t, covered with vermin from the dirt of his room, he
would creep out in the evening to buy a candle, which, as he possessed
no candlestick, he would put in an empty bottle.

The almost insane ardour for and absorption in his work, which were
his salient characteristics, had already possession of him; and we see
that he laboured as passionately now for fame and for love of his art,
as he did later on, when the struggle to free himself from debt, and
to gain a home and womanly companionship were additional incentives to
effort. At the time of which M. de Petigny speaks, however, his
troubles appeared to be over, as the masterpiece for which he had
suffered so much was completed; and joyfully confident that triumph
awaited him, Honore took it home with him to Villeparisis at the end
of April, 1820. He was so certain, poor fellow, of success, that he
had specially begged that among those invited to the reading of the
tragedy, should be the insulting person who told his father fifteen
months before, that he was fit for nothing but a post as copying
clerk.

CHAPTER IV

1820 - 1828

Reading of "Cromwell"--Balzac is obliged to live at home
--Unhappiness--Writes romantic novels--Friendship with Madame
de Berny--Starts in Paris as publisher and afterwards as printer
--Impending bankruptcy only prevented by help from his parents
and Madame de Berny.

Evidently Balzac's happy faith in the beauty of "Cromwell" had
impressed his parents, as, apparently without having seen the play,
they had assembled a large concourse of friends for the reading; and
between happy pride in his boy's genius, and satisfaction at his own
acuteness in discerning it, old M. de Balzac was no doubt nearly as
joyous as Honore himself. The Balzac family were prepared for triumph,
the friends were amused or incredulous, and the solemn trial began.[*]
The tragedy, strongly Royalist in principles, opens, according to the
plot as given by Balzac in a letter to his sister,[+] with the
entrance of Queen Henrietta Maria into Westminster. She is utterly
exhausted, and, disguised in humble garments, has returned from taking
her children for safety into Holland, and from begging for the help of
the King of France. Strafford, in tears, tells her of late events, and
of the King's imprisonment and future trial; but during this
conversation Cromwell and Ireton enter, and the Queen, in terror,
hi