optician at the Observatory; also the gold buttons on my new coat,
buttons chiselled by the hand of a fairy, for the man who carries a
cane worthy of Louis XIV. in the nineteenth century cannot wear
ignoble pinchbeck buttons. These are little innocent toys, which make
me considered a millionaire. I have created the sect of the
'Cannophiles' in the world of fashion, and every one thinks me utterly
frivolous. This amuses me!" Certainly Balzac was not wrong when he
told his correspondent that there was much of the child in him.

[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."

CHAPTER IX

NO PARTICULAR DATE

Balzac's portrait as described by Gautier--His character--Belief
in magnetism and somnambulism--His attempts to become deputy--His
political and religious views.

In the Salon of 1837 appeared a portrait of Balzac by Boulanger,[*] of
which Theophile Gautier gave the following description in _La Presse_:
"M. de Balzac is not precisely beautiful. His features are irregular;
he is fat and short. Here is a summary which does not seem to lend
itself to a painting, but this is only the reverse of the medal. The
life and ardour reflected in the whole face give it a special beauty.

[*] See the chapter entitled "Un Portrait" in "Autour de Honore de
Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul.

"In this portrait, M. de Balzac, enveloped in the large folds of a
monk's habit, sits with his arms crossed, in a calm and strong
attitude; the neck is uncovered, the look firm and direct; the light,
shining from above, illumines the satin-like smoothness of the upper
parts of the forehead, and throws a bright light on the bumps of
imagination and humour, which are strongly developed in M. de Balzac;
the black hair, also lit up, shining and radiant, comes from the
temples in bright waves, and gives singular light to the top of the
head; the eyes steeped in a golden penumbra with tawny eyeballs, on a
moist and blue crystalline lens like that of a child, send out a
glance of astonishing acuteness; the nose, divided into abrupt
polished flat places, breathes strongly and passionately, through
large red nostrils; the mouth, large and voluptuous, particularly in
the lower lip, smiles with a rabelaisian smile under the shade of a
moustache much lighter in colour than the hair; and the chin, slightly
raised, is attached to the throat by a fold of flesh, ample and
strong, which r