Chapter V: Sentimental Friendships (1)

MADAME DE BERNY

"I have to stand alone now amidst my troubles; formerly I had
beside me in my struggles the most courageous and the sweetest
person in the world, a woman whose memory is each day renewed in
my heart, and whose divine qualities make all other friendships
when compared with hers seem pale. I no longer have help in the
difficulties of life; when I am in doubt about any matter, I have
now no other guide than this final thought, 'If she were alive,
what would she say?' Intellects of this order are rare."

Balzac loved to seek the sympathy and confidence of people whose minds were at leisure, and who could interest themselves in his affairs. With his artistic temperament, he longed for the refinement, society and delicate attentions which he found in the friendships of various women. "The feeling of abandonment and of solitude in which I am stings me. There is nothing selfish in me; but I need to tell my thoughts, my efforts, my feelings to a being who is not myself; otherwise I have no strength. I should wish for no crown if there were no feet at which to lay that which men may put upon my head."

One of the first of these friendships was that formed with Madame de Berny, nee (Laure-Louise-Antoinette) Hinner. She was the daughter of a German musician, a harpist at the court of Louis XVI, and of Louise- Marguerite-Emelie Quelpec de Laborde, a lady in waiting at the court of Marie Antoinette. M. Hinner died in 1784, after which Madame Hinner was married to Francois-Augustin Reinier de Jarjayes, adjutant-general of the army. M. Jarjayes was one of the best known persons belonging to the Royalist party during the Revolution, a champion of the Queen, whom he made many attempts to save. He was one of her most faithful friends, was intrusted with family keepsakes, and was made lieutenant- general under Louis XVIII. Madame Jarjayes was much loved by the Queen; she was also implicated in the plots. Before dying, Marie Antoinette sent her a lock of her hair and a pair of earrings. Laure Hinner was married April 8, 1793, to M. Gabriel de Berny, almost nine years her senior, who was of the oldest nobility. Madame de Berny, her husband, her mother and her stepfather were imprisoned for nine months, and were not released until after the fall of Robespierre.

The married life of Madame de Berny was unhappy; she was intelligent and sentimental; he, capricious and morose. She seems to have realized the type of the /femme incomprise/; she too was an /etrangere/, and bore some traits of her German origin. Coming into Balzac's life at about the age of forty, this /femme de quarante ans/ became for him the /amie/ and the companion who was to teach him life. Still beautiful, having been reared in intimate court circles, having been the confidante of plotters and the guardian of secrets, possessed of rare trinkets and souvenirs--what an open book was this /memoire vivante/, and with what passion did the young interrogator absorb the pages! Here he found unknown anecdotes, ignored designs, and here the sources of his great plots, /Les Chouans/, /Madame de la Chanterie/, and /Un Episode sous la Terreur/.

All this is what she could teach him, aided perhaps by his mother, who lived until 1837. Here is the secret of Balzac's royalism; here is where he first learned of the great ladies that appear in his work, largely portrayed to him by the /amie/ who watched over his youth and guided his maturity.

Having consulted the /Almanach des 25,000 adresses/, Madame Ruxton thinks that Balzac met Madame de Berny when the two families lived near each other in Paris; M. de Berny and family spent the summers in Villeparisis, and resided during the winters at 3, rue Portefoin, Paris. It is possible that he met her at the soirees, which he frequented with his sisters, and where his awkwardness provoked smiles from the ladies. While it is generally supposed that they met at Villeparisis, MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire also believed that they must have known each other before this, if Balzac is referring to his own life in /Oeuvres diverses: Une Passion au College/.

Madame de Berny is first mentioned in Balzac's correspondence in 1822 when, in writing his sister Laure the general news, he informs her that Madame de Berny has become a grandmother, and that after forty years of reflection, realizing that money is everything, she had invested in grain. But he must have met her some time before this, for his family was living in Villeparisis as early as 1819.

M. de Berny bought in 1815 the home of M. Michaud de Montzaigle in Villeparisis, and remained possessor of it until 1825. M. Parquin, the present owner of this home, is a Balzacien who has collected all the traditions remaining in Villeparisis concerning the two families. According to Villeparisis tradition, Madame de Berny was a woman of great intelligence who wrote much, and her notes and stories were not only utilized by Balzac, but she was his collaborator, especially in writing the /Physiologie du Mariage/ and the first part of the /Femme de trente Ans/.

When Balzac went to Villeparisis to reside, he became tutor to his brother Henri, and it was arranged that he should also give lessons to one of the sons of M. and Madame de Berny. Thus Balzac probably saw her daily and was struck by her patience and kindness toward her husband. She was apparently a gentle and sympathetic woman who understood Balzac as did no one else, and who ignored her own troubles and sufferings for fear of grieving him in the midst of his struggles.

It was owing to the strong recommendation of M. de Berny, councilor at the Court at Paris, that Balzac obtained in the spring of 1826 his royal authorization to establish himself as a printer. During the year 1825-1826, Madame de Berny loaned Balzac 9250 francs; after his failure, she entered in /name/ into the type-foundry association of Laurent et Balzac. She advanced to Balzac a total of 45,000 francs, and established her son, Alexandre de Berny, in the house where her protégé had been unsuccessful.

