NO PARTICULAR DATE
Balzac's portrait as described by Gautier--His character--Belief
in magnetism and somnambulism--His attempts to become deputy--His
political and religious views.
In the Salon of 1837 appeared a portrait of Balzac by Boulanger,[*] of
which Theophile Gautier gave the following description in _La Presse_:
"M. de Balzac is not precisely beautiful. His features are irregular;
he is fat and short. Here is a summary which does not seem to lend
itself to a painting, but this is only the reverse of the medal. The
life and ardour reflected in the whole face give it a special beauty.
[*] See the chapter entitled "Un Portrait" in "Autour de Honore de
Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul.
"In this portrait, M. de Balzac, enveloped in the large folds of a
monk's habit, sits with his arms crossed, in a calm and strong
attitude; the neck is uncovered, the look firm and direct; the light,
shining from above, illumines the satin-like smoothness of the upper
parts of the forehead, and throws a bright light on the bumps of
imagination and humour, which are strongly developed in M. de Balzac;
the black hair, also lit up, shining and radiant, comes from the
temples in bright waves, and gives singular light to the top of the
head; the eyes steeped in a golden penumbra with tawny eyeballs, on a
moist and blue crystalline lens like that of a child, send out a
glance of astonishing acuteness; the nose, divided into abrupt
polished flat places, breathes strongly and passionately, through
large red nostrils; the mouth, large and voluptuous, particularly in
the lower lip, smiles with a rabelaisian smile under the shade of a
moustache much lighter in colour than the hair; and the chin, slightly
raised, is attached to the throat by a fold of flesh, ample and
strong, which resembles the dewlap of a young bull. The throat itself
is of athletic and rare strength, the plump full cheeks are touched
with the vermilion of nervous health, and all the flesh tints are
resplendent with the most joyful and reassuring brilliancy.
"In this monk's and soldier's head there is a mixture of reflection
and of good-humour, of resolution and of high spirits, which is
infinitely rare; the thinker and good liver melt into each other with
quaint harmony. Put a cuirass on this large breast, and you will have
one of those fat German foot-soldiers so jovially painted by Terburg.
With the monks' habit, it is Jean des Entommeurs[*]; nevertheless, do
not forget that the eyes throw, through all this embonpoint and
good-humour, the yellow look of a lion to counteract this Flemish
familiarity. Such a man would be equal to excesses of the table, of
pleasure, and of work. We are no longer astonished at the immense
quantity of volumes published by him in so short a time. This
prodigious labour has left no trace of fatigue on the strong cheeks
dappled with red, and on the large white forehead. The enormous work
which would have crushed six ordinary authors under its weight is
hardly the third of the monument he wishes to raise."
[*] One of the characters in Rabelais.
The original of this portrait was sent to Madame Hanska at
Wierzchownia; but a sketch of it belongs to M. Alexandre Dumas the
younger, and has often been engraved. From this, it seems as though
Theophile Gautier must have read his knowledge of Balzac's character
as a whole into his interpretation of the picture. To the ordinary
observer, Boulanger's portrait represents Balzac as the thinker,
worker, and fighter, stern and strenuous; not the delightful comrade
who inspired joy and merriment, and the recollection of whom made
Heine smile on his death-bed. The wonderful eyes which had not their
equal, and which asked questions like a doctor or a priest, are
brilliantly portrayed. Balzac himself allows this, though he complains
to Madame Hanska that they have more of the psychological expression
of the worker than of the loving soul of the individual--a fact for
which we may be grateful to Boulanger. Balzac is much delighted,
however, with Boulanger's portrayal of the insistence and intrepid
faith in the future, a la Coligny or a la Peter the Great, which are
at the base of his character; and he goes on to give an attractive,
though rather picturesque account of his career and past misfortunes,
which is evidently intended to counteract any misgivings Madame Hanska
may feel at his sternness as depicted in the portrait.
"Boulanger has seen the writer only,[*] not the tenderness of the
idiot who will always be deceived, not the softness towards other
people's troubles which cause all my misfortunes to come from my
holding out my hand to weak people who are falling into disaster. In
1827 I help a working printer, and therefore in 1829 find myself
crushed by fifty thousand francs of debt, and thrown without bread
into a gutter. In 1833, when my pen appears to be likely to bring in
enough to pay off my obligations, I attach myself to Werdet. I wish to
make him my only publisher, and in my desire to bring him prosperity,
I sign engagements, and in 1837 find myself owing a hundred and fifty
thousand francs, and liable on this account to be put under arrest, so
that I am obliged to hide. During this time I make myself the Don
Quixote of the poor. I hope to give courage to Sandeau, and I lose
through him four to five thousand francs, which would have saved other
people." It would be interesting to hear what Barbier and Werdet would
have said, if they had been allowed to read this letter; but on
Browning's principle, that a man should show one side to the world,
and the other to the woman he loves, no doubt Balzac's account of past
events was quite justifiable.
