. .. . '
HONORE DE BALZAC
Balzac, vol. one Frontis
HONORE DE BALZAC
IN TWENTY-FIVE VOLUMES
{Etje Jftrst Complete translation into (Bnglisfy
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
The Sceaux Ball
The Purse
The Vendetta
Madame Firmiani
A DAUGHTER OF EVE
LETTERS OF TWO BRIDES
Volume
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS ON THE WOOD
BY FAMOUS FRENCH ARTISTS
PETER FENELON COLLIER & SON
MCM
StacK
Annex
V,
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface 7
Balzac's Introduction II
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket 27
The Sceaux Ball 87
The Purse 149
The Vendetta '. _ 183
Madame Firmiani 256
Preface 281
A Daughter of Eve - 285
Letters of Two Brides ~ 417
A T THE SIGN OF THE
CAT AND RACKET
PREFACE
IN THE very interesting preface, dated July, 1842, which
Balzac prefixed to the first collection of the "Comedie Hu-
maine," he endeavors, naturally enough, to represent the di-
vision into "Scenes de la Vie Parisienne, " etc., as a rational
and reasoned one. Although not quite arbitrary, it was of
coarse to a great extent determined by considerations which
were not those of design; and we did not require the positive
testimony which we find in the Letters to tell us that in the
author's view, as well as in our own, not a few of the stories
might have been shifted over from one division to another,
and have filled their place just as well in the other as in
the one.
"La Maison du Chat-qui-Pelote," however, which origi-
nally bore the much less happy title of "Gloire et Malheur, "
was a "Scene de la Vie Privee" from the first, and it bears
out better than some of its companions its author's expressed
intention of making these "scenes" represent youth, whether
Parisian or Provincial. Few of Balzac's stories have united
the general suffrage for touching grace more than this; and
there are few better examples of his minute Dutch-painting
than the opening passages, or of his unconquerable delight
in the details of business than his sketch of Monsieur Guil-
laume's establishment and its ways. The French equivalent
of the "Complete Tradesman" of Defoe lasted much longer
than his English counterpart; but, except in the smaller
(7)
8 PREFACE
provincial towns, he is said to be uncommon now. As for
the plot, if such a stately name can be given to so delicate a
sketch, it is of course open to downright British judgment
to pronounce the self-sacrifice of Lebas more ignoble than
touching, the conduct of Theodore too childish to deserve
the excuses sometimes possible for passionate inconstancy,
and the character of Augustine angelically idiotic. This
last outrage, if it were committed, would indeed only be
an instance of the irreconcilable difference which almost to
the present day divides English and French ideas of ideally
perfect girlhood, and of that state of womanhood which cor-
responds thereto. The candeur adorable which the French-
man adores and exhibits in the girl; the uncompromising,
though mortal, passion of the woman ; are too different from
any ideal that we have entertained, except for a very short
period in the eighteenth century. But there are few more
pathetic and charming impersonations of this other ideal
than Augustine de Sommervieux.
All the stories associated with "La Maison du Chat-qui-
Pelote," according to French standards all, perhaps, ac-
cording to all but the very strictest and oldest-fashioned of
English are perfectly free from the slightest objection on
the score of that propriety against which Balzac has an amus-
ing if not quite exact tirade in one of his books. And this
is evidently not accidental, for the preface above referred to
is an elaborate attempt to rebut the charge of impropriety,
and to show that the author could draw virtuous as well as
unvirtuous characters. But they are not, taking them as a
whole, and omitting the "Cat and Eacket" itself, quite ex-
amples of putting the best foot foremost. "Le Bal de
Sceaux, " with its satire on contempt for trade, is in some
ways more like Balzac's young friend and pupil Charles de
PREFACE 9
Bernard than like himself; and I believe it attracted English
notice pretty early. At least I seem, when quite a boy, and
long before I read the "Comedie Humaine," to have seen an
English version or paraphrase of it. "La Bourse," though
agreeable, is a little slight; and "La Vendetta" might have
been written on so well known a donnee by many persons
besides Balzac. It happens, moreover, to contrast most un-
fortunately with the terrible and exquisite perfection of Me*-
rimee's "Mateo Falcone." I should rank "Madame Firmiani"
a good deal higher than any of these three, though it too is
a little slight, and though it is not in Balzac's most character-
istic or important manner. Rather, perhaps, does it remind
us of the "Physiologies" and the other social "skits" and
sketches which he was writing for the "Caricature" and
other papers at the time. Still, the various descriptions of
the heroine have a point and sparkle which are almost pe-
culiar to the not quite mature work of men of genius; and
the actual story has a lightness which, perhaps, would have
disappeared if Balzac had handled it at greater length.
