he is young, from 30 to 40 he is young again through his wife, after
40 he is so through his children. Thus youth exists always for
man; it is a miracle o f love and sympathy.’ Euphrasie was fourteen
years younger than Proudhon, and he was clearly hopeful of a
renewal of mental vigour from his relationship with her.
The success of his courtship resulted in a marked strengthening
of Proudhon’s preference for working women and o f his hostility
towards blue stockings. It was at this time that he made the ac
quaintance of one of the most formidable of this class, the Comtesse
d’Agoult, mistress of Liszt and later historian of the revolution of
1848 under the pen-name o f Daniel Stern. The Countess became
interested in Proudhon’s books and wrote, expressing her agree
ment with many of his ideas, but, like other o f his well-wishers,
deprecating the violence of expression he sometimes used. Finally,
she invited him to visit her, so that they might discuss their differ
ences. Proudhon replied in a tone that put the extension of their
relationship out of all question.
‘I should be happy, I should be proud, Madam, to obtain the
support o f a reason as balanced as yours, and for that I should like
to profit by your amiable invitation to go and talk with you,’ he
declared. ‘But I feel, on the other hand, that once we began to
dispute I would concede nothing to you; that the intolerance of
my judgments would break out with you as with M. Blanqui and
Pere Cabet; that instead of an agreeable visitor you would have
only a tiresome disputer. Your education, your habits, everything
separates you from a man who has nothing in his favour but an im
mense anger and for whom study, philosophy, political economy,
the arts, are instruments of conspiracy. To meet for an instant and
then not to see each other again would be as little worthy of one
as o f the other: curiosity on your part, vanity on mine, and in the
end reciprocal disgust and misunderstanding. For myself, I am
tired of these visits, and do not want any more encounters, except
with my collaborators and my adversaries.’
It is difficult to accept this protestation ac face value, for Proud
hon by no means always avoided me company o f those with whom
he disagreed, nor did he find difficulty in associating with people
whom education and habit separated from him. With his male
acquaintances such considerations seemed to have relatively little
significance. Noblemen by birth, naturalised into the freemasonry
o f the revolutionary movement, like Bakunin and Herzen, were
THE MAN OF AFFAIRS