n he
took off this hat he showed a wig in the form of a pyramid, a coiffure
which was the special prerogative of Louis Philippe! The play was
doomed. The Duke of Orleans, who was in one of the boxes, left the
theatre hurriedly; and it was difficult to finish the performance, so
loud were the shouts, hisses, and even threats. The next day the
following official announcement appeared in the _Moniteur_: "The
Minister of the Interior has interdicted the appearance of the drama
performed yesterday at the Theatre of the Porte St. Martin under the
title of 'Vautrin.'" Balzac's hated foes, the journalists, of course
rejoiced in his downfall, and accentuated the situation by declaring
the piece to be not only disloyal, but revoltingly immoral. On the
other hand, Victor Hugo, George Sand, and Mme. de Girardin, stood
firmly by him, and Frederick Lemaitre, to whom Balzac evidently bore
no malice for his large share in the disaster, was, he said,
"sublime."

Leon Gozlan went to see Balzac the day after the performance, and
found him outwardly calm, but his face was flushed, his hands burning,
and his lips swollen, as though he had passed through a night of
fever. He did not mention the scene of the night before, but talked
eagerly of a plan to start a large dairy at Les Jardies, and to
provide Paris and Versailles with rich milk. He had several other
equally brilliant schemes on hand: he intended to grow vines,
cultivate vegetables, sell manure; and by these varied means to assure
himself of an income of eighteen thousand francs.

The Director of the Beaux-Arts was sent to offer Balzac money to make
up for his loss; he says, however: "They came to offer me an
indemnity, and began by proposing five thousand francs. I blushed to
my hair, and answered that I did not accept charity, that I had put
myself two hundred thousand francs in debt by writing twelve or
fifteen masterpieces, which would count for something in the glory of
France in the nineteenth century; that for three months I had done
nothing but rehearse 'Vautrin,' and that during those three months I
should otherwise have gained twenty-five thousand francs; that a pack
of creditors were after me, but that from the moment that I could not
satisfy all, it was quite indifferent to me whether I were tracked by
fifty or by a hundred, as the amount of courage required for
resistance was the same. The Director of the Beaux-Arts, Cave, went
out, they tell me, full of esteem and a