"DE BALZAC."[*]
[*] S. de Lovenjoul, /Histoire des Oeuvres de Balzac/, states that the
"Sarah" to whom Balzac dedicated /Beatrix/ is no other than an
Englishwoman, Frances Sarah Lowell, who became the Comtesse Emile
Guidoboni-Visconti. She was born at Hilks, September 29, 1804, and
died at Versailles April 28, 1883.
In sending the corrected proofs of /Beatrix/ to "Madame de V——,"
Balzac writes:
"My dear friend,—Here are the proofs of /Beatrix/: a book for which you have made me feel an affection, such as I have not felt for any other book. It has been the ring which has united our friendship. I never give these things except to those I love, for they bear witness to my long labors, and to that patience of which I spoke to you. My nights have been passed over these terrible pages, and amongst all to whom I have presented them, I know no heart more pure and noble than yours, in spite of those little attacks of want of faith in me, which no doubt arises from your great wish to find a poor author more perfect than he can be. . . ."
In contradiction to the preceding, M. Leon Seche thinks that /Beatrix/ was dedicated to Madame Helene- Marie-Felicite Valette, and that she is the "Madame de V——-" to whom the letter is addressed. Helene de Valette (she probably had no right to the "nobiliary" /de/ although she signed her name thus) was the daughter of Pierre Valette, Lieutenant de Vaisseau, who after the death of Madame Valette, in 1818, became a priest at Vannes in order to be near their daughter Helene, who was in the convent of the Ursulines. At the age of eighteen he married her to a notary of Vannes, thirty years her senior, a widower with a bad reputation, whose name was Jean-Marie- Angele Gougeon. Scarcely had she married when she had an intrigue with a physician; her husband died soon after this, and she resumed her maiden name. She adopted the daughter of a /paludier/,[*] Le Gallo, whose wife had saved her from drowning, and named her "Marie" in memory of de Balzac's favorite name for herself.
[*] /Paludier/. One who works in the salt marshes.
In stating that the letter to "Madame de V——-" is addressed to Madame Valette, M. Seche publishes a letter almost identical with the one that is found in both the /Memoir and Letters of Balzac/ and the /Correspondence, 1819-1850/, one of the chief differences being that in this letter Balzac addresses her as "My dear Marie" instead of "My dear friend." In telling "Madame de V——-" that he is sending her the proofs of /Beatrix/, Balzac refers to the suppression of his play /Vautrin/, and says that the director /des beaux-arts/ has come a second time to offer him an indemnity which /ne faisait pas votre somme/. This might lead one to think that he had had some financial dealings with her.
In the dedication of /Beatrix/, dated /Aux Jardies/, December, 1838, Balzac speaks of Sarah's being a pearl of the Mediterranean. In the Island of Malta is a town called Cite-Vallette—suggestive of the name Felicite Valette. Felicite is also the name of the heroine, Felicite des Touches, although Marie is the name of Madame Valette that Balzac liked best.
In 1836, after reading some of Balzac's novels, Madame de Valette wrote to Balzac. Attracted by her, he went to Guerande where he took his meals at a little hotel kept by the demoiselles Bouniol, mentioned in /Beatrix/. Under her guidance he roamed over the country and then wrote /Beatrix/. She pretended to him to have been born at Guerande and to have been reared as a /paludiere/ by her godmother, Madame de Lamoignon-Lavalette, whence the reference in the dedication to the former "empire of your name." Her real godmother was Marie-Felicite Burgaud. Balzac did not know that she had been married to the notary Gougeon, and thought that her mother was still living.
When Madame de Valette went to Paris to reside, she was noted for her beauty and eccentric manners; she rode horseback to visit Balzac /aux Jardies/. She met a young writer, Edmond Cador, who revealed to Balzac all that she had kept from him. This deception provoked Balzac and gave rise to an exchange of rather sharp letters, and a long silence followed. After Balzac's death she gave Madame Honore de Balzac trouble concerning /Beatrix/ and her correspondence with Balzac, which she claimed. She died January 14, 1873, at the home of the Baron Larrey whom she had appointed as her residuary legatee. She is buried in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery, and on her tomb is written /Veuve Gougeon/.