Honore de Balzac, His Life and Writings - Mary F. Sandars
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Let us hope, however, that our pity is after all wasted on the nieces,
and that in their joy at the idea of receiving handsome presents, they
either skipped the unwelcome portions of their distinguished uncle's
letter, or that, knowing the cause of his raptures, if they _did_
read, they laughed and understood.
His Polar Star is seldom mentioned by name in Balzac's letters; she is
generally "the person with whom I am staying," and he says little
about her, except that she is very much distressed at the amount of
his debts, and that the great happiness of his life is constantly
deferred. Two fires had taken place on the estate, and the Countess
was in addition burdened with three lawsuits: one about some property
which should have come to her from an uncle, and about which it would
be necessary for her to go to St. Petersburg. Balzac's letters as
usual abound in allusions to his monetary difficulties, while the
Survilles had been almost ruined by the Revolution of 1848, so that
the outlook for the family was black on all sides.
All this time Balzac's relations were becoming more and more
discontented with his doings, as well as with the general aspect of
his affairs. Honore was evidently pursuing a chimera, and because of
his illusions, many burdens were imposed on them. Madame de Balzac the
principal sufferer, was tired of acting as custodian at the Rue
Fortunee, where she was expected to teach Francois how to clean the
lamps, and received careful instructions about wrapping the gilt
bronzes in cotton rags. It seemed as though her son were permanently
swallowed up by that terrible Russia, about which, as he remarked
impatiently, she would never understand anything; and she longed to
retire to her little lodgings at Suresnes, and to do as she pleased.
Laure, too, had her grievances, though possibly she kept them to
herself and strove to act as peacemaker. She and her family were in
terrible monetary straits, and the sight of the costly house, which
seemed destined never to be occupied, must have been slightly
exasperating. She was quite willing to be useful to Honore, and did
not mind when troublesome commissions were entrusted to her; but it
was no doubt galling to notice that--though her daughters were
expected to write continually, and were supposed to be amply rewarded
for their labours, by hearing of the delight with which the young
Countess listened to their letters--a strong motive lurking behind
Balzac's anxiety to hear often from his family, was the desire to
impress Madame Hanska favourably with the idea of their affection for
himself, and their unity. At the same time, a sad presentiment warned
her, that if ever her brother were married to this great lady, his
family and friends would see little more of him. The prospect cannot
have been very cheerful to poor Laure, as either Honore would return
to France brokenhearted and overwhelmed with debt, or he would gain
his heart's desire, and would be lost to his family.
The tone of Balzac's letters to his relations at this time has been
adversely criticised, and it is true that the reader is sometimes
irritated by the frequency of his requests for service from them, and
his continual insistence on the wonderful perfections of the Hanski
family, and their grandeur and importance. Occasionally, too, his
letters show an irritability which is a new feature in his character.
We must remember, however, in judging Balzac, that he was nearly
driven wild by the position in which he found himself. It was
necessary that he should always be bright, good-natured, and agreeable
to the party at Wierzchownia, and his letters to his family were
therefore the only safety-valve for the impatience and despair, which,
though he never utters a word of reproach against Madame Hanska, must
sometimes have taken possession of him.
His was a terrible dilemma. Ill and suffering, so that he was not able
to work to diminish his load of debt, desperately in love with a
cold-hearted woman, who used these debts as a lever for postponing what
on her side was certainly an undesirable marriage; and enormously
proud, so that failure in his hopes would mean to him not only a broken
heart, but also almost unbearable mortification; Balzac, crippled and
handicapped, with his teeth set hard, his powers concentrated on one
point, that of winning Madame Hanska, was at times hardly master of
himself. There was indeed some excuse for his irritation, when his
family wrote something tactless, or involved themselves in fresh
misfortunes, just as matters perhaps seemed progressing a little less
unfavourably than usual. Their letters were always read aloud at the
lunch table at Wierzchownia, and often, alas! their perusal served to
prove anew to Madame Hanska, the mistake she had made in contemplating
an alliance with a member of a family so peculiarly unlucky and
undesirable.
