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    302 J\£ADiiME REGAMIEB.

• Transcript

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    » News Ojste Day To His In Wife The Autu...

    He says , — - "In the -history of human friendships "I scarcely "know beautiful which does honor to both

    than that a more of-Madame Recamier one , or one and M . Ballanche more . ; No attraction , or motive of the very _sKghtest-worldly tinge could recommend the

    > humble- printer of Lyons , 3 will not say to the regard , but even to the noticeof the beautiful Parisian . M . -Ballanche was uglyhis

    , , condition humble ; he was unknown , generally silent and awkward , sometimes to an embarrassing extent ; all his merits were hidden

    under a strange or ungraceful disguise , and could only be known through _; his . writings or in perfectly intimate relations . Madame

    Reeamier recognised them immediately ; she felt that there was an exalted minda beautiful souland an inexhaustible ) . power of

    , , devotion , as pure as it was tender . Almost from the first day when -she made his acquaintance she treated -M . Ballanehe with

    that intelligent and sympathetic distinction which attracts the most reserved and reassures the most timid . From the * first day , therefore ,

    M . Ballanche was taken heart arid soul . In one of his letters he says , ' ¦ < It sometimes happens to me to be astounded at your

    kindness ; I had no reason to expectiit , because I know how silent , dull , and sad I am . But with your infinite tact you must have

    comprehended all the good you could do me . You who are pity and indulgence itself , you saw in me a- sort of exile and you compassionated

    one exiled : from happiness . _^ Permit- me- to feel' for you what a _brother may for a sister . I long for the moment when I can ofFer you

    with this fraternal feeling , the homage of whatlittle I can do . My devotion shall be entire and unreserved . I wish for your happiness

    at the expense of my own . There is but justice in that , for you are worth more than I am . ' These were not phrases of a first or passing

    emotion . M . Ballanche kept his word ; during thirty-five years his devotion to Madame Recaraier was , as he had said , entire and

    unreserved . He exacted nothing , he complained of nothing , he entered into all the sentiments of Madame Recamierand counselled her when

    , needful with complete frankness , but without the pious anxiety of Matthieu de Montmorency , for he had no thought of converting her ;

    she was already , he believed , a celestial creature , an angel , the ideal which he passed his life in contemplating , in admiring , and in loving ,

    as Dante contemplated , admired , and loved Beatrice when he passed through Paradise . 'My entire destiny' he wrote to her _' consists

    ,, , perhaps , in letting some trace remain upon earth of your noble existence . You know well that you are my star . If you were to

    enter your white marble tomb they might hasten to dig me a grave , to which in my turn I should repair . "What could I do on

    this earth ? ' . . . One cannot note without surprise this love so utterly free from all pretensionfrom all desirefrom all jealousy

    , , and yet of which we cannot mistake the powerful truth . And what renders to Madame Recamier perhaps still greater honor than

    the having inspired such a sentiment is , that in accepting it

    completely , she did not abuse it , and repayed it—very unequally

    302 J\£Adiime Regamieb.

    302 _J _\ £ ADiiME _REGAMIEB .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1861, page 302, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011861/page/14/