortune and that of the + Count are not in keeping with this splendid name. . . . It is a + friendship which consoles me under many griefs. But, + unfortunately, I see her very seldom." + +Madame Emile Guidoboni-Visconti, nee (Frances Sarah) Lowell, was an +Englishwoman another /etrangere/. Balzac shared the same box with her +at the Italian opera, and in the summer of 1836, he went to Turin to +look after some legal business for the Viscontis. He had not known +them long before this, for he writes, in speaking of /Le Lys dans la +Vallee/: "Do they not say that I have painted Madame Visconti? Such +are the judgments to which we are exposed. You know that I had the +proofs in Vienna, and that portrait was written at Sache and corrected +at La Bouleauniere, before I had ever seen Madame Visconti."[*] + +[*] La Bouleauniere was the home of Madame de Berny, at Nemours. + Balzac visited Madame Hanska at Vienna in the spring of 1835. + +Either this new friendship became too ardent for the comfort of Madame +Hanska, or she heard false reports concerning it, for she made +objections to which Balzac responds: + + "Must I renounce the Italian opera, the only pleasure I have in + Paris, because I have no other seat than in a box where there is + also a charming and gracious woman? If calumny, which respects + nothing, demands it, I shall give up music also. I was in a box + among people who were an injury to me, and brought me into + disrepute. I had to go elsewhere, and, in all conscience, I did + not wish Olympe's box. But let us drop the subject." + +The friendship continued to grow, however, and in December, 1836, the +novelist offered her the manuscript of /La vieille Fille/. He visited +her frequently in her home, and on his return from an extended tour to +Corsica and Sardinia in 1838 he spent some time in Milan, looking +after some business interests for the Visconti family. + +When Balzac was living secluded from his creditors, Madame Visconti +showed her friendship for him in a very material way. The bailiff had +been seeking him for three weeks, when a vindictive Ariadne, having a +strong interest in seeing Balzac conducted to prison, presented +herself at the home of the creditor and informed him that the novelist +was residing in the Champs-Elysees, at the home of Madame Visconti. +Nothing could have been more exact than this information. Two hours +later, the home was surrounded, and Balzac, interrupted in the midst +of a chapter of one of his novels, saw two bailiffs enter, armed with +the traditional club; they showed him a cab waiting at the door. A +woman had betrayed him--now a woman saved him. Madame Visconti flung +ten thousand francs in the faces of the bailiffs, and showed them the +door.[*] + +[*] Eugene de Mirecourt, /Les Contemporains/, does not give the date + of this incident. Keim et Lumet, /H. de Balzac/, state that it + occurred in 1837, but E. E. Saltus, /Balzac/, states that it was + in connection with the indebtedness to William Duckett, editor of + the /Dictionnaire de la Conversation/, in 1846. F. Lawton, + /Balzac/, states that it was in connection with his indebtedness + to Duckett on account of the /Chronicle/, and that Balzac was sued + in 1837. If the letter to Mme. de V., /Memoir and Letters of + Balzac/, was addressed to Madame Visconti, he was owing her in + 1840. M. F. Sandars, /Honore de Balzac/, states that about 1846- + 1848, Balzac borrowed 10,000 or 15,000 francs from the Viscontis, + giving them as guarantee shares in the Chemin de Fer du Nord. + +During Balzac's residence /aux Jardies/ he was quite near Madame +Visconti, as she was living in a rather insignificant house just +opposite the home Balzac had built. He enjoyed her companionship, and +when she moved to Versailles he regretted not being able to see her +more frequently than once a fortnight, for she was one of the few who +gave him their sympathy at that time. + +Several months later Balzac was disappointed in her, and referred to +her bitterly as /L'Anglaise/, /L'Angleterre/, or "the lady who lived +at Versailles." He felt that she was ungrateful and inconsiderate, and +while he remained on speaking terms with her, he regarded this +friendship as one of the misfortunes of his life. + +After the death of Madame Visconti (April 28, 1883), a picture of +Balzac which had been in her possession was placed in the museum at +Tours. This is supposed to be the portrait painted by Gerard-Seguin, +exhibited in the /Salon/ in 1842, and presented to her by Balzac at +that time. + +In answering several of Madame Hanska's questions, Balzac writes: "No, +I was not happy in writing /Beatrix/; you ought to have known it. Yes, +Sarah is Madame de Visconti; yes, Mademoiselle des Touches is George +Sand; yes, Beatrix is even too much Madame d'Agoult." A few months +later he writes: "The friendship of which I spoke to you, and at which +you laughed, apropos of the dedication, is not all I thought it. +English prejudices are terrible, they take away what is an essential +to all artists, the /laisser-aller/, unconstraint. Never have I done +so well as when, in the /Lys/, I explained the women of that country +in a few words."[*] + +[*] This is probably the basis for Mr. Monahan's statement that Balzac + pictured Madame Visconti as Lady Dudley in /Le Lys dans la + Vallee/. + +From the above, one would suppose that Madame Visconti is the "Sarah" +whom Balzac addresses in the dedication of /Beatrix/: + + "To Sarah. + + "In clear weather, on the Mediterranean shores, where formerly + extended the magnificent empire of your name, the sea sometimes + allows us to perceive beneath the mist of waters a sea-flower, one + of Nature's masterpieces; the lacework of its tissues, tinged with + purple, russet, rose, violet, or gold, the crispness of its living + filigrees, the velvet texture, all vanish as soon as curiosity + draws it forth and spreads it on the strand. Thus would the glare + of publicity offend your tender modesty; so, in dedicating this + work to you, I must reserve a name which would, indeed, be its + pride. But, under the shelter of its half-concealment, your superb + hands may bless it, your noble brow may bend and dream over it, + your eyes, full of motherly love, may smile upon it, since you are + here at once present and veiled. Like this pearl of the ocean- + garden, you will dwell on the fine, white, level sand where your + beautiful life expands, hidden by a wave that is transparent only + to certain friendly and reticent eyes. I would gladly have laid at + your feet a work in harmony with your perfections; but as that was + impossible, I knew, for my consolation, that I was gratifying one + of your instincts by offering you something to protect. + + "DE BALZAC."[*] + +[*] S. de Lovenjoul, /Histoire des Oeuvres de Balzac/, states that the + "Sarah" to whom Balzac dedicated /Beatrix/ is no other than an + Englishwoman, Frances Sarah Lowell, who became the Comtesse Emile + Guidoboni-Visconti. She was born at Hilks, September 29, 1804, and + died at Versailles April 28, 1883. + +In sending the corrected proofs of /Beatrix/ to "Madame de V----," +Balzac writes: + + "My dear friend,--Here are the proofs of /Beatrix/: a book for + which you have made me feel an affection, such as I have not felt + for any other book. It has been the ring which has united our + friendship. I never give these things except to those I love, for + they bear witness to my long labors, and to that patience of which + I spoke to you. My nights have been passed over these terrible + pages, and amongst all to whom I have presented them, I know no + heart more pure and noble than yours, in spite of those little + attacks of want of faith in me, which no doubt arises from your + great wish to find a poor author more perfect than he can + be. . . ." + +In contradiction to the preceding, M. Leon Seche thinks that /Beatrix/ +was dedicated to Madame Helene- Marie-Felicite Valette, and that she +is the "Madame de V-----" to whom the letter is addressed. Helene de +Valette (she probably had no right to the "nobiliary" /de/ although +she signed her name thus) was the daughter of Pierre Valette, +Lieutenant de Vaisseau, who after the death of Madame Valette, in +1818, became a priest at Vannes in order to be near their daughter +Helene, who was in the convent of the Ursulines. At the age of +eighteen he married her to a notary of Vannes, thirty years her +senior, a widower with a bad reputation, whose name was Jean-Marie- +Angele Gougeon. Scarcely had she married when she had an intrigue with +a physician; her husband died soon after this, and she resumed her +maiden name. She adopted the daughter of a /paludier/,[*] Le Gallo, +whose wife had saved her from drowning, and named her "Marie" in +memory of de Balzac's favorite name for herself. + +[*] /Paludier/. One who works in the salt marshes. + +In stating that the letter to "Madame de V-----" is addressed to +Madame Valette, M. Seche publishes a letter almost identical with the +one that is found in both the /Memoir and Letters of Balzac/ and the +/Correspondence, 1819-1850/, one of the chief differences being that +in this letter Balzac addresses her as "My dear Marie" instead of "My +dear friend." In telling "Madame de V-----" that he is sending her the +proofs of /Beatrix/, Balzac refers to the suppression of his play +/Vautrin/, and says that the director /des beaux-arts/ has come a +second time to offer him an indemnity which /ne faisait pas votre +somme/. This might lead one to think that he had had some financial +dealings with her. + +In the dedication of /Beatrix/, dated /Aux Jardies/, December, 1838, +Balzac speaks of Sarah's being a pearl of the Mediterranean. In the +Island of Malta is a town called Cite-Vallette--suggestive of the name +Felicite Valette. Felicite is also the name of the heroine, Felicite +des Touches, although Marie is the name of Madame Valette that Balzac +liked best. + +In 1836, after reading some of Balzac's novels, Madame de Valette +wrote to Balzac. Attracted by her, he went to Guerande where he took +his meals at a little hotel kept by the demoiselles Bouniol, mentioned +in /Beatrix/. Under her guidance he roamed over the country and then +wrote /Beatrix/. She pretended to him to have been born at Guerande +and to have been reared as a /paludiere/ by her godmother, Madame de +Lamoignon-Lavalette, whence the reference in the dedication to the +former "empire of your name." Her real godmother was Marie-Felicite +Burgaud. Balzac did not know that she had been married to the notary +Gougeon, and thought that her mother was still living. + +When Madame de Valette went to Paris to reside, she was noted for her +beauty and eccentric manners; she rode horseback to visit Balzac /aux +Jardies/. She met a young writer, Edmond Cador, who revealed to Balzac +all that she had kept from him. This deception provoked Balzac and +gave rise to an exchange of rather sharp letters, and a long silence +followed. After Balzac's death she gave Madame Honore de Balzac +trouble concerning /Beatrix/ and her correspondence with Balzac, which +she claimed. She died January 14, 1873, at the home of the Baron +Larrey whom she had appointed as her residuary legatee. She is buried +in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery, and on her tomb is written /Veuve +Gougeon/. + +In her letters to Balzac, given by Spoelberch de Lovenjoul to the +French Academy, she addressed him as "My dear beloved treasure," and +signed her name /Babouino/. There exists a letter from her to him in +which she tells him that she is going to Vannes to visit for a +fortnight, after which she will go to Bearn to make the acquaintance +of her husband's people, and asks him to address her under the name of +Helene-Marie.[*] + +[*] Leon Seche, /Les Inspiratrices de Balzac, Helene de Valette, Les + Annales Romantiques/, supposes that this is another falsehood, + since he could find no record of where any member of the Gougeon + family had ever lived in Bearn. Much of his information has been + secured from Dr. Closmadeuc, who lived at Vannes and who attended + Madame de Valette in her late years; also, from her adopted + daughter, Mlle. Le Gallo. + +After the death of Madame de Valette, the Baron Larrey, in memory of +her relations with Balzac, presented to the city of Tours the +corrected proofs of /Beatrix/, and a portrait of Balzac which he had +received from her. + +Among Balzac's numerous Russian friends was Mademoiselle Sophie +Kozlowska. "Sophie is the daughter of Prince Kozlowski, whose marriage +was not recognized; you must have heard of that very witty diplomat, +who is with Prince Paskevitch in Warsaw."[*] + +[*] /Lettres a l'Etrangere/. By explaining to Madame Hanska who Sophie + is, one would not suppose that Balzac met her at Madame Hanska's + home, as M. E. Pilon states in his article. + +This friendship seems to have been rather close for a while, Balzac +addressing her as /Sofka/, /Sof/, /Sophie/ and /carissima Sofi/. Just +before the presentation of his play /Quinola/ he wrote her, asking for +the names and addresses of her various Russian friends who wished +seats, as many enemies were giving false names. He wanted to place the +beautiful ladies in front, and wished to know in what party she would +be, and the definite number of tickets and location desired for each +friend. + +In this same jovial vein he writes her: "Mina wrote me that you were +ill, and that dealt me a blow as if one had told Napoleon his aide-de- +camp was dead." His attitude towards her changed some months after +writing this; she became the means of alienating his friend Gavault +from him, or at least he so suspected, and thought that she was +influenced by Madame Visconti. This coldness soon turned to enmity, +and she completely won from him his former friend, Gavault, who had +become very much enamored with her. The novelist expressed the same +bitterness of feeling for her as he did for Madame Visconti, but as +the years went by, either his aversion to these two women softened, or +he thought it good policy to retain their good will, for he wished +their names placed on his invitation list. + +Balzac's feeling of friendship for her must have been sincere at one +time, for he dedicated /La Bourse/: + + "To Sofka. + + "Have you not observed, mademoiselle, that the painters and + sculptors of the Middle Ages, when they placed two figures in + adoration, one on each side of a fair Saint, never fail to give + them a family likeness? On seeing your name among those who are + dear to me, and under whose auspices I place my works, remember + that touching harmony, and you will see in this not so much an act + of homage as an expression of the brotherly affection of your + devoted servant, + "DE BALZAC." + + + LA COMTESSE TURHEIM--LA COMTESSE DE BOCARME--LA COMTESSE MERLIN + --LA PRINCESSE GALITZIN DE GENTHOL--LA BARONNE DE ROTHSCHILD-- + LA COMTESSE MAFFEI--LA COMTESSE SERAFINA SAN-SERVERINO-- + LA COMTESSE BOLOGNINI + + "I have found a letter from the kind Comtesse Loulou, who loves you + and whom you love, and in whose letter your name is mentioned in a + melancholy sentence which drew tears to my eyes; . . . I am going + to write to the good Loulou without telling her all she has done + by her letter, for such things are difficult to express, even to + that kind German woman. But she spoke of you with so much soul + that I can tell her that what in her is friendship, in me is + worship that can never end." + +The Countess Louise Turheim called "Loulou" by her intimate friends +and her sister Princess Constantine Razumofsky, met Madame Hanska in +the course of her prolonged stay in Vienna in 1835, and the three +women remained friends throughout their lives. The Countess Loulou was +a canoness, and Balzac met her while visiting in Vienna; he admired +her for herself as well as for her friendship for his /Chatelaine/. +Her brother-in-law, Prince Razumofsky, wished Balzac to secure him a +reader at Paris, but since there was limitation as to the price, he +had some trouble in finding a suitable one. This made a correspondence +with the Countess necessary, as it was she who made the request; but +Madame Hanska was not only willing that Balzac should write to her but +sent him her address and they exchanged messages frequently about the +canoness. + +In 1842, /Une double Famille/, a story written in 1830, was dedicated: + + "To Madame la Comtesse de Turheim + + "As a token of remembrance and affectionate respect. + + "DE BALZAC." + + +The Countess de Bocarme, nee du Chasteler, was an artist who helped +Balzac by painting in water-colors the portraits of her uncle, the +field-marshal, and Andreas Hofer; he wished these in order to be able +to depict the heroes of the Tyrol in the campaign of 1809. She painted +also the entire armorial for the /Etudes de Moeurs/; this consisted of +about one hundred armorial bearings, and was a masterpiece. She +promised to paint his study at Passy in water-colors, which was to be +a souvenir for Madame Hanska of the place where he was to finish +paying his debts. All this pleased the novelist greatly, but she +presented him with one gift which he considered as in bad taste. This +was a sort of monument with a muse crowning him, another writing on a +folio: /Comedie humaine/, with /Divo Balzac/ above. + +Madame de Bocarme had been reared in a convent with a niece of Madame +Rosalie Rzewuska, had traveled much, and was rather brilliant in +describing what she had seen. She visited Balzac while he was living +/aux Jardies/. She was a great friend of the Countess Chlendowska, +whose husband was Balzac's bookseller, and the novelist counted on her +to lend the money for one of his business schemes. Being fond of +whist, she took Madame Chlendowska to Balzac's house during his +illness of a few weeks, and they entertained him by playing cards with +him. + +Balzac called her /Bettina/, and after she left Paris for the Chateau +de Bury in Belgium, he took his housekeeper, Madame de Brugnolle, to +visit her. Madame de Chlendowska was there also, but he did not care +for her especially, as she pretended to know too much about his +intimacy with his "polar star." Madame de Bocarme had one fault that +annoyed him very much; she, too, was inclined to gossip about his +association with Madame Hanska. + +In 1843, Balzac erased from /Le Colonel Chabert/ the dedication to M. +de Custine, and replaced it by one to Madame la Comtesse Ida de +Bocarme, nee du Chasteler. + + +One of the most attractive salons in Paris at the beginning of the +Monarchy of July was that of Countess Merlin, where all the +celebrities met, especially the musicians. Born in Havana, the young, +beautiful, rich and talented Madame Merlin added to the poetic grace +of a Spaniard the wit and distinction of a French woman. General +Merlin married her in Madrid in 1811, and brought her to Paris, where +she created a sensation. Being an accomplished musician, she gave +delightful concerts, and though also gifted as a writer she was as +simple and unpretentious as if she had been created to remain obscure. +In addition, she was so truly good that she had almost no enemies; her +charity was inexhaustible, and she possessed one of those hearts which +live only to do good and to love. + +It was Balzac's good fortune to be introduced into the salon. He +explained to Madame Hanska that he went there to play lansquenet in +order to escape becoming insane! He was anxious to have Madame Merlin +present at the first presentation of his /Quinola/, where she wished +to have Martinez de la Rosa with her, but the novelist dissuaded her +from this. + +Madame Merlin was a friend of Madame de Girardin, and ridiculed the +Princesse Belgiojoso when these two were rival candidates for the +presidency of the new Academy that was being formed. + +During Madame Hanska's secret visit to Paris in 1847, Balzac declined +an invitation to dinner with Madame Merlin, excusing himself on the +ground of lack of time, but promised to call upon her soon. A few +months before this (1846), he dedicated to her /Les Marana/, a short +story written in 1832. /Juana/ is inscribed to her also. + +As has been seen, Balzac frequently depicted the features, lives, or +peculiarities of various friends under altered names, but toward the +close of /Beatrix/ he laid aside all disguise in comparing the +appearance of one of his famous women to the beauty of the Countess: +"Madame Schontz owed her fame as a beauty to the brilliancy and color +of a warm, creamy complexion like a creole's, a face full of original +details, with the clean-cut, firm features, of which the Countess de +Merlin was the most famous example and the most perennially +young . . ." + + +In 1846, Balzac dedicated /Un Drame au Bord de la Mer/, written +several years before, to Madame La Princesse Caroline Galitzin de +Genthod, nee Comtesse Walewska. Balzac doubtless met her while +visiting Madame Hanska in Geneva in 1834, as she was living at +Genthod. He met a Princesse Sophie Galitzin, whom he considered far +more attractive, and later met another Princesse Galitzin. One of +these ladies evidently aroused the suspicions of Madame Hanska, but +the novelist assured her that there was no cause for her anxiety. + + +Another woman whom Balzac honored with a dedication of one of his +books, but for whom he apparently cared little, was Madame la Baronne +de Rothschild, wife of the founder of the banking house in Paris. +Balzac had met Baron James de Rothschild and his wife at Aix, where +she coquetted with him. He had business dealings with this firm, and +planned, several years later, to present to Madame de Rothschild as a +New Year's greeting some of his works handsomely bound; the volumes +were delayed, and he accordingly made a change in some of his business +matters, for this was evidently a gift with a motive. The dedication +to her of /L'Enfant Maudit/ in 1846, as well as that of /Un Homme +d'Affaires/ to her husband in 1845, was perhaps for financial reasons +or favors, since he never seemed to care for the couple in society. + + +In the winter of 1837, Countess San-Severino Porcia wrote from Paris +to her friend in Milan, the Countess Clara Maffei, that Balzac was +coming to her city, and suggested that she receive him in her salon. +This distinguished and cultured woman had visited the novelist in +Paris, and had been much surprised at the kind of home in which he was +living, how like a hermit he was secluded from the world and the +persecutions of his creditors; she was amazed when he received her in +his celebrated monastic role. + +The Countess Maffei retained her title after her marriage (in 1832) +with the poet, Andrea Maffei, who was many years older than she. She +was a great friend of the Princess Belgiojoso, and during the stirring +times of 1848 the Princess had been a frequent visitor in her salon. +Six years younger than the Princess, the Countess threw herself heart +and soul into the political and literary life of Milan. + + "For fifty-two consecutive years (1834-1886) her salon was the + rendezvous not merely of her compatriots but of intellectual + Europe. The list of celebrities who thronged her modest drawing- + room rivals that of Belgiojoso's Parisian salon, and includes many + of the same immortal names. Daniel Stern, Balzac, Manzoni, Liszt, + Verdi, and a score of others, are of international fame; but the + annuals of Italian patriotism, belles-lettres and art teem with + the names of men and women who, during that half century of + uninterrupted hospitality, sought guidance, inspiration and + intellectual entertainment among the politicians, poets, musicians + and wits who congregated round the hostess."[*] + +[*] W. R. Whitehouse, /A Revolutionary Princess/. + + +Balzac arrived in Milan in February, 1837, was well received, and was +invited to the famous salon of Countess Maffei. The novelist was at +once charmed with his hostess, whom he called /la petite Maffei/, and +for whom he soon began to show a tender friendship which later became +blended with affection. + +Unfortunately Balzac did not like Milan; only the fascination of the +Countess Maffei pleased him. He quarreled with the Princess San- +Severino Porcia, who would not allow him to say anything unkind about +Italy, and was depressed when calling on the Princess Bolognini, who +laughed at him for it. + +In the salon of the Countess Maffei the novelist preferred listening +to talking; occasionally he would break out into sonorous laughter, +and would then listen again, and--in spite of his excessive use of +coffee--would fall asleep. The Countess was often embarrassed by +Balzac's disdainful expressions about people he did not like but who +were her friends. She tried to please him, however and had many of her +French-speaking friends to meet him, but he seemed most to enjoy tea +with her alone. Referring to her age, he wrote in her album: "At +twenty-three years of age, all is in the future." + +After Balzac's return to Paris he asked her, in response to one of her +letters, to please ascertain why the Princess San-Severino was angry +with him. Later he showed his appreciation of her kindness by sending +her the corrected proofs of /Martyres ignores/, and by dedicating to +her /La fausse Maitresse/, published in 1841. The dedication, however, +did not appear until several months later. + +In a long and beautiful dedication, Balzac inscribed /Les Employes/ to +the Comtesse Serafina San-Severino, nee Porcia, and to her brother, +Prince Alfonso Serafino di Porcia, he dedicated /Splendeurs et Miseres +des Courtisanes/, concerning which he thought a great deal while +visiting in the latter's home in Milan. The hotel having become +intolerable to the novelist, he was invited by Prince Porcia to occupy +a little room in his home, overlooking the gardens, where he could +work at his ease. The Prince, a man of about Balzac's age, was very +much in love with the Countess Bolognini, and was unwilling to marry +at all unless he could marry her, but her husband was still living. +The Prince lived only ten doors from his Countess, and his happiness +in seeing her so frequently, together with his riches, provoked gloomy +meditations in the mind of the poor author, who was so far from his +/Predilecta/, so overcome with debts, and forced to work so hard. + +To Madame la Comtesse Bolognini, nee Vimercati, who was afterwards +married to Prince Porcia, Balzac dedicated /Une Fille d'Eve/: + + "If you remember, madame, the pleasure your conversation gave to a + certain traveler, making Paris live for him in Milan, you will not + be surprised that he should lay one of his works at your feet, as + a token of gratitude for so many delightful evenings spent in your + society, nor that he should seek for it in the shelter of your + name which, in old times, was given to not a few of the tales by + one of your early writers, dear to the Milanese. You have a + Eugenie, already beautiful, whose clever smile proclaims her to + have inherited from you the most precious gifts a woman can + possess, and whose childhood, it is certain, will be rich in all + those joys which a sad mother refused to the Eugenie of these + pages. If Frenchmen are accused of bring frivolous and inconstant, + I, you see, am Italian in my faithfulness and attachments. How + often, as I write the name of Eugenie, have my thoughts carried me + back to the cool stuccoed drawing-room and little garden of the + /Viccolo dei Capuccini/, which used to resound to the dear child's + merry laughter, to our quarrels, and our stories. You have left + the /Corso/ for the /Tre Monasteri/, where I know nothing of your + manner of life, and I am forced to picture you, no longer amongst + the pretty things, which doubtless still surround you, but like + one of the beautiful heads of Raffaelle, Titian, Correggio or + Allori which, in their remoteness, seem to us like abstractions. + If this book succeeds in making its way across the Alps, it will + prove to you the lively gratitude and respectful friendship of + your humble servant, + + "DE BALZAC." + + + LA PRINCESSE BAGRATION--LA COMTESSE BOSSI--MADAME KISSELEFF-- + LA PRINCESSE DE SCHONBURG--MADAME JAROSLAS POTOCKA-- + LA BARONNE DE PFAFFINS--LA COMTESSE DELPHINE POTOCKA + +Several women whom Balzac knew, but who apparently had no special +influence over his life, are mentioned here; he evidently did not care +enough for them or did not know them well enough to include their +names in the dedicatory register of the /Comedie humaine/. This, +however, by no means exhausts the list of his acquaintances among +women. Many of them he had met through his intimacy with his "Polar +Star"; he was indeed so popular that he once exclaimed to her that he +was overwhelmed with Russian princesses and took to flight to avoid +them. + +The noted salon of the charming Princesse Bagration, wife of the +Russian field-marshal, was open to the novelist early in his career. +With her aristocratic ease and the distinction of her manners, she had +been one of the most brilliant stars at Vienna where her salon, as at +Paris, was one of the most popular. Among her intimate friends was +Madame Hamelin whom she had known during her stay in Vienna. +Notwithstanding Balzac's careless habits of dress, he was welcome in +this salon, where the ladies enjoyed the stories which he told with +such charm, and at which he was always the first to laugh, though told +against himself. + +As has been mentioned the Princess Bagration passed at Paris for the +model of Foedora. If M. Gabriel Ferry is correct, Balzac met the +Duchesse de Castries in the salon of the Princess Bagration before +their correspondence began, but never talked to her and did not +suppose that he had attracted her attention. + +One of Balzac's acquaintances whom he met during his visit to Madame +Hanska at Geneva was the Countess Bossi. He met her again at Milan in +1838, on his return from his journey to Corsica, but he was not +favorably impressed with her, although he once deemed it wise to +explain to his /Chatelaine/ his conduct relative to her. + +Madame Kisseleff was one of Madame Hanska's friends whom he probably +met in Vienna; he dined at her home frequently and enjoyed her +company, for she could talk to him of his /Louloup/. She was a friend +of Madame Hamelin, and moved to Fontainebleu to be near her while the +latter was living at /La Madeleine/. While living in Paris, Madame +Kisseleff entertained Madame Hamelin and several other ladies together +with Balzac; these dinners and his /visites de digestion/ caused him +to see much of her for awhile, but as in many of his other +friendships, his ardor cooled later, and he went to her home only when +specially invited. In 1844, she left Paris to reside at Homburg where +she built a house. The novelist took advantage of her friendship to +send articles to Madame Hanska through the Russian ambassador. + +Balzac made /visites de politesse/ to the Princesse de Schonburg, an +acquaintance of Madame Hanska's, but no more than were required by +courtesy. It would have been convenient for him to have seen much of +her, had he cared to, for she had placed her child in the same house +with him on account of its vicinity to the orthopaedic hospital. + +One of Madame Hanska's friends whom Balzac liked was Madame Jaroslas +Potocka, sister of the Countess Schouwaloff. She wrote some very +pleasing letters to him, but he was too busy to answer them, so he +sent her messages, or enclosed notes to her in his letters to his +/Predilecta/. + +La Baronne de Pfaffins, nee Comtesse Mierzciewska, was a Polish lady +whom Balzac met rather late in life. He first thought she was Madame +Hanska's cousin, but later learned that it was to M. de Hanski that +she was related. Her Polish voice reminded him so much of his +/Louloup/ that he was moved to tears; this friendship, however, did +not continue long. + +Another acquaintance from the land of Balzac's "Polar Star" was Madame +Delphine Potocka who was a great friend of Chopin, to whom he +dedicated some of his happiest inspirations, and whose voice he so +loved that he requested her to sing while he was dying. Her box at the +opera was near Balzac's so that he saw her frequently, and dined with +her, but did not admire her. + + + MARIA--HELENE--LOUISE + + "To Maria: + + "May your name, that of one whose portrait is the noblest ornament + of this work, lie on its opening page like a branch of sacred box, + taken from an unknown tree, but sanctified by religion, and kept + ever fresh and green by pious hand to protect the home. + + "DE BALZAC." + +Just who is the "Maria" to whom the dedication of /Eugenie Grandet/ is +addressed is a question that in the opinion of the present writer has +never been satisfactorily answered. The generally accepted answer is +that of Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, who thought that "Maria" was the girl +whom Balzac described as a "poor, simple and delightful /bourgeoise, +. . . the most naïve creature that ever was, fallen like a flower from +heaven," and who said to Balzac: "Love me a year, and I will love you +all my life." + +Even admitting that this much disputed letter of October 12, 1833, was +written by Balzac, though it does not bear his signature, the name +"Maria" does not appear in it, so it is no proof that she is the woman +to whom Balzac dedicated one of his greatest and probably the most +popular of his works, /Eugenie Grandet/, although the heroine has some +of the characteristics of the woman referred to in that letter in that +she is a "naïve, simple, and delightful /bourgeoise/." But in +reviewing the women to whom Balzac dedicated his stories in the +/Comedie humaine/, one does not find any of this type. Either they are +members of his family, old family friends, literary friends, rich +people to whom he was indebted, women of the nobility, or women whom +he loved for a time at least, and all were women whom he could respect +and recognize in society, while the woman referred to in the letter of +October 12, 1833, does not seem to have had this last qualification. + +In reply to his sister Laure's criticism that there were too many +millions in /Eugenie Grandet/, he insisted that the story was true, +and that he could create nothing better than the truth. In +investigating the truth of this story, it has been found that Jean +Niveleau, a very rich man having many of the traits of Grandet, lived +at Saumur, and that he had a beautiful daughter whom he is said to +have refused to give in marriage to Balzac. Whether this be true or +not, the novelist has screened some things of a personal nature in +this work. + +Although the book is dated September, 1833, he did not finish it until +later. It was just at this time that he met Madame Hanska, and visited +her on two different occasions during the period that he was working +on /Eugenie Grandet/. As he was pressed for money, as usual, his +/Predilecta/ offered to help him financially; this he refused, but +immortalized the offer by having Eugenie give her gold to her lover. + +In declining Madame Hanska's offer, he writes her: + + "Beloved angel, be a thousand times blessed for your drop of water, + for your offer; it is everything to me and yet it is nothing. You + see what a thousand francs would be when ten thousand a month are + needed. If I could find nine, I could find twelve. But I should + have liked, in reading that delightful letter of yours, to have + plunged my hand into the sea and drawn out all its pearls to strew + them on your beautiful black hair. . . . There is a sublime scene + (to my mind, and I am rewarded for having it) in /Eugenie + Grandet/, who offers her fortune to her cousin. The cousin makes + an answer; what I said to you on that subject was more graceful. + But to mingle a single word that I have said to my Eve in what + others will read!--Ah! I would rather have flung /Eugenie Grandet/ + into the fire! . . . Do not think there was the least pride, the + least false delicacy in my refusal of what you know of, the drop + of gold you have put angelically aside. . . ." + +The novelist not only gave Madame Hanska the manuscript of /Eugenie +Grandet/, but had her in mind while writing it: "One must love, my +Eve, my dear one, to write the love of /Eugenie Grandet/, a pure, +immense, proud love!" + +The dedication of /Eugenie Grandet/ to "Marie" did not appear until in +1839. Balzac knew several persons named "Marie." The present writer +was at one time inclined to think that this Marie might have been the +Countess Marie Potocka, whom he met while writing /Eugenie/, but her +cousin, the Princess Radziwill, says that she is sure she is not the +one he had in mind, and that she was not the type of woman to whom +Balzac would ever have dedicated a book. The novelist had dealings +with Madame Marie Dorval, and in 1839, at the time the dedication was +written, doubtless knew of her love for Jules Sandeau. Balzac knew +also the Countess Marie d'Agoult, but she never would have inspired +such a dedication. + +Still another "Marie" with whom he was most intimate about 1839, is +Madame Helene-Marie-Felicite de Valette, and it will be remembered +that while she was usually called "Helene," "Marie" was Balzac's +favorite name for her. But it is doubtful that he knew her when he +wrote the book. + +Yet Balzac's love was so fleeting that if he had had this "Maria" in +mind in 1833 when he wrote /Eugenie/, he probably would have long +since forgotten her by the time the dedication was made. It is a well +known fact that Balzac dedicated many of his earlier books to friends +that he did not meet until years later, and many dedications were not +added until 1842. + + + "To Helene: + + "The tiniest boat is not launched upon the sea without the + protection of some living emblem or revered name, placed upon it + by the mariners. In accordance with this time-honored custom, + Madame, I pray you to be the protectress of this work now launched + upon our literary ocean; and may the imperial name which the + Church has canonized and your devotion has doubly sanctified for + me guard it from peril. + "DE BALZAC." + +The identity of the enchantress who inspired this beautiful dedication +of /Le Cure de Village/ has been the subject of much speculation for +students of Balzac. The author of the /Comedie humaine/ knew the +beautiful Helene Zavadovsky as early as 1835, and, as has been seen, +knew Madame de Valette in 1836. + +The Princess Radziwill states that this "Helene" was a sister of +Madame Hanska, and that she died unmarried in 1842. She was much loved +by all her family, and after the death of her mother in 1837 made her +home with her sister Eve in Wierzchownia. The present author has found +no mention of her in Balzac's letters in connection with /Le Cure de +Village/, of which novel he speaks frequently, nor of his having known +her personally, but since Balzac was continually twitting Madame +Hanska about her pronunciation of various words, he was doubtless +referring to her sister Helene's Russian pronunciation when he writes: +"From time to time, I recall to mind all the gowns I have seen you +wear from the white and yellow one that first day at Peterhof +(Petergoff, /idiome/ Helene), . . ." + + +While Balzac evidently knew personally the women whom he had in mind +in the dedications to "Maria" and to "Helene,"--problems which have +perplexed students of Balzac,--he found time for correspondence with a +lady whom he never saw, and about whom he knew nothing beyond the +Christian name "Louise." The twenty-three letters addressed to her +bear no precise dates, but were written in 1836-1837. + +Her first letter was sent to Balzac through his bookseller, who saw +her seal; but Balzac allayed, without gratifying, his curiosity by +assuring him that such letters came to him frequently. The writer was +under the impression that Balzac's name was "Henry" and some of her +correspondence was in English. + +That he should have taken the time to write to this unknown +correspondent shows that her letters must have possessed some +intrinsic value for him, yet he refused to learn her identity. + + "Chance permitted me to know who you might be, and I refused to + learn. I never did anything so chivalrous in my life; no, never! I + consider it is grander than to risk one's life for an interview of + ten minutes. Perhaps I may astonish you still more, when I say + that I can learn all about you in any moment, any hour, and yet I + refuse to learn, because you wish I should not know!" + +In reply to a letter from Louise in which she complained that her time +was monopolized by visits, he writes: + + "Visits! Do they leave behind them any good for you? For the space + of twelve years, an angelic woman stole two hours each day from + the world, from the claims of family, from all the entanglements + and hindrances of Parisian life--two hours to spend them beside me + --without any one else's being aware of the fact; for twelve + years! Do you understand all that is contained in these words? I + can not wish that this sublime devotedness which has been my + salvation should be repeated. I desire that you should retain all + your illusions about me without coming one step further; and I do + not dare to wish that you should enter upon one of these glorious, + secret, and above all, rare and exceptional relationships. + Moreover, I have a few friends among women whom I trust--not more + than two or three--but they are of an insatiable exigence, and if + they were to discover that I corresponded with an /inconnue/, they + would feel hurt."[*] + +[*] /Memoir and Letters of Balzac/. The woman Balzac refers to here is + Madame de Berny, but this is an exaggeration. + +He revealed to her his ideas regarding women and friendship; how he +longed to possess a tender affection which would be a secret between +two alone. He complained of her want of confidence in him, and of his +work in his loneliness. She tried to comfort him, and being artistic, +sent him a sepia drawing. He sought a second one to hang on the other +side of his fireplace, and thus replaced two lithographs he did not +like. As a token of his friendship he sent her a manuscript of one of +his works, saying: + + "All this is suggested while looking at your sepia drawing; and + while preparing a gift, precious in the sight of those who love + me, and of which I am chary, I refuse it to all who have not + deeply touched my heart, or who have not done me a service; it is + a thing of no value, except where there is heartfelt friendship." + +During his imprisonment by order of the National Guard, she sent him +flowers, for which he was very profuse in expressing his thanks. He +appreciated especially the roses which came on his birthday, and +wished her as many tender things as there were scents in the blooming +buds. + +She apparently had some misfortune, and their correspondence +terminated abruptly in this, his last letter to her: + + "/Carina/, . . . On my return from a long and difficult journey, + undertaken for the refreshment of my over-tired brain, I find this + letter from you, very concise, and melancholy enough in its + solitude; it is, however, a token of your remembrance. That you + may be happy is the wish of my heart, a very pure and + disinterested wish, since you have decided that thus it is to be. + I once more take up my work, and in that, as in a battle, the + struggle occupies one entirely; one suffers, but the heart becomes + calm." + +/Facino Cane/ was dedicated to Louise: + + "As a mark of affectionate gratitude." + + + + CHAPTER V + + SENTIMENTAL FRIENDSHIPS + + + MADAME DE BERNY + + "I have to stand alone now amidst my troubles; formerly I had + beside me in my struggles the most courageous and the sweetest + person in the world, a woman whose memory is each day renewed in + my heart, and whose divine qualities make all other friendships + when compared with hers seem pale. I no longer have help in the + difficulties of life; when I am in doubt about any matter, I have + now no other guide than this final thought, 'If she were alive, + what would she say?' Intellects of this order are rare." + +Balzac loved to seek the sympathy and confidence of people whose minds +were at leisure, and who could interest themselves in his affairs. +With his artistic temperament, he longed for the refinement, society +and delicate attentions which he found in the friendships of various +women. "The feeling of abandonment and of solitude in which I am +stings me. There is nothing selfish in me; but I need to tell my +thoughts, my efforts, my feelings to a being who is not myself; +otherwise I have no strength. I should wish for no crown if there were +no feet at which to lay that which men may put upon my head." + +One of the first of these friendships was that formed with Madame de +Berny, nee (Laure-Louise-Antoinette) Hinner. She was the daughter of a +German musician, a harpist at the court of Louis XVI, and of Louise- +Marguerite-Emelie Quelpec de Laborde, a lady in waiting at the court +of Marie Antoinette. M. Hinner died in 1784, after which Madame Hinner +was married to Francois-Augustin Reinier de Jarjayes, adjutant-general +of the army. M. Jarjayes was one of the best known persons belonging +to the Royalist party during the Revolution, a champion of the Queen, +whom he made many attempts to save. He was one of her most faithful +friends, was intrusted with family keepsakes, and was made lieutenant- +general under Louis XVIII. Madame Jarjayes was much loved by the +Queen; she was also implicated in the plots. Before dying, Marie +Antoinette sent her a lock of her hair and a pair of earrings. Laure +Hinner was married April 8, 1793, to M. Gabriel de Berny, almost nine +years her senior, who was of the oldest nobility. Madame de Berny, her +husband, her mother and her stepfather were imprisoned for nine +months, and were not released until after the fall of Robespierre. + +The married life of Madame de Berny was unhappy; she was intelligent +and sentimental; he, capricious and morose. She seems to have realized +the type of the /femme incomprise/; she too was an /etrangere/, and +bore some traits of her German origin. Coming into Balzac's life at +about the age of forty, this /femme de quarante ans/ became for him +the /amie/ and the companion who was to teach him life. Still +beautiful, having been reared in intimate court circles, having been +the confidante of plotters and the guardian of secrets, possessed of +rare trinkets and souvenirs--what an open book was this /memoire +vivante/, and with what passion did the young interrogator absorb the +pages! Here he found unknown anecdotes, ignored designs, and here the +sources of his great plots, /Les Chouans/, /Madame de la Chanterie/, +and /Un Episode sous la Terreur/. + +All this is what she could teach him, aided perhaps by his mother, who +lived until 1837. Here is the secret of Balzac's royalism; here is +where he first learned of the great ladies that appear in his work, +largely portrayed to him by the /amie/ who watched over his youth and +guided his maturity. + +Having consulted the /Almanach des 25,000 adresses/, Madame Ruxton +thinks that Balzac met Madame de Berny when the two families lived +near each other in Paris; M. de Berny and family spent the summers in +Villeparisis, and resided during the winters at 3, rue Portefoin, +Paris. It is possible that he met her at the soirees, which he +frequented with his sisters, and where his awkwardness provoked smiles +from the ladies. While it is generally supposed that they met at +Villeparisis, MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire also believed that they must +have known each other before this, if Balzac is referring to his own +life in /Oeuvres diverses: Une Passion au College/. + +Madame de Berny is first mentioned in Balzac's correspondence in 1822 +when, in writing his sister Laure the general news, he informs her +that Madame de Berny has become a grandmother, and that after forty +years of reflection, realizing that money is everything, she had +invested in grain. But he must have met her some time before this, for +his family was living in Villeparisis as early as 1819. + +M. de Berny bought in 1815 the home of M. Michaud de Montzaigle in +Villeparisis, and remained possessor of it until 1825. M. Parquin, the +present owner of this home, is a Balzacien who has collected all the +traditions remaining in Villeparisis concerning the two families. +According to Villeparisis tradition, Madame de Berny was a woman of +great intelligence who wrote much, and her notes and stories were not +only utilized by Balzac, but she was his collaborator, especially in +writing the /Physiologie du Mariage/ and the first part of the /Femme +de trente Ans/. + +When Balzac went to Villeparisis to reside, he became tutor to his +brother Henri, and it was arranged that he should also give lessons to +one of the sons of M. and Madame de Berny. Thus Balzac probably saw +her daily and was struck by her patience and kindness toward her +husband. She was apparently a gentle and sympathetic woman who +understood Balzac as did no one else, and who ignored her own troubles +and sufferings for fear of grieving him in the midst of his struggles. + +It was owing to the strong recommendation of M. de Berny, councilor at +the Court at Paris, that Balzac obtained in the spring of 1826 his +royal authorization to establish himself as a printer. During the year +1825-1826, Madame de Berny loaned Balzac 9250 francs; after his +failure, she entered in /name/ into the type-foundry association of +Laurent et Balzac. She advanced to Balzac a total of 45,000 francs, +and established her son, Alexandre de Berny, in the house where her +protégé had been unsuccessful. + +Though Balzac states that he paid her in full, he can not be relied +upon when he is dealing with figures, and MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire +question this statement in relating the incident told by M. Arthur +Rhone, an old friend of the de Berny family. M. de Berny told M. Rhone +that the famous bust of Flore cost him 1500 francs. One day while +visiting Balzac, his host told him to take whatever he liked as a +reimbursement, since he could not pay him. M. de Berny took some +trifle, and after Balzac's death, M. Charles Tuleu, knowing his +fondness for the bust of Flore, brought it to him as a souvenir of +their common friend. This might explain also why M. de Berny possessed +a superb clock and other things coming from Balzac's collection. + +It was while Balzac was living in a little apartment in the rue des +Marais that his /Dilecta/ began her daily visits, which continued so +long, and which made such an impression on him. + +Madame de Berny was of great help to Balzac in the social world and +was perhaps instrumental in developing the friendship between him and +the Duchesse de Castries. It was the Duc de Fitz-James who asked +Balzac (1832) to write a sort of program for the Royalist party, and +later (1834), wished him to become a candidate for deputy. This Duc de +Fitz-James was the nephew of the godmother of Madame de Berny. It was +to please him and the Duchesse de Castries that Balzac published a +beautiful page about the Duchesse d'Angouleme. + +Although Madame de Berny was of great help to Balzac in the financial +and social worlds, of greater value was her literary influence over +him. With good judgment and excellent taste she writes him: "Act, my +dear, as though the whole multitude sees you from all sides at the +height where you will be placed, but do not cry to it to admire you, +for, on all sides, the strongest magnifying glasses will instantly be +turned on you, and how does the most delightful object appear when +seen through the microscope?" + +She had had great experience in life, had suffered much and had seen +many cruel things, but she brought Balzac consolation for all his +pains and a confidence and serenity of which his appreciation is +beautifully expressed: + + "I should be most unjust if I did not say that from 1823 to 1833 an + angel sustained me through that horrible struggle. Madame de + Berny, though married, was like a God to me. She was a mother, + friend, family, counselor; she made the writer, she consoled the + young man, she created his taste, she wept like a sister, she + laughed, she came daily, like a beneficent sleep, to still his + sorrows. She did more; though under the control of a husband, she + found means to lend me as much as forty-five thousand francs, of + which I returned the last six thousand in 1836, with interest at + five per cent., be it understood. But she never spoke to me of my + debt, except now and then; without her, I should, assuredly, be + dead. She often divined that I had eaten nothing for days; she + provided for all with angelic goodness; she encouraged that pride + which preserves a man from baseness,--for which to-day my enemies + reproach me, calling it a silly satisfaction in myself--the pride + that Boulanger has, perhaps, pushed to excess in my portrait." + +Balzac's conception of women was formed largely from his association +with Madame de Berny in his early manhood, and a reflection of these +ideas is seen throughout his works. It was probably to give Madame de +Berny pleasure that he painted the mature beauties which won for him +so many feminine admirers. + +It is doubtless Madame de Berny whom Balzac had in mind when in +/Madame Firmiani/ he describes the heroine: + + "Have you ever met, for your happiness, some woman whose harmonious + tones give to her speech the charm that is no less conspicuous in + her manners, who knows how to talk and to be silent, who cares for + you with delicate feeling, whose words are happily chosen and her + language pure? Her banter caresses you, her criticism does not + sting; she neither preaches or disputes, but is interested in + leading a discussion, and stops at the right moment. Her manner is + friendly and gay, her politeness is unforced, her earnestness is + not servile; she reduces respect to a mere gentle shade; she never + tires you, and leaves you satisfied with her and yourself. You + will see her gracious presence stamped on the things she collects + about her. In her home everything charms the eye, and you breathe, + as it seems, your native air. This woman is quite natural. You + never feel an effort, she flaunts nothing, her feelings are + expressed with simplicity because they are genuine. Though candid, + she never wounds the most sensitive pride; she accepts men as God + made them, pitying the victims, forgiving defects and absurdities, + sympathizing with every age, and vexed with nothing because she + has the tact of foreseeing everything. At once tender and gay, she + first constrains and then consoles you. You love her so truly that + if this angel does wrong, you are ready to justify her. Such was + Madame Firmiani." + +It was to Madame de Berny's son, Alexandre, that Balzac dedicated +/Madame Firmiani/, and he no doubt recognized the portrait. + +Balzac often portrayed his own life and his association with women in +his works. In commenting on /La Peau de Chagrin/, he writes: + + "Pauline is a real personage for me, only more lovely than I could + describe her. If I have made her a dream it is because I did not + wish my secret to be discovered." + +And again, in writing of /Louis Lambert/: + + "You know when you work in tapestry, each stitch is a thought. + Well, each line in this new work has been for me an abyss. It + contains things that are secrets between it and me." + +In portraying the yearnings and sufferings of Louis Lambert (/Louis +Lambert/), of Felix de Vandenesse (/Le Lys dans la Vallee/) and of +Raphael (La Peau de Chagrin/), Balzac is picturing his own life. +Pauline de Villenoix (/Louis Lambert/) and Pauline Gaudin (/Le Peau de +Chagrin/) are possibly drawn from the same woman and have many +characteristics of Madame de Berny. Madame de Mortsauf (/Le Lys dans +la Vallee/) is Pauline, though not so outspoken. Then, is it not /La +Dilecta/ whom the novelist had in mind when Louis Lambert writes: + + "When I lay my head on your knees, I could wish to attract to you + the eyes of the whole world, just as I long to concentrate in my + love every idea, every power within me"; + +and near the end of life, could not Madame de Berny say as did Pauline +in the closing lines of /Louis Lambert/: + + "His heart was mine; his genius is with God"? + +The year 1832 was a critical one in the private life of Balzac. Madame +de Berny, more than twenty years his senior, felt that they should +sever their close connection and remain as friends only. Balzac's +family had long been opposed to this intimate relationship and had +repeatedly tried to find a rich wife for him. Madame de Castries, who +had begun an anonymous correspondence with him, revealed her identity +early in that year, and the first letter from l'Etrangere, who was +soon to over-shadow all his other loves, arrived February 28, 1832. +During the same period Mademoiselle de Trumilly rejected his hand. +With so many distractions, Balzac probably did not suffer from this +separation as did his /Dilecta/. But he never forgot her, and +constantly compared other women with her, much to her detriment. He +regarded her, indeed, as a woman of great superiority. + +In June (1832), Balzac left Paris to spend several weeks with his +friends, M. and Mme. de Margonne, and there at their chateau de Sache, +he wrote /Louis Lambert/ as a sort of farewell of soul to soul to the +woman he had so loved, and whose equal in devotion he never found. In +memory of his ten years' intimacy with her, he dedicated this work to +her: /Et nunc et semper dilectae dicatum 1822-1832/. It is to her +also, that he gave the beautiful Deveria portrait, resplendent with +youth and strength.[*] + +[*] MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire think that it is Madame de Berny who was + weighing on Balzac's soul when he relates, in /Le Cure de + Village/, the tragic story of the young workman who dies from love + without opening his lips. + +M. Brunetiere has suggested that the woman whose traits best recall +Madame de Berny is Marguerite Claes, the victim in /La Recherche de +l'Absolu/, while the nature of Balzac's affection for this great +friend of his youth has not been better expressed than in Balthasar +Claes, she always ready to sacrifice all for him, and he, as +Balthasar, always ready, in the interest of his "grand work," to rob +her and make her desperate while loving her. However, Balzac states, +in speaking of Madame de Berny: + + "At any moment death may take from me an angel who has watched over + me for fourteen years; she, too, a flower of solitude, whom the + world had never touched, and who has been my star. My work is not + done without tears! The attentions due to her cast uncertainty + upon any time of which I could dispose, though she herself unites + with the doctor in advising me some strong diversions. She pushes + friendship so far as to hide her sufferings from me; she tries to + seem well for me. You understand that I have not drawn Claes to do + as he! Great God! what changes in her have been wrought in two + months! I am overwhelmed." + +M. le Breton has suggested that Madame de Berny is Catherine in /La +Derniere Fee/, Madame d'Aiglemont in /La Femme de trente Ans/, and +Madame de Beauseant in /La Femme abandonnee/, and has strengthened +this last statement by pointing out that Gaston de Nueil came to +Madame de Beauseant after she had been deserted by her lover, the +Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto, just as the youthful Balzac came to Madame de +Berny after she had had a lover. + +It is doubtless to this friendship that Balzac refers when he writes +in the last lines of /La Duchesse de Langeais/: "It is only the last +love of a woman that can satisfy the first love of a man." It is of +interest to note that Antoinette is the Christian name of the heroine +of this story. Throughout the /Comedie humaine/ are seen quite young +men who fall in love with women well advanced in years, as Calyste de +Guenic with Mademoiselle Felicite des Touches in /Beatrix/, and Lucien +de Rubempre with Madame Bargeton in /Illusions perdues/. + +In /Eugenie Grandet/ Balzac writes: + + "Do you know what Madame Campan used to say to us? 'My children, so + long as a man is a Minister, adore him; if he falls, help to drag + him to the ditch. Powerful, he is a sort of deity; ruined, he is + below Marat in his sewer, because he is alive, and Marat, dead. + Life is a series of combinations, which must be studied and + followed if a good position is to be successfully maintained.' " + +Since Madame Campan was /femme de chambre/ of Marie Antoinette, Balzac +probably heard this maxim through Madame de Berny. + +Although some writers state that Madame de Berny was one of Balzac's +collaborators in composing the /Physiologie du Mariage/, he says, +regarding this work: "I undertook the /Physiologie du Mariage/ and the +/Peau de Chagrin/ against the advice of that angel whom I have lost." +She may have inspired him, however, in writing /Le Cure de Tours/, as +it is dated at her home, Saint-Firmin, 1832. + +In 1833, Balzac wrote Madame Hanska that he had dedicated the fourth +volume of the /Scenes de la Vie privee/ to her, putting her seal at +the head of /l'Expiation/, the last chapter of /La Femme de trente +Ans/, which he was writing at the moment he received her first letter. +But a person who was as a mother to him and whose caprices and even +jealousy he was bound to respect, had exacted that this silent +testimony should be repressed. He had the sincerity to avow to her +both the dedication and its destruction, because he believed her to +have a soul sufficiently lofty not to desire homage which would cause +grief to one as noble and grand as she whose child he was, for she had +rescued him when in youth he had nearly perished in the midst of +griefs and shipwreck. He had saved the only copy of that dedication, +for which he had been blamed as if it were a horrible coquetry, and +wished her to keep it as a souvenir and as an expression of his +thanks. + +Balzac was ever loyal to Madame de Berny and refused to reveal her +baptismal name to Madame Hanska; soon after their correspondence began +he wrote her: "You have asked me the baptismal name of the /Dilecta/. +In spite of my complete and blind faith, in spite of my sentiment for +you, I cannot tell it to you; I have never told it. Would you have +faith in me if I told it? No." + +After 1834 Madame de Berny's health failed rapidly, and her last days +were full of sorrow. Among her numerous family trials Balzac +enumerates: + + "One daughter become insane, another daughter dead, the third + dying, what blows!--And a wound more violent still, of which + nothing can be told. Finally, after thirty years of patience and + devotion, forced to separate from her husband under pain of dying + if she remained a few days longer. All this in a short space of + time. This is what I suffer through the heart that created me. + . . . Madame de Berny is much better; she has borne a last shock, + the illness of a beloved son whose brother has gone to bring him + home from Belgium. . . . Suddenly, the only son who resembles her, + a young man handsome as the day, tender and spiritual like + herself, like her full of noble sentiments, fell ill, and ill of a + cold which amounts to an affection of the lungs. The only child + out of /nine/ with whom she can sympathize! Of the nine, only four + remain; and her youngest daughter has become hysterically insane, + without any hope of cure. That blow nearly killed her. I was + correcting the /Lys/ beside her; but my affection was powerless + even to temper this last blow. Her son (twenty-three years old) + was in Belgium where he was directing an establishment of great + importance. His brother Alexandre went for him, and he arrived a + month ago, in a deplorable condition. This mother, without + strength, almost expiring, sits up at night to nurse Armand. She + has nurses and doctors. She implores me not to come and not to + write to her."[*] + +[*] /Lettres a l'Etrangere. Various writers in speaking of Madame de + Berny, state that she had eight children; others, nine. Balzac + remarks frequently that she had nine. Among others, Madame Ruxton + says that she had eight. She gives their names and dates of birth. + The explanation of this difference is probably found in the + following: "I am going to fulfil a rather sad duty this morning. + The daughter of Madame de B . . . and of Campi . . . asks for me. + In 1824, they wished me to marry her. She was bewitchingly + beautiful, a flower of Bengal! After twenty years, I am going to + see her again! At forty years of age! She asks a service of me; + doubtless a literary ambition! . . . I am going there. . . . Three + o'clock. I was sure of it! I have seen Julie, to whom and for whom + I wrote the verses: 'From the midst of those torrents of glory and + of light, etc.:' which are in /Illusions perdues/. . . ." Neither + the name /Julie/ nor the date of her birth is given by Madame + Ruxton. + +Some secret pertaining to Madame de Berny remains untold. In 1834 +Balzac writes Madame Hanska: "The greatest sorrows have overwhelmed +Madame de Berny. She is far from me, at Nemours, where she is dying of +her troubles. I cannot write you about them; they are things that can +only be spoken of with the greatest secrecy." He might have revealed +this secret to her in 1835 when he visited her in Vienna; the +following secret, however, is not explained in subsequent letters, and +Balzac did not see Madame Hanska again until seven years later in St. +Petersburg: + + "I have much distress, even enormous distress in the direction of + Madame de Berny; not from her directly but from her family. It is + not of a nature to be written. Some evening at Wierzchownia, when + the heart wounds are scars, I will tell it to you in murmurs so + that the spiders cannot hear, and so that my voice can go from my + lips to your heart. They are dreadful things, which dig into life + to the bone, deflowering all, and making one distrust all, except + you for whom I reserve these sighs." + +Though Madame de Berny may have been jealous of other women in her +earlier association with Balzac, she evidently changed later, for he +writes: + + "Alas! Madame de Berny is no better. The malady makes frightful + progress, and I cannot express to you how grand, noble and + touching this soul of my life has been in these days measured by + illness, and with what fervor she desires that another be to me + what she has been. She knows the inward spring and nobility that + the habit of carrying all things to an idol gives me. My God is on + earth." + +Contrary to his family, Madame Carraud sympathized with Balzac in his +devotion to Madame de Berny, and invited them to be her guests. In +accepting he writes: + + "Her life is so much bound up in mine! Ah, no one can form any true + idea of this deep attachment which sustains me in all my work, and + consoles me every moment in all I suffer. You can understand + something of this, you who know so well what friendship is, you + who are so affectionate, so good. . . . I thank you beforehand for + your offer of Frapesle to her. There, amid your flowers, and in + your gentle companionship, and the country life, if convalescence + is possible, and I venture to hope for it, she will regain life + and health." + +He apparently did not receive such sympathy from Madame Hanska in +their early correspondence: + + "Why be displeased about a woman fifty-eight years old, who is a + mother to me, who folds me in her heart and protects me from + stings? Do not be jealous of her; she would be so glad of our + happiness. She is an angel, sublime. There are angels of earth and + angels of heaven; she is of heaven." + +Madame de Berny's illness continued to grow more and more serious. The +reading of the second number of /Pere Goriot/ affected her so much +that she had another heart attack. But as her illness and griefs +changed and withered her, Balzac's affection for her redoubled. He did +not realize how rapidly she was failing, for she did not wish him to +see her unless she felt well and could appear attractive. On his +return to France from a journey to Italy with Madame Marbouty, he was +overcome with grief at the news of the death of Madame de Berny. He +found on his table a letter from her son Alexandre briefly announcing +his mother's death. + +But the novelist did not cease to respect her criticism: + + "I resumed my work this morning; I am obeying the last words that + Madame de Berny wrote me; 'I can die; I am sure that you have upon + your brow the crown I wished there. The /Lys/ is a sublime work, + without spot or flaw. Only, the death of Madame de Mortsauf does + not need those horrible regrets; they injure the beautiful letter + she writes.' Therefore, to-day I have piously effaced a hundred + lines, which, according to many persons, disfigure that creation. + I have not regretted a single word, and each time that my pen was + drawn through one of them, never was the heart of man more deeply + stirred. I thought I saw that grand and sublime woman, that angel + of friendship, before me, smiling as she smiled to me when I used + a strength so rare,--the strength to cut off one's own limb and + feel neither pain nor regret in correcting, in conquering one's + self." + +Balzac was sincere in his friendship with Madame de Berny, and never +ceased to revere her memory. The following appreciations of her worth +are a few of the numerous beautiful tributes he has paid her: + + "I have lost the being whom I love most in the world. . . . She + whom I have lost was more than a mother, more than a friend, more + than any human creature can be to another; it can only be + expressed by the word /divine/. She sustained me through storms of + trouble by word and deed and entire devotedness. If I am alive + this day, it is to her that it is due. She was everything to me; + and although during the last two years, time and illness kept us + apart, we saw each other through the distance. She inspired me; + she was for me a spiritual sun. Madame de Mortsauf in /Le Lys dans + la Vallee/, only faintly shadows forth some of the slighter + qualities of this woman; there is but a very pale reflection of + her, for I have a horror of unveiling my own private emotions to + the public, and nothing personal to myself will ever be known." + + "Madame de Berny is dead. I can say no more on that point. My + sorrow is not of a day; it will react upon my whole life. For a + year I had not seen her, nor did I see her in her last moments. + . . . /She/, who was always so lovingly severe to me, acknowledged + that the /Lys/ was one of the finest books in the French language; + she decked herself at last with the crown which, fifteen years + earlier, I had promised her, and, always coquettish, she + imperiously forbade me to visit her, because she would not have me + near her unless she were beautiful and well. The letter deceived + me. . . . When I was wrecked the first time, in 1828, I was only + twenty-nine years old and I had an angel at my side. . . . There + is a blank which has saddened me. The adored is here no longer. + Every day I have occasion to deplore the eternal absence. Would + you believe that for six months I have not been able to go to + Nemours to bring away the things that ought to be in my sole + possession? Every week I say to myself, 'It shall be this week! + . . .' I was very unhappy in my youth, but Madame de Berny + balanced all by an absolute devotion, which was understood to its + full extent only when the grave had seized its prey. Yes, I was + spoiled by that angel."[*] + +[*] Madame de Berny died July 27, 1836. + +So faithful was Balzac to the memory of his /Dilecta/ that nine years +after her death, he was deeply affected on seeing at the /Cour +d'Assises/ a woman about forty-five years of age, who strongly +resembled Madame de Berny, and who was being arraigned for deeds +caused by her devotion to a reckless youth. + + + LA DUCHESSE DE CASTRIES.--MADEMOISELLE DE TRUMILLY + + "He who has not seen, at some ball of Madame, Duchesse de Berry, + glide airily, scarcely touching the floor, so moving that one + perceived in her only grace before knowing whether she was a + beauty, a young woman with blond, deep-golden hair; he who has not + seen appear then the young Marquise de Castries in a fete, cannot, + without doubt, form an idea of this new beauty, charming, aerial, + praised and honored in the salons of the Restoration." + +Balzac had a brief, yet ardent friendship with the Duchesse de +Castries which ended so unhappily for him that one might say: "Heaven +has no rage like love to hatred turned." Madame de Castries was the +daughter of the Duchesse (nee Fitz-James) and the Duc de Maille. She +did not become a duchess until in 1842, and bore the title of marquise +previous to that time. Separated from her husband as the result of a +famous love affair, the Marquise gathered round her a group of +intellectual people, among whom were the writers Balzac, Musset, +Sainte-Beuve, etc., and continued active in literary and artistic +circles until her death (1861). + +On Balzac's return to Paris after a prolonged visit with his friends +at Sache during the month of September, 1831, he received an anonymous +letter, dated at Paris, a circumstance which was with him of rather +frequent occurrence, as with many men of letters. + +This lady criticized the /Physiologie du Mariage/, to which Balzac +replies, defending his position: + + "The /Physiologie du Mariage/, madame, was a work undertaken for + the purpose of defending the cause of women. I knew that if, with + the view of inculcating ideas favorable to their emancipation and + to a broad and thorough system of education for them, I had gone + to work in a blundering way, I should at best, have been regarded + as nothing more than an author of a theory more or less plausible. + I was therefore, obliged to clothe my ideas, to disguise them + under a new shape, in biting, incisive words that should lay hold + on the mind of my readers, awaken their attention and leave + behind, reflections upon which they might meditate. Thus then any + woman who has passed through the "storms of life" would see that I + attribute the blame of all faults committed by the wives, entirely + to their husbands. It is, in fact, a plenary absolution. Besides + this, I plead for the natural and inalienable rights of woman. A + happy marriage is impossible unless there be a perfect + acquaintance between the two before marriage--a knowledge of each + other's ways, habits and character. And I have not flinched from + any of the consequences involved in this principle. Those who know + me are aware that I have been faithful to this opinion ever since + I reached the age of reason; and in my eyes a young girl who has + committed a fault deserves more interest than she who, remaining + ignorant, lies open to the misfortunes of the future. I am at this + present time a bachelor, and if I should marry later in life, it + will only be to a widow." + +Thus was begun the correspondence, and the Duchess ended by lifting +her mask and inviting the writer to visit her; he gladly accepted her +gracious offer to come, not as a literary man nor as an artist, but as +himself. It is a striking coincidence that Balzac accepted this +invitation the very day, February 28, 1832, that he received the first +letter from /l'Etrangere/. + +What must have been Balzac's surprise, and how flattered he must have +felt, on learning that his unknown correspondent belonged to the +highest aristocracy of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and that her +husband was a peer of France under Charles X! + + "Madame de Castries was a coquettish, vain, delicate, clever woman, + with a touch of sensibility, piety and /chaleur de salon/; a true + Parisian with all her brilliant exterior accomplishments, + qualities refined by education, luxury and aristocratic + surroundings, but also with all her coldness and faults; in a + word, one of those women of whom one must never ask friendship, + love or devotion beyond a light veneer, because nature had created + some women morally poor." + +At first, Balzac was too enraptured to judge her accurately, but after +frequenting her salon for several months, he says of her: + + "It is necessary that I go and climb about at Aix, in Savoy, to run + after some one who, perhaps, will laugh at me--one of those + aristocratic women of whom you no doubt have a horror; one of + those angelic beauties to whom one ascribes a soul; a true + duchess, very disdainful, very loving, subtle, witty, a coquette, + like nothing I have ever yet seen, and who says she loves me, who + wants to keep me in a palace at Venice (for I tell you + everything), and who desires I should write nothing, except for + her; one of those women who must be worshiped on one's knees when + they wish it, and whom one has such pleasure in conquering; a + woman to be dreamt of, jealous of everything." + +A few weeks later he writes from Aix: + + "I have come here to seek at once both much and little. Much, + because I see daily a person full of grace and amiability, little, + because she is never likely to love me." + +Under the influence of the Duchesse de Castries and the Duc de Fitz- +James, Balzac gave more and more prominence to Catholic and Legitimist +sentiments; and it was perhaps for her sake that the novelist offered +himself as a candidate for deputy in several districts, but was +defeated in all of them. He thought it quite probable that the Duc de +Fitz-James would be elected in at least two districts, so if he were +not elected at Angouleme, the Duke might use his interest to get him +elected for the place he declined. + +It was after Balzac met Madame de Castries that one notes his +extravagant tastes and love of display as shown in his horses and +carriage, his extra servant, his numerous waistcoats, his gold +buttons, his appearance at the opera with his wonderful cane, and his +indulgence in rare pictures, old furniture, and bric-a-brac in +general. + +Induced to follow her to Aix, he continued his work, rising at five in +the morning and working until half past five in the afternoon. His +lunch came from the circle, and at six o'clock, he dined with Madame +de Castries, and spent the evening with her. His intimacy with this +illustrious family increased, and he accepted an invitation to +accompany them to Italy, giving several reasons for this journey: + + "I am at the gates of Italy, and I fear to give way to the + temptation of passing through them. The journey would not be + costly; I could make it with the Fitz-James family, who would be + exceedingly agreeable; they are all perfect to me. . . . I travel + as fourth passenger in Mme. de Castries' /vetturino/ and the + bargain--which includes everything, food, carriages, hotels--is a + thousand francs for all of us to go from Geneva to Rome; making my + share two hundred and fifty francs. . . . I shall make this + splendid journey with the Duke, who will treat me as if I were his + son. I also shall be in relation with the best society; I am not + likely to meet with such an opportunity again. M. de Fitz-James + has been in Italy before, he knows the country, and will spare me + all loss of time. Besides this, his name will throw open many + doors to me. The Duchess and he are both more than kind to me, in + every way, and the advantages of their society are great." + +From Aix they went to Geneva. Just what happened here, we shall +probably never know. Suddenly abandoning the proposed trip, Balzac +writes his mother: + + "It is advisable I should return to France for three months. . . . + Besides, my traveling companions will not be at Naples till + February. I shall, therefore, come back, but not to Paris; my + return will not be known to any one; and I shall start again for + Naples in February, via Marseilles and the steamer. I shall be + more at rest on the subjects of money and literary obligations." + +Later he alludes thus to his sudden departure from Geneva: + + "/Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu!/ God, in whom I believe, owed me some sweet + emotions at the sight of Geneva, for I left it disconsolate, + cursing everything, abhorring womankind! With what joy shall I + return to it, my celestial love, my Eva!" + +Thus was ended an ardent friendship of about eight months' duration, +for instead of rejoining the Duchesse de Castries in Italy Balzac's +first visit to that country was made many years later, and then in the +delightful company of his "Polar Star." + +In speaking of this sudden breach, Miss M. F. Sandars says: + + "We can only conjecture the cause of the final rupture, as no + satisfactory explanation is forthcoming. The original 'Confession' + in the /Medecin de Campagne/, which is the history of Balzac's + relations and parting with Madame de Castries, is in the + possession of the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul. The present + 'Confession' was substituted for it, because the first revealed + too much of Balzac's private life. However, even in the original + 'Confession,' we learn no reason for Madame de Castries' sudden + resolve to dismiss her adorer, as Balzac declares with indignant + despair that he can give no explanation of it. Apparently she + parted from him one evening with her usual warmth of affection, + and next morning everything was changed, and she treated him with + the utmost coldness." + +Fully to appreciate what this friendship meant to both, one must +consider the private life of each. As has been seen, it was in the +summer of 1832 that Balzac and his /Dilecta/ decided to sever their +intimate connection, and since his /Chatelaine/ of Wierzchownia had +not yet become the dominating force in his life, his heart was +doubtless yearning for some one to adore. + +There was also an aching void in the heart of Madame de Castries. She, +too, was recovering from an amorous attachment, more serious than was +his, for death had recently claimed the young Count Metternich. +Perhaps then, each was seeking consolation in the other's society. + +There was nothing more astonishing or charming than to see in the +evening, in one of the most simple little drawing-rooms, antiquely +furnished with tables, cushions of old velvet and screens of the +eighteenth century, this woman, her spine injured, reclining in her +invalid's chair, languid, but without affectation. This woman--with +her profile more Roman than Greek, her hair falling over her high, +white brow--was the Duchesse de Castries, nee de Maille, related to +the best families of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Accompanying the +young Comte de Metternich on the hunt, she was caught in the branch of +a tree, and fell, injuring her spine. But a shadow of her former +brilliant self--such had become this beauty, once so dazzling that the +moment she entered the drawing-room, her gorgeous robe falling over +shoulders worthy of a Titian, the brilliancy of the candles was +literally effaced.[*] + +[*] Philarete Chasles was a frequent visitor of her salon. When Balzac + visited Madame Hanska at Vienna in the summer of 1835, he did a + favor for the Duchesse de Castries while there. He wrote /La + Filandiere/, 1835, one of his /Contes drolatiques/, for Madame de + Castries' son, M. le baron d'Aldenburg. + +Balzac refers frequently to Count Metternich in writing to Madame +Hanska of his association with Madame de Castries: + + "There is still a Metternich in this adventure; but this time it is + the son, who died in Florence. I have already told you of this + cruel affair, and I had no right to tell you. though separated + from that person out of delicacy, all is not over yet. I suffer + through her; but I do not judge her. . . . Madame de C---- insists + that she has never loved any one except M. de M---- and that she + loves him still, that Artemisia of Ephesus. . . . You asked me, I + believe, about Madame de C---- She has taken the thing, as I told + you, tragically, and now distrusts the M---- family. Beneath all + this, on both sides there is something inexplicable, and I have no + desire to look for the key of mysteries which do not concern me. I + am with Madame de C---- on the proper terms of politeness, and as + you yourself would wish me to be." + +After their abrupt separation at Geneva, their relations continued to +be estranged: + + "For the moment I will tell you that Madame de C---- has written me + that we are not to see each other again; she has taken offense at + a letter, and I at many other things. Be assured that there is no + love in all this! . . . I meant to speak to you of Madame de + C----, but I have not the time. Twenty-five days hence I will tell + you by word of mouth. In two words, your Honore, my Eva, grew + angry at the coldness which simulated friendship. I said what I + thought; the reply was that I ought not to see again a woman to + whom I could say such cruel things. I asked a thousand pardons for + the 'great liberty,' and we continue on a very cold footing." + +Balzac was deeply wounded through his passionate love for Madame de +Castries, and resented her leaving him in the depths of an abyss of +coldness after having inflamed him with the fire of her soul; he began +to think of revenge: + + "I abhor Madame de C----, for she blighted my life without giving + me another,--I do not say a comparable one, but without giving me + what she promised. There is not the shadow of wounded vanity, oh! + but disgust and contempt . . . If Madame de C----'s letter + displeases you, say so frankly, my love. I will write to her that + my affections are placed in a heart too jealous for me to be + permitted to correspond with a woman who has her reputation for + beauty, for charm, and that I act frankly in telling her + so. . . ." + +Indeed, his experience with Madame de Castries at Geneva had made him +so unhappy that on his return to that city to visit his /Predilecta/, +he had moments of joy mingled with sorrow, as the scenery recalled +how, on his previous visit, he had wept over his /illusions perdues/. +While other writers suggest different causes, one might surmise that +this serious disappointment was the beginning of Balzac's heart +trouble, for in speaking of it, he says: "It is necessary for my life +to be bright and pleasant. The cruelties of the woman whom you know +have been the cause of the trouble; then the disasters of 1848. . . ." + +He tried to overcome his dejection by intense work, but he could not +forget the tragic suffering he had undergone. The experience he had +recently passed through he disclosed in one of his most noted stories, +/La Duchesse de Langeais/, which he wrote largely in 1834 at the same +fatal city of Geneva, but this time, while enjoying the society of the +beautiful Madame Hanska. In this story, under the name of the heroine, +the Duchesse de Langeais, he describes the Duchesse de Castries: + + "This was a woman artificially educated, but in reality ignorant; a + woman whose instincts and feelings were lofty, while the thought + which should have controlled them was wanting. She squandered the + wealth of her nature in obedience to social conventions; she was + ready to brave society, yet she hesitated till her scruples + degenerated into artifice. With more wilfulness than force of + character, impressionable rather than enthusiastic, gifted with + more brain than heart; she was supremely a woman, supremely a + coquette, and above all things a /Parisienne/, loving a brilliant + life and gaiety, reflecting never, or too late; imprudent to the + verge of poetry, and humble in the depths of her heart, in spite + of her charming insolence. Like some straight-growing reed, she + made a show of independence; yet, like the reed, she was ready to + bend to a strong hand. She talked much of religion, and had it not + at heart, though she was prepared to find in it a solution of her + life." + +In the same story under the name of the Marquis de Montriveau, Balzac +is doubtless portraying himself. It was probably in the home of the +Duchesse de Castries that Balzac conceived some of his ideas of the +aristocracy of the exclusive Faubourg Saint-Germain, a picture of +which he has drawn in this story of which she is the heroine. Her +influence is seen also in the characters so minutely drawn of the +heartless /Parisienne/, no longer young, but seductive, refined and +aristocratic, though deceptive and perfidious. + +Before publishing /La Duchesse de Langeais/, the novelist was either +tactful or vindictive enough to call on Madame de Castries and read to +her his new book. He says of this visit: "I have just returned from +Madame de C----, whom I do not want for an enemy when my book comes +out and the best means of obtaining a defender against the Faubourg +Saint-Germain is to make her approve of the work in advance; and she +greatly approved of it." But a few weeks later, he writes: "Here I am, +on bad terms with Madame de C---- on account of the /Duchesse de +Langeais/--so much the better." If Balzac refers to Madame de Castries +in the following except, one may even say that he had her correct his +work. + + "Say whatever you like about /La Duchesse de Langeais/, your + remarks do not affect me; but a lady whom you may perhaps know, + illustrious and elegant, has approved everything, corrected + everything like a royal censor, and her authority on ducal matters + is incontestable; I am safe under the shadow of her shawl." + +Balzac continued to call on her and to write to her occasionally, and +was very sympathetic to her illness, especially as her Parisian +friends seemed to have abandoned her. Though death did not come to her +until more than twenty-five years later, he writes at this time: + + "Madame de Castries is dying; the paralysis is attacking the other + limb. Her beauty is no more; she is blighted. Oh! I pity her. She + suffers horribly and inspires pity only. She is the only person I + visit, and then, for one hour every week. It is more than I really + can do, but the hour is compelled by the sight of that slow + death." + +In her despondency he tries to cheer her: + + "I do not like your melancholy; I should scold you well if you were + here. I would put you on a large divan, where you would be like a + fairy in the midst of her palace, and I would tell you that in + this life you must love in order to live. Now, you do not love. A + lively affection is the bread of the soul, and when the soul is + not fed it grows starved, like the body. The bonds of the soul and + body are such that each suffers with the other. . . . A thousand + kindly things in return for your flowers, which bring me much + happiness, but I wish for something more. . . . You have mingled + bitterness with the flatteries you have the goodness to bestow on + my book, as if you knew all the weight of your words and how far + they would reach. I would a thousand times rather you would + consider the book and the pen as things of your own, than receive + these praises."