Besides enjoying for a long time the "happiness of being beautiful," Delphine also enjoyed almost exclusively, in her set, that of being good. In this respect, she was superior to her mother who for the sake of a witticism, never hesitated to offend another. She had but few enemies, and, wishing to have none, tried to win over those who were inimical towards her. For twenty-five years she played the diplomat among all the rivals in talent and in glory who frequented her salon in the rue Laffitte or in the Champs-Elysees. She prevented Victor Hugo from breaking with Lamartine; she remained the friend of Balzac when he quarreled with her autocratic husband. She encouraged Gautier, she consoled George Sand; she had a charming word for every one; and always and everywhere prevailed her merry laughter--even when she longed to weep. But her cheery laugh was not her highest endowment; her greatest gift was in making others laugh. Balzac had a sincere affection for Delphine Gay and enjoyed her salon. In his letters to her he often addressed her as /Cara/ and /Ma chere ecoliere/. Her poetry having been converted into prose by her prosaic husband, she submitted her writings to Balzac as to an enlightened master. He asked /Delphine Divine/ to write a preface for his /Etudes de Femmes/, but she declined, saying that an habitue of the opera who could so transform himself so as to paint the admirable Abbe Birotteau, could certainly surpass her in writing /une preface de femme/. She did, however, write the sonnet on the /Marguerite/ which Lucien de Rubempre displayed as one of the samples of his volume of verses to the publisher Dauriat; also /Le Chardon/. Balzac made use of this poem, however, only in the original edition of his work; it was replaced in the /Comedie humaine/ by another sonnet, written probably by Lassailly. Madame de Girardin brings her master before the public by mentioning his name in her /Marguerite, ou deux Amours/, where a personage in the book tells about Balzac's return from Austria and his inability to speak German when paying the coachman. It was at the home of Madame de Girardin that Lamartine met Balzac for the first time, June, 1839. He asked her to invite Balzac to dinner with him that he might thank him, as he was just recovering from an illness during which he had "simply lived" on the novels of the /Comedie humaine/. The invitation she wrote Balzac runs as follows: "M. de Lamartine is to dine with me Sunday, and wishes absolutely to dine with you. Nothing would give him greater pleasure. Come then and be obliging. He has a sore leg, you have a sore foot, we will take care of both of you, we will give you some cushions and footstools. Come, come! A thousand affectionate greetings." And Lamartine has left this appreciation of her and her friendship for Balzac: