BALZAC 

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

The condition of French society in the early half of the nineteenth
century--the period covered by Balzac's novels--may be compared to
that of a people endeavouring to recover themselves after an
earthquake.  Everything had been overthrown, or at least loosened from
its base--religion, laws, customs, traditions, castes.  Nothing had
withstood the shock.  When the upheaval finally ceased, there were
timid attempts to find out what had been spared and was susceptible of
being raised from the ruins.  Gradually the process of selection went
on, portions of the ancient system of things being joined to the
larger modern creation.  The two did not work in very well together,
however, and the edifice was far from stable. 

During the Consulate and First Empire, the Emperor's will, so sternly