The _Repertory of the Comedie Humaine_, as the reader can see for
himself, should include only those episodes introducing characters
inter-related and continually recurring. Consequently, the stories
entitled _The Exiles_, _About Catherine de Medici_, _Maitre
Cornelius_, _The Unknown Masterpiece_, _The Elixir of Life_, _Christ
in Flanders_, which antedate the eighteenth century, and _Seraphita_,
which deals with the supernatural, are omitted, together with the
_Analytical Studies_. But _The Hated Son_ furnishes some indispensable
information concerning a few biographies. The _Dramas_ are outside the
action of the _Comedie_, so contribute no names.
According to Theophile Gautier, _The Comedie Humaine_ embraces two
thousand characters. His reckoning is nearly exact; but as a result of
cross-references, surnames, assumed names and the like, that number is
far exceeded in this work, which, nevertheless, omits many characters
outside the action, as: Chevet, Decamps, Delacroix, Finot Sr., the
child of Calyste and Sabine du Guenic, Noemi Magus, Meyerbeer,
Herbaut, Houbigant, Tanrade, Mousqueton, Arnal, Barrot, Bonald,
Berryer, Gautier, Gozlan, Hugo, Hyacinthe, Lafont, Lamartine,
Lassailly, F. Lemaitre, Charles X., Louis Philippe, Odry, Talma,
Thiers, Villele, Rossini, Rousseau, Mlle. Dejazet, Mlle. Georges, etc.