442 THE FRENCH CONVULSIVES. 



Of the numerous stories which he has given to the world under 

 the title of philosophical novels, " La Peau de Chagrin/' or the 

 Talisman, is the most remarkable. Raphael de Valentin, the hero 

 of this tale, was the only son of the representative of an ancient family 

 of Auvergne, who had succeeded in establishing himself in the fore- 

 most ranks of the most powerful party in the state, at the period 

 immediately preceding the revolution. Death deprived him of his 

 mother at a very early age. On quitting college, his father, a man 

 of stern and inflexible character and severe manners, devoted him to 

 the study of the law, and subjected him to the most austere disci- 

 pline and watchful superintendence. Up to his twentieth year, he 

 continued beneath the yoke of a paternal despotism, as cold and 

 unalterable as that imposed on the inmates of the cloister. 



At length he is admitted to the confidence of his father, and is 

 given to understand that he is neither to be an avocat nor a notary, 

 but that the preparatory process he has undergone, is to form him for 

 a statesman. But the accomplishment of this magnificent design is 

 suddenly arrested by an ordinance of M. Vilele for the restoration 

 of the property confiscated under the Imperial Government, which 

 strips both father and son of the possessions purchased from the 

 generals of Napoleon. After two years of unsuccessful struggle to 

 maintain these acquisitions, the father dies of a broken heart, and in 

 1826, at the age of twenty-two, and Raphael finds himselfwithou t 

 resources for the present or prospect for the future beyond the sum 

 of 70. 



He now forms a resolution by reducing existence to its lowest 

 wants, to make that amount suffice for his maintenance during three 

 years, and to devote those three years to the production of a work 

 which might draw upon him the public attention, and be the means 

 of acquiring him fortune and renown. The only solace of his soli- 

 tary life, is the occasional company of his landlady's daughter, an 

 interesting little girl, whom he undertakes to educate. 



Soon after the completion of his work, Raphael's course of exist- 

 ence undergoes a complete change, by an accidental meeting with 

 Rastignac, a man of wit upon town, which he thus describes : . 



" In spite of the miserable condition of my wardrobe, Rastignac recog- 

 nized me, gave me his arm, and inquired into my affairs. I told him in a 

 few words, my manner of life and my hopes. He began to laugh, and 

 treated me at once as a man of genius and a fool. His Gascon accent, his 

 experience of the world, and the style of living due to his ingenuity, had an 

 irresistible effect upon me. He represented me dying in an hospital, conducted 

 my funeral, and buried me among the paupers. He spoke of Charlatanism, 

 with that amiable pleasantry which rendered him so seductive, he pointed 

 out to me all the men of genius as so many Charlatans, and declared, that to 

 remain in my garret was little better than self-destruction. According to 

 him, I should enter the world egotise with dexterity accustom people to 

 pronounce my name, and cast aside the humble Monsieur, so unbecoming to 

 a great man of his ideas. ' The weak and impotent/ said he, ' call this pur- 

 suit intrigue, the moral proscribe it under the name of dissipation. Let us 

 not stop at men, let us interrogate things and their results. My dear fellow, 

 dissipation is a system of policy a man's life spent in consuming his income 

 often becomes a speculation. His capital is, his friends, his pleasures, his 