As for bibliography, the "Avant-Propos" (of which
Momus may perhaps say that it is both a little too discur-
sive and a little too apologetic) dates itself. I do not know
whether there may be any interest for some readers in the fact
that it originally appeared not in the first, but in the last,
"livraison" of the first volume of the complete edition of
the "Comedie." "La Maison du Chat-qui-Pelote," under
the title above referred to, saw the light first with other
"Scenes de la Vie Privee" in 1830: but it was not dated as
of the previous year till five years later, in its third edition;
while the title was not changed till the great collection itself.
Of its companions, "Le Bal de Sceaux" was an original one,
and seems to have been written as well as published more or
10 PREFACE
less at the same time. It at first had an alternative title,
"Ou le Pair de France," which was afterward dropped.
"La Bourse" was early, but not quite so early as these.
It appeared in, and was apparently written for, the second
edition of the "Scenes de la Vie Privee," published in May,
1832. In 1835 it was moved over to the "Scenes de la Vie
Parisienne," between which and the "Vie PriveV' there is
in fact a good deal of cross and arbitrary division. But
when the full "Comedie" took shape it moved back again.
"La Vendetta" ranked from the first edition of these
"Scenes" with them; but, unlike those previously men-
tioned, it had had an earlier separate publication in part.
For it is one of those stories which Balzac originally divided
into chapters and afterward printed without them. The first
of these, which appeared in the "Silhouette" of April, 1830,
was entitled "L' Atelier," and the others were "La Desobeis-
sance," "Le Mariage," and "Le Chatiment."
"Madame Firmiani" was first published in the "Eevue
de Paris" for February, 1832; then became a "Conte Philoso-
phique," and still in the same year a "Sc&ne de la Vie Pari-
sienne. ' ' It was in the 1842 collection that it took up its
abode in the "Scenes de la Vie Privee."
INTRODUCTION
IN GIVING the general title of "The Human Comedy"
to a work begun nearly thirteen years since, it is necessary
to explain its motive, to relate its origin, and briefly sketch
its plan, while endeavoring to speak of these matters as
though I had no personal interest in them. This is not so
difficult as the public might imagine. Few works conduce
to much vanity; much labor conduces to great diffidence.
This observation accounts for the study of their own works
made by Corneille, Moliere, and other great writers ; if it is
impossible to equal them in their fine conceptions, we may
try to imitate them in this feeling.
The idea of "The Human Comedy" was at first as a dream
to me, one of those impossible projects which we caress and
then let fly; a chimera that gives us a glimpse of its smiling
woman's face, and forthwith spreads its wings and returns
to a heavenly realm of fantasy. But this chimera, like
many another, has become a reality; has its behests, its
tyranny, which must be obeyed.
The idea originated in a comparison between Humanity
and Anirnality.
It is a mistake to suppose that the great dispute which
has lately made a stir, between Cuvier and Geoffroi Saint-
Hilaire, arose from a scientific innovation. Unity of struct-
ure, under other names, had occupied the greatest minds
during the two previous centuries. As we read the ex-
traordinary writings of the mystics who studied the sciences
in their relation to infinity, such as Swedenborg, Saint-Mar-
tin, and others, and the works of the greatest authors on
(11)
12 INTRODUCTION
Natural History Leibnitz, Buffon, Charles Bonnet, etc.
we detect in the monads of Leibnitz, in the organic molecules
of Buffon, in the vegetative force of Needham, in the correla-
tion of similar organs of Charles Bonnet who in 1760 was
so bold as to write, "Animals vegetate as plants do" we
detect, I say, the rudiments of the great law of Self for Self,
which lies at the root of "Unity of Plan." There is but one
Animal. The Creator works on a single model for every
organized being. "The Animal" is elementary, and takes
its external form, or, to be accurate, the differences in its
form, from the environment in which it is obliged to de-
velop. Zoological species are the result of these differences.
