New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-21
TIE BALZAC MANUSCRIPTS.
Parts Letter to The Pail MoR Gasette.

Paris IcreT
The Government - censured for not having
bought some OF Balvac's manuscripts which. with
the furniture OF his house and many relics that hau
been sedulOusly preserved. were put up az auction
in the course of last week. II would have been ID
sructive TO this and future generations To see how
Balzac proceeded when he wanted 20 write novel.
Ills way of working is Land bare IL the manuscripts
which | mad the privilege OF turning over before
they were sent 10 the Rue Drou0t auction mart.
One sees by them that their author set out with
purpose and labOred to get he started, his
characters clear into his head. But the plot grew
up as he 1t was not designed, but was
growth. In Eugene tTandet VI. BaiZac intended
10 show that parsimOny l. a vice and that its social
effect is psralytIc. In the Cure de Champagne no
wanted 10 take mp his parable IN favor OF secular
institutions. and against the delegation OF the
state and University Of France. To clarity his
brain and get persOnages and localities well esiab-
lished in his mind, he used TO draw both before he
wrote. The technique of the drau ghtsman art he
had not learned; but he often by the rule-ofthumb
attained splendid results. His sketch of the old
house at Saumu-, in which lodged Eugene Grandet
and her family q thing artist might be proud
Of One feels tnat the antique abode has history,
and that it must he the theatre Of sOmbre drama.
organized to struggle for existence and
conquer; but one asks whether IL Is well
that our planet should belong to men
of his hard metal. BalZac concludes that II Is
not, and dooms the race 70 perish. In the working
ont of this doom lies the powerful and painful IN
terest of the story. He makes Eugene interesting.
though like her father. But he says a few
observations scrlbDled under drawing OF the
heroine: IL would he Infamy were she to
transmit Grandets antl-sOclal vice 10 pDslerlly.'
Moses gives the earth to the Just, and Jesus makes
in the Inheritance of the meek; ana peaceaDle
Bazac did not at once get hold of EugenIes
phvsognomy, which is complex. He did several
little dra wings on an isolated sheet of paper Of her
mother, who Is a passive being, ana OF Nan0n, the
released convict who entered the service Of the
CIrandets. Under of the Eugenles there are
these words " She's charming, but not yet suif-
GENTLY her fathers daughter If Grandet did not
appear in her, the idea of poetic justice. which -
divine justice would be lost 81 sht Of and the
would turn against ne"
cesar Biroteau was drawn rs if for an engraving
plate IN a front leaf of manuscript volume. lie ~
done with firm touches, and appears TO live and
talk On the front pages of " Les Illusions
Perdues and l. Historic des TreIze' the novelist
gave pictorial form 70 the fantastlcal ideas that
were troubling his brain. He sometimes got rid OF
his intellectual dross in using his pen AS pencil
IL often happened that the novel did not run
smoothly of the reel. There were times when tho
brain lost creative power. NJ. Bahac then set
down long columns Of verbal roots on sheet OF
foolscap paper or on the page facing the one at
which, after staggering and beating his brain, be
came to full stop. From the roots he went into
their derivatives. He frequently halted IN his
story to write down groups OF epithets and syno-
nvus ] must not hint what is going to take
place." he somewhere says in one OF those digTes-
by the sound and rhythm of the words be well to
cause presentlment' The effects Of epthots were
tested rs a painter tries the value OF hues on ms
palette he applies the coors making them to the
canvas severe process OF elimination resOrted
to. No. its not this. No. its not this often
occurs under word that has been tired and re;
the ST. Martins sumner of their existence on con-
dition however, that there had been soft, sanity
heroisIn IN their lives The Baroness HUFFMAN
angelic character whom he forced 10 pass through
the ire Of adversity-he often stops 70 pity and
admire His heart bleeds for her. tie said to his
wife. to whom he was reading the proof-sLeets:
Don't be jealous of the Baroness hope to meet
her a-haut You will not Ie ON me there Tor long
time. Meanwhile shall be consoled by the con-
temptation of her virtues Baroness 1ullns saint
illness comes to her naturally as bloom does 10
the rose bush. She is sublime. and moi IN the least
awful Mdme. Mnzeck has kept the Letters of her
mother and other papers IF N. BlZac which that
lady set most store upon as relics. The countess
has left Paris, and retired 20 not even her aunt
knows where She is not destitute. as ont of the
great fortune settled her at her marriage an an.
unity still remains 70 her Her saintness OF char
acter raises her to the level Of Baroness iulin. The
resignation chat she practises Is absolute. and she
has what Is termed in Catholic theology detach;
ment in high degree. FOR eight years Ter mora
sufferings must have been intense.