1846 - 1848
Balzac buys a house in the Rue Fortunee--Madame Hanska's visit to
Paris--Balzac burns her letters--Final breach with Emile de
Girardin--Balzac's projects for writing for the theatre--He goes
to Wierzchownia--Plan for transporting oaks from Russia to France
--Balzac returns to Paris at the eve of the Revolution of 1848
--Views on politics--Stands for last time as deputy.
Much of Balzac's time, whenever he was in Paris in 1845 and 1846, was
taken up with house-hunting; and some of his still unpublished letters
to Madame Hanska contain long accounts of the advantages of the
different abodes he had visited. He was now most anxious to be
permanently settled, as there was no room for his art treasures in the
Rue Basse; but as Madame Hanska's tastes had to be consulted as well
as his own, it was necessary to be very careful in his choice.
However, in October, 1846, he at last found something which he thought
would be suitable. This was the villa which had formerly belonged to
the financier Beaujon, in the Rue Fortunee, now the Rue Balzac. The
house was not large, it was what might now be described as a "bijou
residence," but though out of repair, it had been decorated with the
utmost magnificence by Beaujon, and Balzac's discriminating eye
quickly discerned its aesthetic possibilities.
In front of the house was a long narrow courtyard, the pavement of
which was interrupted here and there by flower-beds. This courtyard
was bordered by a wall, and above the wall nothing could be seen from
the road but a cupola, which formed the domed ceiling of the
financier's boudoir. Some of the inside adornments possessed a
delightful fitness for the uses to which they were destined. For
instance, what could have been a more graceful compliment to the
Mniszechs than to lodge them during their visits to Paris, which would
of course be frequent, in a set of rooms painted with brilliant exotic
butterflies, poised lightly on lovely flowers? Apparently foreseeing,
as Balzac remarks, that a "Lepidopterian Georges" would at some time
inhabit the mansion, Beaujon had actually provided a beautiful bedroom
and a little drawing-room decorated in this way.[*] It seemed quite
providential!
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 289.
Balzac was very happy superintending the building operations, deciding
exactly where his different treasures would look best in his new
abode, and hunting for fresh acquisitions to make every detail
perfect. Later on, his letters from Russia to his mother when she was
taking charge of the house--then furnished and decorated--show how
dearly he loved all his household goods, and how well he was
acquainted with their peculiarities; how he realised the danger,
unless it were held by the lower part,[*] of moving the greenish-grey
china vase with cracked glaze, which was to stand on one of the
consoles in black wood and Buhl marqueterie; and how he thought
anxiously about the candle ornaments of gilt crystal, which were only
to be arranged _after_ the candelabra had been put up in the white
drawing-room. In 1846 and 1847, his letters are instinct with the
passion of the confirmed collector, who has no thought beyond his
bric-a-brac. His excitement is intense because Madame Hanska has
discovered that a tea service in his possession is real Watteau, and
because he has had the "incredible good fortune" to find a milk jug
and a sugar basin to match it exactly. When we remember that the man
who thus expresses his delight was in the act of writing "Les Parents
Pauvres," and of evoking scenes of touching pathos and gloomy horror,
we are once more amazed at the extraordinary versatility of Balzac's
mind and genius.
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 337.
The deep thinker, the pessimistic believer in the omnipotence of vice
and in the helpless suffering of virtue, who drags to light what is
horrible from among the dregs of the people, seems to have nothing in
common with the charming, playful figure of "le vieux Bilboquet," who
gave Madame Hanska's daughter and her son-in-law a big place in his
heart, and was never jealous when, avowedly for their sakes, his
wishes, feelings, and health were unconsidered; whose servants,
hard-worked though they were, adored him; and who never forgot his
friends, or failed to help them when adversity fell upon them.
