title: The Seeking Heart (Library of Spiritual Classics)
author: Francois de Salignac de La Mothe Fenelon
description: Text: English (translation)<br> Original Language: French
zlib_text: ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  
  ##### www.blackmask.com
  
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  Madame Firmiani
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  
  # Madame Firmiani
  
  
  ### Honore de Balzac
  
  
  ##### Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  DEDICATION
  
  
  
  
  
  To my dear Alexandre de Berny.
  
  
  His old friend,
  
  
  
  
  
  De Balzac.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Many tales, either rich in situations or made dramatic by some of the
  
  
  innumerable tricks of chance, carry with them their own particular
  
  
  setting, which can be rendered artistically or simply by those who
  
  
  narrate them, without their subjects losing any, even the least of
  
  
  their charms. But there are some incidents in human experience to
  
  
  which the heart alone is able to give life; there are certain details
  
  
  \--shall we call them anatomical?--the delicate touches of which cannot
  
  
  be made to reappear unless by an equally delicate rendering of
  
  
  thought; there are portraits which require the infusion of a soul, and
  
  
  mean nothing unless the subtlest expression of