to her house to talk, as on neutral ground, much as people walk in
the alley of the Tuileries to meet one another; and one expects
better conduct of me than of those gentlemen! . . . As for
Rossini, I wish him to write me a nice letter, and he has just
invited me to dine with his mistress, who happens to be that
beautiful _Judith_, the former mistress of Horace Vernet and of
Sue you know. . . ."

Some months after this Balzac gave a dinner to his _Tigres_, as he
called the group occupying the same box with him at the opera.
Concerning this dinner, he writes:

"Next Saturday I give a dinner to the _Tigres_ of my opera-box, and
I am preparing sumptuosities out of all reason. I shall have
Rossini and Olympe, his _cara dona_, who will preside. . . . My
dinner? Why, it made a great excitement. Rossini declared he had
never seen eaten or drunk anything better among sovereigns. This
dinner was sparkling with wit. The beautiful Olympe was graceful,
sensible and perfect."[*]

[*] The present writer has not been able to find any date that would
prove positively that Balzac knew Madame Rossini before writing
_La Peau de Chagrin_ which appeared in 1830-1831.

Balzac was a great admirer of Rossini, wrote the words for one of his
compositions, and dedicated to him _Le Contrat de Mariage_.


Among the famous salons that Balzac frequented was that of Madame
Recamier, who was noted even more for her distinction and grace than