enormous strain to which he subjected it by his constant abuse of
coffee, which caused intense nervous irritation; and by the short
hours of sleep he allowed himself. He never rested for a moment, he
was never indifferent for a moment, his faculties were constantly on
the stretch, and Dr. Nacquart remonstrated in vain. In August, 1834,
he was attacked by slight congestion of the brain, and imperatively
ordered two months' rest; which, of course, he did not take; and now
from time to time, in his letters, occur entries of sinister omen,
about symptoms of illness, and doctor's neglected advice. In October
"La Recherche de l'Absolu" appeared, and instead of greeting it with
the enthusiasm he usually accorded to his books, he remarked to Madame
Hanska that he hoped it was good, but that he was too tired to judge.
However, by December of the same year, when "Le Pere Goriot" was
published, he had to a certain extent recovered his elasticity, and
said that it was a beautiful work, though terribly sad, and showed the
moral corruption of Paris like a disgusting wound. A few days later he
became more enthusiastic, and wrote: "You will be very proud of 'Le
Pere Goriot.' My friends insist that nothing is comparable to it, and
that it is above all my other compositions."[*] Certainly the vivid
portrait of old Goriot, that ignoble King Lear, who in his
extraordinary passion of paternal love rouses our sympathy, in spite
of his many absurdities and shortcomings, is a striking instance of
Balzac's power in the creation of type.

[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."

He was straining every nerve to be able to meet Madame Hanska in
Vienna; but with all his efforts his journey was put off month after
month, and it was not till May 9th, 1835, that he was at last able to
start. He arrived at Vienna on the 16th; having hired a post carriage
for the journey, a little extravagance which cost him 15,000 francs.
His stay there was not a rest, as, to Madame Hanska's annoyance, he
worked twelve hours a day at "Le Lys dans la Vallee," and explained to
her that he was doing a good deal in thus sacrificing three hours a
day for her sake--fifteen hours out of the twenty-four being his usual
time for labour. He visited Munich on his way back, and arrived in
Paris on June 11th, to find a crowd of creditors awaiting his arrival,
and his pecuniary affairs in terrible confusion. Owing, he considered,
to the machinations of his enemies, articles had appeared in d