here every
two weeks, if his lady permits him."

The novelist met many prominent people at these receptions, among them
Prince Esterhazy; he went to the beautiful soirees of Madame Appony
while refusing to go elsewhere, even to the opera.

Several women Balzac probably met through his intimacy with their
husbands. Among these were Madame de Bernard, whose name was
Clementine, but whom he called "Mentine" and "La Fosseuse," this
character being the frail nervous young girl in _Le Medecin de
Campagne_. In August, 1831, M. Charles de Bernard wrote a very
favorable article about _La Peau de Chagrin_ in the _Gazette de
Franche-Comte_, which he was editing at that time. This naturally
pleased the novelist; their friendship continued through many years,
and in 1844, Balzac dedicated to him _Sarrazine_, written in 1830.

Early in his literary career Balzac knew Baron Gerard, and in writing
to the painter, sent greetings to Madame Gerard. Much later in life,
while posing for his bust, made by David d'Angers, he saw Madame David
frequently, and learned to like her. He felt flattered that she
thought he looked so much younger than he really was. On his return
from St. Petersburg, in 1843, he brought her a pound of Russian tea,
which, as he explained, had no other merit than the exceeding
difficulties it had encountered in passing through twenty
custom-houses.

LA COMTESSE VISCONTI--MADAME DE VALETTE--MADEMOISELLE KOZLOWSKA

"Madame de Visconti, of whom you speak to me, is one of the most
amiable of women, of an infinite, exquisite kindness; a delicate
and elegant beauty. She helps me much to bear my life. She is
gentle, and full of firmness, immovable and implacable in her
ideas and her repugnances. She is a person to be depended on. She
has not been fortunate, or rather, her fortune and that of the
Count are not in keeping with this splendid name. . . . It is a
friendship which consoles me under many griefs. But,
unfortunately, I see her very seldom."

Madame Emile Guidoboni-Visconti, nee (Frances Sarah) Lowell, was an
Englishwoman another _etrangere_. Balzac shared the same box with her
at the Italian opera, and in the summer of 1836, he went to Turin to
look after some legal business for the Viscontis. He had not known
them long before this, for he writes, in speaking of _Le Lys dans la
Vallee_: "Do they not say that I have painted Madame Visconti? Such
are the judgments to which we are exposed