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After the death of his father, Monsieur Ballanche left Lyons, and passed the rest of his life in the society of her whom he worshipped with so single-minded a devotion. Madame Récamier subsequently left Lyons for Italy, and the next new admirer whose attentions we have to chronicle is Canova.
"Perhaps Moses, Sylla, Louis XI., Richelieu, Robespierre, and Napoleon were but the same man who crosses our civilizations now and again, like a comet across the sky," said a disciple of Ballanche. "Why try to fathom the designs of Providence?" said Canalis, maker of ballads. "Come, now," said the man who set up for a critic, "there is nothing more elastic in the world than your Providence."
The elite of Parisian society were present on the occasion, including Ampere, Nizard, Burnouf, Ballanche, Villemain, and many distinguished personages of literary celebrity. A word as to Jasmin's distinguished entertainer, M. Augustin Thierry.
Modelled by artists, flattered by princes, adored by women, eulogized by men of genius, courted by men of letters, the beloved of the chivalric Augustus of Prussia, and the selfish, dreamy Châteaubriand, with the high-toned Montmorencys for her friends, and the simple-minded Ballanche for her slave. Such were some of the triumphs, such some of the contrasts in the life of this remarkable woman.
Ballanche compared her to the solitary phoenix, nourished by perfumes, and living in the purest regions of the air, "Who sings to the last his own death-lay, And in music and perfume dies away." It is a singular fact, that the men who began by loving her passionately usually ended by becoming her true friends.
The conversation at first languished, but soon became interesting, for, though Monsieur Ballanche had no chit-chat, he talked extremely well on subjects which interested him, such as philosophy, morals, politics, and literature. Unfortunately, his shoes had an odor about them which was very disagreeable to Madame Récamier.
God and a generous heart are all-sufficient. I implore Him, from the bottom of my heart, to sustain and enlighten you." Ballanche, equally concerned and jealous, strove to interest her in literature, and urged her to translate Petrarch. Madame Récamier speedily recovered herself.
Such was Ballanche, who viewed the mistress of his heart as Dante did his Beatrice, though not with the same sublime elevation, for the object of Dante's devotion was on the whole imaginary, the worship of qualities which existed in his own mind alone, whereas the admiration of Ballanche was based on the real presence of flesh and blood animated by a lovely soul.
We publish, but without assuming any responsibility for it, this opinion of a pupil of Monsieur Ballanche. No information has reached us as to the fate of the negroes' heads in diamonds. You may see Madame du Val-Noble every evening at the Opera. Thanks to the education given her by the Chevalier de Valois, she has almost the air of a well-bred woman.
It finally made her faint, and, overcoming with difficulty the embarrassment she felt in speaking of so prosaic an annoyance, she timidly avowed to him that the smell of his shoes was unpleasant. Monsieur Ballanche apologized, humbly regretting that she had not spoken before, and then went out of the room.
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