Though Balzac states that he paid her in full, he can not be relied upon when he is dealing with figures, and MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire question this statement in relating the incident told by M. Arthur Rhone, an old friend of the de Berny family. M. de Berny told M. Rhone that the famous bust of Flore cost him 1500 francs. One day while visiting Balzac, his host told him to take whatever he liked as a reimbursement, since he could not pay him. M. de Berny took some trifle, and after Balzac's death, M. Charles Tuleu, knowing his fondness for the bust of Flore, brought it to him as a souvenir of their common friend. This might explain also why M. de Berny possessed a superb clock and other things coming from Balzac's collection.

It was while Balzac was living in a little apartment in the rue des Marais that his /Dilecta/ began her daily visits, which continued so long, and which made such an impression on him.

Madame de Berny was of great help to Balzac in the social world and was perhaps instrumental in developing the friendship between him and the Duchesse de Castries. It was the Duc de Fitz-James who asked Balzac (1832) to write a sort of program for the Royalist party, and later (1834), wished him to become a candidate for deputy. This Duc de Fitz-James was the nephew of the godmother of Madame de Berny. It was to please him and the Duchesse de Castries that Balzac published a beautiful page about the Duchesse d'Angouleme.

Although Madame de Berny was of great help to Balzac in the financial and social worlds, of greater value was her literary influence over him. With good judgment and excellent taste she writes him: "Act, my dear, as though the whole multitude sees you from all sides at the height where you will be placed, but do not cry to it to admire you, for, on all sides, the strongest magnifying glasses will instantly be turned on you, and how does the most delightful object appear when seen through the microscope?"

She had had great experience in life, had suffered much and had seen many cruel things, but she brought Balzac consolation for all his pains and a confidence and serenity of which his appreciation is beautifully expressed:

"I should be most unjust if I did not say that from 1823 to 1833 an
angel sustained me through that horrible struggle. Madame de
Berny, though married, was like a God to me. She was a mother,
friend, family, counselor; she made the writer, she consoled the
young man, she created his taste, she wept like a sister, she
laughed, she came daily, like a beneficent sleep, to still his
sorrows. She did more; though under the control of a husband, she
found means to lend me as much as forty-five thousand francs, of
which I returned the last six thousand in 1836, with interest at
five per cent., be it understood. But she never spoke to me of my
debt, except now and then; without her, I should, assuredly, be
dead. She often divined that I had eaten nothing for days; she
provided for all with angelic goodness; she encouraged that pride
which preserves a man from baseness,--for which to-day my enemies
reproach me, calling it a silly satisfaction in myself--the pride
that Boulanger has, perhaps, pushed to excess in my portrait."

Balzac's conception of women was formed largely from his association with Madame de Berny in his early manhood, and a reflection of these ideas is seen throughout his works. It was probably to give Madame de Berny pleasure that he painted the mature beauties which won for him so many feminine admirers.

It is doubtless Madame de Berny whom Balzac had in mind when in /Madame Firmiani/ he describes the heroine:

"Have you ever met, for your happiness, some woman whose harmonious
tones give to her speech the charm that is no less conspicuous in
her manners, who knows how to talk and to be silent, who cares for
you with delicate feeling, whose words are happily chosen and her
language pure? Her banter caresses you, her criticism does not
sting; she neither preaches or disputes, but is interested in
leading a discussion, and stops at the right moment. Her manner is
friendly and gay, her politeness is unforced, her earnestness is
not servile; she reduces respect to a mere gentle shade; she never
tires you, and leaves you satisfied with her and yourself. You
will see her gracious presence stamped on the things she collects
about her. In her home everything charms the eye, and you breathe,
as it seems, your native air. This woman is quite natural. You
never feel an effort, she flaunts nothing, her feelings are
expressed with simplicity because they are genuine. Though candid,
she never wounds the most sensitive pride; she accepts men as God
made them, pitying the victims, forgiving defects and absurdities,
sympathizing with every age, and vexed with nothing because she
has the tact of foreseeing everything. At once tender and gay, she
first constrains and then consoles you. You love her so truly that
if this angel does wrong, you are ready to justify her. Such was
Madame Firmiani."

It was to Madame de Berny's son, Alexandre, that Balzac dedicated /Madame Firmiani/, and he no doubt recognized the portrait.

Balzac often portrayed his own life and his association with women in his works. In commenting on /La Peau de Chagrin/, he writes:

"Pauline is a real personage for me, only more lovely than I could
describe her. If I have made her a dream it is because I did not
wish my secret to be discovered."

And again, in writing of /Louis Lambert/:

"You know when you work in tapestry, each stitch is a thought.
Well, each line in this new work has been for me an abyss. It
contains things that are secrets between it and me."

In portraying the yearnings and sufferings of Louis Lambert (/Louis Lambert/), of Felix de Vandenesse (/Le Lys dans la Vallee/) and of Raphael (La Peau de Chagrin/), Balzac is picturing his own life. Pauline de Villenoix (/Louis Lambert/) and Pauline Gaudin (/Le Peau de Chagrin/) are possibly drawn from the same woman and have many characteristics of Madame de Berny. Madame de Mortsauf (/Le Lys dans la Vallee/) is Pauline, though not so outspoken. Then, is it not /La Dilecta/ whom the novelist had in mind when Louis Lambert writes:

"When I lay my head on your knees, I could wish to attract to you
the eyes of the whole world, just as I long to concentrate in my
love every idea, every power within me";

and near the end of life, could not Madame de Berny say as did Pauline in the closing lines of /Louis Lambert/:

"His heart was mine; his genius is with God"?

The year 1832 was a critical one in the private life of Balzac. Madame de Berny, more than twenty years his senior, felt that they should sever their close connection and remain as friends only. Balzac's family had long been opposed to this intimate relationship and had repeatedly tried to find a rich wife for him. Madame de Castries, who had begun an anonymous correspondence with him, revealed her identity early in that year, and the first letter from l'Etrangere, who was soon to over-shadow all his other loves, arrived February 28, 1832. During the same period Mademoiselle de Trumilly rejected his hand. With so many distractions, Balzac probably did not suffer from this separation as did his /Dilecta/. But he never forgot her, and constantly compared other women with her, much to her detriment. He regarded her, indeed, as a woman of great superiority.

In June (1832), Balzac left Paris to spend several weeks with his friends, M. and Mme. de Margonne, and there at their chateau de Sache, he wrote /Louis Lambert/ as a sort of farewell of soul to soul to the woman he had so loved, and whose equal in devotion he never found. In memory of his ten years' intimacy with her, he dedicated this work to her: /Et nunc et semper dilectae dicatum 1822-1832/. It is to her also, that he gave the beautiful Deveria portrait, resplendent with youth and strength.[*]

[*] MM. Hanotaux et Vicaire think that it is Madame de Berny who was
weighing on Balzac's soul when he relates, in /Le Cure de
Village/, the tragic story of the young workman who dies from love
without opening his lips.

M. Brunetiere has suggested that the woman whose traits best recall Madame de Berny is Marguerite Claes, the victim in /La Recherche de l'Absolu/, while the nature of Balzac's affection for this great friend of his youth has not been better expressed than in Balthasar Claes, she always ready to sacrifice all for him, and he, as Balthasar, always ready, in the interest of his "grand work," to rob her and make her desperate while loving her. However, Balzac states, in speaking of Madame de Berny:

"At any moment death may take from me an angel who has watched over
me for fourteen years; she, too, a flower of solitude, whom the
world had never touched, and who has been my star. My work is not
done without tears! The attentions due to her cast uncertainty
upon any time of which I could dispose, though she herself unites
with the doctor in advising me some strong diversions. She pushes
friendship so far as to hide her sufferings from me; she tries to
seem well for me. You understand that I have not drawn Claes to do
as he! Great God! what changes in her have been wrought in two
months! I am overwhelmed."

M. le Breton has suggested that Madame de Berny is Catherine in /La Derniere Fee/, Madame d'Aiglemont in /La Femme de trente Ans/, and Madame de Beauseant in /La Femme abandonnee/, and has strengthened this last statement by pointing out that Gaston de Nueil came to Madame de Beauseant after she had been deserted by her lover, the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto, just as the youthful Balzac came to Madame de Berny after she had had a lover.

It is doubtless to this friendship that Balzac refers when he writes in the last lines of /La Duchesse de Langeais/: "It is only the last love of a woman that can satisfy the first love of a man." It is of interest to note that Antoinette is the Christian name of the heroine of this story. Throughout the /Comedie humaine/ are seen quite young men who fall in love with women well advanced in years, as Calyste de Guenic with Mademoiselle Felicite des Touches in /Beatrix/, and Lucien de Rubempre with Madame Bargeton in /Illusions perdues/.

In /Eugenie Grandet/ Balzac writes:

"Do you know what Madame Campan used to say to us? 'My children, so
long as a man is a Minister, adore him; if he falls, help to drag
him to the ditch. Powerful, he is a sort of deity; ruined, he is
below Marat in his sewer, because he is alive, and Marat, dead.
Life is a series of combinations, which must be studied and
followed if a good position is to be successfully maintained.' "

Since Madame Campan was /femme de chambre/ of Marie Antoinette, Balzac probably heard this maxim through Madame de Berny.

Although some writers state that Madame de Berny was one of Balzac's collaborators in composing the /Physiologie du Mariage/, he says, regarding this work: "I undertook the /Physiologie du Mariage/ and the /Peau de Chagrin/ against the advice of that angel whom I have lost." She may have inspired him, however, in writing /Le Cure de Tours/, as it is dated at her home, Saint-Firmin, 1832.

In 1833, Balzac wrote Madame Hanska that he had dedicated the fourth volume of the /Scenes de la Vie privee/ to her, putting her seal at the head of /l'Expiation/, the last chapter of /La Femme de trente Ans/, which he was writing at the moment he received her first letter. But a person who was as a mother to him and whose caprices and even jealousy he was bound to respect, had exacted that this silent testimony should be repressed. He had the sincerity to avow to her both the dedication and its destruction, because he believed her to have a soul sufficiently lofty not to desire homage which would cause grief to one as noble and grand as she whose child he was, for she had rescued him when in youth he had nearly perished in the midst of griefs and shipwreck. He had saved the only copy of that dedication, for which he had been blamed as if it were a horrible coquetry, and wished her to keep it as a souvenir and as an expression of his thanks.

Balzac was ever loyal to Madame de Berny and refused to reveal her baptismal name to Madame Hanska; soon after their correspondence began he wrote her: "You have asked me the baptismal name of the /Dilecta/. In spite of my complete and blind faith, in spite of my sentiment for you, I cannot tell it to you; I have never told it. Would you have faith in me if I told it? No."