The announcement and defence of this system, which is in-
deed in harmony with our preconceived ideas of Divine
Power, will be the eternal glory of Geoffroi Saint-Hilaire,
Cuvier's victorious opponent on this point of higher science,
whose triumph was hailed by Goethe in the. last article he
wrote.
I, for my part, convinced of this scheme of nature long
before the discussion to which it has given rise, perceived
that in this respect society resembled nature. For does not
society modify Man, according to the conditions in which he
lives and acts, into men as manifold as the species in Zoology ?
The differences between a soldier, an artisan, a man of busi-
ness, a lawyer, an idler, a student, a statesman, a merchant,
a sailor, a poet, a beggar, a priest, are as great, though not
so easy to define, as those between the wolf, the lion, the
ass, the crow, the shark, the seal, the sheep, etc. Thus
social species have always existed, and will always exist,
just as there are zoological species. Jf Buffon could pro-
duce a magnificent work by attempting to represent in a
book the whole realm of zoology, was there not room for
a work of the same kind on society? But the limits set by
nature to the variations of animals have no existence in
society. When Buffon describes the lion, he dismisses the
lioness with a few phrases; but in society a wife is not al-
ways the female of the male. There may be two perfectly
INTRODUCTION 13
dissimilar beings in one household. The wife of a shop-
keeper is sometimes worthy of a prince, and the wife of a
prince is often worthless compared with the wife of an ar-
tisan. The social state has freaks which Nature does not
allow herself; it is nature plus society. The description
of social species would thus be at least double that of ani-
mal species, merely in view of the two sexes. Then, among
animals the drama is limited; there is scarcely any confu-
sion: they turn and rend each other that is all. Men, too,
rend each other; but their greater or less intelligence makes
the struggle far more complicated. Though some savants do
not yet admit that the animal nature flows into human nature
through an immense tide of life, the grocer certainly becomes
a peer, and the noble sometimes sinks to the lowest social
grade. Again, Buff on found that life was extremely simple
among animals. Animals have little property, and neither
arts nor sciences ; while man, by a law that has yet to be
sought, has a tendency to express his culture, his thoughts,
and his life in everything he appropriates to his use. Though
Leuwenhoek, Swammerdam, Spallanzani, Reaumur, Charles
Bonnet, Muller, Haller, and other patient investigators have
shown us how interesting are the habits of Animals, those of
each kind are, at least to our eyes, always and in every age
alike; whereas the dress, the manners, the speech, the dwell-
ing of a prince, a banker, an artist, a citizen, a priest, and a
pauper are absolutely unlike, and change with every phase
of civilization.
Hence the work to be written needed a threefold form
men, women, and things; that is to say, persons and the
material expression of their minds; man, in short, and life.
As we read the dry and discouraging list of events called
History, who can have failed to note that the writers of all
periods, in Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Eome, have forgotten
to give us the history of manners ? The fragment of Petro-
nius on the private life of the Eomans excites rather than
satisfies our curiosity. It was from observing this great
void in the field of history that the Abbe Barthe'lemy de-
14 INTRODUCTION
voted his life to a reconstruction of Greek manners in "Le
Jeune Anacharsis."
But how could such a drama, with the four or five thou-
sand persons which a society offers, be made interesting ?
How, at the same time, please the poet, the philosopher, and
the masses who want both poetry and philosophy under strik-
ing imagery? Though I could conceive of the importance
and of the poetry of such a history of the human heart, I saw
no way of writing it; for hitherto the most famous story-
tellers had spent their talent in creating two or three typical
actors, in depicting one aspect of life. It was with this idea
that I read the works of Walter Scott. Walter Scott, the
modern troubadour, or finder (trouv&re=trouveur}, had just
then given an aspect of grandeur to a class of composition
unjustly regarded as of the second rank. Is it not really
more difficult to compete with personal and parochial inter-
ests by writing of Daphnis and Chloe, Koland, Amadis,
Panurge, Don Quixote, Manon Lescaut, Clarissa, Lovelace,
Robinson Crusoe, Gil Bias, Ossian, Julie d'Etanges, My
Uncle Toby, Werther, Corinne, Adolphe, Paul and Vir-
ginia, Jeanie Deans, Claverhouse, Ivanhoe, Mignon, Man-
fred, than to set forth in order facts more or less similar
in every country, to investigate the spirit of laws that have
fallen into desuetude, to review the theories which mislead
nations, or, like some metaphysicians, to explain what Is?