At the beginning of 1847, peace for a time visited Balzac's restless
spirit. In February he went to Germany to fetch Madame Hanska, and
leaving the Mniszechs to go back alone to Wierzchownia, she travelled
with him to Paris, and remained there till April. It is significant,
as the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul remarks,[*] that during the
time of her stay in Paris, when Balzac's mind was no longer disturbed
by his constant longing to see her, he accomplished the last serious
bout of work in his life, beginning the "Depute D'Arcis" in _L'Union_,
"La Cousine Bette" in the _Constitutionnel_, and "La Derniere
Incarnation de Vautrin" in _La Presse_.
[*] "La Genese d'un Roman de Balzac," p. 194
He had other duties at the same time, being occupied with what _he_
calls the most beautiful work of his life, that of preventing "a
mother separated from so adorable a child as her Grace the Countess
Georges, from dying of grief." He writes to the Mniszechs on February
27th, 1847[*]: "Our dear adored Atala is in a charming and magnificent
apartment (and not too dear). She has a garden; she goes a great deal
to the convent" (to see Mlle. Henriette Borel). "I try to distract her
and to be as much as possible Anna to her; but the name of her dear
daughter is so daily and continually on her lips, that the day before
yesterday, when she was enjoying herself immensely at the Varietes--in
fits of laughter at the 'Filleul de Tout le Monde,' acted by Bouffe
and Hyacinthe--in the midst of her gaiety, she asked herself in a
heartbroken voice, which brought tears to my eyes, how she could laugh
and amuse herself like this, without her 'dear little one.' I allow,
dear Zephirine, that I took the liberty of telling her, that you were
amusing yourself enormously without her, with your lord and master,
His Majesty the King of the Coleoptera; that I was sure that you were
at this time one of the happiest women in the world; and I hope that
Gringalet, on whom I drew this bill of exchange, will not contradict
me. I have four tolerably strong attractions to bring forward against
the thought of you: 1st, the Conservatoire; 2nd, the Opera; 3rd, the
Italian Opera; 4th, the Exhibition."
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 312.
Balzac's hands were certainly pleasantly full at this time. His power
of writing, which had temporarily deserted him, seemed now to have
returned in full vigour; and he had made forty or fifty thousand
francs in three months, so was hopeful of paying off his debts, a
point on which Madame Hanska wisely laid much stress. She still
refused to decide anything definitely about the date of their
marriage; but the house was to a great extent her property, and at
this time she identified herself completely with Balzac in all the
arrangements to do with it. Though he kept on his rooms in the Rue
Basse and left his effects there, he moved in April 1847 to the Rue
Fortunee, that he might be better able to superintend the building and
decorating, and might himself keep watch over his treasures, which
must gradually be unpacked and bestowed to the best advantage. About
the middle of April he conducted Madame Hanska to Forbach on her way
back to Wierzchownia, and himself returned to Paris to finish the
house, put his affairs in order, and then follow her to Wierzchownia.
There he hoped the wedding would quickly take place, and that Monsieur
and Madame Honore de Balzac would return to Paris, and would live to a
ripe old age in married happiness; he writing many masterpieces, she
helping with advice, and forming a salon where her social position,
cleverness, and charm would surround her with the highest in the land.
The prospect was intoxicating; surely no one was ever so near the
attainment of his most radiant visions!
On Balzac's return to Paris, however, he was confronted by realities
of the most terrible nature.
When he arrived at the Rue Basse, he found to his horror that the lock
of his precious casket had been forced, and some of Madame Hanska's
letters had been abstracted. It was a case of blackmail, as the thief
demanded 30,000 francs, in default of which the letters would at once
be handed over to the Czar. If this were to happen, Balzac's hopes of
happiness were annihilated, and the consequences to Madame Hanska
would be even more serious. Unless approached with the utmost caution,
the Czar would certainly refuse his consent to the marriage of a
Russian subject with a foreigner, and would be furious if he were to
discover a secret love affair between the French novelist and one of
his most important subjects. Yet how could Balzac find 30,000 francs?
