Women in the Life of Balzac Part 15

So long was Balzac in pursuit of this apparent chimera, and so ardent was his pa.s.sion for his "polar star" that the above words of Quinola may well be applied to his experience. So fervent was his adoration, so pathetic his sufferings and so persistent his pursuit during the seventeen long years of waiting that Miss Betham-Edwards has appropriately said of his letters to Madame Hanska:

"Opening with a pianissimo, we soon reach _a con molto expressione_, a _crescendo_, a _molto furore_ quickly following.

Every musical term, adjectival, substantival, occurs to us as we read the thousand and odd pages of the two volumes. . . . Nothing in his fiction or any other, records a love greatening as the tedious years wore on, a love sovereignly overcoming doubt, despair and disillusion, such a love as the great Balzac's for _l'Etrangere_."

Their relationship from the beginning of their correspondence to the tragic end which came so soon after Balzac had arrived "at the summit of happiness," has been shrouded in mystery. This mystery has been heightened by the vivid imagination of some of Balzac's biographers, where fancy replace facts.

Miss Katherine P. Wormeley denies the authenticity of some of the letters published in the _Lettres a l'Etrangere_, saying:

"No explanation is given of how these letters were obtained, and no proof or a.s.surance is offered of their authenticity. A foot-note appended to the first letter merely states as follows: 'M. le vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, in whose hands are the originals of these letters, has related the history of this correspondence in detail, under the t.i.tle of _Un Roman d'Amour_ (Calmann Levy, publisher). Madame Hanska, born Evelina (Eve) Rzewuska, who was then twenty-six or twenty-eight years old, resided at the chateau of Wierzchownia, in Volhynia. An enthusiastic reader of the _Scenes de la Vie privee_, uneasy at the different turns which the mind of the author was taking in _La Peau de Chagrin_, she addressed to Balzac--then thirty-three years old, in the care of the publisher Gosselin, a letter signed _l'Etrangere_, which was delivered to him February 18, 1832. Other letters followed; that of November 7 ended thus: 'A word from you in the _Quotidienne_ will give me the a.s.surance that you have received my letter, and that I can write to you without fear. Sign it; to _l'E---- H. de B_.' This acknowledgment of reception appeared in the _Quotidienne_ of December 9. Thus was inaugurated the system of _pet.i.te_ correspondence now practised in divers newspapers, and at the same time, this correspondence with her who was seventeen years later, in 1850, to become his wife."[*]

[*] Miss M. F. Sandars states that a copy of the _Quotidienne_ containing this acknowledgment was in the possession of the Vicomte de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, and that she saw it. At the time of writing this preface, Miss Wormeley did not believe the correspondence began until February, 1833. In undertaking to prove this, she cited a letter from Balzac written to Madame Hanska, dated January 4, 1846, in which he says that the thirteen years will soon be completed since he received her first letter. She corrects this statement, however, in writing her _Memoir of Balzac_ three years later. The mistake in this letter here mentioned is only an example of the inaccuracy of Balzac, found not only in his letters, but throughout the _Comedie humaine_. But Miss Wormeley's argument might have been refuted by quoting another letter from Balzac to Madame Hanska dated February, 1840: "After eight years you do not know me!"

Regarding the two letters published in _Un Roman d'Amour_, pp. 33-49, dated November 7, 1832, and January 8, 1833, and signed _l'Etrangere_, Miss Wormeley says it is not necessary to notice them, since the author himself states that they are not in Madame Hanska's handwriting.

She is quite correct in this, for Spoelberch de Lovenjoul writes: "How many letters did Balzac receive thus? No one knows. But we possess two, neither of which is in Madame Hanska's handwriting." In speaking of the first letter that arrived, he says:

"This first record of interest which was soon to change its nature, has unfortunately not been found yet. Perhaps this page perished in the _autodafe_ which, as the result of a dramatic adventure, Balzac made of all the letters he had received from Madame Hanska; perhaps also, by dint of rereading it, he had worn it out and involuntarily destroyed it himself. We do not know. In any case, we have not found it in the part of his papers which have fallen into our hands. We regret it very much, for this letter must be remarkable to have produced so great an impression on the future author of the _Comedie humaine_."

The question arises: If Balzac burned in 1847 "all the letters he had received from Madame Hanska," how could de Lovenjoul publish in 1896 two letters that he alleged to be from her, dated in 1832 and 1833?

