Then we are drawn up before Alexandria, and again at Gizeh, and before the Pyramids. We had to march over the sands and in the sun; people whose eyes dazzled used to see water that they could not drink and shade that made them fume. But we made short work of the Mamelukes as usual, and everything goes down before the voice of Napoleon, who seizes Upper and Lower Egypt and Arabia, far and wide, till we came to the capitals of kingdoms which no longer existed, where there were thousands and thousands of statues of all the devils in creation, all done to the life, and another curious thing too,...

" ...] One of us had traveled six hundred miles to see his mistress for an hour. The other, at the risk of being shot for a wolf, had prowled about her park to meet her one night. Out came all our follies in fact. If it is pleasant to remember past dangers, is it not at least as pleasant to recall past delights? We live through the joy a second time. We told each other everything, our perils, our great joys, our little pleasures, and even the humors of the situation. My friend's countess had lighted a cigar for him; mine made chocolate for me, and wrote to me every day when we did not meet;...

"Melmoth reconcilie" de Honore de Balzac. Romancier, critique litteraire, essayiste, journaliste et ecrivain francais (1799-1850)."

The Girl with the Golden Eyes - La Fille aux yeux d'or by Honore De Balzac. Translated by Ellen Marriage. La Fille aux yeux d'or (English: The Girl With the Golden Eyes) is a novella by Honore de Balzac. It is the third part of the Thirteen series, which includes the short stories Ferragus and La Duchesse de Langeais. It is also part of his La Comedie humaine novel sequence. The story follows the decadent heir Henri de Marsay, who becomes enamored of the titular beauty, Paquita Valdes, and plots to seduce her. He succeeds but becomes disillusioned when he discovers she is also involved with...

"HULLO There is that old Box-coat again " This exclamation was made by a lawyer's clerk of the class called in French offices a gutter-jumper-a messenger in fact-who at this moment was eating a piece of dry bread with a hearty appetite. He pulled off a morsel of crumb to make into a bullet, and fired it gleefully through the open pane of the window against which he was leaning. The pellet, well aimed, rebounded almost as high as the window, after hitting the hat of a stranger who was crossing the courtyard of a house in the Rue Vivienne, where dwelt Maitre Derville, attorney-at-law.

"Ah madame," replied the doctor, "I have some appalling stories in my collection. But each one has its proper hour in a conversation-you know the pretty jest recorded by Chamfort, and said to the Duc de Fronsac: 'Between your sally and the present moment lie ten bottles of champagne.'" "But it is two in the morning, and the story of Rosina has prepared us," said the mistress of the house. "Tell us, Monsieur Bianchon " was the cry on every side. The obliging doctor bowed, and silence reigned. "At about a hundred paces from Vendome, on the banks of the Loir," said he, "stands an old brown...

Father Goriot
Honore de Balzac (1799 - 1850)
One of Balzac's most popular works, set around 1815 during the re-ascendancy of the Bourbon kings following the defeat of Napoleon. Said to have been an inspiration to Charles Dickens and Henry James as well as others, the novel seeks to portray the realism of scenes and people. It is also a commentary upon the changing social strata and mores of the day."

A Woman of Thirty
Honore de Balzac (1799 - 1850)
In this story heroine Julie is attending with her ailing father one of Napoleon's reviews of his troops. It is after the debacle in Russia, but the Old Guard still knows how to put on a show. The lovely young girl is dazzled by Colonel Victor d'Aiglemont, a dashing young adjutant who gallops by. The father notices Julie's fascination and shakes his head anxiously, knowing that the young man is unworthy of her."