Produced by John Bickers and Dagny                            THE CELIBATES                                  BY                           HONORE DE BALZAC                             INTRODUCTION_Les Celibataires_ the longest number of the original _ComedieHumaine_ under a single title next to _Illusions perdues_ is notlike that book connected by any unity of story Indeed the generalbond of union is pretty weak and though it is quite true thatbachelors and old maids are the heroes and heroines of all three itwould be rather hard to establish any other bond of connection and itis rather unlikely that any one unprompted would fix on this as asufficient ground of partnershipTwo at least of the component parts however are of very highexcellence I do not myself think that _Pierrette_ which opens theseries is quite the equal of its companions Written as it was forCountess Anna de Hanska Balzacs stepdaughter of the future whileshe was still very young it partakes necessarily of the ratherelaborate artificiality of all attempts to suit the young person ofFrench attempts in particular and it may perhaps be said of Balzacsattempts most of all It belongs in a way to the Arcis seriestheseries which also includes the fine _Tenebreuse Affaire_ and theunfinished _Depute dArcis_but is not very closely connectedtherewith The picture of the actual _Celibataires_ the brother andsister Rogron with which it opens is one of Balzacs best stylesand is executed with all his usual mastery both of the minute and ofthe at least partially repulsive showing also that strange knowledgeof the _bourgeois de Paris_ which somehow or other he seems to haveattained by dint of unknown foregatherings in his ten years ofapprenticeship But when we come to _Pierrette_ herself the story isI think rather less satisfying Her persecutions and her end and thedevotion of the faithful Brigaut and the rest are pathetic no doubtbut tend I hope it is not heartless to say it just a very littletowards _sensiblerie_ The fact is that the thing is not quite inBalzacs line_Le Cure de Tours_ is certainly on a higher level and has attractedthe most magnificent eulogies from some of the novelists admirers Ithink both Mr Henry James and Mr Wedmore have singled out thislittle piece for detailed and elaborate praise and there is no doubtthat it is a happy example of a kind in which the author excelled Theopening with its evident but not obtruded remembrance of the old andwellfounded superstitionderived from the universal belief in someform of Nemesisthat an extraordinary sense of happiness good luckor anything of the kind is a precursor of misfortune and calls forsome instant act of sacrifice or humiliation is very striking andthe working out of the vengeance of the goddess by the veryungoddesslike though feminine hand of Mademoiselle Gamard has muchthat is commendable Nothing in its well exampled kind is bettertouched off than the Listomere coterie from the shrewdness of Monsieurde Bourbonne to the selfishness of Madame de Listomere I do not knowthat the old maid herselfcat and far worst than cat as she isis atall exaggerated and the sketch of the coveted _appartement_ and itsillfated _mobilier_ is about as good as it can be And the battlebetween Madame de Listomere and the Abbe Troubert which has served asa model for many similar things has if it has often been equalednot often been surpassedI cannot however help thinking that there is more than a littleexaggeration in more than one point of the story The Abbe Birotteauis surely a little too much of a fool the Abbe Troubert an Iago alittle too much wanting in verisimilitude and the central incident ofthe clause about the furniture too manifestly improbable Taking thefirst and the last points together is it likely that any one notquite an idiot should in the first place remain so entirely ignorantof the value of his property should in the second though ignorantor not he attached the greatest possible _pretium affectionis_ to itcontract to resign it for such a ridiculous consideration and shouldin the third take the fatal step without so much as remembering thecondition attached thereto If it be answered that Birotteau _was_idiot enough to do such a thing then it must be observed further thatones sympathy is frozen by the fact Such a man deserved suchtreatment And again even if French justice was and perhaps is asmuch influenced by secret considerations as Balzac loves to representit we must agree with that member of the Listomere society whopointed out that no tribunal could possibly uphold such an obviouslyiniquitous bargain As for Troubert the idea of the Jesuiticalecclesiastic though Balzac was not personally hostile to the Jesuitswas a common one at the time and no doubt popular but the actualpersonage seems to me nearer to Eugene Sues Rodin in some ways than Icould have desiredThese things however are very much a case of As You Like It or AsIt Strikes You and I have said that _Le Cure de Tours_ strikes somegood judges as of exceptional merit while no one can refuse it meritin a high degree I should not except for the opening place it inthe very highest class of the _Comedie_ but it is high beyond alldoubt in the secondThe third part The Two BrothersA Bachelors Establishment of _LesCelibataires_ takes very high rank among its companions As in most ofhis best books Balzac has set at work divers favorite springs ofaction and has introduced personages of whom he has elsewhere givennot exactly replicashe