Women in the Life of Balzac Part 6

After the death of Madame O'Donnel, in 1841, Madame de Girardin's friends.h.i.+p lost a part of its charm for Balzac and the rest of it vanished in these troubles. Since the greater part of the last few years of Balzac's life was spent in the Ukraine, she saw but little of him, but she hoped for his return with his long sought bride to the home he had so lovingly prepared for her in the rue Fortunee.

Whether Balzac was fickle in his nature, or whether he was trying to convince Madame Hanska that she was the only woman for whom he cared, one finds, throughout his letters to her, various comments on Madame de Girardin, some favorable, some otherwise. He admired her beauty very much, and was saddened when, at the height of her splendor, she was stricken with smallpox. He was grateful to her for the service she rendered him in arranging for the first presentation of his play _Vautrin_, throughout the misfortune attending this production she proved to be a true friend. Although he accepted her hospitality frequently, at times being invited to meet foreigners, among them the German Mlle. De Hahn, enjoying himself immensely, he regretted the time he sacrificed in this manner, and when he quarreled with her husband, he expressed his happiness in severing his relations with them. While a charming hostess at a small dinner party, she became, Balzac felt, a less agreeable one at a large reception, her talents not being sufficient to conceal her _bourgeois_ origin.

Madame de Girardin was in the country near Paris when she heard the sad news of the death of the author of the _Comedie humaine_. The shock was so great that she fainted, and, on regaining consciousness, wept bitterly over the premature death of her fried. A few years before her own death, in 1855, Madame de Girardin was greatly depressed by painful disappointments. The death of Balzac may be numbered as one of the sad events which discouraged, in the decline of life, the heart and the hope of this n.o.ble woman.

Madame Desbordes-Valmore was another literary woman whom Balzac met in the salon of Madame Sophie Gay, where she and Delphine recited poetry.

Losing her mother at an early age under especially sad circ.u.mstances and finding her family dest.i.tute, after long hesitation, she resigned herself to the stage. Though very delicate, by dint of studious nights, close economy and many privations, she prepared herself for this work. At this time she contracted a _habit_ of suffering which pa.s.sed into her life. She played at the _Opera Comique_ and recited well, but did not sing. At the age of twenty her private griefs compelled her to give up singing, for the sound of her own voice made her weep. So from music she turned to poetry, and her first volume of poems appeared in 1818. She began her theatrical career in Lille, played at the Odeon, Paris, and in Brussels, where she was married in 1817 to M. Valmore, who was playing in the same theater. Though she went to Lyons, to Italy, and to the Antilles, she made her home in Paris, wandering from quarter to quarter.

Of her three children, Hippolyte, Undine (whose real name was Hyacinthe) and Ines, the two daughters pa.s.sed away before her. Her husband was honor and probity itself, and suffered only as a man can, from compulsory inaction. He asked but for honest employment and the privilege to work. She was so sensitive and felt so unworthy that she did not call for her pension after it was secured for her by her friends, Madame Recamier and M. de Latouche. A letter written by her to Antoine de Latour (October 15, 1836) gives a general idea of her life: "I do not know how I have slipped through so many shocks,--and yet I live. My fragile existence slipped sorrowfully into this world amid the pealing bells of a revolution, into whose whirlpool I was soon to be involved. I was born at the churchyard gate, in the shadow of a church whose saints were soon to be desecrated."

She was indeed a "tender and impa.s.sioned poetess, . . . one who united an exquisite moral sensibility to a thrilling gift of song. . . . Her verses were doubtless the expression of her life; in them she is reflected in hues both warm and bright; they ring with her cries of love and grief. . . . Hers was the most courageous, tender and compa.s.sionate of souls."

A letter written to Madame Duchambye (December 7, 1841), shows what part she played in Balzac's literary career:

"You know, my other self, that even ants are of some use. And so it was I who suggested, not M. de Balzac's piece, but the notion of writing it and the distribution of the parts, and then the idea of Mme. Dorval, whom I love for her talent, but especially for her misfortunes, and because she is dear to me. I have made such a moan, that I have obtained the sympathy and a.s.sistance of--whom do you guess?--poor Thisbe, who spends her life in the service of the _litterrateur_. She talked and insinuated and insisted, until at last he came up to me and said, 'So it shall be! My mind is made up! Mme. Dorval shall have a superb part!' And how he laughed!

. . . Keep this a profound secret. Never betray either me or poor Thisbe, particularly our influence on behalf of Mme. Dorval."

