The sun., 1905-12-31

story Modesto Mignon," the bold little
mink 40 inappropriately named Modesto
has given for food to her soul the modern
masterpieces of contemporary English liter
ature Byron. Walter Scott, Crabbe ana
Moore As for Scott the Waverly Novels
are never mentioned without respect IN
the Human Comedy" "Grond tcrivd'n,
grand romancier," the Scotch novelist IL
called, and elsewhere we read Of the mag
nincent works Of Walter Scott "lvanhoe
and "Kenilworth" were types of the kind OF
tales that Balzac had in mind when he dis
tingushed the romance from the novel.
Ossian, or rather Macpherson, is ready
in Balzac's mind when he wants an Illus
tration. After Richardson however, VINO
fills by far the largest place, the prose
| writer most frequently introduced by
Balzac in the Human Comedy" is Sterne,
"Tristram Shandy" supplying many illus :
trations, especially in the persons of MY
Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim. 1t Is
evident that the hImor and pathos OF
Toby Shandy's character made strong
impression on the novelist, whose own
old soldiers, Marshal Hulot and Colonel
Chabert, are presented with much feeling.
The Sentimental Journey" also is alluded
to more than once by Balzac. Among
English noVelists, however, Anne Radcliffe
seems to stand next to Richardson in Bal
zac's fancy. and Monk" Lewis is not over
looked There is one English poet, Chat-
terton, who, though not frequently brought
! in as Byron is for use as personal ex-
ample Of a physical type, as well as for
! purposes of literary reference, is now and
. Ion Nf q
| fects of character,
AS regards the attempt to draw parallel
! between Balzac and Dickens, it is patent,
of course. at first sight that the former
wrote nothing akin to Pick wick" or Great
! Expectations, and that the latter produced
no novels that even remotely invite com
parison with "Seraphita,' or La Peau
de Chagrin" On the other hand, we have
both authors depicting the sorrows OF
maidenhood in humble life in "Pierrette'
and THE Old Curiosity Shop; the grandeur
and decadence Of prosperous man OF
business shopkeeper in one case, mer-
| chant in the other-in Cesar Birotteau'
and "Dombey and Son; the miseries OF
an uncongenial school in Louis Lambert
and David Copperfeld"; and something
of the tragedy Of the French revolutionary
period In "Une Tenebreuse Ahaire" and
"A Tale Of Two Cities
Writing for an English public, Dickens
was necessarily debarred from speaking
| freely Of irregular sexual relations, and 1t ls
therefore among the characters of Dickens
that are "unheroic" in the novelist's sense
of the term that we must seek for counter
/ parts of certain creations and situations
! in his French contemporary. Again. Mr.
Helm for his part would not pretend that
Lisbeth Fischer. LA Cousne Bette, has any
complete analogue in English fiction, but he
points out that there is something Of her un-
forgetting sense of injury, her undying
spite in Rosa Darte. There is no doubt
| that the wonderful romances Of personal
| adventures amatory and other wise, told
by the two impostors on the carriers cart
in "Un Debut dams la Vie" have a real af-
finity with those told by Mr. Jingle on the
Rochester coach. Mr.. Helm questions,
however, if the most determined seeker for
a point of similarity beteen Balzac and
Dickens could find an apter one than is
afforded by the characters of Uriah Heep
and Jean Goupil the notarys clerk in
"Ursule Mirouet."
One of the strongest of the few connect
ing links between Dickens and Balzac is
found by our author in the fact that both
| we're accused by their contemporaries of
bad taste, the English writer being described
! as vulgar and unable to draw a gentle
man." and the French writer as immoral"
and not knowing a gentleman when he
saw one It must be admitted that the be-
havor of many of the perfect gentlemen"
in the Human Comedy" strikes some
readers as being not much better than that
of "puffick lydy," exemplified by some
of the inhabitants of the "Faubourg de
sept Cadrans.'
Another meeting place of Balzao and
Dickens is pointed out in the region OF
boarding houses. Could one ever visit
"Todgers's" without thinking of the "Maison
| Vauuuer," or enter the Pension Bour-
geoise' situated dams lie bas de la rue
Neuve Sainte Genevihve," without seeing
also the Commercial Boarding House."
in a kind of paved yard near the Monu-
ment" 1t is, in both cases. the smell Of
the place that first strikes the senses as
one enters. At the Maison Vauquer the
very first room "exhales an odor that is
without lame in the language, and must
be called l'odeur de pension. The place
smells of stiffness mldew. sourness; it
makes one shiver and feel damp; it pene-
trates ones clothes it tastes of a room
where one has dined'; and 20 on, the rest
of the description being too realistic to
look nice in a translation, We fit across
to "Todgers's" and find our nostrils assailed
with hardly less force by the atmosphere
of that highly respectable estabishm ent
There was an odd smell in the passage,
as if the concentrated essen ce Of all the
dinners that had been cooked in the kitchen
since the house was built fingered at the
| top of the kitchen stairs to that hour, and
like the Black Friar in Don juan wouldn't
be driven away In particular there was
a sensation Of cabbage; as il all the green's
that had ever been boiled there were ever =
green's and fourished in immortal youth"
We have said that the crediting of humor
to Balzac may strike many readers with
surprise. Perhaps We ought. before touch
ing the question to try to define precisely
what is meant by some current terms. A
man may have sense Of humor and yet be
unable to impart his own amusement to
others. Again, man may unconsciously
excite our risibilities, in which case we