esembles the dewlap of a young bull. The throat itself
is of athletic and rare strength, the plump full cheeks are touched
with the vermilion of nervous health, and all the flesh tints are
resplendent with the most joyful and reassuring brilliancy.

"In this monk's and soldier's head there is a mixture of reflection
and of good-humour, of resolution and of high spirits, which is
infinitely rare; the thinker and good liver melt into each other with
quaint harmony. Put a cuirass on this large breast, and you will have
one of those fat German foot-soldiers so jovially painted by Terburg.
With the monks' habit, it is Jean des Entommeurs[*]; nevertheless, do
not forget that the eyes throw, through all this embonpoint and
good-humour, the yellow look of a lion to counteract this Flemish
familiarity. Such a man would be equal to excesses of the table, of
pleasure, and of work. We are no longer astonished at the immense
quantity of volumes published by him in so short a time. This
prodigious labour has left no trace of fatigue on the strong cheeks
dappled with red, and on the large white forehead. The enormous work
which would have crushed six ordinary authors under its weight is
hardly the third of the monument he wishes to raise."

[*] One of the characters in Rabelais.

The original of this portrait was sent to Madame Hanska at
Wierzchownia; but a sketch of it belongs to M. Alexandre Dumas the
younger, and has often been engraved. From this, it seems as though
Theophile Gautier must have read his knowledge of Balzac's character
as a whole into his interpretation of the picture. To the ordinary
observer, Boulanger's portrait represents Balzac as the thinker,
worker, and fighter, stern and strenuous; not the delightful comrade
who inspired joy and merriment, and the recollection of whom made
Heine smile on his death-bed. The wonderful eyes which had not their
equal, and which asked questions like a doctor or a priest, are
brilliantly portrayed. Balzac himself allows this, though he complains
to Madame Hanska that they have more of the psychological expression
of the worker than of the loving soul of the individual--a fact for
which we may be grateful to Boulanger. Balzac is much delighted,
however, with Boulanger's portrayal of the insistence and intrepid
faith in the future, a la Coligny or a la Peter the Great, which are
at the base of his character; and he goes on to give an attractive,
though rather picturesque account