[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."
Boulanger's picture gave Balzac a great deal of trouble, as well as
delighted yet anxious speculation about Madame Hanska's opinion of it,
when it arrived in Wierzchownia. This was naturally an important
matter, his meetings with her being so rare that, except his letters,
the picture would generally be her only reminder of him; and for this
reason it was most necessary that it should show him at his best. It
was therefore very trying that Boulanger should have exaggerated the
character of his quiet strength, and made him look like a bully and a
soldier; and we can enter thoroughly into his feelings, and sympathise
heartily with his uneasiness, because Boulanger has not quite caught
the fineness of contour under the fatness of the face. Undoubtedly,
the picture does not give the idea of a person of extreme refinement,
or distinction of appearance. Nevertheless, judging from stories told
by his contemporaries, and also from some of the books written by the
great novelist, it seems likely that Boulanger's powerful and strongly
coloured portrait, though only redeemed from coarseness by the intense
concentration of expression and the intellectual light in the
wonderful eyes, was strikingly true to nature, and caught one very
real aspect of the man. Perhaps, however, it was not the one
calculated to work most strongly on the feelings of his absent
lady-love; who, no doubt, poor Balzac hoped, would often make her way
to the spot in the picture gallery where his picture hung in its quaint
frame of black velvet, and would refresh herself with the sight of her
absent friend. When her miniature by Daffinger was sent him, he was
stupefied all day with joy; and he always carried it about with him,
considering it an amulet which brought him good fortune.
He believed in talismans, and had pretty fanciful ideas about being
present to his friends in the sudden flicker of the fire, or the
brightening of a candle-flame. Balzac, the Seer, the believer in
animal magnetism, in somnambulism, in telepathy, the weaver of strange
fancies and impossible daydreams--Balzac with philosophical theories
on the function of thought, and faith in the mystical creed of
Swedenborg--in short, the Balzac of "Louis Lambert" and "Seraphita,"
is not, however, depicted by Boulanger: _he_ can only be found in M.
Rodin's wonderful statue. There the great _voyant_, who, in the
beautiful vision entitled "L'Assomption," saw man and woman perfected
and brought to their highest development, stands in rapt contemplation
and concentration, his head slightly raised, as if listening for the
voice of inspiration, or hearing murmurs of mysteries still
unfathomed.
Somnambulism, in particular, occupied much of Balzac's attention. He
wrote in 1832 to a doctor, M. Chapelain, who evidently shared his
interest in the subject, to ask why medical men had not made use of it
to discover the cause of cholera[*]; and on another occasion, after an
accident to his leg, he sent M. Chapelain, from Aix, two pieces of
flannel which he had worn, and wanted to know from them what caused
the mischief, and why the doctors at their last consultation advised a
blister. Unluckily, we hear no more of this matter, and never have the
satisfaction of learning how much the learned doctor deduced from the
fragments submitted to his inspection. Time after time Balzac mentions
in his correspondence that he has consulted somnambulists when he has
been anxious about the health of the Hanski family; and it is curious
that a few months before he received the letter from Madame Hanska,
telling of her husband's death, he had visited a sorcerer, who by
means of cards, told him many extraordinary things about his past
career, and said that in six weeks he would receive news which would
change his whole life.
[*] "Correspondance," vol. i. p. 147.
The portrait was still destined to cause Balzac much anxiety. After
the close of the Salon, the painter had promised to take a copy of it
for Madame de Balzac, who, "between ourselves," Balzac remarked to
Madame Hanska, would not care much about it, and certainly would not
know the difference between the replica and the original, in which the
soul of the model was searched for, examined and depicted,[*] and
which was, of course, to belong to the beloved friend.
[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."
