Another Study of Woman | Page 3

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Etext prepared by Dagny, [email protected] and John Bickers,
[email protected]

ANOTHER STUDY OF WOMAN
by HONORE DE BALZAC

Translated By Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell

DEDICATION
To Leon Gozlan as a Token of Literary Good-fellowship.

ANOTHER STUDY OF WOMAN

At Paris there are almost always two separate parties going on at every
ball and rout. First, an official party, composed of the persons invited, a
fashionable and much-bored circle. Each one grimaces for his
neighbor's eye; most of the younger women are there for one person
only; when each woman has assured herself that for that one she is the
handsomest woman in the room, and that the opinion is perhaps shared
by a few others, a few insignificant phrases are exchanged, as: "Do you
think of going away soon to La Crampade?" "How well Madame de
Portenduere sang!" "Who is that little woman with such a load of
diamonds?" Or, after firing off some smart epigrams, which give
transient pleasure, and leave wounds that rankle long, the groups thin
out, the mere lookers on go away, and the waxlights burn down to the
sconces.
The mistress of the house then waylays a few artists, amusing people or

intimate friends, saying, "Do not go yet; we will have a snug little
supper." These collect in some small room. The second, the real party,
now begins; a party where, as of old, every one can hear what is said,
conversation is general, each one is bound to be witty and to contribute
to the amusement of all. Everything is made to tell, honest laughter
takes the place of the gloom which in company saddens the prettiest
faces. In short, where the rout ends pleasure begins.
The Rout, a cold display of luxury, a review of self-conceits in full
dress, is one of those English inventions which tend to /mechanize/
other nations. England seems bent on seeing the whole world as dull as
itself, and dull in the same way. So this second party is, in some French
houses, a happy protest on the part of the old spirit of our light-hearted
people. Only, unfortunately, so few houses protest; and the reason is a
simple one. If we no longer have many suppers nowadays, it is because
never, under any rule, have there been fewer men placed, established,
and successful than under the reign of Louis Philippe, when the
Revolution began again, lawfully. Everybody is on the march some
whither, or trotting at the heels of Fortune. Time has become the
costliest commodity, so no one can afford the lavish extravagance of
going home to-morrow morning and getting up late. Hence, there is no
second soiree now but at the houses of women rich enough to entertain,
and since July 1830 such women may be counted in Paris.
In spite of the covert opposition