[*] + +[*] It is interesting to note Balzac's fondness for flowers, as is + seen in his association of them with various women, and the + prominent place he has given them in some of his works. + +Though his visits continued, their friendship gradually grew colder, +and in 1836 he writes: "I have broken the last frail relations of +politeness with Madame de C----. She enjoys the society of MM. Janni +and Sainte-Beauve, who have so outrageously wounded me. It seemed to +me bad taste, and now I am happily out of it." + +/La Duchesse de Langeais/ appeared in 1834, but Madame de Castries had +not fully wreaked her revenge on Balzac. For some time an Irish woman, +a Miss Patrickson, had insisted on translating Balzac's works. Madame +de Castries engaged her as teacher of English, and used her as a means +of ensnaring Balzac by having her write him a love letter and sign it +"Lady Nevil." Though suspicious about this letter, he answered it, and +a rendezvous was arranged at the opera. That day he called on Madame +de Castries, and she had him remain for dinner. When he excused +himself to go to the opera, she insisted on accompanying him; he then +realized that he was a victim of her strategy, which he thus +describes: + + "I go to the opera. No one there. Then I write a letter, which + brings the miss, old, horrible, with hideous teeth, but full of + remorse for the part she had played, full of affection for me and + contempt and horror for the Marquise. Though my letters were + extremely ironical and written for the purpose of making a woman + masquerading as a false lady blush, she (Miss Patrickson) had + recovered them. I had the upper hand of Madame de C---- She ended + by divining that in this intrigue she was on the down side. From + that time forth she vowed me a hatred which will end only with + life. In fact, she may rise out of her grave to calumniate me. She + never opened /Seraphita/ on account of its dedication, and her + jealousy is such that if she could completely destroy the book she + would weep for joy."[*] + +[*] Seized with pity for this poor Irish woman, Balzac called later to + see about some translations and found her overcome by drink in the + midst of poverty and dirt. He learned afterwards that she was + addicted to the habit of drinking gin. + +Notwithstanding their enmity Balzac visited her occasionally. She had +become so uncomely that he could not understand his infatuation at +Aix, ten years before. He disliked her especially because she had for +the moment, in posing as Madame de Balzac, made Madame Hanska believe +he was married. He enjoyed telling her of Madame Hanska's admiration +for and devotion to him, and sarcastically remarked to her that she +was such a "true friend" she would be happy to learn of his financial +success. Thus, during a period of several years, while speaking of her +as his enemy, the novelist continued to dine with her, but was ever +ready to overwhelm her with sarcasm, even while her guest. Yet, in +1843, he dedicated to her /L'Illustre Gaudissart/, a work written ten +years before. + +Though he was fully recovered with time, this drama, played by a +coquette, was almost tragic for the author of the /Comedie humaine/. +No other woman left so deep a mark of passion or such rankling wounds +in his bleeding heart, as did she of whom he says: + + "It has required five years of wounds for my tender nature to + detach itself from one of iron. A gracious woman, this Duchess of + whom I spoke to you, and one who had come to me under an + incognito, which, I render her this justice, she laid aside the + day I asked her to. . . . This /liaison/ which, whatever may be + said, be assured has remained by the will of the woman in the most + reproachable conditions, has been one of the great sorrows of my + life. The secret misfortunes of my situation actually come from + the fact that I sacrificed everything to her, for a single one of + her desires; she never divined anything. A wounded man must be + pardoned for fearing injuries. . . . I alone know what there is of + horror in the /Duchesse de Langeais/." + + +In 1831 Balzac asked for the hand of a young lady of the Faubourg +Saint-Germain, Mademoiselle Eleonore de Trumilly, second daughter of +his friend the Baron de Trumilly, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Artillery +of the Royal guard under the Restoration, a former /émigré/, and of +Madame Alexandra-Anna de Montiers. This request was received by her +father, who transmitted it to her, but she rejected the suitor and +married June 18, 1833, Francois-Felix-Claude-Marie-Marguerite Labroue, +Baron de Vareilles-Sommieres, of the diocese of Poitiers. + +The Baron de Trumilly (died April 7, 1832) held high rank among the +officers of the artillery, and his cultured mind rendered him one of +the ornaments of society. He lived in friendly and intellectual +relations with Balzac while the future novelist was working on the +/Chouans/ and the /Physiologie du Mariage/, and at the time Balzac was +revising the latter for publication, he went to dine frequently at the +home of the Baron, who used to work with him until late in the +evening. In this work he introduces an old /émigré/ under the initials +of Marquis de T---- which are quite similar to those of the Baron de +Trumilly. This Marquis de T---- went to Germany about 1791, which +corresponds to the life of the Baron. + +Baron de Trumilly welcomed Balzac into his home, took a great interest +in his work, and seemed willing to give him one of his three +daughters; but one can understand how the young novelist, who had not +yet attained great fame, might not favorably impress a young lady of +the social standing of Mademoiselle de Trumilly, and her father did +not urge her to accept him. + +Although Balzac wrote Madame Hanska that when he called the girl loved +by Dr. Benassis in his "Confession" (Le Medecin de Campagne) +"Evelina," he said to himself, "She will quiver with joy in seeing +that her name has occupied me, that she was present to my memory, and +that what I deemed loveliest and noblest in the young girl, I have +named for her," some think that the lady he had in mind was not Mme. +Hanska, but Eleonore de Trumilly, who really was a young unmarried +girl, while Madame Hanska was not only married, but the mother of +several children. Again, letters written by the author to his family +show his condition to have been desperate at that time. Balzac asserts +that the story of /Louis Lambert/ is true to life; hence, despondent +over his own situation, he makes Louis Lambert become insane, and +causes Dr. Benassis to think of suicide when disappointed in love. + +Thus was the novelist doomed, early in his literary career, to meet +with a disappointment which, as has been seen, was to be repeated some +months later with more serious results, when his adoration for the +Duchesse de Castries was suddenly turned into bitterness. + + + MADAME HANSKA.--LA COMTESSE MNISZECH.--MADEMOISELLE BOREL.-- + MESDEMOISELLES WYLEZYNSKA.--LA COMTESSE ROSALIE RZEWUSKA.-- + MADEMOISELLE CALISTE RZEWUSKA.--MADAME CHERKOWITSCH.-- + MADAME RIZNITSCH.--LA COMTESSE MARIE POTOCKA. + + "And they talk of the first love! I know nothing as terrible as the + last, it is strangling." + +The longest and by far the most important of Balzac's friendships +began by correspondence was the one with Madame Eveline Hanska, whose +first letter arrived February 28, 1832. The friendship soon developed +into a more sentimental relationship culminating March 14, 1850, when +Madame Hanska became Madame Honore de Balzac. This "grand and +beautiful soul-drama" is one of the noblest in the world, and in the +history of literature the longest. + +So long was Balzac in pursuit of this apparent chimera, and so ardent +was his passion for his "polar star" that the above words of Quinola +may well be applied to his experience. So fervent was his adoration, +so pathetic his sufferings and so persistent his pursuit during the +seventeen long years of waiting that Miss Betham-Edwards has +appropriately said of his letters to Madame Hanska: + + "Opening with a pianissimo, we soon reach /a con molto + expressione/, a /crescendo/, a /molto furore/ quickly following. + Every musical term, adjectival, substantival, occurs to us as we + read the thousand and odd pages of the two volumes. . . . Nothing + in his fiction or any other, records a love greatening as the + tedious years wore on, a love sovereignly overcoming doubt, + despair and disillusion, such a love as the great Balzac's for + /l'Etrangere/." + +Their relationship from the beginning of their correspondence to the +tragic end which came so soon after Balzac had arrived "at the summit +of happiness," has been shrouded in mystery. This mystery has been +heightened by the vivid imagination of some of Balzac's biographers, +where fancy replace facts. + +Miss Katherine P. Wormeley denies the authenticity of some of the +letters published in the /Lettres a l'Etrangere/, saying: + + "No explanation is given of how these letters were obtained, and no + proof or assurance is offered of their authenticity. A foot-note + appended to the first letter merely states as follows: 'M. le + vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, in whose hands are the + originals of these letters, has related the history of this + correspondence in detail, under the title of /Un Roman d'Amour/ + (Calmann Levy, publisher). Madame Hanska, born Evelina (Eve) + Rzewuska, who was then twenty-six or twenty-eight years old, + resided at the chateau of Wierzchownia, in Volhynia. An + enthusiastic reader of the /Scenes de la Vie privee/, uneasy at + the different turns which the mind of the author was taking in + /La Peau de Chagrin/, she addressed to Balzac--then thirty-three + years old, in the care of the publisher Gosselin, a letter signed + /l'Etrangere/, which was delivered to him February 18, 1832. Other + letters followed; that of November 7 ended thus: 'A word from you + in the /Quotidienne/ will give me the assurance that you have + received my letter, and that I can write to you without fear. Sign + it; to /l'E---- H. de B/.' This acknowledgment of reception + appeared in the /Quotidienne/ of December 9. Thus was inaugurated + the system of /petite/ correspondence now practised in divers + newspapers, and at the same time, this correspondence with her who + was seventeen years later, in 1850, to become his wife."[*] + +[*] Miss M. F. Sandars states that a copy of the /Quotidienne/ + containing this acknowledgment was in the possession of the + Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, and that she saw it. At the + time of writing this preface, Miss Wormeley did not believe the + correspondence began until February, 1833. In undertaking to prove + this, she cited a letter from Balzac written to Madame Hanska, + dated January 4, 1846, in which he says that the thirteen years + will soon be completed since he received her first letter. She + corrects this statement, however, in writing her /Memoir of + Balzac/ three years later. The mistake in this letter here + mentioned is only an example of the inaccuracy of Balzac, found + not only in his letters, but throughout the /Comedie humaine/. But + Miss Wormeley's argument might have been refuted by quoting + another letter from Balzac to Madame Hanska dated February, 1840: + "After eight years you do not know me!" + +Regarding the two letters published in /Un Roman d'Amour/, pp. 33-49, +dated November 7, 1832, and January 8, 1833, and signed /l'Etrangere/, +Miss Wormeley says it is not necessary to notice them, since the +author himself states that they are not in Madame Hanska's +handwriting. + +She is quite correct in this, for Spoelberch de Lovenjoul writes: "How +many letters did Balzac receive thus? No one knows. But we possess +two, neither of which is in Madame Hanska's handwriting." In speaking +of the first letter that arrived, he says: + + "This first record of interest which was soon to change its nature, + has unfortunately not been found yet. Perhaps this page perished + in the /autodafe/ which, as the result of a dramatic adventure, + Balzac made of all the letters he had received from Madame Hanska; + perhaps also, by dint of rereading it, he had worn it out and + involuntarily destroyed it himself. We do not know. In any case, + we have not found it in the part of his papers which have fallen + into our hands. We regret it very much, for this letter must be + remarkable to have produced so great an impression on the future + author of the /Comedie humaine/." + +The question arises: If Balzac burned in 1847 "all the letters he had +received from Madame Hanska," how could de Lovenjoul publish in 1896 +two letters that he alleged to be from her, dated in 1832 and 1833? + +The Princess Radziwill who is the niece of Madame Honore de Balzac and +was reared by her in the house of Balzac in the rue Fortunee, has been +both gracious and generous to the present writer in giving her much +valuable information that could not have been obtained elsewhere. In +answer to the above question, she states: + + "Balzac said that he burned my aunt's letters in order to reassure + her one day when she had reasons to fear they would fall into + other hands than those to whom they belonged. After his death, my + aunt found them all, and I am sorry to say that /it was she who + burned them/, and that I was present at this /autodafe/, and + remember to this day my horror and indignation. But my aunt as + well as my father had a horror of leaving letters after them, and + strange to say, they were right in fearing to leave them because + in both cases, papers had a fate they would not have liked them to + have." + +The sketch of the family of Madame Honore de Balzac as given in /Un +Roman d'Amour/, is so inaccurate that the Princess Radziwill has very +kindly made the following corrections of it for the present writer: + + "(1) Madame Hanska was really born on December /24th, not 25th/, + 1801. You will find the date on her grave which is under the same + monument as that of Balzac, in Pere Lachaise in Paris. I am + absolutely sure of the day, because my father was also born on + Christmas Eve, and there were always great family rejoicings on + that occasion. You know that the Roman Catholic church celebrates + on the 24th of December the fete of Adam and Eve, and it is + because they were born on that day that my father and his sister + were called Adam and Eve. I am also quite sure that the year of my + aunt's birth was 1801, and my father's 1803, and should be very + much surprised if my memory served me false in that respect. But I + repeat it, the exact dates are inscribed on my aunt's grave. . . . + I looked up since I saw you a prayer book which I possess in which + the dates of birth are consigned, and thus found 1801, and I think + it is the correct one, but at all events I repeat it once more, + the exact date is engraved on her monument. + + "(2) Caroline Rzewuska, my aunt's eldest sister, and the eldest of + the whole family, is the Madame Cherkowitsch of Balzac's letters, + and not Shikoff, as the family sketch says. It is equally + ridiculous to say that some people aver she was married four + times, and had General Witte for a husband; but Witte was a great + admirer of hers at the time she was Mme. Sobanska. There is also a + detail connected with her which is very little known, and that is + that she nearly married Sainte-Beauve, and that the marriage was + broken off a few days before the one fixed for it to take place. + That was before she married Jules Lacroix, and wicked people say + that it was partly disappointment at having been unable to become + the wife of the great critic, which made her accept the former. + + "(3) My aunt Pauline was married to a Serbian banker settled in + Odessa, a very rich man called Jean Riznitsch, but he was /neither + a General nor a Baron/. Her second daughter, Alexandrine, married + Mr. Ciechanowiecki who also never could boast of a title, and + whose father had never been /Minister de l'Interieur en Pologne/. + + "(4) My aunt Eve was neither married in 1818 nor in 1822 to Mr. + Hanski, but in 1820. It was not because of /revers de fortune/ + that she was married to him, but it was the custom in Polish noble + families to try to settle girls as richly as possible. Later on, + my grandfather lost a great deal of money, but this circumstance, + which occurred after my aunt's marriage, had nothing to do with + it. My grandfather,--this by the way,--was a very remarkable man, + a personal friend of Voltaire. You will find interesting details + about him in an amusing book published by Ernest Daudet, called + /La Correspondence du Comte Valentin Esterhazy/, in the first + volume, where among other things is described the birth of my aunt + Helene, whose personality interests you so much, a birth which + nearly killed her mother. Besides Helene, my grandparents had + still another daughter who also died unmarried, at seventeen years + of age, and who, judging by her picture, must have been a wonder + of beauty; also a son Stanislas, who was killed accidentally by a + fall from his horse in 1826. + + "(5) My uncle Ernest was not the second son of his parents, but the + youngest in the whole family." + +It is interesting to note that Balzac wished to have his works +advertised in newspapers circulating in foreign countries and wrote +his publisher to advertise in the /Gazette/ and the /Quotidienne/, as +they were the only papers admitted into Russia, Italy, etc. He +repeated this request some months later, by which time he not only +knew that /l'Etrangere/ read the /Quotidienne/, but he had become +interested in her. + +As has been mentioned, it is a strange coincidence that this first +letter from /l'Etrangere/ arrived on the very day that the novelist +wrote accepting the invitation of the Duchesse de Castries. Balzac +doubtless little dreamed that this was the beginning of a +correspondence which was destined to change the whole current of his +life. + +Many versions have been given as to what this letter contained, some +saying that Madame Hanska had been reading the /Peau de Chagrin/, +others, the /Physiologie du Mariage/, and others, the /Maison du Chat- +qui-pelote/, but if the letter no longer exists how is one to prove +what it contained? Yet it must have impressed Balzac, for he wanted to +dedicate to her the fourth volume of the /Scenes de la Vie privee/ in +placing her seal and "Diis ignotis 28 fevrier 1832" at the head of +/l'Expiation/, the last chapter of /La Femme de trente Ans/, which he +was writing when her letter arrived, but Madame de Berny objected, so +he saved the only copy of that dedication and wished Madame Hanska to +keep it as a souvenir, and as an expression of his thanks. + +According to Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, Balzac showed one of Madame +Hanska's letters to Madame Carraud, and she answered it for him; but +with his usual skill in answering severe cross-examinations, he +replies: + + "You have asked me with distrust to give an explanation of my two + handwritings; but I have as many handwritings as there are days in + the year, without being on that account the least in the world + versatile. This mobility comes from an imagination which can + conceive all and remain vague, like glass which is soiled by none + of its reflections. The glass is in my brain." + +In this same letter, which is the second given, Balzac writes: ". . . +I am galloping towards Poland, and rereading all your letters,--I have +but three of them, . . ." If this last statement be true, the answer +to Spoelberch de Lovenjoul's question, "How many letters did Balzac +receive thus?" is not difficult. + +Miss Wormeley seems to be correct in saying that this second letter is +inconsistent with the preceding one dated also in January, 1833, +showing an arbitrary system of dating. There are others which are +inconsistent, if not impossible, but if Spoelberch de Lovenjoul after +the death of Madame Honore de Balzac found these letters scattered +about in various places, as he states, it is quite possible that +contents as well as dates are confused.[*] + +[*] One can see at once the injustice of the criticism of M. Henry + Bordeaux, /la Grande Revue/, November, 1899, in censuring Madame + Hanska for publishing her letters from Balzac. + +The husband of Madame Hanska, M. Wenceslas de Hanski, who was never a +count, but a very rich man, was many years her senior, and suffered +from "blue devils" and paresis a long time before his death. Though he +was very generous with his wife in allowing her to travel, she often +suffered from ennui in her beautifully furnished chateau of +Wierzchownia, which Balzac described as being "as large as the +Louvre." This was a great exaggeration, for it was comparatively +small, having only about thirty rooms. With her husband, her little +daughter Anna, her daughter's governess, Mademoiselle Henriette Borel, +and two Polish relatives, Mesdemoiselles Severine and Denise +Wylezynska, she led a lonely life and spent much of her time in +reading, or writing letters. The household comprised the only people +of education for miles around. + +Having lost six of her seven children, and being an intensely maternal +woman, the deepest feelings of her heart were devoted to her daughter +Anna, who also was destined to occupy much of the time and thought of +the author of the /Comedie humaine/. + +If the letters printed in /Un Roman d'Amour/ are genuine, in the one +dated January 8, 1833, she speaks of having received with delight the +copy of the /Quotidienne/ in which his notice is inserted. She tells +him that M. de Hanski with his family are coming nearer France, and +she wishes to arrange some way for him to answer her letters, but he +must never try to ascertain who the person is who will transmit his +letters to her, and the greatest secrecy must be preserved. + +It is not known how she arranged to have him send his letters, but he +wrote her about once a month from January to September, and after that +more frequently, as he was arranging to visit her. M. de Hanski with +his numerous family had come to Neufchatel in July, having stopped in +Vienna on the way. Here Balzac was to meet l'Etrangere for the first +time. He left Paris September 22, stopping to make a business visit to +his friend, Charles Bernard, at Besancon, and arriving at Neufchatel +September 25. (Although this letter to M. Bernard is dated August, +1833, Balzac evidently meant September, for there is no Sunday, August +22, in 1833. He did not leave Paris until Sunday, September 22, 1833.) +On the morning after his arrival, he writes her: + + "I shall go to the Promenade of the faubourg from one o'clock till + four. I shall remain during that time looking at the lake, which I + have never seen." + +Just what happened when they met, no one knows. The Princess Radziwill +says that her aunt told her that Balzac called at her hotel to meet +her and that there was nothing romantic in their introduction. +Nevertheless, the most varied and amusing stories have been told of +their first meeting. + +Balzac remained in Neufchatel until October 1, having made a visit of +five days. He took a secret box to Madame Hanska in which to keep his +letters, having provided himself with a similar one in which to keep +hers. If we are to credit the disputed letter of Saturday, October 12, +we may learn something of what took place. Even before meeting Madame +Hanska, he had inserted her name in one of his books, calling the +young girl loved by M. Benassis "Evelina" (Le Medecin de Campagne). + +Early in October M. de Hanski took his family to Geneva to spend the +winter. After Balzac's departure from Neufchatel the tone of his +letters to Madame Hanska changed; he used the /tutoiement/, and his +adoration increased. For a while he wrote her a daily account of his +life and dispatched the journal to her weekly. + +Madame Hanska came into Balzac's life at a psychological moment. From +his youth, his longing was "to be famous and to be loved." Having +found the emptiness of a life of fame alone, having apparently grown +weary of the poor Duchesse d'Abrantes, about to cease his intimacy +with Madame de Berny, having been rejected by Mademoiselle de +Trumilly, and having suffered bitterly at the hands of the Duchesse de +Castries, he embraced this friendship with a new hope, and became +Madame Hanska's slave. + +If Balzac was charmed with the stories of the daughter of the /femme +de chambre/ of Marie Antoinette, was infatuated with a woman who had +known Napoleon, and flattered by being invited to the home of one of +the beautiful society ladies of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, what must +have been his joy in learning that his new /Chatelaine/ belonged to +one of the most aristocratic families of Poland, the grandniece of +Queen Marie Leczinska, the daughter of the wise Comte de Rzewuska, and +the wife of one of the richest men in Russia! + +But Madame Hanska was a very different woman from the kind, self- +sacrificing, romantic Madame de Berny; the witty, splendor-loving, +indulgent, poverty-stricken Duchesse d'Abrantes; or the frail, +dazzling, blond coquette, the Duchesse de Castries. With more strength +physically and mentally than her rivals, she possessed a marked +authoritativeness that was not found in Madame de Berny, a breadth of +vision impossible to Madame Junot, and freedom from the frivolity and +coquetry of Madame de Castries. + +The Princess Radziwill feels that the Polish woman who has come down +to posterity merely as the object of Balzac's adoration, should be +known as the being to whom he was indebted for the development of his +marvelous genius, and as his collaborator in many of his works. +According to the Princess, /Modeste Mignon/ is almost entirely the +work of Madame Hanska's pen. She gives this description of her aunt, +which corresponds to Balzac's continual reference to her "analytical +forehead": + + "Madame de Balzac was perhaps not so brilliant in conversation as + were her brothers and sisters. Her mind had something pedantic in + it, and she was rather a good listener than a good talker, but + whatever she said was to the point, and she was eloquent with her + pen. She had that large glance only given to superior minds which + allows them, according to the words of Catherine of Russia, 'to + read the future in the history of the past.' She observed + everything, was indulgent to every one. . . . Her family, who + stood in more or less awe of her, treated her with great respect + and consideration. . . . We all of us had a great opinion of the + soundness of her judgments, and liked to consult her in any + difficulty or embarrassment in our existence." + +No sooner had Balzac returned from his visit to Neufchatel intoxicated +with joy, than he began to plan his visit to Geneva. He would work day +and night to be able to get away for a fortnight; he decided later to +spend a month there, but he did not arrive until Christmas day. In the +meantime, he referred to their promise (to marry) which was as holy +and sacred to him as their mutual life, and he truly described his +love as the most ardent, the most persistent of loves. /Adoremus in +aeternum/ had become their device, and Madame Hanska, not having as +yet become accustomed to his continual financial embarrassment, wished +to provide him with money, an offer which is reproduced in /Eugenie +Grandet/. + +Upon his arrival at Geneva the novelist found a ring awaiting him; he +considered it as a talisman, wore it working, and it inspired +/Seraphita/. He became her /moujik/ and signed his name /Honoreski/. +She became his "love," his "life," his "rose of the Occident," his +"star of the North," his "fairy of the /tiyeuilles/," his "only +thought," his "celestial angel," the end of all for him. "You shall be +the young /dilecta/,--already I name you the /predilecta/."[*] + +[*] Balzac was imitating Madame Hanska's pronunciation of /tilleuls/ + in having Madame Vauquer (/Pere Goriot/) pronounce it /tieuilles/. + +His adoration became such that he writes her: "My loved angel, I am +almost mad for you . . . I cannot put two ideas together that you do +not come between them. I can think of nothing but you. In spite of +myself my imagination brings me back to you. . . ." It was during his +stay in Geneva that Madame Hanska presented her chain to him, which he +used later on his cane. + +Balzac left Geneva February 8, 1834, having spent forty-four days with +his /Predilecta/, but his work was not entirely neglected. While +there, he wrote almost all of /La Duchesse de Langeais/, and a large +part of /Seraphita/. This work, which she inspired, was dedicated: + + "To Madame Eveline de Hanska, nee Countess Rzewuska. + + "Madame:--here is the work you desired of me; in dedicating it to + you I am happy to offer you some token of the respectful affection + you allow me to feel for you. If I should be accused of incapacity + after trying to extract from the depths of mysticism this book, + which demanded the glowing poetry of the East under the + transparency of our beautiful language, the blame be yours! Did + you not compel me to the effort--such an effort as Jacob's--by + telling me that even the most imperfect outline of the figure + dreamed of by you, as it has been by me from my infancy, would + still be something in your eyes? Here, then, is that something. + Why cannot this book be set apart exclusively for those lofty + spirits who, like you, are preserved from worldly pettiness by + solitude? They might impress on it the melodious rhythm which it + lacks, and which, in the hands of one of our poets, might have + made it the glorious epic for which France still waits. Still, + they will accept it from me as one of those balustrades, carved by + some artist full of faith, on which the pilgrims lean to moderate + on the end of man, while gazing at the choir of a beautiful + church. I remain, madame, with respect, your faithful servant, + + "DE BALZAC." + +In the spring of 1834, M. de Hanski and his family left Geneva for +Florence, traveled for a few months, and arrived in Vienna during the +summer, where they remained for about a year. But Balzac continued his +correspondence with Madame Hanska. She was interested in collecting +the autographs of famous people, and Balzac not only had an album made +for her, but helped her collect the signatures. + +More infatuated, if possible, than ever with her, he wanted her to +secure her husband's consent for him to visit them at Rome. Then he +felt that he must go to Vienna, see the Danube, explore the +battlefields of Wagram and Essling, and have pictures made +representing the uniforms of the German army. + +In /La Recherche de l'Absolu/, he gave the name of Adam de +Wierzchownia to a Polish gentleman, Wierzchownia being the name of +Madame Hanska's home in the Ukraine. "I have amused myself like a boy +in naming a Pole, M. de Wierzchownia, and bringing him on the scene in +/La Recherche de l'Absolu/. That was a longing I could not resist, and +I beg your pardon and that of M. de Hanski for the great liberty. You +could not believe how that printed page fascinates me!" He writes her +of another character, La Fosseuse, (Le Medecin de Campagne): "Ah! if I +had known your features, I would have pleased myself in having them +engraved as La Fosseuse. But though I have memory enough for myself, I +should not have enough for a painter." + +Either Balzac's adoration became too ardent, or displeasure was caused +in some other way, for no letters to Madame Hanska appear from August +26 to October 9, 1834. In the meantime, a long letter was written to +M. de Hanski apologizing for two letters written to his wife. He +explained that one evening she jestingly remarked to him, beside the +lake of Geneva, that she would like to know what a love-letter was +like, so he promised to write her one. Being reminded of this promise, +he sent her one, and received a cold letter of reproof from her after +another letter was on the way to her. Receiving a second rebuke, he +was desperate over the pleasantry, and wished to atone for this by +presenting to her, with M. de Hanski's permission, some manuscripts +already sent. He wished to send her the manuscript of /Seraphita/ +also, and to dedicate this book to her, if they could forgive him this +error, for which he alone was to be censured. + +Balzac was evidently pardoned, for he not only dedicated /Seraphita/ +to her, as has been shown, but arrived in Vienna on May 16, 1835, to +visit her, bringing with him this manuscript. His stay was rather +short, lasting only to June 4. While there, he was quite busy, working +on /Le Lys dans la Vallee/, and declined many invitations. To get his +twelve hours of work, he had to retire at nine o'clock in order to +rise at three; this monastic rule dominated everything. He yielded +something of his stern observance to Madame Hanska by giving himself +three hours more freedom than in Paris, where he retired at six. + +Soon after his return from Vienna, the novelist was informed that a +package from Vienna was held for him with thirty-six francs due. +Having, of course, no money, he sent his servant in a cab for the +package, telling him where he could secure the money and, dead or +alive, to bring the package. After spending four hours in an agony of +anticipation, wondering what Madame Hanska could be sending him, his +messenger arrived with a copy of /Pere Goriot/ which he had given her +in Vienna with the request that she give it to some one to whom it +might afford pleasure. + +It will be remembered that while in Vienna, Balzac's financial strain +became such that his sister Laure pawned his silver. He afterwards +admitted that the journey to Vienna was the greatest folly of his +life; it cost him five thousand francs and upset all his affairs. He +had other financial troubles also, but found time and means to consult +a somnambulist frequently as to his /Predilecta/, and regretted that +he did not have one or two soothsayers, so that he might know daily +about her. His superstition is seen early in their correspondence +where he considered it a good omen that Madame Hanska had sent him the +/Imitation de Jesus-Christ/ while he was working on /Le Medecin de +Campagne/. Again and again he insisted that she tell him when any of +her family were ill, feeling that he could cure at a distance those +whom he loved; or that she should send him a piece of cloth worn next +to her person, that he might present this to a clairvoyant. + +After delving deeply into mysticism, and writing some books dealing +with it, the novelist writes his "Polar Star": + + "I am sorry to see that you are reading the mystics: believe me, + this sort of reading is fatal to minds like yours; it is a poison; + it is an intoxicating narcotic. These books have a bad influence. + There are follies of virtue as there are follies of dissipation + and vice. If you were not a wife, a mother, a friend, a relation, + I would not seek to dissuade you, for then you might go and shut + yourself up in a convent at your pleasure without hurting anybody, + although you would soon die there. In your situation, and in your + isolation in the midst of those deserts, this kind of reading, + believe me, is pernicious. The rights of friendship are too feeble + to make my voice heard; but let me at least make an earnest and + humble request on this subject. Do not, I beg of you, ever read + anything more of this kind. I have myself gone through all this, + and I speak from experience." + +As has been stated, Madame Hanska was of assistance to Balzac in his +literary work. He used her ideas frequently, and was gracious in +expressing his appreciation of them to her: + + "I must tell you that yesterday . . . I copied out your portrait of + Mademoiselle Celeste, and I said to two uncompromising judges: + 'Here is a sketch I have flung on paper. I wanted to paint a woman + under given circumstances, and launch her into life through such + and such an event.' What do you think they said?--'Read that + portrait again.' After which they said:--'That is your + masterpiece. You have never before had that /laisser-aller/ of a + writer which shows the hidden strength.' 'Ha, ha!' I answered, + striking my head; 'that comes from the forehead of /an analyst/.' + I kneel at your feet for this violation; but I left out all that + was personal. . . . I thank you for your glimpses of Viennese + society. What I have learned about Germans in their relations + elsewhere confirms what you say of them. Your story of General + H---- comes up periodically. There has been something like it in + all countries, but I thank you for having told it to me. The + circumstances give it novelty."[*] + +[*] This is only one of the numerous allusions Balzac made to the + analytical forehead of Madame Hanska. + +Though Balzac's letters to Madame Hanska became less effervescent as +time went on, each year seemed to add to his admiration and "dog-like +fidelity." She, on the other hand, complained of his dissipation, the +society he kept, and his short letters. + +While Balzac was in Vienna, he was working on /Le Lys dans la Vallee/. +Although he said that Madame de Mortsauf was Madame de Berny, M. Adam +Rzewuski, a brother of Madame Hanska, always felt that this character +represented his sister, and called attention to the same intense +maternal feeling of the two women, and the same sickly, morose +husband. The Princess Radziwill also believes that this is a portrait +of her aunt, which hypothesis is further strengthened by comments of +Emile Faguet, who says that to one who has read Balzac's letters in +1834-1835 closely, it is clear that Madame de Mortsauf is Madame +Hanska, and that the marvelous M. de Mortsauf is M. de Hanski. + +Mr. F. Lawton also thinks that Balzac has shown his relations to +Madame Hanska in making Felix de Vandenesse console himself with Lady +Dudley while swearing high allegiance to his Henriette, just as Balzac +was "inditing oaths of fidelity to his 'earth-angel' in far-away +Russia while worshipping at shrines more accessible. Lady Dudley may +well have been, for all his denial, the Countess Visconti, of whom +Madame Hanska was jealous and on good grounds, or else the Duchesse de +Castries, to whom he said that while writing the book he had caught +himself shedding tears." Balzac says of this book: + + "I have received five /formal complaints/ from persons about me, + who say that I have unveiled their private lives. I have very + curious letters on this subject. It appears that there are as many + Messieurs de Mortsauf as there are angels at Clochegourde, and + angels rain down upon me, but /they are not white/." + +In the early autumn of 1835, M. de Hanski and his family, having spent +several weeks at Ischl, returned to their home at Wierzchownia after +an absence of more than two years. It was during this long stay at +Vienna that Madame Hanska had Daffinger make the miniature which +occupies so much space in Balzac's letters in later years. + +It must have been a relief to poor Balzac when his /Chatelaine/ +returned to her home, for while traveling she was negligent about +giving him her address, so that he was never sure whether she received +all his letters, and she did not number hers, as he had asked her to +do, so that he was not certain that he received all that she wrote +him; neither would she--though leading a life of leisure--write as +often as he wished. But if he scolded her for this, she had other +matters to worry her. She was ever anxious about the safety of her +letters, asked for many explanations of his conduct, for +interpretations of various things in his works, and who certain +friends were, so much so that his letters are filled with vindications +of himself. Even before they had ever met, he wrote her that he could +not take a step that was not misinterpreted. She seemed continually to +be hearing of something derogatory to his character, and trying to +investigate his actions. The reader has had glimpses enough of +Balzac's life to understand what a task was hers. Yet she doubtless +sometimes accused him unnecessarily, and he in turn became impatient: + + "This letter contains two reproaches which have keenly affected me; + and I think I have already told you that a few chance expressions + would suffice to make me go to Wierzchownia, which would be a + misfortune in my present perilous situation; but I would rather + lose everything than lose a true friendship. . . . In short, you + distrust me at a distance, just as you distrusted me near by, + without any reason. I read quite despairingly the paragraph of + your letter in which you do the honors of my heart to my mind, and + sacrifice my whole personality to my brain. . . . In your last + letters, you know, you have believed things that are + irreconcilable with what you know of me. I cannot explain to + myself your tendency to believe absurd calumnies. I still remember + your credulity in Geneva, when they said I was married." + +Even her own family added to her suspicions: + + ". . . Your letter has crushed me more than all the heavy nonsense + that jealousy and calumny, lawsuit and money matters have cast + upon me. My sensibility is a proof of friendship; there are none + but those we love who can make us suffer. I am not angry with your + aunt, but I am angry that a person as distinguished as you say she + is should be accessible to such base and absurd calumny. But you + yourself, at Geneva, when I told you I was as free as air, you + believed me to be married, on the word of one of those fools whose + trade it is to sell money. I began to laugh. Here, I no longer + laugh, because I have the horrible privilege of being horribly + calumniated. A few more controversies like the last, and I shall + retire to the remotest part of Touraine, isolating myself from + everything, renouncing all, . . . Think always that what I do has + a reason and an object, that my actions are /necessary/. There is, + for two souls that are a little above others, something mortifying + in repeating to you for the tenth time not to believe in calumny. + When you said to me three letters ago, that I gambled, it was just + as true as my marriage at Geneva. . . . You attribute to me little + defects which I do not have to give yourself the pleasure of + scolding me. No one is less extravagant than I; no one is willing + to live with more economy. But reflect that I work too much to + busy myself with certain details, and, in short, that I had rather + spend five to six thousand francs a year than marry to have order + in my household; for a man who undertakes what I have undertaken + either marries to have a quiet existence, or accepts the + wretchedness of La Fontaine and Rousseau. For pity's sake, do not + talk to me of my want of order; it is the consequence of the + independence in which I live, and which I desire to keep." + +In spite of these reproaches, Balzac's affection for her continued, +and he decided to have his portrait made for her. Boulanger was the +artist chosen, and since he wished payment at once, Madame Hanska sent +the novelist a sum for this purpose. For a Christmas greeting, 1836, +she sent him a copy of the Daffinger miniature made at Vienna the +preceding year. Again--this time in /Illusions perdues/--he gave her +name, Eve, to a young girl whom he regarded as the most charming +creature he had created (Eve Chardon, who became Madame David +Sechard). + +In the spring of 1837 Balzac went to Italy to spend a few weeks. +Seeing at Florence a bust of his /Predilecta/, made by Bartolini, he +asked M. de Hanski's permission to have a copy of it, half size, made +for himself, to place on his writing desk. This journey aroused Madame +Hanska's suspicions again, but he assured her he was not dissipating, +but was traveling to rejuvenate his broken-down brain, since, working +night and day as he did, a man might easily die of overstrain. + +He continued to save his manuscripts for her, awaiting an opportunity +to send or take them to her. Her letters became less frequent and full +of stings, but he begged her to disbelieve everything she heard of him +except from himself, as she had almost a complete journal of his life. +He explained that the tour he purposed making to the Mediterranean was +neither for marriage nor for anything adventurous or silly, but he was +pledged to secrecy, and, whether it turned out well or ill, he risked +nothing but a journey. As to her reproaches how he, knowing all, +penetrating and observing all, could be so duped and deceived, he +wondered if she could love him if he were always so prudent that no +misfortune ever happened to him. + +In the spring of 1838 he took his Mediterranean trip, going to +Corsica, Sardinia, and Italy in quest of his Eldorado, but, as usual, +he was doomed to meet with disappointment. On his return he went to +/Les Jardies/ to reside, which was later to be the cause of another +financial disaster. Replying to her criticism of his journey to +Sardinia, he begged her never to censure those who feel themselves +sunk in deep waters and are struggling to the surface, for the rich +can never comprehend the trials of the unfortunate. One must be +without friends, without resources, without food, without money, to +know to its depths what misfortune is. + +In spite of her reproaches he continued to protest his devotion to +her. Though her letters were cold, he begged her to gaze on the +portrait of her /moujik/ and feel that he was the most constant, least +volatile, most steadfast of men. He was willing to obey her in all +things except in his affections, and she was complete mistress of +those. Seized with a burning desire to see her, he planned a visit to +Wierzchownia as soon as his financial circumstances would permit. + +During a period of three months, Balzac received no letter from his +"Polar Star," but he expressed his usual fidelity to her. Miserable or +fortunate, he was always the same to her; it was because of his +unchangeableness of heart that he was so painfully wounded by her +neglect. Carried away, as he often was, by his torrential existence, +he might miss writing to her, but he could not understand how she +could deprive him of the sacred bread which restored his courage and +gave him new life. + +His long struggle with his debts and his various financial and +domestic troubles seemed at times to deprive him of his usual hope and +patience. In a depressed vein, he replies to one of her letters: + + "Ah! I think you excessively small; and it shows me that you are of + this world! Ah! you write to me no longer because my letters are + rare! Well, they were rare because I did not have the money to + post them, but I would not tell you that. Yes, my distress had + reached that point and beyond it. It is horrible and sad, but it + is true, as true as the Ukraine where you are. Yes, there have + been days when I proudly ate a roll of bread on the boulevard. I + have had the greatest sufferings: self-love, pride, hope, + prospects, all have been attacked. But I shall, I hope, surmount + everything. I had not a penny, but I earned for those atrocious + Lecou and Delloye seventy thousand francs in a year. The Peytel + affair cost me ten thousand francs, and people said I was paid + fifty thousand! That affair and my fall, which kept me as you + know, forty days in bed, retarded my business by more than thirty + thousand francs. Oh! I do not like your want of confidence! You + think that I have a great mind, but you will not admit that I have + a great heart! After nearly eight years, you do not know me! My + God, forgive her, for she knows not what she does!" + +The novelist wrote his /Predilecta/ of his ideas of marriage, and how +he longed to marry, but he became despondent about this as well as +about his debts; he felt that he was growing old, and would not live +long. His comfort while working was a picture of Wierzchownia which +she had sent him, but in addition to all of his other troubles he was +annoyed because some of her relatives who were in Paris carried false +information to her concerning him. + +Not having heard from her for six months, he resorted to his frequent +method of allaying his anxiety by consulting a clairvoyant to learn if +she were ill. He was told that within six weeks he would receive a +letter that would change his entire life. Almost four more months +passed, however, without his hearing from her and he feared that she +was not receiving his letters, or that hers had gone astray, as he no +longer had a home. + +For once, the sorcerer had predicted somewhat correctly! Not within +six weeks, to be sure, but within six months, the letter came that was +to change Balzac's entire life. On January 5, 1842, a letter arrived +from Madame Hanska, telling of the death of M. de Hanski which had +occurred on November 10, 1841. + +His reply is one of the most beautiful of his letters to her: + + "I have this instant received, dear angel, your letter sealed with + black, and, after having read it, I could not perhaps have wished + to receive any other from you, in spite of the sad things you tell + me about yourself and your health. As for me, dear, adored one, + although this event enables me to attain to that which I have + ardently desired for nearly ten years, I can, before you and God, + do myself this justice, that I have never had in my heart anything + but complete submission, and that I have not, in my most cruel + moments, stained my soul with evil wishes. No one can prevent + involuntary transports. Often I have said to myself, 'How light my + life would be with /her/!' No one can keep his faith, his heart, + his inner being without hope. . . . But I understand the regrets + which you express to me; they seem to me natural and true, + especially after the protection which has never failed you since + that letter at Vienna. I am, however, joyful to know that I can + write to you with open heart to tell you all those things on which + I have kept silence, and disperse the melancholy complaints you + have founded on misconceptions, so difficult to explain at a + distance. I know you too well, or I think I know you too well, to + doubt you for one moment; and I have often suffered, very cruelly + suffered, that you have doubted me, because, since Neufchatel, you + are my life. Let me say this to you plainly, after having so often + proved it to you. The miseries of my struggle and of my terrible + work would have tired out the greatest and strongest men; and + often my sister has desired to put an end to them, God knows how; + I always thought the remedy worse than the disease! It is you + alone who have supported me till now, . . . You said to me, 'Be + patient, you are loved as much as you love. Do not change, for + others change not.' We have both been courageous; why, therefore, + should you not be happy to-day? Do you think it was for myself + that I have been so persistent in magnifying my name? Oh! I am + perhaps very unjust, but this injustice comes from the violence of + my heart! I would have liked two words for myself in your letter, + but I sought them in vain; two words for him who, since the + landscape in which you live has been before his eyes, has not + passed, while working, ten minutes without looking at it; I have + there sought all, ever since it came to me, that we have asked in + the silence of our spirits." + +He was concerned about her health and wished to depart at once, but +feared to go without her permission. She was anxious about her +letters, but he assured her that they were safe, and begged her to +inform him when he could visit her; for six years he had been longing +to see her. "Adieu, my dear and beautiful life that I love so well, +and to whom I can now say it. /Sempre medisimo/." + +The role played by M. de Hanski[*] in this friendship was a peculiar +one. The correspondence, as has been seen, began in secrecy, but +Balzac met him when he went to Neufchatel to see Madame Hanska. Their +relations were apparently cordial, for on his return to Paris, the +novelist wrote him a friendly note, enclosing an autograph of Rossini +whom M. de Hanski admired. The Polish gentleman (he was never a count) +must have been willing to have Balzac visit his wife again, at Geneva, +when their friendship seemed to grow warmer. Balzac called him +/l'honorable Marechal de l'Ukraine/ or the /Grand Marechal/, and +extended to him his thanks or regards in sending little notes to +Madame Hanska, and thus he was early cognizant of their +correspondence. The future author of the /Comedie humaine/ seems to +have been taken into the family circle and to have become somewhat a +favorite of M. de Hanski, who was suffering with his "blue devils" at +that time. + +[*] The present writer is following the predominant custom of using + the /de/ in connection with M. de Hanski's name, and omitting it + in speaking of his wife. + +Since Balzac was not only an excellent story-teller but naturally very +jovial, and M. de Hanski suffered from ennui and wished to be amused, +they became friends. On his return to Paris, they exchanged a few +letters, and Balzac introduced stories to amuse him in his letters to +Madame Hanska. He wrote most graciously to the /Marechal/, apologizing +for the two love letters he had written his wife, and this letter was +answered. The novelist was invited by him to visit them in +Wierzchownia--an invitation he planned to accept, but did not. + +In the spring of 1836, M. de Hanski sent Balzac a very handsome +malachite inkstand, also a cordial letter telling him the family news, +how much he enjoyed his works, and that he hoped with his family to +visit him in Paris within two years. He mentioned that his wife was +preparing for Balzac a long letter of several pages, and assured him +of his sincere friendship. Balzac was most appreciative of the gift of +the beautiful inkstand, but felt that it was too magnificent for a +poor man to use, so would place it in his collection and prize it as +one of his most precious souvenirs. + +Besides discussing business with the Polish gentleman, Balzac +apologized often for not answering his letters, offering lack of time +as his excuse, but he planned to visit Wierzchownia, where he and M. +de Hanski would enjoy hearty laughs while Madame Hanska could work at +his comedies. In spite of this friendly correspondence, the /Marechal/ +probably hinted to his wife that her admiration for the author was too +warm, for Balzac asked her to reassure her husband that he was not +only invulnerable, but immune from attack. Balzac spoke of dedicating +one of his books in the /Comedie humaine/ to M. de Hanski, but no +dedication to him is found in this work. His death, which occurred +some months after this suggestion, doubtless prevented the realization +of it. + +Balzac evidently received a negative reply to his letter to Madame +Hanska asking to be permitted to visit her immediately after her +husband's death. It would have been a breach of the /convenances/ had +he gone to visit her so early in her widowhood. Soon after learning of +M. de Hanski's death, he saw an announcement of the death of a +Countess Kicka of Volhynia, and since his "Polar Star" had spoken of +being ill, he was seized with fear lest this be a misprint for Hanska, +and was confined to his bed for two days with a nervous fever. + +What must have been Balzac's disappointment, when almost ready to +leave at any moment, to receive a letter which, as he expressed it, +killed the youth in him, and rent his heart! She felt that she owed +everything to her daughter, who had consoled her, and nothing to him; +yet she knew that she was everything to him. + +He thought that she loved Anna too much, protested his fidelity to her +when she accused him, and reverted to his favorite theme of comparing +her to the devoted Madame de Berny. He complained of her coldness, +wanted to visit her in August at St. Petersburg, and desired her to +promise that they would be married within two years. + +Princess Radziwill wrote: "When Madame Hanska's husband died, it was +supposed that her union with Balzac would occur at once, but obstacles +were interposed by others. Her own family looked down upon the great +French author as a mere story-teller; and by her late husband's people +sordid motives were imputed to him, to account for his devotion to the +heiress. The latter objection was removed, a few years later, by the +widow's giving up to her daughter the fortune left to her by Monsieur +Hanski." + +It is at this period that Balzac furnishes us with the key to one of +his works, /Albert Savarus/, in writing to Madame Hanska: + + "/Albert Savarus/ has had much success. You will read it in the + first volume of the /Comedie humaine/, almost after the /fausse + Maitresse/, where with childish joy I have made the name + /Rzewuski/ shine in the midst of those of the most illustrious + families of the North. Why have I not placed Francesca Colonna at + Diodati? Alas, I was afraid that it would be too transparent. + Diodati makes my heart beat! Those four syllables, it is the cry + of the /Montjoie Saint-Denis!/ of my heart." + +Francesca Colonna, the Princess Gandolphini, is the heroine of +/l'Ambitieux par Amour/, a novel supposed to have been published by +Albert Savarus and described in the book which bears his name. Using +her name, the hero is represented as having written the story of the +Duchesse d'Argaiolo and himself, he taking the name of Rodolphe. Here +are given, in disguise again, the details of Balzac's early relations +to Madame Hanska. Albert Savarus, while traveling in Switzerland, sees +a lady's face at the window of an upper room, admires it and seeks the +lady's acquaintance. She proves to be the Duchesse d'Argaiolo, an +Italian in exile. She had been married very young to the Duke +d'Argaiolo, who was rich and much older than she. The young man falls +in love with this beautiful lady, and she promises to be his as soon +as she becomes free. + +Gabriel Ferry states that Balzac first saw Madame Hanska's face at a +window, and the Princess Radziwill says that Balzac went to the hotel +to meet her aunt. It is to be noted that the year 1834 is that in +which Balzac and Madame Hanska were in Geneva together. + +The Villa Diodati, noted for having been inhabited by Lord Byron, is +situated on Lake Geneva, at Cologny, not far from Pre Leveque,[*] +where M. de Hanski and his family resided in the /maison Mirabaud- +Amat/. + +[*] Balzac preserved a remembrance of the happy days he had spent with + Madame Hanska at Pre-Leveque, Lake Geneva, by dating /La Duchesse + de Langeais/, January 26, 1834, Pre-Leveque. + +There are numerous allusions to Diodati in Balzac's correspondence, +from which one would judge that he had some very unhappy associations +with Madame de Castries, and some very happy ones with Madame Hanska +in connection with Diodati: + + "When I want to give myself a magnificent fete, I close my eyes, + lie down on one of my sofas, . . . and recall that good day at + Diodati which effaced a thousand pangs I had felt there a year + before. You have made me know the difference between a true + affection and a simulated one, and for a heart as childlike as + mine, there is cause there for an eternal gratitude. . . . When + some thought saddens me, then I have recourse to you; . . . I see + again Diodati, I stretch myself on the good sofa of the Maison + Mirabaud. . . . Diodati, that image of a happy life, reappears + like a star for a moment clouded, and I began to laugh, as you + know I can laugh. I say to myself that so much work will have its + recompense, and that I shall have, like Lord Byron, my Diodati. I + sing in my bad voice: 'Diodati, Diodati!' " + +Another excerpt shows that Balzac had in mind his own life in +connection with Madame Hanska's in writing /Albert Savarus/: + + ". . . It is six o'clock in the morning, I have interrupted myself + to think of you, reminded of you by Switzerland where I have + placed the scene of /Albert Savarus/.--Lovers in Switzerland,--for + me, it is the image of happiness. I do not wish to place the + Princess Gandolphini in the /maison Mirabaud/, for there are + people in the world who would make a crime of it for us. This + Princess is a foreigner, an Italian, loved by Savarus." + +Many of Balzac's traits are seen in Albert Savarus. Like Balzac, +Albert Savarus was defeated in politics, but hoped for election; was a +lawyer, expected to rise to fame, and was about three years older than +the woman he loved. Like Madame Hanska, the Duchesse d'Argaiolo, known +as the Princess Gandolphini, was beautiful, noble, a foreigner, and +married to a man very rich and much older than she, who was not +companionable. It was on December 26 that Albert Savarus arrived at +the Villa on Lake Geneva to visit his princes, while Balzac arrived +December 25 to visit Madame Hanska at her Villa there. The two lovers +spent the winter together, and in the spring, the Duc d'Argaiolo +(Prince Gandolphini) and his wife went to Naples, and Albert Savarus +(Rodolphe) returned to Paris, just as M. de Hanski took his family to +Italy in the spring, while Balzac returned to Paris. + +Albert Savarus was falsely accused of being married, just as Madame +Hanska had accused Balzac. The letters to the Duchess from Savarus are +quite similar to some Balzac wrote to Madame Hanska. Like Balzac, +Savarus saw few people, worked at night, was poor, ever hopeful, +communed with the portrait of his adored one, had trouble in regard to +the delivery of her letters, and was worried when they did not come; +yet he was patient and willing to wait until the Duke should die. Like +Madame Hanska, the Duchess feared her lover was unfaithful to her, and +in both cases a woman sowed discord, though the results were +different.[*] + +[*] Miss K. P. Wormeley does not think that /Albert Savarus/ was + inspired by Balzac's relations with Madame Hanska. For her + arguments, see /Memoir of Balzac/. + +Madame Hanska did not care for this book, but Balzac told her she was +not familiar enough with French society to appreciate it. + +Miss Mary Hanford Ford thinks that Madame Hanska inspired another of +Balzac's works: "It is probable that in Madame de la Chanterie we are +given Balzac's impassioned and vivid idealization of the woman who +became his wife at last. . . . Balzac's affection for Madame Hanska +was to a large degree tinged with the reverence which the Brotherhood +shared for Madame de la Chanterie. . . ." While the Freres de la +Consolation adored Madame de la Chanterie in a beautiful manner, +neither her life nor her character was at all like Madame Hanska's. +This work is dated December, 1847, Wierzchownia, and was doubtless +finished there, but he had been working on it for several years. + +In the autumn of 1842,[*] Madame Hanska went to St. Petersburg. She +complained of a sadness and melancholy which Balzac's most ardent +devotion could not overcome. He became her /patito/, and she the queen +of his life, but he too suffered from depression, and even consented +to wait three years for her if she would only permit him to visit her. +He insisted that his affection was steadfast and eternal, but in +addition to showing him coldness, she unjustly rebuked him, having +heard that he was gambling. She had a prolonged lawsuit, and he wished +her to turn the matter over to him, feeling sure that he could win the +case for her. + +[*] Emile Faguet, /Balzac/, says that it was in 1843 that Madame + Hanska went to St. Petersburg. He has made several such slight + mistakes throughout this work. + +Thus passed the year 1842. She eventually consented to let him come in +May to celebrate his birthday. But alas! A great /remora/ stood in the +way. Poor Balzac did not have the money to make the trip. Then also he +had literary obligations to meet, but he felt very much fatigued from +excessive work and wanted to leave Paris for a rest. Her letters were +so unsatisfactory that he implored her to engrave in her dear mind, if +she would not write it in her heart, that he wished her to use some of +her leisure time in writing a few lines to him daily. As was his +custom when in distress, he sought a fortune-teller for comfort, and +as usual, was delighted with his prophecy. The notorious Balthazar +described to him perfectly the woman he loved, told him that his love +was returned, that there would never be a cloud in their sky, in spite +of the intensity of their characters, and that he would be going to +see her within six months. The soothsayer was correct in this last +statement, at least, for Balzac arrived at St. Petersburg soon after +this interview. + +Madame Hanska felt that she was growing old, but Balzac assured her +that he should love her even were she ugly, and he relieved her mind +of this fear by writing in her /Journal intime/ that although he had +not seen her since they were in Vienna, he thought her as beautiful +and young as then--after an interval of seven years.[*] + +[*] Balzac should have said an interval of /eight/ years instead of + /seven/, for he visited her in Vienna in May and June, 1835, and + he wrote this in September 1843. This is only one of the + novelist's numerous mistakes in figuring, seen throughout his + entire works. + +Balzac arrived in St. Petersburg on July 17/29, and left there late in +September,[*] 1843, stopping to visit in Berlin and Dresden. Becoming +very ill, he cut short his visit to Mayence and Cologne and arrived in +Paris November 3, in order to consult his faithful Dr. Nacquart. +Excess of work, the sorrow of leaving Madame Hanska, disappointment, +and deferred hopes were too much for his nervous system. His letters +to Madame Hanska were, if possible, filled with greater detail than +ever concerning his debts, his household and family matters, his works +and society gossip. The /tu/ frequently replaces the /vous/, and +having apparently exhausted all the endearing names in the French +language, he resorted to the Hebrew, and finds that /Lididda/ means so +many beautiful things that he employs this word. He calls her /Liline/ +or /Line/; she becomes his /Louloup/, his "lighthouse," his "happy +star," and the /sicura richezza, senza brama/. + +[*] Unless the editor of /Lettres a l'Etrangere/ is confusing the + French and Russian dates, he has made a mistake in dating certain + of Balzac's letters from St. Petersburg. He had two dated October + 1843, St. Petersburg, and on his way home from there Balzac writes + from Taurogen dating his letter September 27-October 10, 1843. + Hence the exact date of his departure from St. Petersburg is + obscure. + +Madame Hanska and Balzac seem to have had many idiosyncrasies in +common, among which was their /penchant/ for jewelry, as well as +perfumes. Since their meeting at Geneva, the two exchanged gifts of +jewelry frequently, and the discussion, engraving, measuring, and +exchanging of various rings occupied much of Balzac's precious time. + +His fondness for antiques was another extravagance, and he invested +not a little in certain pieces of furniture which had belonged to +Marie de Medicis and Henri IV; this purchase he regretted later, and +talked of selling, but, instead, added continually to his collection. +He was constantly sending, or wanting to send some present to Madame +Hanska or to her daughter Anna, but nothing could be compared with the +priceless gift he received from her. The Daffinger miniature arrived +February 2, 1844. + +As a New Year's greeting for 1844, Balzac dedicated to Madame Hanska +/Les Bourgeois de Paris/, later called /Les petits Bourgeois/, saying +that the first work written after his brief visit with her should be +inscribed to her. This dedication is somewhat different from the one +published in his OEuvres: + + "To Constance-Victoire:[*] + + "Here, madame and friend is one of those works which fall, we know + not whence, into an author's mind and afford him pleasure before + he can estimate how they will be received by the public, that + great judge of our time. But, almost sure of your good-will, I + dedicate it to you. It belongs to you, as formerly the tithe + belonged to the church, in memory of God from whom all things + come, who makes all ripen, all mature! Some lumps of clay left by + Moliere at the base of his statue of Tartufe have been molded by a + hand more audacious than skilful. But, at whatever distance I may + be below the greatest of humorists, I shall be satisfied to have + utilized these little pieces of the stage-box of his work to show + the modern hypocrite at work. That which most encouraged me in + this difficult undertaking is to see it separated from every + religious question, which was so injurious to the comedy of + /Tartufe/, and which ought to be removed to-day. May the double + significance of your name be a prophecy for the author, and may + you be pleased to find here the expression of his respectful + gratitude. + + "DE BALZAC. + "January 1, 1844." + +[*] /Constance/ was either one of Madame Hanska's real names, or one + given her by Balzac, for he writes to her, in speaking of + Mademoiselle Borel's entering the convent: "My most sincere + regards to /Soeur Constance/, for I imagine that Saint Borel will + take one of your names." Although Balzac hoped at one time to have + /Les petits Bourgeois/ completed by July 1844, it was left + unfinished at his death, and was completed and published in 1855. + +During the winter of 1844, Madame Hanska wrote a story and then threw +it into the fire. In doing this she carried out a suggestion given her +by Balzac several years before, when he wrote her that he liked to +have a woman write and study, but she should have the courage to burn +her productions. She told the novelist what she had done, and he +requested her to rewrite her study and send it to him, and he would +correct it and publish it under his name. In this way she could enjoy +all the pleasure of authorship in reading what he would preserve of +her beautiful and charming prose. In the first place, she must paint a +provincial family, and place the romantic, enthusiastic young girl in +the midst of the vulgarities of such an existence; and then, by +correspondence, /make a transit/ to the description of a poet in +Paris. A friend of the poet, who is to continue the correspondence, +must be a man of decided talent, and the /denouement/ must be in his +favor against the great poet. Also the manias and the asperities of a +great soul which alarm and rebuff inferior souls should be shown; in +doing this she would aid him in earning a few thousand francs. + +Her story, in the hands of this great wizard, grew like a mushroom, +without pain or effort, and soon developed into the romantic novel, +/Modeste Mignon/. She had thrown her story into the fire, but the fire +had returned it to him and given him power, as did the coal of fire on +the lips of the great prophet, and he wished to give all the glory to +his adored collaborator. + +When reading this book, Madame Hanska objected to Balzac's having made +the father of the heroine scold her for beginning a secret +correspondence with an author, feeling that Balzac was disapproving of +her conduct in writing to him first, but Balzac assured her that such +was not his intention, and that he considered this /demarche/ of hers +as /royale and reginale/. Another trait, which she probably did not +recognize, was that just as the great poet Canalis was at first +indifferent to the letters of the heroine, and allowed Ernest de la +Briere to answer them, so was Balzac rather indifferent to hers, and +Madame Carraud--as already stated--is supposed to have replied to one +of them. + +There is no doubt that Balzac had his /Louloup/ in mind while writing +this story, for in response to the criticism that Modest was too +clever, he wrote Madame Hanska that she and her cousin Caliste who had +served him as models for his heroine were superior to her. He first +dedicated this work to her under the name of /un Etrangere/, but +seeing the mistake the public made in ascribing this dedication to the +Princesse Belgiojoso, he at a later date specified the nationality, +and inscribed the book: + + "To a Polish Lady: + + "Daughter of an enslaved land, an angel in love, a demon in + imagination, a child in faith, an old man in experience, a man in + brain, a woman in heart, a giant in hope, a mother in suffering + and a poet in your dreams,--this work, in which your love and your + fancy, your faith, your experience, your suffering, your hopes and + your dreams are like chains by which hangs a web less lovely than + the poetry cherished in your soul--the poetry whose expression + when it lights up your countenance is, to those who admire you, + what the characters of a lost language are to the learned--this + work is yours. + + "DE BALZAC." + +In /La fausse Maitresse/, Balzac represented Madame Hanska in the role +of the Countess Clementine Laginska, who was silently loved by Thaddee +Paz, a Polish refugee. This Thaddee Paz was no other than Thaddee +Wylezynski, a cousin who adored her, and who died in 1844. Balzac +learned of the warm attachment existing between Madame Hanska and her +cousin soon after meeting her, and compared his faithful friend Borget +to her Thaddee. On hearing of the death of Thaddee, he writes her: +"The death of Thaddee, which you announce to me, grieves me. You have +told me so much of him, that I loved one who loved you so well, +/although/! You have doubtless guessed why I called Paz, Thaddee. Poor +dear one, I shall love you for all those whose love you lose!" + +Balzac longed to be free from his debts, and have undisturbed +possession of /Les Jardies/, where they could live /en pigeons +heureux/. Ever inclined to give advice, he suggested to her that she +should have her interests entirely separate form Anna's, quoting the +axiom, /N'ayez aucune collision d'interet avec vos enfants/, and that +she was wrong in refusing a bequest from her deceased husband. She +should give up all luxuries, dismiss all necessary employees and not +spend so much of her income but invest it. He felt that she and her +daughter were lacking in business ability; this proved to be too true, +but Balzac was indeed a very poor person to advise her on this +subject; however, her lack of accuracy in failing to date her letters +was, to be sure, a great annoyance to him. + +On the other hand, she suspected her /Nore/, had again heard that he +was married, and that he was given to indulging in intoxicating +liquors; she advised him not to associate so much with women. + +Having eventually won her lawsuit, she returned to Wierzchownia in the +spring of 1844, after a residence of almost two years in St. +Petersburg. Her daughter Anna had made her debut in St. Petersburg +society, and had met the young Comte George de Mniszech, who was +destined to become her husband. Balzac was not pleased with this +choice, and felt that the /protégé/ of the aged Comte Potocki would +make a better husband, for moral qualities were to be considered +rather than fortune. + +After spending the summer and autumn at her home, Madame Hanska went +to Dresden for the winter. As early as August, Balzac sought +permission to visit her there, making his request in time to arrange +his work in advance and secure the money for the journey, in case she +consented. While in St. Petersburg, she had given him money to buy +some gift for Anna, so he planned to take both of them many beautiful +things, and /une cave de parfums/ as a gift /de nez a nez/. If she +would not consent to his coming to Dresden, he would come to Berlin, +Leipsic, Frankfort, Aix-la-Chapelle, or anywhere else. He became +impatient to know his fate, and her letters were so irregular that he +exclaimed: "In heaven's name, write me regularly three times a month!" + +Poor Balzac's dream was to be on the way to Dresden, but this was not +to be realized. It will be remembered, that Madame Hanska's family did +not approve of Balzac nor did they appreciate his literary worth, they +felt that the marriage would be a decided /mesalliance/, and exerted +their influence against him. Discouraged by them and her friends, she +forbade his coming. While her family called him a /scribe exotique/, +Balzac indirectly told her of the appreciation of other women, saying +that Madame de Girardin considered him to be one of the most charming +conversationalists of the day. + +This uncertainty as to his going to visit his "Polar Star" affected +him to such a degree that he could not concentrate his mind on his +work, and he became impatient to the point of scolding her: + + "But, dear Countess, you have made me lose all the month of January + and the first fifteen days of February by saying to me: 'I start-- + to-morrow--next week,' and by making me wait for letters; in + short, by throwing me into rages which I alone know! This has + brought a frightful disorder into my affairs, for instead of + getting my liberty February 15, I have before me a month of + herculean labor, and on my brain I must inscribe this which will + be contradicted by my heart: 'Think no longer of your star, nor of + Dresden, nor of travel; stay at your chain and work miserably! + . . . Dear Countess, I decidedly advise you to leave Dresden at + once. There are princesses in that town who infect and poison your + heart, and were it not for /Les Paysans/, I should have started at + once to prove to that venerable invalid of Cythera how men of my + stamp love; men who have not received, like her prince, a Russian + pumpkin in place of a French heart from the hands of hyperborean + nature. . . . Tell your dear Princess that I have known you since + 1833, and that in 1845 I am ready to go from Paris to Dresden to + see you for a day; and it is not impossible for me to make this + trip; . . ." + +In the meantime she had not only forbidden his coming to visit her, +but had even asked him not to write to her again at Dresden, to which +he replies: + + "May I write without imprudence, before receiving a counter-order? + Your last letter counseled me not to write again to Dresden. + However, I take up my pen on the invitation contained in your + letter of the 8th. Since you, as well as your child, are + absolutely determined to see your Lirette again, there is but one + way for it, viz., to come to Paris." + +He planned how she could secure a passport for Frankfort and the Rhine +and meet him at Mayence, where he would have a passport for his sister +and his niece so that they could come to Paris to remain from March 15 +until May 15. Once in Paris, in a small suite of rooms furnished by +him, they could visit Lirette at the convent, take drives, frequent +the theatres, shop at a great advantage, and keep everything in the +greatest secrecy. He continues: + + "Dear Countess, the uncertainty of your arrival at Frankfort has + weighed heavily on me, for how can I begin to work, whilst + awaiting a letter, which may cause me to set out immediately? I + have not written a line of the /Paysans/. From a material point of + view, all this has been fatal to me. Not even your penetrating + intelligence can comprehend this, as you know nothing of Parisian + economy nor the difficulties in the life of a man who is trying to + live on six thousand francs a year." + +Thus was his time wasted; and when he dared express gently and +lovingly the feelings which were overpowering him, his beautiful +/Chatelaine/ was offended, and rebuked him for his impatience. +Desperate and almost frantic, he writes her: + + "Dresden and you dizzy me; I do not know what is to be done. There + is nothing more fatal than the indecision in which you have kept + me for three months. If I had departed the first of January to + return February 28, I should be more advanced (in work) and I + would have had two good months at St. Petersburg. Dear sovereign + star, how do you expect me to be able to conceive two ideas, to + write two sentences, with my heart and head agitated as they have + been since last November; it is enough to drive a man mad! I have + drenched myself with coffee to no avail, I have only increased the + nervous trouble of my eyes; . . . I am between two despairs, that + of not seeing you, of not having seen you, and the financial and + literary chagrin, the chagrin of self-respect. Oh! Charles II was + right in saying: 'But She? . . .' in all matters which his + ministers submitted to him." + +On receipt of a letter from her April 18, 1845, saying, "I desire much +to see you," he rushed off at once to Dresden, forgetful of all else. +In July, Madame Hanska and her daughter accompanied him home, +traveling incognito as Balzac's sister and his niece, just as he had +planned. Anna is said to have taken the name of Eugenie, perhaps in +remembrance of Balzac's heroine, Eugenie Grandet. After stopping at +various places on the way, they spent a few weeks at Paris. Balzac had +prepared a little house in Passy near him for his friends, and he took +much pleasure in showing them his treasures and Paris. Their identity +was not discovered, and in August he accompanied them as far as +Brussels on their return to Dresden. There they met Count George +Mniszech, the fiance of Anna, who had been with them most of the time. + +Balzac could scarcely control his grief at parting, but he was not +separated from his /Predilecta/ long. The following month he spent +several days with her at Baden-Baden, saying of his visit: + + "Baden has been for me a bouquet of sweet flowers without a thorn. + We lived there so peacefully, so delightfully, and so completely + heart to heart. I have never been so happy before in my life. I + seemed to catch a glimpse of that future which I desire and dream + of in the midst of my overwhelming labors. . . ." + +The happiness of Madame Hanska did not seem to be so great, for, ever +uncertain, she consulted a fortune-teller about him. To this he +replies: "Tell your fortune-teller that her cards have lied, and that +I am not preoccupied with any blonde, except Dame Fortune." As to +whether she was justified in being suspicious, one can judge from the +preceding pages. Balzac always denied or explained to her these +accusations; however true were some of his vindications of himself, he +certainly exaggerated in assuring her that he always told her the +exact truth and never hid from her the smallest trifle whether good or +bad. + +In October, 1845, the novelist left Paris again, met his "Polar Star," +her daughter and M. de Mniszech at Chalons, and accompanied them on +their Italian tour by way of Marseilles as far as Naples. On his +return to Marseilles on November 12, he invested in wonderful bargains +in bric-a-brac, a favorite pursuit which eventually cost him a great +deal in worry and time as well as much money. Madame Hanska had +supplied his purse from time to time. + +Although he was being pressed by debts and for unfinished work, having +wasted almost the entire year and having had much extra expense in +traveling, Balzac could not rise to the situation, and implored his +/Chatelaine/ to resign herself to keeping him near her, for he had +done nothing since he left Dresden. In this frame of mind, he writes: + + "Nothing amuses me, nothing distracts me, nothing enlivens me; it + is the death of the soul, the death of the will, the collapse of + the entire being; I feel that I cannot take up my work until I see + my life decided, fixed, settled. . . . I am quite exhausted; I + have waited too long, I have hoped too much, I have been too happy + this year; and I no longer wish anything else. After so many years + of toil and misfortune, to have been free as a bird of the air, a + thoughtless traveler, super-humanly happy, and then to come back + to a dungeon! . . . is that possible? . . . I dream, I dream by + day, by night; and my heart's thought, folding upon itself, + prevents all action of the thought of the brain--it is fearful!" + +Balzac was ever seeing objects worthy to be placed in his art +collection, going quietly through Paris on foot, and having his friend +Mery continue to secure bargains at Marseilles. A most important event +at this period is the noticeable decline in the novelist's health. +Though these attacks of neuralgia and numerous colds were regarded as +rather casual, had he not been so imbued with optimism--an inheritance +from his father--he might have foreseen the days of terrible suffering +and disappointment that were to come to him in Russia. Nature was +beginning to revolt; the excessive use of coffee, the strain of long +hours of work with little sleep, the abnormal life in general which he +had led for so many years, and this suspense about the ultimate +decision of the woman he so adored, were weakening him physically. + +In January, 1846, Madame Hanska was in Dresden again, and as was +always the case when in that city, she wrote accusing him. This time +the charge was that of indulging in ignoble gossip, and the reproach +was so unjust that, without finishing the reading of the letter, he +exposed himself for hours in the streets of Paris to snow, to cold and +to fatigue, utterly crushed by this accusation of which he was so +innocent. In his delicate physical condition, such shocks were +conducive to cardiac trouble, especially since his heart had long been +affected. After perusing the letter to the end, he reflected that +these grievous words came not from her, but from strangers, so he +poured forth his burning adoration, his longing for a /home/, where he +could drink long draughts of a life in common, the life of two. + +In the following March the passionate lover was drawn by his +/Predilecta/ to the Eternal City, and a few months later they were in +Strasbourg, where a definite engagement took place. In October he +joined her again, this time at Wiesbaden, to attend the marriage of +Anna to the Comte George de Mniszech. This brief visit had a +delightful effect: "From Frankfort to Forbach, I existed only in +remembrance of you, going over my four days like a cat who has +finished her milk and then sits licking her lips." + +Madame Hanska had constantly refused to be separated from her +daughter, but now Balzac hoped that he could hasten matters, so he +applied to his boyhood friend, M. Germeau, prefect of Metz, to see if +he, in his official capacity, could not waive the formality of the law +and accelerate his marriage; but since all Frenchmen are equal before +the /etat-civil/, this could not be accomplished. + +It was during their extensive travels in 1846 that Balzac began +calling the party "Bilboquet's troup of mountebanks": Madame Hanska +became Atala; Anna, Zephirine; George, Gringalet; and Balzac, +Bilboquet. Although Madame Hanska cautioned him about his extravagance +in gathering works of art, he persisted in buying them while +traveling, so it became necessary to find a home in which to place his +collection. It is an interesting fact that while making this +collection, he was writing /Le Cousin Pons/, in which the hero has a +passion for accumulating rare paintings and curios with which he fills +his museum and impoverishes himself. Balzac had purposed calling this +book /Le Parasite/, but Madame Hanska objected to this name, which +smacked so strongly of the eighteenth century, and he changed it. As +he was also writing /La Cousine Bette/ at this time, we can see not +only that his power of application had returned to him, but that he +was producing some of his strongest work. + +For some time Balzac had been looking for a home worthy of his +/fiancee/ and had finally decided on the Villa Beaujon, in the rue +Fortunee. Since this home was created "for her and by her," it was +necessary for her to be consulted in the reconstruction and decoration +of it, so he brought her secretly to Paris, and her daughter and son- +in-law returned to Wierzchownia. This was not only a long separation +for so devoted a mother and daughter, but there was some danger lest +her incognito be discovered; Balzac, accordingly, took every +precaution. It is easy to picture the extreme happiness of the +novelist in conducting his /Louloup/ over Paris, in having her near +him while he was writing some of his greatest masterpieces, and, +naturally, hoping that the everlasting debts would soon be defrayed +and the marriage ceremony performed, but fortunately, he was not +permitted to know beforehand of the long wait and the many obstacles +that stood in his way. + +Just what happened during the spring and summer of 1847 is uncertain, +as few letters of this period exist in print. Miss Sandars (/Balzac/), +states that about the middle of April Balzac conducted Madame Hanska +to Forbach on her return to Wierzchownia, and when he returned to +Paris he found that some of her letters to him had been stolen, 30,000 +francs being demanded for them at once, otherwise the letters to be +turned over to the Czar. Miss Sandars states also that this trouble +hastened the progress of his heart disease, and that when the letters +were eventually secured (without the payment) Balzac burned them, lest +such a catastrophe should occur again. The Princess Radziwill says +that the story of the letters was invented by Balzac and is +ridiculous; also, that it angered her aunt because Balzac revealed his +ignorance of Russian matters, by saying such things. Lawton (/Balzac/) +intimates that Balzac and Madame Hanska quarreled, she being jealous +and suspicious of his fidelity, and that he burned her letters. De +Lovenjoul (/Un Roman d'Amour/) makes the same statement and adds that +this trouble increased his heart disease. But he says also (/La Genese +d'un Roman de Balzac/) that Madame Hanska spent two months secretly in +Paris in April and May; yet, a letter written by Balzac, dated +February 27, 1847, shows that she was in Paris at that time. + +Balzac went to Wierzchownia in September, 1847, and traveled so +expeditiously that he arrived there several days before his letter +which told of his departure. When one remembers how he had planned +with M. de Hanski more than ten years before to be his guest in this +chateau, one can imagine his great delight now in journeying thither +with the hope of accomplishing the great desire of his life. He was +royally entertained at the chateau and was given a beautiful little +suite of rooms composed of a salon, a sitting-room, and a bed-room.[*] + +[*] This house, where all the mementos of Balzac, including his + portrait, were preserved intact by the family, has been utterly + destroyed by the Bolsheviks. + +Regarding the vital question of his marriage, he writes his sister: + + "My greatest wish and hope is still far from its accomplishment. + Madame Hanska is indispensable to her children; she is their + guide; she disentangles for them the intricacies of the vast and + difficult administration of this property. She has given up + everything to her daughter. I have known of her intentions ever + since I was at St. Petersburg. I am delighted, because the + happiness of my life will thus be freed from all self-interest. It + makes me all the more earnest to guard what is confided to me. + . . . It was necessary for me to come here to make me understand + the difficulties of all kinds which stand in the way of the + fulfilment of my desires."[*] + +[*] The above shows that Balzac's ardent passion for his /Predilecta/ + was for herself alone, and that he was not actuated by his greed + for gold, as has been stated by various writers. + +During this visit, Balzac complained of the cold of Russia in January, +but his friends were careful to provide him with suitable wraps. +Business matters compelled him to return to Paris in February. In +leaving this happy home, he must have felt the contrast in arriving in +Paris during the Revolution, and having to be annoyed again with his +old debts. This time, he went to his new home in the rue Fortunee, the +home that had cost the couple so much money and was to cause him so +much worry if not regret. + +About the last of September, 1848, Balzac left Paris again for Russia, +and his family did not hear from him for more than a month after his +arrival. His mother was left with two servants to care for his home in +the rue Fortunee, as he expected to return within a few months. It is +worthy of note that in this first letter to her, he spoke of being in +very good health, for immediately afterwards, he was seized with acute +bronchitis, and was ill much of the time during his prolonged stay of +eighteen months. + +Madame Hanska planned to have him pay the debts on their future home +as soon as the harvest was gathered, but concerning the most important +question he writes: + + "The Countess will make up her mind to nothing until her children + are entirely free from anxieties regarding their fortune. + Moreover, your brother's debts, whether his own, or those he has + in common with the family, trouble her enormously. Nevertheless, I + hope to return toward the end of August; but in no circumstance + will I ever again separate myself from the person I love. Like the + Spartan, I intend to return with my shield or upon it." + +Things were very discouraging at Wierzchownia; Madame Hanska had +failed to receive much money which she was to inherit from an uncle, +and, in less than six weeks, four fires had consumed several farm +houses and a large quantity of grain on the estate. Although they both +were anxious to see the rue Fortunee, their departure was uncertain. + +But the most distressing complication was the condition of Balzac's +health, which was growing worse. He complained of the frightful +Asiatic climate, with its excessive heat and cold; he had a perpetual +headache, and his heart trouble had increased until he could not mount +the stairs. But he had implicit faith in his physician, and with his +usual hopefulness felt that he would soon be cured, congratulating +himself on having two such excellent physicians as Dr. Knothe and his +son. His surroundings were ideal, and each of the household had for +him an attachment tender, filial and sincere. It was necessary to his +welfare that his life should be without vexation, and he asked his +sister to entreat their mother to avoid anything which might cause him +pain. + +On his part, he tried to spare his mother also from unpleasant news, +and desired his sister to assist him in concealing from her the real +facts. He had had another terrible crisis in which he had been ill for +more than a month with cephalalgic fever, and he had grown very thin. + +Though several of Balzac's biographers have criticized Madame Hanska +most bitterly for holding Balzac in Russia, and some have even gone so +far as to censure her for his early death, it will be remembered that +his health had long begun to fail, and that no constitution could long +endure the severe strain he had given his. No climate could help his +worn-out body to a sufficient degree. Balzac himself praised the +conduct of the entire Hanski family. The following is only one of his +numerous testimonies to their devotion. + + "Alas! I have no good news to send. In all that regards the + affection, the tenderness of all, the desire to root out the evil + weeds which encumber the path of my life, mother and children are + sublime; but the chief thing of all is still subject to + entanglements and delays, which make me doubt whether it is God's + will that your brother should ever be happy, at least in that way; + but as regards sincere mutual love, delicacy and goodness, it + would be impossible to find another family like this. We live + together as if there were only one heart amongst the four; this is + repetition, but it cannot be helped, it is the only definition of + the life I lead here." + +The situation of the author of the /Comedie humaine/ was at this time +most pitiable. Broken in health and living in a climate to which his +constitution refused to be acclimated,[*] weighed down by a load of +debt which he was unable to liquidate in his state of health (his work +having amounted to very little during his stay in Russia), consumed +with a burning passion for the woman who had become the overpowering +figure in the latter half of his literary career, possessing a pride +that was making him sacrifice his very life rather than give up his +long-sought treasure, the diamond of Poland, his very soul became so +imbued with this devouring passion that the pour /moujik/ was scarcely +master of himself. + +[*] Concerning the climate of Kieff, the Princess Radziwill says: "The + story that the climate of Kieff was harmful to Balzac is also a + legend. In that part of Russia, the climate is almost as mild as + is the Isle of Wight, and Balzac, when he was staying with Madame + Hanska, was nursed as he would never have been anywhere else, + because not only did she love him with her whole heart, but her + daughter and the latter's husband were also devoted to him." + +His family were suffering various misfortunes, and these, together +with his deplorable condition, caused Madame Hanska to contemplate +giving up an alliance with a man whose family was so unfortunate and +whose social standing was so far beneath hers. She preferred to remain +in Russia where she was rich, and moved in a high aristocratic circle, +rather than to give up her property and assume the life of anxiety and +trials which awaited her as Madame Honore de Balzac. + +At times he became most despondent; the long waiting was affecting him +seriously, and he hesitated urging a life so shattered as was his upon +the friend who, like a benignant star, had shone upon his path during +the past sixteen years. + + "If I lose all I have hoped to gain here, I should no longer live; + a garret in the rue Lesdiguieres and a hundred francs a month + would suffice for all I want. My heart, my soul, my ambition, all + that is within me, desires nothing, except the one object I have + had in view for sixteen years. If this immense happiness escapes + me, I shall need nothing. I will have nothing. I care nothing for + la rue Fortunee for its own sake; la rue Fortunee has only been + created /for her/ and /by her/." + +The novelist was cautious in his letters lest there should be gossip +about his secret engagement, and his possible approaching marriage. +Apropos of his marriage, he would say that it was postponed for +reasons which he could not give his family; Madame Hanska had met with +financial losses again through fires and crop failures. With his +continued illness, he had many things to trouble him. + +But with all his trials, Balzac remained in many ways a child. After +the terrible Moldavian fever which had endangered his life, in the +fall of 1849 he took great pleasure in a dressing-gown of /termolana/ +cloth. He had wanted one of these gowns since he first saw this cloth +at Geneva in 1834. Again he was ill, for twenty days, and his only +amusement was in seeing Anna depart for dances in costumes of royal +magnificence. The Russian toilettes were wonderful, and while the +women ruined their husbands with their extravagance, the men ruined +the toilettes of the ladies by their roughness. In a mazurka where the +men contended for ladies' handkerchiefs, the young Countess had one +worth about five hundred francs torn in pieces, but her mother +repaired the loss by giving her another twice as costly. + +The year 1850, which was to prove so fatal to Balzac, opened with a +bad omen, had he realized it. His health, which he had never +considered as he should have done, was seriously affected, and early +in January another illness followed which kept him in bed for several +days. He thought that he had finally become acclimated, but after +another attack a few weeks later he concluded that the climate was +impossible for nervous temperaments. + +Such was, in brief, the story of his stay in Russia, but his optimism +and devotion continued, and he writes: + + "It is sanguine to think I could set off on March 15, and in that + case I should arrive early in April. But if my long cherished + hopes are realized, there would be a delay of some days, as I + should have to go to Kieff, to have my passport regulated. These + hopes have become possibilities; these four or five successive + illnesses--the sufferings of a period of acclimatization--which my + affection has enabled me to take joyfully, have touched this sweet + soul more than the few little debts which remain unpaid have + frightened her as a prudent woman, and I foresee that all will go + well. In the face of this happy probability, the journey to Kieff + is not to be regretted, for the Countess has nursed me heroically + without once leaving the house, so you ought not to afflict + yourself for the little delay which will thus be caused. Even in + that case, my, or our, arrival would be in the first fortnight of + April." + +Until the very last, Balzac was very careful that his family should +not announce his expected wedding. Finally, all obstacles overcome, +the long desired marriage occurred March 14, 1850.[*] + +[*] Though Balzac speaks of having to obtain the Czar's permission to + marry, the Princess Radziwill states that no permission was + required, asked or granted. Balzac always gave March 14, 1850, as + the date of his marriage while de Lovenjoul and M. Stanislas + Rzewuski give the date as April 15, 1850. The Princess Radziwill + writes: "Concerning the date of Balzac's marriage, it was + solemnized as he wrote it to his family on March 2/14/1850, at + Berditcheff in Poland. Balzac, however, was a French subject, and + as such had to be married according to the French civil law, by a + French consul. There did not exist one in Berditcheff, so they had + perforce to repair to Kieff for this ceremony. The latter took + place on April 3/15 of the same year, and this explains the + discrepancy of dates you mention which refer to two different + ceremonies." + +What must have been the novelist's feeling of triumph, after almost +seventeen years of waiting, suffering and struggle, to write: + + "Thus, for the last twenty-four hours there has been a Madame Eve + de Balzac, nee Countess Rzewuska, or a Madame Honore de Balzac, or + a Madame de Balzac the elder. This is no longer a secret, as you + see I tell it to you without delay. The witnesses were the + Countess Mniszech, the son-in-law of my wife, the Count Gustave + Olizar, brother-in-law of the Abbe Czarouski, the envoy of the + Bishop; and the cure of the parish of Berditcheff. The Countess + Anna accompanied her mother, both exceedingly happy . . ." + +With great joy and childish pride, Balzac informed his old friend and +physician, Dr. Nacquart, who knew so well of his adoration for his +"Polar Star" and his seventeen long years of untiring pursuit, that he +had become the husband of the grandniece of Marie Leczinska and the +brother-in-law of an aide-de-camp general of His Majesty the Emperor +of all the Russias, the Count Adam Rzewuski, step-father of Count +Orloff; the nephew of the Countess Rosalia Rzewuska, first lady of +honor to Her Majesty the Empress; the brother-in-law of Count Henri +Rzewuski, the Walter Scott of Poland as Mizkiewicz is the Polish Lord +Byron; the father-in-law of Count Mniszech, of one of the most +illustrious houses of the North, etc., etc.! + +Though this was by far and away Balzac's greatest and most passionate +love, the present writer cannot agree with the late Professor Harry +Thurston Peck in the following dictum: "It was his first real love, +and it was her last; and, therefore, their association realized the +very characteristic aphorism which Balzac wrote in a letter to her +after he had known her but a few short weeks: 'It is only the last +love of a woman that can satisfy the first love of a man.' " + +After their marriage, the homeward journey was delayed several weeks. +The baggage, which was to be conveyed by wagon, only left April 2, and +it required about two weeks for it to reach Radziwiloff, owing to the +general thaw just set in. Then Balzac had a severe relapse due to lung +trouble, and it was twelve days before he recovered sufficiently to +travel. He had an attack of ophthalmia at Kieff, and could scarcely +see; the Countess Anna fell ill with the measles, and her mother would +not leave until the Countess recovered. They started late in April for +what proved to be a terrible journey, he suffering from heart trouble, +and she from rheumatism. On the way they stopped for a few days at +Dresden, where Balzac became very ill again. His eyes were in such a +condition that he could no longer see the letters he wrote. The +following was written from Dresden, gives a glimpse of their troubles: + + "We have taken a whole month to go a distance usually done in six + days. Not once, but a hundred times a day, our lives have been in + danger. We have often been obliged to have fifteen or sixteen men, + with levers, to get us out of the bottomless mudholes into which + we have sunk up to the carriage-doors. . . . At last, we are here, + alive, but ill and tired. Such a journey ages one ten years, for + you can imagine what it is to fear killing each other, or to be + killed the one by the other, loving each other as we do. My wife + feels grateful for all you say about her, but her hands do not + permit her to write. . . ." + +Madame de Balzac has been most severely criticized for her lack of +affection for Balzac, and their married life has generally been +conceded to have been very unhappy. This supposition seems to have +been based largely on hearsay. Miss Sandars quotes from a letter +written to her daughter on May 16 from Frankfort, in which, speaking +of Balzac as "poor dear friend," she seems to be quite ignorant of his +condition, and to show more interest in her necklace than in her +husband. The present writer has not seen this /unpublished/ letter; +but a /published/ letter dated a few days before the other, in which +she not only refers to Balzac as her husband but shows both her +affection for him and her interest in his condition, runs as follows: + + "Hotel de Russie (Dresden). My husband has just returned; he has + attended to all his affairs with a remarkable activity, and we are + leaving to-day. I did not realize what an adorable being he is; I + have known him for seventeen years, and every day, I perceive that + there is a new quality in him which I did not know. If he could + only enjoy health! Speak to M. Knothe about it, I beg you. You + have no idea how he suffered last night! I hope his natal air will + help him, but if this hope fails me, I shall be much to be pitied, + I assure you. It is such happiness to be loved and protected thus. + His eyes are also very bad; I do not know what all that means, and + at times, I am very sad. I hope to give you better news to-morrow, + when I shall write you." + +Comments have been made on the fact that Balzac wrote his sister his +wife's hands were too badly swollen from rheumatism to write and yet +she wrote to her daughter, but there is a difference between a +mother's letter to her only child, and one to a mother-in-law as +hostile as she knew hers to be. She probably did not care to write, +and Balzac, to smooth matters for her, gave this excuse. + +The long awaited but tragic arrival took place late in the night of +May 20, 1850. The home in the rue Fortunee was brilliantly lighted, +and through the windows could be seen the many beautiful flowers +arranged in accordance with his oft repeated request to his poor old +mother. But alas! to their numerous tugs at the door-bell no response +came, so a locksmith had to be sent for to open the doors. The +minutest details of Balzac's orders for their reception had been +obeyed, but the unfortunate, faithful Francois Munch, under the +excitement and strain of the preparations, had suddenly gone insane. + +Was this a sinister omen, or was it an exemplification of the old +Turkish proverb, "The house completed, death enters"? Our hero's +marriage proved to be the last of his /illusions perdues/, for only +three months more were to be granted him. MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire have +pertinently remarked that five years before his death, Balzac closed +/Les petites Miseres de la Vie conjugal/ with these prophetic words: +"Who has not heard an Italian opera of some kind in his life? . . . +You must have noticed, then, the musical abuse of the word +/felichitta/ lavished by the librettist and the chorus at the time +every one is rushing from his box or leaving his stall. Ghastly image +of life. One leaves it the moment the /felichitta/ is heard." After so +many years of waiting and struggle, he attained the summit of +happiness, but was to obey the summons of death and leave this world +just as the chorus was singing "/Felichitta/." + +Some of Balzac's biographers have criticized Madame Honore de Balzac +not only for having been heartless and indifferent towards him, but +for having neglected him in his last days on earth. Her nephew, M. +Stanislas Rzewuski, defended her, he said, not because she was his +aunt but because of the injustice done to the memory of this poor +/etrangere/, whose faithful tenderness, admiration and devotion had +comforted the earthly exile of a man of genius. Balzac, realizing his +hopeless condition, was despondent; his hopes were blighted, and his +physical sufferings doubtless made him irritable. On the other hand, +Madame de Balzac, however, seductive and charming, however worthy of +being adored and being his "star," had a high temper. This was the +natural temper of an aristocratic woman. It never passed the limits of +decorum, but it was violent and easily provoked.[*] Then too, she had +been accustomed to luxury and had never known poverty. She was ill +also and probably disappointed in life. + +[*] The Princess Radziwill states that there are several inaccuracies + in this article by her half-brother. He was very young when their + aunt died, and he was influenced by his mother, who never liked + Madame de Balzac. She points out that her aunt's temper was most + even, that she never heard her raise her voice, and only once saw + her angry. + +M. Rzewuski has resented, and doubtless justly so, the oft-quoted +death scene by Victor Hugo. He says that at such a time the great poet +was perhaps a most unwelcome guest and she had left the room to avoid +him; that she probably returned before Balzac's last moments came; +that Hugo was only there a short while; that if she did not return she +could not have known that this was to be Balzac's last night on earth, +and that, worn out with watching and waiting, she was justified in +retiring to seek a much needed rest.[*] + +[*] As to Octave Mirbeau's calumnious story, denied by both the + Countess Mniszech and Gigoux's nephew and heir, the Princess + Radziwill states that when Balzac died, her aunt did not know + Gigoux and had never seen him. He was introduced to her only in + 1860 by her daughter, who asked him to paint her mother's + portrait; and they became good friends. + +The story is told that when Dr. Nacquart informed Balzac that he must +die, the novelist exclaimed: "Go call Bianchon! Bianchon will save me! +Bianchon!" The Princess Radziwill states, however, that she has heard +her aunt say often that this story is not true. But were it true, +Balzac's condition was such that no physician could have saved him, +even though possessing all the ability portrayed by the novelist in +the notable and omnipresent Dr. Horace Bianchon, who had saved so many +characters of the /Comedie humaine/, who had comforted in their dying +hours all ranks from the poverty-stricken Pere Goriot to the wealthy +Madame Graslin, from the corrupt Madame Marneffe to the angelic +Pierette Lorrain, whose incomparable fame had spread over a large part +of Europe. + +Madame Hanska has been reproached also for the medical treatment given +Balzac in Russia. It is doubtless true that lemon juice is not +considered the proper treatment for heart disease in this enlightened +age, but seventy years ago, in the wilds of Russia, there was probably +no better medical aid to be secured; and even if Dr. Knothe and his +son were "charlatans," it will be remembered that Balzac not only had +a /penchant/ for such, but that he was very fond of these two +physicians and thought their treatment superior to that which was +given at Paris. + +M. de Fiennes complained that grass was allowed to grow on Balzac's +grave. To this M. Eugene de Mirecourt replied that what M. de Fiennes +had taken for grass was laurel, thyme, buckthorn and white jasmine; +the grave of Balzac was constantly and religiously kept in good order +by his widow. One could ask any of the gardeners of Pere-Lachaise +thereupon. + +Whatever the attitude of Balzac's wife towards him during his life, +she acted most nobly indeed in the matter of his debts. Instead of +accepting the inheritance left her in her husband's will and selling +her rights in all his works, the beautiful /etrangere/ accepted +courageously the terrible burden left to her, and paid the novelist's +mother an annuity of three thousand francs until her death, which +occurred March, 1854. She succeeded in accomplishing this liquidation, +which was of exceptional difficulty, and long before her death every +one of Balzac's creditors had been paid in full. + +There seems to be no /authoritative/ proof that Balzac's married life +was either happy or unhappy. The Princess Radziwill always understood +from her aunt that they were as happy as one could expect, considering +that Balzac's days were numbered. The present writer is fain to say, +with Mr. Edward King: "He died happy, for he died in the full +realization of a pure love which had upheld him through some of the +bitterest trials that ever fall to the lot of man." + + + "Say to your dear child the most tenderly endearing things in the + name of one of the most sincere and faithful friends she will ever + have, not excepting her husband, for I love her as her father + loved her."[*] + +[*] The Countess Mniszech died in September, 1914, at the age of + eighty-nine, so must have been born about 1825 or 1826. She spent + the twenty-five years preceding her demise in a convent in the rue + de Vaugirard in Paris and retained her right mind until the day of + her death. It will always be one of the greatest regrets of the + present writer that she did not know of this before the Countess's + death, for the Countess could doubtless have given her much + information not to be obtained elsewhere. + +Balzac was probably never more sincere than when he wrote this +message, for perhaps no father ever loved his own child more devotedly +than he loved Anna, the only child living of M. and Mme. de Hanski. + +Most of Balzac's biographers who state that he met Madame Hanska on +the promenade, say that her little daughter was with her. Wherever he +first met her, she won his heart completely. Some pebbles she gathered +during his first visit to her mother at Neufchatel, Balzac had made +into a little cross, on the back of which was engraved: /adoremus in +aeternum/. She was at this time about seven or eight years of age. +When he visited them again at Geneva, their friendship increased, and +in writing to her mother he sent the child kisses from /son pauvre +cheval/. He loved her little playthings, some of which he kept on his +desk; was always wanting to send her gifts, anxious for her health and +happiness, took great interest in her musical talent, and was ever +delighted to hear of her progress or pleasures. One of his rather +typical messages to her in her earlier years was: "Place a kiss on +Anna's brow from the most tranquil steed she will ever have in her +stables." + +As she grew older, the novelist thought of dedicating one of his works +to her, and wrote to her mother that the first /young girl/ story he +should compose he would like to dedicate to Anna, if agreeable to both +of them. The mother's consent was granted, and he assured her that the +story Pierrette (written, by the way, in ten days) was suitable for +Anna to read. "/Pierrette/ is one of those tender flowers of +melancholy which in advance are certain of success. As the book is for +Anna, I do not wish to tell you anything about it, but leave you the +pleasure of surprise." + + "To Mademoiselle Anna de Hanska: + + "Dear Child, you, the joy of an entire home, you whose white or + rose-colored scarf flutters in the summer through the groves of + Wierzchownia, like a will-o'-the-wisp, followed by the tender eyes + of your father and mother--how can I dedicate to you a story full + of melancholy? But is it not well to tell you of sorrow such as a + young girl so fondly loved as you are will never know? For some + day your fair hands may comfort the unfortunate. It is so + difficult, Anna, to find in the history of our manners any + incident worthy of meeting your eye, that an author has no choice; + but perhaps you may discern how happy you are from reading this + story, sent by + + "Your old friend, + "DE BALZAC." + +Balzac was very proud of the success of /Pierrette/, and wished Madame +Hanska to have Anna read it, assuring her that there was nothing +"improper" in it. + + "/Pierrette/ has appeared in the /Siecle/. The manuscript is bound + for Anna. /L'envoi/ has appeared; I enclose it to you. Friends and + enemies proclaim this little book a masterpiece; I shall be glad + if they are not mistaken. You will read it soon, as it is being + printed in book form. People have placed it beside the /Recherche + de l'Absolu/. I am willing. I myself would like to place it beside + Anna."[*] + +[*] The dedication was placed at the end, /en envoi/. + +After the death of Anna's father, Balzac advised her mother in many +ways. His interest in Anna's musical ability, which was very rare, +increased and he had Liszt call on Madame Hanska and play for them +when he went to St. Petersburg. He expressed his gratitude to Liszt +for this favor by dedicating to him /La Duchesse de Langeais/. He +regretted this later, after the musician fell into such discredit. + +Balzac was anxious that Madame Hanska should manage the estate wisely, +and that she should be very careful in selecting a husband for Anna. +The young girl had many suitors at St. Petersburg, and he expressed +his opinion freely about them. He wanted her to be happily married, +and wrote her mother regarding the essential qualities of a husband. +He loved Anna for her mother's sake as well as for her own, and when +the fond mother wrote him about certain traits of her daughter he +encouraged her to be proud of Anna, for she was far superior to the +best-bred young people of Paris. + +He did not approve, at first, of the young Count de Mniszech and +championed another suitor; later he and the Count became warm friends, +and in 1846, he dedicated to him /Maitre Cornelius/, written in 1831. +Besides having a very handsome cane made for him, he sent him many +gifts. + +Balzac expressed his admiration of Anna not only to her mother, but to +others. He wrote the Count, who was soon to become her husband, that +she was the most charming young girl he had ever seen in the most +refined circles of society. He found her far more attractive than his +niece, who had the bloom of a beautiful Norman, and he thought that +possibly some of his admiration for her was due to his great affection +for her mother. + +One is surprised to see what foresight Balzac had--so many things he +said proved to be true. He thought, for instance, that Anna had the +physique to live a hundred years, that she had no sense of the +practical, that her mother--as he took care to warn her--would do well +to keep her estate separate from her daughter's, or otherwise she +might some day have cause for regret. Whether Madame Honore de Balzac +was too busy with literary and business duties after her husband's +death, or whether her extreme affection prevented her from refusing +her only child anything she wished, the results were disastrous. It +was fortunate for Balzac that he did not live to see the fate of this +paragon, for this would have grieved him deeply, while he probably +would not have been able to remedy matters. + +While a part of Balzac's affection for Anna was doubtless owing to his +adoration for her mother, she must have had in her own person some +very charming traits, for after he had lived in their home for more +than a year, where he must have studied her most carefully, he says of +her: "It is true that the Countess Anna and Count George are two ideal +perfections; I did not believe two such beings could exist. There is a +nobleness of life and sentiment, a gentleness of manners, an evenness +of temper, which cannot be believed unless you have lived with them. +With all this, there is a playfulness, a spontaneous gaiety, which +dispels weariness or monotony. Never have I been so thoroughly in my +right place as here." + +Balzac certainly was not tactful in continually praising the young +Countess to his sister and his nieces, but he was doubtless sincere, +and no record has been found of his ever having changed his opinion of +this young Russian whom he loved so tenderly. + + +A woman who played an important role in Balzac's association with +Madame Hanska was Mademoiselle Henriette Borel, called Lirette. She +had been governess in the home of Madame Hanska since 1824. +Sympathetic and devoted to the children, she grieved when death took +them. She helped save Anna's life, for which the entire family loved +her. It was doubtless due to her influence that M. de Hanski and his +family chose Neufchatel, her home city, as a place to sojourn. They +arrived there in the summer of 1833, and left early in October of the +same year. While at Neufchatel they were very gracious to Lirette's +relatives and Madame Hanska invited them to visit her at Geneva. + +Whether Lirette wrote with her own hand the first letter sent by +Madame Hanska to Balzac--letters which de Lovenjoul says were not in +the handwriting of the /Predilecta/--we shall probably never know, but +that she knew of the secret correspondence and aided in it is seen +from the following: + + "My celestial love, find an impenetrable place for my letters. Oh! + I entreat you, let no harm come to you. Let Henriette be their + faithful guardian, and make her take all the precautions that the + genius of woman dictates in such a case. . . . Do not deceive + yourself, my dear Eve; one does not return to Mademoiselle + Henriette Borel a letter so carefully folded and sealed without + looking at it. There are clever dissimulations. Now I entreat you, + take a carriage that you may never get wet in going to the post. + . . . Go every Wednesday, because the letters posted here on + Sunday arrive on Wednesday. I will never, whatever may be the + urgency, post letters for you on any day except Sunday. Burn the + envelopes. Let Henriette scold the man at the post-office for + having delivered a letter which was marked /poste restante/, but + scold him laughing, . . ." + +Balzac courteously sent greetings to Lirette in his letters to Madame +Hanska, and evidently liked her. Her religious tendencies probably +impressed him many years before she took the veil, for he writes of +her praying for him. + +While Balzac naturally met Lirette in his visits to Madame Hanska, it +was while he was at St. Petersburg in the summer of 1843 that he +became more intimate with her, for she had decided to become a nun, +and consulted him on many points. Since she was to enter a convent at +Paris, he visited a priest there for her, secured the necessary +documents, and advised her about many matters, especially her property +and the convent she should enter. Though he aided her in every way he +could, he did not approve of this step, but when she arrived in Paris, +he entertained her in his home, giving up his room for her. At various +times he went with her to the convent and his housekeeper, Madame de +Brugnolle, also was very kind to her. + +Lirette impressed the novelist as being very stupid, and he wondered +how his "Polar Star" could have ever made a friend of her. She was as +blind a Catholic as she had been a blind Protestant. She seemed +willing now to have him marry Madame Hanska, after many years of +aversion to him. He tried to impress upon her that a rich nun was much +better treated than a poor one, but she would not listen to him, and +insisted on making what he considered a premature donation of +everything she possessed to her convent. She annoyed him very much +while he was trying to save her property, yet he was pleased to do +this for the sake of his /Predilecta/ and Anna. He looked after her +with the same solicitude that a father would have for his child, and +after doing everything possible for her, he conducted her to the +/Convent de la Visitation/ without a word of thanks from her, though +he had made sacrifices for her, and though his housekeeper had slept +on a mattress on the floor, giving up her room in order that Lirette +should have suitable quarters. But although hurt by her ingratitude he +had enjoyed talking with her, for she brought him news from his +friends in Russia. + +Lirette evidently did not realize what she was doing in the matter of +the convent, and was displeased with many things after entering it. +Balzac was vexed at what she wrote to Madame Hanska, but felt that she +was not altogether responsible for her actions, believing that it was +a very personal sentiment which caused her to enter the convent.[*] He +could not understand her indifference to her friends, she did penance +by keeping a letter from Anna eighteen days before opening it. He +found her stupidity unequaled, but he sent his housekeeper to see her, +and visited her himself when he had time. + +[*] It has been stated that Mademoiselle Borel was so impressed by the + chants, lights and ceremony at the funeral of M. de Hanski in + November 1841, that it caused her to give up her protestant faith + and enter the convent. Miss Sandars (/Balzac/) has well remarked: + "We may wonder, however, whether tardy remorse for her deceit + towards the dead man, who had treated her with kindness, had not + its influence in causing this sudden religious enthusiasm, and + whether the Sister in the Convent of the Visitation in Paris gave + herself extra penance for her sins of connivance." Mademoiselle + died in this convent, rue d'Enfer, in 1857. + +In addition to all this, the poor novelist had one more trial to +undergo; this was to see her take the vows (December 2, 1845). He was +misinformed as to the time of the ceremony, so went too soon and +wasted much precious time, but he remained through the long service in +order to see her afterwards. But in all this Lirette was to accomplish +one thing for him. As she had helped in his correspondence, she was +soon to be the means of bringing him and his /Chatelaine/ together +again; the devotion of Madame Hanska and Anna to the former governess +being such that they came to Paris to see her. + + +In the home of the de Hanskis in the Russian waste were two other +women, Mesdemoiselles Severine and Denise Wylezynska, who were to play +a small part in Balzac's life. Both of these relatives probably came +with M. de Hanski and his family to Switzerland in 1833; their names +are mentioned frequently in his letters to Madame Hanska, and soon +after his visit at Neufchatel the novelist asks that Mademoiselle +Severine preserve her gracious indifference. These ladies were cousins +of M. de Hanski, and probably were sisters of M. Thaddee Wylezynski, +mentioned in connection with Madame Hanska. After her husband's death, +Madame Hanska must have invited these two ladies to live with her, for +Balzac inquires about the two young people she had with her. + +Mademoiselle Denise has been suspected of having written the first +letter for Madame Hanska, and the dedication of /La Grenadiere/ has +been replaced by the initials "A. D. W.," supposed to mean "a Denise +Wylezynska"; the actual dedication is an unpublished correction of +Balzac himself. + +The relative that caused Balzac the most discomfort was the Countess +Rosalie Rzewuska, nee Princess Lubomirska, wife of Count Wenceslas +Rzewuski, Madame Hanska's uncle. She seems to have been continually +hearing either that he was married, or something that was detrimental, +and kept him busy denying these reports: + + "I have here your last letter in which you speak to me of Madame + Rosalie and of /Seraphita/. Relative to your aunt, I confess that + I am ignorant by what law it is that persons so well bred can + believe such calumnies. I, a gambler! Can your aunt neither + reason, calculate nor combine anything except whist? I, who work, + even here, sixteen hours a day, how should I go to a gambling- + house that takes whole nights? It is as absurd as it is crazy. + . . . Your letter was sad; I felt it was written under the + influence of your aunt. . . . Let your aunt judge in her way of my + works, of which she knows neither the whole design nor the + bearing; it is her right. I submit to all judgements. . . . Your + aunt makes me think of a poor Christian who, entering the Sistine + chapel just as Michael-Angelo has drawn a nude figure, asks why + the popes allow such horrors in Saint Peter's. She judges a work + from at least the same range in literature without putting herself + at a distance and awaiting its end. She judges the artist without + knowing him, and by the sayings of ninnies. All that give me + little pain for myself, but much for her, if you love her. But + that you should let yourself be influenced by such errors, that + does grieve me and makes me very uneasy, for I live by my + friendships only." + +In spite of this, Balzac wished to obtain the good will of "Madame +Rosalie," and sympathized with her when she lost her son. But she had +a great dislike for Paris, and after the death of M. de Hanski, she +objected to her niece's going there. The novelist felt that she was +his sworn enemy, and that she went too far in her hatred of everything +implied in the word /Paris/[*]; yet he pardoned her for the sake of +her niece. + +[*] The reason why Madame Rosalie had such a horror of Paris was that + her mother was guillotined there,--the same day as Madame + Elizabeth. Madame Rosalie was only a child at that time, and was + discovered in the home of a washerwoman. + +It was Caliste Rzewuska, the daughter of this aunt, whom Balzac had in +mind when he sketched /Modeste Mignon/. She was married to M. Michele- +Angelo Cajetani, Prince de Teano and Duc de Sermoneta, to whom /Les +Parents pauvres/ is dedicated. + +Balzac seems to have had something of the same antipathy for Madame +Hanska's sister Caroline that he had for her aunt Rosalie, but since +he wrote to his /Predilecta/ many unfavorable things of a private +nature about his family, she may have done the same concerning hers, +so that he may not have had a fair opportunity of judging her. He was +friendly towards her at times, and she is the Madame Cherkowitch of +his letters. + +It was probably Madame Hanska's sister Pauline, Madame Jean Riznitch, +whose servants were to receive a reward from a rich /moujik/ in case +they could arrange to have him see Balzac. This /moujik/ was a great +admirer of the novelist, had read all his books, burnt a candle to +Saint Nicholas for him every week, and was anxious to meet him. Since +Madame Riznitch lived not far from Madame Hanska, he hoped to see +Balzac when he visited Wierzschownia. + +The relative whose association with Balzac seems to have caused Madame +Hanska the most discomfort was her cousin, the Countess Marie Potocka. +He met her when he visited his /Chatelaine/ in Geneva/, where the +Countess Potocka entertained him, and after his return to Paris, he +called on Madame Appony, wife of the Austrian ambassador, to deliver a +letter for her. Before going to Geneva he had heard of her, and had +confused her identity with that of the /belle Grecque/ who had died +several years before. + +During his visit to Geneva the novelist deemed it wise to explain his +attentions to Madame P-----: "It would have seemed ridiculous (to the +others) for me to have occupied myself with you only. I was bound to +respect you, and in order to talk to you so much, it was necessary for +me to talk to Madame P-----. What I wrote you this morning is of a +nature to show you how false are your fears. I never ceased to look at +you while talking to Madame P-----." + +After his return to Paris he wrote a letter to Madame P-----, and was +careful to explain this also: + + "Do not be jealous of Madame P-----'s letter; that woman must be + /for us/. I have flattered her, and I want her to think that you + are disdained. . . . My enemies are spreading a rumor of my + /liaison/ with a Russian princess; they name Madame P----- . . . + Oh! my love, I swear to you I wrote to Madame P----- only to + prevent the road to Russia being closed to me." + +He received a letter from her which he did not answer, for he wished +to end this correspondence. It is within the bounds of possibility +that Balzac cared more for the Countess Potocka than he admitted to +his "Polar Star," but several years later, when she had become +avaricious, he formed an aversion to her and warned Madame Hanska to +beware of her cousin. + + + + CONCLUSION + + "I live by my friendships only." + +Many people write their romances, others live them; Honore de Balzac +did both. This life so full of romantic fiction mingled with stern +reality, where the burden of debt is counter-balanced by dramatic +passion, where hallucination can scarcely be distinguished from fact, +where the weary traveler is ever seeking gold, rest, or love, ever +longing to be famous and to be loved, where the hero, secluded as in a +monastery, suddenly emerges to attend an opera, dressed in the most +gaudy attire, where he lacks many of the comforts of life, yet +suddenly crosses half the continent, allured by the fascinations of a +woman, this life is indeed a /roman balzacien par excellence/! + +He tried to shroud his life, especially his association with women, in +mystery. Now since the veil is partially lifted, one can see how great +was the role they played. It has been said that twelve thousand +letters were written to Balzac by women, some to express their +admiration, some to recognize themselves in a delightful personage he +had created, others to thank him or condemn him for certain attitudes +he had sustained towards woman. + +For him to have so thoroughly understood the feminine mind and +temperament, to have given to this subtle chameleon its various hues, +to have portrayed woman with her many charms and caprices, and to have +described woman in her various classes and at all ages, he must have +observed her, or rather, he must have known her. He very justly says +in his /Avant-propos/: + + "When Buffon described the lion, he dismissed the lioness with a + few phrases; but in society the wife is not always the female of + the male. There may be two perfectly dissimilar beings in one + household. The wife of a shopkeeper is sometimes worthy of a + prince and the wife of a prince is often worthless compared with + the wife of an artisan. The social state has freaks which are not + found in the natural world; it is nature /plus/ society. The + description of the social species would thus be at least double + that of the animal species, merely in view of the two sexes." + +Thus, he made a special study of woman, penetrated, like a father +confessor, into her innermost secrets, and if he has not painted the +duchesses with the delicacy due them, it was not because he did not +know or had not studied them, but probably because he was picturing +them with his Rabelaisian pen. + +He knew many women who were active during the reign of Louis XVI, +women who were conspicuous under the Empire, and women who were +prominent in society during the Restoration, hence, one would +naturally expect to find traces of them in his works. + +But it is not only this type of woman that Balzac has presented. He +painted the /bourgeoise/ in society, as seen in the daughters of /Pere +Goriot/, and many others, the various types of the /vieille fille/ +such as Mademoiselle Zephirine Guenic (/Beatrix/) who never wished to +marry, Cousine Bette who failed in her matrimonial attempts, and +Madame Bousquier (/La vieille Fille) who finally succeeded in hers. + +The working class is represented in such characters as Madame +Remonencq (/Le Cousin Pons/) and Madame Cardinal (/Les petits +Bourgeois/), while the servant class is well shown in the person of +the /grand/ Nanon (/Eugenie Grandet/), the faithful Fanny (/La +Grenadiere/), and many others. As has been seen, there is a trace of +his old servant, Mere Comin, in the person of Madame Vaillant (/Facino +Cane/), and Mere Cognette and La Rabouilleuse (/La Rabouilleuse/) are +said to be people he met while visiting Madame Carraud. The novelist +must have known many such women, for his mother and sisters had +servants, and in the homes of Madame de Berny, Madame Carraud and +Madame de Margonne, he certainly knew the servants, not to mention +those he observed at the cafes and in his wanderings. + +Balzac knew several young girls at different periods of his life. His +sister Laure was his first and only companion in his earlier years, +and he knew his sister Laurence especially well in the years +immediately preceding her marriage. Madame Carraud was a schoolmate of +Madame Surville and visited in his home as a young girl. He was not +only acquainted with the various daughters of Madame de Berny, but at +one time there was some prospect of his marrying Julie. Josephine and +Constance, daughters of Madame d'Abrantes, were acquaintances of his +during their early womanhood. He must have known Mademoiselle de +Trumilly as he presented himself as her suitor, and being entertained +in her home frequently, doubtless saw her sisters also. Since he +accompanied his sister to balls in his youth, it is natural to suppose +that he met young girls there, even if there is no record of it. + +A few years later he became devoted to the two daughters of his sister +Laure, and lived with her for a short time. He knew Madame Hanska's +daughter Anna in her childhood, but was most intimate with her when +she was about twenty. While Madame de Girardin was not so young, he +met her several years before her marriage, called her Delphine, and +regarded her somewhat as his pupil. He liked Marie de Montbeau and her +mother, Camille Delannoy, who was a friend of his sister Laure and the +daughter of the family friend, Madame Delannoy. Though not intimate +with her, he met and observed Eugenie, the daughter of Madame de +Bolognini at Milan, and probably was acquainted with Inez and +Hyacinthe, the two daughters of Madame Desbordes-Valmore. + +In his various works, he has portrayed quite a number of young girls +varying greatly in rank and temperament, among the most prominent +being Marguerite Claes (/La Recherche de l'Absolu/), noted for her +ability and her strength of character, headstrong and much petted +Emilie de Fontaine (/Le Bal de Sceaux/), Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, the +very zealous Royalist (/Une tenebreuse Affaire/), romantic Modeste +Mignon, pitiable Pierrette Lorrain, dutiful and devout Ursule Mirouet, +unfortunate Fosseuse (/Le Medecin de Campagne/), bold and unhappy +Rosalie de Watteville (/Albert Savarus/), and the well-known Eugenie +Grandet. + +The novelist has revealed to us that he modeled one of these heroines +on a combination of the woman who later became his wife, and her +cousin, a most charming woman. It is quite possible that some if not +all of the other heroines would be found to have equally interesting +sources, could they be discovered. + +Concerning the much discussed question as to whether Balzac portrayed +young girls well, M. Marcel Barriere remarks: + + "There are critics stupid enough to say that Balzac knew nothing of + the art of painting young girls; they make use of the inelegant, + unpolished word /rate/ to qualify his portraits of this /genre/. + To be sure, Balzac's triumph is, we admit, in his portraits of + mothers or passionate women who know life. Certain authors, + without counting George Sand, have given us sketches of young + girls far superior to Balzac's, but that is no reason for scoffing + in so impertinent a manner at the author of the /Comedie humaine/, + when his unquestionable glory ought to silence similar + pamphletistic criticisms. We advise those who reproach Balzac for + not having understood the simplicity, modesty and graces so full + of charm, or often the artifice of the young girl, to please + reread in the /Scenes de la Vie privee/ the portraits of Louise de + Chaulieu, Renee de Maucombe, Modeste Mignon, Julie de + Chatillonest, Honorine de Beauvan, Mademoiselle Guillaume, Emilie + de Fontaine, Mademoiselle Evangelista, Adelaide du Rouvre, + Ginervra di Piombo, etc., without mentioning, in other /Scenes/, + Eugenie Grandet, Eve Sechard, Pierrette Lorrain, Ursule Mirouet, + Mesdemoiselles Birotteau, Hulot d'Ervy, de Cinq-Cygne, La + Fosseuse, Marguerite Claes, Juana de Mancini, Pauline Gaudin, and + I hope they will keep silence, otherwise they will cause us to + question their good sense of criticism." + +Balzac said it would require a Raphael to create so many virgins; +accordingly, from time to time the type of woman of the other extreme +is also seen. She is portrayed in the /grande dame/ and in the +/courtisane/, that is, at the top and the bottom of the social ladder. +On the one side are the Princesse de Cadignan, the Comtesse de Seriby, +etc., while on the other are Esther Gobseck, Valerie Marneffe, and +others. Some of the novelist's most striking antitheses were attained +by placing these horrible creatures by the side of his noblest and +purest creations. + +In his /Avant-propos/, he criticized Walter Scott for having portrayed +his women as Protestants, saying: "In Protestantism there is no +possible future for the woman who has sinned; while, in the Catholic +Church, the hope of forgiveness makes her sublime. Hence, for the +Protestant writer there is but one woman, while the Catholic writer +finds a new woman in each new situation." Naturally, most of the women +of the /Comedie humaine/ are Catholic, but among the exceptions is +Madame Jeanrenaud (/L'Interdiction/), who is a Protestant; Josepha +Mirah and Esther Gobseck are of Jewish origin. In portraying various +women as Catholics, convent life for the young girl is seen in +/Memoires de deux jeunes mariees/, and for the woman weary of society, +in /La Duchesse de Langeais/. Extreme piety is shown in Madame de +Granville (/Une double Famille/), and Madame Graslin devoted herself +to charity to atone for her crime. + +Various pictures are given of woman in the home. Ideal happiness is +portrayed in the life of Madame Cesar Birotteau. Madame Grandet, +Madame Hulot (/La Cousine Bette/), and Madame Claes (/La Recherche de +l'Absolu/) were martyrs to their husbands, while Madame Serizy made a +martyr of hers. Beautiful motherhood is often seen, as in Madame +Sauviat (/Le Cure de Village/), yet some of the mothers in Balzac are +most heartless. A few professions among women are represented, +actresses, artists, musicians and dancers being prominent in some of +the stories. + +It is quite possible and even probable that Balzac pictured many more +women whom he knew in real life than have been mentioned here, and +these may yet be traced. For obvious reasons, he avoided exact +portraiture, yet in a few instances he indulged in it, notably in the +sketch of George Sand as Mademoiselle des Touches. And lest one might +not recognize the appearance of Madame Merlin as Madame Schontz +(/Beatrix/), he boldly made her name public. + +In presenting the women whom we know, the novelist was usually +consistent. As has been seen, he regarded the home of Madame Carraud +at Frapesle as a haven of rest, and went there like a wood-pigeon +regaining its nest. The suffering Felix de Vandenesse (/Le Lys dans la +Vallee/) could not, therefore, find calm until he went to the chateau +de Frapesle to recuperate. The novelist could easily give this minute +description of Frapesle with its towers, as well as the chateau de +Sache, the home of M. de Margonne, having spent so much of his time at +both of these places. + +The reader, having seen in the early pages of this book, Balzac's +relation to his mother,--in case Felix de Vandenesse represents Balzac +himself--is not surprised to learn that the mother of Felix was cold +and tyrannical, indifferent to his happiness, that he had but little +or no money to spend, that his brother was the favorite, that he was +sent away to school early in life and remained there eight years, that +his mother often reproached him and repressed his tenderness, and that +to escape all contact with her he buried himself in his reading. + +Felix was in this unhappy state when he met Madame de Mortsauf, whose +shoulders he kissed suddenly, and whose love for him later made him +forget the miseries of childhood; in the same manner, Balzac made his +first declaration to Madame de Berny. Madame de Mortsauf could easily +be Madame de Berny with all her tenderness and sympathy, or she could +be Madame Hanska. The intense maternal love of the heroine could +represent either, but especially the latter. M. de Mortsauf could be +either M. de Berny or M. de Hanski. Balzac left Madame de Berny and +became enraptured with Madame de Castries, and had had a similar +infatuation for Madame d'Abrantes, just as Felix made Madame de +Mortsauf jealous by his devotion to Lady Arabelle Dudley. It will be +remembered that Madame Hanska was suspicious of Balzac's relations +with an English lady, Countess Visconti, although the novelist states +that he had written this work before he knew Madame Visconti. The +novelist has doubtless combined traits of various women in a single +character, but the fact still remains that he was depicting life as he +knew it, even if he did not attempt exact portraiture. + +While the famous Vicomtesse de Beauseant (/La Femme abandonnee/) has +many characteristics of the Duchesse d'Abrantes, and some of those of +Madame de Berny, and /La Femme abandonnee/ was written the year Balzac +severed his relations with his /Dilecta/. But it is especially in the +gentleness and patience portrayed in Madame Firmiani, in the affection +and self-sacrifice of Pauline de Villenoix for Louis Lambert, and the +devotion of Pauline Gaudin to Raphael in /La Peau de Chagrin/ that +Madame de Berny is most strikingly represented. She was all this and +more to Balzac. Furthermore, he may have obtained from her his +historical color for /Un Episode sous la Terreur/, just as he was +influenced by Madame Junot in writing stories of the Empire and +Corsican vengeance. + +It was perhaps to avoid recognition of the heroine and to revenge +himself on Madame de Castries that he made the Duchesse de Langeais +enter a convent and die, after her failure to master the Marquis de +Montriveau, while for his part the hero soon forgot her. + +Soon after introducing Madame de Mortsauf (/Le Lys dans la Vallee/), +Balzac compares her to the fragrant heather gathered on returning from +the Villa Diodati. After studying carefully his long period of +association with Madame Hanska, one can see the importance which the +Villa Diodati had in his life. This is only another incident, small +though it be, showing how this woman impressed herself so deeply on +the novelist that almost unconsciously he brought memories of his +/Predilecta/ into his work. It has been shown that she served as a +model for some of his most attractive heroines; was honored, under +different names, with the dedication of three works besides the one +dedicated to her daughter; and was the originator of one of his most +popular novels for young girls, while many traces of herself and her +family connections are found throughout the whole /Comedie humaine/. + +Though by far the most important of them all, she was only one of the +many /etrangeres/ he knew. As has been observed, he knew women of +Russia, Poland, Germany, Austria, England, Italy and Spain, and had +traveled in most of these countries; hence one is not surprised at the +large number of foreign women who have appeared in his work. Among the +most noted of these are Lady Brandon (/La Grenadiere/); Lady Dudley +(/Le Lys dans la Vallee/); Madame Varese (/Massimilla Doni/); la +Duchesse de Rhetore (/Albert Savarus/), who was in reality Madame +Hanska, although presented as being Italian; Madame Claes (/La +Recherche de l'Absolu/), of Spanish origin though born in Brussels; +Paquita Valdes (/La Fille aux Yeux d'Or/); and the Corsican Madame +Luigi Porta (/La Vendetta/). + +In regard to Balzac's various women friends, J. W. Sherer has very +appropriately observed: "And the man was worthy of them: the student +of his work knows what a head he had; the student of his life, what a +heart." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Women in the Life of Balzac, Juanita H. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared by Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com +and John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz + + + + + +WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF BALZAC + +By Juanita Helm Floyd + + + + + TO + + MY SISTER NANNIE + + + + " . . . for no one knows the secret of my life, + and I do not wish to disclose it to any one." + /Lettres a l'Etrangere/, V. I, p. 418, July 19, 1837. + + + + PREPARER'S NOTE + + This text was originally published in 1921 by Henry Holt and + Company. + + + + PREFACE + +In presenting this study of Balzac's intimate relations with various +women, the author regrets her inability, owing to war conditions, to +consult a few books which are out of print and certain documents which +have not appeared at all in print, notably the collection of the late +Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul. + +The author gladly takes this opportunity of acknowledging her deep +gratitude to various scholars, and wishes to express, even if +inadequately, her appreciation of their inspiring contact; especially +to Professor Chester Murray and Professor J. Warshaw for first +interesting her in the great possibilities of a study of Balzac. To +Professor Henry Alfred Todd she is grateful for his sympathetic +scholarship, valuable suggestions as to matter and style, and for his +careful revision of the manuscript; to Professor Gustave Lanson, for +his erudition and versatile mind, which have had a great influence; to +Professor F. M. Warren, for reading a part of the text and for many +general ideas; to Professor Fernand Baldensperger, for reading the +text and for encouragement; to Professor Gilbert Chinard, Professor +Earle B. Babcock and Professor LeBraz for re-reading the text and for +valuable suggestions; and to Professor John L. Gerig for his +sympathetic interest, broad information, and inspiring encouragement. + +To still another would she express her thanks. The Princess Radziwill +has taken a great interest in this work, which deals so minutely with +the life history of her aunt, and she has been most gracious in giving +the author much information not to be found in books. She has made +many valuable suggestions, read the entire manuscript, and approved of +its presentation of the facts involved. + + JUANITA H. FLOYD. +Evansville, Indiana. + + + + INTRODUCTION + +A quantity of books have been written about Balzac, some of which are +very instructive, while others are nothing but compilations of gossip +which give a totally wrong impression of the life, works and +personality of the great French novelist. Having the honor of being +the niece of his wife, the wonderful /Etrangere/, whom he married +after seventeen years of an affection which contained episodes far +more romantic than any of those which he has described in his many +books, and having been brought up in the little house of the rue +Fortunee, afterwards the rue Balzac, where they lived during their +short married life, I can perhaps better appreciate than most people +the value of these different books, none of which gives us an exact +appreciation of the man or of the difficulties through which he had to +struggle before he won at last the fame he deserved. And the +conclusion to which I came, after having read them most attentively +and conscientiously, was that it is often a great misfortune to +possess that divine spark of genius which now and then touches the +brow of a few human creatures and marks them for eternity with its +fiery seal. Had Balzac been one of those everyday writers whose names, +after having been for a brief space of time on everyone's lips, are +later on almost immediately forgotten, he would not have been +subjected to the calumnies which embittered so much of his declining +days, and which even after he was no longer in this world continued +their subterranean and disgusting work, trying to sully not only +Balzac's own colossal personality, but also that of the devoted wife, +whom he had cherished for such a long number of years, who had all +through their course shared his joys and his sorrows, and who, after +he died, had spent the rest of her own life absorbed in the +remembrance of her love for him, a love which was stronger than death +itself. + +Having spent all my childhood and youth under the protection and the +roof of Madame de Balzac, it was quite natural that every time I saw +another inaccuracy or falsehood concerning her or her great husband +find its way into the press, I should be deeply affected. At last I +began to look with suspicion at all the books dealing with Balzac or +with his works, and when Miss Floyd asked me to look over her +manuscript, it was with a certain amount of distrust and prejudice +that I set myself to the task. It seemed to me impossible that a +foreigner could write anything worth reading about Balzac, or +understand his psychology. What was therefore my surprise when I +discovered in this most remarkable volume the best description that +has ever been given to us of this particular phase of Balzac's life +which hitherto has hardly been touched upon by his numerous +biographers, his friendships with the many distinguished women who at +one time or another played a part in his busy existence, a description +which not only confirmed down to the smallest details all that my aunt +had related to me about her distinguished husband, but which also gave +an appreciation of the latter's character that entirely agreed with +what I had heard about its peculiarities from the few people who had +known him well, Theophile Gautier among others, who were still alive +when I became old enough to be intensely interested in their different +judgments about my uncle. After such a length of years it seemed +almost uncanny to find a person who through sheer intuition and hard +study could have reconstituted with this unerring accuracy the figure +of one who had remained a riddle in certain things even to his best +friends, and who in the pages of this extraordinary book suddenly +appeared before my astonished eyes with all the splendor of that +genius of his which as years go by, becomes more and more admired and +appreciated. + +One must be a scholar to understand Balzac; his style and manner of +writing is often so heavy and so difficult to follow, reminding one +more of that of a professor than of a novelist. And indeed he would +have been very angry to be considered only as a novelist, he who +aspired and believed himself to be, as he expressed it one day in the +course of a conversation with Madame Hanska, before she became his +wife, "a great painter of humanity," in which appreciation of his work +he was not mistaken, because some of the characters he evoked out of +his wonderful brain remind one of those pictures of Rembrandt where +every stroke of the master's brush reveals and brings into evidence +some particular trait or feature, which until he had discovered it, +and brought it to notice, no one had seen or remarked on the human +faces which he reproduced upon the canvas. Michelet, who once called +St. Simon the "Rembrandt of literature," could very well have applied +the same remark to Balzac, whose heroes will live as long as men and +women exist, for whom these other men and women whom he described, +will relive because he did not conjure their different characters out +of his imagination only, but condensed all his observations into the +creation of types which are so entirely human and real that we shall +continually meet with them so long as the world lasts. + +One of Balzac's peculiarities consisted in perpetually studying +humanity, which study explains the almost unerring accuracy of his +judgments and of the descriptions which he gives us of things and +facts as well as of human beings. In his impulsiveness, he frequented +all kinds of places, saw all kinds of people, and tried to apply the +dissecting knife of his spirit of observation to every heart and every +conscience. He set himself especially to discover and fathom the +mystery of the "eternal feminine" about which he always thought, and +it was partly due to this eager quest for knowledge of women's souls +that he allowed himself to become entangled in love affairs and love +intrigues which sometimes came to a sad end, and that he spent his +time in perpetual search of feminine friendships, which were later on +to brighten, or to mar his life. + +Miss Floyd in the curious volume which she has written has caught in a +surprising manner this particular feature in Balzac's complex +character. She has applied herself to study not only the man such as +he was, with all his qualities, genius and undoubted mistakes, but +such as he appeared to be in the eyes of the different women whom he +had loved or admired, and at whose hands he had sought encouragement +and sympathy amid the cruel disappointments and difficulties of an +existence from which black care was never banished and never absent. +With quite wonderful tact, and a lightness of touch one can not +sufficiently admire, she has made the necessary distinctions which +separated friendship from love in the many romantic attachments which +played such an important part in Balzac's life, and she has in +consequence presented to us simultaneously the writer, whose name will +remain an immortal one, and the man whose memory was treasured, long +after he had himself disappeared, by so many who, though they had +perhaps never understood him entirely, yet had realized that in the +marks of affection and attachment which he had given to them, he had +laid at their feet something which was infinitely precious, infinitely +real, something which could never be forgotten. + +Her book will remain a most valuable, I was going to say the most +valuable, contribution to the history of Balzac, and those for whom he +was something more than a great writer and scholar, can never feel +sufficiently grateful to her for having given it to the world, and +helped to dissipate, thanks to its wonderful arguments, so many false +legends and wild stories which were believed until now, and indeed are +still believed by an ignorant crowd of so-called admirers of his, who, +nine times out of ten, are only detractors of his colossal genius, and +remarkable, though perhaps sometimes too exuberant, individuality. + +At the same time, Miss Floyd, in the lines which she devotes to my +aunt and to the long attachment that had united the latter and Balzac, +has in many points re-established the truth in regard to the character +of a woman who in many instances has been cruelly calumniated and +slandered, in others absolutely misunderstood, to whom Balzac once +wrote that she was "one of those great minds, which solitude had +preserved from the petty meannesses of the world," words which +describe her better than volumes could have done. She had truly led a +silent, solitary, lonely life that had known but one love, the man +whom she was to marry after so many vicissitudes, and in spite of so +many impediments, and but one tenderness, her daughter, a daughter who +unfortunately was entirely her inferior, and in whom she could never +find consolation or comfort, who could neither share her joys, nor +soothe her sorrows. + +In her convictions, Madame de Balzac was a curious mixture of atheism +and profound faith in a Divinity before whom mankind was accountable +for all its good or bad deeds. All through her long life she had been +under the influence of her father, one of the remarkable men of his +generation, who had enjoyed the friendship of most of the great French +writers of the period immediately preceding the Revolution, including +Voltaire; he had brought her up in an atmosphere of the eighteenth +century with its touch of skepticism, and the Encyclopedia had always +remained for her a kind of gospel, in spite of the fact that she had +been reared in one of the most haughty, aristocratic circles in +Europe, in a country where the very mention of the words /liberty/ and +/freedom of opinion/ was tabooed, and that her mother had been one of +those devout Roman Catholics who think it necessary to consult their +confessor, even in regard to the most trivial details of their daily +existence. Placed as she had been between her parents' incredulity and +bigotry, my aunt had formed opinions of her own, of which a profound +tolerance and a deep respect for the beliefs and convictions of others +was the principal feature. She never condemned even when she did not +approve, and she hated hypocrisy, no matter in what shape or aspect it +presented itself before her eyes. This explains the courage she +displayed when against the advice and the wishes of her family, she +persisted in marrying Balzac, though it hardly helps us to understand +from what we know of the latter's character, how he came to fall so +deeply in love with a woman who in almost everything thought so +differently from what he thought, especially in regard to those two +subjects which absorbed and engrossed him until the last days of his +life, religion and politics. + +That he loved her, and that she loved him, in spite of these +differences in their points of view, is to their mutual honor, but it +adds to the mystery and to the enigmatical side of a romance that has +hardly been equalled in modern times; and it accounts for the fact +that some friction occurred between them later on, when my aunt found +herself trying to restrain certain exuberances on the part of her +husband regarding her own high lineage, about which she never thought +much herself, though she had always tried to live up to the duties +which it imposed upon her. I am mentioning this circumstance to +explain certain exaggerations which we constantly find in Balzac's +letters in regard to his marriage. His imagination was extremely +vivid, and its fertility sometimes carried him far away into regions +where it was nearly impossible to follow him, and where he really came +to believe quite sincerely in things which had never existed. For +instance in his correspondence with his mother and friends, he is +always speaking of the necessity for Madame Hanska to obtain the +permission of the Czar to marry him. This is absolutely untrue. My +aunt did not require in the very least the consent of the Emperor to +become Madame de Balzac. The difficulties connected with her marriage +consisted in the fact that having been left sole heiress of her first +husband's immense wealth, she did not think herself justified in +keeping it after she had contracted another union, and with a +foreigner. She therefore transferred her whole fortune to her +daughter, reserving for herself only an annuity which was by no means +considerable, and it was this arrangement that had to be sanctioned, +not by the sovereign who had nothing to do with it, but by the Supreme +Court of Russia, which at that time was located in St. Petersburg. +Balzac, however, wishing to impress his French relatives with the +grandeur of the marriage he was about to make, imagined this tale of +the Czar's opposition, in order to add to his own importance and to +that of his future wife, an invention which revolted my aunt so much +that in that part of her husband's correspondence which was published +by her a year or two before her death, she carefully suppressed all +the passages which contained this assertion which had so thoroughly +annoyed as well as angered her. I have sometimes wondered what she +would have said had she seen appear in print the curious letter which +Balzac wrote immediately after their wedding to Dr. Nacquart in which +he described with such pomp the different high qualities, merits, and +last but not least, brilliant positions occupied by his wife's +relatives, beginning with Queen Marie Leszczinska, the consort of +Louis XV, and ending with the husband of my father's stepdaughter, +Count Orloff, whom the widest stretch of imagination could not have +connected with my aunt. + +I cannot refrain from mentioning here an anecdote which is very +typical of Balzac. He was about to return to Paris from Russia after +his marriage. My aunt coming into his room one morning found him +absorbed in writing a letter. Asking him for whom it was intended she +was petrified with astonishment when he replied that it was for the +Duke de Bordeaux, as the Comte de Chambord was still called at the +time, to present his respects to him upon his entrance into his +family! My aunt at first could not understand what it was he meant, +and when at last she had grasped the fact that it was in virtue of her +distant, very distant, relationship with Queen Marie Leszczinska that +he claimed the privilege of cousinship with the then Head of the Royal +House of France, it was with the greatest difficulty and with any +amount of trouble that she prevailed upon him at last to give up this +remarkable idea, and to be content with the knowledge that some +Rzewuski blood flowed in the veins of the last remaining member of the +elder line of the Bourbons, without intruding upon the privacy of the +Comte de Chambord, who probably would have been somewhat surprised to +receive this extraordinary communication from the great, but also +snobbish Balzac. + +It was on account of this snobbishness, which had something childish +about it, that he sometimes became involved in discussions, not only +with my aunt, but also with several of his friends, Victor Hugo among +others, who could not bring themselves to forgive him for thinking +more of the great and illustrious families with which his marriage had +connected him than of his own genius and marvelous talents. Hugo most +unjustly accused my aunt of encouraging this "aberration," as he +called it, of Balzac's mind; in which judgment of her he was vastly +mistaken, because she was the person who suffered the most through it, +and by it. But this unwarranted suspicion made him antagonistic to +her, and probably inspired the famous description he left us of +Balzac's last hours in the little volume called /Choses vues/. This +was partly the cause why people afterwards said that my aunt's married +life with the great writer had been far from happy, and had resolved +itself into a great disappointment for both of them. The reality was +very different, because during the few months they lived together, +they had known and enjoyed complete and absolute happiness, and Madame +de Balzac's heart was forever broken when she closed with pious hands +the eyes of the man who had occupied such an immense place in her +heart as well as in her life. Many years later, talking with me about +those last sad hours when she watched with such tender devotion by his +bedside, she told me with accents that are still ringing in my ears +with their wail of agony: I lived through a hell of suffering on that +day. + +Nevertheless she bore up bravely under the load of the unmerited +misfortunes which had fallen upon her. Her first care, after she had +become for the second time a widow, was to pay Balzac's debts, which +she proceeded to do with the thoroughness she always brought to bear +in everything she undertook. She remained upon the most affectionate +terms with his family, and it was due to her that Balzac's mother was +able to spend her last years in comfort. These facts speak for +themselves, and, to my mind at least, dispose better than volumes on +the subject could do of the conscious or unconscious calumny cast by +Victor Hugo on my aunt's memory. It must here be explained that the +real reason why he did not see her, when he called for the last time +on his dying friend, and concluded so hastily that she preferred +remaining in her own apartments than at her husband's side, consisted +in the fact that she did not like the poet, who she instinctively +felt, also did not care for her, so she preferred not to encounter a +man whom she knew as antagonistic to herself at an hour when she was +about to undergo the greatest trial of her life, and she retired to +her room when he was announced. But Hugo, who had often reproached +Balzac for being vain, had in his own character a dose of vanity +sufficient to make him refuse to admit that there could exist in the +whole of the wide world a human being who would not have jumped at the +chance of seeing him, even under the most distressing of +circumstances. + +I have said already that my aunt's opinions consisted of a curious +mixture of atheism and a profound belief in the Divinity. Her mind was +far too vigorous and too deep to accept without discussion the dogmas +of the Roman Catholic Church to which she belonged officially, and she +formed her own ideas as to religion and the part it ought to play in +human existence. She held the firm conviction that we must always try, +at least, to do what is right, regardless of the sorrow this might +entail upon us. In one of her letters to my mother, she says: + + "You will know one day, my dear little sister, that what one cares + the most to read over again in the book of life are those + difficult pages of the past when, after a hard struggle, duty has + remained the master of the battle field. It has buried its dead, + and brushed aside all the reminders that were left of them, and + God in his infinite mercy allows flowers and grasses to grow again + on this bloody ground. Don't think that by these flowers, I mean + to say that one forgets. No, on the contrary, I am thinking of + remembrance, the remembrance of the victory that has been won + after so many sacrifices; I am thinking of all those voices of the + conscience which come to soothe us, and to tell us that our Father + in Heaven is satisfied with what we have done." + +A person who had intimately known both Balzac and my aunt said one day +that they completed each other by the wide difference which existed in +their opinions in regard to the two important subjects of religion and +politics. The remark was profoundly true, because it was this very +difference which allowed them to bring into their judgments an +impartiality which we seldom meet with in our modern society. They +mutually respected and admired each other, and even when they were not +in perfect accord, or just because they were not in perfect accord as +to this or that thing, they nevertheless tried, thanks to the respect +which they entertained for each other, to look upon mankind, its +actions, follies and mistakes, with kindness and indulgence. The +curious thing in regard to their situation was that my aunt who had +been born and reared in one of the most select and prejudiced of +aristocratic circles, never knew what prejudice was, and remained +until the last day of her life a staunch liberal, who could never +bring herself to ostracize her neighbor, because he happened to think +or to believe otherwise than she did herself. She was perfectly +indifferent to advantages of birth, fortune or high rank, and she was +rather inclined to criticize than to admire the particular society and +world amidst which she moved. Balzac on the contrary, though a +/bourgeois/ by origin, cared only for those high spheres for which he +had always longed since his early youth, and of which a sudden freak +of fortune so unexpectedly had opened him the doors. In that sense he +was the /parvenu/ his enemies have accused him of being, and he often +showed himself narrow minded, until at last his wife's influence made +him consider, without the disdain he had affected for them before, +people who were not of noble birth or of exalted rank. On the other +hand, Madame de Balzac, thanks to her husband's Catholic and +Legitimistic tendencies and sympathies, became less sarcastic than had +been the case when she had, perhaps more than she ought, noticed the +smallnesses and meannesses of the particular set of people who at that +period constituted the cream of European society. They both came to +acquire a wider view of the world in general, thanks to their +different ways of looking at it, and this of course turned to their +great mutual advantage. + +I will not extend myself here on the help my aunt was to Balzac all +through the years which preceded their marriage, when there seemed no +possibility of the marriage ever taking place. She encouraged him in +his work, interested herself in all his actions, praised him for all +his efforts, tried to be for him the guide and the star to which he +could look in his moments of dark discouragement, as well as in his +hours of triumph. Without her affection to console him, he would most +probably have broken down under the load of immense difficulties which +constantly burdened him, and he never would have been able to leave +behind him as a legacy to a world that had never property appreciated +or understood him, those volumes of the /Comedie humaine/ which have +made his name immortal. Madame Hanska was his good genius all through +those long and dreadful years during which he struggled with such +indomitable courage against an adverse fate, and her devotion to him +certainly deserved the words which he wrote to her one day, "I love +you as I love God, as I love happiness!" + +All this has taken me very far from Miss Floyd's book, though what I +have just written about my uncle and aunt completes in a certain sense +the details she has given us concerning the wonderful romance which +after seventeen years of arduous waiting, made Madame Hanska the wife +of one of the greatest literary glories of France. Her work is +magnificent and she has handled it superbly, and reconstituted two +remarkable figures who were beginning to be, not forgotten, which is +impossible, but not so much talked about by the general public, who a +few years ago, had shown itself so interested in their life history as +it was first disclosed to us in the famous /Lettres a l'Etrangere/, +published by the Vicomte Spoelberch de Lovenjoul. She has also cleared +some of the clouds which had been darkening the horizon in regard to +both Balzac and his wife, and restored to these two their proper +places in the history of French literature in the nineteenth century. +She has moreover shown us a hitherto unknown Balzac, and a still more +unknown /Etrangere/, and this labor of love, because it was that all +through, can only be viewed with feelings of the deepest gratitude by +the few members still left alive of Madame de Balzac's family, my +three brothers and myself. I feel very happy to be given this +opportunity of thanking Miss Floyd, in my brothers' name as well as in +my own, for the splendid work which she has done, and which I am quite +certain will ensure for her a foremost place among the historians of +Balzac. + + CATHERINE, PRINCESS RADZIWILL. + + + + AUTHOR'S NOTE + +The steady rise of Balzac's reputation during the last few decades has +been such that almost each year new studies have appeared about him. +While the women portrayed in the /Comedie humaine/ are often commented +upon, no recent work dealing in detail with the novelist's intimate +association with women and which might lead to identifying the +possible sources of his feminine characters in real life has been +published. + +The present study does not undertake to establish the origin of all +the characters found in the /Comedie humaine/, but is an attempt to +trace the life of the novelist on the side of his relations with +various women,--a story which is even more thrilling than those +presented in many of his novels,--in the hope that it will help +explain some of the interesting enigmas presented by his work. So far +as the writer could find the necessary evidence, many of the women in +Balzac's novels have been here identified with women he knew in the +course of his life; and while giving due weight to the suggestions of +various writers, and indicating some of the most striking +resemblances, she has tried to avoid a mere promiscuous identification +of characters. + +In the case of many novelists such an investigation would not be worth +while, but Balzac's place in literature is so transcendent and his +life and writings are so closely and fascinatingly interblended, that +it is hoped that the following study, in which the writer has striven +to maintain correctness of detail, may not be unwelcome, and that it +will throw light on Balzac's complex character, and help his readers +better to understand and appreciate some of his most noted women +characters. It is believed that this study will show that the +influence of women on Balzac was much wider and his acquaintance with +them much broader than has previously been supposed. + +Apropos of remarks made by Sainte-Beuve and Brunetiere regarding +Balzac's admission to the higher circles of society, Emile Faguet has +this to say: + + "I would point out that the duchesses and viscountesses at the end + of the Restoration were known neither to Sainte-Beuve nor to + Balzac, the former only having begun to frequent aristocratic + drawing-rooms in 1840, and Balzac, in spite of his very short + /liaison/ with Madame de Castries, having become a regular + attendant only a few months before that date. Sainte-Beuve himself + has told us that the Faubourg Saint-Germain /was closed to men of + letters before 1830/, and since it had to spend a few years + becoming accustomed to their admittance, Sainte-Beuve's testimony + is not at all valid as regards the great ladies of the + Restoration, even at the end." + +Perhaps it is due partly to the above statement and partly to the fact +that Balzac tried to give the impression that he led a sort of +monastic life, that it is generally believed the novelist never had +access to the aristocratic society of his time, and never had an +opportunity of observing the great ladies or of frequenting the +marvelous balls and receptions that fill so large a place in his +writings. Whether he made a success of such descriptions is not the +question here, but the following pages will at least furnish proof +that he not only had many social opportunities, but that his presence +was sought by many women belonging to high life and the nobility. + +In presenting in the following pages a somewhat imposing list of +duchesses, countesses and women of varying degrees of nobility, it is +not intended to picture Balzac as a /preux chevalier/, for he was far +from being one. Even in the most refined of /salons/, he displayed his +Rabelaisian manners and costume, and remained the typical author of +the /Contes drolatiques/; but to maintain that he never knew women of +the upper class or never even entered their society, involves a +misapprehension of the facts. Neither would the present writer give +the impression that this was the only class of women he knew or +associated with, for he certainly was acquainted with many of the +/bourgeoisie/ and of the peasant class; but here it is difficult to +make out a case, since his letters to or about women of these classes +are rare, and literary men of his day have not given many details of +his association with them. + +From Balzac's youth, his most intense longings were to be famous and +to be loved. At times it might almost be thought that the second +desire took precedence over the first, but it was not the ordinary +woman that this future /Napoleon litteraire/ was seeking. His desire +was to win the affection of some lady of high standing, and when urged +by his family to consider marriage with a certain rich widow of the +/bourgeoisie/, it can be imagined with what a sense of relief he wrote +his mother that the bird had flown. An abnormal longing to mingle with +the aristocracy remained with him throughout his life; and during his +stay at Wierzchownia, after having all but made the conquest of a very +rich lady belonging to one of the most noted families of Russia, he +flattered himself by exaggerating her greatness. + +Not being crowned from the first with the success he desired, Balzac +needed encouragement in his work. For this he naturally turned to +women who would give him of their time and sympathy. In his early +years, he received this encouragement and assistance from his sister +Laure, from Madame de Berny, Madame d'Abrantes, Madame Carraud and +others, and in his later life he was similarly indebted to Madame +Hanska. They gave him ideas, corrected his style, conceived plots, +furnished him with historical background, and criticized his work in +general. Is it surprising then that, having received so much from +women, he should have accorded them so great a place in his writings +as well as in his personal life? + +While Balzac did not, as is often stated, /create/ the "woman of +thirty," this characteristic type having already appeared in Madame de +Stael's /Delphine/, in Benjamin Constant's /Adolphe/, and in +Stendhal's /Le Rouge et le Noir/, he must be credited with having +magnified her charms and presented her advantages and superiority to a +much higher degree than had been done before. Women indeed play in +general an important role in his work, many of his novels bear their +names; about one-third of the stories of /La Comedie humaine/ are +dedicated to women; and while not quite so large a proportion of the +characters created are women, they are numbered among the most +important personages of his prolific fancy. + +If we are to believe his own testimony, his popularity among women was +by no means limited to his Paris environment, for he writes: "Fame is +conveyed to me through the post office by means of letters, and I +daily receive three or four from women. They come from the depths of +Russia, of Germany, etc.; I have not had one from England. Then there +are many letters from young people. It has become fatiguing. . . ." + +It was only a matter of justice that women should show their +appreciation thus, for Balzac rendered them a gracious service in +prolonging, by his enormous literary influence, the period of their +eligibility for being loved. This he successfully extended to thirty +years, even to forty years; with rare skill he portrayed the charm of +a declining beauty--as one might delight in the glory of a brilliant +autumn or of a setting sun. At the same time, and on the one hand, he +depicted the young girl of various types, and women of the working and +servant class. And since his own life is so reflected throughout his +work, it is of interest to become acquainted with the inner and +intimate side of his genius, which has left us some of the greatest +documents we possess concerning human nature. + +Balzac knew many women, and to understand him fully one should study +his relations with them. If he has portrayed them well, it is because +he loved them tenderly, and was loved by many in return. These +feminine affections formed one of the consolations of his life; they +not only gave him courage but helped to soften the bitterness of his +trials and disappointments. + +While an effort has been made in the following work to solve the +questions as to the identity of the /Sarah, Maria, Sofka, Constance- +Victoire, Louise, Caroline,/ and the /Helene/ of Balzac's dedications, +and to show the role each played, no attempt has here been made to +lift the tightly drawn veil which has so long enveloped one side of +Balzac's private life. Whoever wishes to do this may now consult the +recent publication of the late Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, or +the /Mariage de Balzac/ by the late Count Stanislas Rzewuski. It is +far more pleasant--even if the charges be untrue--to think as did the +late Miss K. P. Wormeley, that no supporting testimony has been +offered to prove anything detrimental to the great author's character. +Though doubtless much overdrawn, one prefers the delightful picture of +him traced by his old friend, George Sand. + + + + + + WOMEN IN THE LIFE OF BALZAC + + + + CHAPTER I + + BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF BALZAC + +In the delightful city of Tours, the childhood of Honore de Balzac was +spent in the midst of his family. This consisted of an original and +most congenial old father, a nervous, business-like mother, two +younger sisters, Laure and Laurentia, and a younger brother, Henri. +His maternal grandmother, Madame Sallambier, joined the family after +the death of her husband. + +At about the age of eight, Honore was sent to a semi-military +/college/. Here, after six years of confinement, he lost his health, +not on account of any work assigned to him by his teachers, for he was +regarded as being far from a brilliant student, but because of the +abnormal amount of reading which he did on the outside. When he was +brought home for recuperation, his old grandmother alternately +irritated him with her "nervous attacks" and delighted him with her +numerous ways of showing her affection. At this time he wandered about +in the fresh air of the province of Touraine, and learned to love its +beautiful scenery, which he has immortalized in various novels. + +After he had spent a year of this rustic life, his family moved to +Paris in the fall of 1814. There he continued his studies with M. +Lepitre, whose Royalist principles doubtless influenced him. He +attended lectures at the Sorbonne also, strolling meanwhile about the +Latin Quarter, and in 1816 was placed in the law office of M. de +Guillonnet-Merville, a friend of the family, and an ardent Royalist. +After eighteen months in this office, he spent more than a year in the +office of a notary, M. Passez, who was also a family friend. + +It was probably during this period of residence in Paris that he first +met Madame de Berny, she who was later to wield so great an influence +over him and who held first place in his heart until their separation +in 1832. Probably at this same period, too, he met Zulma Tourangin, a +schoolmate of his sister Laure, and who, as Madame Carraud, was to +become his life-long friend. Of all the friendships that Balzac was +destined to form with women, this with Madame Carraud was one of the +purest, longest and most beautiful. + +Having attained his majority and finished his legal studies, Balzac +was requested by his father to enter the office of M. Passez and +become a business man, but the life was so distasteful to him that he +objected and asked permission to spend his time as best he might in +developing his literary ability, a request which, in spite of the +opposition of the family, was finally granted for a term of two years. +He was accordingly allowed to establish himself in a small attic at +No. 9 rue Lesdiguieres, while his family moved to Villeparisis. + +His father's weakness in thus giving in to his son was most irritating +to Balzac's mother, who was endowed with the business faculties so +frequently met with among French women. She was convinced that a +little experience would soon cause her son to change his mind. But he, +on his part, ignored his hardships. He began to dream of a life of +fame. In his garret, too, he began to develop that longing for luxury +which was to increase with the years, and which was to cost him so +much. At this time, he took frequent walks through the cemetery of +Pere-Lachaise around the graves of Moliere, La Fontaine and Racine. He +would occasionally visit a friend with whom he could converse, but he +usually preferred a sympathetic listener, to whom he could pour out +his plans and his innermost longings. Otherwise his life was as +solitary as it was cloistered. He confined himself to his room for +days at a time, working fiercely at the manuscript of the play, +/Cromwell/, which he felt to be a masterpiece. + +This work he finished and took to his home for approval in April, +1820. What must have been his disappointment when, certain of success, +he not only found his play disapproved but was advised to devote his +time and talents to anything except literature! But his courage was +not daunted thus. Remarking that /tragedies/ appeared not to be in his +line, he was ready to return to his garret to attempt another kind of +literature, and would have done so, had not his mother, seeing that he +would certainly injure his health, interposed; and although only +fifteen months of the allotted two years had expired, insisted that he +remain at home, and later sent him to Touraine for a much needed rest. + +During his stay at home, he was to suffer another disappointment. His +sister Laure, to whom he had confided all his secrets and longings, +was married to M. Surville in May, 1830, and moved to Bayeux. He was +thus deprived of her congenial companionship. The separation is +fortunate for posterity, however, since the letters he wrote to her +reveal much of the family life, both pleasant and otherwise, together +with a great deal concerning his own desires and struggles. Thus early +in life, he realized that his was a very "original" family, and +regretted not being able to put the whole group into novels. His +correspondence gives a very good description of their various +eccentricities, and he has later immortalized some of these by +portraying them in certain of his characters. + +Continually worried by his irritable mother, feeling himself forced to +make money by writing lest he be compelled to enter a lawyer's office, +he produced in five years, with different collaborators, a vast number +of works written under various pseudonyms. He tutored his younger and +much petted brother Henri, but found his pleasures outside of the +family circle. It was arranged that he should give lessons to one of +the sons of M. and Mme. de Berny, and thus he had an opportunity of +seeing much of Madame de Berny, whose patience under suffering and +sympathetic nature deeply impressed him. On her side, she took an +interest in him and devoted much time in helping and indeed "creating" +him. Unhappy in her married life, she must have found the +companionship of Balzac most interesting, and realizing that the young +man had a great future, she acted as a severe critic in correcting his +manuscripts, and cheered him in his hours of depression. Her mother +having been one of the Queen's ladies in waiting, the Royalist +principles previously instilled in the mind of the young author were +reinforced by this charming woman, as well as by her mother, who could +entertain him indefinitely with her exciting stories of imprisonment +and hairbreadth escapes. + +After a few years of life at Villeparisis, Balzac removed to Paris. He +had met an old friend, M. d'Assonvillez, whom he told of the conflict +between his family and himself over his occupation, and this gentleman +advised him to seek a business that would make him independent, even +offering to provide the necessary funds. Balzac took the advice, and +with visions of becoming extremely rich, launched into a publishing +career, proposing to bring out one-volume editions of various authors' +complete works, commencing with La Fontaine and Moliere. As he did not +have the necessary capital for advertising, however, his venture +resulted in a loss. His friend then persuaded him to invest in a +printing-press, and in August, 1826, he made another beginning. He did +not lack courage; but though he later manipulated such wonderful +business schemes in his novels he proved to be utterly incapable +himself in practical life. + +A second time he was doomed to failure, but with his indomitable will +he resolved that inasmuch as he had met with such financial disasters +through the press, he would recover his fortunes in the same way, and +set himself to writing with even greater determination than ever. Now +it was that Madame de Berny showed her true devotion by coming to his +aid in his financial troubles as well as in his literary ones; she +loaned him 45,000 francs, saw to it that the recently purchased type- +foundry became the property of her family, and, with the help of +Madame Surville, persuaded Madame de Balzac to save her son from the +disgrace of bankruptcy by lending him 37,000 francs. Thus, after less +than two years of experience, he found himself burdened with a debt +which like a black cloud was to hang over him during his entire life. +Other friends also came to his rescue. But if Balzac did not have +business capacity, his experience in dealing with the financial world, +of which he had become a victim, furnished him with material of which +he made abundant use later in his works. + +In September, 1828, after this business was temporarily out of the +way, Balzac went to Brittany to spend a few weeks with some old family +friends, the Pommereuls. There he roved over the beautiful country and +collected material for /Les Chouans/, the first novel which he signed +with his own name. Notwithstanding the fact that before he had reached +his thirtieth year, he was staggering under a debt amounting to about +100,000 francs, Balzac with his never-failing hope in the future and +his ever-increasing belief in his destiny, cast aside his depression, +and fought continually to attain the greatness which was never fully +recognized until long after his death. + +He had entered on what was indeed a period of struggle. Establishing +himself in Paris in the rue de Tournon, and later in the rue de +Cassini, he battled with poverty, lacking both food and clothing; but +his courage never wavered. Drinking black coffee to keep himself +awake, he wrote eighteen hours a day, and when exhausted would run +away to the country to relax and visit with his friends. The Baron de +Pommereul was only one of a rather numerous group. He frequently +visited Madame Carraud at her hospitable home at Frapesle, and M. de +Margonne in his chateau at Sache on the Indre. Often he would spend +many weeks at a time with the latter, where he made himself perfectly +at home, was treated as one of the family, and worked or rested just +as he wished. Leading the hermit's life by preference, he needed the +quietude of the country atmosphere in order to recover from the great +strain to which he subjected himself when the fit of authorship was +upon him. Thus it happened that several of his works were written in +the homes of various friends. + +/Les Chouans/ and other novels met with success. Balzac's reputation +now gradually rose, so that by 1831 he was attracting much favorable +attention. Among the younger literary set who sought his acquaintance +was George Sand with whom he formed a true friendship which lasted +throughout his life. Now, too, though he was not betrayed into +neglecting his work for society, he accepted invitations, won by his +growing reputation, to some of the most noted salons of the day, among +them the Empire salon of Madame Sophie Gay, where he met many of the +literary and artistic people of his time, including Delphine, the +daughter of Madame Gay, who, as Madame de Girardin, was to become one +of his intimate friends. Here he met Madame Hamelin and the Duchess +d'Abrantes, who was destined to play an important role in his life, +and also the tender and impassioned poetess, Madame Desbordes-Valmore. +The beautiful Madame Recamier invited him to her salon, too, and had +him read to her guests, and he was also a frequent visitor in the +salon of the Russian Princess Bagration, where he was fond of telling +stories. Besides the salons, he was invited to numerous houses, dining +particularly often with the Baron de Trumilly, who took a great +interest in his work. + +As his fame increased, letters arrived from various part of Europe. +Some of these were anonymous, and many were from women. Several of the +latter were answered, and early in 1832 Balzac learned that one of his +unknown correspondents was the beautiful Marquise de Castries (later +the Duchess de Castries). Throwing aside her incognito, she invited +him to call, and he, anxious to mingle with the exclusive society of +the Faubourg Saint-Germain, gladly accepted and promptly became +enraptured with her alluring charm. It was doubtless owing to the +influence of her relative, the Duc de Fitz-James, that he became +active in politics at this time. + +In the course of this same year (1832) there came to him an anonymous +letter of great significance, dated from the distant Ukraine, and +signed /l'Etrangere/. Though not at that time giving him the slightest +presentiment of the outcome, this letter was destined eventually to +change the entire life of the novelist. A notice in the /Quotidienne/ +acknowledging the receipt of it brought about a correspondence which +in the course of events revealed to the author that the stranger's +real name was Madame Hanska. + +Love affairs, however, were far from being the only things that +occupied Balzac. He was continually besieged by creditors; the clouds +of his indebtedness were ever ready to burst over his head. Meanwhile, +his mother became more and more displeased with him, and impatient at +his constant calls upon her for the performance of all manner of +services. She now urged him to make a rich marriage and thus put an +end to his troubles and hers. But such was not Balzac's inclination, +and he rightly considered himself the most deeply concerned in the +matter. + +All the while he was prodigiously productive, but the profits from his +works were exceedingly small. This fact was due to his method of +composition, according to which some of his works were revised a dozen +times or more, and also to the Belgian piracies, from which all +popular French authors suffered. In addition to this, his extravagant +tastes developed from year to year, and thus prevented him from +materially reducing his debts. + +Unlike most Frenchmen, Balzac was particularly fond of travel in +foreign countries, and when allured by the charms of a beautiful +woman, he forgot his financial obligations and allowed nothing to +prevent his responding to the call of the siren. Thus he was enticed +by the Marquise de Castries to go to Aix and from there to Geneva in +1832, and one year later he rushed to Neufchatel to meet Madame +Hanska, with whom he became so enamored that a few months afterwards +he spent several weeks with her at this same fatal city of Geneva +where the Marquise had all but broken his heart. In the spring of 1835 +he followed a similar desire, this time going as far as the beautiful +city of the blue Danube. + +The charms of his sirens were not enough, however, to keep so +indefatigable a writer from his work. He permitted himself to enjoy +social diversions for only a few hours daily and some of his most +delightful novels were written during these visits, where it seemed +that the very shadow of feminine presence gave him inspiration. It +should be added, too, that in the limited time given to society during +these journeys, he not only worshipped at the shrine of his particular +enchantress of the moment, but managed to meet many other women of +social prominence. + +As his fame spread, his extravagance increased; with his famous cane, +he was seen frequently at the opera, at one time sharing a box with +the beautiful Olympe. But his business relations with his publisher, +Madame Bechet, which seemed to be promising at first, ended unhappily, +and the rapidly declining health of his /Dilecta/, Madame de Berny, +not to mention the failure of another publisher Werdet, which there is +not space here to recount, cast a gloom from time to time over his +optimistic spirit. He now became the proprietor of the /Chronique de +Paris/, but aside from the literary friendships involved, notably that +of Theophile Gautier, he derived nothing but additional worries from +an undertaking he was unfitted to carry out. An even greater anxiety +was the famous lawsuit with Buloz, which was finally decided in his +favor, but which proved a costly victory, since it left him physically +exhausted. + +In order to recuperate, he sought refuge in the home of M. de +Margonne, and travelled afterwards with Madame Marbouty to Italy, +where he spent several pleasant weeks looking after some legal +business for his friends, M. and Mme. Visconti. It was on his return +from this journey that he learned of the death of Madame de Berny. + +During this period of general depression, Balzac devoted a certain +amount of attention to another correspondent, Louise, whom he never +met but whose letters cheered him, especially during his imprisonment +for refusing to serve in the Garde Nationale. In the same year (1836), +he was drawn by the charming Madame de Valette to Guerande, where he +secured his descriptive material for /Beatrix/. + +In the spring of 1837, he went to Italy for the second time, hoping to +recuperate, and wishing to see the bust of Madame Hanska which had +been made by Bartolini. He visited several cities, and in Milan he was +received in the salon of Madame Maffei, where he met some of the best +known people of the day. He had now thought of another scheme by means +of which he might become very rich,--always a favorite dream of his. +He believed that much silver might be extracted from lead turned out +of the mines as refuse, and was indiscreet enough to confide his ideas +to a crafty merchant whom he met at Genoa. A year later, when Balzac +went to Sardinia to investigate the possibility of the development of +his plans, he found that his ideas had been appropriated by this +acquaintance. On his return from this trip to Corsica and Sardinia, on +which he had endured much physical suffering, and had spent much money +to no financial avail, he stopped again at Milan to look after the +interests of the Viscontis. In the Salon of the same year (1837), the +famous portrait by Boulanger was displayed. About the same time, +together with Theophile Gautier, Leon Gozlan, Jules Sandeau and +others, he organized an association called the /Cheval Rouge/ for +mutual advertisement. + +Balzac now bought a piece of land at Ville d'Avray (Sevres), and had a +house built, /Les Jardies/, which afforded much amusement to the +Parisians. He went there to reside in 1838 while the walls were still +damp. Here he formed another scheme for becoming rich, this time in +the belief that he would be successful in raising pineapples at his +new home. /Les Jardies/ was a three-story house. The principal +stairway was on the outside, because an exterior staircase would not +interfere with the symmetrical arrangement of the interior. The garden +walls, not long after completion, fell down as they had no +foundations, and Balzac sadly exclaimed over their giving way! After a +brief residence here of about two years, he fled from his creditors +and concealed his identity under the name of his housekeeper, Madame +de Brugnolle, in a mysterious little house, No. 19, rue Basse, Passy. + +Aside from his novels, which were appearing at a most rapid rate, +Balzac wrote many plays, but they all met with failure for various +reasons. Other literary activities, such as his brief directorship of +the /Revue Parisienne/, numerous articles and short stories, and his +cooperation in the /Societe des Gens-de-Lettres/, which was organized +to protect the rights of authors and publishers, occupied much of his +precious time; in addition, he had his unremitting financial +struggles. + +This "child-man," however, with his imagination, optimism, belief in +magnetism and clairvoyance, and great steadfastness of character, kept +on hoping. Not discouraged by his ever unsuccessful schemes for +becoming a millionaire, he conceived the project of digging for hidden +treasures, and later thought of making a fortune by transporting to +France oaks grown in distant Russia. + +In the spring of 1842 Balzac's novels were collected for the first +time under the name of the /Comedie humaine/. This was shortly after +one of the most important events of his life had occurred, when on +January 5 he received a letter from Madame Hanska telling of the death +of her husband the previous November. Balzac wished to leave for +Russia immediately, but Madame Hanska's permission was not +forthcoming, and it was not until July of 1843 that Balzac arrived at +St. Petersburg to visit his "Polar Star." + +On his return home he became very ill, and from this time onward his +robust constitution, which he had so abused by overwork and by the use +of strong coffee, began to break under the continual strain and his +illnesses became more and more frequent. His visit to his +/Chatelaine/, however, had increased his longing to be constantly in +her society, and he was ever planning to visit her. During her +prolonged stay in Dresden in the winter and spring of 1845, he became +so desperate that he could not longer do his accustomed work, and when +the invitation to visit her eventually came, he forgot all in his +haste to be at her side. + +With Madame Hanska, her daughter Anna, and the Count George Mniszech, +Anna's fiance, Balzac now traveled extensively in Europe. In July, +after some preliminary journeys, Madame Hanska and Anna secretly +accompanied him to Paris where they enjoyed the opportunity of +visiting Anna's former governess, Lirette, who had entered a convent. +In August, after visiting many cities with the two ladies, Balzac +escorted them as far as Brussels. In September he left Paris again to +join them at Baden, and in October, went to meet them at Chalons +whence all four--Count Mniszech being now of the party--journeyed to +Marseilles and by sea to Naples. After a few days at Naples, Balzac +returned to Paris, ill, having spent much money and done little work. + +Ever planning a home for his future bride, and buying objects of art +with which to adorn it, Balzac with his numerous worries was +physically and mentally in poor condition. In March, 1846, he left +Paris to join Madame Hanska and her party at Rome for a month. He +traveled with them to some extent during the summer, and a definite +engagement of marriage was entered into at Strasbourg. In October he +attended the marriage of Anna and the Count Mniszech at Wiesbaden, and +Madame Hanska visited him secretly in Paris during the winter. + +He was now in better spirits, and his health was somewhat improved, +enabling him to do some of his best work, but he was being pressed to +fulfil his literary obligations, and, as usual, harassed over his +debts. In September he left for Wierzchownia, where he remained until +the following February, continually hoping that his marriage would +soon take place. But Mme. Hanska hesitated, and the failure of the +Chemin de Fer du Nord added more financial embarrassments to his +already large load. The Revolution of 1848 brought him into more +trouble still, and his health was obviously becoming impaired. Yet he +continued hopeful. + +After spending the summer in his house of treasure in the rue +Fortunee, he again left, in September, 1848, for Wierzchownia, this +time determined to return with his shield or upon it. During his +prolonged stay of eighteen months, while his distraught mother was +looking after affairs in his new home, his health became so bad that +he could not finish the work outlined during the summer. No sooner had +he recovered from one malady than he was overtaken by another. Unable +to work, distracted by bad news from his family, and being the witness +of several financial failures incurred by Madame Hanska, Balzac +naturally was supremely depressed. At this time, a touch of what may +not uncharitably be termed snobbishness is seen in his letters to his +family when he extols the unlimited virtues of his /Predilecta/ and +the Countess Anna. + +After seventeen long years of waiting, with hope constantly deferred, +Balzac at last attained his goal when, on March 14, 1850, Madame +Hanska became Madame Honore de Balzac. His joy over this great triumph +was beyond all adequate description, but he was unable to depart for +Paris with his bride until April. After a difficult journey, the +couple arrived at Paris in May, but the condition of Balzac's health +was hopeless and only a few more months were accorded him. With his +usual optimism, he always thought that he would be spared to finish +his great work, and when informed by his physician on August 17 that +he would live but a few hours, he refused to believe it. + +Unless he had been self-centered, Balzac could never have left behind +him his enormous and prodigious work. In spite of certain unlovely +phases of his private character and failure to fulfil his literary and +financial obligations, he was a man of great personal charm. Though at +various times he was under consideration for election to the French +Academy, his name is not found numbered among the "forty immortals." +But he was the greatest of French novelists, a great creator of +characters, who by some competent critics has been ranked with +Shakespeare, and he has left to posterity the incomparable, though +unfinished /Comedie humaine/, which is in itself sufficient for his +"immortality." + + + + CHAPTER II + + RELATIVES AND FAMILY FRIENDS + + + BALZAC'S MOTHER + + "Farewell, my dearly beloved mother! I embrace you with all my + heart. Oh! if you knew how I need just now to cast myself upon + your breast as a refuge of complete affection, you would insert a + little word of tenderness in your letters, and this one which I am + answering has not even a poor kiss. There is nothing but . . . Ah! + Mother, Mother, this is very bad! . . . You have misconstrued what + I said to you, and you do not understand my heart and affection. + This grieves me most of all! . . ." + +The above extract is sadly typical of a relationship of thirty years, +1820-1850, between a mother, on the one hand, who never understood or +appreciated her son--and a son, on the other, whose longings for +maternal affection were never fully gratified. To his mother Balzac +dedicated /Le Medicin de Campagne/, one of his finest sociological +studies. + +Madame Surville has described Balzac's mother, and her own, as being +rich, beautiful, and much younger than her husband, and as having a +rare vivacity of mind and of imagination, an untiring activity, a +great firmness of decision, and an unbounded devotion to her family; +but as expressing herself in actions rather than in words. She devoted +herself exclusively to the education of her children, and felt it +necessary to use severity towards them in order to offset the effects +of indulgence on the part of their father and their grandmother. +Balzac inherited from his mother imagination and activity, and from +both of his parents energy and kindness. + +Madame de Balzac has been charged with not having been a tender mother +towards her children in their infancy. She had lost her first child +through her inability to nurse it properly. An excellent nurse, +however, was found for Honore, and he became so healthy that later his +sister Laure was placed with the same nurse. But she never seemed +fully to understand her son nor even to suspect his promise. She +attributed the sagacious remarks and reflections of his youth to +accident, and on such occasions she would tell him that he did not +understand what he was saying. His only reply would be a sweet, +submissive smile which irritated her, and which she called arrogant +and presumptuous. With her cold, calculating temperament, she had no +patience with his staking his life and fortune on uncertain financial +undertakings, and blamed him for his business failures. She suffered +on account of his love of luxury and his belief in his own greatness, +no evidence of which seemed sufficient to her matter-of-fact mind. She +continued to misjudge him, unaware of his genius, but in spite of her +grumbling and harassing disposition, she often came to his aid in his +financial troubles. + +Contrary to the wishes of his parents, who had destined him to become +a notary, Balzac was ever dreaming of literary fame. His mother not +unnaturally thought that a little poverty and difficulty would bring +him to submission; so, before leaving Paris for Villeparisis in 1819 +she installed him in a poorly furnished /mansard/, No. 9, rue +Lesdiguieres, leaving an old woman, Madame Comin, who had been in the +service of the family for more than twenty years, to watch over him. +Balzac has doubtless depicted this woman in /Facino Cane/ as Madame +Vaillant, who in 1819-1820 was charged with the care of a young +writer, lodged in a /mansard/, rue Lesdiguieres. + +After fifteen months of this life, his health became so much impaired +that his mother insisted on keeping him at home, where she cared for +him faithfully. On a former occasion Madame de Balzac had had her son +brought home to recuperate, for when he was sent away to /college/ at +an early age, his health became so impaired that he was hurriedly +returned to his home. Balzac probably refers to this event in his life +when he writes, in /Louis Lambert/, that the mother, alarmed by the +continuous fever of her son and his symptoms of /coma/, took him from +school at four or five hours' notice. + +During the five years (1820-1825) that Balzac remained at home in +Villeparisis, he longed for the quiet freedom of his garret; he could +not adapt himself to the bustling family circle, nor reconcile himself +to the noise of the domestic machinery kept in motion by his vigilant +and indefatigable mother. She was of a nervous, excitable nature, +which she probably inherited from her mother, Madame Sallambier. She +imagined that he was ill, and of course there was no one to convince +her to the contrary. Had she known that while she thought she was +contributing everything to the happiness of those around her, she was +only doing the opposite, we may be sure that she of all women would +have been the most wretched. + +Balzac having failed in his speculations as publisher and printer, was +aided by his mother financially, and she figured as one of his +principal creditors during the remainder of his life. (E. Faguet in +/Balzac/, is exaggerating in stating that Madame de Balzac sacrificed +her whole fortune for Honore, for much of her means was spent on her +favorite son, Henri.) + +M. Auguste Fessart was a contemporary of the family, an observer of a +great part of the life of Honore, and his confidant on more than one +occasion. In his /Commentaires/ on the work entitled /Balzac, sa Vie +et ses Oeuvres/, by Madame Surville, he states that the portrait of +Madame de Balzac is flattering--a daughter's portrait of a mother--and +declares that Madame de Balzac was very severe with her children, +especially with Honore, adding that Balzac used to say that he never +heard his mother speak without experiencing a certain trembling which +deprived him of his faculties. Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, in reviewing +the /Commentaires/ of M. Fessart, notes the recurring instances in +which pity is expressed for the moral and material sufferings almost +constantly endured by Balzac in his family circle. These sufferings +seem to have impressed him more than anything else in the career of +the novelist. In speaking of Balzac's financial appeal to his family, +M. Fessart notes: "And his mother did not respond to him. She let him +die of hunger! . . . I repeat that they let him die of hunger; he told +me so several times!" When Madame Surville speaks of their keeping +Balzac's presence in Paris a secret, saying that it was moreover a +means of keeping him from all worldly temptations, M. Fessart replies: +"And of giving him nothing, and of allowing him to be in need of +everything!" Finally, when Madame Surville speaks of her parents' not +giving Balzac the fifteen hundred francs he desired, M. Fessart +confirms this, saying that his family always refused him money. + +A letter from Balzac to Madame Hanska testifies to this attitude of +his family towards him: "In 1828 I was cast into this poor rue +Cassini, in consequence of a liquidation to which I had been +compelled, owing one hundred thousand francs and being without a +penny, when my family would not even give me bread." + +MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire, to whose admirable work we shall have +occasion to refer often, state that Madame de Balzac advanced thirty- +seven thousand six hundred francs for Balzac on August 16, 1822, and +that his parents paid a total of forty-five thousand francs for him. + +Having read M. Fessart's description of Madame de Balzac, one can +agree with Madame Ruxton in saying that Balzac has portrayed his own +youth in his account of the early life of Raphael in /La Peau de +Chagrin/, Balzac's mother, instead of Raphael's father, being +recognized in the following passage: + + "Seen from afar, my life appears to contract by some mental + process. That long, slow agony of ten years' duration can be + brought to memory to-day in some few phrases, in which pain is + resolved into a mere idea, and pleasure becomes a philosophical + reflection . . . When I left school, my father submitted me to a + strict discipline; he installed me in a room near his own study, + and I had to rise at five in the morning and retire at nine at + night. He intended me to take my law studies seriously. I attended + school, and read with an advocate as well; but my lectures and + work were so narrowly circumscribed by the laws of time and space, + and my father required of me such a strict account, at dinner, + that . . . In this manner I cowered under as strict a despotism as + a monarch's until I became of age." + +In confirmation of this idea, Madame Ruxton[*] quotes Madame Barnier, +granddaughter of the Duchesse d'Abrantes, who knew both Balzac and his +mother, and who describes her as a cold, severe, superior, but hard- +hearted woman, just the opposite of her son. Balzac himself states: +"Never shall I cease to resemble Raphael in his garret." + +[*] In /La Dilecta de Balzac/, Balzac states that he has described his + own life in /La Peau de Chagrin/. For a picture of Balzac's + unhappy childhood drawn by himself, see /Revue des deux Mondes/, + March 15, 1920. + +After the death (June 1829) of her husband, Madame de Balzac lived +with her son at different intervals, and during his extended tour of +six months in 1832 she attended to the details of his business. With +her usual energy and extreme activity, she displayed her ability in +various lines, for she had to have dealings with his publisher, do +copying, consult the library,--sending him some books and buying +others,--have the servant exercise the horses, sell the horses and +carriage and dismiss the servant, arrange to have certain payments +deferred, send him money and consult the physician for him, not to +mention various other duties. + +While Madame de Balzac was certainly requested to do far more than a +son usually expects of his mother, her tantalizing letters were a +source of great annoyance to him, as is seen in the following: + + "What you say about my silence is one of those things which, to use + your expression, makes me grasp my heart with both hands; for it + is incredible I should be able to produce all I do. (I am obeying + the most rigorous necessity); so if I am to write, I ought to have + more time, and when I rest, I wish to lay down and not take up my + pen again. Really, my poor dear mother, this ought to be + understood between us once for all; otherwise, I shall have to + renounce all epistolary intercourse. . . . And this morning I was + about to make the first dash at my work, when your letter came and + completely upset me. Do you think it possible to have artistic + inspirations after being brought suddenly face to face with such a + picture of my miseries as you have traced? Do you think that if I + did not feel them, I should work as I do? . . . Farewell, my good + mother. Try and achieve impossibilities, which is what I am doing + on my side. My life is one perpetual miracle. . . . You ask me to + write you in full detail; but, my dear mother, have you yet to be + told what my existence is? When I am able to write, I work at my + manuscripts; when I am not working at my manuscripts, I am + thinking of them; I never have any rest. How is it my friends are + not aware of this? . . . I beg of you, my dear mother, in the name + of my heavy work, never to write me that such a work is good, and + such another bad: you upset me for a fortnight." + +Balzac appreciated what his mother did for him, and while he never +fully repaid her the money she had so often requested of him, she +might have felt herself partially compensated by these kind words of +affection: + + "My kind and excellent mother,--After writing to you in such haste, + I felt my inmost heart melt as I read your letter again, and I + worshipped you. How shall I return to you, when shall I return to + you, and can I ever return to you, by my love and endeavors for + your happiness, all that you have done for me? I can at present + only express my deep thankfulness. . . . How deep is my gratitude + towards the kind hearts who pluck some of the thorns from my life + and smooth my path by their affection. But constrained to an + unceasing warfare against destiny, I have not always leisure to + give utterance to what I feel. I would not, however, allow a day + to pass without letting you know the tenderness your late proofs + of devotion excite in me. A mother suffers the pangs of labor more + than once with her children, does she not, my mother? Poor + mothers, are you ever enough beloved! . . . I hope, my much + beloved mother, you will not let yourself grow dejected. I work as + hard as it is possible for a man to work; a day is only twelve + hours long, I can do no more. . . . Farewell, my darling mother; I + am very tired! Coffee burns my stomach. For the last twenty days I + have taken no rest; and yet I must still work on, that I may + remove your anxieties. . . . Keep your house; I had already sent + an answer to Laura, I will not let either you or Surville bear the + burden of my affairs. However, until the arrival of my proxy, it + is understood that Laura, who is my cash keeper, will remit you a + hundred and fifty francs a month. You may reckon on this as a + regular payment; nothing in the world will take precedence of it. + Then, at the end of November to December 10, you will have the + surplus of thirty-six thousand francs to reimburse you for the + excess of the expenditure over the receipts during the time of + your stewardship; during which, thanks to your devotion, you gave + me all the tranquility that was possible. . . . I entreat you to + take care of yourself! Nothing is so dear to me as your health! I + would give half of myself to keep you well, and I would keep the + other half, to do you service. My mother, the day when we shall be + happy through me is coming quickly; I am beginning to gather the + fruits of the sacrifices I have made this year for a more certain + future. Still, a few months more and I shall be able to give you + that happy life--that life without cares or anxiety--which you so + much need. You will have all you desire; our little vanities will + be satisfied no less than the great ambitions of our hearts. Oh + do, I pray you, nurse yourself! . . . Your comfort in material + things and your happiness are my riches. Oh! my dear mother, do + live to see my bright future realized!"[*] + +[*] In speaking of Balzac's relations to his mother, Mr. F. Lawton + (/Balzac/) states: "Madame Balzac was sacrificed to his + improvidence and stupendous egotism; nor can the tenderness of the + language--more frequently than not called forth by some fresh + immolation of her comfort to his interests--disguise this + unpleasing side of his character and action. . . . And his + epistolary good-byes were odd mixtures of business with + sentiment." + +Thus did the poor mother alternately receive letters full of scoldings +and of terms of endearment from her son whose genius she never +understood. She was faithful in her duties, and her ambitious son +probably did not realize how much he was asking of her. But she may +have had a motive in keeping him on the prolonged visit during which +this last letter was written, for she was interested in his +prospective marriage. Although her full name is never mentioned, the +women in question, Madame D----, was evidently a widow with a fortune, +and in view of this prospect was most pleasing to Madame de Balzac. +However, this matrimonial plan fell through, and Balzac himself was +never enthusiastic over it. He felt that his attentions to Madame +D---- would consume his very precious time, and that the affair could +not come off in time to serve his interests. Could it be that Balzac +was alluding to this same Madame D---- when he wrote some time later: +"My beloved mother,--the affair has come to nothing, the bird was +frightened away, and I am very glad of it. I had no time to run after +it, and it was imperative it should be either yes or no." + +This marriage project, like many others planned either for or by +Balzac, came to naught, and his mother evidently became displeased +with him, for she left him on his return, when he was in great need of +consolation and sympathy. As frequently happened under such +circumstances, Balzac expressed his deep regrets at his mother's +conduct to one of his best friends, Madame Carraud, and confided to +her his loneliness and longings. + +Madame de Balzac was much occupied with religious ideas, and had made +a collection of the writings of the mystics. Balzac plunged into the +study of clairvoyance and mesmerism, and his mother, interested in the +marvelous, helped him in his studies, as she knew many of the +celebrated clairvoyants and mesmerists of the time. + +At various times, Balzac's relations with his mother were much +estranged; at one time he did not even know where she was. When she +was disappointed in her favorite child, Henri, she seemed to recognize +the great wrong involved in her lack of affection for Honore and his +sister Laure. But she never gave him the attentions that he longed +for. In May, 1840, he wrote to Madame Hanska that he was especially +sad on the day of his /fete catholique/ (May 16) as, since the death +of Madame de Berny, there was no one to observe this occasion, though +during her life every day was a /fete/ day; he was too busy to join +with his sister Laure in the mutual observance of their birthdays, and +his mother cared little for him; once the Duchesse de Castries had +sent him a most beautiful bouquet,--but now there was no one. + +The same year (1840) he took his mother to live with him /Aux +jardies/. This he regarded as an additional burden. Her continual +harassing him for the money he still owed her, her nervous and +discordant disposition, her constant intrigues to force him to marry, +and her numerous little acts that placed him in positions beneath the +dignity of an author's standing were an incessant source of annoyance +to him. + +She did not remain with him long, but he tried to perform his filial +duties and make her comfortable, as various letters show. One of these +reads as follows: + + "My dear Mother,--It is very difficult for me to enter into the + engagement you ask of me, and to do so without reflection would + entail consequences most serious both for you and for myself. The + money necessary for my existence is, as it were, wrung from what + should go to pay my debts, and hard work it is to get it. The sort + of life I lead is suitable for no one; it wears out relations and + friends; all fly from my dreary house. My affairs will become more + and more difficult to manage, not to say impossible. The failure + of my play, as regards money, still further complicates my + situation. I find it impossible to work in the midst of all the + little storms raised up in a household where the members do not + live in harmony. My work has become feeble during the last year, + as any one can see. I am in doubt what to do. But I must come to + some determination within a few days. When my furniture has been + sold, and when I have disposed of 'Les Jardies,' I shall not have + much left. And I shall find myself alone in the world with nothing + but my pen, and an attic. In such a situation shall I be able to + do more for you than I am doing at this moment? I shall have to + live from hand to mouth by writing articles which I can no longer + write with the agility of youth which is no more. The world, and + even relations, mistake me; I am engrossed by my work, and they + think I am absorbed in myself. I am not blind to the fact, that up + to the present moment, working as I work, I have not succeeded in + paying my debts, nor in supporting myself. No future will save me. + I must do something else, look out for some other position. And it + is at a time like this that you ask me to enter into an + engagement! Two years ago I should have done so, and have deceived + myself. Now all I can say is, come to me and share my crust. You + were in a tolerable position; I had a domestic whose devotion + spared you all the worry of housekeeping; you were not called on + to enter into every detail, you were quiet and peaceful. You + wished me to count for something in your life, when it was + imperative for you to forget my existence and allow me the entire + liberty without which I can do nothing. It is not a fault in you, + it is the nature of women. Now everything is changed. If you wish + to come back, you will have to bear a little of the burden which + is about to weigh me down, and which hitherto has only pressed + upon you because you chose to take it to yourself. All this is + business, and in no way involves my affection for you, which is + always the same; so believe in the tenderness of your devoted + son." + +Later, when Balzac purchased his home in the rue Fortunee, his mother +had the care of it while he was in Russia. He asked her to visit the +house weekly and to keep the servants on the alert by enquiring as +though she expected him; yet Balzac wrote his nieces to have their +grandmother visit them often, lest she carry too far the duties she +imposed on herself in looking after his little home. He cautioned her +to allow no one to enter the house, to insist that his old servant +Francois be discreet, and especially that she be prudent in not +talking about his plans; and that by all means she should take a +carriage while attending to his affairs; this request was not only +from him but also from Madame Hanska. + +She was most faithful in looking after his home and watching the +workmen to see that his instructions were carried out. In fact, she +never left the house except when, on one occasion, owing to the +excessive odors of the paint, she spent two nights in Laure's home. + +Balzac's stay at Wierzchownia, however, was far from tranquil, for his +mother was discontented with the general aspect of his affairs and +increased his vexations by writing a letter in which she addressed him +as /vous/, declaring that her affection was conditional on his +behavior, a thing he naturally resented. "To think," he writes, "of a +mother reserving the right to love a son like me, seventy-two years on +the one side, and fifty on the other!" + +This letter caused a serious complication in his affairs in Russia, +but the mother evidently became reconciled for a few months later she +wrote to him expressing her joy at the news of his recovery, and +asking him to extend to his friends her most sincere thanks for their +care of him in his serious illness. Aside from knowing of his illness +and her inability to see him, she was most happy in feeling that he +was with such good friends. + +She complained of his not writing oftener, but he replied that he had +written to her seven times during his absence, that the letters were +posted by his hostess and that he did not wish to abuse the +hospitality with which he was so royally and magnificently +entertained. He resented his mother's dictating to him, a man of fifty +years of age, as to how often he should write to his nieces, for while +he enjoyed receiving their letters, he thought they should feel +honored in receiving letters from him whenever he had time to write to +them. + +When the poor mother attempted to be gracious to her son by sending +him a box of bonbons, she only brought him trouble, for she packed it +in newspapers, and in passing the custom-house, it was taken out and +the candy crushed. Instead of thanking her for her good intentions, he +rebuked her for her stupidity in regard to sending printed matter into +Russia, as it endangered his stay there. + +Balzac was always striving to pay his mother his long-standing +indebtedness, but the Revolution of 1848, in connection with his +continued illness, made this impossible. This burden of debt was also, +at this time, preventing his obtaining a successful termination of his +mission to Russia, for, as he explained to his mother, the lady +concerned did not care to marry him while he was still encumbered with +debt. Being a woman past forty, she desired that nothing should +disturb the tranquillity in which she wished to live. + +Owing to this critical situation and to his poor health, Balzac had +repeatedly requested his mother never to write depressing news to him, +but she paid little attention to this request and sent him a letter +hinting at trouble in so vague a manner and with such disquieting +expressions that, in his extremely nervous condition, it might have +proved fatal to him. Yet it did not affect him so seriously as it did +Madame Hanska, who read the letter to him, for owing to his terrible +illness and the method of treatment, his eyes had become so weak that +he could no longer see in the evening. Madame Hanska was so deeply +interested in everything that concerned Balzac that this news made her +very ill. For them to live in suspense for forty days without knowing +anything definite was far worse than it would have been had his mother +enumerated in detail the various misfortunes. From the preceding +revelations of the disposition of Madame de Balzac, one can easily +understand how it happened that her son has immortalized some of her +traits in the character of /Cousine Bette/. + +During the remainder of Balzac's stay in the Ukraine, he was +preoccupied with the thought of his mother having every possible +comfort, with his becoming acclimatized in Russia,--impossible though +it was for him in his condition,--and above all with the realization +of his long-cherished hope. But he cautioned his mother to observe the +greatest discretion in regard to this hope, "for such things are never +certain until one leaves the church after the ceremony." + +What must have been his feeling of triumph when he was able to write: + + "My very dear Mother,--Yesterday, at seven in the morning, thanks + be to God, my marriage was blessed and celebrated in the church of + Saint Barbara, at Berditchef, by the deputy of the Bishop of + Jitomir. Monseigneur wished to have married me himself, but being + unable, he sent a holy priest, the Count Abbe Czarouski, the + eldest of the glories of the Polish Roman Catholic Church, as his + representative. Madame Eve de Balzac, your daughter-in-law, in + order to make an end of all obstacles, has taken an heroic and + sublimely maternal resolution, viz., to give up all her fortune to + her children, only reserving an annuity to herself. . . . There + are now two of us to thank you for all the good care you have + taken of our house, as well as to testify to you our respectful + /tendresses/." + +Balzac was not only anxious that his bride should be properly +received, but also that his mother should preserve her dignity. On +their way home he writes her from Dresden to have the house ready for +their arrival (May 19, 20, 21), urging that she go either to her own +home or to Laure's, for it would not be proper for her to receive her +daughter-in-law in the rue Fortunee, and that she should not call +until his wife had called on her. After reminding her again not to +forget to procure flowers, he suggests that owing to his extremely +feeble health he meet her at Laure's, for there he would have one less +flight of stairs to climb. These suggestions, however, were +unnecessary, as his mother had been ill in bed for several weeks in +Laure's house. + +After the novelist's return to Paris with his bride, his physical +condition was such that in spite of the efforts of his beloved +physician, Dr. Nacquart, little could be done for him, and he was +destined to pass away within a short time. Balzac's mother, she with +whom he had had so many misunderstandings, she who had doubtless never +fully appreciated his greatness but who had sacrificed her physical +strength and worldly goods for his sake, an old woman of almost +seventy-two years, showed her true maternal love by remaining with her +glorious and immortal son in his last moments. + + + MADAME SURVILLE--MADAME MALLET--MADAME DUHAMEL + + "To the Casket containing all things delightful; to the Elixir of + Virtue, of Grace, and of Beauty; to the Gem, to the Prodigy of all + Normandy; to the Pearl of the Bayeux; to the Fairy of St. + Laurence; to the Madonna of the Rue Teinture; to the Guardian + Angel of Caen, to the Goddess of Enchanting Spells; to the + Treasury of all Friendship--to Laura!" + +Two years younger than Balzac, his sister Laure, not only played an +important part in his life, but after his death rendered valuable +service by writing his life and publishing a part of his +correspondence.[*] Being reared by the same nurse as he, and having +had the same home environment, she was the first of his intimate +companions, and throughout a large part of his life remained one of +the most sympathetic of all his confidantes. As children they loved +each other tenderly, and his chivalrous protection of her led to his +being punished more than once without betraying her childish guilt. +Once when she arrived in time to confess, he asked her to avow nothing +the next time, as he liked to be scolded for her. + +[*] MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire, /Le Jeunesse de Balzac/, have correctly + observed that Balzac's sister, Madame Surville, has written a most + delicate and interesting book, but that she had not correctly + portrayed her brother because she was blinded by her devotion to + him. + +He it was who accompanied her to dances, but having had the misfortune +to slip and fall on one such occasion he was so sensitive to the +amused smiles of the ladies that he gave up dancing, and decided to +dominate society otherwise than by the graces and talents of the +drawing-room. Thus it was that he became merely a spectator of these +festivities, the memory of which he utilized later. + +It was to Laure that, in the strictest confidence, he sent the plan of +his first work, the tragedy /Cromwell/, writing it to be a surprise to +the rest of the family when finished. To her he looked for moral +support, asking her to have faith in him, for he needed some one to +believe in him. To her also he confided his ambitions early in his +career, saying that his two greatest desires were to be famous and to +be loved. + +Laure was married in May, 1820, to M. Midi de la Greneraye Surville, +and moved from her home in Villeparisis to Bayeux. When she became +homesick Balzac wrote her cheerful letters, suggesting various means +of employing her time. His admiration of her was such that he even +asked her to select for him a wife of her own type. He explained to +her that his affection was not diminished an atom by distance or by +silence, for there are torrents which make a terrible to-do and yet +their beds are dry in a few days, and there are waters which flow +quietly, but flow forever. + +Madame Surville seems to have been the impersonation of discretion and +appreciation; she was intimately acquainted with all the characters in +his work and made valuable suggestions; he was most happy when +discussing plans with her. He longed to have his glory reflect on his +family and make the name of Balzac illustrious. When carried away with +some beautiful idea, he seemed to hear her tender voice encouraging +him. he felt that were it not for her devotion to the duties of her +home, their intimacy might have become even more precious and that +stimulated by a literary atmosphere she might herself have become a +writer. + +He consulted her frequently with regard to literary help, once asking +her to use all her cleverness in writing out fully her ideas on the +subject of the /Deux Rencontres/, about which she had told him, for he +wished to insert them in the /Femme de trente Ans/. As early as 1822 +she received a similar request asking her to prepare for him a +manuscript of the /Vicaire des Ardennes/; she was to prepare the first +volume and he would finish it. And many years later (1842), Balzac +asked his sister to furnish him with ideas for a story for young +people. After the name of this story had been changed a few times, it +was published under the title of /Un Debut dans la Vie/. This explains +why Balzac used the following words in dedicating it to her: "To +Laure. May the brilliant and modest intellect that gave me the subject +of this scene have the honor of it!" This, however, was not the first +time he had honored her by dedicating one of his works to her, for in +1835 he inscribed to "Almae Sorori" a short story, /Les Proscrits/. + +Balzac was often depressed, and felt that even his own family was not +in sympathy with his efforts; he told his sister that the universe +would be startled at his works before his relations or friends would +believe in their existence. Yet he knew that they did appreciate him +to a certain extent, for his sister wrote him that in reading the +/Recherche de l'Absolu/, and thinking that her own brother was the +author of it, she wept for joy. + +In his youth, at all events, Balzac seems to have had no secrets from +his sister, and it is to her that the much disputed letter of +Saturday, October 12, 1833, was addressed. Their friendship was +sincere and devoted; and yet there were coolnesses, caused largely by +the influence of their mother,--and of M. Surville, whose jealous and +tyrannical disposition prevented their seeing each other as frequently +as they would have liked. She once celebrated her birthday by visiting +her brother, but she held her watch in her hand as she had only twenty +minutes for the meeting. For awhile, he could not visit her; later, +this estrangement was overcome, and after the first presentation of +his play /Vautrin/ (1840), his sister cared for him in her home during +his illness. + +Madame Surville performed many duties for her brother but was not +always skilful in allaying the demands of his creditors. On Balzac's +return from a visit to Madame Hanska in Vienna, he found that his +affairs were in great disorder, and that his sister, frightened at the +conditions, had pawned his silverware. In planning at a later date to +leave France, however, he did not hesitate to entrust his treasures to +his sister, saying that she would be a most faithful "dragon." He was +also wisely thoughtful of her; on one occasion when she had gone to a +masked ball contrary to her husband's wishes, Balzac went after her +and took her home without giving her time to go round the room. + +She evidently had more influence over their mother than had he, for he +asked her when on the verge of taking Madame de Balzac into his home +again, to assist him in making her reasonable: + + "If she likes, she can be very happy, but tell her that she must + encourage happiness and not frighten it away. She will have near + her a confidential attendant and a servant, and that she will be + taken care of in the way she likes. Her room is as elegant as I + can make it. . . . Make her promise not to object to what I wish + her to do as regards her dress: I do not wish her to be dressed + otherwise than as she /ought to be/, it would give me great + pain . . ." + +During his prolonged stay in Russia, he requested his sister to +conceal from their mother the true condition of his illness and the +uncertainty of his marriage, and to entreat her to avoid anything in +her letters which might cause him pain. Feeling that she would never +have allowed such a thing had she known of it, he informed her in +detail concerning their mother's letter which had caused him endless +trouble. + +While Madame Surville was a great stimulus to Balzac early in his +literary career, she in turn received the deepest sympathy from him in +her financial struggle, and, while he was so happy and was living in +such luxury in Russia, he only regretted that he could not assist her, +for he had enjoyed hospitality in her home. + +Madame Surville had at least one of her mother's traits--that of +continually harassing Balzac by trying to marry him to some rich +woman; once she had even chosen for him the goddaughter of Louis- +Philippe. But the most serious breach of relations between the two +resulted from her failure to approve of Balzac's adoration of Madame +Hanska. While admitting the extreme beauty of the celebrated Daffinger +portrait, she was jealous of his /Predilecta/. When she saw the bound +proofs of /La Femme superieure/ which he had intended for Madame +Hanska, she felt that she was being neglected. In the end, he robbed +his /Chatelaine/ to the profit of his /cara sorella/. But when she +became impatient at Balzac's prolonged stay at Wierzchownia, he +resented it, explaining that marriage is like cream--a change of +atmosphere would spoil it,--that bad marriages could be made with the +utmost ease, but good ones required infinite precautions and +scrupulous attention. He tried to make her see the advantage of this +marriage, writing her: + + "Consider, dear Laura, none of us are as yet, so to speak, + /arrived/; if, instead of being obliged to work in order to live, + I had become the husband of one of the cleverest, the best-born, + and best-connected of women, who is also possessed of a solid + though circumscribed fortune, in spite of the wish of the lady to + live retired, to have no intercourse even with the family, I + should still be in a position to be much better able to be of use + to you all. I have the certainty of the warm kindness and lively + interest which Madame Hanska takes in the dear children. Thus it + is more than a duty in my mother, and all belonging to me, to do + nothing to hinder me from the happy accomplishment of a union + which /before all is my happiness/. Again, it must not be + forgotten that this lady is illustrious, not only on account of + her high descent, but for her great reputation for wit, beauty, + and fortune (for she is credited with all the millions of her + daughter); she is constantly receiving proposals of marriage from + men of the highest rank and position. But she is something far + better than rich and noble; she is exquisitely good, with the + sweetness of an angel, and of an easy compatibility in daily life + which every day surprises me more and more; she is, moreover, + thoroughly pious. Seeing all these great advantages, the world + treats my hopes with something of mocking incredulity, and my + prospects of success are denied and derided on all sides. If we + were all to live . . . under the same roof, I could conceive the + difficulties raised by my mother about her dignity; but to keep on + the terms which are due to a lady who brings with her (fortune + apart) most precious social advantages, I think you need only + confine yourself to giving her the impression that my relations + are kind and affectionate amongst themselves, and kindly + affectionate towards the man she loves. It is the only way to + excite her interest and to preserve her influence, which will be + enormous. You may all of you, in a great fit of independence, say + you have no need of any one, that you intend to succeed by your + own exertions. But, between ourselves, the events of the last few + years must have proved to you that nothing can be done without the + help of others; and the social forces that we can least afford to + dispense with are those of our own family. Come, Laura, it is + something to be able, in Paris, to open one's /salon/ and to + assemble all the /elite/ of society, presided over by a woman who + is refined, polished, imposing as a queen, of illustrious descent, + allied to the noblest families, witty, well-informed, and + beautiful; there is a power of social domination. To enter into + any struggle whatever with a woman in whom so much influence + centers is--I tell you this in confidence--an act of insanity. Let + there be neither servility, nor sullen pride, nor susceptibility, + nor too much compliance; nothing but good natural affection. This + is the line of conduct prescribed by good sense towards such a + woman." + +One can see how Madame Surville would resent such a letter, especially +when she might have arranged another marriage, advantageous and +sensible, for him. But poor Balzac, knowing her interest in his +happiness, writes to her a joyful letter the day after his marriage: +"As to Madame de Balzac, what more can I say about her? I may be +envied for having won her: with the exception of her daughter, there +is no woman in this land who can compare with her. She is indeed the +diamond of Poland, the gem of this illustrious house of Rzewuski." +After explaining to her that this was a marriage of pure affection, as +his wife had given her fortune to her children and wished to live only +for them and for him, Balzac tells his sister that he hoped to present +Madame Honore de Balzac to her soon, signing the letter, "Your brother +Honore at the summit of happiness." + + +A great attraction for Balzac in the home of Madame Surville were his +two nieces, Sophie and Valentine, to whom he was devoted, and with +whom he frequently spent his evenings. The story is told that one +evening on entering his sister's home, he asked for paper and pencil, +which were given him. After spending about an hour, not in making +notes, as one might imagine, but in writing columns of figures and +adding them, he discovered that he owed fifty-nine thousand francs, +and exclaimed that his only recourse was to blow his brains out, or +throw himself into the Seine! When questioned by his niece Sophie in +tears as to whether he would not finish the novel he had begun for +her, he declared that he was wrong in becoming so discouraged, to work +for her would be a pleasure; he would no longer be depressed, but +would finish her book, which would be a masterpiece, sell it for three +thousand /ecus/, pay all his creditors within two years, amass a dowry +for her and become a peer of France! + +Balzac had forbidden his nieces to read his books, promising to write +one especially for them. The book referred to here is /Ursule Mirouet/ +which he dedicated to Sophie as follows: + + "To Mademoiselle Sophie Surville. + + "It is a real pleasure, my dear niece, to dedicate to you a book of + which the subject and the details have gained the approbation--so + difficult to secure--of a young girl to whom the world is yet + unknown, and who will make no compromise with the high principles + derived from a pious education. You young girls are a public to be + dreaded; you ought never to be permitted to read any books less + pure than your own pure souls, and you are forbidden certain + books, just as you are not allowed to see society as it really is. + Is it not enough, then, to make a writer proud, to know that he + has satisfied you? Heaven grant that affection may not have misled + you! Who can say? The future only, which you, I hope, will see, + though he may not, who is your uncle + "BALZAC." + +To Valentine Surville he dedicated /La Paix du Menage/. + +The novelist was interested in helping his sister find suitable +husbands for her daughters. He and Sophie had a wager as to which--she +or he--would marry first; so when Balzac finally reached his own long- +sought goal, he did not forget to remind his niece that she owed him a +wedding gift. + +Sophie became an accomplished musician, having for her master Ambroise +Thomas. Balzac spoke very lovingly of Valentine during her early +childhood; but she was so attractive that he feared she would be +spoiled. And spoiled she was, or perhaps naturally inclined to +indolence, for he wrote her a few years later: + + "I should be very glad to learn that Valentine studies as much as + the young Countess, who, besides all her other studies, practices + daily at her piano. The success of this education is owing to hard + work, which Miss Valentine shuns a little too much. Now, I say to + my dear niece that to do nothing except what we feel inclined to + do is the origin of all deterioration, especially in women. Rules + obeyed and duties fulfilled have been the law of the young + Countess from childhood, although she is an only child and a rich + heiress. . . . Thus I beg Valentine not to exhibit a Creole + /nonchalance/; but to listen to the advice of her sister, to + impose tasks on herself, and to do work of various sorts, without + neglecting the ordinary and daily cares of the household, and, + above all, constantly to withstand the inclination we all have, + more or less, to give ourselves up to what we find pleasant; it is + by this yielding to inclination that we deteriorate and fall into + misfortune." + +While Balzac was living in Wierzchownia, he urged his nieces to write +to him oftener, as the young Countess Anna took the greatest interest +in their chatter; they were like two nightingales coming by post to +enchant the Ukrainian solitude. He had portrayed them so well that all +took an interest in them, and their letters were called for first +whenever he received a package from Paris. He requested them to send +him certain favorite recipes, and planned to have Sophie play with the +young countess. + +Sophie seemed to have some of the traits of her grandmother; for the +novelist wrote his sister: + + "Sophie has traced out a catechism of what she considers /my + duties/ towards you, just as last year my mother wrote me a + catechism of my duties towards my nieces; it is a sort of cholera + peculiar to our family, to lecture uncles both at home and abroad. + I make fun if it, but all these little things are remarked upon, + which I do not like; then these blank pages make me furious. I + forgive Sophie on account of the /motif/, which is you, and for + all she and Valentine have done for your /fete/. Ah! if my wishes + are ever realized, how I shall enjoy introducing my dear nieces, + both so unspoiled by the devil! I have sung their praises here. I + have said Sophie is a great musician: I add, Valentine is a /man + of letters/, and she is tired with writing three pages." + + +If certain letters received by Balzac from his family irritated him, +he perhaps unconsciously was making his sister jealous by continually +extolling the young Countess Mniszech: + + "She has a genius, as well as a love, for music; if she had not + been an heiress, she would have been a great artiste. If she comes + to Paris in eighteen months or two years, she will take lessons in + thorough bass and composition. It is all she needs as regards + music. She has (without exaggeration) hands the size of a child of + eight years old. These minute, supple, white hands, three of which + I could hold in mine, have an iron power of finger, in the + proportion, like that of Liszt. The keys, not the fingers, bend; + she can compass ten keys by the span and elasticity of her + fingers; this phenomenon must be seen to be believed. Music, her + mother, and her husband: these three words sum up her character. + She is the Fenella of the fireside; the will-o'-wisp of our souls; + our gaiety; the life of the house. When she is not here, the very + walls are conscious of her absence--so much does she brighten them + by her presence. She had never known misfortune; she knows nothing + of annoyance; she is the idol of all who surround her, and she had + the sensibility and goodness of an angel: in one word, she unites + qualities which moralists consider incompatible; it is, however, + only a self-evident fact to all who know her. She is evidently + well informed, without pedantry; she has a delightful /naivete/; + and though long since married, she has still the gaiety of a + child, loving laughter like a little girl, which does not prevent + her from possessing a religious enthusiasm for great objects. + Physically, she has a grace even more beautiful than beauty, which + triumphs over a complexion still somewhat brown (she is hardly + sixteen);[*] a nose well formed, but not striking, except in the + profile; a charming figure, supple and /svelte/; feet and hands + exquisitely formed, and wonderfully small, as I have just + mentioned. All these advantages are, moreover, thrown into relief + by a proud bearing, full of race, by an air of distinction and + ease which all queens have not, and which is now quite lost in + France, where everybody wishes to be equal. This exterior--this + air of distinction--this look of a /grande dame/, is one of the + most precious gifts which God--the God of women can bestow. The + Countess Georges speaks four languages as if she were a native of + each of the countries whose tongue she knows so thoroughly. She + has a keenness of observation which astonishes me; nothing escapes + her. She is besides extremely prudent; and entirely to be relied + on in daily intercourse. There are no words to describe her, but + /perle fine/. Her husband adores her; I adore her; two cousins on + the point of /old-maidism/ adore her--she will always be adored, + as fresh reasons for loving her continually arise." + +[*] For the incorrectness of this statement, see the chapter on the + Countess Mniszech. + +Such adoration of Madame Hanska's daughter was enough to make Madame +Surville jealous, especially when she was so despondent over her +financial situation, but Balzac tried to cheer her thus: "You should +be proud of your two children, they have written two charming letters, +which have been much admired here. Two such daughters are the reward +of your life; you can afford to accept many misfortunes."[*] + +[*] Sophie Surville, the older daughter, whose matrimonial + possibilities were so much discussed, was finally unhappily + married to M. Mallet. She was a good harpist, and taught the harp. + She died without issue. Valentine was married, 1859, to M. Louis + Duhamel, a lawyer. She had a good voice for singing and literary + talent; she took charge of having Balzac's correspondence + published. She had two children; a daughter who became Mme. Pierre + Carrier-Belleuse, wife of an artist, and a son, /publiciste + distingue/. Laurence de Balzac had two sons; the older Alfred de + Montzaigle, dissipated, a friend of Musset, died in 1852 without + issue. The younger son, Alfonse, married Mlle. Caroline Jung; he + died in 1868 at Strasbourg. Of their three children, only one, + Paul de Montzaigle, lived. M. Surville-Duhamel, Mme. Pierre + Carrier-Belleuse, and M. de Montzaigle are the only living + relatives of Balzac. Mme. Belleuse and M. de Montzaigle have each + a little daughter. + + + MADAME SALLAMBIER--MADAME DE MONTZAIGLE--MADAME DE BRUGNOLLE-- + MADAME DELANNOY--MADAME DE POMMEREUL--MADAME DE MARGONNE + + "Ah we are fine specimens in this blessed family of ours! What a + pity we can't put ourselves into novels." + +Another member of Balzac's family circle was his affectionate and +amiable grandmother, whom he loved from childhood. After her husband's +death, Madame Sallambier lived with her daughter, Madame de Balzac. +She seems to have had a kind disposition, and having the requisite +means, she could indulge Honore in various ways. When he was brought +back from /college/ in wretched health, she condemned the schools for +their neglect. + +While studying at home, Balzac frequently spent his evenings playing +whist or Boston with her. Through voluntary inattention or foolish +plays, she allowed him to win money which he used to buy books. +Throughout his life he loved these games in memory of her. she +encouraged him in his writings, and when /L'Heritiere de Birague/ was +sold for eight hundred francs, he was sure of the sale of the /first/ +copy, for she had promised to buy it. He was devoted to her, and when +he had neglected writing to her for some time, he atoned by sending to +her a most affectionate letter. + +After the marriage of his sister Laure, Balzac kept her informed in +detail concerning the family life. Of his grandmother, we find the +following: + + "Grandmamma begs me to say all the pretty things she would write if + that unfortunate malady did not rob her of all her facilities! + Nevertheless she begins to think her head is better, and if the + spring comes there is every reason to hope she will recover her + wonted gaiety. . . . Grandmamma is suffering from a nervous + attack; . . . Papa says that grandmamma is a clever actress who + knows the value of a walk, of a glance, and how to fall gracefully + into an easy chair." + +If Madame Sallambier with her nervous attacks annoyed Balzac in his +youth, he spoke beautifully of her after her death, and referred to +her as his "grandmother who loved him," or his "most excellent +grandmother." In speaking of his grief over the death of Madame de +Berny, he said that never, since the death of his grandmother, had he +so deeply sounded the gulf of separation. One of his characteristics +he inherited from his grandmother, that of keeping trivial things +which had belonged to those he loved. + + +Not a great deal is said of Balzac's younger sister, Laurentia, but he +has left this pen picture of her: + + "On the whole you know that Laurentia is as beautiful as a picture + --that she has the prettiest of arms and hands, that her + complexion is pale and lovely. In conversation people give her + credit for plenty of sense, and find that it is all a natural + sense, which is not yet developed. She has beautiful eyes, and + though pale many men admire that. . . . You are not aware that + Laurentia has taken a violent fancy to Augustus de L----- . Say + nothing that might lead her to suspect I have betrayed the secret, + but I have all the trouble in the world to get it into her head + that authors are the most villainous of matches (in respect of + fortune, be it understood). Really Laurentia is quite romantic. + How she would hate me if she knew with what irreverence I allude + to her tender attachment." + +This attachment was evidently not very serious, for not long afterward +Laurentia was married to Monsieur de Montzaigle. His family had a +title and stood well in the town, so Laurentia's parents were pleased +with the marriage. This was a great event in the family, and Balzac +describes to his married sister, Laure, the accompanying excitement in +the home: + + "Grandmamma is in a great state of delight; papa is quite + satisfied,--so am I,--so are you. As to mamma, recall the last + days of your own /demoisellerie/, and you will have some idea of + what Laurentia and I have to endure. Nature surrounds all roses + with thorns: mamma follows nature."