Honore de Balzac, His Life and Writings - Mary F. Sandars
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It is curious about this time to notice the reappearance of the early
romantic novels, "Jane la Pale," "La Derniere Fee," and their
fellows.[*] Balzac, as we have seen was in terrible straits for money,
and he knew that the Belgians, who at this time practised the most
shameless piracy, would reprint the books for their own advantage, if
he did not. Therefore, in self-defence, he determined to bring out an
edition himself; though, as he consistently refused to acknowledge the
authorship of these despised productions, the treaty was drawn up in
the name of friends. Nevertheless, with his usual caution, he drew up
a secret document which was signed by M. Regnault, one of those in
whose name the sale to the publisher was arranged, to the effect that
the works of the late Horace de Saint-Aubin were really the property
of M. de Balzac. "L'Heritiere de Birague" and "Jean Louis" did not
appear in this edition, probably owing to the intervention of M. Le
Poitevin, who considered them partly his property; but they were
published with the others in an edition printed in 1853, after a
lawsuit between Balzac's widow and his early collaborator.
[*] "Une Page Perdue de Honore de Balzac," by the Vicomte de
Spoelberch de Lovenjoul.
The condition of the whole Balzac family at the close of 1835 was
tragic, M. Henri, back from abroad, and utterly incapable, as Balzac
says, of doing anything, talked of blowing out his brains; Madame
Surville was ill, Madame Balzac's reason or life was despaired of; and
Balzac chose this time to consult a somnambulist about Madame Hanska,
and was told the distressing news that she was in anxiety of some
sort, and that her heart was enlarged! Fortunately, in October, 1835,
the Hanski family returned to Wierzchownia, and the constant worry to
Balzac of their proximity to France was removed for the time.
In December another misfortune befell Balzac. A fire broke out at the
printing office in the Rue du Pot-de-Fer, and burnt the first hundred
and sixty pages of the third dizain of the "Contes Drolatiques," as
well as five hundred volumes of the first and second dizain, which had
cost him four francs each. He thus lost 3,500 francs, and to add to
the calamity, did not receive the sum of 6,000 francs which in the
ordinary course of events would have been due to him at the end of the
year, when but for this disaster he would have handed over the third
dizain to Werdet and an associate.
Figures and sums of money occur constantly in Balzac's letters; but
his accounts of his pecuniary affairs are so conflicting and so
complicated that it is impossible to understand them; indeed it is
doubtful whether he ever mastered them himself, as he continually
expected to be out of debt in a few months. According to his own story
to Madame Hanska, he left the printing office owing 100,000 francs,
had to find 6,000 francs a year for interest on this debt, and
required 3,000 francs to live on; while in 1828, 1829, and 1830, he
only made 3,000 francs each year, so that in three years he had
increased his debt by 24,000 francs. In 1830 the Revolution caused
general disaster among the publishers, and "La Peau de Chagrin" only
made 700 francs, so that in 1830 and 1831 Balzac had an income of only
10,000 francs a year, and had to pay out 18,000 francs. From 1833 to
1836 he received 10,000 francs a year by his treaty with Madame
Bechet; 6,000 of this he paid in interest on his debt, while 4,000
apparently remained to live on. However, between the fire in the Rue
du Pot-de-Fer, Werdet's delinquencies, the failure of the _Chronique_,
and the sums paid back to publishers who had advanced money on
arrangements Balzac cancelled to fulfil this new agreement, hardly
anything was left; and in 1837 he owed 162,000 francs.
In August, 1835, he describes his life thus[*]: "Work, always work!
Heated nights succeed heated nights, days of meditation days of
meditation; from execution to conception, from conception to
execution! Little money compared with what I want, much money compared
with production. If each of my books were paid like those of Walter
Scott, I should manage; but although well paid, I do not attain my
goal. I received 8,000 francs for the 'Lys'; half of this came from
the publisher, half from the _Revue de Paris_. The article in the
_Conservateur_ will pay me 3,000 francs. I shall have finished
'Seraphita,' begun 'Les Memoires de Deux Jeunes Mariees,' and finished
Mme. Bechet's edition. I do not know whether a brain, pen, and hand
will ever before have accomplished such a 'tour de force' with the
help of a bottle of ink."
[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."