At last the smouldering indignation between Balzac and his relations
burst into a flame. The immediate cause of ignition was a letter from
Madame de Balzac, complaining that Honore had not written sufficiently
often to her; and further, that he did not answer his nieces'
epistles. These reproaches were received with much indignation, as
Balzac remarked in his answer, which was dated February, 1849, that he
had written seven times to his mother since his return to Wierzchownia
in September, and that he did not like to send letters continually,
because they were franked by his hosts. He goes on to say rather
sadly, that it will not do for him to trespass on the hospitality
offered him, because, though he has been royally and magnificently
received, he has still no rights but those of a guest. On the subject
of his neglect to write to his nieces, he is very angry, and cries in
an outburst of irritability: "It seems strange to you that I do not
write to my nieces. It is you, their grandmother, who have such ideas
on family etiquette! You consider that your son, fifty years old, is
obliged to write to his nieces! My nieces ought to feel very much
honoured and very happy when I address a few words to them; certainly
their letters are nice, and always give me pleasure."[*] A postscript
to the letter contains the words: "Leave the house in the Rue Fortunee
as little as possible, I beg you, because, though Francois is good and
faithful, he is not very clever, and may easily do stupid things."
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 373.
Balzac followed this with another letter, which apparently impressed
on his mother that to please the Wierzchownia family she must behave
very well to him; and this communication naturally annoyed Madame de
Balzac even more than the preceding one.
In reply, she wrote a severe reprimand to her son, in which she
addressed him as "vous," and remarked that her affection in future
would depend on his conduct. In fact, as Balzac wrote hotly to Laure,
it was the letter of a mother scolding a small boy, and he was fifty
years old! Unfortunately, too, it arrived during the _dejeuner_, and
Balzac cried impulsively, "My mother is angry with me!" and then was
forced to read the letter to the party assembled. It made a very bad
impression, as it showed that either he was a bad son, or his mother
an extremely difficult person to get on with. Fate had chosen an
unfavourable moment for the arrival of this missive, which, later on,
when her wrath had abated, Madame de Balzac announced that she had
written partly in jest. Balzac had at last been allowed to write to
St. Petersburg, to beg the Czar's permission for his marriage with
Madame Hanska, and this had been very decidedly refused. Madame Hanska
was not at this time prepared to hand over her capital to her
daughter, and thus to take the only step, which would have induced her
Sovereign to authorise her to leave his dominions. She therefore
talked of breaking off the engagement, and of sending Balzac to Paris,
to sell everything in the Rue Fortunee. She was tired of struggling;
and in Russia she was rich, honoured, and comfortable, whereas she
trembled to think of the troublous life which awaited her as Madame
Honore de Balzac. Madame de Balzac's letter further strengthened her
resolve. Apparently, in addition to evidence about family dissensions,
it contained disquieting revelations about the discreditable Henri,
and the necessity for supporting the Montzaigle grandchildren; and the
veil with which Balzac had striven to soften the aspect of the family
skeletons was violently withdrawn. He was in despair. At this juncture
his mother's communication was fatal! She had done irreparable
mischief!
The long letter he wrote to Madame Surville,[*] imploring her to act
as peacemaker, and insisting on the benefits which his marriage would
bring to the whole family, would be comical were it not for the
writer's real trouble and anxiety; and the reader's knowledge that,
underlying the common-sense worldly arguments--which were brought
forward in the hope of inducing his family to help him by all the
means in their power--was real romantic love for the woman who had now
been his ideal for sixteen years.
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 378.
He put the case to Madame Surville as if it were her own, and asked
what her course would be if she were rich, and Sophie an heiress with
many suitors. Sophie, according to her uncle's hypothesis, was in love
with a young sculptor; and her parents had permitted an engagement
between the two. The sculptor, however, came to live in the same house
with his _fiancee_, and his family wrote him letters which he showed
to Madame Surville, containing damaging revelations about family
matters. As a culminating indiscretion, his mother wrote to this
sculptor, "who is David, or Pradier, or Ingres," a letter in which she
treated him like a street boy. What would Laure do in these
circumstances? Balzac asks. Would she not in disgust dismiss the
sculptor, and choose a more eligible _parti_ for Sophie?
"Unsatisfactory marriages," he remarks sagely, "are easily made; but
satisfactory ones require infinite precautions and scrupulous
attention, or one does not get married; and I am at present most
likely to remain a bachelor."[*]
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 328.