Already in the grip of heart disease the agony he endured at this time
took him one stage further down the valley of death. In the end he
managed by frightening the thief, to effect the return of the letters
without any immediate payment; but the anguish he had passed through,
and the thought of the terrible consequences only just evaded, decided
him to burn all the letters he had received from Madame Hanska. It was
a terrible sacrifice. He describes in an unpublished letter to her his
feelings, as he sat by the fire, and watched each letter curl up,
blacken, and finally disappear. He had read and re-read them till they
had nearly dropped to pieces, had been cheered and comforted by the
sight of them when the world had gone badly, and had owned them so
long that they seemed part of himself. There was the first of all, the
herald of joy, the opening of a new life; and almost as precious at
this moment seemed the one which discovered to him the identity of his
correspondent, and held out hopes of a speedy meeting. One after
another he took them out of the box which had held some of them for
many years, and each seemed equally difficult to part with. However,
as he wrote to Madame Hanska, he knew that he was doing right in
destroying them, and that the painful sacrifice was absolutely
necessary.
Meanwhile, Emile de Girardin was naturally becoming impatient about
the continuation of "Les Paysans," which he had never received.[*] He
wrote to Balzac at the end of April, 1847, that the printer had been
ready for the finish of the book since the November before, and that
unless Balzac could produce it in June, the idea of its appearance in
_La Presse_ must be given up altogether; and in this case he must ask
the author to settle with M. Rouy about the advances of money already
made to him. He further remarked with scathing though excusable
distrust in Balzac's fulfilment of his business engagements, that he
refused to continue to bring out the work at all, unless he were
absolutely certain that it was completely written and that no further
interruption would ensue. Friendly social relations still subsisted,
however, between Balzac and the Girardins, as, about the same time
that Emile penned this uncompromising epistle, the following note
reached Balzac,[+] the last he ever received from the peace-making
Madame de Girardin:
"It is the evening of my last Wednesday. Come, cruel one. Mrs. Norton
will be here. Do you not wish me to have the glory of having presented
you to this English 'Corinne'? Emile tells me that 'La Derniere
Incarnation de Vautrin' is admirable. The compositors declare that it
is your _chef-d'oeuvre_.
"Only till this evening, I implore you.
"DELPHINE GAY DE GIRARDIN."
[*] "La Genese d'un Roman de Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de
Lovenjoul, from which the whole account of Balzac's rupture with
Girardin is taken.
[+] "La Genese d'un Roman de Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de
Lovenjoul, p. 262
Balzac on his side, was now most anxious to finish "Les Paysans,"
especially as his penniless state at this time would render it most
difficult for him to pay back the money advanced to him by _La
Presse_. He was in special difficulties, as he had lately borrowed ten
or fifteen thousand francs from the impecunious Viscontis, giving them
as guarantee some shares in the unfortunate Chemin de Fer du Nord, and
as the railway was a failure, and these shares were a burden instead
of a benefit, Balzac was bound in honour to relieve his friends of
their troublesome possession, and to pay back what he owed them. This
necessity was an additional incentive to action, and Balzac's letters
to Madame Hanska about this time, contain several indications of his
anxiety about "Les Paysans." On June 9th he speaks of his desire to
bring it to a close; and on the 15th he writes that he must certainly
finish it at once, to avoid the lawsuit with which he has been for so
long threatened by _La Presse_. However, he seems to have experienced
an unconquerable difficulty in its composition, as in that of
"Seraphita," the other book about which he had cherished a peculiarly
lofty ideal. Therefore in July the termination of "Les Paysans" had
not yet reached the office of _La Presse_, and on the 13th of the
month Balzac received the following letter:[*]
"PARIS, July 13th, 1847
"'Le Piccinino' will be finished this week. Only seven numbers of 'Les
Paysans' are completed in advance. We are therefore at the mercy of an
indisposition, of any chance incident, things of which it is necessary
for me to see the possibility, and to which I must not expose myself.
"Really you high dignitaries of the periodical are insupportable, and
you will manage so cleverly that the periodical will some day fail you
completely.
"For my part, my resolution on this matter is taken, and firmly taken,
and if I had not a remainder of the account to work out, I would
certainly not publish 'Les Paysans,' as I have not received the last
line.
"EMILE DE GIRARDIN."
[*] "La Genese d'un Roman de Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de
Lovenjoul, p. 268.
