s a mother,
friend, family, counselor; she made the writer, she consoled the
young man, she created his taste, she wept like a sister, she
laughed, she came daily, like a beneficent sleep, to still his
sorrows. She did more; though under the control of a husband, she
found means to lend me as much as forty-five thousand francs, of
which I returned the last six thousand in 1836, with interest at
five per cent., be it understood. But she never spoke to me of my
debt, except now and then; without her, I should, assuredly, be
dead. She often divined that I had eaten nothing for days; she
provided for all with angelic goodness; she encouraged that pride
which preserves a man from baseness,--for which to-day my enemies
reproach me, calling it a silly satisfaction in myself--the pride
that Boulanger has, perhaps, pushed to excess in my portrait."

Balzac's conception of women was formed largely from his association
with Madame de Berny in his early manhood, and a reflection of these
ideas is seen throughout his works. It was probably to give Madame de
Berny pleasure that he painted the mature beauties which won for him
so many feminine admirers.

It is doubtless Madame de Berny whom Balzac had in mind when in
_Madame Firmiani_ he describes the heroine:

"Have you ever met, for your happiness, some woman whose harmonious
tones give to her speech the charm that is no less conspicuous in
her manners, who knows how to talk and to be silent, who cares for
you with delicate feeling, whose words are happily chosen and her
language pure? Her banter caresses you, her criticism does not
sting; she neither preaches or disputes, but is interested in
leading a discussion, and stops at the right moment. Her manner is
friendly and gay, her politeness is unforced, her earnestness is
not servile; she reduces respect to a mere gentle shade; she never
tires you, and leaves you satisfied with her and yourself. You
will see her gracious presence stamped on the things she collects
about her. In her home everything charms the eye, and you breathe,
as it seems, your native air. This woman is quite natural. You
never feel an effort, she flaunts nothing, her feelings are
expressed with simplicity because they are genuine. Though candid,
she never wounds the most sensitive pride; she accepts men as God
made them, pitying the victims, forgiving defects and absurdities,
sympathizing with eve