His friends.h.i.+p for her is seen in a letter written to her in 1840:

"Dear Nightingale,--Two letters have arrived, too brief by two whole pages, but perfumed with poetry, breathing the heaven whence they come, so that (a thing which rarely happens with me) I remained in a reverie with the letters in my hand, making a poem all alone to myself, saying, 'She has then retained a recollection of the heart in which she awoke an echo, she and all her poetry of every kind.' We are natives of the same country, madame, the country of tears and poverty. We are as much neighbors and fellow-citizens as prose and poetry can be in France; but I draw near to you by the feeling with which I admire you, and which made me stand for an hour and ten minutes before your picture in the Salon. Adieu! My letter will not tell you all my thoughts; but find by intuition all the friends.h.i.+p which I have entrusted to it, and all the treasures which I would send you if I had them at my disposal."

Soon after Balzac met Madame Hanska, he reserved for her the original of an epistle from Madame Desbordes-Valmore which he regarded as a masterpiece. Balzac's friends.h.i.+p for the poetess, which began so early in his literary life, was a permanent one. Just before leaving for his prolonged visit in Russia, he wrote her a most complimentary letter in which he expressed his hopes of being of service to M. Valmore at the Comedie Francaise, and bade her good-bye, wis.h.i.+ng her and her family much happiness.

Madame Desbordes-Valmore was one of the three women whom Balzac used as a model in portraying some of the traits of his noted character, Cousin Bette. He made Douai, her native place, the setting of _La Recherche de l'Absolu_, and dedicated to her in 1845 one of his early stories, _Jesus-Christ en Flandres_:

"To Marceline Desbordes-Valmore,

"To you, daughter of Flanders, who are one of its modern glories, I dedicate this naive tradition of old Flanders.

"DE BALZAC."

Though Balzac's first play, and first attempt in literature, _Cromwell_, was a complete failure, this did not deter him from longing to become a successful playwright. After having established himself as a novelist, he turned again to this field of literature.

Having written several plays, he was acquainted, naturally, with the leading actresses of his day; among these was Madame Dorval, whom he liked. He purposed giving her the main role in _Les Ressources de Quinola_, but when he a.s.sembled the artists to hear his play, he had not finished it, and improvised the fifth act so badly that Madame Dorval left the room, refusing to accept her part.

Again, he wished her to take the leading role in _La Maratre_ (as the play was called after she had objected to the name, _Gertrude, Tragedie bourgeoise_). To their disappointment, however, the theater director, Hostein, gave the heroine's part to Madame Lacressoniere; the tragedy was produced in 1848. The following year, while in Russia, Balzac sketched another play in which Madame Dorval was to have the leading role, but she died a few weeks later.

Mademoiselle Georges was asked to take the role of Brancadori in _Les Ressources de Quinola_, presented for the first time on March 19, 1842, at the Odeon.

Balzac was acquainted with Mademoiselle Mars also, and was careful to preserve her autograph in order to send it to his "Polar Star," when the actress wrote to him about her role in _La grande Mademoiselle_.

LA d.u.c.h.eSSE D'ABRANTES

"She has ended like the Empire."

Another of Balzac's literary friends was Madame Laure Junot, the d.u.c.h.esse d'Abrantes. She was an intimate friend of Madame de Girardin and it was in the salon of the latter's mother, Madame Sophie Gay, that Balzac met her.

The d.u.c.h.esse d'Abrantes, widow of Marechal Junot, had enjoyed under the Empire all the splendors of official life. Her salon had been one of the most attractive of her epoch. Being in reduced circ.u.mstances after the downfall of the Empire and having four children (Josephine, Constance, Napoleon and Alfred) to support, her life was a constant struggle to obtain a fortune and a position for her children. But as she had no financial ability, and had acquired very extravagant habits, the money she was constantly seeking no sooner entered her hands than it vanished. Wis.h.i.+ng to renounce none of her former luxuries, she insisted upon keeping her salon as in former days, trying to conceal her poverty by her gaiety; but it was a sorrowful case of _la misere doree_.

Feeling that luxury was as indispensable to her as bread, and finding her financial embarra.s.sment on the increase, she decided to support herself by means of her pen. She might well have recalled the wise words of Madame de Tencin when she warned Marmontel to beware of depending on the pen, since nothing is more casual. The man who makes shoes is sure of his pay; the man who writes a book or a play is never sure of anything.

Though the Generale Junot belonged to a society far different from Balzac's they had many things in common which brought him frequently to her salon. Balzac realized the necessity of frequenting the salon, saying that the first requisite of a novelist is to be well-bred; he must move in society as much as possible and converse with the aristocratic _monde_. The kitchen, the green-room, can be imagined, but not the salon; it is necessary to go there in order to know how to speak and act there.

Though Balzac visited various salons, he presented a different appearance in the drawing-room of Madame d'Abrantes. The glories of the Empire overexcited him to the point of giving to his relations with the d.u.c.h.esse a vivacity akin to pa.s.sion. The first evening, he exclaimed: "This woman has seen Napoleon as a child, she has seen him occupied with the ordinary things of life, then she has seen him develop, rise and cover the world with his name! She is for me a saint come to sit beside me, after having lived in heaven with G.o.d!" This love of Balzac for Napoleon underwent more than one variation, but at this time he had erected in his home in the rue de Ca.s.sini a little altar surmounted by a statue of Napoleon, with this inscription: "What he began with the sword, I shall achieve with the pen."

