Berny, another family friend of higher
rank, was the prototype of most of his "angelic" characters, but she
died in 1836. He knew the Duchesse d'Abrantes, otherwise Madame Junot,
and Madame de Girardin, otherwise Delphine Gay; but neither seems to
have exercised much influence over him. It was different with another
and more authentic duchess, Madame de Castries, after whom he dangled
for a considerable time, who certainly first encouraged him and probably
then snubbed him, and who is thought to have been the model of his
wickeder great ladies. And it was comparatively early in the thirties
that he met the woman whom, after nearly twenty years, he was at last to
marry, getting his death in so doing, the Polish Madame Hanska. These,
with some relations of the last named, especially her daughter, and
with a certain "Louise"--an _Inconnue_ who never ceased to be so--were
Balzac's chief correspondents of the other sex, and, as far as is known,
his chief friends in it.

About his life, without extravagant "pudding" of guesswork or of mere
quotation and abstract of his letters, it would be not so much difficult
as impossible to say much; and accordingly it is a matter of fact that
most lives of Balzac, including all good ones, are rather critical
than narrative. From his real _debut_ with _Le Dernier Chouan_ to his
departure for Poland on the long visit, or brace of visits, from which
he returned finally to die, this life consisted solely of work. One of
his earliest utterances, "_Il faut piocher ferme_," was his motto to
the very last, varied only by a certain amount of traveling. Balzac
was always a considerable traveler; indeed if he had not been so his
constitution would probably have broken down long before it actually
did; and the expense of these voyagings (though by his own account he
generally conducted his affairs with the most rigid economy), together
with the interruption to his work which they occasioned, entered no
doubt for something into his money difficulties. He would go to Baden or
Vienna for a day's sight of Madame Hanska; his Sardinian visit has been
already noted; and as a specimen of others it may be mentioned that he
once journeyed from Paris to Besancon, then from Besancon right
across France to Angouleme, and then back to Paris on some business
of selecting paper for one of the editions of his books, which his
publishers would probably have done much better and at much less
expense.

Still his actu