_Page_ 476: _relating to the letters Madame Hanska, then Madame de
Balzac, gave to MM. Lévy in_ 1876_ for their Édition Définitive of the
Works_.
In various foot-notes to "Lettres à l'Étrangère," and also in "Un Roman
d'Amour," an effort is made to represent Madame de Balzac as having
suppressed parts of these letters for some purpose not legitimate.
"These letters," it is said, "copied by the hand of Madame de Balzac,
were given to M. Michel Lévy to be placed, in 1876, in Balzac's general
'Correspondance.' But she who was then no more than the widow of a man
of genius did not, it must be owned, deliver the authentic and integral
text of those letters."
Ten of the letters that Madame de Balzac gave to M. Michel Lévy appear
also in "Lettres à l'Étrangère." I have carefully compared these, and
I find certain differences, but nothing that does not come within the
legitimate province of an editor. These differences are mainly as
follows: 1. Unpleasant comments on persons then living are omitted;
also certain painful details about his family and hers which ought
never to have seen the light. 2. Some affectionate expressions to
herself are omitted, and some, apparently from other letters, are
added. 3. Additions, also apparently from other letters, and one at
least from Balzac's other writings, are made. _Possibly_ the passage
about Louis XIV. (page 476) is one of these; it may have been added by
Madame de Balzac as being more just to his real opinion. 4. Passages
have been transposed; probably through some confusion of the sheets in
copying or in printing. But there is nothing omitted, changed, or added
that gives the least colour to the idea conveyed of suppression or
insincerity.
The letters can be compared by every one. Their dates, and the pages on
which they appeared in the Édition Définitive are as follows:--
(1) August 11, 1835, p. 217. (2) October, 1836, p. 239. (3) January 20,
1838, p. 273. (4) March 26, 1838, p. 284. (5) April 8, 1838, p. 290.
(6) April 17, 1838, p. 290. (7) April 22, 1838, p. 291. (8) May 20,
1838, p. 294. (9) June 15, 1838, p. 303. (10) July, 1838, p. 309.