SAINTE-BEUVE AND BALZAC
573
gether, then sets itself to work, calls up fancies, makes realities and
torments of them, and that jealousy which is as sweet as it is pain–
ful," a statesman from abroad smiles at recalling in the light of
memory the truth of this remark. A little further on de Marsay con–
cludes a description of one of his mistresses by a comparison which
is not a very pretty one but it must have pleased Balzac, for we
find its fellow in
Les Secrets de la Princesse de Cadignan:
"There
is always a first-rate monkey in the prettiest and most angelic of
women." At these words, says Balzac,
U
all the women cast down
their eyes) as
if
pricked by that cruel truth so cruelly observed."
"
'I
will tell you nothing about the night nor the week that 1 spent,'''
de Marsay goes on. "'I came back to my senses as a statesman.'
At these well-chosen words
we could not refrain from exhibiting our
admiration."
Thus Balzac will have us know, down to the least detail, the
admiration all these sayings aroused. "That cry of the heart which
was echoed among the guests pricked their curiosity, already so skill–
fully aroused.. . ." "These words everywhere unloosed the stir which
journalists in their reports of speeches in parliament describe as
profound sensation."
Does Balzac want us to construct from that
triumph of de Marsay's narratives the triumph that he, Balzac, en–
joyed at that evening party at which we were not present? Does he
quite simply give way to the admiration that he felt for the lines that
flowed from his pen? Perhaps it was a mingling of the two. 1 have
a friend, one of the few authentic geniuses 1 have known, and en–
dowed with a magnificent Balzacian arrogance. Retailing for my
benefit a lecture he had given in a theater at which 1 had not been
present, he interrupted himself from time to time to clap his hands
where the public had clapped theirs. But he put so much fervor into
it, so much energy, and went on for so long that 1 really believe
that instead of giving me a faithful version of what took place, he
was applauding himself.
But this is exactly what Balzac lovers delight in. Smiling, they
repeat to themselves: "The ignoble name of Amelie." "'Biblical?'
repeated Fifine, astonished." "The Princesse de Cadignan was one
of the ablest women in matters of dress." To love Balzac! Sainte–
Beuve, who was so fond of defining what it meant to love someone,
