principles triumphantly carried out by an administration, and great
ambitions are never for sale." Whether Baron de Pommereul forewarned
him of failure at the hands of his fellow citizens, or whether Balzac
wished to have two strings to his bow instead of one, no one knows, but
at all events in June he asked Henry Berthoud, director of the Gazette
de Cambrai, to back him as candidate in his district. In return, Balzac
promised to try to get some articles by Berthoud accepted by Rabon for
the Revue de Paris. "The coming Assembly," he prophesied, "is likely to
be a stormy one; it is ripe for revolution. It is possible that the
people of your district would prefer to see a Parisian representing
their interests rather than any of their own men; a town always loves
to see itself represented by an orator; and, if I seek election to the
Assembly, it is with the idea of playing a leading part in politics and
of giving the benefit to the community which supported me and from
which I have received the political baptism of election. All my friends
in Paris, either rightly or wrongly, base some hope upon me. I shall
have as my credentials: Yourself, if that is agreeable to you; the
Revue de Paris, the Temps, the Debats, the Voleur, one other minor
journal, and my own actions from now on."

But, in spite of all his projects, Balzac was destined never to be a
candidate from any district,--and so much the better for the advancement
of French thought.



Chapter 6.

Dandyism.