The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-08-09
. From. aAiL the Yrnr Rnnnd y

HOW BALLAD DID His LITERARY LABOR.
When he had once made up his mind to produce
new book, Balzac's first proceeding was to think
it out thoroughly before he put pen to paper. He
idea only he followed it mentally into its minutest
ramifcatons, devoting to the process just that
amount of patient hard labor and self-sacrifce
which no inferior writer ever has the common
sense or the courage to bestow on his work With
his notebook ready in his hand, Balzac studied
his scenes and characters straight from life.
General knowledge of what he wanted to describe
was not enough for this determined realst. If he
found himself the least at fault he would not hes
tate to take long journey merely to insure truth
to nature in describing the seat of country town,
or in painting some minor popularity ofrustic char
acter. In Paris he was perpetually about the
Streets perpetualy penetrating into all classes of
society," to study the human nature about him in its
ninutest varieties. Day by day, and week by week,
his note book and his brains hard at work to-
gether, before he thought of sitting down to his
desk to begin. When he had finally amassed his
materials in this lahorous manner, he at last reti
ed to his study; and from that time, till his book
had gone to press, society saw him no more.
His house door was now closed to everybody ex-
cept the publisher and the printers and his costume
was changed to loose white robe of the sort which
| is worn by the Dominican monks. This singular
writing dress was fastened around the waist by a
chain of Venetian gold, to which hung little pliers
| and scissors of the same precious metal. White
Turkish trousers and red morocco slippers embroid
cred with gold, covered his legs and feet On the
day when he sat down to his DESK the light of hea-
ven was shut out, and he worked by the light OF
candles in superb silver sconces. Even letters were
not allowed to reach him. They were all thrown
as they came, into japan vase, and not opened, no
matter how important they might be, till his work
was all over. aa .r -----..
lie rose to begin writing at two in the morning,
continued, with extraordinary rapidity, till six;
then took his BATH and stopped in it, thinking, for
an hour or MORE At eight o'clock his servant
brought him up cup of coffee Before nine his
publisher was admitted to carry away what he had
done. From nine till noon he wrote on again, always
at the top of his speed At noon he breakfasted on
| eggs, with glass of water and second cup Of
coffee From one o'clock to six he returned to work
At six he dned lightly, only allowing himself one
glass of wine. From seven to eight he received his
publisher again, and at eight o'clock he went to bed
This life he led, while he was writing his books, for
two months together, without intermission. Its
effect on his health was such that when he appeared
once more among his friends he looked in the popu
lar phrase, like his own ghost Chance acquaintance
would hardly have known him again.
1t must not be supposed that this life of resolute
secluson and fierce hard toll ended with the com
pletion OF the first draught OF his manuscript Al
the point where in the instances of most men, the
serious part of the work would have come to ar
end, it had only begun for Balzac. In spite of al
the preliminary studying and thinking, when hi
pen had scrambled its way straight through to the
end of the book, the leaves were all turned bach
again, and the first manuscript was altered into {
second with inconceivable patience and care. In
Vulnerable corrections and interinngs, to begir
with, led in the end to transpositions and expan
sions which metamorphosed the entire work. Hap
ply thoughts were picked out of the beginning o
the manuscript and inserted where they might havt
better effect at the end. Others at the end would
be moved to the beginning, or the middle.
In one place, chapters would be expanded to three
or four times their original length; in another
abridged to few paragraphs; in third, taken on
altogether, or shifted to new positions With al
this mass of alterations in every page, the manu-
,,,,kr ~ 1oo@ de- No.
the sharp experienced eyes in the printing Office
was now all but illegible. The decphering it, ant
setting it up in moderately correct form, cost ar
amount of patience and pains which wearied out al
the best men in the Office one after another, befor
the first series of proofs could be submitted to tn
authors eye. When these were at length complete
they sent in on large slips, and the indefati
gable Balzac Immediately set to work to re-writ
the whole book for the third time!
He now covered with fresh corrections, fres
alterations, fresh expansions of this passage, an
fresh abridgements Of that, not only the margin
of the proofs all round, but the little interval
of white space between the paragraphs. Line
crossing each other in indescrbable confusion
were supposed to show the bewildered printer tn
various places at which the multitude of new in
sersions were to be slipped in. Ilegible Bazac'
original manuscripts were, his corrected proof
were more hopelessly puZZling still The pickle
men in the office, to whom alone they could be er
trusted, shuddered at the very name of BalzaC
and relieved each other at intervals of hour
beyond which time no one printer could be got t
continue at work on the universally execrated an
universally unintelligible proofs.
The "revlses"-that is to say, the proofs embody
ing the new alterations-were next pulled to piece
in their turn. Two, three, and sometimes -four
separate sets of them were required before the al
thors leave could be got to send the perpetual
rewritten book to press at last, and so have don
with it. He was literally the terror of all printer
and editors; and he himself described his process
work as a misfortune, to be the more deplored b.
cause it was, in his case, an intellectual necessity
~ toll sixteen hours out of the twenty four" h
said, cover the elaboration of my unhappy style
and am never satisfied myself when all is done.