As it is impossible for even a Balzac to live without relaxation, even
if he goes without rest, what, may we ask, were his recreations at
this time? In the first place he often went to the theatre; and he was
passionately fond of music, occupying a place in the box at the
Italian Opera, which was reserved specially for dandies. One of his
extravagances was a dinner at which he entertained the five other
"tigres," as the occupants of this box were nicknamed, and Rossini,
Olympe Pelissier, Nodier, Sandeau, and Bohain. At this banquet, the
most sumptuous fare and the most exquisite wines were provided for the
guests, and the table was decked with the rarest flowers. Balzac
enjoyed the festivity immensely, as well as the _eclat_ which followed
it; and relates with delight that all Paris was talking of it, and
that Rossini said he had not seen more magnificence when he dined at
royal tables.
However busy he was, he never completely deprived himself of the
pleasure of listening to music; though on one occasion he remarks
regretfully, that he has been obliged to limit his attendance at the
Opera to two visits each month; and on another, that he has been so
overwhelmed with business that he has not been able even to have a
bath, or go to the Italian Opera, two things that are more necessary
to him than bread. His works abound in references to his beloved art,
and when he was writing "Massimilla Doni" he employed a professional
musician to instruct him about it. Beethoven, in particular, he speaks
of with the utmost enthusiasm, and after hearing his "Symphony in Ut
mineur," he says that the great musician is the only person who makes
him feel jealous, and that he prefers him even to Rossini and Mozart.
"The spirit of the writer," he says, "cannot give such enjoyment,
because what _we_ print is finished and determined, whereas Beethoven
wafts his audience to the infinite."[*]
[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."
The other amusements of this great thinker and seer would strike the
reader as strange, if he did not perhaps, by this time, realise that
no anomaly need surprise him in Balzac's extraordinary personality.
He writes to Madame Hanska[*]: "As to my joys, they are innocent. They
consist in new furniture for my room, a cane which makes all Paris
chatter, a divine opera-glass, which my workers have had made by the
optician at the Observatory; also the gold buttons on my new coat,
buttons chiselled by the hand of a fairy, for the man who carries a
cane worthy of Louis XIV. in the nineteenth century cannot wear
ignoble pinchbeck buttons. These are little innocent toys, which make
me considered a millionaire. I have created the sect of the
'Cannophiles' in the world of fashion, and every one thinks me utterly
frivolous. This amuses me!" Certainly Balzac was not wrong when he
told his correspondent that there was much of the child in him.
[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."
CHAPTER IX
NO PARTICULAR DATE
Balzac's portrait as described by Gautier--His character--Belief
in magnetism and somnambulism--His attempts to become deputy--His
political and religious views.
In the Salon of 1837 appeared a portrait of Balzac by Boulanger,[*] of
which Theophile Gautier gave the following description in _La Presse_:
"M. de Balzac is not precisely beautiful. His features are irregular;
he is fat and short. Here is a summary which does not seem to lend
itself to a painting, but this is only the reverse of the medal. The
life and ardour reflected in the whole face give it a special beauty.
[*] See the chapter entitled "Un Portrait" in "Autour de Honore de
Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul.
"In this portrait, M. de Balzac, enveloped in the large folds of a
monk's habit, sits with his arms crossed, in a calm and strong
attitude; the neck is uncovered, the look firm and direct; the light,
shining from above, illumines the satin-like smoothness of the upper
parts of the forehead, and throws a bright light on the bumps of
imagination and humour, which are strongly developed in M. de Balzac;
the black hair, also lit up, shining and radiant, comes from the
temples in bright waves, and gives singular light to the top of the
head; the eyes steeped in a golden penumbra with tawny eyeballs, on a
moist and blue crystalline lens like that of a child, send out a
glance of astonishing acuteness; the nose, divided into abrupt
polished flat places, breathes strongly and passionately, through
large red nostrils; the mouth, large and voluptuous, particularly in
the lower lip, smiles with a rabelaisian smile under the shade of a
moustache much lighter in colour than the hair; and the chin, slightly
raised, is attached to the throat by a fold of flesh, ample and
strong, which resembles the dewlap of a young bull. The throat itself
is of athletic and rare strength, the plump full cheeks are touched
with the vermilion of nervous health, and all the flesh tints are
resplendent with the most joyful and reassuring brilliancy.
