Half-way down the Rue Saint-Denis, almost at the corner of the Rue du Petit-Lion, there stood formerly one of those delightful houses which enable historians to reconstruct old Paris by analogy. The threatening walls of this tumbledown abode seemed to have been decorated with hieroglyphics. For what other name could the passer-by give to the Xs and Vs which the horizontal or diagonal timbers traced on the front, outlined by little parallel cracks in the plaster? It was evident that every beam quivered in its mortices at the passing of the lightest vehicle. This venerable structure was crowned...

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

" ...]villa, with a garden in front, a balcony behind, very white walls and green shutters. From outside the place looked perfectly ordinary, one would never have believed that it was the home of a hero, but when one went inside, well... My goodness The whole establishment had an heroic air, even the garden Ah... The Garden... there was not another like it in Europe. Not one indigenous tree grew there, not one French flower; nothing but exotic plants, gum trees, calabashes, cotton trees, coconut palms, mangos, bananas, cactuses, figs and a baobab. One might have thought oneself in the...

"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...

"The Deputy of Arcis" from Honore De Balzac. French novelist and playwright (1799-1850).

"Z. Marcas" from Honore De Balzac. French novelist and playwright (1799-1850).

"A Bachelor's Establishment" from Honore de Balzac. Nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright (1799-1850)."

"A Marriage Contract" from Honore de Balzac. Nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright (1799-1850)."

"Ferragus" from Honore de Balzac. Nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright (1799-1850)."

"Letters of Two Brides" from Honore de Balzac. Nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright (1799-1850)."