In the first place, these actors, whose existence becomes
more prolonged and more authentic than that of the genera-
tions which saw their birth, almost always live solely on
condition of their being a vast reflection of the present.
Conceived in the womb of their own period, the whole heart
of humanity stirs within their frame, which often covers a
complete system of philosophy. Thus Walter Scott raised
to the dignity of the philosophy of History the literature
which, from age to age, sets perennial gems in the poetic
crown of every nation where letters are cultivated. He vivi-
fied it with the spirit of the past; he combined drama, dia-
logue, portrait, scenery, and description; he fused the mar-
INTRODUCTION 15
vellous with truth the two elements of the times; and he
brought poetry into close contact with the familiarity of the
humblest speech. But as he had not so much devised a
system as hit upon a manner in the ardor of his work, or as
its logical outcome, he never thought of connecting his com-
positions in such a way as to form a complete history of
which each chapter was a novel, and each novel the picture
of a period.
It was by discerning this lack of unity, which in no way
detracts from the Scottish writer's greatness, that I perceived
at once the scheme which would favor the execution of my
purpose, and the possibility of executing it. Though daz-
zled, so to speak, by Walter Scott's amazing fertility, always
himself and always original, I did not despair, for I found
the source of his genius in the infinite variety of human
nature. Chance is the greatest romancer in the world ; we
have only to study it. French society would be the real
author; I should only be the secretary. By drawing up
an inventory of vices and virtues, by collecting the chief
facts of the passions, by depicting characters, by choosing
the principal incidents of social life, by composing types out
of a combination of homogeneous characteristics, I might
perhaps succeed in writing the history which so many his-
torians have neglected: that of Manners. By patience and
perseverance 1 might produce for France in the nineteenth
century the book which we must all regret that Rome, Ath-
ens, Tyre, Memphis, Persia, and India have not bequeathed
to us; that history of their social life which, prompted by the
Abbe" Barthelerny, Monteil patiently and steadily tried to
write for the Middle Ages, but in an unattractive form.
The work, so far, was nothing. By adhering to the strict
lines of a reproduction a writer might be a more or less faith-
ful, and more or less successful, painter of types of humanity,
a narrator of the dramas of private life, an archa3ologist of
social furniture, a cataloguer of professions, a registrar
of good and evil; but to deserve the praise of which every
artist must be ambitious, must I not also investigate the
16 INTRODUCTION
reasons or the cause of these social effects, detect the hidden
sense of this vast assembly of figures, passions, and inci-
dents? And finally, having sought I will not say having
found this reason, this motive power, must I not reflect
on first principles, and discover in what particulars societies
approach or deviate from the eternal law of truth and beauty ?
In spite of the wide scope of the preliminaries, which might
of themselves constitute a book, the work, to be complete,
would need a conclusion. Thus depicted, society ought to
bear in itself the reason of its working.
The law of the writer, in virtue of which he is a writer,
and which I do not hesitate to say makes him the equal, or
perhaps the superior, of the statesman, is his judgment, what-
ever it may be, on human affairs, and his absolute devotion
to certain principles. Machiavelli, Hobbes, Bossuet, Leib-
nitz, Kant, Montesquieu are the science which statesmen
apply. "A writer ought to have settled opinions on morals
and politics; he should regard himself as a tutor of men; for
men need no masters to teach them to doubt, ' ' says Bonald.
I took these noble words as my guide long ago ; they are the
written law of the monarchical writer. And those who would
confute me by my own words will find that they have mis-
interpreted some ironical phrase, or that they have turned
against me a speech given to one of my actors a trick pecu-
liar to calumniators.
As to the intimate purpose, the soul of this work, these
are the principles on which it is based.
Man is neither good nor bad; he is born with instincts
and capabilities; society, far from depraving him, as Eous-
seau asserts, improves him, makes him better; but self-
interest also develops his evil tendencies. Christianity,
above all, Catholicism, being as I have pointed out in the
"Country Doctor" ("le Medecin de Campagne") a complete
system for the repression of the depraved tendencies of man,
is the most powerful element of social order.