However, there were still many delays. Boulanger showed "horrible
ingratitude," and did not appreciate sufficiently the honour done him
by his illustrious sitter in allowing his portrait to be taken. He
refused at first to begin the copy; but this difficulty was at last
arranged, and the original was carefully packed in a wooden crate,
instead of going in a roll as Balzac had at first intended. Still
there were innumerable stoppages, and doubt where the precious canvas
was located; till the impatient Balzac was only deterred from his
intention of starting a lawsuit against the authorities, by a fear of
bringing the noble name of Hanski into notoriety. It is sad that the
last time we hear of this precious picture in Balzac's lifetime was
when he went to Wierzchownia, in 1849; and then it had been relegated
to a library which few people visited, and he describes it with his
usual energy, as the most hideous daub it is possible to see--quite
black, from the faulty mixing of the colours; a canvas of which, for
the sake of France, he is thoroughly ashamed.
The sketch of the portrait is not disfigured; and the engravings of it
give an interesting view of Balzac's personality. With due deference
to the great psychologist, we cannot think the painter was wrong in
imparting a slightly truculent expression to the face. Balzac was
essentially a fighter: he started life with a struggle against his
family, against the opinion of his friends, and, harder than all,
against his own impotence to give expression to his genius; and, in
the course of his career he made countless enemies, and finished by
enrolling among their ranks most of the literary men of the day. This
alienation was to a great extent caused by his inveterate habit of
boasting, of applying the adjectives "sublime" and "magnificent" to
his own works: an idiosyncracy which was naturally annoying to his
brother authors. It was deprecated even by his devoted and admiring
friends; though they knew that, as George Sand says, it was only
caused by the _naivete_ of an artist, to whom his work was
all-important.
His personal charm was so great, that Werdet, his enemy, says that in
his presence those who loved him, forgot any real or fancied complaint
against him, and only remembered the affection they felt for him.
Nevertheless, in the course of his life of fighting, his ever-pressing
anxieties and the strain of his work, coupled with his belief in the
importance and sacredness of his destiny, made him something of an
egotist. Therefore, in spite of his real goodness of heart, he would
sometimes shoulder his way through the world, oblivious of the
unfortunate people who had come to grief owing to their connection
with him, and careless of the lesser, though very real troubles of
harassed and exasperated editors, when his promised copy was not
forthcoming.
Like Napoleon, to whom, amidst the gibes of his contemporaries, he
likened himself, he wanted everything; and those with this aspiration
must necessarily be heedless of their neighbours' smaller ambitions.
"Without genius, I am undone!" he cried in despair; but when it was
proved beyond dispute that this gift of debatable beneficence was his,
he was still unsatisfied.
What, after all, was the use of genius except as a stepping-stone to
the solid good things of the earth? Where lay the advantage of
superiority to ordinary men, if it could not be employed as a lever
with which to raise oneself? Reasoning thus, his extraordinary
versatility, his power of assimilation, and his varied interests, made
his ambitions many and diverse. The man who could enter with the
masterly familiarity of an expert into affairs of Church, State,
Society, and Finance, who would talk of medicine like a doctor, or of
science like a savant, naturally aspired to excellence in many
directions.
At times, as we have already seen, strange fancies filled his brain:
dreams, for instance, of occupying the highest posts in the land, or
of gaining fabulous sums of money by some wildly impossible scheme,
such as visiting the Great Mogul with a magical ring, or obtaining
rubies and emeralds from a rich Dutchman. The two apparently
incompatible sides to Balzac's character are difficult to reconcile.
On some occasions he appears as the keen business man, who studies
facts in their logical sequence, and has the power of drawing up legal
documents with no necessary point omitted. The masterly Code which he
composed for the use of the "Societe des Gens-de-Lettres" is an
example of this faculty. At other times we are astonished to find that
the great writer is a credulous believer in impossibilities, and a
follower of strange superstitions. A similar paradox may be found in
his books, where, side by side with a truth and occasional brutality
which makes him in some respects the forerunner of the realists, we
find a wealth of imagination and insistence on the power of the higher
emotions, which are completely alien to the school of Flaubert and
Zola.
Perhaps in his own dictum, that genius is never quite sane, gives a
partial explanation of many of his fantastic schemes. The question of
money was his great preoccupation and anxiety, and possibly his
pecuniary difficulties, and the strain of the heavy chain of debt he
dragged after him, constantly adding to its weight by some fresh
extravagance, had affected his mind on this one point. Marriage with
poverty he could not conceive; and, as he was intensely affectionate,
he longed for a home and womanly companionship. "Is there no woman in
the world for me?" he cried despairingly; but in this, as in
everything else, he required so much, that it was difficult to find
any one who would, in his eyes, be worthy to become Madame Honore de
Balzac. His wife must be no ordinary woman; in addition to birth and
wealth, she must possess youth, beauty, and high intellectual gifts;
and one great difficulty was, that the lady endowed with this
combination of excellencies would naturally require some winning, and
Balzac had no time to woo. However, it was absolutely necessary that
his married life should be one of luxury and magnificence, beautiful
surroundings being indispensable to his scheme of existence, "Il
faut," he said, "que l'artiste mene une vie splendide." Therefore,
till the right lady was found, Balzac toiled unceasingly; and when in
Madame Hanska the personification of his ideal at last appeared, he
redoubled his efforts, till overwork, and his longing for her, caused
the decay of his physical powers, and his strength for labour
diminished.
Literature, a rich marriage, a successful play, or a political career,
were all incidentally to make his fortune; though it must be said, in
justice, that this motive, though it entwines itself with everything
in Balzac's life, was not his only, or even his principal incentive to
action.
In his desire to become a deputy, for instance, the longing to serve
his country and to have a voice in her Councils, which he would use
boldly, conscientiously, without fear or favour, to further her true
interests, was ever present with him. As early as 1819, he had begun
to take the keenest interest in the elections, telling M. Dablin, from
whom he wanted a visit, that he dreamed of nothing but him and the
deputies, and begging him for a complete list of those chosen in each
department, with a short notice of his opinion on each.
By the law of election of 1830, any Frenchman who was thirty years of
age, and contributed 500 francs a year directly, in taxes, was
eligible as a deputy. When the law was made Balzac was thirty-one, and
paid the requisite amount; he therefore determined, in spite of his
enormous output of literary work at this time, to add the career of a
deputy to his labours; and in April, 1831, he wrote to ask for the
assistance of the General Baron de Pommereul, with whom he had been
staying at Fougeres, collecting material for "Les Chouans," while at
the same time he worked up the country politically. His manifesto, at
this period, is found in the "Enquete sur la Politique des Deux
Ministeres,"[*] in which he calls the Government a "monarchie tempere
par les emeutes," objects to the "juste milieu" observed by the
Ministers; and while bringing forward, with apparent impartiality, the
advantages of the two courses of peace and war, very evidently longs
for France to take the battlefield again, to obtain what he considers
her natural frontier, that of the Rhine. He also enters _con amore_
into the details of raising a Napoleonic army, and of establishing the
system of the Landwehr in France. A very remarkable passage in this
manifesto is that on the Press; by which, he says, the Government is
terrorised. With extraordinary penetration, he advises that the
strength of journalism shall be broken by the sacrifice of the three
or four millions gained by the "timbre," and the liberation of the
newspapers, which are stronger than the seven ministers--for they
upset the Government, and cannot be themselves suppressed--there will
be a hundred, and the number will neutralise their power, so that they
will become of no account politically.
[*] Another political pamphlet, entitled "Du Gouvernement Moderne,"
written by Balzac at Aix in 1832, has lately been published in the
_North American Review_. The original is in the collection of the
Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul.
Balzac had no chance at Fougeres, where a rich proprietor of the
neighbourhood was chosen as deputy, and no doubt M. de Pommereul
advised him not to proceed further in the matter. However, with his
usual tenacity, he wrote in September to M. Henri Berthoud, manager of
the _Gazette de Cambrai_, who wanted to collaborate with the _Revue de
Paris_, promising to further his wishes by all the means in his power,
if M. Berthoud would, on his part, support his candidature at Cambrai.
At the same time, he determined to try Angouleme, where he sometimes
went to stay with a relation, M. Grand-Besancon, and had met a M.
Berges, chief of the Government preparatory school, who was much
struck by his talent, and promised to help him. In June, 1831, he
wrote to Madame Carraud,[*] who took much interest in his political
aspirations, and sent her three copies of the Manifesto for
distribution. He told her that he was working day and night to become
deputy, was going out into society for this purpose; and was so
overwhelmed with business, that he had not touched "La Peau de
Chagrin" since he was last at Saint-Cyr.
[*] "Correspondance," vol. i. p. 118.