Balzac's answer to this missive is lost. It must have been despatched
at once, and was evidently not conciliatory, as it was answered on the
same day in the following terms:
"PARIS, July 13th, 1847.
"I only publish 'Les Paysans' because we have an account to settle.
Otherwise I certainly should not publish it, and the success of 'La
Derniere Incarnation de Vautrin' would certainly not impel me to do
it.
"Therefore if you are able without inconvenience to pay back to the
_Presse_ what it advanced to you, I will willingly give up 'Les
Paysans.' Otherwise I will publish 'Les Paysans,' and will begin on
Monday next, the 19th. But I insist that there shall be no
interruption. I count on this.
"EMILE DE GIRARDIN."
Girardin's bitter resentment is excusable, when we remember that it
was in September, 1844, nearly three years before, that Balzac had
received 9,000 francs in advance for "Les Paysans." Since then only
one number of the promised work had been produced, and the great
writer's only explanation for his long delay in finishing the book was
the inadequate one, that Dujarier had interrupted "Les Paysans" after
the first chapters had been published, to be able to begin Alexandre
Dumas' novel "La Reine Margot," before the end of 1844.
In Balzac's reply, written next day, he definitely withdrew "Les
Paysans" from publication, and said that he would pay what he owed _La
Presse_ within the space of twenty days, and would not charge for what
had not yet been printed; though it had been written and composed
specially for _La Presse_, and at the request of the _Presse_. As to
Emile de Girardin's insinuations about the failure of "La Derniere
Incarnation de Vautrin," Balzac remarked that this had been written
for _L'Epoque_, not for _La Presse_, and that it had not been
necessary for Girardin to purchase it from the moribund journal,
unless he had approved of it. Girardin had hurt him on his tenderest
point when he branded his works as failures. With pride and bitterness
in his heart he went through the accounts with Mr. Rouy, and found
that out of the 9,000 francs received from _La Presse_, he still owed
5,221 francs 85 centimes. How he raised the money it is impossible to
guess, but on August 5th he paid 2,500 francs, and on September 1st
2,000 more, so that only 721 francs 85 centimes remained of his debt,
and he made his preparations to start for Wierzchownia with his mind
at rest.
He heard from Emile de Girardin again, as we shall see later on, but
he had seen Madame de Girardin for the last time. She did not forget
him, however, and the news of his death was so terrible a shock that
she fainted away. She died in 1855, and was deeply mourned by her
friends. Theophile Gautier, in his admiring account of her, says that
for some years before her death, she became a prey to depression and
discouragement at the conditions surrounding her. It may have been
that her brilliant, exciting life led naturally to a partly physical
reaction, and that she became too tired by the emotions she had gone
through, to adapt herself with buoyancy to the ever variable
conditions of existence. At all events she is a refreshing figure in
the midst of much that is unsatisfactory--a woman witty, highly
gifted, a queen of society, who was yet kindly, generous, and
absolutely free from literary jealousy.
Before the middle of September when Balzac left for Wierzchownia, we
hear once of him again. He was still dreaming of the theatre as a
means of relief from all his embarrassments,[*] and on a hot day in
August, 1847, he went to Bougival, to pay a visit to M. Hostein, the
director of the Theatre Historique, a new theatre which had not yet
been opened six months. There, sitting in the shade on the towing path
by the river, he unfolded to the manager his design of writing a grand
historical drama on Peter I. and Catherine of Russia, to be entitled
"Pierre et Catherine." Nothing was written, it was all still in his
head; but he at once sketched the first scene to the manager, and
talked with enthusiasm of the enormous success which would be caused
by the novelty of introducing the Russian peasant on the stage. The
play could be written very quickly; and M. Hostein,[+] carried away by
Balzac's extraordinarily persuasive eloquence, already began to
reflect about suitable scenery, dresses, and decorations, for the
framing of his masterpiece. However, to his disappointment Balzac
returned in a few days, to announce that there would be some delay in
the production of his play, as he wished to study local colouring on
the spot, and was on the point of starting for Russia. He said that
when he returned to Paris in the spring, he would bring M. Hostein a
completed play, and with this promise the manager was obliged to be
satisfied.