When Balzac first met the d.u.c.h.esse d'Abrantes, she was about forty years of age. It is probably she whom he describes thus, under the name of Madame d'Aiglemont, in _La Femme de trente Ans_:

"Madame d'Aiglemont's dress harmonized with the thought that dominated her person. Her hair was gathered up into a tall coronet of broad plaits, without ornament of any kind, for she seemed to have bidden farewell forever to elaborate toilets. Nor were any of the small arts of coquetry which spoil so many women to be detected in her. Only her bodice, modest though it was, did not altogether conceal the dainty grace of her figure. Then, too, the luxury of her long gown consisted in an extremely distinguished cut; and if it is permissible to look for expression in the arrangement of materials, surely the numerous straight folds of her dress invested her with a great dignity. Moreover, there may have been some lingering trace of the indelible feminine foible in the minute care bestowed upon her hand and foot; yet, if she allowed them to be seen with some pleasure, it would have tasked the utmost malice of a rival to discover any affectation in her gestures, so natural did they seem, so much a part of old childish habit, that her careless grace absolves this vestige of vanity.

All these little characteristics, the nameless trifles which combine to make up the sum of a woman's beauty or ugliness, her charm or lack of charm, can not be indicated, especially when the soul is the bond of all the details and imprints on them a delightful unity. Her manner was in perfect accord with her figure and her dress. Only in certain women at a certain age is it given to put language into their att.i.tude. Is it sorrow, is it happiness that gives to the woman of thirty, to the happy or unhappy woman, the secret of this eloquence of carriage? This will always be an enigma which each interprets by the aid of his hopes, desires, or theories. The way in which she leaned both elbows on the arm of her chair, the toying of her inter-clasped fingers, the curve of her throat, the freedom of her languid but lithesome body which reclined in graceful exhaustion, the unconstraint of her limbs, the carelessness of her pose, the utter la.s.situde of her movements, all revealed a woman without interest in life. . . ."

Balzac's parents having moved from Villeparisis to Versailles, he had an excellent opportunity of seeing the d.u.c.h.ess while visiting them, as she was living at that time in the Grand-Rue de Montreuil No. 65, in a pavilion which she called her _ermitage_. In _La Femme de trente Ans_, Balzac has described her retreat as a country house between the church and the barrier of Montreuil, on the road which leads to the Avenue de Saint-Cloud. This house, built originally for the short-lived loves of some great lord, was situated so that the owner could enjoy all the pleasures of solitude with the city almost at his gates.

Soon after their meeting, a sympathetic friends.h.i.+p was formed between the two writers; they had the same literary aspirations, the same love for work, the same love of luxury and extravagant tastes, the same struggles with poverty and the same trials and disappointments.

Since Balzac was attracted to beautiful names as well as to beautiful women, that of the d.u.c.h.esse d'Abrantes appealed to him, independently of the wealth of history it recalled. He was happy to make the acquaintance of one who could give him precise information of the details of the _Directoire_ and of the Empire, an instruction begun by the _commere Gay_. Thus the d.u.c.h.esse d'Abrantes was to exercise over him, though in a less degree, the same influence for the comprehension of the Imperial world that Madame de Berry did for the Royalist world, just as the d.u.c.h.esse de Castries later was to initiate him into the society of the Faubourg Saint-Germain.

Madame d'Abrantes, pleased as she was to meet literary people, welcomed most cordially the young author who came to her seeking stories of the Corsican. Owing to financial difficulties she was leading a rather retired and melancholy life, and the brilliant and colorful language of Balzac, fifteen years her junior, aroused her heart from its torpor, and her friends.h.i.+p for him took a peculiar tinge of sentiment which she allowed to increase. It had been many years since she had been thus moved, and this new feeling, which came to her as she saw the twilight of her days approaching, was for her a love that meant youth and life itself.

Hence her words pierced the very soul of Balzac and kindled an enthusiasm which made her appear to him greater than she really was; she literally dazzled and subjugated him. Her gaiety and animation in relating incidents of the Imperial court, and her autumnal suns.h.i.+ne, its rays still glowing with warmth as well as brightness, compelled Balzac to perceive for the second time in his life the insatiability of the woman who has pa.s.sed her first youth--the woman of thirty, or the tender woman of forty. The fact is, however, not that Balzac created _la femme sensible de guarante ans_, as is stated by Philarete Chasles, so much as that two women of forty, Madame de Berny and Madame d'Abrantes, created him.

