New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-03-03


is in despair over his creations. He longs for
more of the sympathy that in the first letter
of "LEtrangere' promised stimulate and
help him. His brain is boiling with creative
energy, and from this emotion, long looked
for, long wished for. that Nine. Hanskas
friendship provides, he derives immense rein
forcements. If he - III love with her 1t is as
with apparition of tenderness. apprecia
ton and goodness on his horizon, an appartion
the more exciting to him, can imagine. from
its very distance and inaccessibility. But there
is no grOssness in his excitement. My name Is
HonOre," he writes. and I wish TO be faithful
to my name" If we had only his own letters
to consider we should see at that he was
doing he wished. But then the Vicomte
steps in. This is the kind of drivel that he
asks us to believe Balzac was capable of
writing:
My adored. my darling 'minette," l tell you
things that are terrifying but do not be alarmed.
Your desire to me, your love, all YOU
hovers above me. believe in you only; want
new successes. new fame new courage; W LII
in short. that you shall be thousand times
prOuder of your husband of love than OF your
lover. Yes. dear celestial Eva am melancholy
because / am here and you are down there, oct l
have no more discouragements. no more depres-
siOns. When | raise my eyes l see something
letter than God. l see a sure happiness, a tried
happiness. Oh! you do not know, my treasure,
my dear life, what such sweet certainty Is TO my
soul You don't know what you did with your
Internal testing YOU remember? You tried upon
a most loving heart weapon you did not know
loaded moment more and was lost
My eternal love could be placed on you alone;
see it, | know II now. for now desire you more
than ever. NV dearest soul, l have for myself
all the efforts tina | make meet you again.
materiaize my hope. But my beautiful myself
you. what you doing? All, my beautiful,
sanity creature, l know 1t is not on him of Paris
that the burden is heaviest; ii is our Geneva
love. il is you who. bearing all our happiness.
feel ma
ever look two without smile full OF hope
but also slightly tainted with sadness Oh! Oh
my idolized angel, you in whom all my future re-
sides, all my happiness and for whom desire
all the fine glories that make a happy woman
you whom l love with all the ardor Of a young
sentiment, of a first and last love In one, yes
know il well. sufferingS, ideas. Joys, which
agitate your soul fail TO come and agitate
mine.
This would be suspect" just by virtue of its
mawkishness, its immaturity, its headlong con-
fesson OF green sickness which in Balzac
with his strength and genius. is obviously in
credible. Miss Wormeley aptly compares IT to
the vapourings of a shop-boy to his female
kind" But there are other points IN the sus-
pected letters more definitely eloquent Of some
other hand than Balzac's set to the congeaial
task OF garbling and inventing. He is made TO
stain with base garrulities and renunciations the
friendship with Nine. de Berry which was as
matter Of fact, so long as she lived, one of his
most cherished possessions, and. up TO the day
OF his death. OF his most precious memories.
Disoyal criticism of his mother is put in his
mouth. though all his life long he loved and
honored her. In short. there are pages and
pages in this volume which bear on the surface
not the characteristics Of BazaC. but all the
signs OF a mental vulgarity a moral squalor. and
a general cheapness Of character which can only
be associated with his name when irrefutable
OOSS hoNr 70 han he y
him at present held by those students Of his life
who are best qualified to judge him.
In the mean time we are confronted by the
genuine letters in this volume. They present to
the public eye Bazac not wholly novel, but
certainly unfamiliar. just when his friendship
for Nine. Hanska developed into passionate
love is difficult TO determine That the transi-
ton occurred before the death of NJ. Hanska
cannot be denied were his letters prior to
that event always free from expressions incon-
sistent with the most punctilious loyalty TO his
correspondents husband. When he receives
news OF the death he addresses the widow as
dear angel" Yet there is a note Of ideality in
his most expansive utteranCes, there is at
mosphere of spiritual and intellectual exalta-
ton pervading his letters. to which we cannot
but attach profound Importance. This noble
rage" cannot be separated from the impulses of
his heart, impulses inspired by Nine. Hanska
and destined inevitably to lead to their mar
riage when fate has removed the living obsta Gle
in their path. But II Is only the stream OF
dubious text to which we have referred, poison
ing the whole narrative that invites an inter
probation Of the episode dscreditable TO Balzac
or his wife. Cut off that stream at It's source
deduct the matter which should never have
been printed. and Balzac remains not culpab
but pitiable; not a weak man wantonly discard
ing such virtues convention had imposed
upon him, but g giant in distress: a of
honor struggling with the great passion OF his
life. longing for happiness and Writhing under
his deprivation OF it, snatchng from the gods
such stray concessions they would allow him.
but preserving always, in his unsullied soul
the resolve to respect not only Nine. Hanska
but himself.
The letters are mo- the most brilliant In the
world. Balzac's never We're. But in the tangle
Of debts and labor that they reflect in their
cries Of sordid worry and passionate disgust
with many Of the things of his Partisan world
there is discerned the poignant strain OF an
emotion which lifts this page OF his biography
TO plane Of intense interest. Much of the cor
respondence has significance lighter and more
amusing. Balzac writes Of his literary methods
and achievements he sketches his contempt.
rares; he gossips follows: You wish to know
if l met Fedora If she is true A woman
or cold Russia, the Princess Bagration, is sup
posed in Paris to be the model Of her. 1 have
reached the SEVENTEEN woman who has the cool
| to recognize herself in that character
They all of ripe age. Even Nine. RecameI
! is willing TO 'fedOrize' herself. Not a word Of
/ all that is true. ] made Fedora out of two
! women whom l have known without ever being
! intimate with them. Observation sufflced me
! and few condolences" But the purpose Of thi:
/ publication viii be best served if. through Miss
/ Wormeey's high minded and scholarly presen