He was evidently full of hope; but in spite of the powerful support of
the _Revue de Paris_, the _Temps_, the _Debats_, and the _Voleur_, the
steady-going electors had no mind to be represented by a penniless
young author, who was chiefly known to the general public as the
writer of the "Physiologie du Mariage," a book distinctly _not_
adapted for family reading. Therefore, in this, as in many other hopes
of his life, Balzac was doomed to disappointment; though the readers
of novels may be grateful to the unkind fate which caused him to turn
with renewed ardour to the neglected "Peau de Chagrin." He cherished a
slight resentment against Angouleme, as he showed in "Illusions
Perdues," where the aristocracy of that town are rather unkindly
treated; but he was not discouraged in his political ambitions, and in
1832 he joined with M. Laurentie, the Duc de Noailles, the Duc de
Fitz-James (nephew to the Princesse de Chimay, who acted as proxy for
Marie Antoinette at Madame de Berny's christening) and others, to
found a Legitimist journal, the _Renovateur_. In this appeared an
article against the proposed destruction of the monument to the Duc de
Berry, in which Balzac indignantly asks: "Why do you not finish the
monument, and raise an altar where the priests may pray God to pardon
the assassin?"
Having thus shown his principles clearly, he turned his attention in
1832 to Chinon, which was close to Tours, where he and his family had
lived for so long, and to Sache, where he was a constant visitor.
There, if anywhere, he seemed likely to succeed; and the
_Quotidienne_, the paper which afterwards supported him during his
lawsuit against the _Revue de Paris_, had promised its voice in his
favour. Again cruel Fate dogged his footsteps, as in May he tumbled
out of his tilbury, and his head came violently into contact with what
he calls the "heroic pavements of July"; the accident being a sad
result of his childish delight in driving at a tremendous pace in the
Bois, which is rebuked by his sage adviser, Madame Carraud. Certainly
carriages, horses, and a stable, seemed hardly prudent acquisitions
for a man in debt; but Balzac always defended his pet extravagances
with the specious reasoning that nothing succeeds like success; and
that most of his literary friends did not become rich because they
lived in garrets, and were on that account trampled on by haughty
publishers and editors. He writes to Madame de Girardin on this
occasion: "Only think, that I who am so handsome have been cruelly
disfigured for several days, and it has seemed curious to be uglier
than I really am."[*] As a further and more serious result, he was
laid up in bed, and had to undergo a severe regimen of bleeding,
during the time that he should have been at Sache, working hard about
his election; and when he did arrive there, in June, he recognised
that he was too late for success. However, another dissolution, which
after all did not take place, was expected in September, and Balzac
looked forward to making a determined attempt then. This hope being
frustrated, it was not till 1834 that he again came forward as a
candidate: this time for Villefranche, where, curiously enough,
another M. de Balzac was nominated, and when M. de Hanski wrote to
congratulate Balzac, the latter was obliged to explain the mistake. On
this occasion he had purposed to present himself as champion of the
Bourbon Royal Family, especially of the Duchesse de Berry, for whom he
had an immense admiration, while she read his books with much delight
during her captivity in the Castle of Blaye. He wrote to M. de Hanski
that he considered the exile of Madame and the Comte de Chambord the
great blot on France in the nineteenth century, as the French
Revolution had been her shame in the eighteenth.
[*] "Correspondance," vol. i. p. 147.
This was Balzac's last serious attempt to stand for Parliament during
the Monarchy of July, though he often talked in his letters to Madame
Hanska of his political aspirations, looked forward to becoming a
deputy in 1839, and hoped till then to dominate European opinion
--rather a large ambition--by a political publication. In his letters
he is continually on the point of beginning his career as a statesman;
and in 1835 his views are even more inflated than usual. He will
absorb the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ and the _Revue de Paris_, is in
treaty to obtain one newspaper, and will start two others himself, so
that his power will be irresistible. "Le temps presse, les evenements
se compliquent,"[*] he cries impatiently. He is still strangled by
want of money--a hundred thousand francs is the modest sum he
requires; but he will write a play in the name of his secretary, and
the spectre of debt will be laid for ever.
[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."
However, in the stress of work, which made his own life like the
crowded canvas of one of his own novels, these brilliant schemes came
to nothing, and Balzac was never in the proud position of a deputy. He
gives his views clearly in a letter to Madame Carraud in 1830.[*]
"France ought to be a constitutional monarchy, to have a hereditary
royal family, a house of peers of extraordinary strength, which will
represent property, etc., with all possible guarantees for heredity,
and privileges of which the nature must be discussed; then a second
assembly, elective, representing all the interests of the intermediary
mass, which separates those of high social position from the classes
who are generally termed the people."
[*] "Correspondance," vol. i. p. 108.