After 1834 Madame de Berny's health failed rapidly, and her last days were full of sorrow. Among her numerous family trials Balzac enumerates:

"One daughter become insane, another daughter dead, the third
dying, what blows!--And a wound more violent still, of which
nothing can be told. Finally, after thirty years of patience and
devotion, forced to separate from her husband under pain of dying
if she remained a few days longer. All this in a short space of
time. This is what I suffer through the heart that created me.
. . . Madame de Berny is much better; she has borne a last shock,
the illness of a beloved son whose brother has gone to bring him
home from Belgium. . . . Suddenly, the only son who resembles her,
a young man handsome as the day, tender and spiritual like
herself, like her full of noble sentiments, fell ill, and ill of a
cold which amounts to an affection of the lungs. The only child
out of /nine/ with whom she can sympathize! Of the nine, only four
remain; and her youngest daughter has become hysterically insane,
without any hope of cure. That blow nearly killed her. I was
correcting the /Lys/ beside her; but my affection was powerless
even to temper this last blow. Her son (twenty-three years old)
was in Belgium where he was directing an establishment of great
importance. His brother Alexandre went for him, and he arrived a
month ago, in a deplorable condition. This mother, without
strength, almost expiring, sits up at night to nurse Armand. She
has nurses and doctors. She implores me not to come and not to
write to her."[*]

[*] /Lettres a l'Etrangere. Various writers in speaking of Madame de
Berny, state that she had eight children; others, nine. Balzac
remarks frequently that she had nine. Among others, Madame Ruxton
says that she had eight. She gives their names and dates of birth.
The explanation of this difference is probably found in the
following: "I am going to fulfil a rather sad duty this morning.
The daughter of Madame de B . . . and of Campi . . . asks for me.
In 1824, they wished me to marry her. She was bewitchingly
beautiful, a flower of Bengal! After twenty years, I am going to
see her again! At forty years of age! She asks a service of me;
doubtless a literary ambition! . . . I am going there. . . . Three
o'clock. I was sure of it! I have seen Julie, to whom and for whom
I wrote the verses: 'From the midst of those torrents of glory and
of light, etc.:' which are in /Illusions perdues/. . . ." Neither
the name /Julie/ nor the date of her birth is given by Madame
Ruxton.

Some secret pertaining to Madame de Berny remains untold. In 1834 Balzac writes Madame Hanska: "The greatest sorrows have overwhelmed Madame de Berny. She is far from me, at Nemours, where she is dying of her troubles. I cannot write you about them; they are things that can only be spoken of with the greatest secrecy." He might have revealed this secret to her in 1835 when he visited her in Vienna; the following secret, however, is not explained in subsequent letters, and Balzac did not see Madame Hanska again until seven years later in St. Petersburg:

"I have much distress, even enormous distress in the direction of
Madame de Berny; not from her directly but from her family. It is
not of a nature to be written. Some evening at Wierzchownia, when
the heart wounds are scars, I will tell it to you in murmurs so
that the spiders cannot hear, and so that my voice can go from my
lips to your heart. They are dreadful things, which dig into life
to the bone, deflowering all, and making one distrust all, except
you for whom I reserve these sighs."

Though Madame de Berny may have been jealous of other women in her earlier association with Balzac, she evidently changed later, for he writes:

"Alas! Madame de Berny is no better. The malady makes frightful
progress, and I cannot express to you how grand, noble and
touching this soul of my life has been in these days measured by
illness, and with what fervor she desires that another be to me
what she has been. She knows the inward spring and nobility that
the habit of carrying all things to an idol gives me. My God is on
earth."

Contrary to his family, Madame Carraud sympathized with Balzac in his devotion to Madame de Berny, and invited them to be her guests. In accepting he writes:

"Her life is so much bound up in mine! Ah, no one can form any true
idea of this deep attachment which sustains me in all my work, and
consoles me every moment in all I suffer. You can understand
something of this, you who know so well what friendship is, you
who are so affectionate, so good. . . . I thank you beforehand for
your offer of Frapesle to her. There, amid your flowers, and in
your gentle companionship, and the country life, if convalescence
is possible, and I venture to hope for it, she will regain life
and health."

He apparently did not receive such sympathy from Madame Hanska in their early correspondence:

"Why be displeased about a woman fifty-eight years old, who is a
mother to me, who folds me in her heart and protects me from
stings? Do not be jealous of her; she would be so glad of our
happiness. She is an angel, sublime. There are angels of earth and
angels of heaven; she is of heaven."

Madame de Berny's illness continued to grow more and more serious. The reading of the second number of /Pere Goriot/ affected her so much that she had another heart attack. But as her illness and griefs changed and withered her, Balzac's affection for her redoubled. He did not realize how rapidly she was failing, for she did not wish him to see her unless she felt well and could appear attractive. On his return to France from a journey to Italy with Madame Marbouty, he was overcome with grief at the news of the death of Madame de Berny. He found on his table a letter from her son Alexandre briefly announcing his mother's death.