[*] "Honore de Balzac," by Edmond Bire.
[+] "Historiettes et Souvenirs d'un Homme de Theatre," by M. Hostein.
Balzac was in an enormous hurry to reach Wierzchownia, and set himself
with much energy to the task of finishing the house in the Rue
Fortunee. His efforts in this direction were doubtless the reason that
the writing of "Pierre et Catherine" was postponed till the _moujik_
could be studied in his native land. At last, however, the work of
decoration was complete, and his mother left in charge, with minute
directions about the care of his treasures. He had toiled with
breathless haste, and managed after all to start earlier than he had
expected. Once on the journey his northern magnet drew him with
ever-increasing strength, and regardless of fatigue, he travelled for
eight days in succession without stoppage or rest, and arrived ten days
before his letter announcing his departure from Paris. The inhabitants
of the chateau were naturally much surprised at his sudden appearance,
and Balzac considers that they were touched, or rather--though he does
not say this--that _She_ was touched by his _empressement_.
He was much delighted with his surroundings. Wierzchownia was a
palace, and he was interested and amused with the novelty of all he
saw. He writes: "We have no idea at home of an existence like this. At
Wierzchownia it is necessary to have all the industries in the house:
there is a confectioner, a tailor, and a shoemaker."[*] He was
established in a delicious suite of rooms, consisting of a
drawing-room, a study, and a bedroom. The study was in pink stucco,
with a fireplace in which straw was apparently burnt, magnificent
hangings, large windows, and convenient furniture. In this Louvre of a
Wierzchownia there were, as Balzac remarks with pleasure, five or six
similar suites for guests. Everything was patriarchal. Nobody was
bored in this wonderful new life. It was fairy-like, the fulfilment of
Balzac's dreams of splendour, an approach of reality to the grandiose
blurred visions of his hours of creation. He who rejoiced in what was
huge, delighted in the fact that the Count Georges Mniszech had gone
to inspect an estate as big as the department of Seine-et-Marne, with
the object of dismissing a prevaricating bailiff. It gave him intense
satisfaction to record the wonders of this strange new life: to tell
those at home of the biting cold, which rendered his pelisse of
Siberian fox of no more protection than a sheet of blotting-paper; or
to mention casually that all the letters were carried by a Cossack
across sixty "verstes" of steppes.
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 324.
The Russians were eager to show their admiration of the celebrated
French novelist, and Balzac experienced the truth of the adage, that a
prophet is not without honour save in his own country. On the journey
out the officials were charmingly polite to him, and when he went to
Kiev to pay his respects to the Governor-General, and to obtain
permission for a lengthy sojourn in Russia, he was overwhelmed with
attentions. A rich moujik had read all his books, burnt a candle for
him every week to St. Nicholas, and had promised a sum of money to the
servants of Madame Hanska's sister, if they could manage that he might
see the great man. This atmosphere of adoration was very pleasant to
one whose reward in France for the production of masterpieces, seemed
sometimes to consist solely in condemnation and obloquy. Balzac
enjoyed himself for the time, and rested from his literary labours,
except for working at the second part of "L'Envers de l'Histoire
Contemporaine," which is called "L'Initie," and writing the play which
he had promised Hostein as a substitute for "Pierre et Catherine."
