TO MADEMOISELLE SOPHIE SURVILLE
It is a real pleasure, my dear niece, to dedicate to you a book, the subject and details of which have gained the hard-earned approval of a young girl who, as yet, knows nothing of the world and does not compromise with any of the lofty principles of a pious education. You young girls are a formidable public; for you ought to be allowed to read only books that are as pure as your minds, and you are forbidden certain literature as you are prevented from seeing society such as it is. May not an author therefore take pride in having pleased you? God grant that fondness has not deceived you! Who can say? That future which, I trust, you may see, and which may no longer behold
Your uncle
De Balzac.
