where--on the corner of a table, at a compositor's frame, or
before a foreman's bureau--he became completely absorbed in the
colossal labour of reading and correcting his proofs. The first number
of the _Revue Parisienne_ appeared on July 25th, 1840; but it was only
continued for three months, as Balzac decided that the task was too
much for him. During its short life however, it furnished a
magnificent and striking example of his extraordinary powers and
mental attainments; as each of the numbers was the size of a small
volume, and he provided novels, biography, philosophy, analysis, and
criticism, and treated brilliantly each subject he attacked.

A question in which Balzac took the greatest interest was that of the
rights of authors and publishers, under which Louis Philippe did not
meet with much respect. Not only did the Belgians reproduce French
works at a cheap rate by calmly dispensing with the duty of paying
their authors; but publishers in the provinces often followed this
pernicious practice, and it was difficult to prosecute them. A
striking instance of this injustice was to be found in the case of
"Paroles d'un Croyant," by M. de Lamennais, of which ten thousand
pirated copies were sold in Toulouse, where only five hundred of the
authorised edition had been sent by the publisher. No redress could be
obtained because, though the fact was certain, legal proofs were
apparently lacking; but in consequence of this glaring infraction of
the rights of both author and publisher, on December 28th, 1838,
Balzac became a member of the Societe des Gens-de-Lettres. This
Society, which was insignificant when he first joined it, owed
everything to his reputation, and to the energy with which he worked
for its interests. On October 22, 1839, he spoke at Rouen in its
behalf, in the first action brought by it against literacy piracy.
Later in the same year he was elected President, and in May, 1840,
he drew up the masterly "Code Litteraire de la Societe des
Gens-de-Lettres"[*] to which reference has already been made. On
September 5th, 1841, however, in consequence of a dispute concerning the
drawing up by the Gens-de-Lettres of a manifesto to be presented to the
deputies composing the Law Commission on Literary Property, Balzac
withdrew from the Society. The ostensible reason for his resignation
was, that at a committee meeting to discuss the Manifesto, doubts were
thrown on his impartiality; but it seems probable from his