Balzac loved to seek the sympathy and confidence of people whose minds
were at leisure, and who could interest themselves in his affairs.
With his artistic temperament, he longed for the refinement, society
and delicate attentions which he found in the friendships of various
women. "The feeling of abandonment and of solitude in which I am
stings me. There is nothing selfish in me; but I need to tell my
thoughts, my efforts, my feelings to a being who is not myself;
otherwise I have no strength. I should wish for no crown if there were
no feet at which to lay that which men may put upon my head."

One of the first of these friendships was that formed with Madame de
Berny, nee (Laure-Louise-Antoinette) Hinner. She was the daughter of
a German musician, a harpist at the court of Louis XVI, and of
Louise-Marguerite-Emelie Quelpec de Laborde, a lady in waiting at the
court of Marie Antoinette. M. Hinner died in 1784, after which Madame
Hinner was married to Francois-Augustin Reinier de Jarjayes,
adjutant-general of the army. M. Jarjayes was one of the best known
persons belonging to the Royalist party during the Revolution, a
champion of the Queen, whom he made many attempts to save. He was one
of her most faithful friends, was intrusted with family keepsakes, and
was made lieutenant-general under Louis XVIII. Madame Jarjayes was
much loved by the Queen; she was also implicated in the plots. Before
dying, Marie Antoinette sent her a lock of her hair and a pair of
earrings. Laure Hinner was married April 8, 1793, to M. Gabriel de
Berny, almost nine years her senior, who was of the oldest nobility.
Madame de Berny, her husband, her mother and her stepfather were
imprisoned for nine months, and were not released until after the fall
of Robespierre.

The married life of Madame de Berny was unhappy; she was intelligent