But the novelist did not cease to respect her criticism:

"I resumed my work this morning; I am obeying the last words that
Madame de Berny wrote me; 'I can die; I am sure that you have upon
your brow the crown I wished there. The /Lys/ is a sublime work,
without spot or flaw. Only, the death of Madame de Mortsauf does
not need those horrible regrets; they injure the beautiful letter
she writes.' Therefore, to-day I have piously effaced a hundred
lines, which, according to many persons, disfigure that creation.
I have not regretted a single word, and each time that my pen was
drawn through one of them, never was the heart of man more deeply
stirred. I thought I saw that grand and sublime woman, that angel
of friendship, before me, smiling as she smiled to me when I used
a strength so rare,--the strength to cut off one's own limb and
feel neither pain nor regret in correcting, in conquering one's
self."

Balzac was sincere in his friendship with Madame de Berny, and never ceased to revere her memory. The following appreciations of her worth are a few of the numerous beautiful tributes he has paid her:

"I have lost the being whom I love most in the world. . . . She
whom I have lost was more than a mother, more than a friend, more
than any human creature can be to another; it can only be
expressed by the word /divine/. She sustained me through storms of
trouble by word and deed and entire devotedness. If I am alive
this day, it is to her that it is due. She was everything to me;
and although during the last two years, time and illness kept us
apart, we saw each other through the distance. She inspired me;
she was for me a spiritual sun. Madame de Mortsauf in /Le Lys dans
la Vallee/, only faintly shadows forth some of the slighter
qualities of this woman; there is but a very pale reflection of
her, for I have a horror of unveiling my own private emotions to
the public, and nothing personal to myself will ever be known."

"Madame de Berny is dead. I can say no more on that point. My
sorrow is not of a day; it will react upon my whole life. For a
year I had not seen her, nor did I see her in her last moments.
. . . /She/, who was always so lovingly severe to me, acknowledged
that the /Lys/ was one of the finest books in the French language;
she decked herself at last with the crown which, fifteen years
earlier, I had promised her, and, always coquettish, she
imperiously forbade me to visit her, because she would not have me
near her unless she were beautiful and well. The letter deceived
me. . . . When I was wrecked the first time, in 1828, I was only
twenty-nine years old and I had an angel at my side. . . . There
is a blank which has saddened me. The adored is here no longer.
Every day I have occasion to deplore the eternal absence. Would
you believe that for six months I have not been able to go to
Nemours to bring away the things that ought to be in my sole
possession? Every week I say to myself, 'It shall be this week!
. . .' I was very unhappy in my youth, but Madame de Berny
balanced all by an absolute devotion, which was understood to its
full extent only when the grave had seized its prey. Yes, I was
spoiled by that angel."[*]

[*] Madame de Berny died July 27, 1836.

So faithful was Balzac to the memory of his /Dilecta/ that nine years after her death, he was deeply affected on seeing at the /Cour d'Assises/ a woman about forty-five years of age, who strongly resembled Madame de Berny, and who was being arraigned for deeds caused by her devotion to a reckless youth.

LA DUCHESSE DE CASTRIES.--MADEMOISELLE DE TRUMILLY

"He who has not seen, at some ball of Madame, Duchesse de Berry,
glide airily, scarcely touching the floor, so moving that one
perceived in her only grace before knowing whether she was a
beauty, a young woman with blond, deep-golden hair; he who has not
seen appear then the young Marquise de Castries in a fete, cannot,
without doubt, form an idea of this new beauty, charming, aerial,
praised and honored in the salons of the Restoration."

Balzac had a brief, yet ardent friendship with the Duchesse de Castries which ended so unhappily for him that one might say: "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned." Madame de Castries was the daughter of the Duchesse (nee Fitz-James) and the Duc de Maille. She did not become a duchess until in 1842, and bore the title of marquise previous to that time. Separated from her husband as the result of a famous love affair, the Marquise gathered round her a group of intellectual people, among whom were the writers Balzac, Musset, Sainte-Beuve, etc., and continued active in literary and artistic circles until her death (1861).

On Balzac's return to Paris after a prolonged visit with his friends at Sache during the month of September, 1831, he received an anonymous letter, dated at Paris, a circumstance which was with him of rather frequent occurrence, as with many men of letters.

This lady criticized the /Physiologie du Mariage/, to which Balzac replies, defending his position:

"The /Physiologie du Mariage/, madame, was a work undertaken for
the purpose of defending the cause of women. I knew that if, with
the view of inculcating ideas favorable to their emancipation and
to a broad and thorough system of education for them, I had gone
to work in a blundering way, I should at best, have been regarded
as nothing more than an author of a theory more or less plausible.
I was therefore, obliged to clothe my ideas, to disguise them
under a new shape, in biting, incisive words that should lay hold
on the mind of my readers, awaken their attention and leave
behind, reflections upon which they might meditate. Thus then any
woman who has passed through the "storms of life" would see that I
attribute the blame of all faults committed by the wives, entirely
to their husbands. It is, in fact, a plenary absolution. Besides
this, I plead for the natural and inalienable rights of woman. A
happy marriage is impossible unless there be a perfect
acquaintance between the two before marriage--a knowledge of each
other's ways, habits and character. And I have not flinched from
any of the consequences involved in this principle. Those who know
me are aware that I have been faithful to this opinion ever since
I reached the age of reason; and in my eyes a young girl who has
committed a fault deserves more interest than she who, remaining
ignorant, lies open to the misfortunes of the future. I am at this
present time a bachelor, and if I should marry later in life, it
will only be to a widow."

