We are now brought to the ‘Parisian Scenes,’ and with the exception of ‘Eugenie Grandet,’ to the best-known masterpieces.  There are twenty titles; but as two of these are collective in character, the number of novels and stories amounts to twenty-four, as follows:—­’Le Pere Goriot,’ ‘Illusions perdues,’ ‘Splendeurs et miseres des courtisanes,’ ‘Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan’ (The Secrets of the Princess of Cadignan), ‘Histoire des treize’ [containing ‘Ferragus,’ ’La Duchesse de Langeais,’ and ‘La Fille aux yeux d’or’ (The Girl with the Golden Eyes)], ‘Sarrasine,’ ‘Le Colonel Chabert,’ ‘L’lnterdiction’ (The Interdiction), ‘Les Parents pauvres’ (Poor Relations, including ’La Cousine Bette’ and ’Le Cousin Pons’), ‘La Messe de l’athee’ (The Atheist’s Mass), ‘Facino Cane,’ ‘Gobseck,’ ‘La Maison Nucingen,’ ’Un Prince de la Boheme’ (A Prince of Bohemia), ’Esquisse d’homme d’affaires’ (Sketch of a Business man), ‘Gaudissart II.’  ’Les Comediens sans le savoir’ (The Unconscious Humorists), ‘Les Employes’ (The Employees), ‘Histoire de Cesar Birotteau,’ and ‘Les Petits bourgeois’ (Little Bourgeois).  Of these twenty-four titles six belong to novels, five of which are of great power, nine to novelettes and short stories too admirable to be passed over without notice, eight to novelettes and stories of interest and value which need not, however, detain us, and one, ‘Les Petits bourgeois’, to a novel of much promise unfortunately left incomplete.  ‘Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan’ is remarkable chiefly as a study of the blind passion that often overtakes a man of letters.  Daniel d’Arthez, the author, a fine character and a favorite with Balzac, succumbs to the wiles of the Princess of Cadignan (formerly the dashing and fascinating Duchesse de Maufrigneuse) and is happy in his subjection.  The ‘Histoire des treize’ contains three novelettes, linked together through the fact that in each a band of thirteen young men, sworn to assist one another in conquering society, play an important part.  This volume is the most frankly sensational of Balzac’s works.  ‘La Duchesse de Langeais’ however, is more than sensational:  it gives perhaps Balzac’s best description of the Faubourg St. Germain and one of his ablest analyses of feminine character, while in the description of General Montriveau’s recognition of the Duchess in the Spanish convent the novelist’s dramatic power is seen at its highest.  ‘La Fille aux yeux d’or,’ which concludes the volume devoted to the mysterious brotherhood, may be considered, with ‘Sarrasine,’ one of the dark closets of the great building known as the ‘Comedie humaine.’  Both stories deal with unnatural passions, and the first is one of Balzac’s most effective compositions.  For sheer voluptuousness of style there is little in literature to parallel the description of the boudoir of the uncanny heroine.  Very different from these stories is ’Le Colonel Chabert,’ the record of the misfortunes of one of Napoleon’s heroic