He appeals to Madame Surville's self-interest. "Reflect on the fact,
my dear Laure, that not one of us can be said to have arrived at our
goal, and that if, instead of being obliged to work in order to live,
I were to become the husband of a most intellectual, well born and
highly connected woman, with a solid though small fortune--in spite of
this woman's desire to remain in her own country and to make no new
relations, even family ones--I should be in a much more favourable
position to be useful to you all. I know that Madame Hanska would show
kindness to and feel keen interest in your dear little ones."
Surely, he says, it will be an advantage to the whole family, when he
has a _salon_ presided over by a beautiful, clever woman, imposing as
a queen, where he can assemble the _elite_ of Parisian society. He
does not wish to be tyrannical or overbearing with his family, but he
informs them that it will be of no use to place themselves in
opposition to such a woman. He warns them that she and her children
will _never forgive_ those who blame him to them. Further on in his
lengthy epistle, he gives instructions in deportment, and tells his
relations that in their intercourse with Madame Hanska they must not
show servility, haughtiness, sensitiveness, or obsequiousness; but
must be natural, simple, and affectionate. It was no wonder that the
Balzac family disliked Madame Hanska! And the poor woman cannot be
considered responsible for the feeling evoked!
Towards the end of his letter, however, the reader forgives Balzac,
and realises that the cry of a desperate man, ill and suffering, yet
still clinging with determined strength to the hope which means
everything to him, must not be criticised minutely. "Once everything
is lost, I shall live no longer; I shall content myself with a garret
like that of the Rue Lesdiguieres, and shall only spend a hundred
francs a month. My heart, soul, and ambition will be satisfied with
nothing but the object I have pursued for sixteen years: if this
immense happiness escapes me, I shall no longer want anything, and
shall refuse everything!"
CHAPTER XVI
1849 - 1850
Peace renewed between Balzac and his family--He thinks of old
friends--Madame Hanska's continued vacillations--Dr. Knothe's
treatment--Madame Hanska's relations with Balzac, and her
ignorance about his illness--Visit to Kiev--Balzac's marriage
--His letters to his mother, sister, and to Madame Carraud
--Delay in starting for France--Terrible journey--Madame Honore
de Balzac's pearl necklace and strange letter--Balzac's married
life--Arrival of the newly-married couple in Paris.
The quarrel between Balzac and his family was quickly made up, and it
was settled that his mother should--if she wished to do so--return at
once to Suresnes; and come up every day to the Rue Fortunee, taking
carriages for this purpose at Balzac's expense. However, having made a
small commotion, and asserted her dignity by the announcement that she
felt perfectly free to leave the Rue Fortunee whenever she chose to do
so, Madame de Balzac's resentment was satisfied; and she remained
there till a month before Balzac's return in May, 1850, when illness
necessitated her removal to her daughter's house.[*] The nieces, of
whom Balzac was really extremely fond, "sulked" no longer, but wrote
letters which their uncle praised highly, and which he answered gaily
and amusingly. The shadowy cloud, too, which had prevented the brother
and sister from seeing each other clearly, dispersed for ever; and one
of Honore's letters to Laure about this time contains the loving
words, "As far as you are concerned, every day is your festival in my
heart, companion of my childhood, and of my bright as well as of my
gloomy days."[+]
[*] "Une Page perdue de Honore de Balzac," by the Vicomte de
Spoelberch de Lovenjoul.
[+] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 420.
It is curious to notice that Balzac's thoughts now turned to those
faithful friends of his youth, who had in late years passed rather
into the background of his life. He wrote a long letter to Madame
Delannoy, who had been a mother to him in the struggling days of his
half-starved youth. He had paid off the debt he owed her, but he said
he would never be able to thank her adequately for her tenderness and
goodness to him. He thought also of Dablin, his early benefactor; and
he remembered the old days at Frapesle, and wrote Madame Carraud a
most affectionate letter, sending messages of remembrance to Borget
and to the Commandant Carraud, and inquiring about his old
acquaintance Periollas. The Carrauds, like others in those
revolutionary days, had lost money; and Balzac explained that though
owing to his illness he had been forbidden to write, he felt obliged
to disobey his doctor's commands, that Madame Carraud should not
believe that true friends can ever fail each other in trouble. He
says: "I have never ceased thinking about you, loving you, talking of
you, even here, where they have known Borget since 1833. . . . How
different life is from the height of fifty years, and how far we are
often from our hopes! . . . How many objects, how many illusions have
been thrown overboard! and except for the affection which continues to
grow, I have advanced in nothing!"[*]
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 422.
