nection with his indebtedness
to Duckett on account of the _Chronicle_, and that Balzac was sued
in 1837. If the letter to Mme. de V., _Memoir and Letters of
Balzac_, was addressed to Madame Visconti, he was owing her in
1840. M. F. Sandars, _Honore de Balzac_, states that about
1846-1848, Balzac borrowed 10,000 or 15,000 francs from the
Viscontis, giving them as guarantee shares in the Chemin de Fer
du Nord.

During Balzac's residence _aux Jardies_ he was quite near Madame
Visconti, as she was living in a rather insignificant house just
opposite the home Balzac had built. He enjoyed her companionship, and
when she moved to Versailles he regretted not being able to see her
more frequently than once a fortnight, for she was one of the few who
gave him their sympathy at that time.

Several months later Balzac was disappointed in her, and referred to
her bitterly as _L'Anglaise_, _L'Angleterre_, or "the lady who lived
at Versailles." He felt that she was ungrateful and inconsiderate, and
while he remained on speaking terms with her, he regarded this
friendship as one of the misfortunes of his life.

After the death of Madame Visconti (April 28, 1883), a picture of
Balzac which had been in her possession was placed in the museum at
Tours. This is supposed to be the portrait painted by Gerard-Seguin,
exhibited in the _Salon_ in 1842, and presented to her by Balzac at
that time.

In answering several of Madame Hanska's questions, Balzac writes: "No,
I was not happy in writing _Beatrix_; you ought to have known it. Yes,
Sarah is Madame de Visconti; yes, Mademoiselle des Touches is George
Sand; yes, Beatrix is even too much Madame d'Agoult." A few months
later he writes: "The friendship of which I spoke to you, and at which
you laughed, apropos of the dedication, is not all I thought it.
English prejudices are terrible, they take away what is an essential
to all artists, the _laisser-aller_, unconstraint. Never have I done
so well as when, in the _Lys_, I explained the women of that country
in a few words."[*]

[*] This is probably the basis for Mr. Monahan's statement that Balzac
pictured Madame Visconti as Lady Dudley in _Le Lys dans la
Vallee_.

From the above, one would suppose that Madame Visconti is the "Sarah"
whom Balzac addresses in the dedication of _Beatrix_:

"To Sarah.

"In clear weather, on the Mediterranean shores, where formerly
extended the magnificent empire