[*] + +[*] It was from the father of Laurentia's husband that M. and Madame + de Berny bought their home in Villeparisis. + +The happiness of poor Laurentia was of short duration. She died five +years after her marriage, having two children. Her husband did not +prove to be what the Balzac family had expected, and her children were +left destitute for Madame de Balzac to care for. Balzac always spoke +tenderly of her, and once in despair he exclaimed that at times he +envied his poor sister Laurentia, who had been lying for many years in +her coffin. + + +After Balzac's return from St. Petersburg, his letters were filled +with allusions to Madame de Brugnolle, his housekeeper and financial +counselor. He brought presents to various friends, and her he +presented with a muff. Besides being very practical, economical and +kind, she was a good manager for Balzac financially and strict with +him regarding his diet; the /bonne montagnarde/ did almost everything +possible, from running his errands to making his home happy. He sent +business letters under her name, and her fidelity and devotion are +seen in her denying herself clothes in order to buy household +necessities for him. + +She served the novelist as a spy when he and Gavault disagreed. When +Lirette visited Paris, she treated her very kindly and gave up her own +room in order to arrange comfortable quarters for her. She had some +relatives who had entered a convent, and she talked of ending her days +in one, but Balzac begged her to keep house for him. He felt that she +was born for that! Madame de Brugnolle was of much help to him in +looking after Lirette's financial affairs, visiting her in the +convent, and carrying messages to her from him. Many times she +comforted him by promising to look out for his family, even consenting +to go to Wierzchownia, if necessary, as Lirette's visit had helped her +to realize as never before the angelic sweetness of his /Loup/. + +In return for this devotion, he took her with him to Frankfort and to +Bury to visit Madame de Bocarme. He celebrated the birthday of the +/montagnarde/ in 1844, giving her some very attractive presents. Her +economy and devotion seemed to increase with time, and enabled him to +travel without any worry about his home. What must not have been the +trial to him when this happy household came to be broken up later by +her marriage! + + +Madame Delannoy was an old family friend of the Balzacs. She aided +Balzac in his financial troubles as early in his career as 1826, and +though he remained indebted to her for more than twenty years, he +tried to repay her and was ever grateful to her, calling her his +second mother. The following, written late in his career, reveals his +general attitude towards her: + + "I have just written a long letter to Madame Delannoy, with whom I + have settled my business; but this still leaves me with + obligations of conscientiousness towards her, which my first book + will acquit. No one could have behaved more like a mother, or been + more adorable than she has been throughout all this business. She + has been a mother, I will be a son." + +But if she remained one of his principal creditors, she received many +literary proofs of his appreciation. As early as 1831 he dedicated to +her a volume of his /Romans et Contes philosophiques/, but later +changed the title to /Etudes philosophiques/, and dedicated to her /La +Recherche de L'Absolu/: + + "To Madame Josephine Delannoy, nee Doumerg. + + "Madame, may God grant that this book have a longer life than mine! + The gratitude which I have vowed to you, and which I hope will + equal your almost maternal affection for me, would last beyond the + limits prescribed for human feeling. This sublime privilege of + prolonging the life in our hearts by the life of our works would + be, if there were ever a certainty in this respect, a recompense + for all the labor it costs those whose ambition is such. Yet again + I say: May God grant it! + + "DE BALZAC." + +Balzac once thought of buying from Madame Delannoy a house that was +left her by her friend, M. Ferraud, but which she could not keep. He +felt that this would be advantageous to them both, but the plan was +never carried out. Besides their financial and literary relations, +their social relations were most cordial. He speaks of accompanying +her and her daughter to the Italian opera twice during the absence of +Madame Visconti. + +In 1842, Balzac dedicated /La Maison-du-Chat-qui-pelote/ to +Mademoiselle Marie de Montbeau, the daughter of Camille Delannoy, a +friend of his sister, and the granddaughter of Madame Delannoy. + + +Another friend of Balzac's family was Madame de Pommereul. In the fall +of 1828 after his serious financial loss, Balzac went to visit Baron +and Madame de Pommereul in Brittany, where he obtained the material +for /Les Chouans/, and became familiar with the chateau de Fougere. To +please Madame de Pommereul, Balzac changed the name of his book from +/Le Gars/ to /Les Chouans/, after temporarily calling it /Le Dernier +Chouan/. + +She has given a beautiful pen portrait of the youthful Balzac in which +she describes minutely his appearance, noting his beautiful hands, his +intelligent forehead and his expressive golden brown eyes. There was +something in his manner of speaking, in his gestures, in his general +appearance, so much goodness, confidence, naivete and frankness that +it was impossible to know him without loving him, and his exuberant +good nature was infectious. In spite of his misfortunes, he had not +been in their company a quarter of an hour, and they had not even +shown him to his room, before he had brought the general and herself +to tears with laughter. + + "On some evenings he remained in the drawing-room in company with + his hosts, and entered into controversies with Madame de + Pommereul, who, being very pious herself, tried to persuade him to + make a practice of religion; while Balzac, in return, when the + discussion was exhausted, endeavored to teach her the rules of + backgammon. But the one remained unconverted and the other never + mastered the course of the noble game. Occasionally he helped to + pass the time by inventing stories, which he told with all the + vividness of which he was master." + +A few months after this prolonged visit, Balzac wrote to General de +Pommereul, expressing his deep appreciation of their hospitality, and +in speaking of the book which he had just written, hoped that Madame +de Pommereul would laugh at some details about the butter, the +weddings, the stiles, and the difficulties of going to the ball, etc., +which he had inserted in his work,--if she could read it without +falling asleep. + +Balzac made perhaps his most prolonged visits in the home of another +old family friend, M. de Margonne, who was living with his wife at +Sache. He describes his life there thus: + + "Sache is the remains of a castle on the Indre, in one of the most + delicious valleys of Touraine. The proprietor, a man of fifty- + five, used to dandle me on his knee. He has a pious and intolerant + wife, rather deformed and not clever. I go there for him; and + besides, I am free there. They accept me throughout the region as + a child; I have no value whatever, and I am happy to be there, + like a monk in a monastery. I always go there to meditate serious + works. The sky there is so blue, the oaks so beautiful, the calm + so vast! . . . Sache is six leagues from Tours. But not a woman, + not a conversation possible!" + +Not only did Balzac visit them when he wished to compose a serious +work, but he often went there to recuperate from overwork. He probably +did not enjoy their company, as he spoke of "having" to dine with them +and he is perhaps even chargeable with ingratitude when he speaks of +their parsimony. + +Like his own family, these old people were interested in seeing him +married to a rich lady, but to no avail. In spite of his unkind +remarks about them, Balzac appreciated their hospitality, and +expressed it by dedicating to M. de Margonne /Une Tenebreuse Affaire/. + + + MADAME CARRAUD--MADAME NIVET + + "You are my public, you and a few other chosen souls, whom I wish + to please; but yourself especially, whom I am proud to know, you + whom I have never seen or listened to without gaining some + benefit, you who have the courage to aid me in tearing up the evil + weeds from my field, you who encourage me to perfect myself, you + who resemble so much that angel to whom I owe everything; in + short, you who are so good towards my ill-doings. I alone know how + quickly I turn to you. I have recourse to your encouragements, + when some arrow has wounded me; it is the wood-pigeon regaining + its nest. I bear you an affection which resembles no other, and + which can have no rival, because it is alone of its kind. It is so + bright and pleasant near you! From afar, I can tell you, without + fear of being put to silence, all I think about your mind, about + your life. No one can wish more earnestly that the road be smooth + for you. I should like to send you all the flowers you love, as I + often send above your head the most ardent prayers for your + happiness." + +Balzac's friendship with Madame Zulma Carraud was not only of the +purest and most beautiful nature, but it lasted longer than his +friendship with any other woman, terminating only with his death. It +was even more constant than that with his sister Laure, which was +broken at times. Though Madame Surville states that it began in 1826, +the following passage shows an earlier date: "I embrace you, and press +you to a heart devoted to you. A friendship as true and tender now in +1838 as in 1819. Nineteen years!" The first letter to her in either +edition of his correspondence, however, is dated 1826. + +Madame Carraud, as Zulma Tourangin, attended the same convent as +Balzac's sister Laure. Her husband was a distinguished officer in the +artillery and a man of learning, but absolutely lacking in ambition, +preferring to direct the instruction of Saint-Cyr rather than to risk +the chances of advancement presented in active service. He became +inspector of the gunpowder manufactory at Angouleme, and later retired +to his home at Frapesle, near Issoudun. Though an excellent husband, +his inactivity was a great annoyance to his wife. According to several +Balzacian writers, Madame Carraud became the type of the /femme +incomprise/ for Balzac, but the present writer is inclined to agree +with M. Serval when he calls this judgment astonishing, since she was +a woman who adored her husband and sons, was an author of some moral +books for children, and nothing in her suggested either vagueness of +soul or melancholy. Madame Carraud herself gives a glimpse of her +married life in saying to Balzac that she and her husband are not +sympathetic in everything, that being of different temperaments things +appear differently to them, but that she knows happiness, and her life +is not empty. + +Often when sick, discouraged, overworked or pursued by his creditors, +Balzac sought refuge in her home, and with a pure and disinterested +maternal affection, she calmed him and inspired him with courage to +continue the battle of life. It was indeed the maternal element that +he needed and longed for, and Madame Carraud seems to have been a rare +mother who really understood her child. He confided in her not only +his financial worries, but also his love affairs, his aspirations in +life, and his ideas of woman: + + "I care more for the esteem of a few persons, amongst whom you are + one of the first, both in friendship and in high intellect--one of + the noblest souls I have ever known,--than I care for the esteem + of the masses, for whom I have, in truth, a profound contempt. + There are some vocations that must be obeyed, and something drags + me irresistibly towards glory and power. It is not a happy life. + There is in me a worship of woman, and a need of loving, which has + never been completely satisfied. Despairing of ever being loved + and understood as I desire, by the woman I have dreamt of (never + having met her, except under one form--that of the heart), I have + thrown myself into the tempestuous region of political passions + and into the stormy and parching atmosphere of literary glory. + . . . If ever I should find a wife and a fortune, I could resign + myself very easily to domestic happiness; but where are these + things to be found? Where is the family which would have faith in + a literary fortune? It would drive me mad to owe my fortune to a + woman, unless I loved her, or to owe it to flatteries; I am + obliged, therefore, to remain isolated. In the midst of this + desert, be assured that friendships such as yours, and the + assurance of finding a shelter in a loving heart, are the best + consolations I can have. . . . To dedicate myself to the happiness + of a woman is my constant dream, but I do not believe marriage and + love can exist in poverty. . . . I work too hard and I am too much + worried with other things to be able to pay attention to those + sorrows which sleep and make their nest in the heart. It may be + that I shall come to the end of my life, without having realized + the hopes I entertained from them. . . . As regards my soul, I am + profoundly sad. My work alone keeps me alive. Will there never be + a woman for me in this world? My fits of despondency and bodily + weariness come upon me more frequently, and weigh upon me more + heavily; to sink under this crushing load of fruitless labor, + without having near me the gentle caressing presence of woman, for + whom I have worked so much!" + +Though Balzac and his mother were never congenial, he became very +lonely after she left him in 1832. In the autumn of that year he had a +break with the Duchesse de Castries, so he began the new year by +summing up his trials and pouring forth his longings to Madame Carraud +as he could do to no other woman, not even to his /Dilecta/. In +response to this despondent epistle, she showed her broad sympathetic +friendship by writing him a beautiful and comforting letter, in which +she regretted not being able to live in Paris with him, so as to see +him daily and give him the desired affection. + +Not only through the hospitality of her home, but by sending various +gifts, she ministered to Balzac's needs or caprices. To make his study +more attractive, she indulged his craving for elegance and grace by +surprising him with the present of a carpet and a lovely tea service. +In thanking her for her thoughtfulness, he informed her that she had +inspired some of the pages in the /Medicin de Campagne/. + +Besides being so intimate a friend of Madame Carraud, the novelist was +also a friend of M. Carraud, whom he called "Commandant Piston," and +discussed his business plans with him before going to Corsica and +Sardinia to investigate the silver mines. M. Carraud had a fine +scientific mind; he approved of Balzac's scheme, and thought of going +with him; his wife was astonished on hearing this, since he never left +the house even to look after his own estate. However, his natural +habit asserted itself and he gave up the project. + +Madame Carraud was much interested in politics, and many of Balzac's +political ideas are set forth in his letters to her when he was a +candidate for the post of deputy. She reproached him for a mobility of +ideas, an inconstancy of resolution, and feared that the influence of +the Duchesse de Castries had not been good for him. To this last +accusation, he replied that she was unjust, and that he would never be +sold to a party for a woman. + +Another tie which united Balzac to Madame Carraud was her sympathy for +his devotion to Madame de Berny, of whom she was not jealous. Both +women were devoted to him, and were friendly towards each other, so +much so that in December, 1833, she invited Balzac to bring Madame de +Berny with him to spend several days in her home at Frapesle. This he +especially appreciated, since neither his mother nor his sister +approved of his relations with his /Dilecta/. + +Madame Carraud occupied in Balzac's life a position rather between +that of Madame de Berny and that of a sister. Indeed, he often +referred to her as a sister, and she was generous minded enough to ask +him not to write to her when she learned how unpleasant his mother and +sister were in regard to his writing to his friends. + +Seeing his devotion to her, one can understand why he begged her to +spare him neither counsels, scoldings nor reproaches, for all were +received kindly from her. One can perceive also the sincerity of the +following expressions of friendship: + + "You are right, friendship is not found ready made. Thus every day + mine for you increases; it has its root both in the past and in + the present. . . . Though I do not write often, believe that my + friendship does not sleep; the farther we advance in life, + precious ties like our friendship only grow the closer. . . . I + shall never let a year pass without coming to inhabit my room at + Frapesle. I am sorry for all your annoyances; I should like to + know you are already at home, and believe me, I am not averse to + an agricultural life, and even if you were in any sort of hell, I + would go there to join you. . . . Dear friend, let me at least + tell you now, in the fulness of my heart, that during this long + and painful road four noble beings have faithfully held out their + hands to me, encouraged me, loved me, and had compassion on me; + and you are one of them, who have in my heart an inalienable + privilege and priority over all other affections; every hour of my + life upon which I look back is filled with precious memories of + you. . . . You will always have the right to command me, and all + that is in me is yours. When I have dreams of happiness, you + always take part in them; and to be considered worthy of your + esteem is to me a far higher prize than all the vanities the world + can bestow. No, you can give me no amount of affection which I do + not desire to return to you a thousand-fold. . . . There are a few + persons whose approval I desire, and yours is one of those I hold + most dear." + +Among those to whom Balzac could look for criticism, Madame Carraud +had the high intelligence necessary for such a role; he felt that +never was so wonderful an intellect as hers so entirely stifled, and +that she would die in her corner unknown. (Perhaps this estimate of +her caused various writers to think that Madame Carraud was Balzac's +model for the /femme incomprise/.) Balzac not only had her serve him +as a critic, but in 1836 he requested her to send him at once the +names of various streets in Angouleme, and wished the "Commandant" to +make him a rough plan of the place. This data he wanted for /Les deux +Poetes/, the first part of /Les Illusions perdues/. + +Like his family and some of his most intimate friends, she too +interested herself in his future happiness, but when she wrote to him +about marriage, he was furious for a long time. Concerning this +question, Balzac informs her that a woman of thirty, possessing three +or four hundred thousand francs, who would take a fancy to him, would +find him willing to marry her, provided she were gentle, sweet- +tempered and good-looking, although enormous sacrifices would be +imposed on him by this course. Several months later, he writes her +that if she can find a young girl twenty-two years of age, worth two +hundred thousand francs or even one hundred thousand, she must think +of him, provided the dowry can be applied to his business. + +If the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul is correct in his statement, +Balzac showed Madame Carraud the first letter from /l'Etrangere/, in +spite of his usual extreme prudence and absolute silence in such +matters. She answered it, so another explanation of Balzac's various +handwritings might be given. At least, Madame Carraud's seal was used. + +In later years, Madame Carraud met with financial reverses. The +following letter, which is the last to her on record, shows not only +what she had been to Balzac in his life struggle, but his deep +appreciation and gratitude: + + "We are such old friends, you must not hear from any one else the + news of the happy ending of this grand and beautiful soul-drama + which has been going on for sixteen years. Three days ago I + married the only woman I have ever loved, whom I love more than + ever, and whom I shall love to my life's end. I believe this is + the reward God has kept in store for me through so many years of + neither a happy youth nor a blooming spring; I shall have the most + brilliant summer and the sweetest of all autumns. Perhaps, from + this point of view, my most happy marriage will seem to you like a + personal consolation, showing as it does that Providence keeps + treasures in store to bestow on those who endure to the end. . . . + Your letter has gained for you the sincerest of friends in the + person of my wife, from whom I have had no secrets for a long time + past, and she has known you by all the instances of your greatness + of soul, which I have told her, also by my gratitude for your + treasures of hospitality toward me. I have described you so well, + and your letter has so completed your portrait, that now you are + felt to be a very old friend. Also, with the same impulse, with + one voice, and with one and the same feeling in our hearts, we + offer you a pleasant little room in our house in Paris, in order + that you may come there absolutely as if it were your own house. + And what shall I say to you? You are the only creature to whom we + could make this offer, and you must accept it or you would deserve + to be unfortunate, for you must remember that I used to go to your + house, with the sacred unscrupulousness of friendship, when you + were in prosperity, and when I was struggling against all the + winds of heaven, and overtaken by the high tides of the equinox, + drowned in debts. I have it now in my power to make the sweet and + tender reprisals of gratitude . . . You will have some days' + happiness every three months: come more frequently if you will; + but you are to come, that is settled. I did this in the old times. + At St. Cyr, at Angouleme, at Frapesle, I renewed my life for the + struggle; there I drew fresh strength, there I learned to see all + that was wanting in myself; there I obtained that for which I was + thirsty. You will learn for yourself all that you have + unconsciously been to me, to me a toiler who was misunderstood, + overwhelmed for so long under misery, both physical and moral. Ah! + I do not forget your motherly goodness, your divine sympathy for + those who suffer. . . . Well, then as soon as you wish to come to + Paris, you will come without even letting us know. You will come + to the Rue Fortunee exactly as to your own house, absolutely as I + used to go to Frapesle. I claim this as my right. I recall to your + mind what you said to me at Angouleme, when broken down after + writing /Louis Lambert/, ill, and as you know, fearing lest I + should go mad. I spoke of the neglect to which these unhappy ones + are abandoned. 'If you were to go mad, I would take care of you.' + Those words, your look, and your expression have never been + forgotten. All this is still living in me now, as in the month of + July 1832. It is in virtue of that word that I claim your promise + to-day, for I have almost gone mad with happiness. . . . When I + have been questioned here about my friendships you have been + named the first. I have described that fireside always burning, + which is called Zulma, and you have two sincere woman-friends + (which is an achievement), the Countess Mniszech and my wife."[*] + +[*] Balzac is not exaggerating about the free use he made of her home, + for besides going there for rest, he worked there, and two of his + works, /La Grenadiere/ and /La Femme abandonnee/, were signed at + Angouleme. + +His devotion is again seen in the beautiful words with which he +dedicates to her in 1838 /La Maison Nucingen/: + + "To Madame Zulma Carraud. + + "To whom, madame, but to you should I inscribe this work, to you + whose lofty and candid intellect is a treasury to your friends, to + you who are to me not only an entire public, but the most + indulgent of sisters? Will you deign to accept it as a token of a + friendship of which I am proud? You, and some few souls as noble + as your own, will grasp my thought in reading /la Maison Nucingen/ + appended to /Cesar Birotteau/. Is there not a whole social + contrast between the two stories? + + "DE BALZAC." + +While hiding from his creditors, Balzac took refuge with Madame +Carraud at Issoudun, where he assumed the name of Madame Dubois to +receive his mail. Here he met some people whose names he made immortal +by describing them in his /Menage de Garcon/, called later /La +Rabouilleuse/. The priest Badinot introduced him to /La Cognette/, the +landlady to whom the vineyard peasant sold his wine. La Cognette, some +of whose relatives are still living, plays a minor role in the +/Comedie humaine/. Her real name was Madame Houssard; her husband, +whom Balzac incorrectly called "Pere Cognet," kept a little cabaret in +the rue du Bouriau. "Mere Cognette," who lost her husband about 1835, +opened a little café at Issoudun during the first years of her +widowhood. Balzac was an intermittent and impecunious client of hers; +he would enter her shop, quaff a cup of coffee, execrable to the +palate of a connoisseur like him, and "chat a bit" with the good old +woman who probably unconsciously furnished him with curious material. + +The coffee drunk, the chat over, Balzac would strike his pockets, and +declaring they were empty, would exclaim: "Upon my word, Mere +Cognette, I have forgotten my purse, but the next time I'll pay for +this with the rest!" This habit gave "Mere Cognette" an extremely +mediocre estimate of the novelist, and she retained a very bad +impression of him. Upon learning that he had, as she expressed it, +"put me in one of his books," she conceived a violent resentment which +ended only with her death (1855). "The brigand," she exclaimed, "he +would have done better to pay me what he owes me!" + +Another poor old woman, playing a far more important role in Balzac's +work, lived at Issoudun and was called "La Rabouilleuse." For a long +time, she had been the servant and mistress of a physician in the +town. This wretched creature had an end different to the one Balzac +gave his Rabouilleuse, but just as miserable, for having grown old, +sick, despoiled and without means, she did not have the patience to +wait until death sought her, but ended her miserable existence by +throwing herself into a well. + +The doctor, it seems, at his death had left her a little home and some +money, but his heirs had succeeded in robbing her of it entirely.-- +Perhaps this story is the origin of the contest of Dr. Rouget's heirs +with his mistress. + +This Rabouilleuse had a daughter who inherited her name, there being +nothing else to inherit; she was a dish washer at the Hotel de la +Cloche, where Balzac often dined while at Issoudun. Can it be that he +saw her there and learned from her the story of her mother? + + +Balzac was acquainted also with Madame Carraud's sister, Madame +Philippe Nivet. M. Nivet was an important merchant of Limoges, living +in a pretty, historical home there. It was in this home that Balzac +visited early in his literary career, going there partly in order to +visit these friends, partly to see Limoges, and partly to examine the +scene in which he was going to place one of his most beautiful novels, +/Le Cure de Village/. While crossing a square under the conduct of the +young M. Nivet, Balzac perceived at the corner of the rue de la +Vieille-Poste and the rue de la Cite an old house, on the ground-floor +of which was the shop of a dealer in old iron. With the clearness of +vision peculiar to him, he decided that this would be a suitable +setting for the work of fiction he had already outlined in his mind. +It is here that are unfolded the first scenes of /Le Cure de Village/, +while on one of the banks of the Vienne is committed the crime which +forms the basis of the story. + + + + CHAPTER III + + LITERARY FRIENDS + + + MADAME GAY--MADAME HAMELIN--MADAME DE GIRARDIN--MADAME + DESBORDES-VALMORE--MADAME DORVAL + + "O matre pulchra filia pulchrior!" + +Though Balzac did not go out in "society" a great deal, he was +fortunate in associating with the best literary women of his time, and +in knowing the charming Madame Sophie Gay, whose salon he frequented, +and her three daughters. Elisa, the eldest of these, was married to +Count O'Donnel. Delphine was married June 1, 1831, to Emile de +Girardin, and Isaure, to Theodore Garre, son of Madame Sophie Gail, an +intimate friend of Madame Gay. These two women were known as "Sophie +la belle" and "Sophie la laide" or "Sophie de la parole" and "Sophie +de la musique." Together they composed an /opera-comique/ which had +some success. In 1814, Madame Gay wrote /Anatole/, an interesting +novel which Napoleon is said to have read the last night he passed at +Fontainebleau before taking pathetic farewell of his guard. A few +years before this, she wrote another novel which met with much +success, /Leonine de Monbreuse/, a study of the society and customs of +the /Directoire/ and of the Empire. + +Madame Gay had made a literary center of her drawing-room in the rue +Gaillon where she had grouped around her twice a week not only many of +the literary and artistic celebrities of the epoch, but also her +acquaintances who had occupied political situations under the Empire. +Madame Gay, who had made her debut under the /Directoire/, had been +rather prominent under the Empire, and under the Restoration took +delight in condemning the government of the Bourbons. Introduced into +this company, though yet unknown to fame, Balzac forcibly impressed +all those who met him, and while his physique was far from charming, +the intelligence of his eyes reveled his superiority. Familiar and +even hilarious, he enjoyed Madame Gay's salon especially, for here he +experienced entire liberty, feeling no restraint whatever. At her +receptions as in other salons of Paris, his toilet, neglected at times +to the point of slovenliness, yet always displayed some distinguishing +peculiarity. + +Having acquired some reputation, the young novelist started to carry +about with him the enormous and now celebrated cane, the first of a +series of magnificent eccentricities. A quaint carriage, a groom whom +he called Anchise, marvelous dinners, thirty-one waistcoats bought in +one month, with the intention of bringing this number to three hundred +and sixty-five, were only a few of the number of bizarre things, which +astonished for a moment his feminine friends, and which he laughingly +called /reclame/. Like many writers of this epoch, Balzac was not +polished in the art of conversing. His conversation was but little +more than an amusing monologue, bright and at times noisy, but +uniquely filled with himself, and that which concerned him personally. +The good, like the evil, was so grossly exaggerated that both lost all +appearance of truth. As time went on, his financial embarrassments +continually growing and his hopes of relieving them increasing in the +same proportion, his future millions and his present debts were the +subject of all his discourses. + +Madame Gay was by no means universally beloved. In her sharp and +disagreeable voice she said much good of herself and much evil of +others. She had a mania for titles and was ever ready to mention some +count, baron or marquis. In her drawing-room, Balzac found a direct +contrast to the Royalist salon of the beautiful Duchesse de Castries +which he frequented. In both salons, he met a society entirely +unfamiliar to him, and acquainted himself sufficiently with the +conventions of these two spheres to make use of them in his novels. + +The /Physiologie du Mariage/, published anonymously in December, 1829, +gave rise to a great deal of discussion. According to Spoelberch de +Lovenjoul, two women well advanced in years, Madame Sophie Gay and +Madame Hamelin, are supposed to have inspired the work, and even to +have dictated some of its anecdotes least flattering to their sex. +This Madame Hamelin, born in Guadeloupe about 1776, was the marvel of +the /Directoire/, and several times was sent on secret missions by +Napoleon. The role she played under the /Directoire/, the /Consulat/ +and the Empire is not clear, but she was a confidential friend of +Chateaubriand, lived in the noted house called the /Madeleine/, near +the forest of Fontainebleau, and wrote about it as did Madame de +Sevigne about /Les Rochers/. While living there, she received her +Bonapartist friends as well as her Legitimist friends. Having lived in +a society where life means enjoyment, she had many anecdotes to +relate. She was a fine equestrienne, a most beautiful dancer, +apparently naturally graceful, and bore the sobriquet of /la jolie +laide/. Her marriage to the banker, M. Hamelin, together with her +accomplishments, secured her a place in the society of the +/Directoire/. Balzac, in a letter to Madame Hanska, refers to her as +/une vieille celebrite/, and states that she wept over the letter of +Madame de Mortsauf to Felix in /Le Lys dans la Vallee/. It is +interesting to note that he later built his famous house and breathed +his last in the rue Fortunee to which Madame Hamelin gave her +Christian name, since it was cut through her husband's property, the +former Beaujon Park, and that it became in 1851 the rue Balzac. + + +Delphine Gay, the beautiful and charming daughter of Madame Sophie +Gay, was called "the tenth muse" by her friends, who admired the +sonorous original verses which she recited as a young girl in her +mother's salon. She became, in June, 1831, the wife of Emile de +Girardin, the founder of the /Presse/. Possessing in her youth, a +/bellezza folgorante/, Madame de Girardin was then in all the splendor +of her beauty; her magnificent features, which might have been too +pronounced for a young girl, were admirably suited to the woman and +harmonized beautifully with her tall and statuesque figure. Sometimes, +in the poems of her youth, she spoke as an authority on the subject of +"the happiness of being beautiful." It was not coquetry with her, it +was the sentiment of harmony; her beautiful soul was happy in dwelling +in a beautiful body. + +She held receptions for her friends after the opera, and Balzac was +one of the frequenters of her attractive salon. Of her literary +friends she was especially proud. According to Theophile Gautier, this +was her coquetry, her luxury. If in some salon, some one--as was not +unusual at that time--attacked one of her friends, with what eloquent +anger did she defend them! What keen repartees, what incisive sarcasm! +On these occasions, her beauty glowed and became illuminated with a +divine radiance; she was magnificent; one might have thought Apollo +was preparing to flay Marsyas! + + "Madame de Girardin professed for Balzac a lively admiration to + which he was sensible, and for which he showed his gratitude by + frequent visits; a costly return for him who was, with good right, + so avaricious of his time and of his working hours. Never did + woman possess to so high a degree as Delphine,--we were allowed to + call her by this familiar name among ourselves--the gift of + drawing out the wit of her guests. With her, we always found + ourselves in poetical raptures, and each left her salon amazed at + himself. There was no flint so rough that she could not cause it + to emit one spark; and with Balzac, as you may well believe, there + was no need of trying to strike fire; he flashed and kindled at + once." (Theophile Gautier, /Life Portraits, Balzac/.) + +Balzac was interested in the occult sciences--in chiromancy and +cartomancy. He had been told of a sibyl even more astonishing than +Mademoiselle Lenormand, and he resolved that Madame de Girardin, Mery +and Theophile Gautier should drive with him to the abode of the +pythoness at Auteuil. The address given them was incorrect, only a +family of honest citizens living there, and the old mother became +angry at being taken for a sorceress. They had to make an ignominious +retreat, but Balzac insisted that this really was the place and +muttered maledictions on the old woman. Madame de Girardin pretended +that Balzac had invented all this for the sake of a carriage drive to +Auteuil, and to procure agreeable traveling companions. But if +disappointed on this occasion, Balzac was more successful at another +time, when with Madame de Girardin he visited the "magnetizer," M. +Dupotet, rue du Bac. + +Besides enjoying for a long time the "happiness of being beautiful," +Delphine also enjoyed almost exclusively, in her set, that of being +good. In this respect, she was superior to her mother who for the sake +of a witticism, never hesitated to offend another. She had but few +enemies, and, wishing to have none, tried to win over those who were +inimical towards her. For twenty-five years she played the diplomat +among all the rivals in talent and in glory who frequented her salon +in the rue Laffitte or in the Champs-Elysees. She prevented Victor +Hugo from breaking with Lamartine; she remained the friend of Balzac +when he quarreled with her autocratic husband. She encouraged Gautier, +she consoled George Sand; she had a charming word for every one; and +always and everywhere prevailed her merry laughter--even when she +longed to weep. But her cheery laugh was not her highest endowment; +her greatest gift was in making others laugh. + +Balzac had a sincere affection for Delphine Gay and enjoyed her salon. +In his letters to her he often addressed her as /Cara/ and /Ma chere +ecoliere/. Her poetry having been converted into prose by her prosaic +husband, she submitted her writings to Balzac as to an enlightened +master. He asked /Delphine Divine/ to write a preface for his /Etudes +de Femmes/, but she declined, saying that an habitue of the opera who +could so transform himself so as to paint the admirable Abbe +Birotteau, could certainly surpass her in writing /une preface de +femme/. She did, however, write the sonnet on the /Marguerite/ which +Lucien de Rubempre displayed as one of the samples of his volume of +verses to the publisher Dauriat; also /Le Chardon/. Balzac made use of +this poem, however, only in the original edition of his work; it was +replaced in the /Comedie humaine/ by another sonnet, written probably +by Lassailly. Madame de Girardin brings her master before the public +by mentioning his name in her /Marguerite, ou deux Amours/, where a +personage in the book tells about Balzac's return from Austria and his +inability to speak German when paying the coachman. + +It was at the home of Madame de Girardin that Lamartine met Balzac for +the first time, June, 1839. He asked her to invite Balzac to dinner +with him that he might thank him, as he was just recovering from an +illness during which he had "simply lived" on the novels of the +/Comedie humaine/. The invitation she wrote Balzac runs as follows: +"M. de Lamartine is to dine with me Sunday, and wishes absolutely to +dine with you. Nothing would give him greater pleasure. Come then and +be obliging. He has a sore leg, you have a sore foot, we will take +care of both of you, we will give you some cushions and footstools. +Come, come! A thousand affectionate greetings." And Lamartine has left +this appreciation of her and her friendship for Balzac: + + "Madame Emile de Girardin, daughter of Madame Gay who had reared + her to succeed on her two thrones, the one of beauty, the other of + wit, had inherited, moreover, that kindness which inspires love + with admiration. These three gifts, beauty, wit, kindness, had + made her the queen of the century. One could admire her more or + less as a poetess, but, if one knew her thoroughly, it was + impossible not to love her as a woman. She had some passion, but + no hatred. Her thunderbolts were only electricity; her + imprecations against the enemies of her husband were only anger; + that passed with the storm. It was always beautiful in her soul, + her days of hatred had no morrow. . . . She knew my desire to know + Balzac. She loved him, as I was disposed to love him myself. . . . + She felt herself in unison with him, whether through gaiety with + his joviality, through seriousness with his sadness, or through + imagination with his talent. He regarded her also as a rare + creature, near whom he could forget all the discomforts of his + miserable existence." + +A few years after their meeting, Lamartine inquired Balzac's address +of Madame de Girardin, as she was one of the few people who knew where +he was hiding on account of his debts. Balzac was appreciative of the +many courtesies extended to him by Madame de Girardin and was +delighted to have her received by his friends, among whom was the +Duchesse de Castries. + +Madame de Girardin made constant effort to keep the peace between +Balzac and her husband, the potentate of the /Presse/. Balzac had +known Emile de Girardin since 1829, having been introduced to him by +Levavasseur, who had just published his /Physiologie du Mariage/. +Later Balzac took his Verdugo to M. de Girardin which appeared in /La +Mode/ in which Madame de Girardin and her mother were collaborating; +but these two men were too domineering and too violent to have +amicable business dealings with each other for any length of time. +Balzac, while being /un bourreau d'argent/, would have thought himself +dishonored in subordinating his art to questions of commercialism; M. +de Girardin only esteemed literature in so far as it was a profitable +business. They quarreled often, and each time Madame de Girardin +defended Balzac. + +Their first serious controversy was in 1834. Balzac was no longer +writing for /La Mode/; he took the liberty of reproducing elsewhere +some of his articles which he had given to this paper; M. de Girardin +insisted that they were his property and that his consent should have +been asked. Madame de Girardin naturally knew of the quarrel and had a +difficult role to play. If she condemned Balzac, she would be lacking +in friendship; if she agreed with him, she would be both disrespectful +to her husband and unjust. Like the clever woman that she was, she +said both were wrong, and when she thought their anger had passed, she +wrote a charming letter to Balzac urging him to come dine with her, +since he owed her this much because he had refused her a short time +before. She begged that they might become good friends again and enjoy +the beautiful days laughing together. He must come to dinner the next +Sunday, Easter Sunday, for she was expecting two guests from Normandy +who had most thrilling adventures to relate, and they would be +delighted to meet him. Again, her sister, Madame O'Donnel, was ill, +but would get up to see him, for she felt that the mere sight of him +would cure her. + +Anybody but Balzac would have accepted this invitation of Madame de +Girardin's, were it only to show his gratitude for what she had done +for him; but Balzac was so fiery and so mortified by the letter of M. +de Girardin that, without taking time to reflect, he wrote to Madame +Hanska: + + "I have said adieu to that mole-hill of Gay, Emile de Girardin and + Company. I seized the first opportunity, and it was so favorable + that I broke off, point-blank. A disagreeable affair came near + following; but my susceptibility as man of the pen was calmed by + one of my college friends, ex-captain in the ex-Royal Guard, who + advised me. It all ended with a piquant speech replying to a + jest." + +However, in answering the invitation of Madame de Girardin, Balzac +wrote most courteously expressing his regrets at Madame O'Donnel's +illness and pleading work as his excuse for not accepting. This did +not prevent the ardent peacemaker from making another attempt. Taking +advantage of her husband's absence a few weeks later, she invited +Balzac to lunch with Madame O'Donnel and herself. But time had not yet +done its work, so Balzac declined, saying it would be illogical for +him to accept when M. de Girardin was not at home, since he did not go +there when he was present. The following excerpts from his letters, +declining her various invitations, show that Balzac regarded her as +his friend: + + "The regret I experience is caused quite as much by the blue eyes + and blond hair of a lady who I believe to be my friend--and whom I + would gladly have for mine--as by those black eyes which you + recall to my remembrance, and which had made an impression on me. + But indeed I can not come. . . . Your /salon/ was almost the only + one where I found myself on a footing of friendship. You will + hardly perceive my absence; and I remain alone. I thank you with + sincere and affectionate feeling, for your kind persistence. I + believe you to be actuated by a good motive; and you will always + find in me something of devotion towards you in all that + personally concerns yourself." + +Her attempts to restore the friendship were futile, owing to the +obstinacy of the quarrel, but she eventually succeeded by means of her +novel, /La Canne de Monsieur de Balzac/. In describing this cane as a +sort of club made of turquoises, gold and marvelous chasings, Madame +de Girardin incidentally compliments Balzac by making Tancrede observe +that Balzac's large, black eyes are more brilliatn than these gems, +and wonder how so intellectual a man can carry so ugly a cane. + +This famous cane belongs to-day to Madame la Baronne de Fontenay, +daughter of Doctor Nacquart. In October, 1850, Madame Honore de Balzac +wrote a letter to Doctor Nacquart, Balzac's much loved physician, +asking him to accept, as a souvenir of his illustrious friend, this +cane which had created such a sensation,--the entire mystery of which +consisted in a small chain which she had worn as a young girl, and +which had been used in making the knob. There has been much discussion +as to its actual appearance. He describes it to Madame Hanska (March +30, 1835), as bubbling with turquoise on a chased gold knob. The +description of M. Werdet can not be relied on, for he states that +Gosselin brought him the cane in October, 1836, and that Balzac +conceived the idea of it while at a banquet in prison, but, as has +been shown, the cane was in existence as early as March, 1835, and +Madame de Girardin's book appeared in May, 1836. As to the description +of the cane given by Paul Lacroix, the Princess Radziwill states that +the cane owned by him is the one that Madame Hanska gave Balzac, and +which he afterwards discarded for the gaudier one he had ordered for +himself. This first cane was left by him to his nephew, Edouard +Lacroix. Several years later (1845), Balzac had Froment Meurice make a +cane /aux singes/ for the Count George de Mniszech, future son-in-law +of Madame Hanska, so the various canes existing in connection with +Balzac may help to explain the varying descriptions. + +Balzac could not remain indifferent after Madame de Girardin had thus +brought his celebrated cane into prominence. He was absent from Paris +when the novel appeared, and scarcely had he returned when he wrote +her (May 27, 1836), cordially thanking her as an old friend. He also +after this made peace with M. de Girardin. But one difficulty was +scarcely settled before another began, and the ever faithful Delphine +was continually occupied in trying to establish peace. Her numerous +letters to Balzac are filled with such expressions as: "Come +to-morrow, come to dinner. Come, we can not get along without you! +Come, Paris is an awful bore. We need you to laugh. Come dine with us, +come! Come!!! Now come have dinner with us to-morrow or day after +to-morrow, to-day, or even yesterday, every day!! A thousand greetings +from Emile." Thus with her hospitality and merry disposition, she +bridged many a break between her husband and Balzac. + +Finally, not knowing what to do, she decided not to let Balzac mention +the latest quarrel. When he referred to it, she replied: "Oh, no, I +beg you, speak to Theophile Gautier. If is not for nothing that I have +given him charge of the /feuilleton/ of the /Presse/. That no longer +concerns me, make arrangements with him." Then she counseled her +husband to have Theophile Gautier direct this part of the /Presse/ in +order not to contend with Balzac, but the novelist was so unreasonable +that M. de Girardin had to intervene. "My beautiful Queen," once wrote +Theophile to Delphine, "if this continues, rather than be caught +between the anvil Emile and the hammer Balzac, I shall return my apron +to you. I prefer planting cabbage or raking the walls of your garden." +To this, Madame de Girardin replied: "I have a gardener with whom I am +very well satisfied, thank you; continue to maintain order /du +palais/." + +The relations between M. de Girardin and the novelist became so +strained that Balzac visited Madame de Girardin only when he knew he +would not encounter her husband. M. de Girardin retired early in the +evening; his wife received her literary friends after the theater or +opera. At this hour, Balzac was sure not to meet her husband, whose +non-appearance permitted the intimate friends to discuss literature at +their ease. + +Although Madame de Girardin was married to a publicist, she did not +like journalists, so she conceived the fancy of writing a satirical +comedy, /L'Ecole des Journalistes/, in which she painted the +journalists in rather unflattering colors. The work was received by +the committee of the Theatre-Francais, but the censors stopped the +performance. Balzac was angry at this interdiction, for he too +disliked journalists, but Madame de Girardin took the censorship +philosophically. In her salon she read /L'Ecole des Journalistes/ to +her literary friends; there Balzac figured prominently, dressed for +this occasion in his blue suit with engraved gold buttons, making his +coarse Rabelaisian laughter heard throughout the evening. + +Balzac's fame increased with the years, but he still regarded the +friendship of Madame de Girardin among those he most prized, and in +1842 he dedicated to her /Albert Savarus/. When she moved into the +little Greek temple in the Champs-Elysees, she was nearer Balzac, who +was living at that time in the rue Basse at Passy, so their relations +became more intimate. Yet when, after his return from St. Petersburg +where he had visited Madame Hanska in 1843, the /Presse/ published the +scandalous story about his connection with the Italian forger, he +vowed he would never see again the scorpions Gay and Girardin. + +Madame de Girardin regretted Balzac's not being a member of the +Academy. In 1845, a chair being vacant, she tried to secure it for +him. Although her salon was not an "academic" one, she had several +friends who were members of the Academy and she exerted her influence +with them in his behalf; when, after all her solicitude, he failed to +gain a place among the "forty immortals," she had bitter words for +their poor judgment, Balzac at that time being at the zenith of his +reputation. Some time before this, too, she promised to write a +/feuilleton/ on the great conversationalists of the day, maintaining +that Balzac was one of the most brilliant; and she was thoughtful in +inserting in her /feuilleton/ a few gracious words about his recent +illness and recovery. + +Balzac confided to Madame de Girardin his all absorbing passion for +Madame Hanska. She knew of the secret visit of the "Countess" to Paris +and of his four days' visit with her in Wiesbaden. She knew all the +noble qualities and countless charms of the adored "Countess," but +never having seen her, she felt that Madame Hanska did not fully +reciprocate the passionate love of her /moujik/. Becoming ironical, +she called Balzac a /Vetturino per amore/, and told him she had heard +that Madame Hanska was, to be sure, exceedingly flattered by his +homage and made him follow wherever she went--but only through vanity +and pride,--that she was indeed very happy in having for /patito/ a +man of genius, but that her social position was too high to permit his +aspiring to any other title. + +When the /Avant-Propos/ of the /Comedie humaine/ was reprinted in the +/Presse/, October 25, 1846, it was preceded by a very flattering +introduction written by Madame de Girardin. She continued to entertain +the novelist, sending him many amusing invitations. In spite of the +"Potentate of the /Presse/," her friendship with Balzac lasted until +1847, when she had to give him up. + +The ever faithful Delphine knew of Balzac's financial embarrassment +and persuaded her husband to postpone pressing him for the debts which +he had partially paid before setting out for the Ukraine. The +Revolution of February seriously affected Balzac's financial matters. +After the death of Madame O'Donnel, in 1841, Madame de Girardin's +friendship lost a part of its charm for Balzac and the rest of it +vanished in these troubles. Since the greater part of the last few +years of Balzac's life was spent in the Ukraine, she saw but little of +him, but she hoped for his return with his long sought bride to the +home he had so lovingly prepared for her in the rue Fortunee. + +Whether Balzac was fickle in his nature, or whether he was trying to +convince Madame Hanska that she was the only woman for whom he cared, +one finds, throughout his letters to her, various comments on Madame +de Girardin, some favorable, some otherwise. He admired her beauty +very much, and was saddened when, at the height of her splendor, she +was stricken with smallpox. He was grateful to her for the service she +rendered him in arranging for the first presentation of his play +/Vautrin/, throughout the misfortune attending this production she +proved to be a true friend. Although he accepted her hospitality +frequently, at times being invited to meet foreigners, among them the +German Mlle. De Hahn, enjoying himself immensely, he regretted the +time he sacrificed in this manner, and when he quarreled with her +husband, he expressed his happiness in severing his relations with +them. While a charming hostess at a small dinner party, she became, +Balzac felt, a less agreeable one at a large reception, her talents +not being sufficient to conceal her /bourgeois/ origin. + +Madame de Girardin was in the country near Paris when she heard the +sad news of the death of the author of the /Comedie humaine/. The +shock was so great that she fainted, and, on regaining consciousness, +wept bitterly over the premature death of her fried. A few years +before her own death, in 1855, Madame de Girardin was greatly +depressed by painful disappointments. The death of Balzac may be +numbered as one of the sad events which discouraged, in the decline of +life, the heart and the hope of this noble woman. + + +Madame Desbordes-Valmore was another literary woman whom Balzac met in +the salon of Madame Sophie Gay, where she and Delphine recited poetry. +Losing her mother at an early age under especially sad circumstances +and finding her family destitute, after long hesitation, she resigned +herself to the stage. Though very delicate, by dint of studious +nights, close economy and many privations, she prepared herself for +this work. At this time she contracted a /habit/ of suffering which +passed into her life. She played at the /Opera Comique/ and recited +well, but did not sing. At the age of twenty her private griefs +compelled her to give up singing, for the sound of her own voice made +her weep. So from music she turned to poetry, and her first volume of +poems appeared in 1818. She began her theatrical career in Lille, +played at the Odeon, Paris, and in Brussels, where she was married in +1817 to M. Valmore, who was playing in the same theater. Though she +went to Lyons, to Italy, and to the Antilles, she made her home in +Paris, wandering from quarter to quarter. + +Of her three children, Hippolyte, Undine (whose real name was +Hyacinthe) and Ines, the two daughters passed away before her. Her +husband was honor and probity itself, and suffered only as a man can, +from compulsory inaction. He asked but for honest employment and the +privilege to work. She was so sensitive and felt so unworthy that she +did not call for her pension after it was secured for her by her +friends, Madame Recamier and M. de Latouche. A letter written by her +to Antoine de Latour (October 15, 1836) gives a general idea of her +life: "I do not know how I have slipped through so many shocks,--and +yet I live. My fragile existence slipped sorrowfully into this world +amid the pealing bells of a revolution, into whose whirlpool I was +soon to be involved. I was born at the churchyard gate, in the shadow +of a church whose saints were soon to be desecrated." + +She was indeed a "tender and impassioned poetess, . . . one who united +an exquisite moral sensibility to a thrilling gift of song. . . . Her +verses were doubtless the expression of her life; in them she is +reflected in hues both warm and bright; they ring with her cries of +love and grief. . . . Hers was the most courageous, tender and +compassionate of souls." + +A letter written to Madame Duchambye (December 7, 1841), shows what +part she played in Balzac's literary career: + + "You know, my other self, that even ants are of some use. And so it + was I who suggested, not M. de Balzac's piece, but the notion of + writing it and the distribution of the parts, and then the idea of + Mme. Dorval, whom I love for her talent, but especially for her + misfortunes, and because she is dear to me. I have made such a + moan, that I have obtained the sympathy and assistance of--whom do + you guess?--poor Thisbe, who spends her life in the service of the + /litterrateur/. She talked and insinuated and insisted, until at + last he came up to me and said, 'So it shall be! My mind is made + up! Mme. Dorval shall have a superb part!' And how he laughed! + . . . Keep this a profound secret. Never betray either me or poor + Thisbe, particularly our influence on behalf of Mme. Dorval." + +His friendship for her is seen in a letter written to her in 1840: + + "Dear Nightingale,--Two letters have arrived, too brief by two + whole pages, but perfumed with poetry, breathing the heaven whence + they come, so that (a thing which rarely happens with me) I + remained in a reverie with the letters in my hand, making a poem + all alone to myself, saying, 'She has then retained a recollection + of the heart in which she awoke an echo, she and all her poetry of + every kind.' We are natives of the same country, madame, the + country of tears and poverty. We are as much neighbors and fellow- + citizens as prose and poetry can be in France; but I draw near to + you by the feeling with which I admire you, and which made me + stand for an hour and ten minutes before your picture in the + Salon. Adieu! My letter will not tell you all my thoughts; but + find by intuition all the friendship which I have entrusted to it, + and all the treasures which I would send you if I had them at my + disposal." + +Soon after Balzac met Madame Hanska, he reserved for her the original +of an epistle from Madame Desbordes-Valmore which he regarded as a +masterpiece. Balzac's friendship for the poetess, which began so early +in his literary life, was a permanent one. Just before leaving for his +prolonged visit in Russia, he wrote her a most complimentary letter in +which he expressed his hopes of being of service to M. Valmore at the +Comedie Francaise, and bade her good-bye, wishing her and her family +much happiness. + +Madame Desbordes-Valmore was one of the three women whom Balzac used +as a model in portraying some of the traits of his noted character, +Cousin Bette. He made Douai, her native place, the setting of /La +Recherche de l'Absolu/, and dedicated to her in 1845 one of his early +stories, /Jesus-Christ en Flandres/: + + "To Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, + + "To you, daughter of Flanders, who are one of its modern glories, I + dedicate this naïve tradition of old Flanders. + + "DE BALZAC." + + +Though Balzac's first play, and first attempt in literature, +/Cromwell/, was a complete failure, this did not deter him from +longing to become a successful playwright. After having established +himself as a novelist, he turned again to this field of literature. +Having written several plays, he was acquainted, naturally, with the +leading actresses of his day; among these was Madame Dorval, whom he +liked. He purposed giving her the main role in /Les Ressources de +Quinola/, but when he assembled the artists to hear his play, he had +not finished it, and improvised the fifth act so badly that Madame +Dorval left the room, refusing to accept her part. + +Again, he wished her to take the leading role in /La Maratre/ (as the +play was called after she had objected to the name, /Gertrude, +Tragedie bourgeoise/). To their disappointment, however, the theater +director, Hostein, gave the heroine's part to Madame Lacressoniere; +the tragedy was produced in 1848. The following year, while in Russia, +Balzac sketched another play in which Madame Dorval was to have the +leading role, but she died a few weeks later. + +Mademoiselle Georges was asked to take the role of Brancadori in /Les +Ressources de Quinola/, presented for the first time on March 19, +1842, at the Odeon. + +Balzac was acquainted with Mademoiselle Mars also, and was careful to +preserve her autograph in order to send it to his "Polar Star," when +the actress wrote to him about her role in /La grande Mademoiselle/. + + + LA DUCHESSE D'ABRANTES + + "She has ended like the Empire." + +Another of Balzac's literary friends was Madame Laure Junot, the +Duchesse d'Abrantes. She was an intimate friend of Madame de Girardin +and it was in the salon of the latter's mother, Madame Sophie Gay, +that Balzac met her. + +The Duchesse d'Abrantes, widow of Marechal Junot, had enjoyed under +the Empire all the splendors of official life. Her salon had been one +of the most attractive of her epoch. Being in reduced circumstances +after the downfall of the Empire and having four children (Josephine, +Constance, Napoleon and Alfred) to support, her life was a constant +struggle to obtain a fortune and a position for her children. But as +she had no financial ability, and had acquired very extravagant +habits, the money she was constantly seeking no sooner entered her +hands than it vanished. Wishing to renounce none of her former +luxuries, she insisted upon keeping her salon as in former days, +trying to conceal her poverty by her gaiety; but it was a sorrowful +case of /la misere doree/. + +Feeling that luxury was as indispensable to her as bread, and finding +her financial embarrassment on the increase, she decided to support +herself by means of her pen. She might well have recalled the wise +words of Madame de Tencin when she warned Marmontel to beware of +depending on the pen, since nothing is more casual. The man who makes +shoes is sure of his pay; the man who writes a book or a play is never +sure of anything. + +Though the Generale Junot belonged to a society far different from +Balzac's they had many things in common which brought him frequently +to her salon. Balzac realized the necessity of frequenting the salon, +saying that the first requisite of a novelist is to be well-bred; he +must move in society as much as possible and converse with the +aristocratic /monde/. The kitchen, the green-room, can be imagined, +but not the salon; it is necessary to go there in order to know how to +speak and act there. + +Though Balzac visited various salons, he presented a different +appearance in the drawing-room of Madame d'Abrantes. The glories of +the Empire overexcited him to the point of giving to his relations +with the Duchesse a vivacity akin to passion. The first evening, he +exclaimed: "This woman has seen Napoleon as a child, she has seen him +occupied with the ordinary things of life, then she has seen him +develop, rise and cover the world with his name! She is for me a saint +come to sit beside me, after having lived in heaven with God!: This +love of Balzac for Napoleon underwent more than one variation, but at +this time he had erected in his home in the rue de Cassini a little +altar surmounted by a statue of Napoleon, with this inscription: "What +he began with the sword, I shall achieve with the pen." + +When Balzac first met the Duchesse d'Abrantes, she was about forty +years of age. It is probably she whom he describes thus, under the +name of Madame d'Aiglemont, in /La Femme de trente Ans/: + + "Madame d'Aiglemont's dress harmonized with the thought that + dominated her person. Her hair was gathered up into a tall coronet + of broad plaits, without ornament of any kind, for she seemed to + have bidden farewell forever to elaborate toilets. Nor were any of + the small arts of coquetry which spoil so many women to be + detected in her. Only her bodice, modest though it was, did not + altogether conceal the dainty grace of her figure. Then, too, the + luxury of her long gown consisted in an extremely distinguished + cut; and if it is permissible to look for expression in the + arrangement of materials, surely the numerous straight folds of + her dress invested her with a great dignity. Moreover, there may + have been some lingering trace of the indelible feminine foible in + the minute care bestowed upon her hand and foot; yet, if she + allowed them to be seen with some pleasure, it would have tasked + the utmost malice of a rival to discover any affectation in her + gestures, so natural did they seem, so much a part of old childish + habit, that her careless grace absolves this vestige of vanity. + All these little characteristics, the nameless trifles which + combine to make up the sum of a woman's beauty or ugliness, her + charm or lack of charm, can not be indicated, especially when the + soul is the bond of all the details and imprints on them a + delightful unity. Her manner was in perfect accord with her figure + and her dress. Only in certain women at a certain age is it given + to put language into their attitude. Is it sorrow, is it happiness + that gives to the woman of thirty, to the happy or unhappy woman, + the secret of this eloquence of carriage? This will always be an + enigma which each interprets by the aid of his hopes, desires, or + theories. The way in which she leaned both elbows on the arm of + her chair, the toying of her inter-clasped fingers, the curve of + her throat, the freedom of her languid but lithesome body which + reclined in graceful exhaustion, the unconstraint of her limbs, + the carelessness of her pose, the utter lassitude of her + movements, all revealed a woman without interest in life. . . ." + +Balzac's parents having moved from Villeparisis to Versailles, he had +an excellent opportunity of seeing the Duchess while visiting them, as +she was living at that time in the Grand-Rue de Montreuil No. 65, in a +pavilion which she called her /ermitage/. In /La Femme de trente Ans/, +Balzac has described her retreat as a country house between the church +and the barrier of Montreuil, on the road which leads to the Avenue de +Saint-Cloud. This house, built originally for the short-lived loves of +some great lord, was situated so that the owner could enjoy all the +pleasures of solitude with the city almost at his gates. + +Soon after their meeting, a sympathetic friendship was formed between +the two writers; they had the same literary aspirations, the same love +for work, the same love of luxury and extravagant tastes, the same +struggles with poverty and the same trials and disappointments. + +Since Balzac was attracted to beautiful names as well as to beautiful +women, that of the Duchesse d'Abrantes appealed to him, independently +of the wealth of history it recalled. He was happy to make the +acquaintance of one who could give him precise information of the +details of the /Directoire/ and of the Empire, an instruction begun by +the /commere Gay/. Thus the Duchesse d'Abrantes was to exercise over +him, though in a less degree, the same influence for the comprehension +of the Imperial world that Madame de Berry did for the Royalist world, +just as the Duchesse de Castries later was to initiate him into the +society of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. + +Madame d'Abrantes, pleased as she was to meet literary people, +welcomed most cordially the young author who came to her seeking +stories of the Corsican. Owing to financial difficulties she was +leading a rather retired and melancholy life, and the brilliant and +colorful language of Balzac, fifteen years her junior, aroused her +heart from its torpor, and her friendship for him took a peculiar +tinge of sentiment which she allowed to increase. It had been many +years since she had been thus moved, and this new feeling, which came +to her as she saw the twilight of her days approaching, was for her a +love that meant youth and life itself. + +Hence her words pierced the very soul of Balzac and kindled an +enthusiasm which made her appear to him greater than she really was; +she literally dazzled and subjugated him. Her gaiety and animation in +relating incidents of the Imperial court, and her autumnal sunshine, +its rays still glowing with warmth as well as brightness, compelled +Balzac to perceive for the second time in his life the insatiability +of the woman who has passed her first youth--the woman of thirty, or +the tender woman of forty. The fact is, however, not that Balzac +created /la femme sensible de guarante ans/, as is stated by Philarete +Chasles, so much as that two women of forty, Madame de Berny and +Madame d'Abrantes, created him. + +This affection savored of vanity in both; she was proud that at her +years she could inspire love in a man so much younger than herself, +while Balzac, whose affection was more of the head than of the heart, +was flattered--it must be confessed--in having made the conquest of a +duchess. Concealing her wrinkles and troubles under an adorable smile, +no woman was better adapted than she to understand "the man who bathed +in a marble tub, had no chairs on which to sit or to seat his friends, +and who built at Meudon a very beautiful house without a flight of +stairs."[*] + +[*] This house, /Les Jardies/, was at Ville-d'Avray and not at Meudon. + +But the love on Balzac's side must have been rather fleeting, for many +years later, on March 17, 1850, he wrote to his old friend, Madame +Carraud, announcing his marriage with Madame Hanska: "Three days ago I +married the only woman I have ever loved." Evidently he had forgotten, +among others, the poor Duchess, who had passed away twelve years +before. + +But how could Balzac remain long her ardent lover, when Madame de +Berny, of whom Madame d'Abrantes was jealous, felt that he was leaving +her for a duchess? And how could he remain more than a friend to +Madame Junot, when the beautiful Duchesse de Castries was for a short +time complete mistress of his heart,[*] and was in her turn to be +replaced by Madame Hanska? The Duchess could probably understand his +inconstancy, for she not only knew of his attachment to Madame de +Castries but he wrote her on his return from his first visit to Madame +Hanska at Neufchatel, describing the journey and saying that the Val +de Travers seemed made for two lovers. + +[*] It is an interesting coincidence that the Duchess whose star was + waning had been in love with the fascinating Austrian ambassador, + Comte de Metternich, and the Duchess who was to take her place, + was just recovering from an amorous disappointment in connection + with his son when she met Balzac. + +Knowing Balzac's complicated life, one can understand how, having gone +to Corsica in quest of his Eldorado just before the poor Duchess +breathed her last, he could write to Madame Hanska on his return to +Paris: "The newspapers have told you of the deplorable end of the poor +Duchesse d'Abrantes. She has ended like the Empire. Some day I will +explain her to you,--some good evening at Wierzschownia." + +Balzac wished to keep his visits to Madame d'Abrantes a secret from +his sister, Madame Surville, and some obscurity and a "mysterious +pavilion" is connected with their manner of communication. For a while +she visited him frequently in his den. He enjoyed her society, and +though oppressed by work, was quite ready to fix upon an evening when +they could be alone. + +It was not without pain that she saw his affection for her becoming +less ardent while hers remained fervent. She wrote him tender letters +inviting him to dine with her, or to meet some of her friends, +assuring him that in her /ermitage/ he might feel perfectly at home, +and that she regarded him as one of the most excellent friends Heaven +had preserved for her. + + "Heaven grant that you are telling me the truth, and that indeed I + may always be for you a good and sincere friend. . . . My dear + Honore, every one tells me that you no longer care for me. . . . I + say that they lie. . . . You are not only my friend, but my + sincere and good friend. I have kept for you a profound affection, + and this affection is of a nature that does not change. . . . Here + is /Catherine/, here is my first work. I am sending it to you, and + it is the heart of a friend that offers it to you. May it be the + heart of a friend that receives it! . . . My soul is oppressed on + account of this, but it is false, I hope." + +Balzac continued to visit her occasionally, and there exists a curious +specimen of his handwriting written (October, 1835) in the album of +her daughter, Madame Aubert. He sympathized with the unfortunate +Duchess who, raised to so high a rank, had fallen so low, and tried to +cheer her in his letters: + + "You say you are ill and suffering, and without any hope that finer + weather will do you any good. Remember that for the soul there + arises every day a fresh springtime and a beautiful fresh morning. + Your past life has no words to express it in any language, but it + is scarcely a recollection, and you cannot judge what your future + life will be by that which is past. How many have begun to lead a + fresh, lovely, and peaceful life at a much more advanced age than + yours! We exist only in our souls. You cannot be sure that your + soul has come to its highest development, nor whether you receive + the breath of life through all your pores, nor whether as yet you + see with all your eyes." + +Being quite a linguist, Madame d'Abrantes began her literary career by +translations from the Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, and by writing +novels, in the construction of which, Balzac advised her. As she had +no business ability, he was of great assistance to her also in +arranging for the publication of her work: + + "In the name of yourself, I entreat you, do not enter into any + engagement with anybody whatsoever; do not make any promise, and + say that you have entrusted your business to me on account of my + knowledge of business matters of this kind, and of my unalterable + attachment to yourself personally. I believe I have found what I + may call /living money/, seventy thousand healthy francs, and some + people, who will jump out of themselves, to dispose in a short + time of 'three thousand d'Abrantes,' as they say in their slang. + Besides, I see daylight for a third and larger edition. If + Mamifere (Mame) does not behave well, say to him, 'My dear sir, M. + de Balzac has my business in his charge still as he had on the day + he presented you to me; you must feel he has the priority over the + preference you ask for.' This done, wait for me. I shall make you + laugh when I tell you what I have concocted. If Everat appears + again, tell him that I have been your attorney for a long time + past in these affairs, when they are worth the trouble; one or two + volumes are nothing. But twelve or thirteen thsousand francs, oh! + oh! ah! ah! things must not be endangered. Only manoeuver + cleverly, and, with that /finesse/ which distinguishes Madame the + Ambassadress, endeavor to find out from Mame how many volumes he + still has on hand, and see if he will be able to oppose the new + edition by slackness of sale or excessive price. + + "Your entirely devoted." + (H. DE BALZAC.) + +Such assistance was naturally much appreciated by a woman so utterly +ignorant of business matters. But if Balzac aided the Duchess, he +caused her publishers much annoyance, and more than once he received a +sharp letter rebuking him for interfering with the affairs of Madame +d'Abrantes. + +It was doubtless due to the suggestion of Balzac that Madame +d'Abrantes wrote her /Memoires/. He was so thrilled by her vivid +accounts of recent history, that he was seized with the idea that she +had it in her power to do for a brilliant epoch what Madame Roland +attempted to do for one of grief and glory. He felt that she had +witnessed such an extraordinary multiplicity of scenes, had known a +remarkable number of heroic figures and great characters, and that +nature had endowed her with unusual gifts. + +A few years before her death, /La Femme abandonnee/ was dedicated: + + "To her Grace the Duchesse d'Abrantes, + + "from her devoted servant, + + "HONORE DE BALZAC." + +If such was the role played by Balzac in the life of Madame +d'Abrantes, how is she reflected in the /Comedie humaine/? + +It is a well known fact that Balzac not only borrowed names from +living people, but that he portrayed the features, incidents and +peculiarities of those with whom he was closely associated. In the +/Avant-propos de la Comedie humaine/, he writes: "In composing types +by putting together traits of homogeneous natures, I might perhaps +attain to the writing of that history forgotten by so many +historians,--the history of manners." + +In fact, he too might have said: "I take my property wherever I find +it;" accordingly one would naturally look for characteristics of +Madame d'Abrantes in his earlier works. + +According to M. Joseph Turquain, Mademoiselle des Touches, in +/Beatrix/, generally understood to be George Sand, has also some of +the characteristics of Madame d'Abrantes. Balzac describes +Mademoiselle des Touches as being past forty and /un peu homme/, which +reminds one that the Countess Dash describes Madame d'Abrantes as +being rather masculine, with an /organe de rogome/, and a virago when +past forty. Calyste became enamored of Beatrix after having loved +Mademoiselle des Touches, while Balzac became infatuated with Madame +de Castries after having been in love with Madame d'Abrantes, in each +case, the blonde after the brunette. + +Mademoiselle Josephine, the elder and beloved daughter of Madame +d'Abrantes, entered the Convent of the Sisters of Charity of Saint- +Vincent de Paul, contrary to the desires of her mother. In writing to +the Duchess (1831), Balzac asks that Sister Josephine may not forget +him in her prayers, for he is remembering her in his books. Balzac may +have had her in mind a few years later when he said of Mademoiselle de +Mortsauf in /Le Lys dans la Vallee/: "The girl's clear sight had, +though only of late, seen to the bottom of her mother's heart. . . ." +for Mademoiselle Josephine entered the convent for various reasons, +one being in order to relieve the financial strain and make marriage +possible for her younger sister, another perhaps being to atone for +the secret she probably suspected in the heart of her mother, and +which she felt was not complimentary to the memory of her father. And +also, in /La Recherche de l'Absolu/: "There comes a moment, in the +inner life of families, when the children become, either voluntarily +or involuntarily, the judges of their parents." + +In writing the introduction to the /Physiologie du Mariage/, Balzac +states that here he is merely the humble secretary of two women. He is +doubtless referring to Madame d'Abrantes as one of the two when he +says: + + "Some days later the author found himself in the company of two + ladies. The first had been one of the most humane and most + intellectual women of the court of Napoleon. Having attained a + high social position, the Restoration surprised her and caused her + downfall; she had become a hermit. The other, young, beautiful, + was playing at that time, in Paris, the role of a fashionable + woman. They were friends, for the one being forty years of age, + and the other twenty-two, their aspirations rarely caused their + vanity to appear on the same scene. 'Have you noticed, my dear, + that in general women love only fools?'--'/What are you saying, + Duchess?/' "[*] + +[*] M. Turquain states that Madame Hamelin is one of these women and + that the Duchesse d'Abrantes in incontestably the other. For a + different opinion, see the chapter on Madame Gay. The italics are + the present writer's. + +In /La Femme abandonnee/, Madame de Beauseant resembles the Duchess as +portrayed in this description: + + "All the courage of her house seemed to gleam from the great lady's + brilliant eyes, such courage as women use to repel audacity or + scorn, for they were full of tenderness and gentleness. The + outline of that little head, . . . the delicate, fine features, + the subtle curve of the lips, the mobile face itself, wore an + expression of delicate discretion, a faint semblance of irony + suggestive of craft and insolence. It would have been difficult to + refuse forgiveness to those two feminine failings in her in + thinking of her misfortunes, of the passion that had almost cost + her her life. Was it not an imposing spectacle (still further + magnified by reflection) to see in that vast, silent salon this + woman, separated from the entire world, who for three years had + lived in the depths of a little valley, far from the city, alone + with her memories of a brilliant, happy, ardent youth, once so + filled with fetes and constant homage, now given over to the + horrors of nothingness? The smile of this woman proclaimed a high + sense of her own value." + +In the postscript to the /Physiologie du Mariage/, Balzac mentions a +gesture of one of these "intellectual" women, who interrupts herself +to touch one of her nostrils with the forefinger of her right hand in +a coquettish manner. In /La Femme abandonnee/, Madame de Beauseant has +the same gesture. Another gesture of Madame de Beauseant in /La Femme +abandonnee/ indicates that Balzac had in mind the Duchesse d'Abrantes: +". . . Then, with her other hand, she made a gesture as if to pull the +bell-rope. The charming gesture, the gracious threat, no doubt, called +up some sad thought, some memory of her happy life, of the time when +she could be wholly charming and graceful, when the gladness of her +heart justified every caprice, and gave one more charm to her +slightest movement. The lines of her forehead gathered between her +brows, and the expression of her face grew dark in the soft candle- +light. . . ." The Duchesse d'Abrantes had on two occasions rung to +dismiss her lovers, M. de Montrond and General Sebastiani. Balzac had +doubtless heard her relate these incidents, and they are contained in +the /Journal intime/, which she gave him.[*] + +[*] Madame d'Abrantes presented several objects of a literary nature + to Balzac, among others, a book of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a few + leaves of which he presented to Madame Hanska for her collection + of autographs. + +In /La Femme abandonnee/, Balzac describes Madame de Beauseant as +having taken refuge in Normandy, "after a notoriety which women for +the most part envy and condemn, especially when youth and beauty in +some way excuse the transgression." Can it be that the novelist thus +condones the fault of this noted character because he wishes to pardon +the /liaison/ of Madame d'Abrantes with the Comte de Metternich? + +Is it then because so many traces of Madame d'Abrantes are found in +/La Femme abandonnee/, and allusions are made to minute episodes known +to them alone, that he dedicated it to her? + +Was Balzac thinking of the Duchesse d'Abrantes when, in /Un Grand +Homme de Province a Paris/, speaking of Lucien Chardon, who had just +arrived in Paris at the beginning of the Restoration, he writes: "He +met several of those women who will be spoken of in the history of the +nineteenth century, whose wit, beauty and loves will be none the less +celebrated than those of queens in times past." + +In depicting Maxime de Trailles, the novelist perhaps had in mind M. +de Montrond, about whom the Duchess had told him. Again, many +characteristics of her son, Napoleon d'Abrantes, are seen in La +Palferine, one of the characters of the /Comedie humaine/. + +If Madame de Berny is Madame de Mortsauf in /Le Lys dans la Vallee/, +Madame d'Abrantes has some traits of Lady Dudley, of whom Madame de +Mortsauf was jealous. The Duchess gave him encouragement and +confidence, and Balzac might have been thinking of her when he made +the beautiful Lady Dudley say: "I alone have divined all that you were +worth." After Balzac's affection for Madame de Berny was rekindled, +Madame d'Abrantes, who was jealous of her, had a falling out with him. + +It was probably Madame Junot who related to Balzac the story of the +necklace of Madame Regnault de Saint-Jean d'Angely, to which allusion +is made in his /Physiologie du Mariage/, also an anecdote which is +told in the same book abut General Rapp, who had been an intimate +friend of General Junot. At this time Balzac knew few women of the +Empire; he did not frequent the home of the Countess Merlin until +later. While Madame d'Abrantes was not a duchess by birth, Madame Gay +was not a duchess at all, and Madame Hamelin still further removed +from nobility. + +It is doubtless to Madame d'Abrantes that he owes the subject of /El +Verdugo/, which he places in the period of the war with Spain; to her +also was due the information about the capture of Senator Clement de +Ris, from which he writes /Une tenebreuse Affaire/. + +M. Rene Martineau, in proving that Balzac got his ideas for /Une +tenebreuse Affaire/ from Madame d'Abrantes, states that this is all +the more remarkable, since the personage of the senator is the only +one which Balzac has kept just as he was, without changing his +physiognomy in the novel. The senator was still living at the time +Madame d'Abrantes wrote her account of the affair, his death not +having occurred until 1827. In her /Memoires/, Madame d'Abrantes +refers frequently to the kindness of the great Emperor, and it is +doubtless to please her that Balzac, in the /denouement/ of /Une +tenebreuse Affaire/, has Napoleon pardon two out of the three +condemned persons. Although the novelist may have heard of this affair +during his sojourns in Touraine, it is evident that the origin of the +lawsuit and the causes of the conduct of Fouche were revealed to him +by Madame Junot. + +Who better than Madame d'Abrantes could have given Balzac the +background for the scene of Corsican hatred so vividly portrayed in +/La Vendetta/? Balzac's preference for General Junot is noticeable +when he wishes to mention some hero of the army of the Republic or of +the Empire; the Duc and Duchesse d'Abrantes are included among the +noted lodgers in /Autre Etude de Femme/. It is doubtless to please the +Duchess that Balzac mentions also the Comte de Narbonne (/Le Medecin +de Campagne/). + +Impregnating his mind with the details of the Napoleonic reign, so +vividly portrayed in /Le Colonel Chabert/, /Le Medecin de Campagne/, +/La Femme de trente Ans/ and others, she was probably the direct +author of several observations regarding Napoleon that impress one as +being strikingly true. Balzac read to her his stories of the Empire, +and though she rarely wept, she melted into tears at the disaster of +the Beresina, in the life of Napoleon related by a soldier in a barn. + +The Generale Junot had a great influence over Balzac; she enlightened +him also about women, painting them not as they should be, but as they +are.[*] + +[*] M. Joseph Turquain states that when the correspondence of Madame + d'Abrantes and Balzac, to which he has had access, is published, + one will be able to determine exactly the role she has played in + the formation of the talent of the writer, and in the development + of his character. His admirable work has been very helpful in the + preparation of this study of Madame d'Abrantes. + +During the last years of the life of Madame d'Abrantes, a somber tint +spread over her gatherings, which gradually became less numerous. Her +financial condition excited little sympathy, and her friends became +estranged from her as the result of her poverty. Under her gaiety and +in spite of her courage, this distress became more apparent with time. +Her health became impaired; yet she continued to write when unable to +sit up, so great was her need for money. From her high rank she had +fallen to the depth of misery! When evicted from her poverty-stricken +home by the bailiff, her maid at first conveyed her to a hospital in +the rue de Chaillot, but there payment was demanded in advance. That +being impossible, the poor Duchess, ill and abandoned by all her +friends, was again cast into the street. Finally, a more charitable +hospital in the rue des Batailles took her in. Thus, by ironical fate, +the widow of the great /Batailleur de Junot/, who had done little else +during the past fifteen years than battle for life, was destined to +end her days in the rue des Batailles. + + + LA PRINCESSE BELGIOJOSO.--MADAME MARBOUTY.-- + LA COMTESSE D'AGOULT.--GEORGE SAND. + + "The Princess (Belgiojoso) is a woman much apart from other women, + not very attractive, twenty-nine years old, pale, black hair, + Italian-white complexion, thin, and playing the vampire. She has + the good fortune to displease me, though she is clever; but she + poses too much. I saw her first five years ago at Gerard's; she + came from Switzerland, where she had taken refuge." + +The Princesse Belgiojoso had her early education entrusted to men of +broad learning whose political views were opposed to Austria. She was +reared in Milan in the home of her young step-father, who had been +connected with the /Conciliatore/. His home was the rendezvous of the +artistic and literary celebrities of the day; but beneath the surface +lay conspiracy. At the age of sixteen she was married to her fellow +townsman, the rich, handsome, pleasure-loving, musical Prince +Belgiojoso, but the union was an unhappy one. Extremely patriotic, she +plunged into conspiracy. + +In 1831, she went to Paris, opened a salon and mingled in politics, +meeting the great men of the age, many of whom fell in love with her. +Her salon was filled with people famous for wit, learning and beauty, +equaling that of Madame Recamier; Balzac was among the number. If +Madame de Girardin was the Tenth Muse, the Princesse Belgiojoso was +the Romantic Muse. She was almost elected president of /Les Academies +de Femmes en France/ under the faction led by George Sand, the rival +party being led by Madame de Girardin. + +Again becoming involved in Italian politics, and exiled from her home +and adopted country, she went to the Orient with her daughter Maria, +partly supporting herself with her pen. After her departure, the +finding of the corpse of Stelzi in her cupboard caused her to be +compared to the Spanish Juana Loca, but she was only eccentric. While +in the Orient she was stabbed and almost lost her life. In 1853 she +returned to France, then to Milan where she maintained a salon, but +she deteriorated physically and mentally. + +For almost half a century her name was familiar not alone in Italian +political and patriotic circles, but throughout intellectual Europe. +The personality of this strange woman was veiled in a haze of mystery, +and a halo of martyrdom hung over her head. Notwithstanding her +eccentricities and exaggerations, she wielded an intellectual +fascination in her time, and her exalted social position, her beauty, +and her independence of character gave to her a place of conspicuous +prominence. + +As to whether Balzac always sustained an indifferent attitude towards +the Princesse Belgiojoso there is some question, but he always +expressed a feeling of nonchalance in writing about her to Madame +Hanska. He regarded her as a courtesan, a beautiful /Imperia/, but of +the extreme blue-stocking type. She was superficial in her criticism, +and received numbers of /criticons/ who could not write. She wrote him +at the request of the editor asking him to contribute a story for the +/Democratie Pacifique/. + +Balzac visited her frequently, calling her the Princesse +/Bellejoyeuse/, and she rendered him many services, but he probably +guarded against too great an intimacy, having witnessed the fate of +Alfred de Musset. He was, however, greatly impressed by her beauty, +and in the much discussed letter to his sister Laure he speaks of +Madame Hanska as a masterpiece of beauty who could be compared only to +the Princesse /Bellejoyeuse/, only infinitely more beautiful. Some +years later, however, this beauty had changed for him into an ugliness +that was even repulsive. + +It amused the novelist very much to have people think that he had +dedicated to the Princesse Belgiojoso /Modeste Mignon/, a work written +in part by Madame Hanska, and dedicated to her. In the first edition +this book was dedicated to a foreign lady, but seeing the false +impression made he dedicated it, in its second edition to a Polish +lady. He did, however, dedicate /Gaudissart II/ to: + + Madame la Princesse de Belgiojoso, nee Trivulce. + + +Balzac found much rest and recuperation in travel, and in going to +Turin, in 1836, instead of traveling alone, he was accompanied by a +most charming lady, Madame Caroline Marbouty. She had literary +pretensions and some talent, writing under the pseudonym of /Claire +Brune/. Her work consisted of a small volume of poetry and several +novels. She was much pleased at being taken frequently for George +Sand, whom she resembled very much; and like her, she dressed as a +man. Balzac took much pleasure in intriguing every one regarding his +charming young page, whom he introduced in aristocratic Italian +society; but to no one did he disclose the real name or sex of his +traveling companion. + +On his return from Turin he wrote to Comte Frederic Sclopis de +Salerano explaining that his traveling companion was by no means the +person whom he supposed. Knowing his chivalry, Balzac confided to the +Count that it was a charming, clever, virtuous woman, who never having +had the opportunity of breathing the Italian air and being able to +escape the ennui of housekeeping for a few weeks, had relied upon his +honor. She knew whom the novelist loved, and found in that the +greatest of guarantees. For the first and only time in her life she +amused herself by playing a masculine role, and on her return home had +resumed her feminine duties. + +During this journey Madame Marbouty was known as /Marcel/, this being +the name of the devoted servant of Raoul de Nangis in Meyerbeer's +masterpiece, /Les Huguenots/, which had been given for the first time +on February 29, 1836. The two travelers had a delightful but very +fatiguing journey, for there were so many things to see that they even +took time from their sleep to enjoy the beauties of Italy. In writing +to Madame Hanska of this trip, he spoke of having for companion a +friend of Madame Carraud and Jules Sandeau. + +Madame Marbouty was also a friend of Madame Carraud's sister, Madame +Nivet, so that when Balzac visited Limoges he probably called on his +former traveling companion. + +When the second volume of the /Comedie humaine/ was published (1842), +Balzac remembered this episode in his life and dedicated /La +Grenadiere/ to his traveling companion: + + "To Caroline, to the poetry of the journey, from the grateful + traveler." + +In explaining this dedication to Madame Hanska, Balzac states that the +/poesie du voyage/ was merely the poetry of it and nothing more, and +that when she comes to Paris he will take pleasure in showing to her +this intimate friend of Madame Carraud, this charming, intellectual +woman whom he has not seen since. + +Balzac went to Madame Marbouty's home to read to her the first acts of +/L'Ecole des Menages/, which she liked; a few days later, he returned, +depressed because a great lady had told him it was /ennuyeux/, so she +tried to cheer him. /Souvenirs inedits/, dated February, 1839, left by +her, and a letter from her to Balzac dated March 12, 1840, in which +she asks him to give her a ticket to the first performance of his +play,[*] show that they were on excellent terms at this time. But +later a coolness arose, and in April, 1842, Madame Marbouty wrote /Une +fausse Position/. The personages in this novel are portraits, and +Balzac appears under the name of Ulric. This explains why the +dedication of /La Grenadiere/ was changed. Some writers seem to think +that Madame Marbouty suggested to Balzac /La Muse du Departement/, a +Berrichon bluestocking. + +[*] The play referred to is doubtless /Vautrin/, played for the first + time March 14, 1840. + + +Among the women in the /Comedie humaine/ who have been identified with +women the novelist knew in the course of his life, Beatrix (Beatrix), +depicting the life of the Comtesse d'Agoult, is one of the most noted. +Balzac says of this famous character: "Yes, Beatrix is even too much +Madame d'Agoult. George Sand is at the height of felicity; she takes a +little vengeance on her friend. Except for a few variations, /the +story is true/." + +Although Balzac wrote /Beatrix/ with the information about the heroine +which he had received from George Sand, he was acquainted with Madame +d'Agoult. Descended from the Bethmanns of Hamburg or Frankfort, she +was a native of Touraine, and played the role of a "great lady" at +Paris. She became a journalist, formed a /liaison/ with Emile de +Girardin, and wrote extensively for the /Presse/ under the name of +Daniel Stern. She had some of the characteristics of the Princesse +Belgiojoso; she abandoned her children. Balzac never liked her, and +described her as a dreadful creature of whom Liszt was glad to be rid. +She made advances to the novelist, and invited him to her home; he +dined there once with Ingres and once with Victor Hugo, but he did not +enjoy her hospitality. Notwithstanding the aversion which Balzac had +for her, he sent her autograph to Madame Hanska, and met her at +various places. + + +Among women Balzac's most noted literary friend was George Sand, whom +he called "my brother George." In 1831 Madame Dudevant, having +attained some literary fame by the publication of /Indiana/, desired +to meet the author of /La Peau de Chagrin/, who was living in the rue +Cassini, and asked a mutual friend to introduce her.[*] After she had +expressed her admiration for the talent of the young author, he in +turn complimented her on her recent work, and as was his custom, +changed the conversation to talk of himself and his plans. She found +this interview helpful and he promised to counsel her. After this +introduction Balzac visited her frequently. He would go puffing up the +stairs of the many-storied house on the quai Saint-Michel where she +lived. The avowed purpose of these visits was to advise her about her +work, but thinking of some story he was writing, he would soon begin +to talk of it. + +[*] Different statements have been made as to who introduced George + Sand to Balzac. In her /Histoire de ma Vie/, George Sand merely + says it was a friend (a man). Gabriel Ferry, /Balzac et ses + Amies/, makes the same statement. Seche et Bertaut, /Balzac/, + state that it was La Touche who presented her to him, but Miss K. + P. Wormeley, /A Memoir of Balzac/, and Mme. Wladimir Karenine, + /George Sand/, state that it was Jules Sandeau who presented her + to him. Confirming this last statement, the Princess Radziwill + states that it was Jules Sandeau, and that her aunt, Madame Honore + de Balzac, has so told her. + +They seem to have had many enjoyable hours with each other. She +relates that one evening when she and some friends had been dining +with Balzac, after a rather peculiar dinner he put on with childish +glee, a beautiful brand-new /robe de chambre/ to show it to them, and +purposed to accompany them in this costume to the Luxembourg, with a +candlestick in his hand. It was late, the place was deserted, and when +George Sand suggested that in returning home he might be assassinated, +he replied: "Not at all! If I meet thieves they will think me insane, +and will be afraid of me, or they will take me for a prince, and will +respect me." It was a beautiful calm night, and he accompanied them +thus, carrying his lighted candle in an exquisite carved candlestick, +talking of his four Arabian horses, which he never had had, but which +he firmly believed he was going to have. He would have conducted them +to the other end of Paris, if they had permitted him. + +Once George Sand and Balzac had a discussion about the /Contes +droletiques/ during which she said he was shocking, and he retorted +that she was a prude, and departed, calling to her on the stairway: +"/Vous n'etes qu'une bete!/" But they were only better friends after +this. + +Early in their literary career Balzac held this opinion of her: "She +has none of the littleness of soul nor any of the base jealousies +which obscure the brightness of so much contemporary talent. Dumas +resembles her in this respect. George Sand is a very noble friend, and +I would consult her with full confidence in my moments of doubt on the +logical course to pursue in such or such a situation; but I think she +lacks the instinct of criticism: she allows herself to be too easily +persuaded; she does not understand the art of refuting the arguments +of her adversary nor of justifying herself." He summarized their +differences by telling her that she sought man as he ought to be, but +that he took him as he is. + +If Madame Hanska was not jealous of George Sand, she was at least +interested to know the relations existing between her and Balzac, for +we find him explaining: "Do not fear, madame, that Zulma Dudevant will +ever see me attached to her chariot. . . . I only speak of this +because more celebrity is fastened on that woman than she deserves; +which is preparing for her a bitter autumn. . . . /Mon Dieu!/ how is +it that with such a splendid forehead you can think little things! I +do not understand why, knowing my aversion for George Sand, you make +me out her friend." Since Madame Hanska was making a collection of +autographs of famous people, Balzac promised to send her George +Sand's, and he wished also to secure one of Aurore Dudevant, so that +she might have her under both forms. + +It is interesting to note that at various times Balzac compared Madame +Hanska to George Sand. While he thought his "polar star" far more +beautiful, she reminded him of George Sand by her coiffure, attitude +and intellect, for she had the same feminine graces, together with the +same force of mind. + +On his way to Sardinia, Balzac stopped to spend a few days with George +Sand at her country home at Nohant. He found his "comrade George" in +her dressing-gown, smoking a cigar after dinner in the chimney-corner +of an immense solitary chamber. In spite of her dreadful troubles, she +did not have a white hair; her swarthy skin had not deteriorated and +her beautiful eyes were still dazzling. She had been at Nohant about a +year, very sad, and working tremendously. He found her leading about +the same life as he; she retired at six in the morning and arose at +noon, while he retired at six in the evening and arose at midnight; +but he conformed to her habits while spending these three days at her +chateau, talking with her from five in the evening till five the next +morning; after this, they understood each other better than they had +done previously. He had censured her for deserting Jules Sandeau, but +afterwards had the deepest compassion for her, as he too had found him +to be a most ungrateful friend. + +Balzac felt that Madame Dudevant was not lovable, and would always be +difficult to love; she was a /garcon/, an artist, she was grand, +generous, devoted, chaste; she had the traits of a man,--she was not a +woman. He delighted in discussing social questions with a comrade to +whom he did not need to show the /galanterie d'epiderme/ necessary in +conversation with ordinary women. He thought that she had great +virtues which society misconstrued, and that after hours of discussion +he had gained a great deal in making her recognize the necessity of +marriage. In discussing with him the great questions of marriage and +liberty, she said with great pride that they were preparing by their +writings a revolution in manners and morals, and that she was none the +less struck by the objections to the one than by those to the other. + +She knew just what he thought about her; she had neither force of +conception, nor the art of pathos, but--without knowing the French +language--she had /style/. Like him, she took her glory in raillery, +and had a profound contempt for the public, which she called +/Jumento/. Defending her past life, he says: "All the follies that she +has committed are titles to fame in the eyes of great and noble souls. +She was duped by Madame Dorval, Bocage, Lammennais, etc., etc. Through +the same sentiment she is now the dupe of Liszt and Madame d'Agoult; +she has just realized it for this couple as for la Dorval, for she has +one of those minds that are powerful in the study, through intellect, +but extremely easy to entrap on the domain of reality." + +During this week-end visit, Madame Dudevant related to Balzac the +story of Liszt and Madame d'Agoult, which he reproduced in /Beatrix/, +since in her position, she could not do so herself. In the same book, +George Sand is portrayed as Mademoiselle des Touches, with the +complexion, pale olive by day, and white under artificial light, +characteristic of Italian beauty. The face, rather long than oval, +resembles that of some beautiful Isis. Her hair, black and thick, +falls in plaited loops over her neck, like the head-dress with rigid +double locks of the statues at Memphis, accentuating very finely the +general severity of her features. She has a full, broad forehead, +bright with its smooth surface on which the light lingers, and molded +like that of a hunting Diana; a powerful, wilful brow, calm and still. +The eyebrows, strongly arched, bend over the eyes in which the fire +sparkles now and again like that of fixed stars. The cheek-bones, +though softly rounded, are more prominent than in most women, and +confirm the impression of strength. The nose, narrow and straight, has +high-cut nostrils, and the mouth is arched at the corners. Below the +nose the lip is faintly shaded by a down that is wholly charming; +nature would have blundered if she had not placed there that tender +smoky tinge. + +Balzac admitted that this was the portrait of Madame Dudevant, saying +that he rarely portrayed his friends, exceptions being G. Planche in +Claude Vignon, and George Sand in Camille Maupin (Mademoiselle des +Touches), both with their consent. + +Madame Dudevant was an excessive smoker, and during Balzac's visit to +her, she had him smoke a hooka and latakia which he enjoyed so much +that he wrote to Madame Hanska, asking her to get him a hooka in +Moscow, as he thought she lived near there, and it was there or in +Constantinople that the best could be found; he wished her also, if +she could find true latakia in Moscow, to send him five or six pounds, +as opportunities were rare to get it from Constantinople. Later, on +his visit to Sardinia, he wrote her from Ajaccio: "As for the latakia, +I have just discovered (laugh at me for a whole year) that Latakia is +a village of the island of Cyprus, a stone's throw from here, where a +superior tobacco is made, named from the place, and that I can get it +here. So mark out that item."[*] + +[*] /Lettres a l'Etrangere. This contradicts the statement of S. de + Lovenjoul, /Bookman/, that Balzac had a horror of tobacco and is + known to have smoked only once, when a cigar given him by Eugene + Sue made him very ill. He evidently had this excerpt of a letter + in mind: "I have never known what drunkenness was, except from a + cigar which Eugene Sue made me smoke against my will, and it was + that which enabled me to paint the drunkenness for which you blame + me in the /Voyage a Java/." This visit to George Sand was made + five years after this letter was written. Or S. de Lovenjoul might + have had in mind the statement of Theophile Gautier that Balzac + could not endure tobacco in any form; he anathematized the pipe, + proscribed the cigar, did not even tolerate the Spanish + /papelito/, and only the Asiatic narghile found grace in his + sight. He allowed this only as a curious trinket, and on account + of its local color. + +George Sand and Balzac discussed their work freely and did not +hesitate to condemn either plot or character of which they did not +approve. Some of Balzac's women shocked her, but she liked /La +premiere Demoiselle/ (afterwards L'Ecole des Manages), a play which +Madame Surville found superb, but which Madame Hanska discouraged +because she did not like the plot. She aided him in a financial manner +by signing one of his stories, /Voyage d'un Moineau de Paris/. At that +time, Balzac needed money and Stahl (Hetzel) refused to insert in his +book, /Scenes de la Vie privee de Animaux/ (2 vols., 1842), this story +of Balzac's, who had already furnished several articles for this +collection. George Sand signed her name, and in this way, Balzac +obtained the money. + +Madame Dudevant not only remained a true friend to Balzac in a +literary and financial sense, but was glad to defend his character, +and was firm in refuting statements derogatory to him. In apologizing +to him for an article that had appeared without her knowledge in the +/Revue independente/, edited by her, she asked his consent to write a +large work about him. He tried to dissuade her, telling her that she +would create enemies for herself, but, after persistence on her part, +he asked her to write a preface to the /Comedie humaine/. The plan of +the work, however, was very much modified, and did not appear until +after Balzac's death. + +Balzac dined frequently with Madame Dudevant and political as well as +social and literary questions were discussed. He enjoyed opposing her +views; after his return from his prolonged visit to Madame Hanska in +St. Petersburg (1843), George Sand twitted him by asking him to give +his /Impressions de Voyage/. + +A story told at Issoudun illustrates further the genial association of +the two authors: Balzac was dining one day at the Hotel de la Cloche +in company with George Sand. She had brought her physician, who was to +accompany her to Nohant. The conversation turned on the subject of +insane people, and the peculiar manner in which the exterior signs of +insanity are manifested. The physician claimed to be an expert in +recognizing an insane person at first sight. George Sand asked very +seriously: "Do you see any here?" Balzac was eating, as always, +ravenously, and his tangled hair followed the movement of his head and +arm. "There is one!" said the Doctor; "no doubt about it!" George Sand +burst out laughing, Balzac also, and, the introduction made, the +confused physician was condemned to pay for the dinner. + +Balzac expresses his admiration for her in the dedication of the +/Memoires de deux jeunes mariees/: + + "To George Sand. + + "This dedication, dear George, can add nothing to the glory of your + name, which will cast its magic luster on my book; but in making + it there is neither modesty nor self-interest on my part. I desire + to bear testimony to the true friendship between us which + continues unchanged in spite of travels and absence,--in spite, + too, of our mutual hard work and the maliciousness of the world. + This feeling will doubtless never change. The procession of + friendly names which accompany my books mingles pleasure with the + pain their great number causes me, for they are not written + without anxiety, to say nothing of the reproach cast upon me for + my alarming fecundity,--as if the world which poses before me were + not more fecund still. Would it not be a fine thing, George, if + some antiquary of long past literatures should find in that + procession none but great names, noble hearts, pure and sacred + friendships,--the glories of this century? May I not show myself + prouder of that certain happiness than of other successes which + are always uncertain? To one who knows you well it must ever be a + great happiness to be allowed to call himself, as I do here, + + "Your friend, + "DE BALZAC." + + + + CHAPTER IV + + BUSINESS AND SOCIAL FRIENDS + + + MADAME BECHET--MADAME WERDET + +A woman with whom Balzac was to have business dealings early in his +literary career was Madame Charles Bechet, of whom he said: "This +publisher is a woman, a widow whom I have never seen, and whom I do +not know. I shall not send off this letter until the signatures are +appended on both sides, so that my missive may carry you good news +about my interests; . . ." + +Thus began a business relation which, like many of Balzac's financial +affairs, was to end unhappily. At first he liked her very much and +dined with her, meeting in her company such noted literary men as +Beranger, but as usual, he delayed completing his work, meanwhile +resorting, in mitigation of his offense, to tactics such as the +following words will indicate: ". . . a pretty watch given at the +right moment to Madame Bechet may win me a month's freedom. I am going +to overwhelm her with gifts to get peace." + +Balzac often caused his publishers serious annoyance by re-writing his +stories frequently, but at the beginning of this business relation he +agreed with Madame Bechet about the cost of corrections. He says of +the fair publisher: "The widow Bechet has been sublime: she had taken +upon herself the expense of more than four thousand francs of +corrections, which were set down to me. Is this not still pleasanter?" + +But this could not last long, for she became financially embarrassed +and then had to be very strict with him. She refused to advance any +money until his work was delivered to her and called upon him to pay +for the corrections. This he resented greatly: + + "Madame Bechet has become singularly ill-natured and will hurt my + interests very much. In paying me, she charges me with corrections + which amount on the twelve volumes to three thousand francs, and + also for my copies, which will cost me fifteen hundred more. Thus + four thousand five hundred francs and my discounts, diminish by + six thousand the thirty-three thousand. She could not lose a great + fortune more clumsily, for Werdet estimates at five hundred + thousand francs the profits to be made out of the next edition of + the /Etudes de Moeurs/. I find Werdet the active, intelligent, and + devoted publisher that I want. I have still six months before I + can be rid of Madame Bechet; for I have three volumes to do, and + it is impossible to count on less than two months to each volume." + +She evidently relented, for he wrote later that Madame Bechet had paid +him the entire thirty-three thousand francs. This, however, did not +end their troubles, and he longed to be free from his obligations, and +to sever all connection with her. + +In the spring of 1836, Madame Bechet became Madame Jacquillart. +Whether she was influenced by her husband or had become weary of +Balzac's delays, she became firmer. The novelist felt that she was too +exacting, for he was working sixteen hours a day to complete the last +two volumes for her, and he believed that the suit with which she +threatened him was prompted by his enemies, who seemed to have sworn +his ruin. Madame Bechet lost but little time in carrying out her +threat, for a few days after this he writes: + + "Do you know by what I have been interrupted? By a legal notice + from Bechet, who summons me to furnish her within twenty-four + hours my two volumes in 8vo, with a penalty of fifty francs for + every day's delay! I must be a great criminal and God wills that I + shall expiate my crimes! Never was such torture! This woman has + had ten volumes 8vo out of me in two years, and yet she complains + at not getting twelve!" + +There had been a question of a lawsuit as early as the autumn of 1835; +to avoid this he was then trying to finish the /Fleur-des-Pois/ +(afterwards /Le Contrat de Mariage/). But their relations were more +cordial at that time, for a short time later, he writes: "My +publisher, the sublime Madame Bechet, has been foolish enough to send +the corrected proofs to St. Petersburg. I am told nothing is spoken of +there but of the /excellence of this new masterpiece/." + +Both Madame Bechet and Werdet were in despair over Balzac's journey to +Vienna in 1835, but things grew even worse the next year. The novelist +gives this glimpse of his troubles: + + "My mind itself was crushed; for the failure of the /Chronique/ + came upon me at Sache, at M. de Margonne's, where, by a wise + impulse, I was plunged in work to rid myself of that odious + Bechet. I had undertaken to write in ten days (it was that which + kept me from going to Nemours!) the two volumes which had been + demanded of me, and in eight days I had invented and composed + /Les Illusions perdues/, and had written a third of it. Think what + such application meant! All my faculties were strained; I wrote + fifteen hours a day. . . ." + +In explaining Balzac's association with Madame Bechet, M. Henri +d'Almeras states that Madame Bechet was interested, at first, in +attaching celebrated writers to her publishing house, or those who had +promise of fame. She organized weekly dinner parties, which took place +on Saturday, and here assembled Beranger, Henri de Latouche, Louis +Reybaud, Leon Gozlan, Brissot-Thivars, Balzac and Dr. Gentil. It was +with Madame Bechet as with Charles Gosselin. The publication, less +lucrative than she expected, of the first series of the /Scenes de la +Vie parisienne/ and the /Scenes de la Vie de Province/ made it +particularly disagreeable to her to receive the reproaches of a writer +who, with his admirable talent, could not become resigned to meet with +less success than other litterateurs not so good as he. + +The termination of their business relations is recounted thus: +"/Illusions perdues/ appears this week. On the 17th I have a meeting +to close up all claims from Madame Bechet and Werdet. So there is one +cause of torment the less." + +If M. Hughes Rebell is correct in his surmise, at least a part of +Werdet's admiration for the novelist was inspired by his wife, who had +become a great admirer of the works of the young writer, not well +known at that time. Madame Werdet persuaded her husband to speak to +Madame Bechet about Balzac, and to advise her to publish his works. +Her husband did so, but Madame Werdet did not stop at this. She +convinced him that he should leave Madame Bechet and become Balzac's +sole publisher; this he was for five years, and, moreover, served him +as his banker. M. Rebell thinks also that Madame Werdet is the +"delicious /bourgeoise/" referred to in Balzac's letter to Madame +Surville. + + + MADAME ROSSINI--MADAME RECAMIER--LA DUCHESSE DE DINO--LA COMTESSE + APPONY--MADAME DE BERNARD--MADAME DAVID--LA BARONNE GERARD + + "You wish to know if I have met Foedora, if she is true? A woman + from cold Russia, the Princess Bagration, is supposed in Paris to + be the model for her. I have reached the seventy-second woman who + has had the impertinence to recognize herself in that character. + They are all of ripe age. Even Madame Recamier is willing to + /foedorize herself/. Not a word of all that is true. I made + Foedora out of two women whom I have known without having been + intimate with them. Observation sufficed me, besides a few + confidences. There are also some kind souls who will have it that + I have courted the handsomest of Parisian courtesans and have + concealed myself behind her curtains. These are calumnies. I have + met a Foedora; but that one I shall not paint; besides, it has + been a long time since /La Peau de Chagrin/ was published." + +Quoting Amedee Pichot and Dr. Meniere, S. de Lovenjoul states that +Mademoiselle Olympe Pelissier is the woman whom Balzac used as a model +for his Foedora, and that, like Raphael, he concealed himself in her +bedroom. She is indeed the woman without a heart; she kept in the rue +Neuve-du-Luxembourg a salon frequented by noted political people such +as the Duc de Fitz-James. Being rich as well as beautiful, and having +an exquisite voice, she was highly attractive to the novelist, who +aspired to her hand, and who regarded her refusal with bitterness all +his life. Several years later she was married to her former voice +teacher, M. Rossini. + +Balzac met the famous Olympe early in his literary career; he says of +her: + + "Two years ago, Sue quarreled with a /mauvaise courtesone/ + celebrated for her beauty (she is the original of Vernet's + /Judith/). I lowered myself to reconcile them, and they gave her + to me. M. de Fitz-James, the Duc de Duras, and the old count went + to her house to talk, as on neutral ground, much as people walk in + the alley of the Tuileries to meet one another; and one expects + better conduct of me than of those gentlemen! . . . As for + Rossini, I wish him to write me a nice letter, and he has just + invited me to dine with his mistress, who happens to be that + beautiful /Judith/, the former mistress of Horace Vernet and of + Sue you know. . . ." + +Some months after this Balzac gave a dinner to his /Tigres/, as he +called the group occupying the same box with him at the opera. +Concerning this dinner, he writes: + + "Next Saturday I give a dinner to the /Tigres/ of my opera-box, and + I am preparing sumptuosities out of all reason. I shall have + Rossini and Olympe, his /cara dona/, who will preside. . . . My + dinner? Why, it made a great excitement. Rossini declared he had + never seen eaten or drunk anything better among sovereigns. This + dinner was sparkling with wit. The beautiful Olympe was graceful, + sensible and perfect."[*] + +[*] The present writer has not been able to find any date that would + prove positively that Balzac knew Madame Rossini before writing + /La Peau de Chagrin/ which appeared in 1830-1831. + +Balzac was a great admirer of Rossini, wrote the words for one of his +compositions, and dedicated to him /Le Contrat de Mariage/. + + +Among the famous salons that Balzac frequented was that of Madame +Recamier, who was noted even more for her distinction and grace than +for her beauty. She appreciated the ability of the young writer, and +invited him to read in her salon long before the world recognized his +name. He admired her greatly; of one of his visits to her he writes: + + "Yesterday I went to see Madame Recamier, whom I found ill but + wonderfully bright and kind. I have heard that she did much good, + and acted very nobly in being silent and making no complaint of + the ungrateful beings she has met. No doubt she saw upon my face a + reflection of what I thought of her, and without explaining to + herself this little sympathy, she was charming." + +Although one would not suspect Madame Hanska of being jealous of +Madame Recamier, perhaps it is because she wished to /foedorize/ +herself that Balzac writes: + + "/Mon Dieu!/ do not be jealous of any one. I have not been to see + Madame Recamier or any one else. . . . As to my relations with the + person you speak of, I never had any that were tender; I have none + now. I answered a very unimportant letter, and apropos of a + sentence, I explained myself; that was all. There are relations of + politeness due to women of a certain rank whom one has known; but + a visit to Madame Recamier is not, I suppose, /relations/, when + one visits her once in three months." + + +One of the famous women whom Balzac met soon after he began to acquire +literary fame was the Duchesse de Dino, who was married to +Talleyrand's nephew in 1809. + + "When her husband's uncle became French Ambassador at Vienna in + 1814, she went with him as mistress of the embassy. When he was + sent to London in 1830, she accompanied him in the same capacity. + She lived with him till his death in 1838, entirely devoted to his + welfare, and she had given us in these pages a picture of the old + Talleyrand which is among the masterpieces of memoir-writing. From + this connection she was naturally for many years in the very heart + of political affairs, as no one was, save perhaps that other + Dorothea of the Baltic, the Princess de Lieven. To great beauty + and spirit she added unusual talents, and in the best sense was a + great lady of the /haute politique/." + +Balzac had met her in the salon of Madame Appony, but had never +visited her in her home until 1836, when he went to Rochecotte to see +the famous Prince de Talleyrand, having a great desire to have a view +of the "witty turkeys who plucked the eagle and made it tumble into +the ditch of the house of Austria." Several years later, on his return +from St. Petersburg, he stopped in Berlin, where he was invited to a +grand dinner at the home of the Count and Countess Bresson. He gave +his arm to the Duchesse de Talleyrand (ex-Dino), whom he thought the +most beautiful lady present, although she was fifty-two years of age. + +The Duchesse has left this appreciation of the novelist: ". . . his +face and bearing are vulgar, and I imagine his ideas are equally so. +Undoubtedly, he is a very clever man, but his conversation is neither +easy nor light, but on the contrary, very dull. He watched and +examined all of us most minutely." + +Notwithstanding that the beautiful Dorothea did not admire Balzac, he +was sincere in his appreciation of her. A novel recently brought to +light, /L'Amour Masque/, or as the author first called it, /Imprudence +et Bonheur/, was written for her. Balzac had been her guest +repeatedly; he had recognized in her one of the rare women, who by +their intelligence and, as it were, instinctive appreciation of genius +can compensate to a great /incompris/ like Balzac for the lack of +recognition on the part of his contemporaries; one of those women near +whom, thanks to tactful treatment, a depressed man will regain +confidence in himself and courage to go on. + + +Of the distinguished houses which were open to Balzac, that of the +Comte Appony was one of the most beautiful. This protégé of the Prince +of Metternich, having had the rare good fortune to please both +governments, was retained by Louis-Philippe, and was as well liked and +appreciated in the role of ambassador and diplomat as in that of man +of the world. The Countess Appony possessed a very peculiar charm, and +was a type of feminine distinction. Balls and receptions were given +frequently in her home, where all was of a supreme elegance. + +Balzac visited the Count and Countess frequently, often having a +letter or a message to deliver for the Comtesse Marie Potocka. He +realized that it would be of advantage to be friendly toward the +Ambassador of Austria, and he doubtless enjoyed the society of his +charming wife. He writes of one of these visits: + + "Alas! your /moujik/ also has been /un poco/ in that market of + false smiles and charming toilets; he has made his debut at Madame + Appony's,--for the house of Balzac must live on good terms with + the house of Austria,--and your /moujik/ had some success. He was + examined with the curiosity felt for animals from distant regions. + There were presentations on presentations, which bored him so that + he placed himself in a corner with some Russians and Poles. But + their names are so difficult to pronounce that he cannot tell you + anything about them, further than that one was a very ugly lady, + friend of Madame Hahn, and a Countess Schouwalof, sister of Madame + Jeroslas. . . . Is that right? The /moujik/ will go there every + two weeks, if his lady permits him." + +The novelist met many prominent people at these receptions, among them +Prince Esterhazy; he went to the beautiful soirees of Madame Appony +while refusing to go elsewhere, even to the opera. + + +Several women Balzac probably met through his intimacy with their +husbands. Among these were Madame de Bernard, whose name was +Clementine, but whom he called "Mentine" and "La Fosseuse," this +character being the frail nervous young girl in /Le Medecin de +Campagne/. In August, 1831, M. Charles de Bernard wrote a very +favorable article about /La Peau de Chagrin/ in the /Gazette de +Franche-Comte/, which he was editing at that time. This naturally +pleased the novelist; their friendship continued through many years, +and in 1844, Balzac dedicated to him /Sarrazine/, written in 1830. + +Early in his literary career Balzac knew Baron Gerard, and in writing +to the painter, sent greetings to Madame Gerard. Much later in life, +while posing for his bust, made by David d'Angers, he saw Madame David +frequently, and learned to like her. He felt flattered that she +thought he looked so much younger than he really was. On his return +from St. Petersburg, in 1843, he brought her a pound of Russian tea, +which, as he explained, had no other merit than the exceeding +difficulties it had encountered in passing through twenty custom- +houses. + + + LA COMTESSE VISCONTI--MADAME DE VALETTE--MADEMOISELLE KOZLOWSKA + + "Madame de Visconti, of whom you speak to me, is one of the most + amiable of women, of an infinite, exquisite kindness; a delicate + and elegant beauty. She helps me much to bear my life. She is + gentle, and full of firmness, immovable and implacable in her + ideas and her repugnances. She is a person to be depended on. She + has not been fortunate, or rather, her fortune and that of the + Count are not in keeping with this splendid name. . . . It is a + friendship which consoles me under many griefs. But, + unfortunately, I see her very seldom." + +Madame Emile Guidoboni-Visconti, nee (Frances Sarah) Lowell, was an +Englishwoman another /etrangere/. Balzac shared the same box with her +at the Italian opera, and in the summer of 1836, he went to Turin to +look after some legal business for the Viscontis. He had not known +them long before this, for he writes, in speaking of /Le Lys dans la +Vallee/: "Do they not say that I have painted Madame Visconti? Such +are the judgments to which we are exposed. You know that I had the +proofs in Vienna, and that portrait was written at Sache and corrected +at La Bouleauniere, before I had ever seen Madame Visconti."[*] + +[*] La Bouleauniere was the home of Madame de Berny, at Nemours. + Balzac visited Madame Hanska at Vienna in the spring of 1835. + +Either this new friendship became too ardent for the comfort of Madame +Hanska, or she heard false reports concerning it, for she made +objections to which Balzac responds: + + "Must I renounce the Italian opera, the only pleasure I have in + Paris, because I have no other seat than in a box where there is + also a charming and gracious woman? If calumny, which respects + nothing, demands it, I shall give up music also. I was in a box + among people who were an injury to me, and brought me into + disrepute. I had to go elsewhere, and, in all conscience, I did + not wish Olympe's box. But let us drop the subject." + +The friendship continued to grow, however, and in December, 1836, the +novelist offered her the manuscript of /La vieille Fille/. He visited +her frequently in her home, and on his return from an extended tour to +Corsica and Sardinia in 1838 he spent some time in Milan, looking +after some business interests for the Visconti family. + +When Balzac was living secluded from his creditors, Madame Visconti +showed her friendship for him in a very material way. The bailiff had +been seeking him for three weeks, when a vindictive Ariadne, having a +strong interest in seeing Balzac conducted to prison, presented +herself at the home of the creditor and informed him that the novelist +was residing in the Champs-Elysees, at the home of Madame Visconti. +Nothing could have been more exact than this information. Two hours +later, the home was surrounded, and Balzac, interrupted in the midst +of a chapter of one of his novels, saw two bailiffs enter, armed with +the traditional club; they showed him a cab waiting at the door. A +woman had betrayed him--now a woman saved him. Madame Visconti flung +ten thousand francs in the faces of the bailiffs, and showed them the +door.[*] + +[*] Eugene de Mirecourt, /Les Contemporains/, does not give the date + of this incident. Keim et Lumet, /H. de Balzac/, state that it + occurred in 1837, but E. E. Saltus, /Balzac/, states that it was + in connection with the indebtedness to William Duckett, editor of + the /Dictionnaire de la Conversation/, in 1846. F. Lawton, + /Balzac/, states that it was in connection with his indebtedness + to Duckett on account of the /Chronicle/, and that Balzac was sued + in 1837. If the letter to Mme. de V., /Memoir and Letters of + Balzac/, was addressed to Madame Visconti, he was owing her in + 1840. M. F. Sandars, /Honore de Balzac/, states that about 1846- + 1848, Balzac borrowed 10,000 or 15,000 francs from the Viscontis, + giving them as guarantee shares in the Chemin de Fer du Nord. + +During Balzac's residence /aux Jardies/ he was quite near Madame +Visconti, as she was living in a rather insignificant house just +opposite the home Balzac had built. He enjoyed her companionship, and +when she moved to Versailles he regretted not being able to see her +more frequently than once a fortnight, for she was one of the few who +gave him their sympathy at that time. + +Several months later Balzac was disappointed in her, and referred to +her bitterly as /L'Anglaise/, /L'Angleterre/, or "the lady who lived +at Versailles." He felt that she was ungrateful and inconsiderate, and +while he remained on speaking terms with her, he regarded this +friendship as one of the misfortunes of his life. + +After the death of Madame Visconti (April 28, 1883), a picture of +Balzac which had been in her possession was placed in the museum at +Tours. This is supposed to be the portrait painted by Gerard-Seguin, +exhibited in the /Salon/ in 1842, and presented to her by Balzac at +that time. + +In answering several of Madame Hanska's questions, Balzac writes: "No, +I was not happy in writing /Beatrix/; you ought to have known it. Yes, +Sarah is Madame de Visconti; yes, Mademoiselle des Touches is George +Sand; yes, Beatrix is even too much Madame d'Agoult." A few months +later he writes: "The friendship of which I spoke to you, and at which +you laughed, apropos of the dedication, is not all I thought it. +English prejudices are terrible, they take away what is an essential +to all artists, the /laisser-aller/, unconstraint. Never have I done +so well as when, in the /Lys/, I explained the women of that country +in a few words."[*] + +[*] This is probably the basis for Mr. Monahan's statement that Balzac + pictured Madame Visconti as Lady Dudley in /Le Lys dans la + Vallee/. + +From the above, one would suppose that Madame Visconti is the "Sarah" +whom Balzac addresses in the dedication of /Beatrix/: + + "To Sarah. + + "In clear weather, on the Mediterranean shores, where formerly + extended the magnificent empire of your name, the sea sometimes + allows us to perceive beneath the mist of waters a sea-flower, one + of Nature's masterpieces; the lacework of its tissues, tinged with + purple, russet, rose, violet, or gold, the crispness of its living + filigrees, the velvet texture, all vanish as soon as curiosity + draws it forth and spreads it on the strand. Thus would the glare + of publicity offend your tender modesty; so, in dedicating this + work to you, I must reserve a name which would, indeed, be its + pride. But, under the shelter of its half-concealment, your superb + hands may bless it, your noble brow may bend and dream over it, + your eyes, full of motherly love, may smile upon it, since you are + here at once present and veiled. Like this pearl of the ocean- + garden, you will dwell on the fine, white, level sand where your + beautiful life expands, hidden by a wave that is transparent only + to certain friendly and reticent eyes. I would gladly have laid at + your feet a work in harmony with your perfections; but as that was + impossible, I knew, for my consolation, that I was gratifying one + of your instincts by offering you something to protect. + + "DE BALZAC."[*] + +[*] S. de Lovenjoul, /Histoire des Oeuvres de Balzac/, states that the + "Sarah" to whom Balzac dedicated /Beatrix/ is no other than an + Englishwoman, Frances Sarah Lowell, who became the Comtesse Emile + Guidoboni-Visconti. She was born at Hilks, September 29, 1804, and + died at Versailles April 28, 1883. + +In sending the corrected proofs of /Beatrix/ to "Madame de V----," +Balzac writes: + + "My dear friend,--Here are the proofs of /Beatrix/: a book for + which you have made me feel an affection, such as I have not felt + for any other book. It has been the ring which has united our + friendship. I never give these things except to those I love, for + they bear witness to my long labors, and to that patience of which + I spoke to you. My nights have been passed over these terrible + pages, and amongst all to whom I have presented them, I know no + heart more pure and noble than yours, in spite of those little + attacks of want of faith in me, which no doubt arises from your + great wish to find a poor author more perfect than he can + be. . . ." + +In contradiction to the preceding, M. Leon Seche thinks that /Beatrix/ +was dedicated to Madame Helene- Marie-Felicite Valette, and that she +is the "Madame de V-----" to whom the letter is addressed. Helene de +Valette (she probably had no right to the "nobiliary" /de/ although +she signed her name thus) was the daughter of Pierre Valette, +Lieutenant de Vaisseau, who after the death of Madame Valette, in +1818, became a priest at Vannes in order to be near their daughter +Helene, who was in the convent of the Ursulines. At the age of +eighteen he married her to a notary of Vannes, thirty years her +senior, a widower with a bad reputation, whose name was Jean-Marie- +Angele Gougeon. Scarcely had she married when she had an intrigue with +a physician; her husband died soon after this, and she resumed her +maiden name. She adopted the daughter of a /paludier/,[*] Le Gallo, +whose wife had saved her from drowning, and named her "Marie" in +memory of de Balzac's favorite name for herself. + +[*] /Paludier/. One who works in the salt marshes. + +In stating that the letter to "Madame de V-----" is addressed to +Madame Valette, M. Seche publishes a letter almost identical with the +one that is found in both the /Memoir and Letters of Balzac/ and the +/Correspondence, 1819-1850/, one of the chief differences being that +in this letter Balzac addresses her as "My dear Marie" instead of "My +dear friend." In telling "Madame de V-----" that he is sending her the +proofs of /Beatrix/, Balzac refers to the suppression of his play +/Vautrin/, and says that the director /des beaux-arts/ has come a +second time to offer him an indemnity which /ne faisait pas votre +somme/. This might lead one to think that he had had some financial +dealings with her. + +In the dedication of /Beatrix/, dated /Aux Jardies/, December, 1838, +Balzac speaks of Sarah's being a pearl of the Mediterranean. In the +Island of Malta is a town called Cite-Vallette--suggestive of the name +Felicite Valette. Felicite is also the name of the heroine, Felicite +des Touches, although Marie is the name of Madame Valette that Balzac +liked best. + +In 1836, after reading some of Balzac's novels, Madame de Valette +wrote to Balzac. Attracted by her, he went to Guerande where he took +his meals at a little hotel kept by the demoiselles Bouniol, mentioned +in /Beatrix/. Under her guidance he roamed over the country and then +wrote /Beatrix/. She pretended to him to have been born at Guerande +and to have been reared as a /paludiere/ by her godmother, Madame de +Lamoignon-Lavalette, whence the reference in the dedication to the +former "empire of your name." Her real godmother was Marie-Felicite +Burgaud. Balzac did not know that she had been married to the notary +Gougeon, and thought that her mother was still living. + +When Madame de Valette went to Paris to reside, she was noted for her +beauty and eccentric manners; she rode horseback to visit Balzac /aux +Jardies/. She met a young writer, Edmond Cador, who revealed to Balzac +all that she had kept from him. This deception provoked Balzac and +gave rise to an exchange of rather sharp letters, and a long silence +followed. After Balzac's death she gave Madame Honore de Balzac +trouble concerning /Beatrix/ and her correspondence with Balzac, which +she claimed. She died January 14, 1873, at the home of the Baron +Larrey whom she had appointed as her residuary legatee. She is buried +in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery, and on her tomb is written /Veuve +Gougeon/. + +In her letters to Balzac, given by Spoelberch de Lovenjoul to the +French Academy, she addressed him as "My dear beloved treasure," and +signed her name /Babouino/. There exists a letter from her to him in +which she tells him that she is going to Vannes to visit for a +fortnight, after which she will go to Bearn to make the acquaintance +of her husband's people, and asks him to address her under the name of +Helene-Marie.[*] + +[*] Leon Seche, /Les Inspiratrices de Balzac, Helene de Valette, Les + Annales Romantiques/, supposes that this is another falsehood, + since he could find no record of where any member of the Gougeon + family had ever lived in Bearn. Much of his information has been + secured from Dr. Closmadeuc, who lived at Vannes and who attended + Madame de Valette in her late years; also, from her adopted + daughter, Mlle. Le Gallo. + +After the death of Madame de Valette, the Baron Larrey, in memory of +her relations with Balzac, presented to the city of Tours the +corrected proofs of /Beatrix/, and a portrait of Balzac which he had +received from her. + +Among Balzac's numerous Russian friends was Mademoiselle Sophie +Kozlowska. "Sophie is the daughter of Prince Kozlowski, whose marriage +was not recognized; you must have heard of that very witty diplomat, +who is with Prince Paskevitch in Warsaw."[*] + +[*] /Lettres a l'Etrangere/. By explaining to Madame Hanska who Sophie + is, one would not suppose that Balzac met her at Madame Hanska's + home, as M. E. Pilon states in his article. + +This friendship seems to have been rather close for a while, Balzac +addressing her as /Sofka/, /Sof/, /Sophie/ and /carissima Sofi/. Just +before the presentation of his play /Quinola/ he wrote her, asking for +the names and addresses of her various Russian friends who wished +seats, as many enemies were giving false names. He wanted to place the +beautiful ladies in front, and wished to know in what party she would +be, and the definite number of tickets and location desired for each +friend. + +In this same jovial vein he writes her: "Mina wrote me that you were +ill, and that dealt me a blow as if one had told Napoleon his aide-de- +camp was dead." His attitude towards her changed some months after +writing this; she became the means of alienating his friend Gavault +from him, or at least he so suspected, and thought that she was +influenced by Madame Visconti. This coldness soon turned to enmity, +and she completely won from him his former friend, Gavault, who had +become very much enamored with her. The novelist expressed the same +bitterness of feeling for her as he did for Madame Visconti, but as +the years went by, either his aversion to these two women softened, or +he thought it good policy to retain their good will, for he wished +their names placed on his invitation list. + +Balzac's feeling of friendship for her must have been sincere at one +time, for he dedicated /La Bourse/: + + "To Sofka. + + "Have you not observed, mademoiselle, that the painters and + sculptors of the Middle Ages, when they placed two figures in + adoration, one on each side of a fair Saint, never fail to give + them a family likeness? On seeing your name among those who are + dear to me, and under whose auspices I place my works, remember + that touching harmony, and you will see in this not so much an act + of homage as an expression of the brotherly affection of your + devoted servant, + "DE BALZAC." + + + LA COMTESSE TURHEIM--LA COMTESSE DE BOCARME--LA COMTESSE MERLIN + --LA PRINCESSE GALITZIN DE GENTHOL--LA BARONNE DE ROTHSCHILD-- + LA COMTESSE MAFFEI--LA COMTESSE SERAFINA SAN-SERVERINO-- + LA COMTESSE BOLOGNINI + + "I have found a letter from the kind Comtesse Loulou, who loves you + and whom you love, and in whose letter your name is mentioned in a + melancholy sentence which drew tears to my eyes; . . . I am going + to write to the good Loulou without telling her all she has done + by her letter, for such things are difficult to express, even to + that kind German woman. But she spoke of you with so much soul + that I can tell her that what in her is friendship, in me is + worship that can never end." + +The Countess Louise Turheim called "Loulou" by her intimate friends +and her sister Princess Constantine Razumofsky, met Madame Hanska in +the course of her prolonged stay in Vienna in 1835, and the three +women remained friends throughout their lives. The Countess Loulou was +a canoness, and Balzac met her while visiting in Vienna; he admired +her for herself as well as for her friendship for his /Chatelaine/. +Her brother-in-law, Prince Razumofsky, wished Balzac to secure him a +reader at Paris, but since there was limitation as to the price, he +had some trouble in finding a suitable one. This made a correspondence +with the Countess necessary, as it was she who made the request; but +Madame Hanska was not only willing that Balzac should write to her but +sent him her address and they exchanged messages frequently about the +canoness. + +In 1842, /Une double Famille/, a story written in 1830, was dedicated: + + "To Madame la Comtesse de Turheim + + "As a token of remembrance and affectionate respect. + + "DE BALZAC." + + +The Countess de Bocarme, nee du Chasteler, was an artist who helped +Balzac by painting in water-colors the portraits of her uncle, the +field-marshal, and Andreas Hofer; he wished these in order to be able +to depict the heroes of the Tyrol in the campaign of 1809. She painted +also the entire armorial for the /Etudes de Moeurs/; this consisted of +about one hundred armorial bearings, and was a masterpiece. She +promised to paint his study at Passy in water-colors, which was to be +a souvenir for Madame Hanska of the place where he was to finish +paying his debts. All this pleased the novelist greatly, but she +presented him with one gift which he considered as in bad taste. This +was a sort of monument with a muse crowning him, another writing on a +folio: /Comedie humaine/, with /Divo Balzac/ above. + +Madame de Bocarme had been reared in a convent with a niece of Madame +Rosalie Rzewuska, had traveled much, and was rather brilliant in +describing what she had seen. She visited Balzac while he was living +/aux Jardies/. She was a great friend of the Countess Chlendowska, +whose husband was Balzac's bookseller, and the novelist counted on her +to lend the money for one of his business schemes. Being fond of +whist, she took Madame Chlendowska to Balzac's house during his +illness of a few weeks, and they entertained him by playing cards with +him. + +Balzac called her /Bettina/, and after she left Paris for the Chateau +de Bury in Belgium, he took his housekeeper, Madame de Brugnolle, to +visit her. Madame de Chlendowska was there also, but he did not care +for her especially, as she pretended to know too much about his +intimacy with his "polar star." Madame de Bocarme had one fault that +annoyed him very much; she, too, was inclined to gossip about his +association with Madame Hanska. + +In 1843, Balzac erased from /Le Colonel Chabert/ the dedication to M. +de Custine, and replaced it by one to Madame la Comtesse Ida de +Bocarme, nee du Chasteler. + + +One of the most attractive salons in Paris at the beginning of the +Monarchy of July was that of Countess Merlin, where all the +celebrities met, especially the musicians. Born in Havana, the young, +beautiful, rich and talented Madame Merlin added to the poetic grace +of a Spaniard the wit and distinction of a French woman. General +Merlin married her in Madrid in 1811, and brought her to Paris, where +she created a sensation. Being an accomplished musician, she gave +delightful concerts, and though also gifted as a writer she was as +simple and unpretentious as if she had been created to remain obscure. +In addition, she was so truly good that she had almost no enemies; her +charity was inexhaustible, and she possessed one of those hearts which +live only to do good and to love. + +It was Balzac's good fortune to be introduced into the salon. He +explained to Madame Hanska that he went there to play lansquenet in +order to escape becoming insane! He was anxious to have Madame Merlin +present at the first presentation of his /Quinola/, where she wished +to have Martinez de la Rosa with her, but the novelist dissuaded her +from this. + +Madame Merlin was a friend of Madame de Girardin, and ridiculed the +Princesse Belgiojoso when these two were rival candidates for the +presidency of the new Academy that was being formed. + +During Madame Hanska's secret visit to Paris in 1847, Balzac declined +an invitation to dinner with Madame Merlin, excusing himself on the +ground of lack of time, but promised to call upon her soon. A few +months before this (1846), he dedicated to her /Les Marana/, a short +story written in 1832. /Juana/ is inscribed to her also. + +As has been seen, Balzac frequently depicted the features, lives, or +peculiarities of various friends under altered names, but toward the +close of /Beatrix/ he laid aside all disguise in comparing the +appearance of one of his famous women to the beauty of the Countess: +"Madame Schontz owed her fame as a beauty to the brilliancy and color +of a warm, creamy complexion like a creole's, a face full of original +details, with the clean-cut, firm features, of which the Countess de +Merlin was the most famous example and the most perennially +young . . ." + + +In 1846, Balzac dedicated /Un Drame au Bord de la Mer/, written +several years before, to Madame La Princesse Caroline Galitzin de +Genthod, nee Comtesse Walewska. Balzac doubtless met her while +visiting Madame Hanska in Geneva in 1834, as she was living at +Genthod. He met a Princesse Sophie Galitzin, whom he considered far +more attractive, and later met another Princesse Galitzin. One of +these ladies evidently aroused the suspicions of Madame Hanska, but +the novelist assured her that there was no cause for her anxiety. + + +Another woman whom Balzac honored with a dedication of one of his +books, but for whom he apparently cared little, was Madame la Baronne +de Rothschild, wife of the founder of the banking house in Paris. +Balzac had met Baron James de Rothschild and his wife at Aix, where +she coquetted with him. He had business dealings with this firm, and +planned, several years later, to present to Madame de Rothschild as a +New Year's greeting some of his works handsomely bound; the volumes +were delayed, and he accordingly made a change in some of his business +matters, for this was evidently a gift with a motive. The dedication +to her of /L'Enfant Maudit/ in 1846, as well as that of /Un Homme +d'Affaires/ to her husband in 1845, was perhaps for financial reasons +or favors, since he never seemed to care for the couple in society. + + +In the winter of 1837, Countess San-Severino Porcia wrote from Paris +to her friend in Milan, the Countess Clara Maffei, that Balzac was +coming to her city, and suggested that she receive him in her salon. +This distinguished and cultured woman had visited the novelist in +Paris, and had been much surprised at the kind of home in which he was +living, how like a hermit he was secluded from the world and the +persecutions of his creditors; she was amazed when he received her in +his celebrated monastic role. + +The Countess Maffei retained her title after her marriage (in 1832) +with the poet, Andrea Maffei, who was many years older than she. She +was a great friend of the Princess Belgiojoso, and during the stirring +times of 1848 the Princess had been a frequent visitor in her salon. +Six years younger than the Princess, the Countess threw herself heart +and soul into the political and literary life of Milan. + + "For fifty-two consecutive years (1834-1886) her salon was the + rendezvous not merely of her compatriots but of intellectual + Europe. The list of celebrities who thronged her modest drawing- + room rivals that of Belgiojoso's Parisian salon, and includes many + of the same immortal names. Daniel Stern, Balzac, Manzoni, Liszt, + Verdi, and a score of others, are of international fame; but the + annuals of Italian patriotism, belles-lettres and art teem with + the names of men and women who, during that half century of + uninterrupted hospitality, sought guidance, inspiration and + intellectual entertainment among the politicians, poets, musicians + and wits who congregated round the hostess."[*] + +[*] W. R. Whitehouse, /A Revolutionary Princess/. + + +Balzac arrived in Milan in February, 1837, was well received, and was +invited to the famous salon of Countess Maffei. The novelist was at +once charmed with his hostess, whom he called /la petite Maffei/, and +for whom he soon began to show a tender friendship which later became +blended with affection. + +Unfortunately Balzac did not like Milan; only the fascination of the +Countess Maffei pleased him. He quarreled with the Princess San- +Severino Porcia, who would not allow him to say anything unkind about +Italy, and was depressed when calling on the Princess Bolognini, who +laughed at him for it. + +In the salon of the Countess Maffei the novelist preferred listening +to talking; occasionally he would break out into sonorous laughter, +and would then listen again, and--in spite of his excessive use of +coffee--would fall asleep. The Countess was often embarrassed by +Balzac's disdainful expressions about people he did not like but who +were her friends. She tried to please him, however and had many of her +French-speaking friends to meet him, but he seemed most to enjoy tea +with her alone. Referring to her age, he wrote in her album: "At +twenty-three years of age, all is in the future." + +After Balzac's return to Paris he asked her, in response to one of her +letters, to please ascertain why the Princess San-Severino was angry +with him. Later he showed his appreciation of her kindness by sending +her the corrected proofs of /Martyres ignores/, and by dedicating to +her /La fausse Maitresse/, published in 1841. The dedication, however, +did not appear until several months later. + +In a long and beautiful dedication, Balzac inscribed /Les Employes/ to +the Comtesse Serafina San-Severino, nee Porcia, and to her brother, +Prince Alfonso Serafino di Porcia, he dedicated /Splendeurs et Miseres +des Courtisanes/, concerning which he thought a great deal while +visiting in the latter's home in Milan. The hotel having become +intolerable to the novelist, he was invited by Prince Porcia to occupy +a little room in his home, overlooking the gardens, where he could +work at his ease. The Prince, a man of about Balzac's age, was very +much in love with the Countess Bolognini, and was unwilling to marry +at all unless he could marry her, but her husband was still living. +The Prince lived only ten doors from his Countess, and his happiness +in seeing her so frequently, together with his riches, provoked gloomy +meditations in the mind of the poor author, who was so far from his +/Predilecta/, so overcome with debts, and forced to work so hard. + +To Madame la Comtesse Bolognini, nee Vimercati, who was afterwards +married to Prince Porcia, Balzac dedicated /Une Fille d'Eve/: + + "If you remember, madame, the pleasure your conversation gave to a + certain traveler, making Paris live for him in Milan, you will not + be surprised that he should lay one of his works at your feet, as + a token of gratitude for so many delightful evenings spent in your + society, nor that he should seek for it in the shelter of your + name which, in old times, was given to not a few of the tales by + one of your early writers, dear to the Milanese. You have a + Eugenie, already beautiful, whose clever smile proclaims her to + have inherited from you the most precious gifts a woman can + possess, and whose childhood, it is certain, will be rich in all + those joys which a sad mother refused to the Eugenie of these + pages. If Frenchmen are accused of bring frivolous and inconstant, + I, you see, am Italian in my faithfulness and attachments. How + often, as I write the name of Eugenie, have my thoughts carried me + back to the cool stuccoed drawing-room and little garden of the + /Viccolo dei Capuccini/, which used to resound to the dear child's + merry laughter, to our quarrels, and our stories. You have left + the /Corso/ for the /Tre Monasteri/, where I know nothing of your + manner of life, and I am forced to picture you, no longer amongst + the pretty things, which doubtless still surround you, but like + one of the beautiful heads of Raffaelle, Titian, Correggio or + Allori which, in their remoteness, seem to us like abstractions. + If this book succeeds in making its way across the Alps, it will + prove to you the lively gratitude and respectful friendship of + your humble servant, + + "DE BALZAC." + + + LA PRINCESSE BAGRATION--LA COMTESSE BOSSI--MADAME KISSELEFF-- + LA PRINCESSE DE SCHONBURG--MADAME JAROSLAS POTOCKA-- + LA BARONNE DE PFAFFINS--LA COMTESSE DELPHINE POTOCKA + +Several women whom Balzac knew, but who apparently had no special +influence over his life, are mentioned here; he evidently did not care +enough for them or did not know them well enough to include their +names in the dedicatory register of the /Comedie humaine/. This, +however, by no means exhausts the list of his acquaintances among +women. Many of them he had met through his intimacy with his "Polar +Star"; he was indeed so popular that he once exclaimed to her that he +was overwhelmed with Russian princesses and took to flight to avoid +them. + +The noted salon of the charming Princesse Bagration, wife of the +Russian field-marshal, was open to the novelist early in his career. +With her aristocratic ease and the distinction of her manners, she had +been one of the most brilliant stars at Vienna where her salon, as at +Paris, was one of the most popular. Among her intimate friends was +Madame Hamelin whom she had known during her stay in Vienna. +Notwithstanding Balzac's careless habits of dress, he was welcome in +this salon, where the ladies enjoyed the stories which he told with +such charm, and at which he was always the first to laugh, though told +against himself. + +As has been mentioned the Princess Bagration passed at Paris for the +model of Foedora. If M. Gabriel Ferry is correct, Balzac met the +Duchesse de Castries in the salon of the Princess Bagration before +their correspondence began, but never talked to her and did not +suppose that he had attracted her attention. + +One of Balzac's acquaintances whom he met during his visit to Madame +Hanska at Geneva was the Countess Bossi. He met her again at Milan in +1838, on his return from his journey to Corsica, but he was not +favorably impressed with her, although he once deemed it wise to +explain to his /Chatelaine/ his conduct relative to her. + +Madame Kisseleff was one of Madame Hanska's friends whom he probably +met in Vienna; he dined at her home frequently and enjoyed her +company, for she could talk to him of his /Louloup/. She was a friend +of Madame Hamelin, and moved to Fontainebleu to be near her while the +latter was living at /La Madeleine/. While living in Paris, Madame +Kisseleff entertained Madame Hamelin and several other ladies together +with Balzac; these dinners and his /visites de digestion/ caused him +to see much of her for awhile, but as in many of his other +friendships, his ardor cooled later, and he went to her home only when +specially invited. In 1844, she left Paris to reside at Homburg where +she built a house. The novelist took advantage of her friendship to +send articles to Madame Hanska through the Russian ambassador. + +Balzac made /visites de politesse/ to the Princesse de Schonburg, an +acquaintance of Madame Hanska's, but no more than were required by +courtesy. It would have been convenient for him to have seen much of +her, had he cared to, for she had placed her child in the same house +with him on account of its vicinity to the orthopaedic hospital. + +One of Madame Hanska's friends whom Balzac liked was Madame Jaroslas +Potocka, sister of the Countess Schouwaloff. She wrote some very +pleasing letters to him, but he was too busy to answer them, so he +sent her messages, or enclosed notes to her in his letters to his +/Predilecta/. + +La Baronne de Pfaffins, nee Comtesse Mierzciewska, was a Polish lady +whom Balzac met rather late in life. He first thought she was Madame +Hanska's cousin, but later learned that it was to M. de Hanski that +she was related. Her Polish voice reminded him so much of his +/Louloup/ that he was moved to tears; this friendship, however, did +not continue long. + +Another acquaintance from the land of Balzac's "Polar Star" was Madame +Delphine Potocka who was a great friend of Chopin, to whom he +dedicated some of his happiest inspirations, and whose voice he so +loved that he requested her to sing while he was dying. Her box at the +opera was near Balzac's so that he saw her frequently, and dined with +her, but did not admire her. + + + MARIA--HELENE--LOUISE + + "To Maria: + + "May your name, that of one whose portrait is the noblest ornament + of this work, lie on its opening page like a branch of sacred box, + taken from an unknown tree, but sanctified by religion, and kept + ever fresh and green by pious hand to protect the home. + + "DE BALZAC." + +Just who is the "Maria" to whom the dedication of /Eugenie Grandet/ is +addressed is a question that in the opinion of the present writer has +never been satisfactorily answered. The generally accepted answer is +that of Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, who thought that "Maria" was the girl +whom Balzac described as a "poor, simple and delightful /bourgeoise, +. . . the most naïve creature that ever was, fallen like a flower from +heaven," and who said to Balzac: "Love me a year, and I will love you +all my life." + +Even admitting that this much disputed letter of October 12, 1833, was +written by Balzac, though it does not bear his signature, the name +"Maria" does not appear in it, so it is no proof that she is the woman +to whom Balzac dedicated one of his greatest and probably the most +popular of his works, /Eugenie Grandet/, although the heroine has some +of the characteristics of the woman referred to in that letter in that +she is a "naïve, simple, and delightful /bourgeoise/." But in +reviewing the women to whom Balzac dedicated his stories in the +/Comedie humaine/, one does not find any of this type. Either they are +members of his family, old family friends, literary friends, rich +people to whom he was indebted, women of the nobility, or women whom +he loved for a time at least, and all were women whom he could respect +and recognize in society, while the woman referred to in the letter of +October 12, 1833, does not seem to have had this last qualification. + +In reply to his sister Laure's criticism that there were too many +millions in /Eugenie Grandet/, he insisted that the story was true, +and that he could create nothing better than the truth. In +investigating the truth of this story, it has been found that Jean +Niveleau, a very rich man having many of the traits of Grandet, lived +at Saumur, and that he had a beautiful daughter whom he is said to +have refused to give in marriage to Balzac. Whether this be true or +not, the novelist has screened some things of a personal nature in +this work. + +Although the book is dated September, 1833, he did not finish it until +later. It was just at this time that he met Madame Hanska, and visited +her on two different occasions during the period that he was working +on /Eugenie Grandet/. As he was pressed for money, as usual, his +/Predilecta/ offered to help him financially; this he refused, but +immortalized the offer by having Eugenie give her gold to her lover. + +In declining Madame Hanska's offer, he writes her: + + "Beloved angel, be a thousand times blessed for your drop of water, + for your offer; it is everything to me and yet it is nothing. You + see what a thousand francs would be when ten thousand a month are + needed. If I could find nine, I could find twelve. But I should + have liked, in reading that delightful letter of yours, to have + plunged my hand into the sea and drawn out all its pearls to strew + them on your beautiful black hair. . . . There is a sublime scene + (to my mind, and I am rewarded for having it) in /Eugenie + Grandet/, who offers her fortune to her cousin. The cousin makes + an answer; what I said to you on that subject was more graceful. + But to mingle a single word that I have said to my Eve in what + others will read!--Ah! I would rather have flung /Eugenie Grandet/ + into the fire! . . . Do not think there was the least pride, the + least false delicacy in my refusal of what you know of, the drop + of gold you have put angelically aside. . . ." + +The novelist not only gave Madame Hanska the manuscript of /Eugenie +Grandet/, but had her in mind while writing it: "One must love, my +Eve, my dear one, to write the love of /Eugenie Grandet/, a pure, +immense, proud love!" + +The dedication of /Eugenie Grandet/ to "Marie" did not appear until in +1839. Balzac knew several persons named "Marie." The present writer +was at one time inclined to think that this Marie might have been the +Countess Marie Potocka, whom he met while writing /Eugenie/, but her +cousin, the Princess Radziwill, says that she is sure she is not the +one he had in mind, and that she was not the type of woman to whom +Balzac would ever have dedicated a book. The novelist had dealings +with Madame Marie Dorval, and in 1839, at the time the dedication was +written, doubtless knew of her love for Jules Sandeau. Balzac knew +also the Countess Marie d'Agoult, but she never would have inspired +such a dedication. + +Still another "Marie" with whom he was most intimate about 1839, is +Madame Helene-Marie-Felicite de Valette, and it will be remembered +that while she was usually called "Helene," "Marie" was Balzac's +favorite name for her. But it is doubtful that he knew her when he +wrote the book. + +Yet Balzac's love was so fleeting that if he had had this "Maria" in +mind in 1833 when he wrote /Eugenie/, he probably would have long +since forgotten her by the time the dedication was made. It is a well +known fact that Balzac dedicated many of his earlier books to friends +that he did not meet until years later, and many dedications were not +added until 1842. + + + "To Helene: + + "The tiniest boat is not launched upon the sea without the + protection of some living emblem or revered name, placed upon it + by the mariners. In accordance with this time-honored custom, + Madame, I pray you to be the protectress of this work now launched + upon our literary ocean; and may the imperial name which the + Church has canonized and your devotion has doubly sanctified for + me guard it from peril. + "DE BALZAC." + +The identity of the enchantress who inspired this beautiful dedication +of /Le Cure de Village/ has been the subject of much speculation for +students of Balzac. The author of the /Comedie humaine/ knew the +beautiful Helene Zavadovsky as early as 1835, and, as has been seen, +knew Madame de Valette in 1836. + +The Princess Radziwill states that this "Helene" was a sister of +Madame Hanska, and that she died unmarried in 1842. She was much loved +by all her family, and after the death of her mother in 1837 made her +home with her sister Eve in Wierzchownia. The present author has found +no mention of her in Balzac's letters in connection with /Le Cure de +Village/, of which novel he speaks frequently, nor of his having known +her personally, but since Balzac was continually twitting Madame +Hanska about her pronunciation of various words, he was doubtless +referring to her sister Helene's Russian pronunciation when he writes: +"From time to time, I recall to mind all the gowns I have seen you +wear from the white and yellow one that first day at Peterhof +(Petergoff, /idiome/ Helene), . . ." + + +While Balzac evidently knew personally the women whom he had in mind +in the dedications to "Maria" and to "Helene,"--problems which have +perplexed students of Balzac,--he found time for correspondence with a +lady whom he never saw, and about whom he knew nothing beyond the +Christian name "Louise." The twenty-three letters addressed to her +bear no precise dates, but were written in 1836-1837. + +Her first letter was sent to Balzac through his bookseller, who saw +her seal; but Balzac allayed, without gratifying, his curiosity by +assuring him that such letters came to him frequently. The writer was +under the impression that Balzac's name was "Henry" and some of her +correspondence was in English. + +That he should have taken the time to write to this unknown +correspondent shows that her letters must have possessed some +intrinsic value for him, yet he refused to learn her identity. + + "Chance permitted me to know who you might be, and I refused to + learn. I never did anything so chivalrous in my life; no, never! I + consider it is grander than to risk one's life for an interview of + ten minutes. Perhaps I may astonish you still more, when I say + that I can learn all about you in any moment, any hour, and yet I + refuse to learn, because you wish I should not know!" + +In reply to a letter from Louise in which she complained that her time +was monopolized by visits, he writes: + + "Visits! Do they leave behind them any good for you? For the space + of twelve years, an angelic woman stole two hours each day from + the world, from the claims of family, from all the entanglements + and hindrances of Parisian life--two hours to spend them beside me + --without any one else's being aware of the fact; for twelve + years! Do you understand all that is contained in these words? I + can not wish that this sublime devotedness which has been my + salvation should be repeated. I desire that you should retain all + your illusions about me without coming one step further; and I do + not dare to wish that you should enter upon one of these glorious, + secret, and above all, rare and exceptional relationships. + Moreover, I have a few friends among women whom I trust--not more + than two or three--but they are of an insatiable exigence, and if + they were to discover that I corresponded with an /inconnue/, they + would feel hurt."[*] + +[*] /Memoir and Letters of Balzac/. The woman Balzac refers to here is + Madame de Berny, but this is an exaggeration. + +He revealed to her his ideas regarding women and friendship; how he +longed to possess a tender affection which would be a secret between +two alone. He complained of her want of confidence in him, and of his +work in his loneliness. She tried to comfort him, and being artistic, +sent him a sepia drawing. He sought a second one to hang on the other +side of his fireplace, and thus replaced two lithographs he did not +like. As a token of his friendship he sent her a manuscript of one of +his works, saying: + + "All this is suggested while looking at your sepia drawing; and + while preparing a gift, precious in the sight of those who love + me, and of which I am chary, I refuse it to all who have not + deeply touched my heart, or who have not done me a service; it is + a thing of no value, except where there is heartfelt friendship." + +During his imprisonment by order of the National Guard, she sent him +flowers, for which he was very profuse in expressing his thanks. He +appreciated especially the roses which came on his birthday, and +wished her as many tender things as there were scents in the blooming +buds. + +She apparently had some misfortune, and their correspondence +terminated abruptly in this, his last letter to her: + + "/Carina/, . . . On my return from a long and difficult journey, + undertaken for the refreshment of my over-tired brain, I find this + letter from you, very concise, and melancholy enough in its + solitude; it is, however, a token of your remembrance. That you + may be happy is the wish of my heart, a very pure and + disinterested wish, since you have decided that thus it is to be. + I once more take up my work, and in that, as in a battle, the + struggle occupies one entirely; one suffers, but the heart becomes + calm." + +/Facino Cane/ was dedicated to Louise: + + "As a mark of affectionate gratitude." + + + + CHAPTER V + + SENTIMENTAL FRIENDSHIPS + + + MADAME DE BERNY + + "I have to stand alone now amidst my troubles; formerly I had + beside me in my struggles the most courageous and the sweetest + person in the world, a woman whose memory is each day renewed in + my heart, and whose divine qualities make all other friendships + when compared with hers seem pale. I no longer have help in the + difficulties of life; when I am in doubt about any matter, I have + now no other guide than this final thought, 'If she were alive, + what would she say?' Intellects of this order are rare." + +Balzac loved to seek the sympathy and confidence of people whose minds +were at leisure, and who could interest themselves in his affairs. +With his artistic temperament, he longed for the refinement, society +and delicate attentions which he found in the friendships of various +women. "The feeling of abandonment and of solitude in which I am +stings me. There is nothing selfish in me; but I need to tell my +thoughts, my efforts, my feelings to a being who is not myself; +otherwise I have no strength. I should wish for no crown if there were +no feet at which to lay that which men may put upon my head." + +One of the first of these friendships was that formed with Madame de +Berny, nee (Laure-Louise-Antoinette) Hinner. She was the daughter of a +German musician, a harpist at the court of Louis XVI, and of Louise- +Marguerite-Emelie Quelpec de Laborde, a lady in waiting at the court +of Marie Antoinette. M. Hinner died in 1784, after which Madame Hinner +was married to Francois-Augustin Reinier de Jarjayes, adjutant-general +of the army. M. Jarjayes was one of the best known persons belonging +to the Royalist party during the Revolution, a champion of the Queen, +whom he made many attempts to save. He was one of her most faithful +friends, was intrusted with family keepsakes, and was made lieutenant- +general under Louis XVIII. Madame Jarjayes was much loved by the +Queen; she was also implicated in the plots. Before dying, Marie +Antoinette sent her a lock of her hair and a pair of earrings. Laure +Hinner was married April 8, 1793, to M. Gabriel de Berny, almost nine +years her senior, who was of the oldest nobility. Madame de Berny, her +husband, her mother and her stepfather were imprisoned for nine +months, and were not released until after the fall of Robespierre. + +The married life of Madame de Berny was unhappy; she was intelligent +and sentimental; he, capricious and morose. She seems to have realized +the type of the /femme incomprise/; she too was an /etrangere/, and +bore some traits of her German origin. Coming into Balzac's life at +about the age of forty, this /femme de quarante ans/ became for him +the /amie/ and the companion who was to teach him life. Still +beautiful, having been reared in intimate court circles, having been +the confidante of plotters and the guardian of secrets, possessed of +rare trinkets and souvenirs--what an open book was this /memoire +vivante/, and with what passion did the young interrogator absorb the +pages! Here he found unknown anecdotes, ignored designs, and here the +sources of his great plots, /Les Chouans/, /Madame de la Chanterie/, +and /Un Episode sous la Terreur/. + +All this is what she could teach him, aided perhaps by his mother, who +lived until 1837. Here is the secret of Balzac's royalism; here is +where he first learned of the great ladies that appear in his work, +largely portrayed to him by the /amie/ who watched over his youth and +guided his maturity. + +Having consulted the /Almanach des 25,000 adresses/, Madame Ruxton +thinks that Balzac met Madame de Berny when the two families lived +near each other in Paris; M. de Berny and family spent the summers in +Villeparisis, and resided during the winters at 3, rue Portefoin, +Paris. It is possible that he met her at the soirees, which he +frequented with his sisters, and where his awkwardness provoked smiles +from the ladies. While it is generally supposed that they met at +Villeparisis, MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire also believed that they must +have known each other before this, if Balzac is referring to his own +life in /Oeuvres diverses: Une Passion au College/. + +Madame de Berny is first mentioned in Balzac's correspondence in 1822 +when, in writing his sister Laure the general news, he informs her +that Madame de Berny has become a grandmother, and that after forty +years of reflection, realizing that money is everything, she had +invested in grain. But he must have met her some time before this, for +his family was living in Villeparisis as early as 1819. + +M. de Berny bought in 1815 the home of M. Michaud de Montzaigle in +Villeparisis, and remained possessor of it until 1825. M. Parquin, the +present owner of this home, is a Balzacien who has collected all the +traditions remaining in Villeparisis concerning the two families. +According to Villeparisis tradition, Madame de Berny was a woman of +great intelligence who wrote much, and her notes and stories were not +only utilized by Balzac, but she was his collaborator, especially in +writing the /Physiologie du Mariage/ and the first part of the /Femme +de trente Ans/. + +When Balzac went to Villeparisis to reside, he became tutor to his +brother Henri, and it was arranged that he should also give lessons to +one of the sons of M. and Madame de Berny. Thus Balzac probably saw +her daily and was struck by her patience and kindness toward her +husband. She was apparently a gentle and sympathetic woman who +understood Balzac as did no one else, and who ignored her own troubles +and sufferings for fear of grieving him in the midst of his struggles. + +It was owing to the strong recommendation of M. de Berny, councilor at +the Court at Paris, that Balzac obtained in the spring of 1826 his +royal authorization to establish himself as a printer. During the year +1825-1826, Madame de Berny loaned Balzac 9250 francs; after his +failure, she entered in /name/ into the type-foundry association of +Laurent et Balzac. She advanced to Balzac a total of 45,000 francs, +and established her son, Alexandre de Berny, in the house where her +protégé had been unsuccessful. + +Though Balzac states that he paid her in full, he can not be relied +upon when he is dealing with figures, and MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire +question this statement in relating the incident told by M. Arthur +Rhone, an old friend of the de Berny family. M. de Berny told M. Rhone +that the famous bust of Flore cost him 1500 francs. One day while +visiting Balzac, his host told him to take whatever he liked as a +reimbursement, since he could not pay him. M. de Berny took some +trifle, and after Balzac's death, M. Charles Tuleu, knowing his +fondness for the bust of Flore, brought it to him as a souvenir of +their common friend. This might explain also why M. de Berny possessed +a superb clock and other things coming from Balzac's collection. + +It was while Balzac was living in a little apartment in the rue des +Marais that his /Dilecta/ began her daily visits, which continued so +long, and which made such an impression on him. + +Madame de Berny was of great help to Balzac in the social world and +was perhaps instrumental in developing the friendship between him and +the Duchesse de Castries. It was the Duc de Fitz-James who asked +Balzac (1832) to write a sort of program for the Royalist party, and +later (1834), wished him to become a candidate for deputy. This Duc de +Fitz-James was the nephew of the godmother of Madame de Berny. It was +to please him and the Duchesse de Castries that Balzac published a +beautiful page about the Duchesse d'Angouleme. + +Although Madame de Berny was of great help to Balzac in the financial +and social worlds, of greater value was her literary influence over +him. With good judgment and excellent taste she writes him: "Act, my +dear, as though the whole multitude sees you from all sides at the +height where you will be placed, but do not cry to it to admire you, +for, on all sides, the strongest magnifying glasses will instantly be +turned on you, and how does the most delightful object appear when +seen through the microscope?" + +She had had great experience in life, had suffered much and had seen +many cruel things, but she brought Balzac consolation for all his +pains and a confidence and serenity of which his appreciation is +beautifully expressed: + + "I should be most unjust if I did not say that from 1823 to 1833 an + angel sustained me through that horrible struggle. Madame de + Berny, though married, was like a God to me. She was a mother, + friend, family, counselor; she made the writer, she consoled the + young man, she created his taste, she wept like a sister, she + laughed, she came daily, like a beneficent sleep, to still his + sorrows. She did more; though under the control of a husband, she + found means to lend me as much as forty-five thousand francs, of + which I returned the last six thousand in 1836, with interest at + five per cent., be it understood. But she never spoke to me of my + debt, except now and then; without her, I should, assuredly, be + dead. She often divined that I had eaten nothing for days; she + provided for all with angelic goodness; she encouraged that pride + which preserves a man from baseness,--for which to-day my enemies + reproach me, calling it a silly satisfaction in myself--the pride + that Boulanger has, perhaps, pushed to excess in my portrait." + +Balzac's conception of women was formed largely from his association +with Madame de Berny in his early manhood, and a reflection of these +ideas is seen throughout his works. It was probably to give Madame de +Berny pleasure that he painted the mature beauties which won for him +so many feminine admirers. + +It is doubtless Madame de Berny whom Balzac had in mind when in +/Madame Firmiani/ he describes the heroine: + + "Have you ever met, for your happiness, some woman whose harmonious + tones give to her speech the charm that is no less conspicuous in + her manners, who knows how to talk and to be silent, who cares for + you with delicate feeling, whose words are happily chosen and her + language pure? Her banter caresses you, her criticism does not + sting; she neither preaches or disputes, but is interested in + leading a discussion, and stops at the right moment. Her manner is + friendly and gay, her politeness is unforced, her earnestness is + not servile; she reduces respect to a mere gentle shade; she never + tires you, and leaves you satisfied with her and yourself. You + will see her gracious presence stamped on the things she collects + about her. In her home everything charms the eye, and you breathe, + as it seems, your native air. This woman is quite natural. You + never feel an effort, she flaunts nothing, her feelings are + expressed with simplicity because they are genuine. Though candid, + she never wounds the most sensitive pride; she accepts men as God + made them, pitying the victims, forgiving defects and absurdities, + sympathizing with every age, and vexed with nothing because she + has the tact of foreseeing everything. At once tender and gay, she + first constrains and then consoles you. You love her so truly that + if this angel does wrong, you are ready to justify her. Such was + Madame Firmiani." + +It was to Madame de Berny's son, Alexandre, that Balzac dedicated +/Madame Firmiani/, and he no doubt recognized the portrait. + +Balzac often portrayed his own life and his association with women in +his works. In commenting on /La Peau de Chagrin/, he writes: + + "Pauline is a real personage for me, only more lovely than I could + describe her. If I have made her a dream it is because I did not + wish my secret to be discovered." + +And again, in writing of /Louis Lambert/: + + "You know when you work in tapestry, each stitch is a thought. + Well, each line in this new work has been for me an abyss. It + contains things that are secrets between it and me." + +In portraying the yearnings and sufferings of Louis Lambert (/Louis +Lambert/), of Felix de Vandenesse (/Le Lys dans la Vallee/) and of +Raphael (La Peau de Chagrin/), Balzac is picturing his own life. +Pauline de Villenoix (/Louis Lambert/) and Pauline Gaudin (/Le Peau de +Chagrin/) are possibly drawn from the same woman and have many +characteristics of Madame de Berny. Madame de Mortsauf (/Le Lys dans +la Vallee/) is Pauline, though not so outspoken. Then, is it not /La +Dilecta/ whom the novelist had in mind when Louis Lambert writes: + + "When I lay my head on your knees, I could wish to attract to you + the eyes of the whole world, just as I long to concentrate in my + love every idea, every power within me"; + +and near the end of life, could not Madame de Berny say as did Pauline +in the closing lines of /Louis Lambert/: + + "His heart was mine; his genius is with God"? + +The year 1832 was a critical one in the private life of Balzac. Madame +de Berny, more than twenty years his senior, felt that they should +sever their close connection and remain as friends only. Balzac's +family had long been opposed to this intimate relationship and had +repeatedly tried to find a rich wife for him. Madame de Castries, who +had begun an anonymous correspondence with him, revealed her identity +early in that year, and the first letter from l'Etrangere, who was +soon to over-shadow all his other loves, arrived February 28, 1832. +During the same period Mademoiselle de Trumilly rejected his hand. +With so many distractions, Balzac probably did not suffer from this +separation as did his /Dilecta/. But he never forgot her, and +constantly compared other women with her, much to her detriment. He +regarded her, indeed, as a woman of great superiority. + +In June (1832), Balzac left Paris to spend several weeks with his +friends, M. and Mme. de Margonne, and there at their chateau de Sache, +he wrote /Louis Lambert/ as a sort of farewell of soul to soul to the +woman he had so loved, and whose equal in devotion he never found. In +memory of his ten years' intimacy with her, he dedicated this work to +her: /Et nunc et semper dilectae dicatum 1822-1832/. It is to her +also, that he gave the beautiful Deveria portrait, resplendent with +youth and strength.[*] + +[*] MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire think that it is Madame de Berny who was + weighing on Balzac's soul when he relates, in /Le Cure de + Village/, the tragic story of the young workman who dies from love + without opening his lips. + +M. Brunetiere has suggested that the woman whose traits best recall +Madame de Berny is Marguerite Claes, the victim in /La Recherche de +l'Absolu/, while the nature of Balzac's affection for this great +friend of his youth has not been better expressed than in Balthasar +Claes, she always ready to sacrifice all for him, and he, as +Balthasar, always ready, in the interest of his "grand work," to rob +her and make her desperate while loving her. However, Balzac states, +in speaking of Madame de Berny: + + "At any moment death may take from me an angel who has watched over + me for fourteen years; she, too, a flower of solitude, whom the + world had never touched, and who has been my star. My work is not + done without tears! The attentions due to her cast uncertainty + upon any time of which I could dispose, though she herself unites + with the doctor in advising me some strong diversions. She pushes + friendship so far as to hide her sufferings from me; she tries to + seem well for me. You understand that I have not drawn Claes to do + as he! Great God! what changes in her have been wrought in two + months! I am overwhelmed." + +M. le Breton has suggested that Madame de Berny is Catherine in /La +Derniere Fee/, Madame d'Aiglemont in /La Femme de trente Ans/, and +Madame de Beauseant in /La Femme abandonnee/, and has strengthened +this last statement by pointing out that Gaston de Nueil came to +Madame de Beauseant after she had been deserted by her lover, the +Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto, just as the youthful Balzac came to Madame de +Berny after she had had a lover. + +It is doubtless to this friendship that Balzac refers when he writes +in the last lines of /La Duchesse de Langeais/: "It is only the last +love of a woman that can satisfy the first love of a man." It is of +interest to note that Antoinette is the Christian name of the heroine +of this story. Throughout the /Comedie humaine/ are seen quite young +men who fall in love with women well advanced in years, as Calyste de +Guenic with Mademoiselle Felicite des Touches in /Beatrix/, and Lucien +de Rubempre with Madame Bargeton in /Illusions perdues/. + +In /Eugenie Grandet/ Balzac writes: + + "Do you know what Madame Campan used to say to us? 'My children, so + long as a man is a Minister, adore him; if he falls, help to drag + him to the ditch. Powerful, he is a sort of deity; ruined, he is + below Marat in his sewer, because he is alive, and Marat, dead. + Life is a series of combinations, which must be studied and + followed if a good position is to be successfully maintained.' " + +Since Madame Campan was /femme de chambre/ of Marie Antoinette, Balzac +probably heard this maxim through Madame de Berny. + +Although some writers state that Madame de Berny was one of Balzac's +collaborators in composing the /Physiologie du Mariage/, he says, +regarding this work: "I undertook the /Physiologie du Mariage/ and the +/Peau de Chagrin/ against the advice of that angel whom I have lost." +She may have inspired him, however, in writing /Le Cure de Tours/, as +it is dated at her home, Saint-Firmin, 1832. + +In 1833, Balzac wrote Madame Hanska that he had dedicated the fourth +volume of the /Scenes de la Vie privee/ to her, putting her seal at +the head of /l'Expiation/, the last chapter of /La Femme de trente +Ans/, which he was writing at the moment he received her first letter. +But a person who was as a mother to him and whose caprices and even +jealousy he was bound to respect, had exacted that this silent +testimony should be repressed. He had the sincerity to avow to her +both the dedication and its destruction, because he believed her to +have a soul sufficiently lofty not to desire homage which would cause +grief to one as noble and grand as she whose child he was, for she had +rescued him when in youth he had nearly perished in the midst of +griefs and shipwreck. He had saved the only copy of that dedication, +for which he had been blamed as if it were a horrible coquetry, and +wished her to keep it as a souvenir and as an expression of his +thanks. + +Balzac was ever loyal to Madame de Berny and refused to reveal her +baptismal name to Madame Hanska; soon after their correspondence began +he wrote her: "You have asked me the baptismal name of the /Dilecta/. +In spite of my complete and blind faith, in spite of my sentiment for +you, I cannot tell it to you; I have never told it. Would you have +faith in me if I told it? No." + +After 1834 Madame de Berny's health failed rapidly, and her last days +were full of sorrow. Among her numerous family trials Balzac +enumerates: + + "One daughter become insane, another daughter dead, the third + dying, what blows!--And a wound more violent still, of which + nothing can be told. Finally, after thirty years of patience and + devotion, forced to separate from her husband under pain of dying + if she remained a few days longer. All this in a short space of + time. This is what I suffer through the heart that created me. + . . . Madame de Berny is much better; she has borne a last shock, + the illness of a beloved son whose brother has gone to bring him + home from Belgium. . . . Suddenly, the only son who resembles her, + a young man handsome as the day, tender and spiritual like + herself, like her full of noble sentiments, fell ill, and ill of a + cold which amounts to an affection of the lungs. The only child + out of /nine/ with whom she can sympathize! Of the nine, only four + remain; and her youngest daughter has become hysterically insane, + without any hope of cure. That blow nearly killed her. I was + correcting the /Lys/ beside her; but my affection was powerless + even to temper this last blow. Her son (twenty-three years old) + was in Belgium where he was directing an establishment of great + importance. His brother Alexandre went for him, and he arrived a + month ago, in a deplorable condition. This mother, without + strength, almost expiring, sits up at night to nurse Armand. She + has nurses and doctors. She implores me not to come and not to + write to her."[*] + +[*] /Lettres a l'Etrangere. Various writers in speaking of Madame de + Berny, state that she had eight children; others, nine. Balzac + remarks frequently that she had nine. Among others, Madame Ruxton + says that she had eight. She gives their names and dates of birth. + The explanation of this difference is probably found in the + following: "I am going to fulfil a rather sad duty this morning. + The daughter of Madame de B . . . and of Campi . . . asks for me. + In 1824, they wished me to marry her. She was bewitchingly + beautiful, a flower of Bengal! After twenty years, I am going to + see her again! At forty years of age! She asks a service of me; + doubtless a literary ambition! . . . I am going there. . . . Three + o'clock. I was sure of it! I have seen Julie, to whom and for whom + I wrote the verses: 'From the midst of those torrents of glory and + of light, etc.:' which are in /Illusions perdues/. . . ." Neither + the name /Julie/ nor the date of her birth is given by Madame + Ruxton. + +Some secret pertaining to Madame de Berny remains untold. In 1834 +Balzac writes Madame Hanska: "The greatest sorrows have overwhelmed +Madame de Berny. She is far from me, at Nemours, where she is dying of +her troubles. I cannot write you about them; they are things that can +only be spoken of with the greatest secrecy." He might have revealed +this secret to her in 1835 when he visited her in Vienna; the +following secret, however, is not explained in subsequent letters, and +Balzac did not see Madame Hanska again until seven years later in St. +Petersburg: + + "I have much distress, even enormous distress in the direction of + Madame de Berny; not from her directly but from her family. It is + not of a nature to be written. Some evening at Wierzchownia, when + the heart wounds are scars, I will tell it to you in murmurs so + that the spiders cannot hear, and so that my voice can go from my + lips to your heart. They are dreadful things, which dig into life + to the bone, deflowering all, and making one distrust all, except + you for whom I reserve these sighs." + +Though Madame de Berny may have been jealous of other women in her +earlier association with Balzac, she evidently changed later, for he +writes: + + "Alas! Madame de Berny is no better. The malady makes frightful + progress, and I cannot express to you how grand, noble and + touching this soul of my life has been in these days measured by + illness, and with what fervor she desires that another be to me + what she has been. She knows the inward spring and nobility that + the habit of carrying all things to an idol gives me. My God is on + earth." + +Contrary to his family, Madame Carraud sympathized with Balzac in his +devotion to Madame de Berny, and invited them to be her guests. In +accepting he writes: + + "Her life is so much bound up in mine! Ah, no one can form any true + idea of this deep attachment which sustains me in all my work, and + consoles me every moment in all I suffer. You can understand + something of this, you who know so well what friendship is, you + who are so affectionate, so good. . . . I thank you beforehand for + your offer of Frapesle to her. There, amid your flowers, and in + your gentle companionship, and the country life, if convalescence + is possible, and I venture to hope for it, she will regain life + and health." + +He apparently did not receive such sympathy from Madame Hanska in +their early correspondence: + + "Why be displeased about a woman fifty-eight years old, who is a + mother to me, who folds me in her heart and protects me from + stings? Do not be jealous of her; she would be so glad of our + happiness. She is an angel, sublime. There are angels of earth and + angels of heaven; she is of heaven." + +Madame de Berny's illness continued to grow more and more serious. The +reading of the second number of /Pere Goriot/ affected her so much +that she had another heart attack. But as her illness and griefs +changed and withered her, Balzac's affection for her redoubled. He did +not realize how rapidly she was failing, for she did not wish him to +see her unless she felt well and could appear attractive. On his +return to France from a journey to Italy with Madame Marbouty, he was +overcome with grief at the news of the death of Madame de Berny. He +found on his table a letter from her son Alexandre briefly announcing +his mother's death. + +But the novelist did not cease to respect her criticism: + + "I resumed my work this morning; I am obeying the last words that + Madame de Berny wrote me; 'I can die; I am sure that you have upon + your brow the crown I wished there. The /Lys/ is a sublime work, + without spot or flaw. Only, the death of Madame de Mortsauf does + not need those horrible regrets; they injure the beautiful letter + she writes.' Therefore, to-day I have piously effaced a hundred + lines, which, according to many persons, disfigure that creation. + I have not regretted a single word, and each time that my pen was + drawn through one of them, never was the heart of man more deeply + stirred. I thought I saw that grand and sublime woman, that angel + of friendship, before me, smiling as she smiled to me when I used + a strength so rare,--the strength to cut off one's own limb and + feel neither pain nor regret in correcting, in conquering one's + self." + +Balzac was sincere in his friendship with Madame de Berny, and never +ceased to revere her memory. The following appreciations of her worth +are a few of the numerous beautiful tributes he has paid her: + + "I have lost the being whom I love most in the world. . . . She + whom I have lost was more than a mother, more than a friend, more + than any human creature can be to another; it can only be + expressed by the word /divine/. She sustained me through storms of + trouble by word and deed and entire devotedness. If I am alive + this day, it is to her that it is due. She was everything to me; + and although during the last two years, time and illness kept us + apart, we saw each other through the distance. She inspired me; + she was for me a spiritual sun. Madame de Mortsauf in /Le Lys dans + la Vallee/, only faintly shadows forth some of the slighter + qualities of this woman; there is but a very pale reflection of + her, for I have a horror of unveiling my own private emotions to + the public, and nothing personal to myself will ever be known." + + "Madame de Berny is dead. I can say no more on that point. My + sorrow is not of a day; it will react upon my whole life. For a + year I had not seen her, nor did I see her in her last moments. + . . . /She/, who was always so lovingly severe to me, acknowledged + that the /Lys/ was one of the finest books in the French language; + she decked herself at last with the crown which, fifteen years + earlier, I had promised her, and, always coquettish, she + imperiously forbade me to visit her, because she would not have me + near her unless she were beautiful and well. The letter deceived + me. . . . When I was wrecked the first time, in 1828, I was only + twenty-nine years old and I had an angel at my side. . . . There + is a blank which has saddened me. The adored is here no longer. + Every day I have occasion to deplore the eternal absence. Would + you believe that for six months I have not been able to go to + Nemours to bring away the things that ought to be in my sole + possession? Every week I say to myself, 'It shall be this week! + . . .' I was very unhappy in my youth, but Madame de Berny + balanced all by an absolute devotion, which was understood to its + full extent only when the grave had seized its prey. Yes, I was + spoiled by that angel."[*] + +[*] Madame de Berny died July 27, 1836. + +So faithful was Balzac to the memory of his /Dilecta/ that nine years +after her death, he was deeply affected on seeing at the /Cour +d'Assises/ a woman about forty-five years of age, who strongly +resembled Madame de Berny, and who was being arraigned for deeds +caused by her devotion to a reckless youth. + + + LA DUCHESSE DE CASTRIES.--MADEMOISELLE DE TRUMILLY + + "He who has not seen, at some ball of Madame, Duchesse de Berry, + glide airily, scarcely touching the floor, so moving that one + perceived in her only grace before knowing whether she was a + beauty, a young woman with blond, deep-golden hair; he who has not + seen appear then the young Marquise de Castries in a fete, cannot, + without doubt, form an idea of this new beauty, charming, aerial, + praised and honored in the salons of the Restoration." + +Balzac had a brief, yet ardent friendship with the Duchesse de +Castries which ended so unhappily for him that one might say: "Heaven +has no rage like love to hatred turned." Madame de Castries was the +daughter of the Duchesse (nee Fitz-James) and the Duc de Maille. She +did not become a duchess until in 1842, and bore the title of marquise +previous to that time. Separated from her husband as the result of a +famous love affair, the Marquise gathered round her a group of +intellectual people, among whom were the writers Balzac, Musset, +Sainte-Beuve, etc., and continued active in literary and artistic +circles until her death (1861). + +On Balzac's return to Paris after a prolonged visit with his friends +at Sache during the month of September, 1831, he received an anonymous +letter, dated at Paris, a circumstance which was with him of rather +frequent occurrence, as with many men of letters. + +This lady criticized the /Physiologie du Mariage/, to which Balzac +replies, defending his position: + + "The /Physiologie du Mariage/, madame, was a work undertaken for + the purpose of defending the cause of women. I knew that if, with + the view of inculcating ideas favorable to their emancipation and + to a broad and thorough system of education for them, I had gone + to work in a blundering way, I should at best, have been regarded + as nothing more than an author of a theory more or less plausible. + I was therefore, obliged to clothe my ideas, to disguise them + under a new shape, in biting, incisive words that should lay hold + on the mind of my readers, awaken their attention and leave + behind, reflections upon which they might meditate. Thus then any + woman who has passed through the "storms of life" would see that I + attribute the blame of all faults committed by the wives, entirely + to their husbands. It is, in fact, a plenary absolution. Besides + this, I plead for the natural and inalienable rights of woman. A + happy marriage is impossible unless there be a perfect + acquaintance between the two before marriage--a knowledge of each + other's ways, habits and character. And I have not flinched from + any of the consequences involved in this principle. Those who know + me are aware that I have been faithful to this opinion ever since + I reached the age of reason; and in my eyes a young girl who has + committed a fault deserves more interest than she who, remaining + ignorant, lies open to the misfortunes of the future. I am at this + present time a bachelor, and if I should marry later in life, it + will only be to a widow." + +Thus was begun the correspondence, and the Duchess ended by lifting +her mask and inviting the writer to visit her; he gladly accepted her +gracious offer to come, not as a literary man nor as an artist, but as +himself. It is a striking coincidence that Balzac accepted this +invitation the very day, February 28, 1832, that he received the first +letter from /l'Etrangere/. + +What must have been Balzac's surprise, and how flattered he must have +felt, on learning that his unknown correspondent belonged to the +highest aristocracy of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and that her +husband was a peer of France under Charles X! + + "Madame de Castries was a coquettish, vain, delicate, clever woman, + with a touch of sensibility, piety and /chaleur de salon/; a true + Parisian with all her brilliant exterior accomplishments, + qualities refined by education, luxury and aristocratic + surroundings, but also with all her coldness and faults; in a + word, one of those women of whom one must never ask friendship, + love or devotion beyond a light veneer, because nature had created + some women morally poor." + +At first, Balzac was too enraptured to judge her accurately, but after +frequenting her salon for several months, he says of her: + + "It is necessary that I go and climb about at Aix, in Savoy, to run + after some one who, perhaps, will laugh at me--one of those + aristocratic women of whom you no doubt have a horror; one of + those angelic beauties to whom one ascribes a soul; a true + duchess, very disdainful, very loving, subtle, witty, a coquette, + like nothing I have ever yet seen, and who says she loves me, who + wants to keep me in a palace at Venice (for I tell you + everything), and who desires I should write nothing, except for + her; one of those women who must be worshiped on one's knees when + they wish it, and whom one has such pleasure in conquering; a + woman to be dreamt of, jealous of everything." + +A few weeks later he writes from Aix: + + "I have come here to seek at once both much and little. Much, + because I see daily a person full of grace and amiability, little, + because she is never likely to love me." + +Under the influence of the Duchesse de Castries and the Duc de Fitz- +James, Balzac gave more and more prominence to Catholic and Legitimist +sentiments; and it was perhaps for her sake that the novelist offered +himself as a candidate for deputy in several districts, but was +defeated in all of them. He thought it quite probable that the Duc de +Fitz-James would be elected in at least two districts, so if he were +not elected at Angouleme, the Duke might use his interest to get him +elected for the place he declined. + +It was after Balzac met Madame de Castries that one notes his +extravagant tastes and love of display as shown in his horses and +carriage, his extra servant, his numerous waistcoats, his gold +buttons, his appearance at the opera with his wonderful cane, and his +indulgence in rare pictures, old furniture, and bric-a-brac in +general. + +Induced to follow her to Aix, he continued his work, rising at five in +the morning and working until half past five in the afternoon. His +lunch came from the circle, and at six o'clock, he dined with Madame +de Castries, and spent the evening with her. His intimacy with this +illustrious family increased, and he accepted an invitation to +accompany them to Italy, giving several reasons for this journey: + + "I am at the gates of Italy, and I fear to give way to the + temptation of passing through them. The journey would not be + costly; I could make it with the Fitz-James family, who would be + exceedingly agreeable; they are all perfect to me. . . . I travel + as fourth passenger in Mme. de Castries' /vetturino/ and the + bargain--which includes everything, food, carriages, hotels--is a + thousand francs for all of us to go from Geneva to Rome; making my + share two hundred and fifty francs. . . . I shall make this + splendid journey with the Duke, who will treat me as if I were his + son. I also shall be in relation with the best society; I am not + likely to meet with such an opportunity again. M. de Fitz-James + has been in Italy before, he knows the country, and will spare me + all loss of time. Besides this, his name will throw open many + doors to me. The Duchess and he are both more than kind to me, in + every way, and the advantages of their society are great." + +From Aix they went to Geneva. Just what happened here, we shall +probably never know. Suddenly abandoning the proposed trip, Balzac +writes his mother: + + "It is advisable I should return to France for three months. . . . + Besides, my traveling companions will not be at Naples till + February. I shall, therefore, come back, but not to Paris; my + return will not be known to any one; and I shall start again for + Naples in February, via Marseilles and the steamer. I shall be + more at rest on the subjects of money and literary obligations." + +Later he alludes thus to his sudden departure from Geneva: + + "/Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu!/ God, in whom I believe, owed me some sweet + emotions at the sight of Geneva, for I left it disconsolate, + cursing everything, abhorring womankind! With what joy shall I + return to it, my celestial love, my Eva!" + +Thus was ended an ardent friendship of about eight months' duration, +for instead of rejoining the Duchesse de Castries in Italy Balzac's +first visit to that country was made many years later, and then in the +delightful company of his "Polar Star." + +In speaking of this sudden breach, Miss M. F. Sandars says: + + "We can only conjecture the cause of the final rupture, as no + satisfactory explanation is forthcoming. The original 'Confession' + in the /Medecin de Campagne/, which is the history of Balzac's + relations and parting with Madame de Castries, is in the + possession of the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul. The present + 'Confession' was substituted for it, because the first revealed + too much of Balzac's private life. However, even in the original + 'Confession,' we learn no reason for Madame de Castries' sudden + resolve to dismiss her adorer, as Balzac declares with indignant + despair that he can give no explanation of it. Apparently she + parted from him one evening with her usual warmth of affection, + and next morning everything was changed, and she treated him with + the utmost coldness." + +Fully to appreciate what this friendship meant to both, one must +consider the private life of each. As has been seen, it was in the +summer of 1832 that Balzac and his /Dilecta/ decided to sever their +intimate connection, and since his /Chatelaine/ of Wierzchownia had +not yet become the dominating force in his life, his heart was +doubtless yearning for some one to adore. + +There was also an aching void in the heart of Madame de Castries. She, +too, was recovering from an amorous attachment, more serious than was +his, for death had recently claimed the young Count Metternich. +Perhaps then, each was seeking consolation in the other's society. + +There was nothing more astonishing or charming than to see in the +evening, in one of the most simple little drawing-rooms, antiquely +furnished with tables, cushions of old velvet and screens of the +eighteenth century, this woman, her spine injured, reclining in her +invalid's chair, languid, but without affectation. This woman--with +her profile more Roman than Greek, her hair falling over her high, +white brow--was the Duchesse de Castries, nee de Maille, related to +the best families of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Accompanying the +young Comte de Metternich on the hunt, she was caught in the branch of +a tree, and fell, injuring her spine. But a shadow of her former +brilliant self--such had become this beauty, once so dazzling that the +moment she entered the drawing-room, her gorgeous robe falling over +shoulders worthy of a Titian, the brilliancy of the candles was +literally effaced.[*] + +[*] Philarete Chasles was a frequent visitor of her salon. When Balzac + visited Madame Hanska at Vienna in the summer of 1835, he did a + favor for the Duchesse de Castries while there. He wrote /La + Filandiere/, 1835, one of his /Contes drolatiques/, for Madame de + Castries' son, M. le baron d'Aldenburg. + +Balzac refers frequently to Count Metternich in writing to Madame +Hanska of his association with Madame de Castries: + + "There is still a Metternich in this adventure; but this time it is + the son, who died in Florence. I have already told you of this + cruel affair, and I had no right to tell you. though separated + from that person out of delicacy, all is not over yet. I suffer + through her; but I do not judge her. . . . Madame de C---- insists + that she has never loved any one except M. de M---- and that she + loves him still, that Artemisia of Ephesus. . . . You asked me, I + believe, about Madame de C---- She has taken the thing, as I told + you, tragically, and now distrusts the M---- family. Beneath all + this, on both sides there is something inexplicable, and I have no + desire to look for the key of mysteries which do not concern me. I + am with Madame de C---- on the proper terms of politeness, and as + you yourself would wish me to be." + +After their abrupt separation at Geneva, their relations continued to +be estranged: + + "For the moment I will tell you that Madame de C---- has written me + that we are not to see each other again; she has taken offense at + a letter, and I at many other things. Be assured that there is no + love in all this! . . . I meant to speak to you of Madame de + C----, but I have not the time. Twenty-five days hence I will tell + you by word of mouth. In two words, your Honore, my Eva, grew + angry at the coldness which simulated friendship. I said what I + thought; the reply was that I ought not to see again a woman to + whom I could say such cruel things. I asked a thousand pardons for + the 'great liberty,' and we continue on a very cold footing." + +Balzac was deeply wounded through his passionate love for Madame de +Castries, and resented her leaving him in the depths of an abyss of +coldness after having inflamed him with the fire of her soul; he began +to think of revenge: + + "I abhor Madame de C----, for she blighted my life without giving + me another,--I do not say a comparable one, but without giving me + what she promised. There is not the shadow of wounded vanity, oh! + but disgust and contempt . . . If Madame de C----'s letter + displeases you, say so frankly, my love. I will write to her that + my affections are placed in a heart too jealous for me to be + permitted to correspond with a woman who has her reputation for + beauty, for charm, and that I act frankly in telling her + so. . . ." + +Indeed, his experience with Madame de Castries at Geneva had made him +so unhappy that on his return to that city to visit his /Predilecta/, +he had moments of joy mingled with sorrow, as the scenery recalled +how, on his previous visit, he had wept over his /illusions perdues/. +While other writers suggest different causes, one might surmise that +this serious disappointment was the beginning of Balzac's heart +trouble, for in speaking of it, he says: "It is necessary for my life +to be bright and pleasant. The cruelties of the woman whom you know +have been the cause of the trouble; then the disasters of 1848. . . ." + +He tried to overcome his dejection by intense work, but he could not +forget the tragic suffering he had undergone. The experience he had +recently passed through he disclosed in one of his most noted stories, +/La Duchesse de Langeais/, which he wrote largely in 1834 at the same +fatal city of Geneva, but this time, while enjoying the society of the +beautiful Madame Hanska. In this story, under the name of the heroine, +the Duchesse de Langeais, he describes the Duchesse de Castries: + + "This was a woman artificially educated, but in reality ignorant; a + woman whose instincts and feelings were lofty, while the thought + which should have controlled them was wanting. She squandered the + wealth of her nature in obedience to social conventions; she was + ready to brave society, yet she hesitated till her scruples + degenerated into artifice. With more wilfulness than force of + character, impressionable rather than enthusiastic, gifted with + more brain than heart; she was supremely a woman, supremely a + coquette, and above all things a /Parisienne/, loving a brilliant + life and gaiety, reflecting never, or too late; imprudent to the + verge of poetry, and humble in the depths of her heart, in spite + of her charming insolence. Like some straight-growing reed, she + made a show of independence; yet, like the reed, she was ready to + bend to a strong hand. She talked much of religion, and had it not + at heart, though she was prepared to find in it a solution of her + life." + +In the same story under the name of the Marquis de Montriveau, Balzac +is doubtless portraying himself. It was probably in the home of the +Duchesse de Castries that Balzac conceived some of his ideas of the +aristocracy of the exclusive Faubourg Saint-Germain, a picture of +which he has drawn in this story of which she is the heroine. Her +influence is seen also in the characters so minutely drawn of the +heartless /Parisienne/, no longer young, but seductive, refined and +aristocratic, though deceptive and perfidious. + +Before publishing /La Duchesse de Langeais/, the novelist was either +tactful or vindictive enough to call on Madame de Castries and read to +her his new book. He says of this visit: "I have just returned from +Madame de C----, whom I do not want for an enemy when my book comes +out and the best means of obtaining a defender against the Faubourg +Saint-Germain is to make her approve of the work in advance; and she +greatly approved of it." But a few weeks later, he writes: "Here I am, +on bad terms with Madame de C---- on account of the /Duchesse de +Langeais/--so much the better." If Balzac refers to Madame de Castries +in the following except, one may even say that he had her correct his +work. + + "Say whatever you like about /La Duchesse de Langeais/, your + remarks do not affect me; but a lady whom you may perhaps know, + illustrious and elegant, has approved everything, corrected + everything like a royal censor, and her authority on ducal matters + is incontestable; I am safe under the shadow of her shawl." + +Balzac continued to call on her and to write to her occasionally, and +was very sympathetic to her illness, especially as her Parisian +friends seemed to have abandoned her. Though death did not come to her +until more than twenty-five years later, he writes at this time: + + "Madame de Castries is dying; the paralysis is attacking the other + limb. Her beauty is no more; she is blighted. Oh! I pity her. She + suffers horribly and inspires pity only. She is the only person I + visit, and then, for one hour every week. It is more than I really + can do, but the hour is compelled by the sight of that slow + death." + +In her despondency he tries to cheer her: + + "I do not like your melancholy; I should scold you well if you were + here. I would put you on a large divan, where you would be like a + fairy in the midst of her palace, and I would tell you that in + this life you must love in order to live. Now, you do not love. A + lively affection is the bread of the soul, and when the soul is + not fed it grows starved, like the body. The bonds of the soul and + body are such that each suffers with the other. . . . A thousand + kindly things in return for your flowers, which bring me much + happiness, but I wish for something more. . . . You have mingled + bitterness with the flatteries you have the goodness to bestow on + my book, as if you knew all the weight of your words and how far + they would reach. I would a thousand times rather you would + consider the book and the pen as things of your own, than receive + these praises."[*] + +[*] It is interesting to note Balzac's fondness for flowers, as is + seen in his association of them with various women, and the + prominent place he has given them in some of his works. + +Though his visits continued, their friendship gradually grew colder, +and in 1836 he writes: "I have broken the last frail relations of +politeness with Madame de C----. She enjoys the society of MM. Janni +and Sainte-Beauve, who have so outrageously wounded me. It seemed to +me bad taste, and now I am happily out of it." + +/La Duchesse de Langeais/ appeared in 1834, but Madame de Castries had +not fully wreaked her revenge on Balzac. For some time an Irish woman, +a Miss Patrickson, had insisted on translating Balzac's works. Madame +de Castries engaged her as teacher of English, and used her as a means +of ensnaring Balzac by having her write him a love letter and sign it +"Lady Nevil." Though suspicious about this letter, he answered it, and +a rendezvous was arranged at the opera. That day he called on Madame +de Castries, and she had him remain for dinner. When he excused +himself to go to the opera, she insisted on accompanying him; he then +realized that he was a victim of her strategy, which he thus +describes: + + "I go to the opera. No one there. Then I write a letter, which + brings the miss, old, horrible, with hideous teeth, but full of + remorse for the part she had played, full of affection for me and + contempt and horror for the Marquise. Though my letters were + extremely ironical and written for the purpose of making a woman + masquerading as a false lady blush, she (Miss Patrickson) had + recovered them. I had the upper hand of Madame de C---- She ended + by divining that in this intrigue she was on the down side. From + that time forth she vowed me a hatred which will end only with + life. In fact, she may rise out of her grave to calumniate me. She + never opened /Seraphita/ on account of its dedication, and her + jealousy is such that if she could completely destroy the book she + would weep for joy."[*] + +[*] Seized with pity for this poor Irish woman, Balzac called later to + see about some translations and found her overcome by drink in the + midst of poverty and dirt. He learned afterwards that she was + addicted to the habit of drinking gin. + +Notwithstanding their enmity Balzac visited her occasionally. She had +become so uncomely that he could not understand his infatuation at +Aix, ten years before. He disliked her especially because she had for +the moment, in posing as Madame de Balzac, made Madame Hanska believe +he was married. He enjoyed telling her of Madame Hanska's admiration +for and devotion to him, and sarcastically remarked to her that she +was such a "true friend" she would be happy to learn of his financial +success. Thus, during a period of several years, while speaking of her +as his enemy, the novelist continued to dine with her, but was ever +ready to overwhelm her with sarcasm, even while her guest. Yet, in +1843, he dedicated to her /L'Illustre Gaudissart/, a work written ten +years before. + +Though he was fully recovered with time, this drama, played by a +coquette, was almost tragic for the author of the /Comedie humaine/. +No other woman left so deep a mark of passion or such rankling wounds +in his bleeding heart, as did she of whom he says: + + "It has required five years of wounds for my tender nature to + detach itself from one of iron. A gracious woman, this Duchess of + whom I spoke to you, and one who had come to me under an + incognito, which, I render her this justice, she laid aside the + day I asked her to. . . . This /liaison/ which, whatever may be + said, be assured has remained by the will of the woman in the most + reproachable conditions, has been one of the great sorrows of my + life. The secret misfortunes of my situation actually come from + the fact that I sacrificed everything to her, for a single one of + her desires; she never divined anything. A wounded man must be + pardoned for fearing injuries. . . . I alone know what there is of + horror in the /Duchesse de Langeais/." + + +In 1831 Balzac asked for the hand of a young lady of the Faubourg +Saint-Germain, Mademoiselle Eleonore de Trumilly, second daughter of +his friend the Baron de Trumilly, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Artillery +of the Royal guard under the Restoration, a former /émigré/, and of +Madame Alexandra-Anna de Montiers. This request was received by her +father, who transmitted it to her, but she rejected the suitor and +married June 18, 1833, Francois-Felix-Claude-Marie-Marguerite Labroue, +Baron de Vareilles-Sommieres, of the diocese of Poitiers. + +The Baron de Trumilly (died April 7, 1832) held high rank among the +officers of the artillery, and his cultured mind rendered him one of +the ornaments of society. He lived in friendly and intellectual +relations with Balzac while the future novelist was working on the +/Chouans/ and the /Physiologie du Mariage/, and at the time Balzac was +revising the latter for publication, he went to dine frequently at the +home of the Baron, who used to work with him until late in the +evening. In this work he introduces an old /émigré/ under the initials +of Marquis de T---- which are quite similar to those of the Baron de +Trumilly. This Marquis de T---- went to Germany about 1791, which +corresponds to the life of the Baron. + +Baron de Trumilly welcomed Balzac into his home, took a great interest +in his work, and seemed willing to give him one of his three +daughters; but one can understand how the young novelist, who had not +yet attained great fame, might not favorably impress a young lady of +the social standing of Mademoiselle de Trumilly, and her father did +not urge her to accept him. + +Although Balzac wrote Madame Hanska that when he called the girl loved +by Dr. Benassis in his "Confession" (Le Medecin de Campagne) +"Evelina," he said to himself, "She will quiver with joy in seeing +that her name has occupied me, that she was present to my memory, and +that what I deemed loveliest and noblest in the young girl, I have +named for her," some think that the lady he had in mind was not Mme. +Hanska, but Eleonore de Trumilly, who really was a young unmarried +girl, while Madame Hanska was not only married, but the mother of +several children. Again, letters written by the author to his family +show his condition to have been desperate at that time. Balzac asserts +that the story of /Louis Lambert/ is true to life; hence, despondent +over his own situation, he makes Louis Lambert become insane, and +causes Dr. Benassis to think of suicide when disappointed in love. + +Thus was the novelist doomed, early in his literary career, to meet +with a disappointment which, as has been seen, was to be repeated some +months later with more serious results, when his adoration for the +Duchesse de Castries was suddenly turned into bitterness. + + + MADAME HANSKA.--LA COMTESSE MNISZECH.--MADEMOISELLE BOREL.-- + MESDEMOISELLES WYLEZYNSKA.--LA COMTESSE ROSALIE RZEWUSKA.-- + MADEMOISELLE CALISTE RZEWUSKA.--MADAME CHERKOWITSCH.-- + MADAME RIZNITSCH.--LA COMTESSE MARIE POTOCKA. + + "And they talk of the first love! I know nothing as terrible as the + last, it is strangling." + +The longest and by far the most important of Balzac's friendships +began by correspondence was the one with Madame Eveline Hanska, whose +first letter arrived February 28, 1832. The friendship soon developed +into a more sentimental relationship culminating March 14, 1850, when +Madame Hanska became Madame Honore de Balzac. This "grand and +beautiful soul-drama" is one of the noblest in the world, and in the +history of literature the longest. + +So long was Balzac in pursuit of this apparent chimera, and so ardent +was his passion for his "polar star" that the above words of Quinola +may well be applied to his experience. So fervent was his adoration, +so pathetic his sufferings and so persistent his pursuit during the +seventeen long years of waiting that Miss Betham-Edwards has +appropriately said of his letters to Madame Hanska: + + "Opening with a pianissimo, we soon reach /a con molto + expressione/, a /crescendo/, a /molto furore/ quickly following. + Every musical term, adjectival, substantival, occurs to us as we + read the thousand and odd pages of the two volumes. . . . Nothing + in his fiction or any other, records a love greatening as the + tedious years wore on, a love sovereignly overcoming doubt, + despair and disillusion, such a love as the great Balzac's for + /l'Etrangere/." + +Their relationship from the beginning of their correspondence to the +tragic end which came so soon after Balzac had arrived "at the summit +of happiness," has been shrouded in mystery. This mystery has been +heightened by the vivid imagination of some of Balzac's biographers, +where fancy replace facts. + +Miss Katherine P. Wormeley denies the authenticity of some of the +letters published in the /Lettres a l'Etrangere/, saying: + + "No explanation is given of how these letters were obtained, and no + proof or assurance is offered of their authenticity. A foot-note + appended to the first letter merely states as follows: 'M. le + vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, in whose hands are the + originals of these letters, has related the history of this + correspondence in detail, under the title of /Un Roman d'Amour/ + (Calmann Levy, publisher). Madame Hanska, born Evelina (Eve) + Rzewuska, who was then twenty-six or twenty-eight years old, + resided at the chateau of Wierzchownia, in Volhynia. An + enthusiastic reader of the /Scenes de la Vie privee/, uneasy at + the different turns which the mind of the author was taking in + /La Peau de Chagrin/, she addressed to Balzac--then thirty-three + years old, in the care of the publisher Gosselin, a letter signed + /l'Etrangere/, which was delivered to him February 18, 1832. Other + letters followed; that of November 7 ended thus: 'A word from you + in the /Quotidienne/ will give me the assurance that you have + received my letter, and that I can write to you without fear. Sign + it; to /l'E---- H. de B/.' This acknowledgment of reception + appeared in the /Quotidienne/ of December 9. Thus was inaugurated + the system of /petite/ correspondence now practised in divers + newspapers, and at the same time, this correspondence with her who + was seventeen years later, in 1850, to become his wife."[*] + +[*] Miss M. F. Sandars states that a copy of the /Quotidienne/ + containing this acknowledgment was in the possession of the + Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, and that she saw it. At the + time of writing this preface, Miss Wormeley did not believe the + correspondence began until February, 1833. In undertaking to prove + this, she cited a letter from Balzac written to Madame Hanska, + dated January 4, 1846, in which he says that the thirteen years + will soon be completed since he received her first letter. She + corrects this statement, however, in writing her /Memoir of + Balzac/ three years later. The mistake in this letter here + mentioned is only an example of the inaccuracy of Balzac, found + not only in his letters, but throughout the /Comedie humaine/. But + Miss Wormeley's argument might have been refuted by quoting + another letter from Balzac to Madame Hanska dated February, 1840: + "After eight years you do not know me!" + +Regarding the two letters published in /Un Roman d'Amour/, pp. 33-49, +dated November 7, 1832, and January 8, 1833, and signed /l'Etrangere/, +Miss Wormeley says it is not necessary to notice them, since the +author himself states that they are not in Madame Hanska's +handwriting. + +She is quite correct in this, for Spoelberch de Lovenjoul writes: "How +many letters did Balzac receive thus? No one knows. But we possess +two, neither of which is in Madame Hanska's handwriting." In speaking +of the first letter that arrived, he says: + + "This first record of interest which was soon to change its nature, + has unfortunately not been found yet. Perhaps this page perished + in the /autodafe/ which, as the result of a dramatic adventure, + Balzac made of all the letters he had received from Madame Hanska; + perhaps also, by dint of rereading it, he had worn it out and + involuntarily destroyed it himself. We do not know. In any case, + we have not found it in the part of his papers which have fallen + into our hands. We regret it very much, for this letter must be + remarkable to have produced so great an impression on the future + author of the /Comedie humaine/." + +The question arises: If Balzac burned in 1847 "all the letters he had +received from Madame Hanska," how could de Lovenjoul publish in 1896 +two letters that he alleged to be from her, dated in 1832 and 1833? + +The Princess Radziwill who is the niece of Madame Honore de Balzac and +was reared by her in the house of Balzac in the rue Fortunee, has been +both gracious and generous to the present writer in giving her much +valuable information that could not have been obtained elsewhere. In +answer to the above question, she states: + + "Balzac said that he burned my aunt's letters in order to reassure + her one day when she had reasons to fear they would fall into + other hands than those to whom they belonged. After his death, my + aunt found them all, and I am sorry to say that /it was she who + burned them/, and that I was present at this /autodafe/, and + remember to this day my horror and indignation. But my aunt as + well as my father had a horror of leaving letters after them, and + strange to say, they were right in fearing to leave them because + in both cases, papers had a fate they would not have liked them to + have." + +The sketch of the family of Madame Honore de Balzac as given in /Un +Roman d'Amour/, is so inaccurate that the Princess Radziwill has very +kindly made the following corrections of it for the present writer: + + "(1) Madame Hanska was really born on December /24th, not 25th/, + 1801. You will find the date on her grave which is under the same + monument as that of Balzac, in Pere Lachaise in Paris. I am + absolutely sure of the day, because my father was also born on + Christmas Eve, and there were always great family rejoicings on + that occasion. You know that the Roman Catholic church celebrates + on the 24th of December the fete of Adam and Eve, and it is + because they were born on that day that my father and his sister + were called Adam and Eve. I am also quite sure that the year of my + aunt's birth was 1801, and my father's 1803, and should be very + much surprised if my memory served me false in that respect. But I + repeat it, the exact dates are inscribed on my aunt's grave. . . . + I looked up since I saw you a prayer book which I possess in which + the dates of birth are consigned, and thus found 1801, and I think + it is the correct one, but at all events I repeat it once more, + the exact date is engraved on her monument. + + "(2) Caroline Rzewuska, my aunt's eldest sister, and the eldest of + the whole family, is the Madame Cherkowitsch of Balzac's letters, + and not Shikoff, as the family sketch says. It is equally + ridiculous to say that some people aver she was married four + times, and had General Witte for a husband; but Witte was a great + admirer of hers at the time she was Mme. Sobanska. There is also a + detail connected with her which is very little known, and that is + that she nearly married Sainte-Beauve, and that the marriage was + broken off a few days before the one fixed for it to take place. + That was before she married Jules Lacroix, and wicked people say + that it was partly disappointment at having been unable to become + the wife of the great critic, which made her accept the former. + + "(3) My aunt Pauline was married to a Serbian banker settled in + Odessa, a very rich man called Jean Riznitsch, but he was /neither + a General nor a Baron/. Her second daughter, Alexandrine, married + Mr. Ciechanowiecki who also never could boast of a title, and + whose father had never been /Minister de l'Interieur en Pologne/. + + "(4) My aunt Eve was neither married in 1818 nor in 1822 to Mr. + Hanski, but in 1820. It was not because of /revers de fortune/ + that she was married to him, but it was the custom in Polish noble + families to try to settle girls as richly as possible. Later on, + my grandfather lost a great deal of money, but this circumstance, + which occurred after my aunt's marriage, had nothing to do with + it. My grandfather,--this by the way,--was a very remarkable man, + a personal friend of Voltaire. You will find interesting details + about him in an amusing book published by Ernest Daudet, called + /La Correspondence du Comte Valentin Esterhazy/, in the first + volume, where among other things is described the birth of my aunt + Helene, whose personality interests you so much, a birth which + nearly killed her mother. Besides Helene, my grandparents had + still another daughter who also died unmarried, at seventeen years + of age, and who, judging by her picture, must have been a wonder + of beauty; also a son Stanislas, who was killed accidentally by a + fall from his horse in 1826. + + "(5) My uncle Ernest was not the second son of his parents, but the + youngest in the whole family." + +It is interesting to note that Balzac wished to have his works +advertised in newspapers circulating in foreign countries and wrote +his publisher to advertise in the /Gazette/ and the /Quotidienne/, as +they were the only papers admitted into Russia, Italy, etc. He +repeated this request some months later, by which time he not only +knew that /l'Etrangere/ read the /Quotidienne/, but he had become +interested in her. + +As has been mentioned, it is a strange coincidence that this first +letter from /l'Etrangere/ arrived on the very day that the novelist +wrote accepting the invitation of the Duchesse de Castries. Balzac +doubtless little dreamed that this was the beginning of a +correspondence which was destined to change the whole current of his +life. + +Many versions have been given as to what this letter contained, some +saying that Madame Hanska had been reading the /Peau de Chagrin/, +others, the /Physiologie du Mariage/, and others, the /Maison du Chat- +qui-pelote/, but if the letter no longer exists how is one to prove +what it contained? Yet it must have impressed Balzac, for he wanted to +dedicate to her the fourth volume of the /Scenes de la Vie privee/ in +placing her seal and "Diis ignotis 28 fevrier 1832" at the head of +/l'Expiation/, the last chapter of /La Femme de trente Ans/, which he +was writing when her letter arrived, but Madame de Berny objected, so +he saved the only copy of that dedication and wished Madame Hanska to +keep it as a souvenir, and as an expression of his thanks. + +According to Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, Balzac showed one of Madame +Hanska's letters to Madame Carraud, and she answered it for him; but +with his usual skill in answering severe cross-examinations, he +replies: + + "You have asked me with distrust to give an explanation of my two + handwritings; but I have as many handwritings as there are days in + the year, without being on that account the least in the world + versatile. This mobility comes from an imagination which can + conceive all and remain vague, like glass which is soiled by none + of its reflections. The glass is in my brain." + +In this same letter, which is the second given, Balzac writes: ". . . +I am galloping towards Poland, and rereading all your letters,--I have +but three of them, . . ." If this last statement be true, the answer +to Spoelberch de Lovenjoul's question, "How many letters did Balzac +receive thus?" is not difficult. + +Miss Wormeley seems to be correct in saying that this second letter is +inconsistent with the preceding one dated also in January, 1833, +showing an arbitrary system of dating. There are others which are +inconsistent, if not impossible, but if Spoelberch de Lovenjoul after +the death of Madame Honore de Balzac found these letters scattered +about in various places, as he states, it is quite possible that +contents as well as dates are confused.[*] + +[*] One can see at once the injustice of the criticism of M. Henry + Bordeaux, /la Grande Revue/, November, 1899, in censuring Madame + Hanska for publishing her letters from Balzac. + +The husband of Madame Hanska, M. Wenceslas de Hanski, who was never a +count, but a very rich man, was many years her senior, and suffered +from "blue devils" and paresis a long time before his death. Though he +was very generous with his wife in allowing her to travel, she often +suffered from ennui in her beautifully furnished chateau of +Wierzchownia, which Balzac described as being "as large as the +Louvre." This was a great exaggeration, for it was comparatively +small, having only about thirty rooms. With her husband, her little +daughter Anna, her daughter's governess, Mademoiselle Henriette Borel, +and two Polish relatives, Mesdemoiselles Severine and Denise +Wylezynska, she led a lonely life and spent much of her time in +reading, or writing letters. The household comprised the only people +of education for miles around. + +Having lost six of her seven children, and being an intensely maternal +woman, the deepest feelings of her heart were devoted to her daughter +Anna, who also was destined to occupy much of the time and thought of +the author of the /Comedie humaine/. + +If the letters printed in /Un Roman d'Amour/ are genuine, in the one +dated January 8, 1833, she speaks of having received with delight the +copy of the /Quotidienne/ in which his notice is inserted. She tells +him that M. de Hanski with his family are coming nearer France, and +she wishes to arrange some way for him to answer her letters, but he +must never try to ascertain who the person is who will transmit his +letters to her, and the greatest secrecy must be preserved. + +It is not known how she arranged to have him send his letters, but he +wrote her about once a month from January to September, and after that +more frequently, as he was arranging to visit her. M. de Hanski with +his numerous family had come to Neufchatel in July, having stopped in +Vienna on the way. Here Balzac was to meet l'Etrangere for the first +time. He left Paris September 22, stopping to make a business visit to +his friend, Charles Bernard, at Besancon, and arriving at Neufchatel +September 25. (Although this letter to M. Bernard is dated August, +1833, Balzac evidently meant September, for there is no Sunday, August +22, in 1833. He did not leave Paris until Sunday, September 22, 1833.) +On the morning after his arrival, he writes her: + + "I shall go to the Promenade of the faubourg from one o'clock till + four. I shall remain during that time looking at the lake, which I + have never seen." + +Just what happened when they met, no one knows. The Princess Radziwill +says that her aunt told her that Balzac called at her hotel to meet +her and that there was nothing romantic in their introduction. +Nevertheless, the most varied and amusing stories have been told of +their first meeting. + +Balzac remained in Neufchatel until October 1, having made a visit of +five days. He took a secret box to Madame Hanska in which to keep his +letters, having provided himself with a similar one in which to keep +hers. If we are to credit the disputed letter of Saturday, October 12, +we may learn something of what took place. Even before meeting Madame +Hanska, he had inserted her name in one of his books, calling the +young girl loved by M. Benassis "Evelina" (Le Medecin de Campagne). + +Early in October M. de Hanski took his family to Geneva to spend the +winter. After Balzac's departure from Neufchatel the tone of his +letters to Madame Hanska changed; he used the /tutoiement/, and his +adoration increased. For a while he wrote her a daily account of his +life and dispatched the journal to her weekly. + +Madame Hanska came into Balzac's life at a psychological moment. From +his youth, his longing was "to be famous and to be loved." Having +found the emptiness of a life of fame alone, having apparently grown +weary of the poor Duchesse d'Abrantes, about to cease his intimacy +with Madame de Berny, having been rejected by Mademoiselle de +Trumilly, and having suffered bitterly at the hands of the Duchesse de +Castries, he embraced this friendship with a new hope, and became +Madame Hanska's slave. + +If Balzac was charmed with the stories of the daughter of the /femme +de chambre/ of Marie Antoinette, was infatuated with a woman who had +known Napoleon, and flattered by being invited to the home of one of +the beautiful society ladies of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, what must +have been his joy in learning that his new /Chatelaine/ belonged to +one of the most aristocratic families of Poland, the grandniece of +Queen Marie Leczinska, the daughter of the wise Comte de Rzewuska, and +the wife of one of the richest men in Russia! + +But Madame Hanska was a very different woman from the kind, self- +sacrificing, romantic Madame de Berny; the witty, splendor-loving, +indulgent, poverty-stricken Duchesse d'Abrantes; or the frail, +dazzling, blond coquette, the Duchesse de Castries. With more strength +physically and mentally than her rivals, she possessed a marked +authoritativeness that was not found in Madame de Berny, a breadth of +vision impossible to Madame Junot, and freedom from the frivolity and +coquetry of Madame de Castries. + +The Princess Radziwill feels that the Polish woman who has come down +to posterity merely as the object of Balzac's adoration, should be +known as the being to whom he was indebted for the development of his +marvelous genius, and as his collaborator in many of his works. +According to the Princess, /Modeste Mignon/ is almost entirely the +work of Madame Hanska's pen. She gives this description of her aunt, +which corresponds to Balzac's continual reference to her "analytical +forehead": + + "Madame de Balzac was perhaps not so brilliant in conversation as + were her brothers and sisters. Her mind had something pedantic in + it, and she was rather a good listener than a good talker, but + whatever she said was to the point, and she was eloquent with her + pen. She had that large glance only given to superior minds which + allows them, according to the words of Catherine of Russia, 'to + read the future in the history of the past.' She observed + everything, was indulgent to every one. . . . Her family, who + stood in more or less awe of her, treated her with great respect + and consideration. . . . We all of us had a great opinion of the + soundness of her judgments, and liked to consult her in any + difficulty or embarrassment in our existence." + +No sooner had Balzac returned from his visit to Neufchatel intoxicated +with joy, than he began to plan his visit to Geneva. He would work day +and night to be able to get away for a fortnight; he decided later to +spend a month there, but he did not arrive until Christmas day. In the +meantime, he referred to their promise (to marry) which was as holy +and sacred to him as their mutual life, and he truly described his +love as the most ardent, the most persistent of loves. /Adoremus in +aeternum/ had become their device, and Madame Hanska, not having as +yet become accustomed to his continual financial embarrassment, wished +to provide him with money, an offer which is reproduced in /Eugenie +Grandet/. + +Upon his arrival at Geneva the novelist found a ring awaiting him; he +considered it as a talisman, wore it working, and it inspired +/Seraphita/. He became her /moujik/ and signed his name /Honoreski/. +She became his "love," his "life," his "rose of the Occident," his +"star of the North," his "fairy of the /tiyeuilles/," his "only +thought," his "celestial angel," the end of all for him. "You shall be +the young /dilecta/,--already I name you the /predilecta/."[*] + +[*] Balzac was imitating Madame Hanska's pronunciation of /tilleuls/ + in having Madame Vauquer (/Pere Goriot/) pronounce it /tieuilles/. + +His adoration became such that he writes her: "My loved angel, I am +almost mad for you . . . I cannot put two ideas together that you do +not come between them. I can think of nothing but you. In spite of +myself my imagination brings me back to you. . . ." It was during his +stay in Geneva that Madame Hanska presented her chain to him, which he +used later on his cane. + +Balzac left Geneva February 8, 1834, having spent forty-four days with +his /Predilecta/, but his work was not entirely neglected. While +there, he wrote almost all of /La Duchesse de Langeais/, and a large +part of /Seraphita/. This work, which she inspired, was dedicated: + + "To Madame Eveline de Hanska, nee Countess Rzewuska. + + "Madame:--here is the work you desired of me; in dedicating it to + you I am happy to offer you some token of the respectful affection + you allow me to feel for you. If I should be accused of incapacity + after trying to extract from the depths of mysticism this book, + which demanded the glowing poetry of the East under the + transparency of our beautiful language, the blame be yours! Did + you not compel me to the effort--such an effort as Jacob's--by + telling me that even the most imperfect outline of the figure + dreamed of by you, as it has been by me from my infancy, would + still be something in your eyes? Here, then, is that something. + Why cannot this book be set apart exclusively for those lofty + spirits who, like you, are preserved from worldly pettiness by + solitude? They might impress on it the melodious rhythm which it + lacks, and which, in the hands of one of our poets, might have + made it the glorious epic for which France still waits. Still, + they will accept it from me as one of those balustrades, carved by + some artist full of faith, on which the pilgrims lean to moderate + on the end of man, while gazing at the choir of a beautiful + church. I remain, madame, with respect, your faithful servant, + + "DE BALZAC." + +In the spring of 1834, M. de Hanski and his family left Geneva for +Florence, traveled for a few months, and arrived in Vienna during the +summer, where they remained for about a year. But Balzac continued his +correspondence with Madame Hanska. She was interested in collecting +the autographs of famous people, and Balzac not only had an album made +for her, but helped her collect the signatures. + +More infatuated, if possible, than ever with her, he wanted her to +secure her husband's consent for him to visit them at Rome. Then he +felt that he must go to Vienna, see the Danube, explore the +battlefields of Wagram and Essling, and have pictures made +representing the uniforms of the German army. + +In /La Recherche de l'Absolu/, he gave the name of Adam de +Wierzchownia to a Polish gentleman, Wierzchownia being the name of +Madame Hanska's home in the Ukraine. "I have amused myself like a boy +in naming a Pole, M. de Wierzchownia, and bringing him on the scene in +/La Recherche de l'Absolu/. That was a longing I could not resist, and +I beg your pardon and that of M. de Hanski for the great liberty. You +could not believe how that printed page fascinates me!" He writes her +of another character, La Fosseuse, (Le Medecin de Campagne): "Ah! if I +had known your features, I would have pleased myself in having them +engraved as La Fosseuse. But though I have memory enough for myself, I +should not have enough for a painter." + +Either Balzac's adoration became too ardent, or displeasure was caused +in some other way, for no letters to Madame Hanska appear from August +26 to October 9, 1834. In the meantime, a long letter was written to +M. de Hanski apologizing for two letters written to his wife. He +explained that one evening she jestingly remarked to him, beside the +lake of Geneva, that she would like to know what a love-letter was +like, so he promised to write her one. Being reminded of this promise, +he sent her one, and received a cold letter of reproof from her after +another letter was on the way to her. Receiving a second rebuke, he +was desperate over the pleasantry, and wished to atone for this by +presenting to her, with M. de Hanski's permission, some manuscripts +already sent. He wished to send her the manuscript of /Seraphita/ +also, and to dedicate this book to her, if they could forgive him this +error, for which he alone was to be censured. + +Balzac was evidently pardoned, for he not only dedicated /Seraphita/ +to her, as has been shown, but arrived in Vienna on May 16, 1835, to +visit her, bringing with him this manuscript. His stay was rather +short, lasting only to June 4. While there, he was quite busy, working +on /Le Lys dans la Vallee/, and declined many invitations. To get his +twelve hours of work, he had to retire at nine o'clock in order to +rise at three; this monastic rule dominated everything. He yielded +something of his stern observance to Madame Hanska by giving himself +three hours more freedom than in Paris, where he retired at six. + +Soon after his return from Vienna, the novelist was informed that a +package from Vienna was held for him with thirty-six francs due. +Having, of course, no money, he sent his servant in a cab for the +package, telling him where he could secure the money and, dead or +alive, to bring the package. After spending four hours in an agony of +anticipation, wondering what Madame Hanska could be sending him, his +messenger arrived with a copy of /Pere Goriot/ which he had given her +in Vienna with the request that she give it to some one to whom it +might afford pleasure. + +It will be remembered that while in Vienna, Balzac's financial strain +became such that his sister Laure pawned his silver. He afterwards +admitted that the journey to Vienna was the greatest folly of his +life; it cost him five thousand francs and upset all his affairs. He +had other financial troubles also, but found time and means to consult +a somnambulist frequently as to his /Predilecta/, and regretted that +he did not have one or two soothsayers, so that he might know daily +about her. His superstition is seen early in their correspondence +where he considered it a good omen that Madame Hanska had sent him the +/Imitation de Jesus-Christ/ while he was working on /Le Medecin de +Campagne/. Again and again he insisted that she tell him when any of +her family were ill, feeling that he could cure at a distance those +whom he loved; or that she should send him a piece of cloth worn next +to her person, that he might present this to a clairvoyant. + +After delving deeply into mysticism, and writing some books dealing +with it, the novelist writes his "Polar Star": + + "I am sorry to see that you are reading the mystics: believe me, + this sort of reading is fatal to minds like yours; it is a poison; + it is an intoxicating narcotic. These books have a bad influence. + There are follies of virtue as there are follies of dissipation + and vice. If you were not a wife, a mother, a friend, a relation, + I would not seek to dissuade you, for then you might go and shut + yourself up in a convent at your pleasure without hurting anybody, + although you would soon die there. In your situation, and in your + isolation in the midst of those deserts, this kind of reading, + believe me, is pernicious. The rights of friendship are too feeble + to make my voice heard; but let me at least make an earnest and + humble request on this subject. Do not, I beg of you, ever read + anything more of this kind. I have myself gone through all this, + and I speak from experience." + +As has been stated, Madame Hanska was of assistance to Balzac in his +literary work. He used her ideas frequently, and was gracious in +expressing his appreciation of them to her: + + "I must tell you that yesterday . . . I copied out your portrait of + Mademoiselle Celeste, and I said to two uncompromising judges: + 'Here is a sketch I have flung on paper. I wanted to paint a woman + under given circumstances, and launch her into life through such + and such an event.' What do you think they said?--'Read that + portrait again.' After which they said:--'That is your + masterpiece. You have never before had that /laisser-aller/ of a + writer which shows the hidden strength.' 'Ha, ha!' I answered, + striking my head; 'that comes from the forehead of /an analyst/.' + I kneel at your feet for this violation; but I left out all that + was personal. . . . I thank you for your glimpses of Viennese + society. What I have learned about Germans in their relations + elsewhere confirms what you say of them. Your story of General + H---- comes up periodically. There has been something like it in + all countries, but I thank you for having told it to me. The + circumstances give it novelty."[*] + +[*] This is only one of the numerous allusions Balzac made to the + analytical forehead of Madame Hanska. + +Though Balzac's letters to Madame Hanska became less effervescent as +time went on, each year seemed to add to his admiration and "dog-like +fidelity." She, on the other hand, complained of his dissipation, the +society he kept, and his short letters. + +While Balzac was in Vienna, he was working on /Le Lys dans la Vallee/. +Although he said that Madame de Mortsauf was Madame de Berny, M. Adam +Rzewuski, a brother of Madame Hanska, always felt that this character +represented his sister, and called attention to the same intense +maternal feeling of the two women, and the same sickly, morose +husband. The Princess Radziwill also believes that this is a portrait +of her aunt, which hypothesis is further strengthened by comments of +Emile Faguet, who says that to one who has read Balzac's letters in +1834-1835 closely, it is clear that Madame de Mortsauf is Madame +Hanska, and that the marvelous M. de Mortsauf is M. de Hanski. + +Mr. F. Lawton also thinks that Balzac has shown his relations to +Madame Hanska in making Felix de Vandenesse console himself with Lady +Dudley while swearing high allegiance to his Henriette, just as Balzac +was "inditing oaths of fidelity to his 'earth-angel' in far-away +Russia while worshipping at shrines more accessible. Lady Dudley may +well have been, for all his denial, the Countess Visconti, of whom +Madame Hanska was jealous and on good grounds, or else the Duchesse de +Castries, to whom he said that while writing the book he had caught +himself shedding tears." Balzac says of this book: + + "I have received five /formal complaints/ from persons about me, + who say that I have unveiled their private lives. I have very + curious letters on this subject. It appears that there are as many + Messieurs de Mortsauf as there are angels at Clochegourde, and + angels rain down upon me, but /they are not white/." + +In the early autumn of 1835, M. de Hanski and his family, having spent +several weeks at Ischl, returned to their home at Wierzchownia after +an absence of more than two years. It was during this long stay at +Vienna that Madame Hanska had Daffinger make the miniature which +occupies so much space in Balzac's letters in later years. + +It must have been a relief to poor Balzac when his /Chatelaine/ +returned to her home, for while traveling she was negligent about +giving him her address, so that he was never sure whether she received +all his letters, and she did not number hers, as he had asked her to +do, so that he was not certain that he received all that she wrote +him; neither would she--though leading a life of leisure--write as +often as he wished. But if he scolded her for this, she had other +matters to worry her. She was ever anxious about the safety of her +letters, asked for many explanations of his conduct, for +interpretations of various things in his works, and who certain +friends were, so much so that his letters are filled with vindications +of himself. Even before they had ever met, he wrote her that he could +not take a step that was not misinterpreted. She seemed continually to +be hearing of something derogatory to his character, and trying to +investigate his actions. The reader has had glimpses enough of +Balzac's life to understand what a task was hers. Yet she doubtless +sometimes accused him unnecessarily, and he in turn became impatient: + + "This letter contains two reproaches which have keenly affected me; + and I think I have already told you that a few chance expressions + would suffice to make me go to Wierzchownia, which would be a + misfortune in my present perilous situation; but I would rather + lose everything than lose a true friendship. . . . In short, you + distrust me at a distance, just as you distrusted me near by, + without any reason. I read quite despairingly the paragraph of + your letter in which you do the honors of my heart to my mind, and + sacrifice my whole personality to my brain. . . . In your last + letters, you know, you have believed things that are + irreconcilable with what you know of me. I cannot explain to + myself your tendency to believe absurd calumnies. I still remember + your credulity in Geneva, when they said I was married." + +Even her own family added to her suspicions: + + ". . . Your letter has crushed me more than all the heavy nonsense + that jealousy and calumny, lawsuit and money matters have cast + upon me. My sensibility is a proof of friendship; there are none + but those we love who can make us suffer. I am not angry with your + aunt, but I am angry that a person as distinguished as you say she + is should be accessible to such base and absurd calumny. But you + yourself, at Geneva, when I told you I was as free as air, you + believed me to be married, on the word of one of those fools whose + trade it is to sell money. I began to laugh. Here, I no longer + laugh, because I have the horrible privilege of being horribly + calumniated. A few more controversies like the last, and I shall + retire to the remotest part of Touraine, isolating myself from + everything, renouncing all, . . . Think always that what I do has + a reason and an object, that my actions are /necessary/. There is, + for two souls that are a little above others, something mortifying + in repeating to you for the tenth time not to believe in calumny. + When you said to me three letters ago, that I gambled, it was just + as true as my marriage at Geneva. . . . You attribute to me little + defects which I do not have to give yourself the pleasure of + scolding me. No one is less extravagant than I; no one is willing + to live with more economy. But reflect that I work too much to + busy myself with certain details, and, in short, that I had rather + spend five to six thousand francs a year than marry to have order + in my household; for a man who undertakes what I have undertaken + either marries to have a quiet existence, or accepts the + wretchedness of La Fontaine and Rousseau. For pity's sake, do not + talk to me of my want of order; it is the consequence of the + independence in which I live, and which I desire to keep." + +In spite of these reproaches, Balzac's affection for her continued, +and he decided to have his portrait made for her. Boulanger was the +artist chosen, and since he wished payment at once, Madame Hanska sent +the novelist a sum for this purpose. For a Christmas greeting, 1836, +she sent him a copy of the Daffinger miniature made at Vienna the +preceding year. Again--this time in /Illusions perdues/--he gave her +name, Eve, to a young girl whom he regarded as the most charming +creature he had created (Eve Chardon, who became Madame David +Sechard). + +In the spring of 1837 Balzac went to Italy to spend a few weeks. +Seeing at Florence a bust of his /Predilecta/, made by Bartolini, he +asked M. de Hanski's permission to have a copy of it, half size, made +for himself, to place on his writing desk. This journey aroused Madame +Hanska's suspicions again, but he assured her he was not dissipating, +but was traveling to rejuvenate his broken-down brain, since, working +night and day as he did, a man might easily die of overstrain. + +He continued to save his manuscripts for her, awaiting an opportunity +to send or take them to her. Her letters became less frequent and full +of stings, but he begged her to disbelieve everything she heard of him +except from himself, as she had almost a complete journal of his life. +He explained that the tour he purposed making to the Mediterranean was +neither for marriage nor for anything adventurous or silly, but he was +pledged to secrecy, and, whether it turned out well or ill, he risked +nothing but a journey. As to her reproaches how he, knowing all, +penetrating and observing all, could be so duped and deceived, he +wondered if she could love him if he were always so prudent that no +misfortune ever happened to him. + +In the spring of 1838 he took his Mediterranean trip, going to +Corsica, Sardinia, and Italy in quest of his Eldorado, but, as usual, +he was doomed to meet with disappointment. On his return he went to +/Les Jardies/ to reside, which was later to be the cause of another +financial disaster. Replying to her criticism of his journey to +Sardinia, he begged her never to censure those who feel themselves +sunk in deep waters and are struggling to the surface, for the rich +can never comprehend the trials of the unfortunate. One must be +without friends, without resources, without food, without money, to +know to its depths what misfortune is. + +In spite of her reproaches he continued to protest his devotion to +her. Though her letters were cold, he begged her to gaze on the +portrait of her /moujik/ and feel that he was the most constant, least +volatile, most steadfast of men. He was willing to obey her in all +things except in his affections, and she was complete mistress of +those. Seized with a burning desire to see her, he planned a visit to +Wierzchownia as soon as his financial circumstances would permit. + +During a period of three months, Balzac received no letter from his +"Polar Star," but he expressed his usual fidelity to her. Miserable or +fortunate, he was always the same to her; it was because of his +unchangeableness of heart that he was so painfully wounded by her +neglect. Carried away, as he often was, by his torrential existence, +he might miss writing to her, but he could not understand how she +could deprive him of the sacred bread which restored his courage and +gave him new life. + +His long struggle with his debts and his various financial and +domestic troubles seemed at times to deprive him of his usual hope and +patience. In a depressed vein, he replies to one of her letters: + + "Ah! I think you excessively small; and it shows me that you are of + this world! Ah! you write to me no longer because my letters are + rare! Well, they were rare because I did not have the money to + post them, but I would not tell you that. Yes, my distress had + reached that point and beyond it. It is horrible and sad, but it + is true, as true as the Ukraine where you are. Yes, there have + been days when I proudly ate a roll of bread on the boulevard. I + have had the greatest sufferings: self-love, pride, hope, + prospects, all have been attacked. But I shall, I hope, surmount + everything. I had not a penny, but I earned for those atrocious + Lecou and Delloye seventy thousand francs in a year. The Peytel + affair cost me ten thousand francs, and people said I was paid + fifty thousand! That affair and my fall, which kept me as you + know, forty days in bed, retarded my business by more than thirty + thousand francs. Oh! I do not like your want of confidence! You + think that I have a great mind, but you will not admit that I have + a great heart! After nearly eight years, you do not know me! My + God, forgive her, for she knows not what she does!" + +The novelist wrote his /Predilecta/ of his ideas of marriage, and how +he longed to marry, but he became despondent about this as well as +about his debts; he felt that he was growing old, and would not live +long. His comfort while working was a picture of Wierzchownia which +she had sent him, but in addition to all of his other troubles he was +annoyed because some of her relatives who were in Paris carried false +information to her concerning him. + +Not having heard from her for six months, he resorted to his frequent +method of allaying his anxiety by consulting a clairvoyant to learn if +she were ill. He was told that within six weeks he would receive a +letter that would change his entire life. Almost four more months +passed, however, without his hearing from her and he feared that she +was not receiving his letters, or that hers had gone astray, as he no +longer had a home. + +For once, the sorcerer had predicted somewhat correctly! Not within +six weeks, to be sure, but within six months, the letter came that was +to change Balzac's entire life. On January 5, 1842, a letter arrived +from Madame Hanska, telling of the death of M. de Hanski which had +occurred on November 10, 1841. + +His reply is one of the most beautiful of his letters to her: + + "I have this instant received, dear angel, your letter sealed with + black, and, after having read it, I could not perhaps have wished + to receive any other from you, in spite of the sad things you tell + me about yourself and your health. As for me, dear, adored one, + although this event enables me to attain to that which I have + ardently desired for nearly ten years, I can, before you and God, + do myself this justice, that I have never had in my heart anything + but complete submission, and that I have not, in my most cruel + moments, stained my soul with evil wishes. No one can prevent + involuntary transports. Often I have said to myself, 'How light my + life would be with /her/!' No one can keep his faith, his heart, + his inner being without hope. . . . But I understand the regrets + which you express to me; they seem to me natural and true, + especially after the protection which has never failed you since + that letter at Vienna. I am, however, joyful to know that I can + write to you with open heart to tell you all those things on which + I have kept silence, and disperse the melancholy complaints you + have founded on misconceptions, so difficult to explain at a + distance. I know you too well, or I think I know you too well, to + doubt you for one moment; and I have often suffered, very cruelly + suffered, that you have doubted me, because, since Neufchatel, you + are my life. Let me say this to you plainly, after having so often + proved it to you. The miseries of my struggle and of my terrible + work would have tired out the greatest and strongest men; and + often my sister has desired to put an end to them, God knows how; + I always thought the remedy worse than the disease! It is you + alone who have supported me till now, . . . You said to me, 'Be + patient, you are loved as much as you love. Do not change, for + others change not.' We have both been courageous; why, therefore, + should you not be happy to-day? Do you think it was for myself + that I have been so persistent in magnifying my name? Oh! I am + perhaps very unjust, but this injustice comes from the violence of + my heart! I would have liked two words for myself in your letter, + but I sought them in vain; two words for him who, since the + landscape in which you live has been before his eyes, has not + passed, while working, ten minutes without looking at it; I have + there sought all, ever since it came to me, that we have asked in + the silence of our spirits." + +He was concerned about her health and wished to depart at once, but +feared to go without her permission. She was anxious about her +letters, but he assured her that they were safe, and begged her to +inform him when he could visit her; for six years he had been longing +to see her. "Adieu, my dear and beautiful life that I love so well, +and to whom I can now say it. /Sempre medisimo/." + +The role played by M. de Hanski[*] in this friendship was a peculiar +one. The correspondence, as has been seen, began in secrecy, but +Balzac met him when he went to Neufchatel to see Madame Hanska. Their +relations were apparently cordial, for on his return to Paris, the +novelist wrote him a friendly note, enclosing an autograph of Rossini +whom M. de Hanski admired. The Polish gentleman (he was never a count) +must have been willing to have Balzac visit his wife again, at Geneva, +when their friendship seemed to grow warmer. Balzac called him +/l'honorable Marechal de l'Ukraine/ or the /Grand Marechal/, and +extended to him his thanks or regards in sending little notes to +Madame Hanska, and thus he was early cognizant of their +correspondence. The future author of the /Comedie humaine/ seems to +have been taken into the family circle and to have become somewhat a +favorite of M. de Hanski, who was suffering with his "blue devils" at +that time. + +[*] The present writer is following the predominant custom of using + the /de/ in connection with M. de Hanski's name, and omitting it + in speaking of his wife. + +Since Balzac was not only an excellent story-teller but naturally very +jovial, and M. de Hanski suffered from ennui and wished to be amused, +they became friends. On his return to Paris, they exchanged a few +letters, and Balzac introduced stories to amuse him in his letters to +Madame Hanska. He wrote most graciously to the /Marechal/, apologizing +for the two love letters he had written his wife, and this letter was +answered. The novelist was invited by him to visit them in +Wierzchownia--an invitation he planned to accept, but did not. + +In the spring of 1836, M. de Hanski sent Balzac a very handsome +malachite inkstand, also a cordial letter telling him the family news, +how much he enjoyed his works, and that he hoped with his family to +visit him in Paris within two years. He mentioned that his wife was +preparing for Balzac a long letter of several pages, and assured him +of his sincere friendship. Balzac was most appreciative of the gift of +the beautiful inkstand, but felt that it was too magnificent for a +poor man to use, so would place it in his collection and prize it as +one of his most precious souvenirs. + +Besides discussing business with the Polish gentleman, Balzac +apologized often for not answering his letters, offering lack of time +as his excuse, but he planned to visit Wierzchownia, where he and M. +de Hanski would enjoy hearty laughs while Madame Hanska could work at +his comedies. In spite of this friendly correspondence, the /Marechal/ +probably hinted to his wife that her admiration for the author was too +warm, for Balzac asked her to reassure her husband that he was not +only invulnerable, but immune from attack. Balzac spoke of dedicating +one of his books in the /Comedie humaine/ to M. de Hanski, but no +dedication to him is found in this work. His death, which occurred +some months after this suggestion, doubtless prevented the realization +of it. + +Balzac evidently received a negative reply to his letter to Madame +Hanska asking to be permitted to visit her immediately after her +husband's death. It would have been a breach of the /convenances/ had +he gone to visit her so early in her widowhood. Soon after learning of +M. de Hanski's death, he saw an announcement of the death of a +Countess Kicka of Volhynia, and since his "Polar Star" had spoken of +being ill, he was seized with fear lest this be a misprint for Hanska, +and was confined to his bed for two days with a nervous fever. + +What must have been Balzac's disappointment, when almost ready to +leave at any moment, to receive a letter which, as he expressed it, +killed the youth in him, and rent his heart! She felt that she owed +everything to her daughter, who had consoled her, and nothing to him; +yet she knew that she was everything to him. + +He thought that she loved Anna too much, protested his fidelity to her +when she accused him, and reverted to his favorite theme of comparing +her to the devoted Madame de Berny. He complained of her coldness, +wanted to visit her in August at St. Petersburg, and desired her to +promise that they would be married within two years. + +Princess Radziwill wrote: "When Madame Hanska's husband died, it was +supposed that her union with Balzac would occur at once, but obstacles +were interposed by others. Her own family looked down upon the great +French author as a mere story-teller; and by her late husband's people +sordid motives were imputed to him, to account for his devotion to the +heiress. The latter objection was removed, a few years later, by the +widow's giving up to her daughter the fortune left to her by Monsieur +Hanski." + +It is at this period that Balzac furnishes us with the key to one of +his works, /Albert Savarus/, in writing to Madame Hanska: + + "/Albert Savarus/ has had much success. You will read it in the + first volume of the /Comedie humaine/, almost after the /fausse + Maitresse/, where with childish joy I have made the name + /Rzewuski/ shine in the midst of those of the most illustrious + families of the North. Why have I not placed Francesca Colonna at + Diodati? Alas, I was afraid that it would be too transparent. + Diodati makes my heart beat! Those four syllables, it is the cry + of the /Montjoie Saint-Denis!/ of my heart." + +Francesca Colonna, the Princess Gandolphini, is the heroine of +/l'Ambitieux par Amour/, a novel supposed to have been published by +Albert Savarus and described in the book which bears his name. Using +her name, the hero is represented as having written the story of the +Duchesse d'Argaiolo and himself, he taking the name of Rodolphe. Here +are given, in disguise again, the details of Balzac's early relations +to Madame Hanska. Albert Savarus, while traveling in Switzerland, sees +a lady's face at the window of an upper room, admires it and seeks the +lady's acquaintance. She proves to be the Duchesse d'Argaiolo, an +Italian in exile. She had been married very young to the Duke +d'Argaiolo, who was rich and much older than she. The young man falls +in love with this beautiful lady, and she promises to be his as soon +as she becomes free. + +Gabriel Ferry states that Balzac first saw Madame Hanska's face at a +window, and the Princess Radziwill says that Balzac went to the hotel +to meet her aunt. It is to be noted that the year 1834 is that in +which Balzac and Madame Hanska were in Geneva together. + +The Villa Diodati, noted for having been inhabited by Lord Byron, is +situated on Lake Geneva, at Cologny, not far from Pre Leveque,[*] +where M. de Hanski and his family resided in the /maison Mirabaud- +Amat/. + +[*] Balzac preserved a remembrance of the happy days he had spent with + Madame Hanska at Pre-Leveque, Lake Geneva, by dating /La Duchesse + de Langeais/, January 26, 1834, Pre-Leveque. + +There are numerous allusions to Diodati in Balzac's correspondence, +from which one would judge that he had some very unhappy associations +with Madame de Castries, and some very happy ones with Madame Hanska +in connection with Diodati: + + "When I want to give myself a magnificent fete, I close my eyes, + lie down on one of my sofas, . . . and recall that good day at + Diodati which effaced a thousand pangs I had felt there a year + before. You have made me know the difference between a true + affection and a simulated one, and for a heart as childlike as + mine, there is cause there for an eternal gratitude. . . . When + some thought saddens me, then I have recourse to you; . . . I see + again Diodati, I stretch myself on the good sofa of the Maison + Mirabaud. . . . Diodati, that image of a happy life, reappears + like a star for a moment clouded, and I began to laugh, as you + know I can laugh. I say to myself that so much work will have its + recompense, and that I shall have, like Lord Byron, my Diodati. I + sing in my bad voice: 'Diodati, Diodati!' " + +Another excerpt shows that Balzac had in mind his own life in +connection with Madame Hanska's in writing /Albert Savarus/: + + ". . . It is six o'clock in the morning, I have interrupted myself + to think of you, reminded of you by Switzerland where I have + placed the scene of /Albert Savarus/.--Lovers in Switzerland,--for + me, it is the image of happiness. I do not wish to place the + Princess Gandolphini in the /maison Mirabaud/, for there are + people in the world who would make a crime of it for us. This + Princess is a foreigner, an Italian, loved by Savarus." + +Many of Balzac's traits are seen in Albert Savarus. Like Balzac, +Albert Savarus was defeated in politics, but hoped for election; was a +lawyer, expected to rise to fame, and was about three years older than +the woman he loved. Like Madame Hanska, the Duchesse d'Argaiolo, known +as the Princess Gandolphini, was beautiful, noble, a foreigner, and +married to a man very rich and much older than she, who was not +companionable. It was on December 26 that Albert Savarus arrived at +the Villa on Lake Geneva to visit his princes, while Balzac arrived +December 25 to visit Madame Hanska at her Villa there. The two lovers +spent the winter together, and in the spring, the Duc d'Argaiolo +(Prince Gandolphini) and his wife went to Naples, and Albert Savarus +(Rodolphe) returned to Paris, just as M. de Hanski took his family to +Italy in the spring, while Balzac returned to Paris. + +Albert Savarus was falsely accused of being married, just as Madame +Hanska had accused Balzac. The letters to the Duchess from Savarus are +quite similar to some Balzac wrote to Madame Hanska. Like Balzac, +Savarus saw few people, worked at night, was poor, ever hopeful, +communed with the portrait of his adored one, had trouble in regard to +the delivery of her letters, and was worried when they did not come; +yet he was patient and willing to wait until the Duke should die. Like +Madame Hanska, the Duchess feared her lover was unfaithful to her, and +in both cases a woman sowed discord, though the results were +different.[*] + +[*] Miss K. P. Wormeley does not think that /Albert Savarus/ was + inspired by Balzac's relations with Madame Hanska. For her + arguments, see /Memoir of Balzac/. + +Madame Hanska did not care for this book, but Balzac told her she was +not familiar enough with French society to appreciate it. + +Miss Mary Hanford Ford thinks that Madame Hanska inspired another of +Balzac's works: "It is probable that in Madame de la Chanterie we are +given Balzac's impassioned and vivid idealization of the woman who +became his wife at last. . . . Balzac's affection for Madame Hanska +was to a large degree tinged with the reverence which the Brotherhood +shared for Madame de la Chanterie. . . ." While the Freres de la +Consolation adored Madame de la Chanterie in a beautiful manner, +neither her life nor her character was at all like Madame Hanska's. +This work is dated December, 1847, Wierzchownia, and was doubtless +finished there, but he had been working on it for several years. + +In the autumn of 1842,[*] Madame Hanska went to St. Petersburg. She +complained of a sadness and melancholy which Balzac's most ardent +devotion could not overcome. He became her /patito/, and she the queen +of his life, but he too suffered from depression, and even consented +to wait three years for her if she would only permit him to visit her. +He insisted that his affection was steadfast and eternal, but in +addition to showing him coldness, she unjustly rebuked him, having +heard that he was gambling. She had a prolonged lawsuit, and he wished +her to turn the matter over to him, feeling sure that he could win the +case for her. + +[*] Emile Faguet, /Balzac/, says that it was in 1843 that Madame + Hanska went to St. Petersburg. He has made several such slight + mistakes throughout this work. + +Thus passed the year 1842. She eventually consented to let him come in +May to celebrate his birthday. But alas! A great /remora/ stood in the +way. Poor Balzac did not have the money to make the trip. Then also he +had literary obligations to meet, but he felt very much fatigued from +excessive work and wanted to leave Paris for a rest. Her letters were +so unsatisfactory that he implored her to engrave in her dear mind, if +she would not write it in her heart, that he wished her to use some of +her leisure time in writing a few lines to him daily. As was his +custom when in distress, he sought a fortune-teller for comfort, and +as usual, was delighted with his prophecy. The notorious Balthazar +described to him perfectly the woman he loved, told him that his love +was returned, that there would never be a cloud in their sky, in spite +of the intensity of their characters, and that he would be going to +see her within six months. The soothsayer was correct in this last +statement, at least, for Balzac arrived at St. Petersburg soon after +this interview. + +Madame Hanska felt that she was growing old, but Balzac assured her +that he should love her even were she ugly, and he relieved her mind +of this fear by writing in her /Journal intime/ that although he had +not seen her since they were in Vienna, he thought her as beautiful +and young as then--after an interval of seven years.[*] + +[*] Balzac should have said an interval of /eight/ years instead of + /seven/, for he visited her in Vienna in May and June, 1835, and + he wrote this in September 1843. This is only one of the + novelist's numerous mistakes in figuring, seen throughout his + entire works. + +Balzac arrived in St. Petersburg on July 17/29, and left there late in +September,[*] 1843, stopping to visit in Berlin and Dresden. Becoming +very ill, he cut short his visit to Mayence and Cologne and arrived in +Paris November 3, in order to consult his faithful Dr. Nacquart. +Excess of work, the sorrow of leaving Madame Hanska, disappointment, +and deferred hopes were too much for his nervous system. His letters +to Madame Hanska were, if possible, filled with greater detail than +ever concerning his debts, his household and family matters, his works +and society gossip. The /tu/ frequently replaces the /vous/, and +having apparently exhausted all the endearing names in the French +language, he resorted to the Hebrew, and finds that /Lididda/ means so +many beautiful things that he employs this word. He calls her /Liline/ +or /Line/; she becomes his /Louloup/, his "lighthouse," his "happy +star," and the /sicura richezza, senza brama/. + +[*] Unless the editor of /Lettres a l'Etrangere/ is confusing the + French and Russian dates, he has made a mistake in dating certain + of Balzac's letters from St. Petersburg. He had two dated October + 1843, St. Petersburg, and on his way home from there Balzac writes + from Taurogen dating his letter September 27-October 10, 1843. + Hence the exact date of his departure from St. Petersburg is + obscure. + +Madame Hanska and Balzac seem to have had many idiosyncrasies in +common, among which was their /penchant/ for jewelry, as well as +perfumes. Since their meeting at Geneva, the two exchanged gifts of +jewelry frequently, and the discussion, engraving, measuring, and +exchanging of various rings occupied much of Balzac's precious time. + +His fondness for antiques was another extravagance, and he invested +not a little in certain pieces of furniture which had belonged to +Marie de Medicis and Henri IV; this purchase he regretted later, and +talked of selling, but, instead, added continually to his collection. +He was constantly sending, or wanting to send some present to Madame +Hanska or to her daughter Anna, but nothing could be compared with the +priceless gift he received from her. The Daffinger miniature arrived +February 2, 1844. + +As a New Year's greeting for 1844, Balzac dedicated to Madame Hanska +/Les Bourgeois de Paris/, later called /Les petits Bourgeois/, saying +that the first work written after his brief visit with her should be +inscribed to her. This dedication is somewhat different from the one +published in his OEuvres: + + "To Constance-Victoire:[*] + + "Here, madame and friend is one of those works which fall, we know + not whence, into an author's mind and afford him pleasure before + he can estimate how they will be received by the public, that + great judge of our time. But, almost sure of your good-will, I + dedicate it to you. It belongs to you, as formerly the tithe + belonged to the church, in memory of God from whom all things + come, who makes all ripen, all mature! Some lumps of clay left by + Moliere at the base of his statue of Tartufe have been molded by a + hand more audacious than skilful. But, at whatever distance I may + be below the greatest of humorists, I shall be satisfied to have + utilized these little pieces of the stage-box of his work to show + the modern hypocrite at work. That which most encouraged me in + this difficult undertaking is to see it separated from every + religious question, which was so injurious to the comedy of + /Tartufe/, and which ought to be removed to-day. May the double + significance of your name be a prophecy for the author, and may + you be pleased to find here the expression of his respectful + gratitude. + + "DE BALZAC. + "January 1, 1844." + +[*] /Constance/ was either one of Madame Hanska's real names, or one + given her by Balzac, for he writes to her, in speaking of + Mademoiselle Borel's entering the convent: "My most sincere + regards to /Soeur Constance/, for I imagine that Saint Borel will + take one of your names." Although Balzac hoped at one time to have + /Les petits Bourgeois/ completed by July 1844, it was left + unfinished at his death, and was completed and published in 1855. + +During the winter of 1844, Madame Hanska wrote a story and then threw +it into the fire. In doing this she carried out a suggestion given her +by Balzac several years before, when he wrote her that he liked to +have a woman write and study, but she should have the courage to burn +her productions. She told the novelist what she had done, and he +requested her to rewrite her study and send it to him, and he would +correct it and publish it under his name. In this way she could enjoy +all the pleasure of authorship in reading what he would preserve of +her beautiful and charming prose. In the first place, she must paint a +provincial family, and place the romantic, enthusiastic young girl in +the midst of the vulgarities of such an existence; and then, by +correspondence, /make a transit/ to the description of a poet in +Paris. A friend of the poet, who is to continue the correspondence, +must be a man of decided talent, and the /denouement/ must be in his +favor against the great poet. Also the manias and the asperities of a +great soul which alarm and rebuff inferior souls should be shown; in +doing this she would aid him in earning a few thousand francs. + +Her story, in the hands of this great wizard, grew like a mushroom, +without pain or effort, and soon developed into the romantic novel, +/Modeste Mignon/. She had thrown her story into the fire, but the fire +had returned it to him and given him power, as did the coal of fire on +the lips of the great prophet, and he wished to give all the glory to +his adored collaborator. + +When reading this book, Madame Hanska objected to Balzac's having made +the father of the heroine scold her for beginning a secret +correspondence with an author, feeling that Balzac was disapproving of +her conduct in writing to him first, but Balzac assured her that such +was not his intention, and that he considered this /demarche/ of hers +as /royale and reginale/. Another trait, which she probably did not +recognize, was that just as the great poet Canalis was at first +indifferent to the letters of the heroine, and allowed Ernest de la +Briere to answer them, so was Balzac rather indifferent to hers, and +Madame Carraud--as already stated--is supposed to have replied to one +of them. + +There is no doubt that Balzac had his /Louloup/ in mind while writing +this story, for in response to the criticism that Modest was too +clever, he wrote Madame Hanska that she and her cousin Caliste who had +served him as models for his heroine were superior to her. He first +dedicated this work to her under the name of /un Etrangere/, but +seeing the mistake the public made in ascribing this dedication to the +Princesse Belgiojoso, he at a later date specified the nationality, +and inscribed the book: + + "To a Polish Lady: + + "Daughter of an enslaved land, an angel in love, a demon in + imagination, a child in faith, an old man in experience, a man in + brain, a woman in heart, a giant in hope, a mother in suffering + and a poet in your dreams,--this work, in which your love and your + fancy, your faith, your experience, your suffering, your hopes and + your dreams are like chains by which hangs a web less lovely than + the poetry cherished in your soul--the poetry whose expression + when it lights up your countenance is, to those who admire you, + what the characters of a lost language are to the learned--this + work is yours. + + "DE BALZAC." + +In /La fausse Maitresse/, Balzac represented Madame Hanska in the role +of the Countess Clementine Laginska, who was silently loved by Thaddee +Paz, a Polish refugee. This Thaddee Paz was no other than Thaddee +Wylezynski, a cousin who adored her, and who died in 1844. Balzac +learned of the warm attachment existing between Madame Hanska and her +cousin soon after meeting her, and compared his faithful friend Borget +to her Thaddee. On hearing of the death of Thaddee, he writes her: +"The death of Thaddee, which you announce to me, grieves me. You have +told me so much of him, that I loved one who loved you so well, +/although/! You have doubtless guessed why I called Paz, Thaddee. Poor +dear one, I shall love you for all those whose love you lose!" + +Balzac longed to be free from his debts, and have undisturbed +possession of /Les Jardies/, where they could live /en pigeons +heureux/. Ever inclined to give advice, he suggested to her that she +should have her interests entirely separate form Anna's, quoting the +axiom, /N'ayez aucune collision d'interet avec vos enfants/, and that +she was wrong in refusing a bequest from her deceased husband. She +should give up all luxuries, dismiss all necessary employees and not +spend so much of her income but invest it. He felt that she and her +daughter were lacking in business ability; this proved to be too true, +but Balzac was indeed a very poor person to advise her on this +subject; however, her lack of accuracy in failing to date her letters +was, to be sure, a great annoyance to him. + +On the other hand, she suspected her /Nore/, had again heard that he +was married, and that he was given to indulging in intoxicating +liquors; she advised him not to associate so much with women. + +Having eventually won her lawsuit, she returned to Wierzchownia in the +spring of 1844, after a residence of almost two years in St. +Petersburg. Her daughter Anna had made her debut in St. Petersburg +society, and had met the young Comte George de Mniszech, who was +destined to become her husband. Balzac was not pleased with this +choice, and felt that the /protégé/ of the aged Comte Potocki would +make a better husband, for moral qualities were to be considered +rather than fortune. + +After spending the summer and autumn at her home, Madame Hanska went +to Dresden for the winter. As early as August, Balzac sought +permission to visit her there, making his request in time to arrange +his work in advance and secure the money for the journey, in case she +consented. While in St. Petersburg, she had given him money to buy +some gift for Anna, so he planned to take both of them many beautiful +things, and /une cave de parfums/ as a gift /de nez a nez/. If she +would not consent to his coming to Dresden, he would come to Berlin, +Leipsic, Frankfort, Aix-la-Chapelle, or anywhere else. He became +impatient to know his fate, and her letters were so irregular that he +exclaimed: "In heaven's name, write me regularly three times a month!" + +Poor Balzac's dream was to be on the way to Dresden, but this was not +to be realized. It will be remembered, that Madame Hanska's family did +not approve of Balzac nor did they appreciate his literary worth, they +felt that the marriage would be a decided /mesalliance/, and exerted +their influence against him. Discouraged by them and her friends, she +forbade his coming. While her family called him a /scribe exotique/, +Balzac indirectly told her of the appreciation of other women, saying +that Madame de Girardin considered him to be one of the most charming +conversationalists of the day. + +This uncertainty as to his going to visit his "Polar Star" affected +him to such a degree that he could not concentrate his mind on his +work, and he became impatient to the point of scolding her: + + "But, dear Countess, you have made me lose all the month of January + and the first fifteen days of February by saying to me: 'I start-- + to-morrow--next week,' and by making me wait for letters; in + short, by throwing me into rages which I alone know! This has + brought a frightful disorder into my affairs, for instead of + getting my liberty February 15, I have before me a month of + herculean labor, and on my brain I must inscribe this which will + be contradicted by my heart: 'Think no longer of your star, nor of + Dresden, nor of travel; stay at your chain and work miserably! + . . . Dear Countess, I decidedly advise you to leave Dresden at + once. There are princesses in that town who infect and poison your + heart, and were it not for /Les Paysans/, I should have started at + once to prove to that venerable invalid of Cythera how men of my + stamp love; men who have not received, like her prince, a Russian + pumpkin in place of a French heart from the hands of hyperborean + nature. . . . Tell your dear Princess that I have known you since + 1833, and that in 1845 I am ready to go from Paris to Dresden to + see you for a day; and it is not impossible for me to make this + trip; . . ." + +In the meantime she had not only forbidden his coming to visit her, +but had even asked him not to write to her again at Dresden, to which +he replies: + + "May I write without imprudence, before receiving a counter-order? + Your last letter counseled me not to write again to Dresden. + However, I take up my pen on the invitation contained in your + letter of the 8th. Since you, as well as your child, are + absolutely determined to see your Lirette again, there is but one + way for it, viz., to come to Paris." + +He planned how she could secure a passport for Frankfort and the Rhine +and meet him at Mayence, where he would have a passport for his sister +and his niece so that they could come to Paris to remain from March 15 +until May 15. Once in Paris, in a small suite of rooms furnished by +him, they could visit Lirette at the convent, take drives, frequent +the theatres, shop at a great advantage, and keep everything in the +greatest secrecy. He continues: + + "Dear Countess, the uncertainty of your arrival at Frankfort has + weighed heavily on me, for how can I begin to work, whilst + awaiting a letter, which may cause me to set out immediately? I + have not written a line of the /Paysans/. From a material point of + view, all this has been fatal to me. Not even your penetrating + intelligence can comprehend this, as you know nothing of Parisian + economy nor the difficulties in the life of a man who is trying to + live on six thousand francs a year." + +Thus was his time wasted; and when he dared express gently and +lovingly the feelings which were overpowering him, his beautiful +/Chatelaine/ was offended, and rebuked him for his impatience. +Desperate and almost frantic, he writes her: + + "Dresden and you dizzy me; I do not know what is to be done. There + is nothing more fatal than the indecision in which you have kept + me for three months. If I had departed the first of January to + return February 28, I should be more advanced (in work) and I + would have had two good months at St. Petersburg. Dear sovereign + star, how do you expect me to be able to conceive two ideas, to + write two sentences, with my heart and head agitated as they have + been since last November; it is enough to drive a man mad! I have + drenched myself with coffee to no avail, I have only increased the + nervous trouble of my eyes; . . . I am between two despairs, that + of not seeing you, of not having seen you, and the financial and + literary chagrin, the chagrin of self-respect. Oh! Charles II was + right in saying: 'But She? . . .' in all matters which his + ministers submitted to him." + +On receipt of a letter from her April 18, 1845, saying, "I desire much +to see you," he rushed off at once to Dresden, forgetful of all else. +In July, Madame Hanska and her daughter accompanied him home, +traveling incognito as Balzac's sister and his niece, just as he had +planned. Anna is said to have taken the name of Eugenie, perhaps in +remembrance of Balzac's heroine, Eugenie Grandet. After stopping at +various places on the way, they spent a few weeks at Paris. Balzac had +prepared a little house in Passy near him for his friends, and he took +much pleasure in showing them his treasures and Paris. Their identity +was not discovered, and in August he accompanied them as far as +Brussels on their return to Dresden. There they met Count George +Mniszech, the fiance of Anna, who had been with them most of the time. + +Balzac could scarcely control his grief at parting, but he was not +separated from his /Predilecta/ long. The following month he spent +several days with her at Baden-Baden, saying of his visit: + + "Baden has been for me a bouquet of sweet flowers without a thorn. + We lived there so peacefully, so delightfully, and so completely + heart to heart. I have never been so happy before in my life. I + seemed to catch a glimpse of that future which I desire and dream + of in the midst of my overwhelming labors. . . ." + +The happiness of Madame Hanska did not seem to be so great, for, ever +uncertain, she consulted a fortune-teller about him. To this he +replies: "Tell your fortune-teller that her cards have lied, and that +I am not preoccupied with any blonde, except Dame Fortune." As to +whether she was justified in being suspicious, one can judge from the +preceding pages. Balzac always denied or explained to her these +accusations; however true were some of his vindications of himself, he +certainly exaggerated in assuring her that he always told her the +exact truth and never hid from her the smallest trifle whether good or +bad. + +In October, 1845, the novelist left Paris again, met his "Polar Star," +her daughter and M. de Mniszech at Chalons, and accompanied them on +their Italian tour by way of Marseilles as far as Naples. On his +return to Marseilles on November 12, he invested in wonderful bargains +in bric-a-brac, a favorite pursuit which eventually cost him a great +deal in worry and time as well as much money. Madame Hanska had +supplied his purse from time to time. + +Although he was being pressed by debts and for unfinished work, having +wasted almost the entire year and having had much extra expense in +traveling, Balzac could not rise to the situation, and implored his +/Chatelaine/ to resign herself to keeping him near her, for he had +done nothing since he left Dresden. In this frame of mind, he writes: + + "Nothing amuses me, nothing distracts me, nothing enlivens me; it + is the death of the soul, the death of the will, the collapse of + the entire being; I feel that I cannot take up my work until I see + my life decided, fixed, settled. . . . I am quite exhausted; I + have waited too long, I have hoped too much, I have been too happy + this year; and I no longer wish anything else. After so many years + of toil and misfortune, to have been free as a bird of the air, a + thoughtless traveler, super-humanly happy, and then to come back + to a dungeon! . . . is that possible? . . . I dream, I dream by + day, by night; and my heart's thought, folding upon itself, + prevents all action of the thought of the brain--it is fearful!" + +Balzac was ever seeing objects worthy to be placed in his art +collection, going quietly through Paris on foot, and having his friend +Mery continue to secure bargains at Marseilles. A most important event +at this period is the noticeable decline in the novelist's health. +Though these attacks of neuralgia and numerous colds were regarded as +rather casual, had he not been so imbued with optimism--an inheritance +from his father--he might have foreseen the days of terrible suffering +and disappointment that were to come to him in Russia. Nature was +beginning to revolt; the excessive use of coffee, the strain of long +hours of work with little sleep, the abnormal life in general which he +had led for so many years, and this suspense about the ultimate +decision of the woman he so adored, were weakening him physically. + +In January, 1846, Madame Hanska was in Dresden again, and as was +always the case when in that city, she wrote accusing him. This time +the charge was that of indulging in ignoble gossip, and the reproach +was so unjust that, without finishing the reading of the letter, he +exposed himself for hours in the streets of Paris to snow, to cold and +to fatigue, utterly crushed by this accusation of which he was so +innocent. In his delicate physical condition, such shocks were +conducive to cardiac trouble, especially since his heart had long been +affected. After perusing the letter to the end, he reflected that +these grievous words came not from her, but from strangers, so he +poured forth his burning adoration, his longing for a /home/, where he +could drink long draughts of a life in common, the life of two. + +In the following March the passionate lover was drawn by his +/Predilecta/ to the Eternal City, and a few months later they were in +Strasbourg, where a definite engagement took place. In October he +joined her again, this time at Wiesbaden, to attend the marriage of +Anna to the Comte George de Mniszech. This brief visit had a +delightful effect: "From Frankfort to Forbach, I existed only in +remembrance of you, going over my four days like a cat who has +finished her milk and then sits licking her lips." + +Madame Hanska had constantly refused to be separated from her +daughter, but now Balzac hoped that he could hasten matters, so he +applied to his boyhood friend, M. Germeau, prefect of Metz, to see if +he, in his official capacity, could not waive the formality of the law +and accelerate his marriage; but since all Frenchmen are equal before +the /etat-civil/, this could not be accomplished. + +It was during their extensive travels in 1846 that Balzac began +calling the party "Bilboquet's troup of mountebanks": Madame Hanska +became Atala; Anna, Zephirine; George, Gringalet; and Balzac, +Bilboquet. Although Madame Hanska cautioned him about his extravagance +in gathering works of art, he persisted in buying them while +traveling, so it became necessary to find a home in which to place his +collection. It is an interesting fact that while making this +collection, he was writing /Le Cousin Pons/, in which the hero has a +passion for accumulating rare paintings and curios with which he fills +his museum and impoverishes himself. Balzac had purposed calling this +book /Le Parasite/, but Madame Hanska objected to this name, which +smacked so strongly of the eighteenth century, and he changed it. As +he was also writing /La Cousine Bette/ at this time, we can see not +only that his power of application had returned to him, but that he +was producing some of his strongest work. + +For some time Balzac had been looking for a home worthy of his +/fiancee/ and had finally decided on the Villa Beaujon, in the rue +Fortunee. Since this home was created "for her and by her," it was +necessary for her to be consulted in the reconstruction and decoration +of it, so he brought her secretly to Paris, and her daughter and son- +in-law returned to Wierzchownia. This was not only a long separation +for so devoted a mother and daughter, but there was some danger lest +her incognito be discovered; Balzac, accordingly, took every +precaution. It is easy to picture the extreme happiness of the +novelist in conducting his /Louloup/ over Paris, in having her near +him while he was writing some of his greatest masterpieces, and, +naturally, hoping that the everlasting debts would soon be defrayed +and the marriage ceremony performed, but fortunately, he was not +permitted to know beforehand of the long wait and the many obstacles +that stood in his way. + +Just what happened during the spring and summer of 1847 is uncertain, +as few letters of this period exist in print. Miss Sandars (/Balzac/), +states that about the middle of April Balzac conducted Madame Hanska +to Forbach on her return to Wierzchownia, and when he returned to +Paris he found that some of her letters to him had been stolen, 30,000 +francs being demanded for them at once, otherwise the letters to be +turned over to the Czar. Miss Sandars states also that this trouble +hastened the progress of his heart disease, and that when the letters +were eventually secured (without the payment) Balzac burned them, lest +such a catastrophe should occur again. The Princess Radziwill says +that the story of the letters was invented by Balzac and is +ridiculous; also, that it angered her aunt because Balzac revealed his +ignorance of Russian matters, by saying such things. Lawton (/Balzac/) +intimates that Balzac and Madame Hanska quarreled, she being jealous +and suspicious of his fidelity, and that he burned her letters. De +Lovenjoul (/Un Roman d'Amour/) makes the same statement and adds that +this trouble increased his heart disease. But he says also (/La Genese +d'un Roman de Balzac/) that Madame Hanska spent two months secretly in +Paris in April and May; yet, a letter written by Balzac, dated +February 27, 1847, shows that she was in Paris at that time. + +Balzac went to Wierzchownia in September, 1847, and traveled so +expeditiously that he arrived there several days before his letter +which told of his departure. When one remembers how he had planned +with M. de Hanski more than ten years before to be his guest in this +chateau, one can imagine his great delight now in journeying thither +with the hope of accomplishing the great desire of his life. He was +royally entertained at the chateau and was given a beautiful little +suite of rooms composed of a salon, a sitting-room, and a bed-room.[*] + +[*] This house, where all the mementos of Balzac, including his + portrait, were preserved intact by the family, has been utterly + destroyed by the Bolsheviks. + +Regarding the vital question of his marriage, he writes his sister: + + "My greatest wish and hope is still far from its accomplishment. + Madame Hanska is indispensable to her children; she is their + guide; she disentangles for them the intricacies of the vast and + difficult administration of this property. She has given up + everything to her daughter. I have known of her intentions ever + since I was at St. Petersburg. I am delighted, because the + happiness of my life will thus be freed from all self-interest. It + makes me all the more earnest to guard what is confided to me. + . . . It was necessary for me to come here to make me understand + the difficulties of all kinds which stand in the way of the + fulfilment of my desires."[*] + +[*] The above shows that Balzac's ardent passion for his /Predilecta/ + was for herself alone, and that he was not actuated by his greed + for gold, as has been stated by various writers. + +During this visit, Balzac complained of the cold of Russia in January, +but his friends were careful to provide him with suitable wraps. +Business matters compelled him to return to Paris in February. In +leaving this happy home, he must have felt the contrast in arriving in +Paris during the Revolution, and having to be annoyed again with his +old debts. This time, he went to his new home in the rue Fortunee, the +home that had cost the couple so much money and was to cause him so +much worry if not regret. + +About the last of September, 1848, Balzac left Paris again for Russia, +and his family did not hear from him for more than a month after his +arrival. His mother was left with two servants to care for his home in +the rue Fortunee, as he expected to return within a few months. It is +worthy of note that in this first letter to her, he spoke of being in +very good health, for immediately afterwards, he was seized with acute +bronchitis, and was ill much of the time during his prolonged stay of +eighteen months. + +Madame Hanska planned to have him pay the debts on their future home +as soon as the harvest was gathered, but concerning the most important +question he writes: + + "The Countess will make up her mind to nothing until her children + are entirely free from anxieties regarding their fortune. + Moreover, your brother's debts, whether his own, or those he has + in common with the family, trouble her enormously. Nevertheless, I + hope to return toward the end of August; but in no circumstance + will I ever again separate myself from the person I love. Like the + Spartan, I intend to return with my shield or upon it." + +Things were very discouraging at Wierzchownia; Madame Hanska had +failed to receive much money which she was to inherit from an uncle, +and, in less than six weeks, four fires had consumed several farm +houses and a large quantity of grain on the estate. Although they both +were anxious to see the rue Fortunee, their departure was uncertain. + +But the most distressing complication was the condition of Balzac's +health, which was growing worse. He complained of the frightful +Asiatic climate, with its excessive heat and cold; he had a perpetual +headache, and his heart trouble had increased until he could not mount +the stairs. But he had implicit faith in his physician, and with his +usual hopefulness felt that he would soon be cured, congratulating +himself on having two such excellent physicians as Dr. Knothe and his +son. His surroundings were ideal, and each of the household had for +him an attachment tender, filial and sincere. It was necessary to his +welfare that his life should be without vexation, and he asked his +sister to entreat their mother to avoid anything which might cause him +pain. + +On his part, he tried to spare his mother also from unpleasant news, +and desired his sister to assist him in concealing from her the real +facts. He had had another terrible crisis in which he had been ill for +more than a month with cephalalgic fever, and he had grown very thin. + +Though several of Balzac's biographers have criticized Madame Hanska +most bitterly for holding Balzac in Russia, and some have even gone so +far as to censure her for his early death, it will be remembered that +his health had long begun to fail, and that no constitution could long +endure the severe strain he had given his. No climate could help his +worn-out body to a sufficient degree. Balzac himself praised the +conduct of the entire Hanski family. The following is only one of his +numerous testimonies to their devotion. + + "Alas! I have no good news to send. In all that regards the + affection, the tenderness of all, the desire to root out the evil + weeds which encumber the path of my life, mother and children are + sublime; but the chief thing of all is still subject to + entanglements and delays, which make me doubt whether it is God's + will that your brother should ever be happy, at least in that way; + but as regards sincere mutual love, delicacy and goodness, it + would be impossible to find another family like this. We live + together as if there were only one heart amongst the four; this is + repetition, but it cannot be helped, it is the only definition of + the life I lead here." + +The situation of the author of the /Comedie humaine/ was at this time +most pitiable. Broken in health and living in a climate to which his +constitution refused to be acclimated,[*] weighed down by a load of +debt which he was unable to liquidate in his state of health (his work +having amounted to very little during his stay in Russia), consumed +with a burning passion for the woman who had become the overpowering +figure in the latter half of his literary career, possessing a pride +that was making him sacrifice his very life rather than give up his +long-sought treasure, the diamond of Poland, his very soul became so +imbued with this devouring passion that the pour /moujik/ was scarcely +master of himself. + +[*] Concerning the climate of Kieff, the Princess Radziwill says: "The + story that the climate of Kieff was harmful to Balzac is also a + legend. In that part of Russia, the climate is almost as mild as + is the Isle of Wight, and Balzac, when he was staying with Madame + Hanska, was nursed as he would never have been anywhere else, + because not only did she love him with her whole heart, but her + daughter and the latter's husband were also devoted to him." + +His family were suffering various misfortunes, and these, together +with his deplorable condition, caused Madame Hanska to contemplate +giving up an alliance with a man whose family was so unfortunate and +whose social standing was so far beneath hers. She preferred to remain +in Russia where she was rich, and moved in a high aristocratic circle, +rather than to give up her property and assume the life of anxiety and +trials which awaited her as Madame Honore de Balzac. + +At times he became most despondent; the long waiting was affecting him +seriously, and he hesitated urging a life so shattered as was his upon +the friend who, like a benignant star, had shone upon his path during +the past sixteen years. + + "If I lose all I have hoped to gain here, I should no longer live; + a garret in the rue Lesdiguieres and a hundred francs a month + would suffice for all I want. My heart, my soul, my ambition, all + that is within me, desires nothing, except the one object I have + had in view for sixteen years. If this immense happiness escapes + me, I shall need nothing. I will have nothing. I care nothing for + la rue Fortunee for its own sake; la rue Fortunee has only been + created /for her/ and /by her/." + +The novelist was cautious in his letters lest there should be gossip +about his secret engagement, and his possible approaching marriage. +Apropos of his marriage, he would say that it was postponed for +reasons which he could not give his family; Madame Hanska had met with +financial losses again through fires and crop failures. With his +continued illness, he had many things to trouble him. + +But with all his trials, Balzac remained in many ways a child. After +the terrible Moldavian fever which had endangered his life, in the +fall of 1849 he took great pleasure in a dressing-gown of /termolana/ +cloth. He had wanted one of these gowns since he first saw this cloth +at Geneva in 1834. Again he was ill, for twenty days, and his only +amusement was in seeing Anna depart for dances in costumes of royal +magnificence. The Russian toilettes were wonderful, and while the +women ruined their husbands with their extravagance, the men ruined +the toilettes of the ladies by their roughness. In a mazurka where the +men contended for ladies' handkerchiefs, the young Countess had one +worth about five hundred francs torn in pieces, but her mother +repaired the loss by giving her another twice as costly. + +The year 1850, which was to prove so fatal to Balzac, opened with a +bad omen, had he realized it. His health, which he had never +considered as he should have done, was seriously affected, and early +in January another illness followed which kept him in bed for several +days. He thought that he had finally become acclimated, but after +another attack a few weeks later he concluded that the climate was +impossible for nervous temperaments. + +Such was, in brief, the story of his stay in Russia, but his optimism +and devotion continued, and he writes: + + "It is sanguine to think I could set off on March 15, and in that + case I should arrive early in April. But if my long cherished + hopes are realized, there would be a delay of some days, as I + should have to go to Kieff, to have my passport regulated. These + hopes have become possibilities; these four or five successive + illnesses--the sufferings of a period of acclimatization--which my + affection has enabled me to take joyfully, have touched this sweet + soul more than the few little debts which remain unpaid have + frightened her as a prudent woman, and I foresee that all will go + well. In the face of this happy probability, the journey to Kieff + is not to be regretted, for the Countess has nursed me heroically + without once leaving the house, so you ought not to afflict + yourself for the little delay which will thus be caused. Even in + that case, my, or our, arrival would be in the first fortnight of + April." + +Until the very last, Balzac was very careful that his family should +not announce his expected wedding. Finally, all obstacles overcome, +the long desired marriage occurred March 14, 1850.[*] + +[*] Though Balzac speaks of having to obtain the Czar's permission to + marry, the Princess Radziwill states that no permission was + required, asked or granted. Balzac always gave March 14, 1850, as + the date of his marriage while de Lovenjoul and M. Stanislas + Rzewuski give the date as April 15, 1850. The Princess Radziwill + writes: "Concerning the date of Balzac's marriage, it was + solemnized as he wrote it to his family on March 2/14/1850, at + Berditcheff in Poland. Balzac, however, was a French subject, and + as such had to be married according to the French civil law, by a + French consul. There did not exist one in Berditcheff, so they had + perforce to repair to Kieff for this ceremony. The latter took + place on April 3/15 of the same year, and this explains the + discrepancy of dates you mention which refer to two different + ceremonies." + +What must have been the novelist's feeling of triumph, after almost +seventeen years of waiting, suffering and struggle, to write: + + "Thus, for the last twenty-four hours there has been a Madame Eve + de Balzac, nee Countess Rzewuska, or a Madame Honore de Balzac, or + a Madame de Balzac the elder. This is no longer a secret, as you + see I tell it to you without delay. The witnesses were the + Countess Mniszech, the son-in-law of my wife, the Count Gustave + Olizar, brother-in-law of the Abbe Czarouski, the envoy of the + Bishop; and the cure of the parish of Berditcheff. The Countess + Anna accompanied her mother, both exceedingly happy . . ." + +With great joy and childish pride, Balzac informed his old friend and +physician, Dr. Nacquart, who knew so well of his adoration for his +"Polar Star" and his seventeen long years of untiring pursuit, that he +had become the husband of the grandniece of Marie Leczinska and the +brother-in-law of an aide-de-camp general of His Majesty the Emperor +of all the Russias, the Count Adam Rzewuski, step-father of Count +Orloff; the nephew of the Countess Rosalia Rzewuska, first lady of +honor to Her Majesty the Empress; the brother-in-law of Count Henri +Rzewuski, the Walter Scott of Poland as Mizkiewicz is the Polish Lord +Byron; the father-in-law of Count Mniszech, of one of the most +illustrious houses of the North, etc., etc.! + +Though this was by far and away Balzac's greatest and most passionate +love, the present writer cannot agree with the late Professor Harry +Thurston Peck in the following dictum: "It was his first real love, +and it was her last; and, therefore, their association realized the +very characteristic aphorism which Balzac wrote in a letter to her +after he had known her but a few short weeks: 'It is only the last +love of a woman that can satisfy the first love of a man.' " + +After their marriage, the homeward journey was delayed several weeks. +The baggage, which was to be conveyed by wagon, only left April 2, and +it required about two weeks for it to reach Radziwiloff, owing to the +general thaw just set in. Then Balzac had a severe relapse due to lung +trouble, and it was twelve days before he recovered sufficiently to +travel. He had an attack of ophthalmia at Kieff, and could scarcely +see; the Countess Anna fell ill with the measles, and her mother would +not leave until the Countess recovered. They started late in April for +what proved to be a terrible journey, he suffering from heart trouble, +and she from rheumatism. On the way they stopped for a few days at +Dresden, where Balzac became very ill again. His eyes were in such a +condition that he could no longer see the letters he wrote. The +following was written from Dresden, gives a glimpse of their troubles: + + "We have taken a whole month to go a distance usually done in six + days. Not once, but a hundred times a day, our lives have been in + danger. We have often been obliged to have fifteen or sixteen men, + with levers, to get us out of the bottomless mudholes into which + we have sunk up to the carriage-doors. . . . At last, we are here, + alive, but ill and tired. Such a journey ages one ten years, for + you can imagine what it is to fear killing each other, or to be + killed the one by the other, loving each other as we do. My wife + feels grateful for all you say about her, but her hands do not + permit her to write. . . ." + +Madame de Balzac has been most severely criticized for her lack of +affection for Balzac, and their married life has generally been +conceded to have been very unhappy. This supposition seems to have +been based largely on hearsay. Miss Sandars quotes from a letter +written to her daughter on May 16 from Frankfort, in which, speaking +of Balzac as "poor dear friend," she seems to be quite ignorant of his +condition, and to show more interest in her necklace than in her +husband. The present writer has not seen this /unpublished/ letter; +but a /published/ letter dated a few days before the other, in which +she not only refers to Balzac as her husband but shows both her +affection for him and her interest in his condition, runs as follows: + + "Hotel de Russie (Dresden). My husband has just returned; he has + attended to all his affairs with a remarkable activity, and we are + leaving to-day. I did not realize what an adorable being he is; I + have known him for seventeen years, and every day, I perceive that + there is a new quality in him which I did not know. If he could + only enjoy health! Speak to M. Knothe about it, I beg you. You + have no idea how he suffered last night! I hope his natal air will + help him, but if this hope fails me, I shall be much to be pitied, + I assure you. It is such happiness to be loved and protected thus. + His eyes are also very bad; I do not know what all that means, and + at times, I am very sad. I hope to give you better news to-morrow, + when I shall write you." + +Comments have been made on the fact that Balzac wrote his sister his +wife's hands were too badly swollen from rheumatism to write and yet +she wrote to her daughter, but there is a difference between a +mother's letter to her only child, and one to a mother-in-law as +hostile as she knew hers to be. She probably did not care to write, +and Balzac, to smooth matters for her, gave this excuse. + +The long awaited but tragic arrival took place late in the night of +May 20, 1850. The home in the rue Fortunee was brilliantly lighted, +and through the windows could be seen the many beautiful flowers +arranged in accordance with his oft repeated request to his poor old +mother. But alas! to their numerous tugs at the door-bell no response +came, so a locksmith had to be sent for to open the doors. The +minutest details of Balzac's orders for their reception had been +obeyed, but the unfortunate, faithful Francois Munch, under the +excitement and strain of the preparations, had suddenly gone insane. + +Was this a sinister omen, or was it an exemplification of the old +Turkish proverb, "The house completed, death enters"? Our hero's +marriage proved to be the last of his /illusions perdues/, for only +three months more were to be granted him. MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire have +pertinently remarked that five years before his death, Balzac closed +/Les petites Miseres de la Vie conjugal/ with these prophetic words: +"Who has not heard an Italian opera of some kind in his life? . . . +You must have noticed, then, the musical abuse of the word +/felichitta/ lavished by the librettist and the chorus at the time +every one is rushing from his box or leaving his stall. Ghastly image +of life. One leaves it the moment the /felichitta/ is heard." After so +many years of waiting and struggle, he attained the summit of +happiness, but was to obey the summons of death and leave this world +just as the chorus was singing "/Felichitta/." + +Some of Balzac's biographers have criticized Madame Honore de Balzac +not only for having been heartless and indifferent towards him, but +for having neglected him in his last days on earth. Her nephew, M. +Stanislas Rzewuski, defended her, he said, not because she was his +aunt but because of the injustice done to the memory of this poor +/etrangere/, whose faithful tenderness, admiration and devotion had +comforted the earthly exile of a man of genius. Balzac, realizing his +hopeless condition, was despondent; his hopes were blighted, and his +physical sufferings doubtless made him irritable. On the other hand, +Madame de Balzac, however, seductive and charming, however worthy of +being adored and being his "star," had a high temper. This was the +natural temper of an aristocratic woman. It never passed the limits of +decorum, but it was violent and easily provoked.[*] Then too, she had +been accustomed to luxury and had never known poverty. She was ill +also and probably disappointed in life. + +[*] The Princess Radziwill states that there are several inaccuracies + in this article by her half-brother. He was very young when their + aunt died, and he was influenced by his mother, who never liked + Madame de Balzac. She points out that her aunt's temper was most + even, that she never heard her raise her voice, and only once saw + her angry. + +M. Rzewuski has resented, and doubtless justly so, the oft-quoted +death scene by Victor Hugo. He says that at such a time the great poet +was perhaps a most unwelcome guest and she had left the room to avoid +him; that she probably returned before Balzac's last moments came; +that Hugo was only there a short while; that if she did not return she +could not have known that this was to be Balzac's last night on earth, +and that, worn out with watching and waiting, she was justified in +retiring to seek a much needed rest.[*] + +[*] As to Octave Mirbeau's calumnious story, denied by both the + Countess Mniszech and Gigoux's nephew and heir, the Princess + Radziwill states that when Balzac died, her aunt did not know + Gigoux and had never seen him. He was introduced to her only in + 1860 by her daughter, who asked him to paint her mother's + portrait; and they became good friends. + +The story is told that when Dr. Nacquart informed Balzac that he must +die, the novelist exclaimed: "Go call Bianchon! Bianchon will save me! +Bianchon!" The Princess Radziwill states, however, that she has heard +her aunt say often that this story is not true. But were it true, +Balzac's condition was such that no physician could have saved him, +even though possessing all the ability portrayed by the novelist in +the notable and omnipresent Dr. Horace Bianchon, who had saved so many +characters of the /Comedie humaine/, who had comforted in their dying +hours all ranks from the poverty-stricken Pere Goriot to the wealthy +Madame Graslin, from the corrupt Madame Marneffe to the angelic +Pierette Lorrain, whose incomparable fame had spread over a large part +of Europe. + +Madame Hanska has been reproached also for the medical treatment given +Balzac in Russia. It is doubtless true that lemon juice is not +considered the proper treatment for heart disease in this enlightened +age, but seventy years ago, in the wilds of Russia, there was probably +no better medical aid to be secured; and even if Dr. Knothe and his +son were "charlatans," it will be remembered that Balzac not only had +a /penchant/ for such, but that he was very fond of these two +physicians and thought their treatment superior to that which was +given at Paris. + +M. de Fiennes complained that grass was allowed to grow on Balzac's +grave. To this M. Eugene de Mirecourt replied that what M. de Fiennes +had taken for grass was laurel, thyme, buckthorn and white jasmine; +the grave of Balzac was constantly and religiously kept in good order +by his widow. One could ask any of the gardeners of Pere-Lachaise +thereupon. + +Whatever the attitude of Balzac's wife towards him during his life, +she acted most nobly indeed in the matter of his debts. Instead of +accepting the inheritance left her in her husband's will and selling +her rights in all his works, the beautiful /etrangere/ accepted +courageously the terrible burden left to her, and paid the novelist's +mother an annuity of three thousand francs until her death, which +occurred March, 1854. She succeeded in accomplishing this liquidation, +which was of exceptional difficulty, and long before her death every +one of Balzac's creditors had been paid in full. + +There seems to be no /authoritative/ proof that Balzac's married life +was either happy or unhappy. The Princess Radziwill always understood +from her aunt that they were as happy as one could expect, considering +that Balzac's days were numbered. The present writer is fain to say, +with Mr. Edward King: "He died happy, for he died in the full +realization of a pure love which had upheld him through some of the +bitterest trials that ever fall to the lot of man." + + + "Say to your dear child the most tenderly endearing things in the + name of one of the most sincere and faithful friends she will ever + have, not excepting her husband, for I love her as her father + loved her."[*] + +[*] The Countess Mniszech died in September, 1914, at the age of + eighty-nine, so must have been born about 1825 or 1826. She spent + the twenty-five years preceding her demise in a convent in the rue + de Vaugirard in Paris and retained her right mind until the day of + her death. It will always be one of the greatest regrets of the + present writer that she did not know of this before the Countess's + death, for the Countess could doubtless have given her much + information not to be obtained elsewhere. + +Balzac was probably never more sincere than when he wrote this +message, for perhaps no father ever loved his own child more devotedly +than he loved Anna, the only child living of M. and Mme. de Hanski. + +Most of Balzac's biographers who state that he met Madame Hanska on +the promenade, say that her little daughter was with her. Wherever he +first met her, she won his heart completely. Some pebbles she gathered +during his first visit to her mother at Neufchatel, Balzac had made +into a little cross, on the back of which was engraved: /adoremus in +aeternum/. She was at this time about seven or eight years of age. +When he visited them again at Geneva, their friendship increased, and +in writing to her mother he sent the child kisses from /son pauvre +cheval/. He loved her little playthings, some of which he kept on his +desk; was always wanting to send her gifts, anxious for her health and +happiness, took great interest in her musical talent, and was ever +delighted to hear of her progress or pleasures. One of his rather +typical messages to her in her earlier years was: "Place a kiss on +Anna's brow from the most tranquil steed she will ever have in her +stables." + +As she grew older, the novelist thought of dedicating one of his works +to her, and wrote to her mother that the first /young girl/ story he +should compose he would like to dedicate to Anna, if agreeable to both +of them. The mother's consent was granted, and he assured her that the +story Pierrette (written, by the way, in ten days) was suitable for +Anna to read. "/Pierrette/ is one of those tender flowers of +melancholy which in advance are certain of success. As the book is for +Anna, I do not wish to tell you anything about it, but leave you the +pleasure of surprise." + + "To Mademoiselle Anna de Hanska: + + "Dear Child, you, the joy of an entire home, you whose white or + rose-colored scarf flutters in the summer through the groves of + Wierzchownia, like a will-o'-the-wisp, followed by the tender eyes + of your father and mother--how can I dedicate to you a story full + of melancholy? But is it not well to tell you of sorrow such as a + young girl so fondly loved as you are will never know? For some + day your fair hands may comfort the unfortunate. It is so + difficult, Anna, to find in the history of our manners any + incident worthy of meeting your eye, that an author has no choice; + but perhaps you may discern how happy you are from reading this + story, sent by + + "Your old friend, + "DE BALZAC." + +Balzac was very proud of the success of /Pierrette/, and wished Madame +Hanska to have Anna read it, assuring her that there was nothing +"improper" in it. + + "/Pierrette/ has appeared in the /Siecle/. The manuscript is bound + for Anna. /L'envoi/ has appeared; I enclose it to you. Friends and + enemies proclaim this little book a masterpiece; I shall be glad + if they are not mistaken. You will read it soon, as it is being + printed in book form. People have placed it beside the /Recherche + de l'Absolu/. I am willing. I myself would like to place it beside + Anna."[*] + +[*] The dedication was placed at the end, /en envoi/. + +After the death of Anna's father, Balzac advised her mother in many +ways. His interest in Anna's musical ability, which was very rare, +increased and he had Liszt call on Madame Hanska and play for them +when he went to St. Petersburg. He expressed his gratitude to Liszt +for this favor by dedicating to him /La Duchesse de Langeais/. He +regretted this later, after the musician fell into such discredit. + +Balzac was anxious that Madame Hanska should manage the estate wisely, +and that she should be very careful in selecting a husband for Anna. +The young girl had many suitors at St. Petersburg, and he expressed +his opinion freely about them. He wanted her to be happily married, +and wrote her mother regarding the essential qualities of a husband. +He loved Anna for her mother's sake as well as for her own, and when +the fond mother wrote him about certain traits of her daughter he +encouraged her to be proud of Anna, for she was far superior to the +best-bred young people of Paris. + +He did not approve, at first, of the young Count de Mniszech and +championed another suitor; later he and the Count became warm friends, +and in 1846, he dedicated to him /Maitre Cornelius/, written in 1831. +Besides having a very handsome cane made for him, he sent him many +gifts. + +Balzac expressed his admiration of Anna not only to her mother, but to +others. He wrote the Count, who was soon to become her husband, that +she was the most charming young girl he had ever seen in the most +refined circles of society. He found her far more attractive than his +niece, who had the bloom of a beautiful Norman, and he thought that +possibly some of his admiration for her was due to his great affection +for her mother. + +One is surprised to see what foresight Balzac had--so many things he +said proved to be true. He thought, for instance, that Anna had the +physique to live a hundred years, that she had no sense of the +practical, that her mother--as he took care to warn her--would do well +to keep her estate separate from her daughter's, or otherwise she +might some day have cause for regret. Whether Madame Honore de Balzac +was too busy with literary and business duties after her husband's +death, or whether her extreme affection prevented her from refusing +her only child anything she wished, the results were disastrous. It +was fortunate for Balzac that he did not live to see the fate of this +paragon, for this would have grieved him deeply, while he probably +would not have been able to remedy matters. + +While a part of Balzac's affection for Anna was doubtless owing to his +adoration for her mother, she must have had in her own person some +very charming traits, for after he had lived in their home for more +than a year, where he must have studied her most carefully, he says of +her: "It is true that the Countess Anna and Count George are two ideal +perfections; I did not believe two such beings could exist. There is a +nobleness of life and sentiment, a gentleness of manners, an evenness +of temper, which cannot be believed unless you have lived with them. +With all this, there is a playfulness, a spontaneous gaiety, which +dispels weariness or monotony. Never have I been so thoroughly in my +right place as here." + +Balzac certainly was not tactful in continually praising the young +Countess to his sister and his nieces, but he was doubtless sincere, +and no record has been found of his ever having changed his opinion of +this young Russian whom he loved so tenderly. + + +A woman who played an important role in Balzac's association with +Madame Hanska was Mademoiselle Henriette Borel, called Lirette. She +had been governess in the home of Madame Hanska since 1824. +Sympathetic and devoted to the children, she grieved when death took +them. She helped save Anna's life, for which the entire family loved +her. It was doubtless due to her influence that M. de Hanski and his +family chose Neufchatel, her home city, as a place to sojourn. They +arrived there in the summer of 1833, and left early in October of the +same year. While at Neufchatel they were very gracious to Lirette's +relatives and Madame Hanska invited them to visit her at Geneva. + +Whether Lirette wrote with her own hand the first letter sent by +Madame Hanska to Balzac--letters which de Lovenjoul says were not in +the handwriting of the /Predilecta/--we shall probably never know, but +that she knew of the secret correspondence and aided in it is seen +from the following: + + "My celestial love, find an impenetrable place for my letters. Oh! + I entreat you, let no harm come to you. Let Henriette be their + faithful guardian, and make her take all the precautions that the + genius of woman dictates in such a case. . . . Do not deceive + yourself, my dear Eve; one does not return to Mademoiselle + Henriette Borel a letter so carefully folded and sealed without + looking at it. There are clever dissimulations. Now I entreat you, + take a carriage that you may never get wet in going to the post. + . . . Go every Wednesday, because the letters posted here on + Sunday arrive on Wednesday. I will never, whatever may be the + urgency, post letters for you on any day except Sunday. Burn the + envelopes. Let Henriette scold the man at the post-office for + having delivered a letter which was marked /poste restante/, but + scold him laughing, . . ." + +Balzac courteously sent greetings to Lirette in his letters to Madame +Hanska, and evidently liked her. Her religious tendencies probably +impressed him many years before she took the veil, for he writes of +her praying for him. + +While Balzac naturally met Lirette in his visits to Madame Hanska, it +was while he was at St. Petersburg in the summer of 1843 that he +became more intimate with her, for she had decided to become a nun, +and consulted him on many points. Since she was to enter a convent at +Paris, he visited a priest there for her, secured the necessary +documents, and advised her about many matters, especially her property +and the convent she should enter. Though he aided her in every way he +could, he did not approve of this step, but when she arrived in Paris, +he entertained her in his home, giving up his room for her. At various +times he went with her to the convent and his housekeeper, Madame de +Brugnolle, also was very kind to her. + +Lirette impressed the novelist as being very stupid, and he wondered +how his "Polar Star" could have ever made a friend of her. She was as +blind a Catholic as she had been a blind Protestant. She seemed +willing now to have him marry Madame Hanska, after many years of +aversion to him. He tried to impress upon her that a rich nun was much +better treated than a poor one, but she would not listen to him, and +insisted on making what he considered a premature donation of +everything she possessed to her convent. She annoyed him very much +while he was trying to save her property, yet he was pleased to do +this for the sake of his /Predilecta/ and Anna. He looked after her +with the same solicitude that a father would have for his child, and +after doing everything possible for her, he conducted her to the +/Convent de la Visitation/ without a word of thanks from her, though +he had made sacrifices for her, and though his housekeeper had slept +on a mattress on the floor, giving up her room in order that Lirette +should have suitable quarters. But although hurt by her ingratitude he +had enjoyed talking with her, for she brought him news from his +friends in Russia. + +Lirette evidently did not realize what she was doing in the matter of +the convent, and was displeased with many things after entering it. +Balzac was vexed at what she wrote to Madame Hanska, but felt that she +was not altogether responsible for her actions, believing that it was +a very personal sentiment which caused her to enter the convent.[*] He +could not understand her indifference to her friends, she did penance +by keeping a letter from Anna eighteen days before opening it. He +found her stupidity unequaled, but he sent his housekeeper to see her, +and visited her himself when he had time. + +[*] It has been stated that Mademoiselle Borel was so impressed by the + chants, lights and ceremony at the funeral of M. de Hanski in + November 1841, that it caused her to give up her protestant faith + and enter the convent. Miss Sandars (/Balzac/) has well remarked: + "We may wonder, however, whether tardy remorse for her deceit + towards the dead man, who had treated her with kindness, had not + its influence in causing this sudden religious enthusiasm, and + whether the Sister in the Convent of the Visitation in Paris gave + herself extra penance for her sins of connivance." Mademoiselle + died in this convent, rue d'Enfer, in 1857. + +In addition to all this, the poor novelist had one more trial to +undergo; this was to see her take the vows (December 2, 1845). He was +misinformed as to the time of the ceremony, so went too soon and +wasted much precious time, but he remained through the long service in +order to see her afterwards. But in all this Lirette was to accomplish +one thing for him. As she had helped in his correspondence, she was +soon to be the means of bringing him and his /Chatelaine/ together +again; the devotion of Madame Hanska and Anna to the former governess +being such that they came to Paris to see her. + + +In the home of the de Hanskis in the Russian waste were two other +women, Mesdemoiselles Severine and Denise Wylezynska, who were to play +a small part in Balzac's life. Both of these relatives probably came +with M. de Hanski and his family to Switzerland in 1833; their names +are mentioned frequently in his letters to Madame Hanska, and soon +after his visit at Neufchatel the novelist asks that Mademoiselle +Severine preserve her gracious indifference. These ladies were cousins +of M. de Hanski, and probably were sisters of M. Thaddee Wylezynski, +mentioned in connection with Madame Hanska. After her husband's death, +Madame Hanska must have invited these two ladies to live with her, for +Balzac inquires about the two young people she had with her. + +Mademoiselle Denise has been suspected of having written the first +letter for Madame Hanska, and the dedication of /La Grenadiere/ has +been replaced by the initials "A. D. W.," supposed to mean "a Denise +Wylezynska"; the actual dedication is an unpublished correction of +Balzac himself. + +The relative that caused Balzac the most discomfort was the Countess +Rosalie Rzewuska, nee Princess Lubomirska, wife of Count Wenceslas +Rzewuski, Madame Hanska's uncle. She seems to have been continually +hearing either that he was married, or something that was detrimental, +and kept him busy denying these reports: + + "I have here your last letter in which you speak to me of Madame + Rosalie and of /Seraphita/. Relative to your aunt, I confess that + I am ignorant by what law it is that persons so well bred can + believe such calumnies. I, a gambler! Can your aunt neither + reason, calculate nor combine anything except whist? I, who work, + even here, sixteen hours a day, how should I go to a gambling- + house that takes whole nights? It is as absurd as it is crazy. + . . . Your letter was sad; I felt it was written under the + influence of your aunt. . . . Let your aunt judge in her way of my + works, of which she knows neither the whole design nor the + bearing; it is her right. I submit to all judgements. . . . Your + aunt makes me think of a poor Christian who, entering the Sistine + chapel just as Michael-Angelo has drawn a nude figure, asks why + the popes allow such horrors in Saint Peter's. She judges a work + from at least the same range in literature without putting herself + at a distance and awaiting its end. She judges the artist without + knowing him, and by the sayings of ninnies. All that give me + little pain for myself, but much for her, if you love her. But + that you should let yourself be influenced by such errors, that + does grieve me and makes me very uneasy, for I live by my + friendships only." + +In spite of this, Balzac wished to obtain the good will of "Madame +Rosalie," and sympathized with her when she lost her son. But she had +a great dislike for Paris, and after the death of M. de Hanski, she +objected to her niece's going there. The novelist felt that she was +his sworn enemy, and that she went too far in her hatred of everything +implied in the word /Paris/[*]; yet he pardoned her for the sake of +her niece. + +[*] The reason why Madame Rosalie had such a horror of Paris was that + her mother was guillotined there,--the same day as Madame + Elizabeth. Madame Rosalie was only a child at that time, and was + discovered in the home of a washerwoman. + +It was Caliste Rzewuska, the daughter of this aunt, whom Balzac had in +mind when he sketched /Modeste Mignon/. She was married to M. Michele- +Angelo Cajetani, Prince de Teano and Duc de Sermoneta, to whom /Les +Parents pauvres/ is dedicated. + +Balzac seems to have had something of the same antipathy for Madame +Hanska's sister Caroline that he had for her aunt Rosalie, but since +he wrote to his /Predilecta/ many unfavorable things of a private +nature about his family, she may have done the same concerning hers, +so that he may not have had a fair opportunity of judging her. He was +friendly towards her at times, and she is the Madame Cherkowitch of +his letters. + +It was probably Madame Hanska's sister Pauline, Madame Jean Riznitch, +whose servants were to receive a reward from a rich /moujik/ in case +they could arrange to have him see Balzac. This /moujik/ was a great +admirer of the novelist, had read all his books, burnt a candle to +Saint Nicholas for him every week, and was anxious to meet him. Since +Madame Riznitch lived not far from Madame Hanska, he hoped to see +Balzac when he visited Wierzschownia. + +The relative whose association with Balzac seems to have caused Madame +Hanska the most discomfort was her cousin, the Countess Marie Potocka. +He met her when he visited his /Chatelaine/ in Geneva/, where the +Countess Potocka entertained him, and after his return to Paris, he +called on Madame Appony, wife of the Austrian ambassador, to deliver a +letter for her. Before going to Geneva he had heard of her, and had +confused her identity with that of the /belle Grecque/ who had died +several years before. + +During his visit to Geneva the novelist deemed it wise to explain his +attentions to Madame P-----: "It would have seemed ridiculous (to the +others) for me to have occupied myself with you only. I was bound to +respect you, and in order to talk to you so much, it was necessary for +me to talk to Madame P-----. What I wrote you this morning is of a +nature to show you how false are your fears. I never ceased to look at +you while talking to Madame P-----." + +After his return to Paris he wrote a letter to Madame P-----, and was +careful to explain this also: + + "Do not be jealous of Madame P-----'s letter; that woman must be + /for us/. I have flattered her, and I want her to think that you + are disdained. . . . My enemies are spreading a rumor of my + /liaison/ with a Russian princess; they name Madame P----- . . . + Oh! my love, I swear to you I wrote to Madame P----- only to + prevent the road to Russia being closed to me." + +He received a letter from her which he did not answer, for he wished +to end this correspondence. It is within the bounds of possibility +that Balzac cared more for the Countess Potocka than he admitted to +his "Polar Star," but several years later, when she had become +avaricious, he formed an aversion to her and warned Madame Hanska to +beware of her cousin. + + + + CONCLUSION + + "I live by my friendships only." + +Many people write their romances, others live them; Honore de Balzac +did both. This life so full of romantic fiction mingled with stern +reality, where the burden of debt is counter-balanced by dramatic +passion, where hallucination can scarcely be distinguished from fact, +where the weary traveler is ever seeking gold, rest, or love, ever +longing to be famous and to be loved, where the hero, secluded as in a +monastery, suddenly emerges to attend an opera, dressed in the most +gaudy attire, where he lacks many of the comforts of life, yet +suddenly crosses half the continent, allured by the fascinations of a +woman, this life is indeed a /roman balzacien par excellence/! + +He tried to shroud his life, especially his association with women, in +mystery. Now since the veil is partially lifted, one can see how great +was the role they played. It has been said that twelve thousand +letters were written to Balzac by women, some to express their +admiration, some to recognize themselves in a delightful personage he +had created, others to thank him or condemn him for certain attitudes +he had sustained towards woman. + +For him to have so thoroughly understood the feminine mind and +temperament, to have given to this subtle chameleon its various hues, +to have portrayed woman with her many charms and caprices, and to have +described woman in her various classes and at all ages, he must have +observed her, or rather, he must have known her. He very justly says +in his /Avant-propos/: + + "When Buffon described the lion, he dismissed the lioness with a + few phrases; but in society the wife is not always the female of + the male. There may be two perfectly dissimilar beings in one + household. The wife of a shopkeeper is sometimes worthy of a + prince and the wife of a prince is often worthless compared with + the wife of an artisan. The social state has freaks which are not + found in the natural world; it is nature /plus/ society. The + description of the social species would thus be at least double + that of the animal species, merely in view of the two sexes." + +Thus, he made a special study of woman, penetrated, like a father +confessor, into her innermost secrets, and if he has not painted the +duchesses with the delicacy due them, it was not because he did not +know or had not studied them, but probably because he was picturing +them with his Rabelaisian pen. + +He knew many women who were active during the reign of Louis XVI, +women who were conspicuous under the Empire, and women who were +prominent in society during the Restoration, hence, one would +naturally expect to find traces of them in his works. + +But it is not only this type of woman that Balzac has presented. He +painted the /bourgeoise/ in society, as seen in the daughters of /Pere +Goriot/, and many others, the various types of the /vieille fille/ +such as Mademoiselle Zephirine Guenic (/Beatrix/) who never wished to +marry, Cousine Bette who failed in her matrimonial attempts, and +Madame Bousquier (/La vieille Fille) who finally succeeded in hers. + +The working class is represented in such characters as Madame +Remonencq (/Le Cousin Pons/) and Madame Cardinal (/Les petits +Bourgeois/), while the servant class is well shown in the person of +the /grand/ Nanon (/Eugenie Grandet/), the faithful Fanny (/La +Grenadiere/), and many others. As has been seen, there is a trace of +his old servant, Mere Comin, in the person of Madame Vaillant (/Facino +Cane/), and Mere Cognette and La Rabouilleuse (/La Rabouilleuse/) are +said to be people he met while visiting Madame Carraud. The novelist +must have known many such women, for his mother and sisters had +servants, and in the homes of Madame de Berny, Madame Carraud and +Madame de Margonne, he certainly knew the servants, not to mention +those he observed at the cafes and in his wanderings. + +Balzac knew several young girls at different periods of his life. His +sister Laure was his first and only companion in his earlier years, +and he knew his sister Laurence especially well in the years +immediately preceding her marriage. Madame Carraud was a schoolmate of +Madame Surville and visited in his home as a young girl. He was not +only acquainted with the various daughters of Madame de Berny, but at +one time there was some prospect of his marrying Julie. Josephine and +Constance, daughters of Madame d'Abrantes, were acquaintances of his +during their early womanhood. He must have known Mademoiselle de +Trumilly as he presented himself as her suitor, and being entertained +in her home frequently, doubtless saw her sisters also. Since he +accompanied his sister to balls in his youth, it is natural to suppose +that he met young girls there, even if there is no record of it. + +A few years later he became devoted to the two daughters of his sister +Laure, and lived with her for a short time. He knew Madame Hanska's +daughter Anna in her childhood, but was most intimate with her when +she was about twenty. While Madame de Girardin was not so young, he +met her several years before her marriage, called her Delphine, and +regarded her somewhat as his pupil. He liked Marie de Montbeau and her +mother, Camille Delannoy, who was a friend of his sister Laure and the +daughter of the family friend, Madame Delannoy. Though not intimate +with her, he met and observed Eugenie, the daughter of Madame de +Bolognini at Milan, and probably was acquainted with Inez and +Hyacinthe, the two daughters of Madame Desbordes-Valmore. + +In his various works, he has portrayed quite a number of young girls +varying greatly in rank and temperament, among the most prominent +being Marguerite Claes (/La Recherche de l'Absolu/), noted for her +ability and her strength of character, headstrong and much petted +Emilie de Fontaine (/Le Bal de Sceaux/), Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, the +very zealous Royalist (/Une tenebreuse Affaire/), romantic Modeste +Mignon, pitiable Pierrette Lorrain, dutiful and devout Ursule Mirouet, +unfortunate Fosseuse (/Le Medecin de Campagne/), bold and unhappy +Rosalie de Watteville (/Albert Savarus/), and the well-known Eugenie +Grandet. + +The novelist has revealed to us that he modeled one of these heroines +on a combination of the woman who later became his wife, and her +cousin, a most charming woman. It is quite possible that some if not +all of the other heroines would be found to have equally interesting +sources, could they be discovered. + +Concerning the much discussed question as to whether Balzac portrayed +young girls well, M. Marcel Barriere remarks: + + "There are critics stupid enough to say that Balzac knew nothing of + the art of painting young girls; they make use of the inelegant, + unpolished word /rate/ to qualify his portraits of this /genre/. + To be sure, Balzac's triumph is, we admit, in his portraits of + mothers or passionate women who know life. Certain authors, + without counting George Sand, have given us sketches of young + girls far superior to Balzac's, but that is no reason for scoffing + in so impertinent a manner at the author of the /Comedie humaine/, + when his unquestionable glory ought to silence similar + pamphletistic criticisms. We advise those who reproach Balzac for + not having understood the simplicity, modesty and graces so full + of charm, or often the artifice of the young girl, to please + reread in the /Scenes de la Vie privee/ the portraits of Louise de + Chaulieu, Renee de Maucombe, Modeste Mignon, Julie de + Chatillonest, Honorine de Beauvan, Mademoiselle Guillaume, Emilie + de Fontaine, Mademoiselle Evangelista, Adelaide du Rouvre, + Ginervra di Piombo, etc., without mentioning, in other /Scenes/, + Eugenie Grandet, Eve Sechard, Pierrette Lorrain, Ursule Mirouet, + Mesdemoiselles Birotteau, Hulot d'Ervy, de Cinq-Cygne, La + Fosseuse, Marguerite Claes, Juana de Mancini, Pauline Gaudin, and + I hope they will keep silence, otherwise they will cause us to + question their good sense of criticism." + +Balzac said it would require a Raphael to create so many virgins; +accordingly, from time to time the type of woman of the other extreme +is also seen. She is portrayed in the /grande dame/ and in the +/courtisane/, that is, at the top and the bottom of the social ladder. +On the one side are the Princesse de Cadignan, the Comtesse de Seriby, +etc., while on the other are Esther Gobseck, Valerie Marneffe, and +others. Some of the novelist's most striking antitheses were attained +by placing these horrible creatures by the side of his noblest and +purest creations. + +In his /Avant-propos/, he criticized Walter Scott for having portrayed +his women as Protestants, saying: "In Protestantism there is no +possible future for the woman who has sinned; while, in the Catholic +Church, the hope of forgiveness makes her sublime. Hence, for the +Protestant writer there is but one woman, while the Catholic writer +finds a new woman in each new situation." Naturally, most of the women +of the /Comedie humaine/ are Catholic, but among the exceptions is +Madame Jeanrenaud (/L'Interdiction/), who is a Protestant; Josepha +Mirah and Esther Gobseck are of Jewish origin. In portraying various +women as Catholics, convent life for the young girl is seen in +/Memoires de deux jeunes mariees/, and for the woman weary of society, +in /La Duchesse de Langeais/. Extreme piety is shown in Madame de +Granville (/Une double Famille/), and Madame Graslin devoted herself +to charity to atone for her crime. + +Various pictures are given of woman in the home. Ideal happiness is +portrayed in the life of Madame Cesar Birotteau. Madame Grandet, +Madame Hulot (/La Cousine Bette/), and Madame Claes (/La Recherche de +l'Absolu/) were martyrs to their husbands, while Madame Serizy made a +martyr of hers. Beautiful motherhood is often seen, as in Madame +Sauviat (/Le Cure de Village/), yet some of the mothers in Balzac are +most heartless. A few professions among women are represented, +actresses, artists, musicians and dancers being prominent in some of +the stories. + +It is quite possible and even probable that Balzac pictured many more +women whom he knew in real life than have been mentioned here, and +these may yet be traced. For obvious reasons, he avoided exact +portraiture, yet in a few instances he indulged in it, notably in the +sketch of George Sand as Mademoiselle des Touches. And lest one might +not recognize the appearance of Madame Merlin as Madame Schontz +(/Beatrix/), he boldly made her name public. + +In presenting the women whom we know, the novelist was usually +consistent. As has been seen, he regarded the home of Madame Carraud +at Frapesle as a haven of rest, and went there like a wood-pigeon +regaining its nest. The suffering Felix de Vandenesse (/Le Lys dans la +Vallee/) could not, therefore, find calm until he went to the chateau +de Frapesle to recuperate. The novelist could easily give this minute +description of Frapesle with its towers, as well as the chateau de +Sache, the home of M. de Margonne, having spent so much of his time at +both of these places. + +The reader, having seen in the early pages of this book, Balzac's +relation to his mother,--in case Felix de Vandenesse represents Balzac +himself--is not surprised to learn that the mother of Felix was cold +and tyrannical, indifferent to his happiness, that he had but little +or no money to spend, that his brother was the favorite, that he was +sent away to school early in life and remained there eight years, that +his mother often reproached him and repressed his tenderness, and that +to escape all contact with her he buried himself in his reading. + +Felix was in this unhappy state when he met Madame de Mortsauf, whose +shoulders he kissed suddenly, and whose love for him later made him +forget the miseries of childhood; in the same manner, Balzac made his +first declaration to Madame de Berny. Madame de Mortsauf could easily +be Madame de Berny with all her tenderness and sympathy, or she could +be Madame Hanska. The intense maternal love of the heroine could +represent either, but especially the latter. M. de Mortsauf could be +either M. de Berny or M. de Hanski. Balzac left Madame de Berny and +became enraptured with Madame de Castries, and had had a similar +infatuation for Madame d'Abrantes, just as Felix made Madame de +Mortsauf jealous by his devotion to Lady Arabelle Dudley. It will be +remembered that Madame Hanska was suspicious of Balzac's relations +with an English lady, Countess Visconti, although the novelist states +that he had written this work before he knew Madame Visconti. The +novelist has doubtless combined traits of various women in a single +character, but the fact still remains that he was depicting life as he +knew it, even if he did not attempt exact portraiture. + +While the famous Vicomtesse de Beauseant (/La Femme abandonnee/) has +many characteristics of the Duchesse d'Abrantes, and some of those of +Madame de Berny, and /La Femme abandonnee/ was written the year Balzac +severed his relations with his /Dilecta/. But it is especially in the +gentleness and patience portrayed in Madame Firmiani, in the affection +and self-sacrifice of Pauline de Villenoix for Louis Lambert, and the +devotion of Pauline Gaudin to Raphael in /La Peau de Chagrin/ that +Madame de Berny is most strikingly represented. She was all this and +more to Balzac. Furthermore, he may have obtained from her his +historical color for /Un Episode sous la Terreur/, just as he was +influenced by Madame Junot in writing stories of the Empire and +Corsican vengeance. + +It was perhaps to avoid recognition of the heroine and to revenge +himself on Madame de Castries that he made the Duchesse de Langeais +enter a convent and die, after her failure to master the Marquis de +Montriveau, while for his part the hero soon forgot her. + +Soon after introducing Madame de Mortsauf (/Le Lys dans la Vallee/), +Balzac compares her to the fragrant heather gathered on returning from +the Villa Diodati. After studying carefully his long period of +association with Madame Hanska, one can see the importance which the +Villa Diodati had in his life. This is only another incident, small +though it be, showing how this woman impressed herself so deeply on +the novelist that almost unconsciously he brought memories of his +/Predilecta/ into his work. It has been shown that she served as a +model for some of his most attractive heroines; was honored, under +different names, with the dedication of three works besides the one +dedicated to her daughter; and was the originator of one of his most +popular novels for young girls, while many traces of herself and her +family connections are found throughout the whole /Comedie humaine/. + +Though by far the most important of them all, she was only one of the +many /etrangeres/ he knew. As has been observed, he knew women of +Russia, Poland, Germany, Austria, England, Italy and Spain, and had +traveled in most of these countries; hence one is not surprised at the +large number of foreign women who have appeared in his work. Among the +most noted of these are Lady Brandon (/La Grenadiere/); Lady Dudley +(/Le Lys dans la Vallee/); Madame Varese (/Massimilla Doni/); la +Duchesse de Rhetore (/Albert Savarus/), who was in reality Madame +Hanska, although presented as being Italian; Madame Claes (/La +Recherche de l'Absolu/), of Spanish origin though born in Brussels; +Paquita Valdes (/La Fille aux Yeux d'Or/); and the Corsican Madame +Luigi Porta (/La Vendetta/). + +In regard to Balzac's various women friends, J. W. Sherer has very +appropriately observed: "And the man was worthy of them: the student +of his work knows what a head he had; the student of his life, what a +heart." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Women in the Life of Balzac, Juanita H. Floyd + diff --git a/old/wilob10.zip b/old/wilob10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bba2e81 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wilob10.zip |