In reading attentively the presentment of society cast, as
it were, from the life, with, all that is good and all that is bad
INTRODUCTION 17
in it, we learn this lesson if thought, or if passion, which
combines thought and feeling, is the vital social element,
it is also its destructive element. In this respect social life
is like the life of man. Nations live long only by moderat-
ing their vital energy. Teaching, or rather education, by
religious bodies is the grand principle of life for nations, the
only means for diminishing the sum of evil and increasing
the sum of good in all society. Thought, the living prin-
ciple of good and ill, can only be trained, quelled, and
guided by religion. The only possible religion is Chris-
tianity (see the letter from Paris in "Louis Lambert," in
which the young mystic explains, d propos to Swedenborg's
doctrines, how there has never been but one religion since
the world began). Christianity created modern nationalities,
and it will preserve them. Hence, no doubt, the necessity
for the monarchical principle. Catholicism and Royalty are
twin principles.
As to the limits within which these two principles should
be confined by various institutions, so that they may not
become absolute, every one will feel that a brief preface
ought not to be a political treatise. I cannot, therefore,
enter on religious discussions, nor on the political discus-
sions of the day. I write under the light of two eternal
truths Religion and Monarchy; two necessities, as they are
shown to be by contemporary events, toward which every
writer of sound sense ought to try to guide the country back.
Without being an enemy to election, which is an excellent
principle as a basis of legislation, I reject election regarded
as the only social instrument, especially so badly organized as
it now is (1842); for it fails to represent imposing minorities,
whose ideas and interests would occupy the attention of a
monarchical government. Elective power extended to all
gives us government by the masses, the only irresponsible
form of government, under which tyranny is unlimited, for
it calls itself law. Besides, I regard the family and not the
individual as the true social unit. In this respect, at the risk
of being thought retrograde, I side with Bossuet and Bonald
18 INTRODUCTION
instead of going with modern innovators. Since election has
become the only social instrument, if I myself were to exer-
cise it no contradiction between my acts and my words should
be inferred. An engineer points out that a bridge is about
to fall, that it is dangerous for any one to cross it; but he
crosses it himself when it is the only road to the town.
Napoleon adapted election to the spirit of the French nation
with wonderful skill. The least important members of his
Legislative Body became the most famous orators of the
Chamber after the Restoration. No Chamber has ever been
the equal of the Corps Legislatif, comparing them man for
man. The elective system of the Empire was, then, indis-
putably the best.
Some persons may, perhaps, think that this declaration
is somewhat autocratic and self-assertive. They will quarrel
with the novelist for wanting to be a historian, and will call
him to account for writing politics. I am simply fulfilling
an obligation that is my reply. The work I have under-
taken will be as long as a history ; I was compelled to explain
the logic of it, hitherto unrevealed, and its principles and
moral purpose.
Having been obliged to withdraw the prefaces formerly
published, in response to essentially ephemeral criticisms,
I will retain only one remark.
Writers who have a purpose in view, were it only a rever-
sion to principles familiar in the past because they are eternal,
should always clear the ground. Now every one who, in the
domain of ideas, brings his stone by pointing out an abuse,
or setting a mark on some evil that it may be removed every
such man is stigmatized as immoral. The accusation of im-
morality, which has never failed to be cast at the courageous
writer, is, after all, the last that can be brought when noth-
ing else remains to be said to a romancer. If you are truth-
ful in your pictures; if by dint of daily and nightly toil you
succeed in writing the most difficult language in the world,
the word immoral is flung in your teeth. Socrates was im-
moral; Jesus Christ was immoral; they both were persecuted
INTRODUCTION . 19
in the name of the society they overset or reformed. When
a man is to be killed he is taxed with immorality. These
tactics, familiar in party warfare, are a disgrace to those who
use them. Luther and Calvin knew well what they were
about when they shielded themselves behind damaged worldly
interests! And they lived all the days of their life.
When depicting all society, sketching it in the immensity
of its turmoil, it happened it could not but happen that
the picture displayed more of evil than of good; that some
part of the fresco represented a guilty couple; and the critics
at once raised the cry of immorality, without pointing out
the morality of another portion intended to be a perfect con-