His ever-active brain had now evolved a plan for transporting sixty
thousand oaks to France, from a territory on the Russian frontier
belonging to Count Georges Mniszech and his father. He was anxious
that M. Surville should undertake the matter, as, after abstruse and
careful calculations--which have the puzzling veneer of practicality
always observable in Balzac's mad schemes--he considered that
1,200,000 francs might be made out of the affair, and that of course
the engineer who arranged the transport would reap some of the
benefit. The blocks of wood would be fifteen inches in diameter at the
base, and ten at the top. They would first be conveyed to Brody, from
there by high road to Cracow, and thence they would travel to France
by the railway, which would be finished in a few days. Unfortunately,
there were no bridges at Cologne over the Rhine, or at Magdeburg over
the Elbe; but Balzac was not discouraged by the question of the
transshipment of sixty thousand oaks, any more than in his old days in
the Rue Lesdiguieres, he had been deterred from the idea of having a
piano, by the attic being too small for it. M. Surville was to answer
categorically, giving a detailed schedule of the costs of carriage and
of duty from Cracow to France; and to this, Balzac would add the price
of transport from Brody to Cracow. He discounted any natural
astonishment his correspondent would feel, at the neglect hitherto of
this certain plan for making a fortune, by remarking that the
proprietors were Creoles, who worked their settlements by means of
moujiks, so that the spirit of enterprise was entirely absent.[*] M.
Surville, however, received this brilliant proposition without
enthusiasm, and did not even trouble to write himself about the
matter, but sent back an answer by his wife, that the price of
transporting the freight from one railway to another at Breslau,
Berlin, Magdeburg, and Cologne, would render the scheme impossible.
Balzac showed unusual docility at this juncture; he was evidently
already half-hearted about the enterprise, and remarked that since his
first letter he had himself thought of the objections pointed out by
M. Surville, and had remembered hearing that a forest purchased in
Auvergne, had ruined the buyer, owing to the difficulty of transport.
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 321.
Balzac was very happy at Wierzchownia, though the fulfilment of the
great desire of his life seemed still distant. Madame Hanska's
hesitation continued: she considered herself indispensable to her
children; besides, owing to the unfortunate state of the Chemin de Fer
du Nord, Balzac's pecuniary affairs would certainly be in an
embarrassed condition for the next two years. Living in the same house
with her, seeing her every day, and feeling sure of her affection, and
of a certain happy consummation to his long probation, would not after
all have been very painful, except for one great drawback, which
increased continually as time went on; and that was the terrible
effect of the inclement climate on Balzac's health. He had suffered
from heart disease for some years, and in a letter to his sister, he
traces its origin to the cruelty of the lady about whom she knows
--possibly Madame de Castries. His abuse of coffee, however, and the
unnatural life which he had led with the object of straining the
tension of every power to its uttermost, and thus of forcing the
greatest possible quantity and quality of literary work out of
himself, had done much to ruin his robust constitution. Nevertheless,
if he had been able to take up his abode with his wife in the Rue
Fortunee, and to enjoy the freedom from anxiety which her fortune
would have assured to him; if he had been happy with her, and
surrounded by his beautiful things, had at last lived the life for
which he had so long yearned, it seems as though several years at
least might have remained to him. The enormous labours of his earlier
years would indeed have been impossible,[*] but "Les Parents Pauvres"
had shown that his intellect was now at its best, and material for
many masterpieces was still to be found in that capacious brain and
fertile imagination. However, the rigours of the Russian climate,
aided no doubt by the privations and anxieties Balzac suffered in
Paris after the Revolution of 1848, and by the barbarous treatment
which he underwent at the hands of the doctor at Wierzchownia,
rendered his case hopeless; and at this time only one more stone was
destined to be laid on the unfinished edifice of the "Comedie
Humaine."
[*] "Balzac, sa Vie, son Oeuvre," by Julien Lemer.
In February, 1848, it was absolutely necessary that Balzac should go
to Paris, as money must at once be found, to meet the calls which the
ill-fated Chemin de Fer du Nord was making on its shareholders. Balzac
suffered terribly from cold on the journey, and arrived at the Rue
Fortunee at a most unfortunate time, just before the Revolution of
February, 1848.
In consequence of the disturbed state of the political atmosphere, the
outlook for literature was tragic; and Balzac, who was in immediate
want of money, found himself in terrible straits. Living with two
servants in his luxurious little house, surrounded by works of art
which had cost thousands of francs, he was almost dying of hunger. His
food consisted of boiled beef, which was cooked and eaten hot once a
week, and the remaining six days he subsisted on the cold remains. It
seemed impossible to raise money for his present pressing necessities.