Thus was begun the correspondence, and the Duchess ended by lifting her mask and inviting the writer to visit her; he gladly accepted her gracious offer to come, not as a literary man nor as an artist, but as himself. It is a striking coincidence that Balzac accepted this invitation the very day, February 28, 1832, that he received the first letter from /l'Etrangere/.

What must have been Balzac's surprise, and how flattered he must have felt, on learning that his unknown correspondent belonged to the highest aristocracy of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and that her husband was a peer of France under Charles X!

"Madame de Castries was a coquettish, vain, delicate, clever woman,
with a touch of sensibility, piety and /chaleur de salon/; a true
Parisian with all her brilliant exterior accomplishments,
qualities refined by education, luxury and aristocratic
surroundings, but also with all her coldness and faults; in a
word, one of those women of whom one must never ask friendship,
love or devotion beyond a light veneer, because nature had created
some women morally poor."

At first, Balzac was too enraptured to judge her accurately, but after frequenting her salon for several months, he says of her:

"It is necessary that I go and climb about at Aix, in Savoy, to run
after some one who, perhaps, will laugh at me--one of those
aristocratic women of whom you no doubt have a horror; one of
those angelic beauties to whom one ascribes a soul; a true
duchess, very disdainful, very loving, subtle, witty, a coquette,
like nothing I have ever yet seen, and who says she loves me, who
wants to keep me in a palace at Venice (for I tell you
everything), and who desires I should write nothing, except for
her; one of those women who must be worshiped on one's knees when
they wish it, and whom one has such pleasure in conquering; a
woman to be dreamt of, jealous of everything."

A few weeks later he writes from Aix:

"I have come here to seek at once both much and little. Much,
because I see daily a person full of grace and amiability, little,
because she is never likely to love me."

Under the influence of the Duchesse de Castries and the Duc de Fitz- James, Balzac gave more and more prominence to Catholic and Legitimist sentiments; and it was perhaps for her sake that the novelist offered himself as a candidate for deputy in several districts, but was defeated in all of them. He thought it quite probable that the Duc de Fitz-James would be elected in at least two districts, so if he were not elected at Angouleme, the Duke might use his interest to get him elected for the place he declined.

It was after Balzac met Madame de Castries that one notes his extravagant tastes and love of display as shown in his horses and carriage, his extra servant, his numerous waistcoats, his gold buttons, his appearance at the opera with his wonderful cane, and his indulgence in rare pictures, old furniture, and bric-a-brac in general.

Induced to follow her to Aix, he continued his work, rising at five in the morning and working until half past five in the afternoon. His lunch came from the circle, and at six o'clock, he dined with Madame de Castries, and spent the evening with her. His intimacy with this illustrious family increased, and he accepted an invitation to accompany them to Italy, giving several reasons for this journey:

"I am at the gates of Italy, and I fear to give way to the
temptation of passing through them. The journey would not be
costly; I could make it with the Fitz-James family, who would be
exceedingly agreeable; they are all perfect to me. . . . I travel
as fourth passenger in Mme. de Castries' /vetturino/ and the
bargain--which includes everything, food, carriages, hotels--is a
thousand francs for all of us to go from Geneva to Rome; making my
share two hundred and fifty francs. . . . I shall make this
splendid journey with the Duke, who will treat me as if I were his
son. I also shall be in relation with the best society; I am not
likely to meet with such an opportunity again. M. de Fitz-James
has been in Italy before, he knows the country, and will spare me
all loss of time. Besides this, his name will throw open many
doors to me. The Duchess and he are both more than kind to me, in
every way, and the advantages of their society are great."

From Aix they went to Geneva. Just what happened here, we shall probably never know. Suddenly abandoning the proposed trip, Balzac writes his mother:

"It is advisable I should return to France for three months. . . .
Besides, my traveling companions will not be at Naples till
February. I shall, therefore, come back, but not to Paris; my
return will not be known to any one; and I shall start again for
Naples in February, via Marseilles and the steamer. I shall be
more at rest on the subjects of money and literary obligations."

Later he alludes thus to his sudden departure from Geneva:

"/Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu!/ God, in whom I believe, owed me some sweet
emotions at the sight of Geneva, for I left it disconsolate,
cursing everything, abhorring womankind! With what joy shall I
return to it, my celestial love, my Eva!"

Thus was ended an ardent friendship of about eight months' duration, for instead of rejoining the Duchesse de Castries in Italy Balzac's first visit to that country was made many years later, and then in the delightful company of his "Polar Star."

In speaking of this sudden breach, Miss M. F. Sandars says:

"We can only conjecture the cause of the final rupture, as no
satisfactory explanation is forthcoming. The original 'Confession'
in the /Medecin de Campagne/, which is the history of Balzac's
relations and parting with Madame de Castries, is in the
possession of the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul. The present
'Confession' was substituted for it, because the first revealed
too much of Balzac's private life. However, even in the original
'Confession,' we learn no reason for Madame de Castries' sudden
resolve to dismiss her adorer, as Balzac declares with indignant
despair that he can give no explanation of it. Apparently she
parted from him one evening with her usual warmth of affection,
and next morning everything was changed, and she treated him with
the utmost coldness."

