as not
conciliatory; he did not bow to the storm. In June, 1839, appeared the
second part of "Illusions Perdues," which was entitled "Un Grand Homme
de Province a Paris," and was a violent attack on French journalism;
and in March, 1843, Balzac published the "Monographie de la Presse
Parisienne," a brilliant piece of work, but certainly not calculated
to repair the breach between him and the publishing world.
Nevertheless, though his pride and independence prevented him from
trying to temporise, there is no doubt that Balzac suffered keenly
from the hostility he encountered on all sides. He writes to Madame
Hanska directly after the lawsuit: "Ah! you cannot imagine how intense
my life has been during this month! I was alone for everything;
harassed by the journal people who demanded money of me, harassed by
payments to make, without having any money because I was making none,
harassed by the lawsuit, harassed by my book, the proofs of which I
had to correct day and night. No, I am astonished at having survived
this struggle. Life is too heavy; I do not live with pleasure."[*] To
add to his difficulties, Madame Bechet had lately become Madame
Jacquillard, and possibly urged to action by M. Jacquillard, and
alarmed by tales of Balzac's misdemeanours, she became restive, and
demanded the last two volumes of the "Etudes de Moeurs" in twenty-four
hours, or fifty francs for each day's delay. The affairs of the
_Chronique_ were at this time causing Balzac much anxiety, and he fled
to the Margonnes at Sache; not for rest, but to work fifteen hours a
day for "cette odieuse Bechet"; and there, in eight days, he not only
invented and composed the "Illusions Perdues," but also wrote a third
of it.

[*] "Lettres a l'Etrangere."

However, the strain had been too great even for _his_ extraordinary
powers, and while walking in the park after dinner with M. and Mme. de
Margonne, on the day that letters arrived from Paris with the news
that liquidation of the _Chronique_ was necessary, he fell down in a
fit under one of the trees. Completely stunned for the time, he could
write nothing; and thought, in despair, of giving up the hopeless
struggle, and of hiding himself at Wierzchownia. Fortunately, his
unconquerable courage soon returned; he travelled to Paris, wound up
the affairs of the _Chronique_; and as Werdet had allowed him twenty
days' liberty, and his tailor and a workman had lent him money to pay
his most pressing debts, he o