e_, followed eleven months later by a few
papers belonging to _Petty Troubles of Married Life_. Meanwhile,
between these two Analytical Studies, came a remarkable novelette, _At
the Sign of the Cat and Racket_, followed soon after by one of the
most famous stories of the entire _Comedie_, _The Magic Skin_.

We are thus particular to place the two Analytical Studies in time and
in environment, that the wonderful versatility of the author may
become apparent--and more: that Balzac may be vindicated from the
charge of dullness and inaccuracy at this period. Such traits might
have been charged against him had he left only the Analytical Studies.
But when they are preceded by the faithful though heavy scene of
military life, and succeeded by the searching and vivid philosophical
study, their faults and failures may be considered for the sake of
their company.

It is hard to determine Balzac's full purpose in including the
Analytical Studies in the _Comedie_. They are not novels. The few,
lightly-sketched characters are not connected with those of the
_Comedie_, save in one or two remote instances. They must have been
included in order to make one more room in the gigantic mansion which
the author had planned. His seventh sense of subdivision saw here
fresh material to classify. And so these grim, almost sardonic essays
were placed where they now appear.

In all kindness, the Balzac novitiate is warned against beginning an
acquaintance with the author through the medium of the Analytical
Studies. He would be almost certain to misjudge Balzac's attitude, and
might even be tempted to forsake his further cultivation. The mistake
would be serious for the reader and unjust to the author. These
studies are chiefly valuable as outlining a peculiar--and, shall we
say, forced?--mood that sought expression in an isolated channel. All
his life long, Balzac found time for miscellaneous writings
--critiques, letters, reviews, essays, political diatribes and
sketches. In early life they were his "pot-boilers," and he never
ceased writing them, probably urged partly by continued need of money,
partly through fondness for this sort of thing. His _Physiology_ is
fairly representative of the material, being analysis in satirical
vein of sundry foibles of society. This class of composition was very
popular in the time of Louis Philippe.

The _Physiology of Marriage_ is couched in a spirit of
pseudo-seriousness that leaves one in doubt as t