The Princess Radziwill who is the niece of Madame Honore de Balzac and was reared by her in the house of Balzac in the rue Fortunee, has been both gracious and generous to the present writer in giving her much valuable information that could not have been obtained elsewhere. In answer to the above question, she states:

"Balzac said that he burned my aunt's letters in order to rea.s.sure her one day when she had reasons to fear they would fall into other hands than those to whom they belonged. After his death, my aunt found them all, and I am sorry to say that _it was she who burned them_, and that I was present at this _autodafe_, and remember to this day my horror and indignation. But my aunt as well as my father had a horror of leaving letters after them, and strange to say, they were right in fearing to leave them because in both cases, papers had a fate they would not have liked them to have."

The sketch of the family of Madame Honore de Balzac as given in _Un Roman d'Amour_, is so inaccurate that the Princess Radziwill has very kindly made the following corrections of it for the present writer:

"(1) Madame Hanska was really born on December _24th, not 25th_, 1801. You will find the date on her grave which is under the same monument as that of Balzac, in Pere Lachaise in Paris. I am absolutely sure of the day, because my father was also born on Christmas Eve, and there were always great family rejoicings on that occasion. You know that the Roman Catholic church celebrates on the 24th of December the fete of Adam and Eve, and it is because they were born on that day that my father and his sister were called Adam and Eve. I am also quite sure that the year of my aunt's birth was 1801, and my father's 1803, and should be very much surprised if my memory served me false in that respect. But I repeat it, the exact dates are inscribed on my aunt's grave. . . .

I looked up since I saw you a prayer book which I possess in which the dates of birth are consigned, and thus found 1801, and I think it is the correct one, but at all events I repeat it once more, the exact date is engraved on her monument.

"(2) Caroline Rzewuska, my aunt's eldest sister, and the eldest of the whole family, is the Madame Cherkowitsch of Balzac's letters, and not Shikoff, as the family sketch says. It is equally ridiculous to say that some people aver she was married four times, and had General Witte for a husband; but Witte was a great admirer of hers at the time she was Mme. Sobanska. There is also a detail connected with her which is very little known, and that is that she nearly married Sainte-Beauve, and that the marriage was broken off a few days before the one fixed for it to take place.

That was before she married Jules Lacroix, and wicked people say that it was partly disappointment at having been unable to become the wife of the great critic, which made her accept the former.

"(3) My aunt Pauline was married to a Serbian banker settled in Odessa, a very rich man called Jean Riznitsch, but he was _neither a General nor a Baron_. Her second daughter, Alexandrine, married Mr. Ciechanowiecki who also never could boast of a t.i.tle, and whose father had never been _Minister de l'Interieur en Pologne_.

"(4) My aunt Eve was neither married in 1818 nor in 1822 to Mr.

Hanski, but in 1820. It was not because of _revers de fortune_ that she was married to him, but it was the custom in Polish n.o.ble families to try to settle girls as richly as possible. Later on, my grandfather lost a great deal of money, but this circ.u.mstance, which occurred after my aunt's marriage, had nothing to do with it. My grandfather,--this by the way,--was a very remarkable man, a personal friend of Voltaire. You will find interesting details about him in an amusing book published by Ernest Daudet, called _La Correspondence du Comte Valentin Esterhazy_, in the first volume, where among other things is described the birth of my aunt Helene, whose personality interests you so much, a birth which nearly killed her mother. Besides Helene, my grandparents had still another daughter who also died unmarried, at seventeen years of age, and who, judging by her picture, must have been a wonder of beauty; also a son Stanislas, who was killed accidentally by a fall from his horse in 1826.

"(5) My uncle Ernest was not the second son of his parents, but the youngest in the whole family."

It is interesting to note that Balzac wished to have his works advertised in newspapers circulating in foreign countries and wrote his publisher to advertise in the _Gazette_ and the _Quotidienne_, as they were the only papers admitted into Russia, Italy, etc. He repeated this request some months later, by which time he not only knew that _l'Etrangere_ read the _Quotidienne_, but he had become interested in her.

As has been mentioned, it is a strange coincidence that this first letter from _l'Etrangere_ arrived on the very day that the novelist wrote accepting the invitation of the d.u.c.h.esse de Castries. Balzac doubtless little dreamed that this was the beginning of a correspondence which was destined to change the whole current of his life.

Many versions have been given as to what this letter contained, some saying that Madame Hanska had been reading the _Peau de Chagrin_, others, the _Physiologie du Mariage_, and others, the _Maison du Chat-qui-pelote_, but if the letter no longer exists how is one to prove what it contained? Yet it must have impressed Balzac, for he wanted to dedicate to her the fourth volume of the _Scenes de la Vie privee_ in placing her seal and "Diis ignotis 28 fevrier 1832" at the head of _l'Expiation_, the last chapter of _La Femme de trente Ans_, which he was writing when her letter arrived, but Madame de Berny objected, so he saved the only copy of that dedication and wished Madame Hanska to keep it as a souvenir, and as an expression of his thanks.

