a public meeting that the
Legitimists should follow the example of their political opponents and
should stoop to evil doings, he refused decidedly, saying: "The cause
of the life of man is superhuman. It is God who judges; His judgment
does not hinge on our passions."[*] In his eyes, Religion and the
Monarchy were twin sisters, and he speaks sadly in "Le Medecin de
Campagne" of the downfall of both these powers. "With the monarchy we
have lost honour, with our unfruitful attempts at government,
patriotism; and with our fathers' religion, Christian virtue. These
principles now only exist partially, instead of inspiring the masses,
for these ideas never perish altogether. At present, to support
society we have nothing but selfishness."[+] Elsewhere, he laments the
atheistic government, and the increase of incredulity; and longs for
Christian institutions, and a strong hierarchy, united to a religious
society.

[*] "Balzac et ses Oeuvres," by Lamartine de Prat.

[+] "Le Medecin de Campagne."

Balzac was not orthodox. There is no doubt, from a letter to Madame
Hanska, that the Swedenborgian creed he enunciates in "Seraphita" is
to a great extent his own; but he believed in God, in the immortality
of the soul, and considered natural religion, of which, in his eyes,
the Bourbons were the depositors, absolutely essential to the
well-being of a State. He had a great respect for the priesthood, and
has left many a charming and sympathetic picture of the parish _cure_,
such as l'Abbe Janvier in "Le Medecin de Campagne," who acts hand in
hand with the good doctor Benassis, as an enlightened benefactor to
the poor; or l'Abbe Bonnet, the hero of "Le Cure du Village," whose
face had "the impress of faith, an impress giving the stamp of the
human greatness which approaches most nearly to divine greatness, and
of which the undefinable expression beautifies the most ordinary
features." In "Les Paysans" we have another fine portrait, L'Abbe
Brossette, who is doing his work nobly among debased and cunning
peasants. "To serve was his motto, to serve the Church and the
Monarchy at the most menaced points; to serve in the last rank, like a
soldier who feels destined sooner or later to rise to generalship, by
his desire to do well, and by his courage."

There is a beautiful touch in that terrible book "La Cousine Bette,"
where the infamous Madame Marneffe is dying of a loathsome and
infectious disease, so that even Bette, who feels for