THE CELIBATES

BY

HONORE DE BALZAC




INTRODUCTION

_Les Celibataires_, the longest number of the original _Comedie
Humaine_ under a single title, next to _Illusions perdues_, is not,
like that book, connected by any unity of story. Indeed, the general
bond of union is pretty weak; and though it is quite true that
bachelors and old maids are the heroes and heroines of all three, it
would be rather hard to establish any other bond of connection, and it
is rather unlikely that any one unprompted would fix on this as a
sufficient ground of partnership.

Two at least of the component parts, however, are of very high
excellence. I do not myself think that _Pierrette_, which opens the
series, is quite the equal of its companions. Written, as it was, for
Countess Anna de Hanska, Balzac's step-daughter of the future, while
she was still very young, it partakes necessarily of the rather
elaborate artificiality of all attempts to suit the young person, of
French attempts in particular, and it may perhaps be said of Balzac's
attempts most of all. It belongs, in a way, to the Arcis series--the
series which also includes the fine _Tenebreuse Affaire_ and the
unfinished _Depute d'Arcis_--but is not very closely connected