What was worse, the
year 1840 was, beyond all others, a frightful one for Balzac. He faced
his creditors like a stag at bay; and all the while he found the burden
of Les Jardies becoming constantly heavier. The walls surrounding the
property had slipped on their clay foundation and broken down, while
Balzac himself had sustained a serious fall on the steep slopes of his
garden, and had consequently lost more than a month's work.
Furthermore, he underwent imprisonment at Sevres for having refused to
take his turn at standing guard over his neighbours' vineyards.
In his distress he thought seriously of expatriating himself and
setting out for Brazil; and, before coming to a final decision, he
awaited only the success or failure of a publishing venture such as he
had already undertaken in vain. In the month of July, 1840, he started
the Revue Parisienne, of which he was the sole editor, and through
which he proclaimed a dictatorial authority over the arts and letters,
society and the government. He had to abandon it after the third number.
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