He managed to sell "L'Initie,"[*] at a ridiculously small price, to an
ephemeral journal called _Le Spectateur Republicain_, but only
received in return bills at a long date, and it was doubtful whether
he was ever paid the money due to him.
[*] "La Genese d'un Roman de Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de
Lovenjoul.
Nevertheless, whatever effects his privations may have had on his
health, they did not subdue his spirits, as both Lemer and
Champfleury,[*] who each spent several hours with him in the Rue
Fortunee, talk of his undiminished vivacity, his hearty fits of
laughter, and his confident plans for the future. Lemer, who had known
him before, does indeed remark that he seemed much aged; but
Champfleury, who saw him for the first time, is only struck with his
strength, animal spirits, and keen intelligence. In the midst of the
despondent unhealthy tendencies of the literary talent of his day, he
was still, with his _joie de vivre_, a man apart. _Naif_, full of a
charming pride, he loved literature "as the Arab loves the wild horse
he has found a difficulty in subduing." Nevertheless, material
prosperity, as ever, occupied an important place in the foreground of
his scheme of life, and his mind was still running on the theatre, as
the great means of gaining money. He warned Champfleury not to follow
his example, which led after the production of many books to an
existence of deplorable poverty, but to write only three novels a
year, so that ten months annually should be left for making a fortune
by working for the theatre, "car il faut que l'artiste mene une vie
splendide."[+]
[*] "Balzac, sa Vie, son Oeuvre," by Julien Lemer.
[+] "Grandes Figures d'Hier et d'Aujourd'hui," by Champfleury.
Schemes still coursed each other through his quick-moving brain. He
wished to create an association of all the great dramatists of the
day, who should enrich the French stage with plays composed in common.
He was rather despondent about this, however, as he said that most
writers were cowardly and idle, and he as afraid they would therefore
refuse to join his society. Scribe was the only one who would work;
"Mais quelle litterature que 'Les Memoires d'un Colonel de Hussards!'"
he exclaimed in horror.[*] Another plan for becoming colossally rich
of which he talked seriously, was to gain a monopoly of all the arts,
and to act as auctioneer to Europe: to buy the Apollo Belvedere, for
instance, let all the nations compete for it against each other, and
then to sell to the highest bidder.
[*] "Notes Historiques sur M. de Balzac," by Champfleury.
He took a gloomy view of the political situation, because, though he
had a great admiration for Lamartine, he feared that the poet would
not have sufficient strength of mind, to take advantage of the great
majority he would doubtless have in the next Assemblee Constituante,
and to make himself the chief of a strong government, when he might
justify his magnificent _role_, by presiding at the accomplishment of
the great social and administrative reforms, demanded by justice, and
material, moral, and intellectual progress. In one of his remarks was
a touch of sadness. He told Lemer that, at the present crisis, all
authors should sacrifice their writing for a time, and throw
themselves with energy into politics. "Et pour cela il faut etre
jeune," he added with a sigh; "et moi, je suis vieux!"
However, on March 18th, 1848, a letter written by him appeared in the
_Constitutionnel_, in which he stated that he would stand as deputy if
requested to do so.[*] In consequence, the "Club de la Fraternite
Universelle" wrote to inform him that his name had been put on the
list of candidates for election, and invited him to explain his
political views at a meeting of the Club. In the _Constitutionnel_ of
April 19th Balzac answered this request by refusing to go to the
meeting, and at the same time announced that he had no intention of
canvassing, and wished to owe his election solely to votes not asked
for, but given voluntarily. He further commented on the fact that from
1789 to 1848 France had changed its constitution every fifteen years,
and asked if it were not time, "for the honour of our country, to
find, to found, a form, an empire, a durable government; so that our
prosperity, our commerce, our arts, which are the life of our
commerce, the credit, the glory, in short, all the fortune of France,
shall not be periodically jeopardised?"
[*] "Honore de Balzac," by Edmond Bire.
Naturally, these uncompromising views did not meet with favour from
the "citoyens membres du Club de la Fraternite Universelle," and
Balzac was not elected a member of the Assemblee Nationale.