The Vicar of Tours

To David, Sculptor: 

The permanence of the work on which I inscribe your name
—­twice made illustrious in this century—­is very problematical;
whereas you have graven mine in bronze which survives nations
—­if only in their coins.  The day may come when numismatists,
discovering amid the ashes of Paris existences perpetuated by
you, will wonder at the number of heads crowned in your
atelier and endeavour to find in them new dynasties.

To you, this divine privilege; to me, gratitude.

De Balzac.