Fully to appreciate what this friendship meant to both, one must consider the private life of each. As has been seen, it was in the summer of 1832 that Balzac and his /Dilecta/ decided to sever their intimate connection, and since his /Chatelaine/ of Wierzchownia had not yet become the dominating force in his life, his heart was doubtless yearning for some one to adore.

There was also an aching void in the heart of Madame de Castries. She, too, was recovering from an amorous attachment, more serious than was his, for death had recently claimed the young Count Metternich. Perhaps then, each was seeking consolation in the other's society.

There was nothing more astonishing or charming than to see in the evening, in one of the most simple little drawing-rooms, antiquely furnished with tables, cushions of old velvet and screens of the eighteenth century, this woman, her spine injured, reclining in her invalid's chair, languid, but without affectation. This woman--with her profile more Roman than Greek, her hair falling over her high, white brow--was the Duchesse de Castries, nee de Maille, related to the best families of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Accompanying the young Comte de Metternich on the hunt, she was caught in the branch of a tree, and fell, injuring her spine. But a shadow of her former brilliant self--such had become this beauty, once so dazzling that the moment she entered the drawing-room, her gorgeous robe falling over shoulders worthy of a Titian, the brilliancy of the candles was literally effaced.[*]

[*] Philarete Chasles was a frequent visitor of her salon. When Balzac
visited Madame Hanska at Vienna in the summer of 1835, he did a
favor for the Duchesse de Castries while there. He wrote /La
Filandiere/, 1835, one of his /Contes drolatiques/, for Madame de
Castries' son, M. le baron d'Aldenburg.

Balzac refers frequently to Count Metternich in writing to Madame Hanska of his association with Madame de Castries:

"There is still a Metternich in this adventure; but this time it is
the son, who died in Florence. I have already told you of this
cruel affair, and I had no right to tell you. though separated
from that person out of delicacy, all is not over yet. I suffer
through her; but I do not judge her. . . . Madame de C---- insists
that she has never loved any one except M. de M---- and that she
loves him still, that Artemisia of Ephesus. . . . You asked me, I
believe, about Madame de C---- She has taken the thing, as I told
you, tragically, and now distrusts the M---- family. Beneath all
this, on both sides there is something inexplicable, and I have no
desire to look for the key of mysteries which do not concern me. I
am with Madame de C---- on the proper terms of politeness, and as
you yourself would wish me to be."

After their abrupt separation at Geneva, their relations continued to be estranged:

"For the moment I will tell you that Madame de C---- has written me
that we are not to see each other again; she has taken offense at
a letter, and I at many other things. Be assured that there is no
love in all this! . . . I meant to speak to you of Madame de
C----, but I have not the time. Twenty-five days hence I will tell
you by word of mouth. In two words, your Honore, my Eva, grew
angry at the coldness which simulated friendship. I said what I
thought; the reply was that I ought not to see again a woman to
whom I could say such cruel things. I asked a thousand pardons for
the 'great liberty,' and we continue on a very cold footing."

Balzac was deeply wounded through his passionate love for Madame de Castries, and resented her leaving him in the depths of an abyss of coldness after having inflamed him with the fire of her soul; he began to think of revenge:

"I abhor Madame de C----, for she blighted my life without giving
me another,--I do not say a comparable one, but without giving me
what she promised. There is not the shadow of wounded vanity, oh!
but disgust and contempt . . . If Madame de C----'s letter
displeases you, say so frankly, my love. I will write to her that
my affections are placed in a heart too jealous for me to be
permitted to correspond with a woman who has her reputation for
beauty, for charm, and that I act frankly in telling her
so. . . ."

Indeed, his experience with Madame de Castries at Geneva had made him so unhappy that on his return to that city to visit his /Predilecta/, he had moments of joy mingled with sorrow, as the scenery recalled how, on his previous visit, he had wept over his /illusions perdues/. While other writers suggest different causes, one might surmise that this serious disappointment was the beginning of Balzac's heart trouble, for in speaking of it, he says: "It is necessary for my life to be bright and pleasant. The cruelties of the woman whom you know have been the cause of the trouble; then the disasters of 1848. . . ."

He tried to overcome his dejection by intense work, but he could not forget the tragic suffering he had undergone. The experience he had recently passed through he disclosed in one of his most noted stories, /La Duchesse de Langeais/, which he wrote largely in 1834 at the same fatal city of Geneva, but this time, while enjoying the society of the beautiful Madame Hanska. In this story, under the name of the heroine, the Duchesse de Langeais, he describes the Duchesse de Castries:

"This was a woman artificially educated, but in reality ignorant; a
woman whose instincts and feelings were lofty, while the thought
which should have controlled them was wanting. She squandered the
wealth of her nature in obedience to social conventions; she was
ready to brave society, yet she hesitated till her scruples
degenerated into artifice. With more wilfulness than force of
character, impressionable rather than enthusiastic, gifted with
more brain than heart; she was supremely a woman, supremely a
coquette, and above all things a /Parisienne/, loving a brilliant
life and gaiety, reflecting never, or too late; imprudent to the
verge of poetry, and humble in the depths of her heart, in spite
of her charming insolence. Like some straight-growing reed, she
made a show of independence; yet, like the reed, she was ready to
bend to a strong hand. She talked much of religion, and had it not
at heart, though she was prepared to find in it a solution of her
life."

