that which enabled me to paint the drunkenness for which you blame
me in the _Voyage a Java_." This visit to George Sand was made
five years after this letter was written. Or S. de Lovenjoul might
have had in mind the statement of Theophile Gautier that Balzac
could not endure tobacco in any form; he anathematized the pipe,
proscribed the cigar, did not even tolerate the Spanish
_papelito_, and only the Asiatic narghile found grace in his
sight. He allowed this only as a curious trinket, and on account
of its local color.

George Sand and Balzac discussed their work freely and did not
hesitate to condemn either plot or character of which they did not
approve. Some of Balzac's women shocked her, but she liked _La
premiere Demoiselle_ (afterwards L'Ecole des Manages), a play which
Madame Surville found superb, but which Madame Hanska discouraged
because she did not like the plot. She aided him in a financial manner
by signing one of his stories, _Voyage d'un Moineau de Paris_. At that
time, Balzac needed money and Stahl (Hetzel) refused to insert in his
book, _Scenes de la Vie privee de Animaux_ (2 vols., 1842), this story
of Balzac's, who had already furnished several articles for this
collection. George Sand signed her name, and in this way, Balzac
obtained the money.

Madame Dudevant not only remained a true friend to Balzac in a
literary and financial sense, but was glad to defend his character,
and was firm in refuting statements derogatory to him. In apologizing
to him for an article that had appeared without her knowledge in the
_Revue independente_, edited by her, she asked his consent to write a
large work about him. He tried to dissuade her, telling her that she
would create enemies for herself, but, after persistence on her part,