According to Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, Balzac showed one of Madame Hanska's letters to Madame Carraud, and she answered it for him; but with his usual skill in answering severe cross-examinations, he replies:

"You have asked me with distrust to give an explanation of my two handwritings; but I have as many handwritings as there are days in the year, without being on that account the least in the world versatile. This mobility comes from an imagination which can conceive all and remain vague, like gla.s.s which is soiled by none of its reflections. The gla.s.s is in my brain."

In this same letter, which is the second given, Balzac writes: ". . .

I am galloping towards Poland, and rereading all your letters,--I have but three of them, . . ." If this last statement be true, the answer to Spoelberch de Lovenjoul's question, "How many letters did Balzac receive thus?" is not difficult.

Miss Wormeley seems to be correct in saying that this second letter is inconsistent with the preceding one dated also in January, 1833, showing an arbitrary system of dating. There are others which are inconsistent, if not impossible, but if Spoelberch de Lovenjoul after the death of Madame Honore de Balzac found these letters scattered about in various places, as he states, it is quite possible that contents as well as dates are confused.[*]

[*] One can see at once the injustice of the criticism of M. Henry Bordeaux, _la Grande Revue_, November, 1899, in censuring Madame Hanska for publishing her letters from Balzac.

The husband of Madame Hanska, M. Wenceslas de Hanski, who was never a count, but a very rich man, was many years her senior, and suffered from "blue devils" and paresis a long time before his death. Though he was very generous with his wife in allowing her to travel, she often suffered from ennui in her beautifully furnished chateau of Wierzchownia, which Balzac described as being "as large as the Louvre." This was a great exaggeration, for it was comparatively small, having only about thirty rooms. With her husband, her little daughter Anna, her daughter's governess, Mademoiselle Henriette Borel, and two Polish relatives, Mesdemoiselles Severine and Denise Wylezynska, she led a lonely life and spent much of her time in reading, or writing letters. The household comprised the only people of education for miles around.

Having lost six of her seven children, and being an intensely maternal woman, the deepest feelings of her heart were devoted to her daughter Anna, who also was destined to occupy much of the time and thought of the author of the _Comedie humaine_.

If the letters printed in _Un Roman d'Amour_ are genuine, in the one dated January 8, 1833, she speaks of having received with delight the copy of the _Quotidienne_ in which his notice is inserted. She tells him that M. de Hanski with his family are coming nearer France, and she wishes to arrange some way for him to answer her letters, but he must never try to ascertain who the person is who will transmit his letters to her, and the greatest secrecy must be preserved.

It is not known how she arranged to have him send his letters, but he wrote her about once a month from January to September, and after that more frequently, as he was arranging to visit her. M. de Hanski with his numerous family had come to Neufchatel in July, having stopped in Vienna on the way. Here Balzac was to meet l'Etrangere for the first time. He left Paris September 22, stopping to make a business visit to his friend, Charles Bernard, at Besancon, and arriving at Neufchatel September 25. (Although this letter to M. Bernard is dated August, 1833, Balzac evidently meant September, for there is no Sunday, August 22, in 1833. He did not leave Paris until Sunday, September 22, 1833.) On the morning after his arrival, he writes her:

"I shall go to the Promenade of the faubourg from one o'clock till four. I shall remain during that time looking at the lake, which I have never seen."

Just what happened when they met, no one knows. The Princess Radziwill says that her aunt told her that Balzac called at her hotel to meet her and that there was nothing romantic in their introduction.

Nevertheless, the most varied and amusing stories have been told of their first meeting.

Balzac remained in Neufchatel until October 1, having made a visit of five days. He took a secret box to Madame Hanska in which to keep his letters, having provided himself with a similar one in which to keep hers. If we are to credit the disputed letter of Sat.u.r.day, October 12, we may learn something of what took place. Even before meeting Madame Hanska, he had inserted her name in one of his books, calling the young girl loved by M. Bena.s.sis "Evelina" (Le Medecin de Campagne).

Early in October M. de Hanski took his family to Geneva to spend the winter. After Balzac's departure from Neufchatel the tone of his letters to Madame Hanska changed; he used the _tutoiement_, and his adoration increased. For a while he wrote her a daily account of his life and dispatched the journal to her weekly.

Madame Hanska came into Balzac's life at a psychological moment. From his youth, his longing was "to be famous and to be loved." Having found the emptiness of a life of fame alone, having apparently grown weary of the poor d.u.c.h.esse d'Abrantes, about to cease his intimacy with Madame de Berny, having been rejected by Mademoiselle de Trumilly, and having suffered bitterly at the hands of the d.u.c.h.esse de Castries, he embraced this friendship with a new hope, and became Madame Hanska's slave.