"In this monk's and soldier's head there is a mixture of reflection
and of good-humour, of resolution and of high spirits, which is
infinitely rare; the thinker and good liver melt into each other with
quaint harmony. Put a cuirass on this large breast, and you will have
one of those fat German foot-soldiers so jovially painted by Terburg.
With the monks' habit, it is Jean des Entommeurs[*]; nevertheless, do
not forget that the eyes throw, through all this embonpoint and
good-humour, the yellow look of a lion to counteract this Flemish
familiarity. Such a man would be equal to excesses of the table, of
pleasure, and of work. We are no longer astonished at the immense
quantity of volumes published by him in so short a time. This
prodigious labour has left no trace of fatigue on the strong cheeks
dappled with red, and on the large white forehead. The enormous work
which would have crushed six ordinary authors under its weight is
hardly the third of the monument he wishes to raise."
[*] One of the characters in Rabelais.
The original of this portrait was sent to Madame Hanska at
Wierzchownia; but a sketch of it belongs to M. Alexandre Dumas the
younger, and has often been engraved. From this, it seems as though
Theophile Gautier must have read his knowledge of Balzac's character
as a whole into his interpretation of the picture. To the ordinary
observer, Boulanger's portrait represents Balzac as the thinker,
worker, and fighter, stern and strenuous; not the delightful comrade
who inspired joy and merriment, and the recollection of whom made
Heine smile on his death-bed. The wonderful eyes which had not their
equal, and which asked questions like a doctor or a priest, are
brilliantly portrayed. Balzac himself allows this, though he complains
to Madame Hanska that they have more of the psychological expression
of the worker than of the loving soul of the individual--a fact for
which we may be grateful to Boulanger. Balzac is much delighted,
however, with Boulanger's portrayal of the insistence and intrepid
faith in the future, a la Coligny or a la Peter the Great, which are
at the base of his character; and he goes on to give an attractive,
though rather picturesque account of his career and past misfortunes,
which is evidently intended to counteract any misgivings Madame Hanska
may feel at his sternness as depicted in the portrait.
"Boulanger has seen the writer only,[*] not the tenderness of the
idiot who will always be deceived, not the softness towards other
people's troubles which cause all my misfortunes to come from my
holding out my hand to weak people who are falling into disaster. In
1827 I help a working printer, and therefore in 1829 find myself
crushed by fifty thousand francs of debt, and thrown without bread
into a gutter. In 1833, when my pen appears to be likely to bring in
enough to pay off my obligations, I attach myself to Werdet. I wish to
make him my only publisher, and in my desire to bring him prosperity,
I sign engagements, and in 1837 find myself owing a hundred and fifty
thousand francs, and liable on this account to be put under arrest, so
that I am obliged to hide. During this time I make myself the Don
Quixote of the poor. I hope to give courage to Sandeau, and I lose
through him four to five thousand francs, which would have saved other
people." It would be interesting to hear what Barbier and Werdet would
have said, if they had been allowed to read this letter; but on
Browning's principle, that a man should show one side to the world,
and the other to the woman he loves, no doubt Balzac's account of past
events was quite justifiable.
[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."
Boulanger's picture gave Balzac a great deal of trouble, as well as
delighted yet anxious speculation about Madame Hanska's opinion of it,
when it arrived in Wierzchownia. This was naturally an important
matter, his meetings with her being so rare that, except his letters,
the picture would generally be her only reminder of him; and for this
reason it was most necessary that it should show him at his best. It
was therefore very trying that Boulanger should have exaggerated the
character of his quiet strength, and made him look like a bully and a
soldier; and we can enter thoroughly into his feelings, and sympathise
heartily with his uneasiness, because Boulanger has not quite caught
the fineness of contour under the fatness of the face. Undoubtedly,
the picture does not give the idea of a person of extreme refinement,
or distinction of appearance. Nevertheless, judging from stories told
by his contemporaries, and also from some of the books written by the
great novelist, it seems likely that Boulanger's powerful and strongly
coloured portrait, though only redeemed from coarseness by the intense
concentration of expression and the intellectual light in the
wonderful eyes, was strikingly true to nature, and caught one very
real aspect of the man. Perhaps, however, it was not the one
calculated to work most strongly on the feelings of his absent
lady-love; who, no doubt, poor Balzac hoped, would often make her way
to the spot in the picture gallery where his picture hung in its quaint
frame of black velvet, and would refresh herself with the sight of her
absent friend. When her miniature by Daffinger was sent him, he was
stupefied all day with joy; and he always carried it about with him,
considering it an amulet which brought him good fortune.