The annals of this last year of Balzac's life, are a record of
constantly disappointed hope and of physical suffering. One after
another he was forced to give up his many plans, and to remain in
suffering inaction. He had intended to go to Kiev to present himself
to the Governor-General, but this expedition was put off from month to
month owing to his ill health. A visit to Moscow on his way back to
Paris, was another project which had to be abandoned, as he was never
well enough to make his proposed visit to France till he took his last
painful and difficult journey in April, 1850, and sight-seeing was
then impossible. His hopefulness, however, never left him, and his
projected enterprises, whether they took the shape of writings or of
travels, were in his eyes only deferred, never definitely
relinquished. The wearing uncertainty about Madame Hanska's intentions
was the one condition of his life which continued always, if
continuance can be considered applicable to anything so variable as
that lady's moods. In April, 1849, Balzac wrote to his sister: "No one
knows what the year 1847, and February, 1848, and above all the doubt
as to what my fate will be, have cost me!"[*]
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 392.
Sometimes, Madame Hanska, cruelly regardless of the agony she caused
the sick man by her heedless words, would threaten to break off the
engagement altogether. On other occasions, Balzac would write to his
family to say that, for reasons which he was unable to give in his
letters, the question of the marriage was _postponed indefinitely_;
and once he made the resolution that he would not leave Wierzchownia
till the affair was settled in one way or another. In a crisis of his
terrible malady he wrote: "Whatever happens, I shall come back in
August. One must die at one's post. . . . How can I offer a life as
broken as mine! I must make my situation clear to the incomparable
friend who for sixteen years has shone on my life like a beneficent
star."[*]
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 401.
The relations between Balzac and Madame Hanska at this time are
mysterious. He shows his usual caution in his letters to his family,
and the reader is conscious that much was passing at Wierzchownia, on
which Balzac is absolutely silent, and that many events that he _does_
record are carefully arranged with the intention of conveying certain
impressions to his hearers. One of his motives is clear. He was
nervously afraid that gossip about his secret engagement, and possibly
approaching marriage, should be spread abroad prematurely; and that
the report might either frighten Madame Hanska into dismissing him
altogether, or might reach the ears of her relations, and cause them
to remonstrate with her anew on the folly of her proceedings.
Other discrepancies are puzzling. All through 1849 Balzac, as we have
seen, was very ill. He was suffering from aneurism of the heart, a
complaint which the two doctors Knothe told him they could cure. With
perfect faith in their powers, Balzac wrote to his sister expressing
regret that, owing to the ignorance of the French doctors Soulie had
been allowed to die of this malady, when he might have been saved if
Dr. Knothe's treatment had been followed. The younger doctor, however,
soon gave up Balzac's case as hopeless; but the father, who was very
intimate with the Wierzchownia family, always expressed himself
confidently about his patient's ultimate recovery; and Balzac wrote:
"What gratitude I owe to this doctor! He loves violins: when once I am
at Paris I must find a Stradivarius to present to him."[*]
[*] "Correspondance," vol. ii. p. 404.
Dr. Knothe's principal prescription was pure lemon juice. This was to
be taken twice a day, to purify and quicken the circulation of the
blood in the veins, and to re-establish the equilibrium between it and
the arterial blood. Either as a consequence of this treatment, or in
the natural course of the illness, a terrible crisis took place in
June, 1849, during which Balzac's sufferings were intense; and for
twenty-five hours the doctor never left him. After this he was better
for a time, and though his eyesight had become so weak that he was
unable to read at night, he could walk, go upstairs, and lie flat in
bed. In October he was seized with what he called Moldavian fever, a
disease which came, he said, from the swamps of the Danube, and
ravaged the Odessa district and the steppes; and again he became
dangerously ill. In January, 1850, the fever was followed by a
terrible cold in his lungs, and he was obliged to remain for ten days
in bed. However, he was cheered by the society of Madame Hanska and
Madame Georges Mniszech, who showed "adorable goodness" in keeping him
company during his imprisonment.
After hearing all this, it is startling to read in a letter from
Madame Honore de Balzac to her daughter written from Frankfort on May
16th, 1850,[*] that it is awkward that she should know nothing of the
regimen to which Balzac has been subjected by Dr. Knothe; because when
they arrive in Paris, his own doctor is certain to ask for
particulars! The most indifferent hostess could not fail, one would
think, to interest herself sufficiently about the welfare of the
solitary and expatriated guest under her roof, to consult with the
doctor about him when he was dangerously ill. More especially would
she feel responsibility, when it was owing to her own action that the
patient was cut off from all other advice, except that of a medical
man who was her peculiar _protege_. He would thus be completely in her
charge; and she would naturally be nervously anxious, for her own
comfort and satisfaction, to acquaint herself with the course of the
malady, and with the treatment used to subdue it. If we add to these
considerations the fact that the sufferer was not a mere acquaintance,
was not even only a great friend; but was the man who loved her, the
man whose wife she had promised to become, Madame Hanska's ignorance
appears totally inexplicable.
[*] Unpublished letter in the possession of the Vicomte de Spoelberch
de Lovenjoul.
We must remember, however, that we only have _Balzac's_ account of his
illness, and of his interviews with the doctor; and that the malady
being heart disease, it is possible that Dr. Knothe considered it his
duty to deceive his patient--possible therefore that Madame Hanska
knew before her marriage that Balzac was a dying man, and that the
doctor's prescriptions were useless.
Owing to the burning of her letters, we have only Balzac's
enthusiastic and lover-like descriptions to guide our idea of Madame
Hanska; and she remains to some extent a shadowy figure, difficult to
realise. Several characteristics, however, stand out clearly: among
them her power of hiding her thoughts and feelings from those to whom
she was most deeply attached; also an occasional self-control, which
seems strangely at variance with her naturally passionate and
uncontrolled nature. She was extremely proud; and the wish, while
pleasing herself, to do nothing which would lower her in the eyes of
the world, exercised a powerful influence over her actions.
Intellectually brilliant, a clever woman of business, and mentally
active; she was yet on some occasions curiously inert, and carried the
state of mind embodied in the words "live and let live," to dangerous
lengths. She must have possessed great determination, as even Balzac's
adoration, and his undoubted powers of fascination, could not move her
from the vacillations which, designedly or no, kept _him_ enchained at
her feet while _she_ remained free.
Among much however, in her character that we cannot admire, she
possessed one virtue in perfection--that of maternal love. The bond of
affection between the mother and her daughter Anna was strong and
enduring, and Madame Hanska would willingly have sacrificed everything
for her beloved child's happiness. This was the true, engrossing love
of her life; her affection for Balzac not having remained in its first
freshness, as his love for her had done. On the contrary, it was at
this time slightly withered, and had been partially stifled by
prudential considerations, so that it was difficult to discover among
the varied and tangled growths which surrounded it.
It is an interesting problem whether Balzac, in spite of his brave
words, realised that Madame Hanska no longer cared for him. When he
wrote that he was sure that none of these deferments proceeded from
want of love, did he pen these words with a wistful attempt to prove
to himself that the fact was as he stated? After eighteen months in
the same house with Madame Hanska, could he _really_ believe that only
material difficulties kept her apart from him? Or did he at last
understand: and though stricken to death, cling still, for the sake of
his pride and his lost illusions, to what had been for so long his one
object in life? We do not know.
The only thing of which we are certain is, that if the fact of Madame
Hanska's indifference _had_ slowly and painfully dawned upon Balzac,
he would never have told, and would have used words to hide his
knowledge.
On the other hand, there is sometimes a ring of truth about his words,
which seem to prove that he had not yet tasted the full bitterness of
the tragedy of his life. On November 29th, 1849, he wrote to Madame
Surville[*]: "It is the recompense of your life to possess two such
children; you must not be unjust to fate; you ought to be willing to
accept many misfortunes. The case is the same with me and Madame
Hanska. The gift of her affection accounts to me for all my troubles,
my worries, and my terrible labours. I have been paying in advance for
the price of this treasure: as Napoleon says, everything is paid for
here, nothing is stolen. I seem, indeed, to have paid very little.
Twenty-five years of work and struggle are nothing compared to a love
so splendid, so radiant, so complete. I have been fourteen months in a
desert, for it _is_ a desert; and it seems to me that they have passed
like a dream, without an hour's weariness, without a single dispute;
and that after five years to travel together, and sixteen years of
intimate acquaintance, our only troubles have been caused by the state
of our health and by business matters."