If Balzac was charmed with the stories of the daughter of the _femme de chambre_ of Marie Antoinette, was infatuated with a woman who had known Napoleon, and flattered by being invited to the home of one of the beautiful society ladies of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, what must have been his joy in learning that his new _Chatelaine_ belonged to one of the most aristocratic families of Poland, the grandniece of Queen Marie Leczinska, the daughter of the wise Comte de Rzewuska, and the wife of one of the richest men in Russia!

But Madame Hanska was a very different woman from the kind, self-sacrificing, romantic Madame de Berny; the witty, splendor-loving, indulgent, poverty-stricken d.u.c.h.esse d'Abrantes; or the frail, dazzling, blond coquette, the d.u.c.h.esse de Castries. With more strength physically and mentally than her rivals, she possessed a marked authoritativeness that was not found in Madame de Berny, a breadth of vision impossible to Madame Junot, and freedom from the frivolity and coquetry of Madame de Castries.

The Princess Radziwill feels that the Polish woman who has come down to posterity merely as the object of Balzac's adoration, should be known as the being to whom he was indebted for the development of his marvelous genius, and as his collaborator in many of his works.

According to the Princess, _Modeste Mignon_ is almost entirely the work of Madame Hanska's pen. She gives this description of her aunt, which corresponds to Balzac's continual reference to her "a.n.a.lytical forehead":

"Madame de Balzac was perhaps not so brilliant in conversation as were her brothers and sisters. Her mind had something pedantic in it, and she was rather a good listener than a good talker, but whatever she said was to the point, and she was eloquent with her pen. She had that large glance only given to superior minds which allows them, according to the words of Catherine of Russia, 'to read the future in the history of the past.' She observed everything, was indulgent to every one. . . . Her family, who stood in more or less awe of her, treated her with great respect and consideration. . . . We all of us had a great opinion of the soundness of her judgments, and liked to consult her in any difficulty or embarra.s.sment in our existence."

No sooner had Balzac returned from his visit to Neufchatel intoxicated with joy, than he began to plan his visit to Geneva. He would work day and night to be able to get away for a fortnight; he decided later to spend a month there, but he did not arrive until Christmas day. In the meantime, he referred to their promise (to marry) which was as holy and sacred to him as their mutual life, and he truly described his love as the most ardent, the most persistent of loves. _Adoremus in aeternum_ had become their device, and Madame Hanska, not having as yet become accustomed to his continual financial embarra.s.sment, wished to provide him with money, an offer which is reproduced in _Eugenie Grandet_.

Upon his arrival at Geneva the novelist found a ring awaiting him; he considered it as a talisman, wore it working, and it inspired _Seraphita_. He became her _moujik_ and signed his name _Honoreski_.

She became his "love," his "life," his "rose of the Occident," his "star of the North," his "fairy of the _tiyeuilles_," his "only thought," his "celestial angel," the end of all for him. "You shall be the young _dilecta_,--already I name you the _predilecta_."[*]

[*] Balzac was imitating Madame Hanska's p.r.o.nunciation of _tilleuls_ in having Madame Vauquer (_Pere Goriot_) p.r.o.nounce it _tieuilles_.

His adoration became such that he writes her: "My loved angel, I am almost mad for you . . . I cannot put two ideas together that you do not come between them. I can think of nothing but you. In spite of myself my imagination brings me back to you. . . ." It was during his stay in Geneva that Madame Hanska presented her chain to him, which he used later on his cane.

Balzac left Geneva February 8, 1834, having spent forty-four days with his _Predilecta_, but his work was not entirely neglected. While there, he wrote almost all of _La d.u.c.h.esse de Langeais_, and a large part of _Seraphita_. This work, which she inspired, was dedicated:

"To Madame Eveline de Hanska, nee Countess Rzewuska.

"Madame:--here is the work you desired of me; in dedicating it to you I am happy to offer you some token of the respectful affection you allow me to feel for you. If I should be accused of incapacity after trying to extract from the depths of mysticism this book, which demanded the glowing poetry of the East under the transparency of our beautiful language, the blame be yours! Did you not compel me to the effort--such an effort as Jacob's--by telling me that even the most imperfect outline of the figure dreamed of by you, as it has been by me from my infancy, would still be something in your eyes? Here, then, is that something.

Why cannot this book be set apart exclusively for those lofty spirits who, like you, are preserved from worldly pettiness by solitude? They might impress on it the melodious rhythm which it lacks, and which, in the hands of one of our poets, might have made it the glorious epic for which France still waits. Still, they will accept it from me as one of those bal.u.s.trades, carved by some artist full of faith, on which the pilgrims lean to moderate on the end of man, while gazing at the choir of a beautiful church. I remain, madame, with respect, your faithful servant,