"The purport of the laws, and their spirit, should be designed to
enlighten the masses as much as possible--those who have nothing, the
workmen, the common people, etc., in order that as many as possible
should arrive at the intermediary state; but the people should, at the
same time, be kept under a most powerful yoke, so that its individuals
may find light, help, and protection, and that no idea, no statute, no
transaction, may make them turbulent.
"The greatest possible liberty should be allowed to the leisured
classes, for they possess something to keep, they have everything to
lose, they can never be dissolute.
"As much power as possible should be granted to the Government. Thus
the Government, the rich people, and the bourgeoisie have interest in
keeping the lowest class happy, and in increasing the number of the
middle class, which is the true strength of the state.
"If rich people, the hereditary possessors of fortune in the highest
Chamber, are corrupt in their manners, and start abuses, these are
inseparable from the existence of all society; they must be accepted,
to balance the advantages given."
This extract is taken from a letter which is, Balzac tells his
correspondent, strictly private; but, with his usual independence and
fearlessness, he did not hesitate to enunciate his opinions in public,
and invariably refused to stoop to compromise or to disguise.
Consequently, we cannot wonder that he never attained his ambition;
particularly as he lacked the aid of money, and had no support, except
the politically doubtful one of a literary reputation. His penetration
and power of prescience were remarkable, and it is startling to find
that he foretells the fall of the Monarchy of July, and the Revolution
of 1848.[*] "I do not think," he says, "that in ten years from now the
actual form of government will subsist--August, 1830, has forgotten
the part played by youth and intelligence. Youth compressed will burst
like the boiler of a steam engine." In "Les Paysans," one of his most
wonderful novels, he gives a vivid picture of the constant struggle
going on under the surface between the peasants and the bourgeoisie,
and shows that the triumph of the former class must be the inevitable
result.
[*] "Revue Parisienne," p. 26
His was essentially a loyal, reverential nature, with the soldierly
respect for constituted authority which is often the characteristic of
strong natures; and he was absolutely unswerving in his principles
--the courage and tenacity which distinguished him through life, never
deserting him in political emergencies. He was patriotic and
high-minded; absolutely immovable in all that concerned his duty. On
one occasion, when it was proposed at a public meeting that the
Legitimists should follow the example of their political opponents and
should stoop to evil doings, he refused decidedly, saying: "The cause
of the life of man is superhuman. It is God who judges; His judgment
does not hinge on our passions."[*] In his eyes, Religion and the
Monarchy were twin sisters, and he speaks sadly in "Le Medecin de
Campagne" of the downfall of both these powers. "With the monarchy we
have lost honour, with our unfruitful attempts at government,
patriotism; and with our fathers' religion, Christian virtue. These
principles now only exist partially, instead of inspiring the masses,
for these ideas never perish altogether. At present, to support
society we have nothing but selfishness."[+] Elsewhere, he laments the
atheistic government, and the increase of incredulity; and longs for
Christian institutions, and a strong hierarchy, united to a religious
society.
[*] "Balzac et ses Oeuvres," by Lamartine de Prat.
[+] "Le Medecin de Campagne."
Balzac was not orthodox. There is no doubt, from a letter to Madame
Hanska, that the Swedenborgian creed he enunciates in "Seraphita" is
to a great extent his own; but he believed in God, in the immortality
of the soul, and considered natural religion, of which, in his eyes,
the Bourbons were the depositors, absolutely essential to the
well-being of a State. He had a great respect for the priesthood, and
has left many a charming and sympathetic picture of the parish _cure_,
such as l'Abbe Janvier in "Le Medecin de Campagne," who acts hand in
hand with the good doctor Benassis, as an enlightened benefactor to
the poor; or l'Abbe Bonnet, the hero of "Le Cure du Village," whose
face had "the impress of faith, an impress giving the stamp of the
human greatness which approaches most nearly to divine greatness, and
of which the undefinable expression beautifies the most ordinary
features." In "Les Paysans" we have another fine portrait, L'Abbe
Brossette, who is doing his work nobly among debased and cunning
peasants. "To serve was his motto, to serve the Church and the
Monarchy at the most menaced points; to serve in the last rank, like a
soldier who feels destined sooner or later to rise to generalship, by
his desire to do well, and by his courage."
There is a beautiful touch in that terrible book "La Cousine Bette,"
where the infamous Madame Marneffe is dying of a loathsome and
infectious disease, so that even Bette, who feels for her the
"strongest sentiment known, the affection of a woman for a woman, had
not the heroic constancy of the Church," and could not enter the room.
Religion alone, in the guise of a Sister of Mercy, watched over her.