Although he is dead, Balzac still has detractors; on his memory are thrown the banal reproach of immorality, the last insult of powerless and jealous mediocrity, or even of total stupidity. The author of La Comédie Humaine not only is not immoral, but he is actually a strict moralist. Monarchical and catholic, he defends authority, exalts religion, preaches duty, reprimands passion, and does not accept happiness except in marriage and the family. "Man," he says, "is neither good, nor bad; he is born with instincts and aptitudes; society, far from corrupting him, as Rousseau maintained, improves him, makes him better; but self-interest develops also his evil tendencies. Christianity, and particularly Catholicism, being, as I said in Le Médecin de Campagne, a complete system for the repression of the depraved tendencies of man, is the most important component of social order." And with the ingenuity that suits a great man, anticipating the reproach of immorality that will be addressed to him by shoddy spirits, he numbers the irreproachably virtuous characters who are found in La Comédie Humaine: Pierrette Lorrain, Ursule Mirouët, Constance Birotteau, la Fosseuse, Eugénie Grandet, Marguerite Claës, Pauline de Villenoix, Madame Jules, Madame de la Chanterie, Eve Chardon, Mademoiselle d'Esgrignon, Madame Firmiani, Agathe Rouget, Renée de Maucombe, without counting among the men, Joseph Le Bas, Genestas, Benassis, the cleric Bonnet, Dr. Minoret, Pillerault, David Séchard, the two Birotteaus, the cleric Chaperon, the judge Popinot, Bourgeat, the Sauviats, the Tascherons, etc. Rogues are not missing, it is true, in La Comédie Humaine. But is Paris populated only with angels? END [Copyright notice: David Desmond is the sole copyright holder for this English translation of the book "Honoré de Balzac" by Théophile Gautier. He grants Project Gutenberg perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive rights to distribute this book in electronic form through Project Gutenberg websites, CDs and other current and future formats. No royalties are due for these rights.] End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Honoré de Balzac, by Théophile Gautier