rities of various friends under altered names, but toward the
close of _Beatrix_ he laid aside all disguise in comparing the
appearance of one of his famous women to the beauty of the Countess:
"Madame Schontz owed her fame as a beauty to the brilliancy and color
of a warm, creamy complexion like a creole's, a face full of original
details, with the clean-cut, firm features, of which the Countess de
Merlin was the most famous example and the most perennially
young . . ."

In 1846, Balzac dedicated _Un Drame au Bord de la Mer_, written
several years before, to Madame La Princesse Caroline Galitzin de
Genthod, nee Comtesse Walewska. Balzac doubtless met her while
visiting Madame Hanska in Geneva in 1834, as she was living at
Genthod. He met a Princesse Sophie Galitzin, whom he considered far
more attractive, and later met another Princesse Galitzin. One of
these ladies evidently aroused the suspicions of Madame Hanska, but
the novelist assured her that there was no cause for her anxiety.

Another woman whom Balzac honored with a dedication of one of his
books, but for whom he apparently cared little, was Madame la Baronne
de Rothschild, wife of the founder of the banking house in Paris.
Balzac had met Baron James de Rothschild and his wife at Aix, where
she coquetted with him. He had business dealings with this firm, and
planned, several years later, to present to Madame de Rothschild as a
New Year's greeting some of his works handsomely bound; the volumes
were delayed, and he accordingly made a change in some of his business
matters, for this was evidently a gift with a motive. The dedication
to her of _L'Enfant Maudit_ in 1846, as well as that of _Un Homme
d'Affaires_ to her husband in 1845, was perhaps for financial reasons
or favors, since he never seemed to care for the couple in society.

In the winter of 1837, Countess San-Severino Porcia wrote from Paris
to her friend in Milan, the Countess Clara Maffei, that Balzac was
coming to her city, and suggested that she receive him in her salon.
This distinguished and cultured woman had visited the novelist in
Paris, and had been much surprised at the kind of home in which he was
living, how like a hermit he was secluded from the world and the
persecutions of his creditors; she was amazed when he received her in
his celebrated monastic role.

The Countess Maffei retained her title after her marriage (in 1832)
with the poet, Andrea Maffei, who was many years olde