of contract in not writing "Les Memoires d'une Jeune Mariee," and
claimed 10,000 francs damages for his refusal to finish the "Lys dans
la Vallee"; as well as fifty francs for each day's delay in his doing
this. Balzac brought forward his counter claim, and offered the _Revue
de Paris_ the 2,100 francs which had been advanced to him; but they
refused to be satisfied with the payment of this debt; and in May,
1836, the case opened.

There was a side issue on the subject of "Seraphita," about which the
_Revue_ certainly had just cause for complaint. In May, 1834, Balzac
had been paid 1,700 francs in advance for this, and the first number
appeared on June 1st, the second not following till July 20th. Then
Balzac disappeared altogether; and when he returned in November, he
proposed to begin "Le Pere Goriot" in the _Revue_, and promised after
this had come to an end to return to "Seraphita"; but it was not till
the middle of August, 1835, that he at last produced another number.
After this there were again delays, and, according to Buloz, the whole
of "Seraphita" was never offered to the _Revue de Paris_. The truth,
however, appears to have been that Buloz at last completely lost his
temper at Balzac's continual failures to fulfil his engagements, and
declared that "Seraphita" was unintelligible, and was losing
subscribers to the Review. Balzac, furious at this insult, paid Buloz
300 francs, to defray the expenses already incurred for the printing
of "Seraphita," and took back his work. Buloz's receipt for this money
is dated November 21st, 1835, two days before the appearance of the
first number of the "Lys dans la Vallee" in Paris, so storms were
gathering on all sides. Ten days after this, on December 2nd, Werdet
brought out "Seraphita" in book form in "Le Livre Mystique," which
contained also "Louis Lambert" and "Les Proscrits," a fact which
proved Balzac's contention that in November it was ready for
publication in the _Revue de Paris_. The first edition of "Le Livre
Mystique" was sold in ten days, and the second followed it a month
after, which, as Balzac remarked sardonically, was "good fortune for
an unintelligible work." This success on the part of his enemy no
doubt did not help to soften the indignant Buloz; and he must have
been further exasperated by an article in the _Chronique de Paris_, in
which Balzac was styled the "Providence des Revues," and the injury
the _Revue de Paris_ sustained in the loss of his co