In the same story under the name of the Marquis de Montriveau, Balzac is doubtless portraying himself. It was probably in the home of the Duchesse de Castries that Balzac conceived some of his ideas of the aristocracy of the exclusive Faubourg Saint-Germain, a picture of which he has drawn in this story of which she is the heroine. Her influence is seen also in the characters so minutely drawn of the heartless /Parisienne/, no longer young, but seductive, refined and aristocratic, though deceptive and perfidious.

Before publishing /La Duchesse de Langeais/, the novelist was either tactful or vindictive enough to call on Madame de Castries and read to her his new book. He says of this visit: "I have just returned from Madame de C----, whom I do not want for an enemy when my book comes out and the best means of obtaining a defender against the Faubourg Saint-Germain is to make her approve of the work in advance; and she greatly approved of it." But a few weeks later, he writes: "Here I am, on bad terms with Madame de C---- on account of the /Duchesse de Langeais/--so much the better." If Balzac refers to Madame de Castries in the following except, one may even say that he had her correct his work.

"Say whatever you like about /La Duchesse de Langeais/, your
remarks do not affect me; but a lady whom you may perhaps know,
illustrious and elegant, has approved everything, corrected
everything like a royal censor, and her authority on ducal matters
is incontestable; I am safe under the shadow of her shawl."

Balzac continued to call on her and to write to her occasionally, and was very sympathetic to her illness, especially as her Parisian friends seemed to have abandoned her. Though death did not come to her until more than twenty-five years later, he writes at this time:

"Madame de Castries is dying; the paralysis is attacking the other
limb. Her beauty is no more; she is blighted. Oh! I pity her. She
suffers horribly and inspires pity only. She is the only person I
visit, and then, for one hour every week. It is more than I really
can do, but the hour is compelled by the sight of that slow
death."

In her despondency he tries to cheer her:

"I do not like your melancholy; I should scold you well if you were
here. I would put you on a large divan, where you would be like a
fairy in the midst of her palace, and I would tell you that in
this life you must love in order to live. Now, you do not love. A
lively affection is the bread of the soul, and when the soul is
not fed it grows starved, like the body. The bonds of the soul and
body are such that each suffers with the other. . . . A thousand
kindly things in return for your flowers, which bring me much
happiness, but I wish for something more. . . . You have mingled
bitterness with the flatteries you have the goodness to bestow on
my book, as if you knew all the weight of your words and how far
they would reach. I would a thousand times rather you would
consider the book and the pen as things of your own, than receive
these praises."[*]

[*] It is interesting to note Balzac's fondness for flowers, as is
seen in his association of them with various women, and the
prominent place he has given them in some of his works.

Though his visits continued, their friendship gradually grew colder, and in 1836 he writes: "I have broken the last frail relations of politeness with Madame de C----. She enjoys the society of MM. Janni and Sainte-Beauve, who have so outrageously wounded me. It seemed to me bad taste, and now I am happily out of it."

/La Duchesse de Langeais/ appeared in 1834, but Madame de Castries had not fully wreaked her revenge on Balzac. For some time an Irish woman, a Miss Patrickson, had insisted on translating Balzac's works. Madame de Castries engaged her as teacher of English, and used her as a means of ensnaring Balzac by having her write him a love letter and sign it "Lady Nevil." Though suspicious about this letter, he answered it, and a rendezvous was arranged at the opera. That day he called on Madame de Castries, and she had him remain for dinner. When he excused himself to go to the opera, she insisted on accompanying him; he then realized that he was a victim of her strategy, which he thus describes:

"I go to the opera. No one there. Then I write a letter, which
brings the miss, old, horrible, with hideous teeth, but full of
remorse for the part she had played, full of affection for me and
contempt and horror for the Marquise. Though my letters were
extremely ironical and written for the purpose of making a woman
masquerading as a false lady blush, she (Miss Patrickson) had
recovered them. I had the upper hand of Madame de C---- She ended
by divining that in this intrigue she was on the down side. From
that time forth she vowed me a hatred which will end only with
life. In fact, she may rise out of her grave to calumniate me. She
never opened /Seraphita/ on account of its dedication, and her
jealousy is such that if she could completely destroy the book she
would weep for joy."[*]

[*] Seized with pity for this poor Irish woman, Balzac called later to
see about some translations and found her overcome by drink in the
midst of poverty and dirt. He learned afterwards that she was
addicted to the habit of drinking gin.

Notwithstanding their enmity Balzac visited her occasionally. She had become so uncomely that he could not understand his infatuation at Aix, ten years before. He disliked her especially because she had for the moment, in posing as Madame de Balzac, made Madame Hanska believe he was married. He enjoyed telling her of Madame Hanska's admiration for and devotion to him, and sarcastically remarked to her that she was such a "true friend" she would be happy to learn of his financial success. Thus, during a period of several years, while speaking of her as his enemy, the novelist continued to dine with her, but was ever ready to overwhelm her with sarcasm, even while her guest. Yet, in 1843, he dedicated to her /L'Illustre Gaudissart/, a work written ten years before.

Though he was fully recovered with time, this drama, played by a coquette, was almost tragic for the author of the /Comedie humaine/. No other woman left so deep a mark of passion or such rankling wounds in his bleeding heart, as did she of whom he says: