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 protege 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.