He believed in talismans, and had pretty fanciful ideas about being
present to his friends in the sudden flicker of the fire, or the
brightening of a candle-flame. Balzac, the Seer, the believer in
animal magnetism, in somnambulism, in telepathy, the weaver of strange
fancies and impossible daydreams--Balzac with philosophical theories
on the function of thought, and faith in the mystical creed of
Swedenborg--in short, the Balzac of "Louis Lambert" and "Seraphita,"
is not, however, depicted by Boulanger: _he_ can only be found in M.
Rodin's wonderful statue. There the great _voyant_, who, in the
beautiful vision entitled "L'Assomption," saw man and woman perfected
and brought to their highest development, stands in rapt contemplation
and concentration, his head slightly raised, as if listening for the
voice of inspiration, or hearing murmurs of mysteries still
unfathomed.
Somnambulism, in particular, occupied much of Balzac's attention. He
wrote in 1832 to a doctor, M. Chapelain, who evidently shared his
interest in the subject, to ask why medical men had not made use of it
to discover the cause of cholera[*]; and on another occasion, after an
accident to his leg, he sent M. Chapelain, from Aix, two pieces of
flannel which he had worn, and wanted to know from them what caused
the mischief, and why the doctors at their last consultation advised a
blister. Unluckily, we hear no more of this matter, and never have the
satisfaction of learning how much the learned doctor deduced from the
fragments submitted to his inspection. Time after time Balzac mentions
in his correspondence that he has consulted somnambulists when he has
been anxious about the health of the Hanski family; and it is curious
that a few months before he received the letter from Madame Hanska,
telling of her husband's death, he had visited a sorcerer, who by
means of cards, told him many extraordinary things about his past
career, and said that in six weeks he would receive news which would
change his whole life.
[*] "Correspondance," vol. i. p. 147.
The portrait was still destined to cause Balzac much anxiety. After
the close of the Salon, the painter had promised to take a copy of it
for Madame de Balzac, who, "between ourselves," Balzac remarked to
Madame Hanska, would not care much about it, and certainly would not
know the difference between the replica and the original, in which the
soul of the model was searched for, examined and depicted,[*] and
which was, of course, to belong to the beloved friend.
[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."
However, there were still many delays. Boulanger showed "horrible
ingratitude," and did not appreciate sufficiently the honour done him
by his illustrious sitter in allowing his portrait to be taken. He
refused at first to begin the copy; but this difficulty was at last
arranged, and the original was carefully packed in a wooden crate,
instead of going in a roll as Balzac had at first intended. Still
there were innumerable stoppages, and doubt where the precious canvas
was located; till the impatient Balzac was only deterred from his
intention of starting a lawsuit against the authorities, by a fear of
bringing the noble name of Hanski into notoriety. It is sad that the
last time we hear of this precious picture in Balzac's lifetime was
when he went to Wierzchownia, in 1849; and then it had been relegated
to a library which few people visited, and he describes it with his
usual energy, as the most hideous daub it is possible to see--quite
black, from the faulty mixing of the colours; a canvas of which, for
the sake of France, he is thoroughly ashamed.
The sketch of the portrait is not disfigured; and the engravings of it
give an interesting view of Balzac's personality. With due deference
to the great psychologist, we cannot think the painter was wrong in
imparting a slightly truculent expression to the face. Balzac was
essentially a fighter: he started life with a struggle against his
family, against the opinion of his friends, and, harder than all,
against his own impotence to give expression to his genius; and, in
the course of his career he made countless enemies, and finished by
enrolling among their ranks most of the literary men of the day. This
alienation was to a great extent caused by his inveterate habit of
boasting, of applying the adjectives "sublime" and "magnificent" to
his own works: an idiosyncracy which was naturally annoying to his
brother authors. It was deprecated even by his devoted and admiring
friends; though they knew that, as George Sand says, it was only
caused by the _naivete_ of an artist, to whom his work was
all-important.
His personal charm was so great, that Werdet, his enemy, says that in
his presence those who loved him, forgot any real or fancied complaint
against him, and only remembered the affection they felt for him.
