THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE
HONORÉ DE BALZAC 1007
THE PRICE OF A LIFE
AUGUSTIN EUGÈNE SCRIBE 1049
NAPOLEON AND POPE PIUS VII
ALFRED VICTOR, COMTE DE VIGNY 1067
CLAUDE GUEUX
VICTOR MARIE HUGO 1083
A BAL MASQUÉ
ALEXANDRE DAVY DE LA PAILLETERIE DUMAS 1105
HOW THE REDOUBT WAS TAKEN
PROSPER MÉRIMÉE 1121
THE VENDEAN MARRIAGE
JULES GABRIEL JANIN 1131
THE MARQUISE
GEORGE SAND 1149
THE BEAUTY-SPOT
ALFRED LOUIS CHARLES DE MUSSET 1185
THE MUMMY’S FOOT
THÉOPHILE GAUTIER 1237
CIRCÉ
OCTAVE FEUILLET 1257
THE HANGING AT LA PIROCHE
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, FILS 1269
THE DEAN’S WATCH
ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN 1289
AT THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE
ALPHONSE DAUDET 1319
BOUM-BOUM
JULES CLARETIE 1327
THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE
BY HONORÉ DE BALZAC
[Illustration]
_“The Unknown Masterpiece” is considered not only one of the
finest of Balzac’s tales, but he himself considered it a valuable
addition to his “Philosophical Studies.” Balzac, born at Tours, 1799,
died at Paris, 1850, gives one the impression of father confessor
to unfortunate women of the world and of the demi-monde--a Samuel
Richardson, but with far deeper, broader sympathies. In Paris he lived
a life of privation, writing volumes of unsuccessful things. The first
novel that appeared under his own name was “The Last Chouan,” 1827; his
first success “The Ass’s Skin,” 1830._
_The idea of combining under the general title of “Comédie Humaine”
that long series of great novels, which rose to their highest level in
“Eugénie Grandet,” did not occur to him until later._
[Illustration]
THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE
_TO A LORD_