This affection savored of vanity in both; she was proud that at her years she could inspire love in a man so much younger than herself, while Balzac, whose affection was more of the head than of the heart, was flattered--it must be confessed--in having made the conquest of a d.u.c.h.ess. Concealing her wrinkles and troubles under an adorable smile, no woman was better adapted than she to understand "the man who bathed in a marble tub, had no chairs on which to sit or to seat his friends, and who built at Meudon a very beautiful house without a flight of stairs."[*]

[*] This house, _Les Jardies_, was at Ville-d'Avray and not at Meudon.

But the love on Balzac's side must have been rather fleeting, for many years later, on March 17, 1850, he wrote to his old friend, Madame Carraud, announcing his marriage with Madame Hanska: "Three days ago I married the only woman I have ever loved." Evidently he had forgotten, among others, the poor d.u.c.h.ess, who had pa.s.sed away twelve years before.

But how could Balzac remain long her ardent lover, when Madame de Berny, of whom Madame d'Abrantes was jealous, felt that he was leaving her for a d.u.c.h.ess? And how could he remain more than a friend to Madame Junot, when the beautiful d.u.c.h.esse de Castries was for a short time complete mistress of his heart,[*] and was in her turn to be replaced by Madame Hanska? The d.u.c.h.ess could probably understand his inconstancy, for she not only knew of his attachment to Madame de Castries but he wrote her on his return from his first visit to Madame Hanska at Neufchatel, describing the journey and saying that the Val de Travers seemed made for two lovers.

[*] It is an interesting coincidence that the d.u.c.h.ess whose star was waning had been in love with the fascinating Austrian amba.s.sador, Comte de Metternich, and the d.u.c.h.ess who was to take her place, was just recovering from an amorous disappointment in connection with his son when she met Balzac.

Knowing Balzac's complicated life, one can understand how, having gone to Corsica in quest of his Eldorado just before the poor d.u.c.h.ess breathed her last, he could write to Madame Hanska on his return to Paris: "The newspapers have told you of the deplorable end of the poor d.u.c.h.esse d'Abrantes. She has ended like the Empire. Some day I will explain her to you,--some good evening at Wierzschownia."

Balzac wished to keep his visits to Madame d'Abrantes a secret from his sister, Madame Surville, and some obscurity and a "mysterious pavilion" is connected with their manner of communication. For a while she visited him frequently in his den. He enjoyed her society, and though oppressed by work, was quite ready to fix upon an evening when they could be alone.

It was not without pain that she saw his affection for her becoming less ardent while hers remained fervent. She wrote him tender letters inviting him to dine with her, or to meet some of her friends, a.s.suring him that in her _ermitage_ he might feel perfectly at home, and that she regarded him as one of the most excellent friends Heaven had preserved for her.

"Heaven grant that you are telling me the truth, and that indeed I may always be for you a good and sincere friend. . . . My dear Honore, every one tells me that you no longer care for me. . . . I say that they lie. . . . You are not only my friend, but my sincere and good friend. I have kept for you a profound affection, and this affection is of a nature that does not change. . . . Here is _Catherine_, here is my first work. I am sending it to you, and it is the heart of a friend that offers it to you. May it be the heart of a friend that receives it! . . . My soul is oppressed on account of this, but it is false, I hope."

Balzac continued to visit her occasionally, and there exists a curious specimen of his handwriting written (October, 1835) in the alb.u.m of her daughter, Madame Aubert. He sympathized with the unfortunate d.u.c.h.ess who, raised to so high a rank, had fallen so low, and tried to cheer her in his letters:

"You say you are ill and suffering, and without any hope that finer weather will do you any good. Remember that for the soul there arises every day a fresh springtime and a beautiful fresh morning.

Your past life has no words to express it in any language, but it is scarcely a recollection, and you cannot judge what your future life will be by that which is past. How many have begun to lead a fresh, lovely, and peaceful life at a much more advanced age than yours! We exist only in our souls. You cannot be sure that your soul has come to its highest development, nor whether you receive the breath of life through all your pores, nor whether as yet you see with all your eyes."

Being quite a linguist, Madame d'Abrantes began her literary career by translations from the Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, and by writing novels, in the construction of which, Balzac advised her. As she had no business ability, he was of great a.s.sistance to her also in arranging for the publication of her work:

"In the name of yourself, I entreat you, do not enter into any engagement with anybody whatsoever; do not make any promise, and say that you have entrusted your business to me on account of my knowledge of business matters of this kind, and of my unalterable attachment to yourself personally. I believe I have found what I may call _living money_, seventy thousand healthy francs, and some people, who will jump out of themselves, to dispose in a short time of 'three thousand d'Abrantes,' as they say in their slang.

Besides, I see daylight for a third and larger edition. If Mamifere (Mame) does not behave well, say to him, 'My dear sir, M.