ver, he seems to have experienced
an unconquerable difficulty in its composition, as in that of
"Seraphita," the other book about which he had cherished a peculiarly
lofty ideal. Therefore in July the termination of "Les Paysans" had
not yet reached the office of _La Presse_, and on the 13th of the
month Balzac received the following letter:[*]

"PARIS, July 13th, 1847

"'Le Piccinino' will be finished this week. Only seven numbers of 'Les
Paysans' are completed in advance. We are therefore at the mercy of an
indisposition, of any chance incident, things of which it is necessary
for me to see the possibility, and to which I must not expose myself.

"Really you high dignitaries of the periodical are insupportable, and
you will manage so cleverly that the periodical will some day fail you
completely.

"For my part, my resolution on this matter is taken, and firmly taken,
and if I had not a remainder of the account to work out, I would
certainly not publish 'Les Paysans,' as I have not received the last
line.

"EMILE DE GIRARDIN."

[*] "La Genese d'un Roman de Balzac," by the Vicomte de Spoelberch de
Lovenjoul, p. 268.

Balzac's answer to this missive is lost. It must have been despatched
at once, and was evidently not conciliatory, as it was answered on the
same day in the following terms:

"PARIS, July 13th, 1847.

"I only publish 'Les Paysans' because we have an account to settle.
Otherwise I certainly should not publish it, and the success of 'La
Derniere Incarnation de Vautrin' would certainly not impel me to do
it.

"Therefore if you are able without inconvenience to pay back to the
_Presse_ what it advanced to you, I will willingly give up 'Les
Paysans.' Otherwise I will publish 'Les Paysans,' and will begin on
Monday next, the 19th. But I insist that there shall be no
interruption. I count on this.

"EMILE DE GIRARDIN."

Girardin's bitter resentment is excusable, when we remember that it
was in September, 1844, nearly three years before, that Balzac had
received 9,000 francs in advance for "Les Paysans." Since then only
one number of the promised work had been produced, and the great
writer's only explanation for his long delay in finishing the book was
the inadequate one, that Dujarier had interrupted "Les Paysans" after
the first chapters had been published, to be able to begin Alexandre
Dumas' novel "La Reine Margot," before the end of 1844.

In Balz