Nevertheless, in the course of his life of fighting, his ever-pressing
anxieties and the strain of his work, coupled with his belief in the
importance and sacredness of his destiny, made him something of an
egotist. Therefore, in spite of his real goodness of heart, he would
sometimes shoulder his way through the world, oblivious of the
unfortunate people who had come to grief owing to their connection
with him, and careless of the lesser, though very real troubles of
harassed and exasperated editors, when his promised copy was not
forthcoming.
Like Napoleon, to whom, amidst the gibes of his contemporaries, he
likened himself, he wanted everything; and those with this aspiration
must necessarily be heedless of their neighbours' smaller ambitions.
"Without genius, I am undone!" he cried in despair; but when it was
proved beyond dispute that this gift of debatable beneficence was his,
he was still unsatisfied.
What, after all, was the use of genius except as a stepping-stone to
the solid good things of the earth? Where lay the advantage of
superiority to ordinary men, if it could not be employed as a lever
with which to raise oneself? Reasoning thus, his extraordinary
versatility, his power of assimilation, and his varied interests, made
his ambitions many and diverse. The man who could enter with the
masterly familiarity of an expert into affairs of Church, State,
Society, and Finance, who would talk of medicine like a doctor, or of
science like a savant, naturally aspired to excellence in many
directions.
At times, as we have already seen, strange fancies filled his brain:
dreams, for instance, of occupying the highest posts in the land, or
of gaining fabulous sums of money by some wildly impossible scheme,
such as visiting the Great Mogul with a magical ring, or obtaining
rubies and emeralds from a rich Dutchman. The two apparently
incompatible sides to Balzac's character are difficult to reconcile.
On some occasions he appears as the keen business man, who studies
facts in their logical sequence, and has the power of drawing up legal
documents with no necessary point omitted. The masterly Code which he
composed for the use of the "Societe des Gens-de-Lettres" is an
example of this faculty. At other times we are astonished to find that
the great writer is a credulous believer in impossibilities, and a
follower of strange superstitions. A similar paradox may be found in
his books, where, side by side with a truth and occasional brutality
which makes him in some respects the forerunner of the realists, we
find a wealth of imagination and insistence on the power of the higher
emotions, which are completely alien to the school of Flaubert and
Zola.
Perhaps in his own dictum, that genius is never quite sane, gives a
partial explanation of many of his fantastic schemes. The question of
money was his great preoccupation and anxiety, and possibly his
pecuniary difficulties, and the strain of the heavy chain of debt he
dragged after him, constantly adding to its weight by some fresh
extravagance, had affected his mind on this one point. Marriage with
poverty he could not conceive; and, as he was intensely affectionate,
he longed for a home and womanly companionship. "Is there no woman in
the world for me?" he cried despairingly; but in this, as in
everything else, he required so much, that it was difficult to find
any one who would, in his eyes, be worthy to become Madame Honore de
Balzac. His wife must be no ordinary woman; in addition to birth and
wealth, she must possess youth, beauty, and high intellectual gifts;
and one great difficulty was, that the lady endowed with this
combination of excellencies would naturally require some winning, and
Balzac had no time to woo. However, it was absolutely necessary that
his married life should be one of luxury and magnificence, beautiful
surroundings being indispensable to his scheme of existence, "Il
faut," he said, "que l'artiste mene une vie splendide." Therefore,
till the right lady was found, Balzac toiled unceasingly; and when in
Madame Hanska the personification of his ideal at last appeared, he
redoubled his efforts, till overwork, and his longing for her, caused
the decay of his physical powers, and his strength for labour
diminished.
Literature, a rich marriage, a successful play, or a political career,
were all incidentally to make his fortune; though it must be said, in
justice, that this motive, though it entwines itself with everything
in Balzac's life, was not his only, or even his principal incentive to
action.
In his desire to become a deputy, for instance, the longing to serve
his country and to have a voice in her Councils, which he would use
boldly, conscientiously, without fear or favour, to further her true
interests, was ever present with him. As early as 1819, he had begun
to take the keenest interest in the elections, telling M. Dablin, from
whom he wanted a visit, that he dreamed of nothing but him and the
deputies, and begging him for a complete list of those chosen in each
department, with a short notice of his opinion on each.