The Country Doctor

Country Doctor, The ('Le Médecin de Campagne'), by Honoré de Balzac, belongs to the series known as 'Scenes from Country Life'; a part of his great cycle of fiction, 'The Comedy of Human Life.' It appeared in French in 1833, and in the standard English translation by Miss Wormeley in 1887. It is one of Balzac's noblest pieces of fiction, presenting beautiful traits of human nature with sympathy and power. The scene is laid in a village near Grenoble in France, and the story begins with the year 1829. To this village comes Genestas, a noble old soldier who adores Napoleon, and believes in the certainty of his return to save France. Under the assumed name of Captain Bluteau, he rests from his wounds, and is cared for by Dr. Benassis, the country doctor, the central character, and a remarkable study of the true physician. He is a sort of Father Bountiful in Grenoble. He treats the poor peasants without pay, and dislikes taking money except from the rich. He teaches the peasantry how to improve their land, introduces methods of work which make for prosperity, suggests new industries, and effects a great change for the better in the neighborhood; so that in ten years the population is tripled, and comfort and happiness are substituted for poverty and misery. The Doctor lives in an attractive old house with two servants, one of whom, Jacquotte, the cook, a scolding, faithful, executive, and skillful woman, proud of her culinary ability and devoted to Benassis's interest, is one of the most enjoyable personages in the story. The incidents of the plot have their explanation in the events of a preceding generation. The novel as a whole is one of the simplest of Balzac's, free from over-analysis of character and motive.